I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Mark, chapter
8. Mark, chapter 8. I'd like to deal with verses
34 to 38, but before we look at the Lord's Word, let's ask
His blessing. Our Father, as we call, pleading,
knocking, asking, seeking, at the door of your mercy, Lord,
would you speak tonight. Would you bless the Word to our
understanding, help us to worship, and Lord, forgive us for Christ's
sake. Amen. Mark 8, 34, 38. 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. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake and the gospels, the same shall save it. But what
shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his
own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be
ashamed of me and of 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."
Now this passage of scripture is one that every regenerated
sinner desperately desires that the Holy Spirit give him some
light. This passage of scripture deals
with coming to Christ and how a man, a woman, comes to Christ. Now, I want to hear something
about that. I've heard this before. Coming
to the Lord. What does God have to say about
that? And when He had called the people
unto Him with His disciples, now, here's His disciples and
all the people that's with them, and they're standing there and
they're listening to the Lord, and the Lord says, Whosoever
will come after Me, Coming after Christ. Now what
is that? Coming after Christ. To come
after Christ, I know that this is so. It's an act of the soul. It's the act of a new man. An old man doesn't come. He doesn't
want to come. He's dead. Trespasses his sin.
but whosoever will come after me." It is a spiritual act where
a man or woman does nothing outwardly, but inwardly they venture their
very life upon the Lord Jesus Christ. for he is life, and they
venture all that they are." That sinner, regenerated by the grace
of God, absolutely cast himself in a spiritual manner upon the
Lord, and all the while knows that the power and ability to
do so was not found in himself. but totally in God. For it is
God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good
pleasure. Whosoever will come after me,
a believer right now, you're sitting there, you're just looking
back, I'm looking at you, you're looking at me, but I'm going
to tell you what a believer's doing. As they hear the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ in their heart, they come to Christ. They
come to Him. They think upon Him. They worship. They hear His voice. Now this
distinguished group of people, these whosoevers. Whosoever. I know this, that they're not
men or women left to their own discretion. I know that. I know that. Whosoever. I don't
know who they are. The Lord knows who they are.
But the whosoevers that come to the Lord, I know that the
Lord distinguished them when He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Now I know that that's who's
coming. I know that they're the whosoever's. They're the ones that were chosen
in Christ Jesus from before the foundation of the world. I know
that they're the ones that the Lord died for. I know that He
redeemed them. I know He did. I know that He
put away their debt by the shedding of His own blood. And I know
that the Spirit of God is going to effectually call them. How is the Lord going to call
them? Through the preaching of the gospel. Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation. So if there is a desire, within
the heart of a sinner. One made to see himself as a
sinner. If there is a desire to follow
after the Lord Jesus Christ, the very fact that there is a
desire in the heart is a miracle of God's grace. Because left
to ourselves, I know this, you will not come. You will not come
to me that you might have life. Now about these whosoevers. Whosoever will come after me. Here's how
he's going to come. First of all, let him deny himself. Let him disown the credit of
possessing or producing. First of all, that desire to
come. Let him disown, let him deny
himself. Here's what he's going to say,
Lord, I'm coming because you called. Lord, I desire you because
you called me. I love you because you love me
first. Let him deny himself. Let him
deny that he has absolutely any righteousness that God's going
to accept. Let him deny himself. What does
the Scripture say concerning a man's righteousness before
God? A man's righteousness. We are
all, as an unclean thing, And all of our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags, and we do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities
like the wind have taken us away. So if a man will come after Christ,
let him deny himself, deny his opinion, deny his confidence,
deny his wisdom, deny having a will that is free from God's
will. The Lord's will. Let the Lord's
will be done. Not my will, the Lord prayed
that. Not my will, but thine be done. Let him deny himself. If I've been turned, Lord, you've
turned me. Next, if a man will come after
Christ, let him take up his cross. That's what the Lord said. The
cross, of which our Lord speaks, are these God-appointed sufferings,
chastisements, afflictions, and persecutions sent by the Lord
to His people because of His love for them. He has wisely
ordained that we shall endure in this life. In this life, you're
going to suffer persecution. We're going to be reminded that
this life is temporal. It's fading. There's no rest. There's no peace in this world. In the world, tribulation. You let the world and its religion
speak of all of its constant prosperity and let them all talk
about, you know, if you're really right with God, you're going
to, everything's going to be, you know, hunky-dory and there
will be no problems. I'm going to tell you something.
We're going to have tribulation, but be of good cheer. The Lord
says, I've overcome the world. You let us be found faithful
in the defense, the confirmation of the gospel. that blessed message
of God's free grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever will
come after me in his heart, let him deny himself, take up his
cross, and here's the third thing, and follow me. Follow me. Follow me. Let him by grace surrender
to the Lord's leadership, direction, according to the Scriptures and
according to God's providence. Who orders every step that we
take? The Lord. Why has my path gone
this way and yours has gone that way? It's because the Lord willed
it. Because He ordered it and ordained it. The Spirit of God
directs and leads and guides and let Him follow me. He's worthy
to be followed. Let us follow after Him being
examples to the brethren. Let us follow after Him as needy
sinners readily admitting that we have no sense of direction.
I don't know what to do. What do I do? Lord, guide me. Lord, you lead me. Lord, you
direct me. Verse 35, for 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. Now, life is a precious thing. You know, Satan appealed to the
natural desire of a man to maintain his life whenever the Lord asked
Satan, have you considered my servant Job? Faithful man, one
that, you know, upright, sheweth evil. And Satan told him, he
said, yeah, but you've got this, you've got this hedge about him.
And the Lord said, well, you can kill him, but you can touch
his stuff. Well, what happened? He lost
his family, lost his kids, he lost his livestock. Everything was taken. What did Job say when all of
that happened? He says, naked came I out of
my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave,
the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord in all
this. Job sinned not, nor charged God
foolishly. But then Satan said, well, skin
for skin. Yea, all that a man hath will
he give for his life, but put forth thine hand now, and touch
his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
And the Lord allowed Satan to touch him, and you know what
happened, he had boys. But by God's grace, the Lord
kept him. Many professors, you know, they
make claim, I know Peter did, they'll lay down their life for
the Lord. And by the grace of God, the
Lord told Peter, he said, Satan hath desired to have you, sick
just wait, I've prayed for you, that your faith fail not. And then the Lord told Peter,
when it came time for Peter to die, Or not yet. Lord willing, we'll look at this
next time I preach out of John. Whenever Peter met with the Lord,
and the Lord asked him three times, Lovest thou me? And lovest
thou me? And lovest thou me? And then
the Lord told him this. He said, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest
where thou wouldest. When thou shalt be old, thou
shalt stretch forth thy hand, another shall gird thee, carry
thee, whether thou wouldest not. Get that wording right there.
This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify
God. And when he had spoken this, he had said unto him, follow
me. When the Lord told Peter, he
said, another shall gird thee and carry thee, whether thou
wouldest not. He was telling Peter, the Lord
said concerning, or the Spirit of God said concerning his death.
And there's coming a time, Peter, when you're going to die. And
that's not what you would have chosen. It won't be what you
would have chosen. You're going to be carried whether
thou wouldest not. Man by nature possesses a soul
that is bound to this body for a time. And man by nature has
a desire not to die. He was created to live forever. The thought of dying is not something
that is a... that which people go around and
just really hunger after. I mean, we will preserve ourselves. But that's not the totality of
what the Lord is speaking of when He talks about, in verse
35, "...for whosoever will save his life shall lose it." There
is a way in which a man by nature will seek to save his life. And that is, he does not by nature
desire to bear the reproach that comes from the world to those
that believe God. There is a high cost. Hold your place right there.
Turn to Luke 25. Luke 25. I'm sorry, 14 of 25. Luke 14,
verse 25. Luke 14, 25. And there went great multitudes with him,
and he turned and he said unto them, If any man come to me." Now,
we're talking about coming to Christ. And men, women say, I
want to come to the Lord. The Lord said, if any man come
to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,
and brethren, sisters, yea, and his own life also, He cannot be my disciple. Was the Lord literally telling
that there must be true hatred in the heart for these family
members and brethren and stuff? No. Here's what He's saying. Nobody Nothing comes before me. If a man will come after me,
he's going to be first. He's going to be first. Or you
cannot be my disciple. Whosoever will save his life
in this world, well, this is just going to be too expensive.
I got a reputation. I've got stuff, I've got associations,
I've got my livelihood, I've got my family. And a man that
will save himself in this life, save this life, rather preserve
these temporal things than be his disciple. Now, there's time
to always have to clarify this. Now a lot of you men, women,
I know this. You do shift work and you say,
I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about when you can. Whatever is a man's love, that's
what he's going to do. And he will forsake all other
things for the glory of Christ. Whosoever will save his life, his reputation, everything, shall
lose it. But whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake and for the Gospels, the same shall save
it. What shall it profit a man if
he shall gain the whole world? and lose his own soul? Or what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Oh, the preciousness
of a soul. All souls are mine. God has created
and shall create, till he comes back, all souls. The Lord made it. The scripture
says, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became
a living soul. Seat of life where God himself
resided before the fall Life It was alive man was alive because
God was there The Lord Jesus says I am the
way The truth and the life He is life itself. Life. And man's soul is what
differentiates a man from a dog. It's that seat whereby reasoning
and the ability to know God. A soul. A living soul. and man foolishly
and disobediently ruined and treated that soul with ignorant
disregard in the garden. The Lord told Adam, in the day
that you eat, you're gonna die. Your soul is gonna die. And when
he ate, when he took of that fruit and ate, life was vacated. And for the first time, things
that he had never known before, fear, darkness, separation, he
was separated. Adam, where are you? I was afraid. Did you eat That soul of a man, everyone
is born with a soul, but from the fall of Adam until right
now, every soul born into this world is born dead. Dead in trespasses and sins. It's a soul. It's that seat of creation that God Almighty
has placed within a man, a woman. It's that seat of understanding
and reasoning. Man is born dead. He's a dead soul. But that soul is there and that
soul lives forever. It never dies. It's not going
to die. It will not die. It's going to spend eternity
in one or two places, either in hell or in glory. But it's
not going to die. What must be done because of
that soul that has been ruined by sin? What must be done to
give any hope? What's going to have to be done?
It's going to have to be redeemed. It's going to have to, the debt
of that darkened soul because of sin, that debt that is owed
to God's law is going to have to be satisfied. And the only thing that will
satisfy the debt is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
that soul must be redeemed Listen to this. Take heed, therefore,
unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers. Feed the church of God which
he hath purchased with his own blood, redeemed. I've done this
before. Years and years ago, we had S&H
Green Stamps. You'd get them at the grocery
store. And mom had a big old pile of them. And we would take
them and, you know, take a little thing of water and squeeze out
your egg, put it on the back of it, put it in a book. You
got so many books, you went down to the redemption. There's a
coffee pot. What is the redemption price
of that coffee pot? Five books of green stamps. Okay, got five books right here.
They take them, count them, you know. There you go. Purchased. What is the cost of the redemption
of a soul? It is the blood of Christ. Without the shedding of blood,
His blood, There is no remission. There is no purchase. Psalm 34.22,
The Lord redeemed the soul of His servants, and none of them
that trust in Him shall be desolate. You consider the mercy of God
that redeemed the soul of His people. That soul polluted by
sin from Adam's fall. The Lord Jesus Christ bore their
guilt, their sin, their burden, and made it His own. Mine iniquity,
Psalm 40, taken hold upon me. They were His. And in redeeming
grace, the Holy Spirit, the debt having been paid by the blood
of Christ, in regenerating grace when it pleased God, The Spirit
of God imparts life into the soul. The soul is there. It's dead. There's a new man
created in Christ Jesus. Man's got a soul. And that soul
redeemed, it's going to cost. the blood of Christ. Is there
any other redemption price? No. What shall it profit a man
if he gain the whole world and lose his soul? What shall a man
give in exchange for his soul? What can a man give? to deliver
his soul out of its miserable state. A man, I can't redeem
myself. I'm the dead one. What am I going
to give if I had all the world and was willing to give all the
world for the redemption of my soul? It's not enough. it's going to perish. Sinner,
look not to yourself. I'm telling you, if a man leaves
this world unconverted, that soul is unrecoverable. There's a great gulf fixed. That's
what the Lord told, you know, the rich man and Lazarus. The
rich man died and lifted up his eyes out of hell. Lazarus was
found in the bosom of Abraham. Father Abraham, could you have
Lazarus go back and dip his finger, cool my tongue, and go back and
tell my brothers, can Lazarus come over here to me? There's
a great gulf. No recovery. A soul lost is damned
forever. Sometimes I just try to think
on that forever. Forever. No end. No hope. A lost soul, the way that a man
leaves this world is a way he spends eternity. That's what
Revelation 22 11. He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. He that is filthy, let him be
filthy still. He that is righteous, let him
be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy
still. Last verse. Whosoever therefore
shall be ashamed of me and of 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." Now this final warning is coming from the Lord,
found in these scriptures right here. Whosoever is ashamed You
know, if you're ashamed of somebody, you don't want to have, number
one, you don't really want to have any contact with them. I don't want to be associated
with you. I'm ashamed of you. I don't want to talk to you.
I don't want you talking to me. I'm ashamed of you. I'm ashamed
of you. Whosoever is ashamed to be attached
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, of me and of my
words, of the gospel of God's sovereign grace, whosoever is
ashamed of electing, redeeming, regenerating, and preserving
grace Whosoever is ashamed of the declaration of a man's total
depravity. I'm not ashamed to tell you I
don't have a free will. I don't have a free will. How
do you know that you don't have a free will? The Bible declares
that I'm dead I'm born dead in trespasses and sins. Now, what
can a dead man do? Nothing. What can a dead man
produce? Nothing. He's dead. I have got
to have the Lord do something for me before I'll ever respond. He's got to give me life. I can't
believe, Pat, until I have life. I can't love. I can't call. I can't desire. I can't do anything. He that is ashamed of me and
my words. Did the Lord tell Moses, I will,
I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. and I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion." Are you ashamed of that? Are
you ashamed of the Lord's words? That God has the right to show
mercy and compassion on whomsoever He will? Am I ashamed that the Lord Jesus
Christ said, I lay down my life for the sheep, that I pray not
for the world, but for those that you've given me out of the
world? Am I ashamed of that? He said, whosoever shall be ashamed
of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation
and dies in that state. Of Him also shall the Son of
Man be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His Father with
the holy angels." That's a sobering thought. Those who deny Him, He will deny before the Father and will hear Him say, Depart
from Me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Knowing that
there's coming a day in which the Lord Jesus Christ shall openly
make known all that He's everlastingly loved and all that He's everlastingly
not known in mercy and grace. May Almighty God have mercy upon
us. I pray this evening, Lord, I want to come. Lord, I want
to deny myself. I want to. And Lord, whatever
you see in my way, whatever it is, Lord, may I be found taking up
my cross that you've ordered for me. And may I be found following
you. For Christ's sake, for Christ's
honor, for Christ's glory, and for my eternal good.