Standing By The Cross
Standing By The Cross STANDING BY THE CROSS
By U. R. FORREST
I. Introduction
I am just as glad to be Here as I can be. I thank Bt'other Baxter for what he has said about me. I am genuinely appreciative of what he said and the trust shall be cared for in harmonj' with the thought prompt-ing the action taken.
I am glad to be here and to have part in this meeting, (1) because it seems so natural to be here, even if this campus doesn’t look like it did ten years ago, there are still some old landmarks that look natural to me. It seems natural to be here at this time of the year especially. I seldom miss one of these meetings. (2) In the second place 1 am glad to be here because I consider that I am being honored when asked to speak at this time. I consider it an honor primarily because none are selected and placed on the program in these meetings but those whom the arrangement committee believe to be genuine Christian gentlemen. And I pray my Father in heaven to help me so live before my fellow travelers to the judg ruent bar of the Supreme Judge of the universe that my dear friend and Brother Baxter and those of you who have had to do with the arranging of this week’s work, will never have occasion to regret, having favored me with a part in this program.
I hope to be able this morning to say just what I want to say and in the way I want to say it. I believe that the church of the Lord needs just what I want to say.
If I did not believe that I would talk about something else. My subject is “Standing by the Cross.” You who are familiar with the New Testament, know doubtless, that I have in mind, at least for the purpose of illustrat-ing the lesson, the story of the Lord’s Crucifixion as told by John in the 19th chapter of his version of the Gospel of Christ, 25th, 26th and 27th verses. In that narrative we see the Lord on the cross, and at the foot of that “Old Rugged Cross” we see the Lord’s mother and some other women and John the beloved. Peter, who had followed “afar off,” and others perhaps were standing at a distance. • Not because they did not love the Lord, but because they were afraid of being criticized no doubt. For this very reason, men, preach-ers, today are a long way from the cross, so to speak, afraid to come right out and say “yes, I stand for this or that.” Because of that fear, I may not be able to say all that I would like to say and believe should be said while trying to present and emphasize the points that I have in mind this morning.
II. What It Means to Stand by the Cross'.
We all know what is meant when some fellow talks about standing by. We understand that figure of speech. Many touching stories have we heard and read about some brave youth standing by the flag. We know what is meant. We know they stood by and fought for “Old Glory.” The captain says, “Stay with the ship, boys.” They know what that command means.
Well, when the cross is mentioned, we think of Christ. To us the cross represents Christ, Then to “Stay with the cross” means to me this morning, to stay with Christ the Lord and stand for and by the church and the “Old Jerusalem Gospel” regardless of what others do, say or even think. It means just what Paul meant when he said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.” Had he been ashamed of the gospel, he could not have said as he did say, ‘ ‘ I glory in the cross. ” So in Acts 20:27, Paul says, “I have not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God.” He stood by the cross—gloried in the cross. He preached the gospel to saint and sinner without fear or favor. He contended for the faith onee for all delivered to the saints (2 Timothy 2:15; 2 Timothy 2:3-4; Jude 1:3; 2 Timothy 4:2; 1 Corinthians 2:2).
III. Paul Was a Popular Preacher.
He was talked about, he was known and talked about, all over the then known world. We human beings like popularity. Especially we young preacers like popularity. I believe that gospel preachers should be popular We should be known for our godliness, purity, good works and firmness. But the man who has no conviction has no popularity. Just name one gospel preacher who is ashamed of the goBpel, that has the confidence and the respect of the brotherhood or even the world. Nobody respects a spineless jelly fish preacher. I heard a man who was supposed to be a gospel preacher, say “I have been guilty of contending for the first principles, but if God will forgive me for it, I shall never do it again.” You don't know who I am talking about, that makes no difference, I am not going to tell you here. But hear me, That man is not getting anywhere, he will never get anywhere. You go out in the world to preach, “brother” the sects as you go, and have their preachers lead the prayers in your meetings, you will be a failure, and you might as well get in with the digressives before you start. Then I don’t know—can’t tell what will be-come of you after while, because they are dying as a result of their weakness and their lack of conviction.
God have mercy on the church of the Lord Jesus Christ when men like that are leaders and preachers and teachers. Just in this connection I want to read a part of one of a series of articles by our good Brother J. N. Armstrong:
“Last week I said ‘Worldly wisdom is fast fashioning the church of our Lord. There is no way to save it so far as I know.’
“I mean by this that the church is headed that way and that it will go on and on till it lands in the ditch. It is doomed, I think. Some of the best preachers and strongest churches we have are in front and they plan no change. The course appeals to the flesh, both of the preacher and of the churches. It is the way of least re-sistance. So I expect ‘us’ to travel on, rather gallop on, until we go into denominationalism head-over-heels.
“Finally, a small remnant will no doubt draw out and start it all over again, just as it was done in the beginning of the Restoration movement. It will grow so bad and the claim to be Christians and only Christians become so hollow and empty, that the remnant cannot endure longer and will turn aside from the great movement to begin again a simple church of New Testament order. Again the church will go through the testing the fire of persecution that they are approved may be manifest.
“The signs, brethren, are all about us. Open your eyes and behold the “signs of the times.”
“For instance, you cannot discuss anything thoroughly in any of “our” churches or “papers.” The brethren who read the papers will not ‘ ‘ stand for it ’ ’ and all kinds of errors are growing up in the church. The brethren do net believe in discussions and debates. They believe they do more harm than good. They want a paper that they can hand to their neighbors and so we must not discuss our “differences” in the papers. Not only do we want a paper that we can hand to our neighbors, but we want a preacher also that can preach so as not to offend our neighbors when they come to “our church.”
“Yet, it is a fact that the first hundred years of the church was an age filled with dispute, debate and dis-cussion. There never has been, perhaps, so much heated discussion, religious discussions, as in that age. Then when the Campbells and Scotts and Stones began the restoration movement, it too, was characterized by con-tinuous and heated discussion. Day and night they were in debates and discussions. This continued right along until the enemies refused to debate and discuss the questions involved. In dicussion and through discussion, truth has always thrived and prospered. While on the other hand, error grows and dominates when discussion is shut out. Tbris is its opportunity. The devil is delighted when he can influence good people to put away debate and discussion. I know that he has led people to believe that no good results from discussions and that it ' only deepens prejudice, but it is not true. Individuals may receive no good, their prejudice may even be deepened, but the great cause of truth is advanced by honorable discussion. Truth in all lines advances, steadily advances, by means of severe and testing contests.
“I dislike very much, wrangling and ugly personalities. So I am not contending for wrangling and for ugly debate, but for honorable discussion of real issues. Nor am I contending for the discussion of unprofitable questions. But for close, careful discriminating examination of real issues that involve truth, right and wrong. More, I believe the hope of spreading truth and the salvation of the church from denominationalism depends upon the eliminating of error from truth by an earnest contention for truth and right, and this contention will involve discussion. It has always done it. For if my positions go unchallenged, then I go to my grave advocating, teaching, whatever error I may hold.
“As I said in my article last week, it is a condition we are dealing with. This condition has not come over night, hut it has crept upon us through these years and has fastened its thongs upon us to stay forever.”
We are doing things in a big way. It always makes me about half “sore” to have some fellow come around in the interest of something, and get up in the presence of saint and sinner and abuse the church and members of the church; tell about how sorry we are, how little we are doing, etc. We are doing big things, in a big way. I believe in being optimistic.
We may not have always done as much as we should but we are getting more respectable every day. Brother W. D. Bills said to me in a letter not long ago: “We are getting to be very respectable, now if we do not get too respectable, we will be all right.” That suggestion sticks to me, because I know that people are prone to swing from one extreme to another.
Brethren it is time for us to call a halt. I am speaking to young men today who plan to go out into the world to preach. What are you going to be? A Christian or just anything? What are you going to do? Try to please the people? If so you are going to find your task a hard one. It cannot be done. I do not care whether the world likes my preaching or not. I never have cared. And I am getting along very well. I am trying to preach like Paul, Peter, James and John, and when I am doing that I am pleasing the Lord, and I am not uneasy about my welfare and my future, “God will take care of you.”
IV. A Contrast In contrast with Paul and his life I want to talk a while about another man: Demas (2 Timothy 4:10). Demas shared the great hopes of this missionary saint . with whom he was associated. He had a part in his far and glorious visions. Not only did this young man share in the daring deam of Paul, he also shared in his efforts toward the realization of that dream. When Paul went forth to preach the gospel, Demas walked by his side. When Paul had faced dangers Dfcmas faced those dangers with him. Diemas had shared Paul’s vision, and he had also shared Paul’s task. But tijat experience is of yesterday. Demas is not found at the side of Paul any more. He no longer labors with this great hearted preacher, who gloried in the cross. And Paul writes with sorrow that wets his face with tears, “Dema-s hath forsaken me.”
Demas did not commit a great crime that made it necessary for him to leave Rome. No, he was guilty of no crime like that. The foe that wrought the ruin of Demas appears so innocent and harmless that he would scarcely regard it as a foe at all. What proved the undoing of Demas? Paul’s answer is, “Demas hath for-saken me, having loved this present world.”
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” John says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Paul wrote a letter one day, among other things he said, “I tell you even weeping that some of you are enemies of the cross of Christ.” Why ? They were in loVe with the world, doubtless. But what is this world that we are forbidden to love? I am sure that it is not the physical universe. It was all put here for our good. Nor are we forbidden to love the world of men, ‘ ‘ God so loved the world that he gave his Son.”
What, then, is the world that we are forbidden to love ? To love the world as another has pointed out, is to be brought into bondage to that something in the world that keeps us putting forth our uttermost endeavors to please ourselves and the world. Self-pleasing is the spirit that dominates the world. And to love the world is to be brought under the domination of that spirit. So Paul might have said, “Demas hath forsaken me, having desired to do as he pleased.” As Demas worked at Paul’s side over in that great city of Rome, he began to feel this love of the world tugging at his heart. Paul was always consulting the higher will. There were people in Rome who were going their own way and seemingly making a great nuccess of it. Demas coiild not close his eyes to this fact. He could not keep from, asking himself, “Why cannot I taste life as they are tasting it, and enjoy life as they seem to be enjoying it?”
I see Paul and Demas walking down the street, one of the main streets of Rome, on their way to church. About them are the splendors of the great city. The lights are bright, here is a big show house into which they might go; here is a fine church building of some kind in which Paul might preach tonight if he would but turn from Christ, the cross of the gospel. But with his eye fixed straight ahead he goes on. Demas is watching these things. Paul sees them not. Now the lights grow dimmer and the streets are narrower. At last they come to an out of the way place. It looks very much like a tomb, but a few of the saints have met there with Paul and Demas to preach and sing and pray. Demas is still thinking about the bright lights up town, and of the joy there, suddenly he thinks of himself and just in time to hear Paul say, “The things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal.” Demas thinks, “I am not ashamed of the gospel. Again, I glory in the cross. He may be telling the folks about the great commission, or how to worship as Christians should, how to sing and pray, etc.” Demas says, “Oh well, Paul is honest no doubt, but he is narrow.” And a few days later Demas is gone. Where? Thessalonica. Why? * Seeking the glory of the world. He said, “I shall take the cash and let the credit go.”
Now, go with me to Thessalonica, we are walking down a fine street well lighted, shaded, etc. We meet a man, he says, “Yes, this is the best street in town, the rich live on this street.’* “Oh! Who lives in that fine mansion yonder on the hill?’’ “A man by the name of Demas, ” we are told. We gain admittance. We see the very finest carpets, tapestry and everything, just as fine as can be. One night we attended a feast at his house. Demas gathers about him the gayest of the gay. They belong to the highest social set of the city. Demas entertains, as but few men can. After the feast we hasten to congratulate him, but we see that he is not happy (the world never brings happiness). “Demas, I wish you could meet a very dear friend of mine, he is a joy bringer. I am sorry to say that he is in prison over in Rome. His name is Paul. He is a great joy bringer. Why, do you know Paul?” “I used to know him. The one bit of light and joy in this dreary life of mine is the time spent with Paul, the Lord and the Cross. I have wished a thousand times I had never left him. But I loved the world, and the praise of men. I have not only attained that, but I am miserable, and do not suppose I will ever have courage enough to go back to the Cross. As far as we know he never did.
V. Another Example
I think of another quitter. Mark was a young preacher when he first went out with Barnabas and Paul on that first missionary trip. Mark was greatly trusted, he was highly honored. He went over to Cyprus with his two friends. Mark soon saw that the task wras a hard one. Soon we see him turn his back on his friends and on their discomforts and their hardships and making his way home. In this turning back he lost the cross.
So you see, Mark is a quitter. God and his church had honored him with a task, but he threw it down. They had trusted him with a position of responsibility, and now he turns his back upon it. He did very well when nothing was expected of him, but to parade. But when the real fight came he threw down his weapons and fled.
Why did Mark quit?
He did not do 'so because his friends wanted him to quit. Paul and Barnabas did not drive him away. They did not wrong him and make his work an impossibility. It was not because he was no longer needed. He knew that he was needed. He knew that he could render a real service if he would only stand by. But in spite of this fact he left.
Why did he leave?
We are not told just why, but I am sure that he could give no reason for his conduct that would pass muster. In no way could he justify his having played the role of a quitter. And in this respect he is like those among ourselves who quit. No man can justify himself for withdrawing from the fight and giving over the battle. As I read the life story of John Mark, I am convinced of this: that Mark quit because he was afraid of the hardships, of the self-denial and of the dangers that confronted him. He had possibly had too much petting. He was a bit soft. When he found that being a mis-sionary meant downright hardships, that it meant pri-vations, hard work and facing danger, he decided that the enterprise was too costly. He made up his mind that he would not pay the price. So he threw down his ask and set out for home.
Mark is not the only quitter, Their name is legion
to this hour. But why so many quitters? It we were able to talk to each of them we should doubtless hear many excuses. But, I dare to say the most of them, were they to give the real reason, would give that that lay back of the desertion of John Mark. They simply have not devotion enough to the cause of Christ, his church, the kingdom of God, and the gospel to pay the price. They are not willing to plod along in the straight and narrow pathway that, leads to the home sweet home of the soul. They are unwilling to meet that test of disciplesliip laid down by the Master himself; “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.” But Mark came back. They do not all come back, but Mark did. And he did a wonderful work after that. He did wrong, but made amends, and the Lord took him back. That is encouraging to me. It helps me to get up after I have fallen, and try again and keep on trying.
Barnabas was an easy kind of a fellow, and men like that are sometimes responsible, in a measure, for young men being soft.
Peter could have helped him come back. He could tell him how he was down once—how he fell—and how the Lord tok him back. But I think Paul had as much to do with his coming back as any other man. Paul refused to even go out with him on another trip. He gave him a real rebuke, and he came to his senses, came to himself. Anyway we see him back in the work. And back at the cross. And I am pretty sure that he spent the remainder of his life there. But Demos never came back so far as we know.
Paul never did leave. And where can you find a preacher with greater honors than Paul. Paul, from, his prison cell, can look into the past of which he is not ashamed. There is many a sacrifice in it, many a conflict, many a persecution, many a sleep-less night, many a tear. But the grand old hero looks upon it all with a smile, and takes up his pen and writes, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
VI. Some Great Needs of Today.
We need a lot of things today. We need more money. We need better buildings. We need more schools like this—thank God for A. C. C. We need education and a lot of things along this line. But friends, most of all. we need more men and women who glory in the cross, who are not ashamed of the gospel. We need preachers to stand by the cross. We need preachers out in the world who are willing, ready and able to meet the ene-mies of the New Testament Church and the gospel, in public debate in the country, in the towns and cities, on the foreign fields and at home, anywhere and every-where that men need to be saved. We need preachers to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
Missions have never heard the story of the cross, we need preachers. Millions are following blind leaders. We need preachers there. In fact we need preachers everywhere. But we want those who will stand by the cross as Paul did. I had rather see you go out into the world to preach, without money and. without price and without education, if you contend for the faith, than to see you go with all the degrees and honors that schools and colleges can give man, if such things have weakened your faith in God Almighty and you will to contend for the faith. I would to God that every gospel preacher had a good college education with the honors and degrees that go with it if they, while obtaining them, learn enough, to know what to do with them when they got them. In other words, learn how to forget that they have them, when they get in the pulpit. When I first decided to preach the gospel, I went to Brother 0. E. Bonner, than whom there are none greater in the church today, in my estimation, and told him of my purpose and he said, "Ulmer, there is just one sug-gestion I want to make. For the first two years, don’t you preach on anything but first principles.” I thought that was foolish advice, but I took it. And I have leaimed since, that before you can build a good house, a building to stand, you must lay the foundation broad, deep and strong. "A hint to the wise is sufficient.”
VII. This Suggestion in Conclusion.
Let us, young and old, together march out like a great wall, with our feet shod with the preparation of the gos-pel of peace, with the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, and defend the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel, fighting un-der his directions and instructions until Jehovah calls us to that City that hath foundations not made with hands. Fight, I say Fight! until time for us to stack arms on fairer fields and brighter crimes.
I thank you and may God bless us all with those things that we need and deserve.