Let's take our Bibles and turn
back to the book of Mark. Mark chapter 8. Mark chapter 8. A few weeks ago, I dealt with verses
out of Mark 8. We looked at verses 22 to Verse
26, that's when the Lord healed that man who was blind and came
to him. Scripture says, let him out of
town spitting his eyes and asked the man what he saw and he said,
I see men, there's trees walking. The Lord touched him, saw all
men clearly. Then the next time we looked
at that passage, starting in verse 27, when the Lord asked
His disciples, who do men say that I am? I, the Son of Man,
am. And they said, well, this prophet, that prophet. Who do
you say I am? That's when they said, you're
the Christ. You're the anointed. You're the scent of heaven. Well,
today I'd like to deal with verses 34 through 38 And I've entitled this message,
Coming to Christ. Coming to Christ. Now, let me
remind us of something. There's a day coming when every soul is going to be
called into account before the just and holy God. Every soul is going to give account. Now there's one thing that you
don't want. Let me tell you something. Let
me tell you what you don't want. You don't want to have to give account
to God for yourself, in yourself. You don't want that. The earth and all things that
are created are going to be destroyed. There's not going to be anything
left of this creation except all souls are going to be before
the judgment. And our Lord is getting ready
to set forth in this passage of scripture that we'll consider,
Lord willing, in a moment, the evidence of either having been
left to ourself, which you don't want. You don't want that. I heard someone say one time,
they said, I want accountability. Let me tell you what I don't
want. I don't want accountability before God for me, in myself,
no. Almighty God has given some evidence and this evidence is going to
be that which is the foundation of either standing in yourself
are standing in Christ. It's going to be one or the other.
That's the only kind of people there are. That's the only kind
of souls there are. Oh, the preciousness of being
found in Christ. To possess a soul that is of
God's creation, a soul that Almighty God accepts
in the Beloved. That soul that called forth the
entire council of the whole persons of the Godhead. Listen, if there
is one saved by the grace of God, If there's one saved by the grace
of God, a soul that is saved by grace, the unity, the agreement of the
thrice holy God demanded agreement. God's in agreement with Himself.
Just, I'm telling you, the agreement of the thrice holy God was demanded. The agreement of God, Father,
Son, Spirit, Jehovah, demanded that soul salvation. That soul whose redemption demanded
the precious blood of Christ. It's payment. That soul whose regeneration
it called into being was totally the work of God the Holy Spirit.
That soul that is ministered to by God through the service
of holy angels, ministering spirits, It took God to purpose it, that
soul's life. It took God's shed blood to redeem
that fallen creature. It took the Spirit of God to
regenerate and God ministers. Now, concerning that soul, let's
look at Scriptures here for a few minutes. Mark chapter 8, 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, take up his cross, and follow me. Whosoever. There's going to be some whosoever's
that come after Christ. You know, based upon what you've
heard me preach, preach and preach this morning and prior to, these
whosoever's are those that God has been pleased to call to himself. But these whosoever's, they do
something. They actually do something of
the heart. This is not an outward thing.
What do they do? They come after Christ. They
come to Him. This act, it is an act of the
new man, one that's been regenerated by the grace of God, that does
something in his heart I don't see something I don't
see in your heart. I don't know what's going on.
I see you sitting here. There's something that I can't
see about you. And it's that inner man. I don't see that. You're just
looking at me. I don't see what you're thinking. I don't know
what you know. God knows. I don't. But there
is a spiritual action that takes place in a new man. In the rebirth,
it's a coming after Christ. And it's a coming by faith. I'm
going to tell you a little bit more about this coming in just
a second. But it's a coming, and it is
wrought by faith. Hebrews 11.6 says, without faith. Okay, now what is faith? The scripture says it is the
substance. It's something. This is a Bible. How do I know it's a Bible? Well,
I'm looking at it. It's got leather on the outside. It's got some
paper. It's got black ink on white paper. It's got some markers,
things. It's substance. It's got substance
to it. I'm looking at it. This is not a Bible right here.
That's my hand. I don't have anything in my hand. This is
substance right here. Faith is the substance of things that are expected,
hoped for. I believe when Scripture says
that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to appear in the latter
day, the trump of God's going to sound, I'll tell you what
I believe. I believe that I'm going to hear it. I'm going to
hear the trump of God. I'm going to hear it. I'm going
to hear it. Everybody's going to hear it.
Everybody's dead, alive, those in the grave, those that knew
God, who didn't know God, they're going to hear it. The trump of
God is going to sound. And the Lord with all of His
holy angels and all the departed saints are going to return. Those that died in Christ are
going to be raised from the dead. They're going to meet Him in
the air. Show me the substance of that.
You show me that. I believe it. I believe it. I believe God. I believe it.
You believe that, friend? I believe God. I believe that's
going to happen. Faith is the substance of things hoped for,
expected. It's the evidence of things that
are not seen. Prove to me that God Almighty
elected a people before the foundation. You prove that to me. You show
me that. I can show you the words. I can
show you the words in this Bible. I can show you the words, but
I cannot prove it to you. God proves it to you by faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. For he that cometh to God. Let me tell you what the heart
of cometh to God means. He that cometh to God. Worships. That's what it means. Worships.
He that worships God. I'm going to bow. In my heart, I bow to him. You
can't see that. You can't see that. But I'm telling
you, in the heart of a believer, that's how he knows. He believes
it. He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and He is
a rewarder of them that diligently... Properly. That's what that word
means. Properly. He that diligently
seeks Him. That properly seeks Him according
to these Scriptures. This is how you diligently seek
Him. I believe what He says. So this
coming. It's a heart action. A new heart
action. God's got to give a new heart
first. The old man don't believe God.
He's dead. He can't believe God. But God
gives a new heart and he willingly comes in his heart. He comes
by faith. He's made willing by faith in
the day of God's power. He doesn't come to the front. He doesn't come to the altar.
He doesn't come to the baptismal pool. He doesn't come to the
church. Whosoever will come after me. I don't come to the doctrines
of grace. I believe, I believe that man is totally depraved.
I believe that God elected a people unconditionally without any looking
down. He didn't. I believe that when
Christ died on the cross, I believe He died for the sheep. Because
that's what John 10, 15 says. That's what I believe. Did He
die for everybody without exception? No. He did not die for everybody
without exception. How do you know? Because He says
He didn't. I believe when the Spirit of
God comes to a sinner, and gives him a new heart, and gives him
a new spirit, and a new love, and gives him faith, that sinner
willingly now, he comes after Christ, he follows. I believe
God's going to persevere his people. I believe he's going
to keep them. I believe that. But I'm going to tell you something.
I believe those things. I believe them. But that's not
my hope. That's not my hope. My hope is
Christ. My hope is a person. A person. My wife and I love each other. And if I was going to describe
her, I could give some characteristics. I could tell you that I'm taller
than she is. I could tell you that I'm a man
and she's a woman. I can tell you a lot of things. But I'm
going to tell you something. It's not all those characteristics.
I love her. I love her. Whosoever will come
after me. So when a believer, made so by
the grace of God, comes to Christ, he knows something. It wasn't
within himself to do this, I know that, you know that. We learn
that, we learn more of that. We grow in the knowledge of our
Lord and Savior. But when a believer comes, in
his heart, by faith, willingly, He just worships God. That worship. You hear the Scriptures
being preached right here. Whenever a man or woman, when
you come to this, you know what you're doing? I believe what
I'm hearing. That's coming to Christ. I believe
Him. I believe when He died. I believe,
just like I told you before, when Aaron went to the... to minister in the tabernacle
in the wilderness, and he'd go in there with that breastplate
on, he had those twelve stones with all the names of the tribes
of Israel on it, and he had a stone here, six names here, six names
here, and he'd walk in there and he'd be representative. That's
what he was doing, he was a representative. He was representing somebody.
He was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, a great high priest.
A picture of him who is the one that ever liveth to make intercession
for his people. And this is what Aaron was doing.
I believe with all my heart when Christ died, he knew all of his
people that he was dying for. He knew them. He said, I know
my sheep. Him that cometh to God. And this coming, it starts
in time. There's no doubt about it. in time, but once a believer
is given a heart to believe, he doesn't quit believing. He doesn't quit believing. He
continues to believe God because he's kept. Does he waver? Does he stumble? Does he doubt? Does he falter? Yes! Yes! But what does the Lord do? He
graciously picks him up. We're like little children, you
know, that need to be taught, need to be coddled, and need
to be, you know, Lord, tender, tender mercy, tender, long-suffering. Oh, how many times that word
long-suffering comes to me. Lord, thank you for your long-suffering. I need, I need to be reminded
of the long-suffering of God. There's that coming to grow.
Whosoever, whosoever, will come after me. Let him deny himself. Let him deny himself. I look
this word up. I always have to keep looking
them up again. I'm just so forgetful. What does that mean, deny himself?
Here's what it means. Lose the acquaintance with. Lose
the acquaintance with. to forget your own interest. Whosoever will come after me,
let him deny himself, let him disown, let him declare, I have
no acquaintance in agreement with me as I'm born in Adam. I have no agreement Somebody
said, I don't see how in the world you can do that. That's
impossible to not agree with yourself. Well, I'm going to
tell you something. Every believer knows what I'm
talking about. How much do you agree with your old man? That old man that is by nature
a child of wrath against him that hates him, That old man
is still in you? He's still in me? Don't tell
me he's not there. Paul said, I know that in me,
that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. I know that. You
that know it, do you know that? Yeah, you know it. Yeah, you
know it. Yeah. How easy is it to just
talk ourselves out of Doing anything. Scriptures, reading scriptures.
Man, I can watch a football game. If it's three and a half hours,
I can watch that game. Ain't no problem. Ain't no problem.
If it goes into overtime, I don't care. I don't care. If that thing
goes four hours, four hours and 15 minutes, man, that was a game. What a game. I loved it. Why? Because it feeds me. Feeds my
old flesh. You know, I want to be fair.
I want to be fair, but I hope we stomp them. I hope we just,
and I'll watch it to the very end. How long can I sit here and read
scriptures at night? If it's at night, oh, especially
if it's at night, it don't take me long. I'm just, it wears,
you know, my, it just, it's wearisome on the old man. He just hates
it. You that know him. Do you deny that? I deny that. I deny. Let him deny himself. Let him deny himself. And let
him also do something else. Whosoever will come after me,
let him deny himself. Deny that he's got any part in
the maintenance of his soul, of persevering himself, come
to me for the first time. Let him deny himself. Lord, you
alone have shown mercy to me. to this undeserving sinner, let
him deny himself and take up his cross. Now what cross? Let him take up his suffering
is what it is. Let him take up his suffering.
It's his suffering. Now there's no doubt that all
believers suffer. We suffer afflictions, and we get sick, and we have
problems with money, and we have problems with family, and we
have problems with this. But this cross that a believer
takes up, what is the cross? that every believer, every believer,
every believer, everybody suffers these natural things, everybody
suffers that. But across it, a believer takes up. Let me tell
you what it is. It's the reproach that is born
from the world and from, I'm talking about from unbelievers.
It's the reproach that's born for the sake of the Lord Jesus
Christ and His testimony in the gospel. It's what you believe concerning
his suffering. Like I said a few minutes ago,
for whom did Christ die? He died for his sheep. What does
the world say? He died for everybody. Now you
know what they're going to think about you when you say he didn't
die for everybody? Let me tell you something that'll
get the world off top dead center right fast, right quick, right
quick. That's a good saying, right quick.
I'll tell you what gets them off top dead center real fast.
Telling them that God doesn't love everybody and Christ didn't
die for everybody. Now buddy, that right there,
that right there is a burden that is borne by every believer
and he holds to it. But I'm telling you, that's a
cross. That's the cross that he bears.
His testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. That ridicule, that opposition. Whosoever will come after me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. And
follow me. Surrender to the Lord's leadership
and direction according to the Scriptures. Led by the Spirit
of God. For whosoever, verse 35, will
save his life, shall lose it, Whosoever shall lose his life
for my sake and the gospels, the same shall save him. Now
notice that verse right there, verse 35, started with the word
for, because, here's the reason. He just said, whosoever will
come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow
me, because, because, because, for. Whosoever will save his life,
whosoever will protect, preserve his life, his reputation, and not deny himself, not be willing to suffer the
ridicule, whosoever will save his life,
he's going to lose it. You're going to lose it. I'm
telling you, God's people are witnesses. They'll bear the reproach. They'll bear the reproach of
men. They'll bear the reproach whether it's their family, their
workers, co-workers, whoever it is. There's a high cost. associated with coming to Christ.
There's a high cost, I'm telling you, right now. Hold your place
and turn to Luke 14, 25. Luke 14, 25. Luke 14, 25. And there went great multitudes
with him. A lot of people were following him. There went great
multitudes with him. And he turned and he said unto
them, he said, if any man come to me, and he hate not his father,
his mother, his wife, his children, his brethren, his sisters, yea,
his own life also, He cannot be my disciple. And whosoever
does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Friend, let me tell you the evidence
of following Christ, coming after Christ. It may cost you your
reputation, your association, your livelihood, your family, but a man or woman that has been
given a new heart for Christ. If you had to make that decision,
it's either going to be me or this. Me or this. Me or this. It's either going
to be my life or this. Something else. something else,
rather than following after Christ, he'll give it up. He'd rather preserve his life
than have an association. What if it costs me my family? What if my family turns their
back on me? What if my family won't have
anything to do with me? What if it gets to a point where
I can't have any conversation whatsoever? I can't have any conversation
concerning the glory of Christ without there being a fight.
What if my family tells me, they say, now listen, if this is what
you're going to believe, then I'm not going to have anything
to do with you. You know what a believer will do? He'll let
them go. What if it's my kids? What if
it's your kids? What if it's your wife? What
if it's your husband? What does the scripture says? The Lord Jesus Christ has declared,
I'll read it to you, don't turn back. Luke 14, 25. There went great multitude with
him, and he turned and said to them, if any man come after me
and hate not." Does that mean I'm going to have to hate my
father, my mother, you know? Compared to loving them over
the Lord is what he's talking about. What will you do? You'll
give them up. And you'll cleave to Christ.
That's what you'll do. If any man come to Me and hate
not his father, his mother, his wife, his children, his brethren,
his sisters, yea, his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. Back in Mark 8, verse 36-37,
What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose
his own soul? What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? What is it going to profit you?
What's it going to profit you? I'm just too busy, I've got stuff,
I've got this to do, I can't, I don't have time to, I don't
have time to, you know, I mean this, I don't mind coming to
church, you know, I don't mind that, but I've got things, mess,
and stuff. What shall it profit a man if he has everything in this
world? He gains the whole world and loses his soul. What shall
a man give in exchange for his soul? What's it going to profit
you catering to this world's economy, and this world's religion,
and this world's pleasures, and this world's cares, the love
of money, the applaud of men, the patting on the back? What's
it going to profit you? What are you going to profit
by that? I just told you, I just told you the other day, many
times. I remember growing up in Louisiana, stuff, you know,
mom and dad had. The restaurant, the aluminum
company, all the stuff, the land. And it just always amazed me
that after all of that stuff that I remember, and seeing my
mother come down to one One little old room. One little old room. She was so tickled to be able
to sit in a chair. Just sit in a chair. Read, look
out the window. That's what she'd tell us. I'd
say, what have you been doing today, mom? Well, I'd look over this way, and I'd
look out the window. I'd look over this way, and I'd look at
the hallway. And I thought, what an amazing. Come down to nothing. She had nothing. Nothing. Didn't
have a car, didn't have a house, didn't have nothing. What's it
going to profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his
soul? What's he going to give in exchange?
What are you going to give to deliver your soul out of its
miserable state when you stand before it? What are you going
to give? Talk about all the stuff, what
are you going to give? Oh, the preciousness in closing
of a man's soul from damnation. The preciousness of a soul that
has been made righteous in Christ before God. Here's the preciousness
of it. God made it. The Lord God formed
man out of the dust and he breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life. Man became a living soul. A soul. But something happened
to the garden. It died. It died. What's God going to have to do
for that man, for that woman? He's going to make him another
one. He's going to make a new one. He's going to make a new
man. He's going to give that man a new soul, a new life. He's going to make a new man.
And that new man is going to be created in righteousness,
in precious union with the Lord Jesus Christ. One with Him. A new soul. How precious it is. God made
it. Oh, to have that, something's
going to have to be done with the old man. That rebellion,
Christ bore the debt that God owed to him. Again, the message
from a while ago, God's not going to just sweep it under the counter
concerning what we had done. That old soul that died, something's
going to have to be done with that. Something's going to have
to pay. He paid the debt of his people. And whenever God's pleased, Give
a man, a woman, a new soul. He does it in time. He purposed
it from eternity, but He does it in time. And He comes to them
again under the sound of this gospel right here. Not telling
them the best that they can do. I can tell you the best you can
do. You can't do anything. I can't either. But I can tell you this,
God comes to a sinner, a needy sinner, and gives him a new heart. regenerating grace. Paul 38,
whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous
and sinful generation. Man, the things that I've just
heard, you've just heard, God help me not to be ashamed of
that. Lord, I don't want to be ashamed of that. I know what
I am. By your grace, you've taught
me what I am by nature. I know what I am, Lord. I know I can't do anything for
myself. I know that. If I have any hope
before you, it's going to be because you chose to show mercy
to me. I know that. God, help me not to be ashamed
of you and ashamed of your words. 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 cometh in the
glory of his Father with the holy angels." Lord, give me a
heart. Give me a heart and teach me.
Lord, You're the God that deals justly with sin. Lord, give me
a heart to know You've dealt with my sin in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You've put away my debt, cast
it as far as the east is from the west. I couldn't do that.
How am I going to do that? I don't even know how far it
is from east to west. I don't know how far that is. How do I get it off of me? It's
in me. It's what I am. You can go in
there and take the most skilled surgeon in the world and try
to dissect how you're going to get sin out of you. It's the
very fiber of everything that I am. I can't do that. But I believe, Lord, that you
said, that you took my sin, you put it on your son. I believe
that. As crazy as that sounds to the world, I believe it. Because
I'm going to tell you something, if he didn't do it, I don't have
any other hope. That's all I got. All I got. When he died, he died
for me. That's all I got. All I got is
that when he laid down his life, he shed his blood, and he had
my name, he had Marvin Stoniker on his heart. I'm doing this
for Marvin. All I got right now is when he
died, the Father accepted it. I believe he accepted it. I believe
right now, by the grace of God, I stand before God accepted in
the beloved. That's all I got. That's all
I got. God help me to not be ashamed
of that. Lord that you not be ashamed
of me in that day for your glory and my good. Amen.