“With Me!” These are test words. We are either with Christ, or against Him. There can be no neutrality in matters of loyalty. Not to be loyal is to be disloyal; not to be for, is to be against. “He that is not with Me is against Me,” says the Lord Jesus.
The Pharisees professed to be for God and the Scriptures; but when the people saw the mighty works of Christ enabling both the blind to see and the dumb to speak, and said “Is not this the Son of David?” the Pharisees replied, “This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils” (Matt. 12:23-2423And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? 24But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. (Matthew 12:23‑24)) Teachers of the law though they were, they were against Christ, and for the devil. And in our day, as in their day, he who is not with Jesus is against Him. The careless, the indifferent and the lukewarm professor as well as the blasphemer and the apostate are against Him, and are on Satan’s side. The open infidel and the nominal worshipper of God—everyone, everywhere, who is not for Christ—is against Him. The forces on the earth arrange themselves into two hostile camps—the one with, the other against, Jesus.
Those who have not cast in their lot with Him are against Him; those who, like the Pharisees, profess to believe in Christ, and the explanation of the Scriptures as their occupation, but who in heart and soul are disloyal to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, unfaithful to His banner, and against Him. Let there be no uncertainty in this matter. We each are either for the army of Satan, or the soldiers of Christ. Jesus says, “He that is not with Me is against Me.”
When David was awaiting his promised glory and was uncrowned, unrecognized and disowned by Israel—when he was despised by the many, and esteemed by the few; regarded as but an adventurer and a pretender to the throne by the tens of thousands—a handful of men came over to his side. “David went out to meet them, and answered and said unto them, If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you”; then, responding to his words, “the spirit came upon...[the] chief of the captains,” who thus replied, “Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee. Then David received them” (1 Chron. 12:17-1817And David went out to meet them, and answered and said unto them, If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you: but if ye be come to betray me to mine enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it. 18Then the spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee. Then David received them, and made them captains of the band. (1 Chronicles 12:17‑18)).
Our David is despised and rejected of men, disowned and disbelieved—the coming glories of His kingdom are treated lightly—and, as He is hidden in the heavens, His rights to His earthly crown and throne are ridiculed by the tens of thousands in Christendom. Such being the case, it is the moment to go out to Him, and to cry to Him with loyal love and reverence, “Peace, peace unto Thee, thou Son of God and Son of Man! Glory be to Thy Name; peace be to Thine helpers—to everyone who is with Thee—for Thy God hath highly exalted Thee.” Yes, and as we so cry to Him and cast ourselves at His feet, we tell Him, gazing upon the marks of wounds, “Thou, Thou art worthy, O Son of God and Son of Man.”
Be loyal to Jesus; go out to Him, the despised and the rejected Man; stand up bravely and honorably for Him, though the forces of the world be against Him, and the power of Satan set itself against His side. Have no part with temporizing; have no good words for the neutral, for they are but His enemies in disguise; pander not to the religious infidelity of the times, be it in pulpit or in private, but always, and at all costs, be loyal to the Lord. Always remember His words, “He that is not with Me is against Me.”