Take Up the Cross

It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
— Psalm 118:8-9

With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
— 2 Chronicles 32:8

For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
— Psalm 18:21

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:
— Psalm 146:3-5

Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.
— Zephaniah 2:3

The Judgement of God Compared to that of Man, by Richard Baxter. The following contains an excerpt from his work, “The Sin of Man-Pleasing.”

Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
— Jeremiah 17:5

1 A humbled soul, having experienced what it means to have displeased God, felt the weight of His curse, and been reconciled to Him through the death and intercession of Jesus Christ, is so occupied with seeking God’s favour. Such a soul is troubled by every fear of His displeasure and delighted with the sense of His love, that it scarcely has time to dwell on such a small matter as the favour or displeasure of men. God’s favour is sufficient, and so precious, that if this is secured, the favour of men is hardly missed.

2 God alone is our supreme Judge, and our earthly rulers are merely officers, limited by Him. As for others, if they act as usurpers, setting themselves in God’s throne and casting their censures on matters which do not concern them, why should we be overly concerned? If a beggar were to sit in a seat of judgement, condemning one person and fining another, would you fear him, or laugh at him? “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master, he stands or falls.” Men may presume to sit in God’s judgement seat and pass judgements based on their own interests and passions, but God will soon pull them down and teach them their proper place. The common censure of the world is often no more than childish games—like boys playing court, judging and condemning one another in jest. But have we not a far greater Judge to fear?

3 It is God alone who passes the final sentence, from which there is no appeal. From human judgement, however, there is always an appeal to God. Human judgements must themselves be judged by Him, and things will not stand as men censure them now. Many bad causes are presently judged as good due to the multitude or influence of those who support them, while many good causes are condemned. Many are accused as wrongdoers simply because they obey God and do their duty. But all these judgements will be reconsidered by Him who has declared, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20). “He who says to the wicked, ‘You are righteous,’ people will curse him, and nations will abhor him” (Proverbs 24:24).

It would go ill for the best of Christ’s servants if the world’s judgement were final, for they condemn them as fools, hypocrites, or worse. But it is the wise man whom God will judge to be wise at last, and it is only the happy man whom God will call happy. The erring judgement of a creature is like an ignorant man labelling jars in an apothecary’s shop—writing “poison” on some and “antidote” on others, with the contents not corresponding to the labels. They are not to be valued by their labels but by their true content. How different are the labels that God and the world place on things and people now! So few approve what God approves of and will justify in the end. Many whom God will judge as heterodox and wicked are now regarded as orthodox and praiseworthy by men, while many whom God will judge as orthodox and sincere are now labelled heretics and hypocrites. God will not endorse every accusation made against His servants, uttered by angry men or contentious disputants.

The learning, authority, or other advantages of certain contenders may now overshadow the reasoning and reputations of more righteous and wise men, but God will vindicate the latter in the end. The names of Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and many other excellent servants of the Lord are now sullied in the writings and reports of papists through impudent lies, but God judges differently, with perfect righteousness. Oh, what a great number of persons and causes will be justified on that dreadful day of the Lord, which the world has condemned! And how many will be condemned on that day, who were justified by the world!

O blessed day, most desirable for the just, most terrifying for the wicked and every hypocrite! How many things will then be set straight that are now crooked! How many innocent saints will experience the resurrection of their defamed names, buried by the world under heaps of lies, while their enemies never thought they would be vindicated! O, look forward to that final judgement of the Lord, and you will view the censures of men as nothing more than the shaking of a leaf.

4 It is God alone who has the power to execute His sentence, either for our happiness or misery. “There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy” (James 4:12). If He says to us, “Come, you blessed,” we shall be happy, even if devils and men curse us, for those whom He blesses shall indeed be blessed. If He condemns us to hell, the applause of the world cannot rescue us or provide any comfort. A great name on earth, histories written in our praise, or a gilded monument over our bones, offer no relief to damned souls. Conversely, the scorn and insults of the wicked on earth do nothing to diminish the joy or glory of the souls who triumph with Christ. It is our Lord who “holds the keys of death and hell” (Revelation 1:18). Please Him, and you are assured of escape, no matter the dire curses thundered against you by the pope or the wicked of the world. Woe to us if the wicked had the power to execute all their malicious judgements! How many saints would then be in hell! But if it is God who justifies us, how insignificant it is who condemns us or what their authority might be (Romans 8:33).

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