I'm reading from the Gospel of
Mark chapter 8 this morning. Mark chapter 8. And I read beginning
with verse 34. And when He had called the people
unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto them, Whosoever
will come after Me Let him deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me. Whosoever will come after me,
Christ said. Now, people are religious for
many things, for many reasons. People are after many things
from religion or in religion. They are after mostly what they
can get from God. by being religious. But some
people are after some measure of peace or happiness, health,
wealth, marriage, morality, whatever. But Christ said, Whosoever will
come after me. In other words, if it is me you
are after or seeking. Like a man or a woman pursuing
a husband or wife. In these next few verses, the
Lord makes it very clear that everything, salvation, everything,
life, death, eternity, is all about a relationship with Him. And a true believer, a true Christian,
is a believer, a lover, a follower, or disciple of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is their life. Now, verse
34, he said, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself. Let him deny himself. Self-denial is what our Lord
is talking about. Self-denial. This is the first
mark of a true believer, a true disciple. Now, man by nature,
Men and women, by nature, are selfish creatures. If we are
left to ourselves, we will only be concerned about ourselves,
and use and abuse everyone else in order to further our own selfish
cause. And our generation, this present
generation, is the most brazenly selfish of all. This is the me-myself
generation. Religion makes no bones about
it. Religion tells us what we can
get from God, what He can do for us. how we can improve ourselves. But Christ says, if any man comes
after Me, if it's Me a person is after, they must deny themselves. Let him deny himself. Let me read on, verses 35 through
37. He says, Whosoever will save
his life shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what
shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose
his own soul? For what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul?" There's a so-called clever slogan, or
many think this slogan to be clever today. I've seen it. on
bumper stickers and other places which reads, which says, He who
dies with the most toys wins. Have you ever seen that or heard
that? Man, by saying something like that, laughs at and mocks
his own judgment. Our Lord here said the exact
opposite of that. He who dies with the most toys
loses. To win, Paul said, is to win
Christ, to be found in Him. He who dies in faith wins eternal
life. He who hath the Son hath life. He who hath treasure in heaven
wins. Much treasure here, no treasure
there, you lose. Verse 35, he said, Whosoever
will save his life. People talk about their life
savings, accumulating their life savings. Let me ask you, what
is it that you are trying to accumulate and to save? What
do you want? What is it you desire? Now, it
is natural to want to hold on to this life. That's human nature. And there's nothing wrong with
loving our families and enjoying these things. But now, when God
Almighty does a work in a person. He creates in them a new heart,
a spiritual heart, a spiritual life, a new life. And the desires
begin to change. A person begins to desire to
know God, to know Christ, to have eternal life. And the things
of this world begin to lose their appeal and lose their luster,
and we begin to see things as they really are. Paul said the
things that are seen are temporal. They're just material things
which the Lord himself said moths, rust, and thieves do change these
things. These things all change and we
will lose everything here. Nothing to be gained here. Nothing
to be kept here. The things of this world don't
last. In verse 36 he says, what shall
it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
soul? What should it profit a person
if they are rich and increased with goods? The goods of this
world have everything that this world has to offer. What would
it profit? We only live about 70 years and
then after that, the scripture says, The judgment, man goes
to his long home from which he shall not return, of which there
is no end. There is a mad race today to
accumulate wealth. Why is that? James in his book
said the rust for the canker or the rust of gold and silver
that men accumulate shall be a witness against men in the
judgment, shall rise up against them. Well, our Lord say, what
shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his
own soul? Is not the soul of much more
value than temporal happiness and pleasure? What shall a man
give in exchange for his soul? Most people reveal that they
would give most anything in exchange for the soul. Most people are
not interested in God, not interested in eternal life, not interested
in the gospel, and interested in other things. And they are,
in effect, giving their souls in exchange for a few temporal
things, a little temporal pleasure here on earth, while men will
change their eternal souls for a ticket to a ball game, or a
NASCAR race, or to bag a ten-point buck, or to catch that five-pound
bass, or maybe even a six-pack of Bud Light. Man would rather
have these ridiculously foolish things than to seek eternal life. How foolish man is. Well, the
Lord now, He says, whosoever will save his life shall lose
it. Whosoever will come after me, he must deny himself. This self-denial, this losing
of one's life in order to obtain eternal life, self-denial is
much deeper than the material world, the material thing. This self-denial our Lord is
speaking of here, is a denial of what we are by nature, a denial
of ourselves and everything about us. Now listen very carefully,
listen to me if you're interested. The truth, the truth of God's
Word, the Gospel, this truth, the truth speaks of man's utter
depravity, corruption, God's Word does not say that man is
some noble, high creature. Oh, he was created in the beginning
in God's image, but he lost that image. He no longer retains that
image. Man is dead in trespasses and
sin. He's an unworthy creature. He is depraved. He is totally
sinful and corrupt. Isaiah 1 says, from the sole
of his feet to the top of his head. There is no soundness in
him. Psalm 14 says, There is none
that doeth good, no, not one. There is none that seeketh after
God. There is none righteous, no, not one. Romans chapter 3
gives a clear description of man by nature. Romans chapter
1. There's no goodness in us. The Gospel declares that. The
truth of God's Word declares that. Man's utter depravity,
his corruption, his sinfulness, and his inability to do anything
for himself. The will is dead. The heart is
dead. Man is dead in trespasses and
sin. And the Gospel, the truth, God's
Word declares that salvation is 100% of the Lord. Salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is God Almighty's choice,
God Almighty's will and purpose, Jesus Christ's blood and righteousness
only, the hope of lost sinners, the Holy Spirit's sovereign effectual
power operating upon these dead sinners, bringing them to life,
giving them faith and repentance. This is the work of God. So to
deny oneself, he said, if any man will come after me, let him
deny himself. To deny oneself is first of all
to deny our self-worth, to deny our goodness, to deny that there's
anything good in us. There's none good, no, not one. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. It is to deny our righteousness. There's none righteous, no, not
one. So to deny self is to deny our
worth, goodness, righteousness. It is to deny our ability. The
old hymn writer writes, In my hands no price I bring. It's
to deny our ability. We're poor and needy. It is to
deny our thoughts, our opinions, our natural thoughts and opinions
of ourselves and of God and of how we are saved. This is what
repentance means, a change of mind, and only God can grant
that. It is to deny our thoughts, our
opinions. God says, My thoughts are not
your thoughts. He said, There is a way that
seems right to man, but the end is destruction. Man thinks he
can do this and do that. Man thinks that God is within
his own power to do with as he pleases. To deny self is to deny
our thoughts, opinions. It's not like we thought it was. It is to deny anything that competes
with Christ for our salvation. Deny our righteousness, our goodness,
our works, our prayers, our repentance, even our faith. It is to deny
our faith, I said, not the faith. It's to deny that my faith is
what saves me. It's to confess that Christ and
Christ alone is my salvation. Paul said this in Philippians
3. He said, what things were gained to me, those things I
used to think would gain me some favor with God, he said, I count
them but loss, including material things. Verse 35, our Lord said,
Whosoever will lose his life for my sake in the gospel shall
save it." Take up his cross. To lose one's life for Christ
in the gospel is to lose one's reputation. This gospel is rare
and is believed by few. Christ said, Marvel not if the
world hate you. He said that to his true disciple. He said, You shall be hated of
all men for my name's sake. One who denies self and follows
Christ and believes the truth will lose his own reputation,
lose his standing, his place in the world for the truth, for
the Christ. And then he said, take up your
cross. Take up your cross and follow me. This is the cross.
Men killed Christ, hung him on a cross because of what he said.
Not his good humanitarian effort, but what he said about himself,
about man, and to take up our cross is to suffer persecution
for the truth's sake. Men will hate you, and if it
were lawful, they would kill you as they did Christ. hanging
Him on the cross. That is the cross of persecution
for the truth set. And he went on to say, Whosoever
shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and
sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed
when he come within the glory of his Father with the Holy Angel.
Until next Sunday, may the Lord bless His Word.