Sermon Outlines

By Frederick F. Schwindt, Evangelist

POPULARITY, THE MOST TRYING TEST OF OUR CHARACTER

1. It is common knowledge that men, ancient and modern, submit precious metals, such as silver and gold, to the test of the fire: Prov. 25:4; Mal. 3:3
2. What fire is to these and other metals, Solomon says popularity or applause is to man's character:
   1. It tests it.
   2. It discovers the man.

1. It reveals the vanity of the proud:
   1. He, who by some brilliant faculty, or dexterous deed, or propitious circumstance, has won the applause of the multitude and falls for such applause, reveals the weakness of his character - EXAMPLES -
      1. Herod fell altogether - Acts 12:21-23
      2. Absalom is another case of vanity - 2 Sam. 14:25
   2. That was Lucifer's weakness which led him to rebel against the government of God -
      1. His high position and his unholy ambition led him to be self-centered.
      2. He began to admire himself more than his Maker - Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:12-17
2. Popularity, on the other hand, brings to light the true strength of character:
   1. That was true in the life of Moses. No other public figure outside of Christ, had reached the height of usefulness as did Moses.
   2. He was a leader of leaders, a legislator of legislators, and yet the Lord says of him that he was the meekest man on earth - Num. 12:3
   3. Meekness is a Christian virtue to be coveted by all - Gal. 5:23
   4. To the meek it is said that they shall inherit the earth - Matt. 5:5
   5. The meek will the Lord guide in judgment - Ps. 25:9
   6. Meekness is one of the ornaments of a true Christian - 1 Pet. 3:4

1. He exposes men to special tests:
   1. He did this with Jacob after he had given wonderful promises - Gen. 32:24-32
   2. He sent Moses to the desert country to herd Jethro's sheep for forty years - Exodus chapters two and three.
   3. He placed upon Paul, one of the greatest preachers of all time, an infirmity to keep him humble - 2 Cor. 12:9
   4. He allowed the beautiful face of Madam Guyon, the French Mystic, to be disfigured, to keep the true strength of her character to the view of others.
2. Our text is, in fact, a warning to the aspiring person to remember that there is a price attached to popularity:
   1. Experience shows that popularity is very unreliable even to the noblest - EXAMPLE -
      1. No nobler person ever walked on the earth than the Son of man; no other person has ever been exposed to greater acclaim than He, yet in the hour of final crisis in His life, the public abandoned Him completely.
   2. The people that sought to make Him king, cried, "crucify him".
3. True strength of character does not necessarily rest on public acclaim:
   1. Christ was the very embodiment of virtue; yet of him it is written that he was despised and rejected of men - Isa. 53:5
   2. The applause and praise of men are at times an abomination to God - Luke 16:15
   3. Much of the public applause is very superficial and unreliable; it is shallow and very fragile.
4. Popularity, when examined with care:
   1. Is based upon the gratification of the human ego.
   2. That was true of Nebuchadnezzar; that is how the enemies of God's people caused him to bring great hardship upon them.
   3. The same was true of Darius, who made a decree that no one should ask anything of his god for thirty days - Dan. 6:1-9