Our lesson this morning is in
the book of Luke, Luke chapter 9. We'll be looking at verses
23 through 26. And I picked up the title out
of the verses, If Any Man Will. Now let's read these verses together
and then I'll make some comments. Luke chapter 9, verse 23. And he said unto them all. Now, the picture is this. He was preaching to a multitude.
And it got late in the day and they were hungry and there was
nowhere around to get food and no money to buy food. And so
the Lord took a few fishes and loaves and he fed 5,000 men plus
the women and children, probably 15,000 people. And he distributed
to his disciples. His disciples passed it out among
them. And we studied that a few weeks
ago. And then he departed from the
multitude. And he went off by himself with
his disciples and prayed and he had some things to say to
his disciples and now he either calls the multitude to himself
or he goes back where the multitude is. He said unto them all. Now he's addressing the whole
multitude. If any man will come after me,
let him, that is the willing follower, deny himself, take
up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever shall save
his life shall lose it. But whosoever will lose his life
for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged
if he gain the whole world? What's holding him back from
following after Christ? You see what he's saying? What's holding him back? Something that appears to him
as gain, right? Has to be. Whether it's affection
or job title or money or something, something. There's some advantage
in it for him to stay, some reason why he don't follow. And here's
what he says, for what is a man advantaged if he gained the whole
world? If he gained the whole world,
the whole world sat at his feet, what would he be advantaged?
And lose himself, it says in the other accounts,
and lose his own soul. And that's what it's talking
about here. And lose himself or be cast away. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. I never knew you. Whosoever shall be ashamed of
me and of my words. What words? His gospel. That's what he's talking about,
his gospel. Whosoever shall be ashamed of
me in my words, of him shall the son of man be ashamed when
he shall come in his own glory and in his father's and of the
holy angels. When he comes again, it won't
be a an humble coming like it was in Bethlehem when he was
born of obscure parents and born in a cow stable and laid in a
manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Not gonna be a humble
coming. He's not gonna come by himself
with a handful of people standing around. He's gonna come in all
the glory of his father's house. You're gonna see him this time
as he is, the Son of God. The Son of God. And he's gonna
come in all his glory. And he said, when I do, all those
that were ashamed of me, he said, I'll be ashamed of you. I'll
be ashamed of you. Now twice in the first two verses
of our text, actually three times, our Lord uses the word will. come after me will save his life,
will lose his life. Preachers, and I include myself
among them, tend to play down the will of man, and rightfully
so. Salvation is not of man's will. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. It's
not of man's will. I fully understand why. Because
Satan is so magnified the will of man as to give to man the
glory of his own salvation. He talks about man's will. When
they stand up to preach, they don't preach Christ, they preach
your will, your decision. But Satan has also rested the
scriptures concerning atonement, making particular redemption
to be a universal atonement. He's rested that, but we don't
quit talking about the atonement. He's also done that with unrighteousness,
self-righteousness. Tells us that man can be righteous
by his own obedience. That's an utter impossibility
before God. You can be righteous before me,
but you can't be righteous before God. But we don't quit preaching on
righteousness. He twisted salvation into being
by the believer's works. But we don't quit preaching on
good works. Where his workmanship, Paul said, created unto good
works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So as I attempt to teach these
verses, I don't want to overlook the very words our Lord was pleased
to use. He uses it three times. Will,
will, will. And he uses it over and over
throughout the scriptures. Now understand what I'm saying.
Every man, woman, boy, and girl have a will. They have a will. And this will is a mental faculty
by which one deliberately chooses or decides upon a course of action. That's the will. That's the will. I think I will go to town and
get groceries. And every part of a man is involved
in his will. His affection is involved in
his will. His knowledge, what he knows,
has a part in his will. And his fear, or even anger,
has a part in his will. And that being so, a man's nature
binds his will. He has a will, but his will is
not free. I've been told since I was that
big, I'd listen to that preacher, and over and over and over and
over and over, he'd tell us, man has a free will. There's
no such thing, God don't have a free will. God's will is bound
by his nature. He cannot do evil. That's what
the scripture says. He cannot. And therefore he will
not. And man can't do righteousness. His nature won't allow it. He's
bound. He's bound by his nature and
his will is bound by his nature. His will cannot overcome his
heart. It cannot overcome his head or
his affections or his fear. But it's rather subservient to
it. It's a servant to it, his will. If any man will, Christ said,
come after me, if he will. And whosoever will save his life,
he said, shall lose it. And whosoever will lose his life
for my sake shall save it. Well, what are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying coming after Christ as a result of a deliberate,
thoughtful choice, being enabled of God to discern the will of
God and the word of God and the gospel of Christ. Until a man
sees those things, he will not follow Christ. Will not. This following is an act of the
will being convinced in his heart and in his head that he must
do it. He must do it. No such thing
as free will. God told Moses this. He said
that he was merciful. He's showing Moses who he is.
declaring his glory before Moses, and he said, I'm merciful and
gracious and long-suffering and abundant in goodness of truth,
keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression,
and sin. Now listen, but I will by no
means clear the guilty. You see God's will? and how it
works according to his nature, and that's how man's will is.
It works according to his nature. And before there can be a willing
follower, there must of necessity be an inward work of grace. God
has to do something for us. If the will is just gonna do
what it's always done, it's just gonna go the, actually in Ephesians
chapter two, he calls it this, listen to this. You hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. And what'd they do? They walked
according to the course of this world. That will is gonna follow
that course. And it's gonna follow it right
into hell. You walked according to the course
of this world. You walked according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. That's man's will. Man's will,
his fallen will. But now watch this, John chapter
one, he said, as many as received him. And here's what I'm saying,
before there can be a willing follower, there must of necessity
be an inward work of grace. And it's like that all through
the scriptures. Here in John chapter one, listen
to this, as many as received. Now he come to his, into the
world and he made the world, but the world wouldn't receive
him. He came to his own, his own people, the ones that he
had chosen prophets and by which he wrote the entire Old Testament.
He came to them and they received him not. But as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. He gave
them power, that's why they received him. He gave them power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. They
become willing in the day of his power, power exercised in
them, called here a new birth, which were born, that's the next
thing he tells us in John 1, which were born, not of the will
of the flesh, that is man's so-called free will. And he says, nor of
the will of man, that is a bunch of men got together and they
want you to do something. Well, that's not how you got
to this place. It's not of the will of man, not of the will
of the flesh, but of God. God. God enabled you. Paul said, thanks be unto God
who hath made us meet, give us the ability to be partakers of
the inheritance of enlightened saints. And God sends the chosen
sinners a preacher And as he sets the gospel of the grace
of God in Christ to them, the Holy Spirit in power enables
them to receive it, believeth, and begin to follow Christ. They
come to him and they follow after him. Our Lord said to the Jews,
he said, you search the scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life. And they are they that testify
of me. But now watch this, but you will
not come unto me that you might have life. Has to be a work of
grace, Winston. Man's not gonna do this on his
own. Turn with me over to First Thessalonians chapter one. First Thessalonians chapter one.
Verse five, he tells the Thessalonians why he considered them to be
the elect of God. He said, for our gospel came not unto you in word only. The man stood up and he said
some words he read from the book. He read some words, he said some
words, he preached to you. But it went in one ear and right
out the other, but not to them. Not to them. It came not in word
only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost. Now watch this. And in much assurance. What's
he talking about? He's talking about assurance
in Christ. Assurance that that man did what he said he did. That he is who he said he is. That he is where he said he is. They believed. They believed. Now watch this, verse six. And
you become followers of us and the Lord, having received the
word in much affliction. That is, all your relatives are
saying, don't believe him, he's a nut. He's a nut. That's a cult, don't go over
there. Don't listen to that man. They
received that word in much affliction. but they received it with joy
of the Holy Ghost. That is gladly, thankfully, joyously
becoming followers. Followers. Verse seven, you become
examples to all that believe. Verse eight, sounded out the
word of the Lord. become participating servants
in the kingdom of God, seeing that the gospel is preached. Verse nine, you turn to God from
your idols to serve the true and living God. Verse 10, and
to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead,
even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. We patiently
waiting on him, waiting on him. When God works in us, he enables
us to follow after him willingly, lovingly, and with all our heart. With all our heart, we follow
him. All right, so what do these willing followers, these willing
souls do? What does this following after
him require? Here it is. Number one, self-denial. If any man will follow after
me, let him deny himself. Those who follow after Christ
take themselves out of the equation. Our Lord led them people out
in the middle of nowhere. They were out in a desert place. Did they think about that? No,
they took herself out of the equation. Where he went, they
went. They went. You ever think about that? They
followed him wherever he went. Didn't matter where he went.
Didn't matter. Wherever he leads, they follow.
But now wait a minute. What about my job? What about my job? What about
my family? What about my friends? What about
my health? Do I want to go somewhere where
there's no doctors, where there's no good medical attention? No, you just take yourself out
of the equation. Just take it out. Take yourself
out of it. In Matthew 8, a scribe said to
Christ's master, I'll follow you wherever you go. Listen to what the Lord told
him. He said, son, foxes have holes,
and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of God, the
Son of Man, has nowhere to lay his head. You ready to follow
me? I don't know if there's a bed
out there or not. Don't know? Don't know? Another one of his disciples
said, Lord, my father died. I need to go bury him. Now the
Lord's leaving that place. He's leaving that place. And
he said, now wait a minute, wait a minute. Just let me go back
and bury my father. You know what the Lord told him?
Let the dead bury the dead. Follow me. and let the dead bury
the dead. And those who follow after Christ
know he's Lord of all, he's creator of all, he's sustainer of all. And knowing this, they deny themselves. I take myself out of the equation. Winston told me when I first
come down, actually before I come down, he said this would be a
good place to come and live on your savings for three or four
years until you're too broke to leave. I took myself out of the equation.
And that's what you have to do. Now, what kind of Lord am I preaching? I'm preaching a sovereign Lord.
I'm preaching an all-powerful God. He's the God-man. Can He
not provide for me? I had another run of trials at
my house. Lightning hit my house while
I was going to Alabama. Destroyed everything, all the
electric stuff gone. Had to put it back. Evidently
got a little wind with it because the beam on the front porch was
broken and hanging down and I started searching around and found out
the whole porch was rotten. By the grace of God that it didn't
fall on me. So we had to build it up, we
had to tear the porch down, had to put it all back. And I don't
have to tell you right now how expensive things are. It's expensive.
I'm fully recovered from the expense the Lord has provided
every nickel. Every nickel to put it back.
Every nickel. You think about that. He's on
the throne of glory. He's maintaining providence that
you can't imagine. He's arranging things and directing
things and providing things. He's God. My Savior's God. He's God my Savior. Isn't he? Sure he is. And until you know
it and rejoice in it, you can't take yourself out of the equation.
You can't do it. Those who follow after Christ
know he's Lord of all, creator of all, sustainer of all, and
knowing this, they can deny themselves. Now watch this, Luke chapter
nine, verse 23. This next thing, if you're gonna
follow him, you have to deny yourself, now watch this, and
take up your cross. Take up your cross. Every believer
has a cross. What is this cross? It's the
very means of their salvation. Paul said he gloried in the cross.
He wasn't talking about that wooden thing, he's talking about
what happened on that wooden pole. He's talking about him
who died. This is the very means of my
salvation. He delivered us from the curse
of the law. Listen to this. Being made a
curse for us, as it is written, cursed is everyone who hangeth
on a tree. They nailed him to a cross. They
hung him on a tree. Made him a curse for us. And believers gladly bear this
cross, which is also a symbol of the hatred of this world. The hatred of this world of Christ.
They hate him. Not their Christ, not their little
Jesus, boy, they love him. He tolerant of them, he'll do
anything, he'll compromise in a heartbeat, but not the sovereign
Lord Jesus Christ. They hate him. They hate him. Here's a crowd gathered together.
Pilate's finally finagled around and found a way out of this,
and he said, on this day, it is our tradition to release unto
you a prisoner. Now, which will you have? Will
you have this man, Jesus, or Barabbas, this known vicious
criminal? They looked at Jesus, and they
said, crucify him, crucify him. Give us Barabbas. Myself. You think this world don't hate
him? They hate him. There is an offense of the cross
and it's offensive to the sinner. It offends his pride. You telling
me I can't obey the law? That's exactly what I'm telling
you. You telling me I can't please God with my good works? That's
exactly what I'm telling you. It offends man's pride. It offends
his so-called holy standing. And it offends his wisdom. And
it offends his notion of salvation by works. And it is in this sense
that we bear this cross. We not only bear it, we glory
in it. We glory in it. Did you know
Paul talked about suffering as a privilege, as a blessing? He counted me worthy to suffer
for him, I thought. Now here he is, he denied himself,
he took himself out of the equation. He didn't think about his income,
his relatives, his wife, he didn't think about anything, he just
followed Christ. Christ goes there, that's where
I'm gonna go. He's following after Christ. He denied himself. And he's bearing this cross,
he's gonna have to bear this cross. They looked over at old
Simon, he was on his way out of town, and here comes Christ.
And they said, Simon, come over here. He said, pick up that cross
and follow that man. Huh? And he said, what's this
telling us to do? Simon carried that cross for
Christ all the way out to Calvary's hill. All my soul. And then let me ask you this.
This man, here he is, he's denied himself, he's carrying his cross,
he's following after Christ. Who follows after Christ? Who are these people that follow
after Christ? In Psalm 65, four, he says, those
blessed of God. Watch this. Blessed is the man
whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee. Well,
he comes to him. What's he find when he comes
to him? These chosen people. Watch this. That he may dwell
in thy courts. Did you know you're in his courts
this morning? Where two or more are gathered
together in his name, he's in the midst. This is his courts.
His courts. Keep thy foot when thou goest
to the house of the Lord, and be more ready to hear than to
offer the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not that they
do evil. They're in his courts. He said, let thy words be few.
Come and listen. You're in his courts. They dwell in his courts, and
we, those who follow after him, now watch this, shall be satisfied of thy holy temple. Satisfied. When he enters with the assembly,
the assembly of God, when he enters in, he likes what he hears. He likes what he sees. He's satisfied. He's fed to the full. He eats
till he can't eat no more. He's satisfied. He finds in the Lord's courts
everything he could ever want, everything he could ever need.
He finds in that assembly medicine for his sin sick soul. Here's
medicine. Knowledge in the mystery of God's
redemptive will. He learns for the first time
in his life, he learns something about God. He finds there a godly fellowship
of true brothers and sisters in Christ. He recognizes that
these are God's people. And he comes there in those courts
and he finds there a city of refuge, a place of security and
preservation. All the promises of God in Christ
are yea and amen. They see in him the eternal provision
given to them of God before the foundation of the world. And
in following after him, they discover all the means ordained
of God to save sinners. And then he says this about those
willing followers, Luke 9 24. He said, whosoever shall save
his life shall lose it. Now don't forget all the things
that I just said. This is not changing the subject. This is the same subject. Whosoever shall save his life
shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake,
the same shall save it. What's he talking about, saving
your life? What in the world is he talking
about? He's talking about what he's been talking about. He's
talking about your unwillingness to alter your life for him. You're going to save your life.
You like it. You're comfortable. I've had
this life since I was born. And I've worked hard for it.
And I have it. And I'm in this place. And I'm
connected in this place. And I have friends in this place.
I don't want to give up my life. I ain't willing to alter it to
follow him. That's what he's talking about. A man will attempt to preserve
what he calls his life by compromise. Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm
just gonna cut the edge off. I'm just gonna cut the edge off.
I'm not gonna deny election, but here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna say God looked down through the telescope of time
and saw who would or who would not decide to come to him. Your God has to look through
a telescope. He's God. Huh? He knows the end from the
beginning, because He is the beginning and the end. He knows
all that. We'll just compromise. We'll
just cut off the edge. We'll just be quiet when we should
be sounding a clear note. We'll just Back off. We'll just
back off. We won't say nothing. Refusing
the very commandments of Christ for the sake of his relationship
with his wife or his family. Oh, my soul. A man's foes, Christ
said, shall be they of his own household. They don't know it.
Satan's using them. They don't know what they're
doing. Our Lord said, In the book of
Matthew, he said this. He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me. He's not worthy of me. In other words, here's your mother
and father. You grew up here, you live right beside her. But
the Lord goes this way. And you say, well, I'd follow
him, but he's gonna mess up my life. So I'm just gonna stay
put. He that loveth father or mother
more than me, not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter
more than me, not worthy of me. Am I going to stay in this place? Because my children are in this
place, and I want to be with them, but the Lord's over here,
and He told me to follow Him. And I said I was willing. Now,
am I going to stay here? You better not. He that loveth son or daughter
more than me not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross
and followeth after me is not worthy of me. How often we try to disguise
our rebellion to Christ with a pretense of love and concern
for our family. And I'm gonna tell you something
about Christ. You either love him or you hate him. There's
nothing in between. Nothing in between. Is not this attempting to save
our lives? Here I am. I have no gospel,
no pastor, no assembly to meet with. Why do I stay? I love what Brother Mahan said
one time. He said, your condition is not going to change until
you change your condition. That's right. Here I am. I have no gospel,
no pastor, no assembly. Then why do I stay in such a
place? Because I can't take myself out of the equation. I'm trying
to save my life. I'm trying to preserve what I
love. I'll tell you something else
our Lord said. He said, where your treasure is, where your heart is. Oh, my soul. That's your treasure. I want to be in worship service,
but I need to do this, I need to do that, I need to do something
else. You don't need anything worse than you need to be right
here. I'm telling you the truth. You don't need anything. You
might want something, but you don't need anything like you
need this. If I give myself to Christ and
follow him, and if I follow him, that's where the assembly's gonna
be. Isn't it? He's gonna be with his people. I'm gonna tell you something.
If you read through the four Gospels, you'll never find Christ
alone. There's always people following
him. They follow him, they follow
him. Forgive myself to Christ and
follow him with his assembly. And my wife can't stand it. We'll
probably wind up splitting. Probably will. Save it or lose it, this is what
Christ is telling us. This is what it means to follow
him. What it means to follow him. To lose your life for his sake
is to follow him, taking all that you have out of the equation.
I follow him. Now I'm not saying you're gonna
lose your wife. I don't know whether you will or not, but
you'll be willing to if you follow him. You'll be willing. Now let me read this and I'll
quit, verse 25. For what is a man advantaged,
that's why he won't follow any. There's some advantage for him
to stay. There's something there that
he can't part with. Something there that lures him.
I've likened this before in my messages. You remember the little
rascals? I watched them when I was just a boy. I know I'm
telling my age, but I watched the little rascals and they had
this cart and had this goat that pulled the cart and had a stick
and it had a string on it with a carrot. When they wanted to
go, they'd pull that thing down there, dangle that carrot out
there, and that'll go to him. Go for that carrot, and he'll
pull that cart. That's what Satan does. He dangles
that carrot. He dangles your family, your
wife, your job. He just dangles that carrot,
and away you go. And here's what the Lord said.
What is a man advantaged? I got peace in my family, but
I lost my soul. I got a great job, but now I'm
a-burnin' hell. What is a man advantaged if he
gains the whole world and loses himself? What are you
advantaged? Nothin'. Nothin'. Those who follow after Christ
follow him willingly. denying themselves, bearing their
cross, and losing their lives for his sake. He is the only
advantage that you need. Everything's in him.