So I want us this morning to
consider just a few words of our Saviour, found in Mark chapter
eight. And we'll be looking at verse
34 in particular. Let's read it together. Just
a few words. 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. Let's just read on to the rest
of the chapter. 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. For 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? Whosoever therefore 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. Whoever will come after me, Let
him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. That's the title of my message
today, follow me. Follow me. Notice there are four
things that the Lord declares here and they're true of every
believer. He comes, he denies himself,
he takes up his cross and he follows. I trust that you and
I are here today because we want to follow the Lord. And we might
ask, how do we do that? How do we do that? That's a common
question, isn't it? A common response. Men want to
do salvation. Men want to do salvation. And
some might look at these four things, these things as steps
to Christ, and they make the gospel complicated. like a formula
to follow. And after you follow that formula,
you arrive at some success. But all that is, is vain religion. And by vain religion I mean religion
without Christ. The word vain is actually used
quite a lot in the scriptures, over a hundred times in fact.
It can mean empty and unprofitable and meaningless. For example
in Ephesians 5, The text says, let no man deceive
you with vain words. That is, with empty words, with
unprofitable words. Words which have no benefit to
your soul. But the word vain can also mean
conceited. Conceited, that word means excessively
proud of oneself. And vain religion is just like
that. It's excessively proud of its own achievements. Vain
religion loves to measure spiritual progress. Some are very polished
at it, and they tick all the boxes, don't they? And those
that don't are left to wonder, am I really a Christian? Am I
really a believer? And so vain religion has a relentless
focus But as the Galatians teaches
us, all that ever does is provoke one another and cause envy with
one another. Vain religion loves to hear what
the next new thing is. Australia's largest online Christian
bookstore literally has hundreds of books dedicated to Christian
living and Christian behavior. It even tells you how to manage
your finances as a Christian. That's how to religion, how to. How to become a Christian, how
to tell the gospel. There's always some training course and some
seminar to go to, to equip you. But here are some simple words
of our Lord. Whosoever will come after me,
let him deny himself. and take up his cross and follow
me. My prayer for us today is that
we will see that these are things that are done for us and done
in us. They are done for us and in us. Everything pertaining to salvation
must be done for us. but the salvation of the Lord
will have an outworking in us. There's a wonderful verse in
Philippians that beautifully summarizes this very truth. Philippians 2 verse 13 says,
for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of
his good pleasure. I love that, I love that. It
is God that worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure. When the Lord passed by Matthew,
you remember when he was calling his disciples, he said unto him,
follow me. He followed him. He just simply
followed him. If we hear his voice, do we not
just simply follow him? That's a gospel that even a child
can understand, isn't it? The gospel needs to be understood
in a childlike fashion, simply. Why do we follow him? Well, we
want to be with him, don't we? That's why we follow him. So
before we look at our verse, I want us to recount just briefly
what has transpired in this chapter. Our Lord Jesus, along with his
disciples, has been visiting certain towns, teaching the people
and performing miracles. There was confusion among the
people as to who the Lord actually was. You read with me from Mark
8. And Jesus went out, and his disciples,
into the towns of Caesarea Philippi. And by the way, he asked his
disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And
they answered, John the Baptist. But some say Elias, and others
one of the prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom
say ye that I am? And Peter answered and saith
unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they
should tell no man of him. So the disciples followed the
Lord as his constant companions. And the people, the great crowds,
followed him around as well with great enthusiasm. In one account
in Mark chapter 6, the Lord and his disciples, they got on a
ship to go to a deserted place. But when the people saw them,
they knew where they were going, and they ran out ahead. And they
ran out from the cities and surrounding towns and everywhere. And they
found them. And when the Lord saw the people
gathered there, when he arrived, he was moved with compassion
toward them. Because they were sheep without
a shepherd. And he began to teach them, and
then he fed them by that miracle of the five loaves and the two
fishes. Five thousand men were fed that
day, not to mention the women and the children that must have
been there as well. All these people followed. They followed
the Lord Jesus for some reason. Some followed to hear the wisdom
that came from the Lord's mouth. Some perhaps to see a miracle.
Others to receive a healing. And some perhaps just to fill
their bellies. But some followed more zealously
than others. But no one truly understood.
No one understood what it was, in reality, to follow the Lord
Jesus. They didn't know the path the
Lord Jesus must take. The disciples knew that the prophets
spoke concerning the Lord Jesus, didn't they? And after the Lord
had found Philip, Philip ran to find Nathanael. And he said,
we found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did
write. And they followed him. They followed him on that information. But even the hearts of the disciples
were hardened, as the Lord had said. And then we have in our
chapter, our dear brother Peter. Angus has been showing us how
the Lord is merciful to us in our failings and our fallings. And Peter is a wonderful example
for us. Peter followed the Lord with
great zeal, great enthusiasm. But look what happened here with
Peter in verse 29 of Mark chapter eight. The Lord asked his disciples
the same question, and he saith unto them, But whom say ye that
I am? And Peter answereth, And saith
unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they
should tell no man of him. a good confession at this point,
doesn't he? He makes a good confession. But
then the Lord speaks of this path that he must tread. This
is why I have come, he's going to say in verse 31. And he began
to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and
be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests and scribes
and be killed and after three days rise again. And he spake
that saying openly. And Peter took him and began
to to rebuke him. But when he had turned about
and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get
thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the things that
be of God, but the things that be of men. Peter had earlier
confessed a good confession, just perhaps a few moments before,
and now moments later the Lord rebukes him sternly and sharply. He stood in the way, didn't he?
He stood in the way of the cross. He stood in the way of salvation.
He was thinking of the things of men, the Lord said. He was
thinking about the consequences this was to himself. And so the
rebuke of the Lord is exactly appropriate. And so Peter had
much to learn of what it was to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And so now the Lord teaches his
people, teaches his people. 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. Whoever will come after me. So when the Lord uses this term,
whosoever, I beg your pardon, whosoever, he is saying there's
no conditions to be met in man. The scripture tells us that with
the Lord there is no respect of persons. There is no respect
of persons with God. There is nothing you can do or
say or think to be of any consequence to God. It might come as a shock
to people. There is no respect of persons
with God. Whosoever will come after me.
God is calling his people, isn't he? He's calling his people from
every corner of the earth, from every kindred and tongue and
people and tribe and nation. Your history is of no consequence. Your lineage is no consequence.
Your past deeds are of no consequence. God doesn't look upon a man to
see if he's worthy. No man is worthy, no one. Truth
is, the less worthy you are, the better. If he calls, we come
as we are. We're just saying it, we come
as we are. Men vainly think they can do something to be of consequence
before God, to stand out from others, to make God take notice
of them. Men vainly think that. I've heard
men say, I came to Christ when I made a decision to walk down
the front of the church after response to an altar call. And
so they look back at some physical act they performed and they say,
there you go, that's when I came to Christ. And that's what the
religion of the world does. The religion of man begins with
man, doesn't it? It begins with man, and it begins
with something man does, but the religion of God, true religion,
begins with God, and is of God in its entirety. So when men
point to something they've done as evidence they come to Christ,
suddenly they have something to boast in, don't they? I came
to Christ. And in doing so, they rob God
of his glory. God's work is to bring men to
Christ. God will not share his glory with another, let alone
with a sinful, depraved human like me. And so we quote John
6. John 6 44 all the time because
there is such error concerning this matter John 6 44 says no
man can come to me except the father which has sent me draw
him If we are going to follow him
he must draw us What a good thing to remember No man can come pleading
anything. He's done in this corrupt body.
I When God draws a sinner to Christ, he draws him with invincible
power, irresistible power. He draws him with love, a love
which can never change or fade away. He draws him forever. When
God loves, he loves. He never stops loving. And in
fact, he's always loved his people. He's loved them from everlasting. People can love one moment and
hate the next, can't they? But our God changeth not. Gifts
and the calling of God are without repentance. That simply means
he doesn't change his mind. For God to change his mind, that
would indicate a deficiency in him, wouldn't it? And so when
God loves, he loves everyone. So we ask the question, is there
anything that can separate us from the love of God? And Romans
8 answers that beautifully for us. Of course we know. We know. Let me read it to you. This is
encouraging, isn't it? nor things present, nor things
to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord." Nothing. Is there anything in that list
that we've missed that might separate us from His love? This
is the confidence. This is the confidence believers
have. Our confidence is in His love for us, not in our love
for Him. God is the first cause of everything,
isn't He? If a man comes to the Lord Jesus
Christ, we immediately understand, don't we, that He is the first
cause of him doing so. And that is a wonderful thing.
There is a beautiful verse, a wonderful verse in Psalm 65, and I'm sure
you all know this and love this verse. This verse says, Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto
thee. And I love that he does the choosing,
I hope you do too. So what is it to come to Christ? What is it? What is the essence? I do know this, that coming to
Christ is a spiritual act. It's a spiritual act. For the
kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. These physical things, this world
is passing away. remain. So coming to Christ is
a spiritual act. It is a work of the Holy Spirit
of God. Coming to Christ is an act brought
in the heart of a chosen sinner by the sovereign will of God.
God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him
in spirit and in truth. So no doubt There is an outward
change, isn't there, that accompanies God-given faith. You can't have
an encounter with God and not be changed. But that outward
change is never a cause for our assurance. It's never a cause
for our assurance. Faith is the evidence. And even
then, even then, who can measure the faith of another? Let's just
simply trust that the Lord will gather his people together under
the sound of his gospel, and that gathering will include his
people. Our desire is to follow him.
We will desire to be with others, won't we, that follow him as
well. Whosoever will come after me,
who are they? Am I a whosoever? When the Lord
says, whosoever will come, he's not making an offer to men and
then waiting to see who will come. When the Lord says, whoever
will come, he's not saying, I don't know who they are. He wrote their
names in the Lamb's book of life. He chose them before the foundation
of the world. And in time, he gives them faith
to believe. And he says, follow me, follow
me. We don't know who they are. that
our God does. And so what do we do? What do
we do? We preach the gospel to anyone
who'll hear it. Because we know out of the sea
of humanity, God will infallibly draw all the whosoevers to himself. We do know, though, we do know
that these whosoevers will be believing ones. They'll be believing
ones, won't they? Who do they believe? They believe
God. Why do they believe? They believe
because God gave them faith to believe. And they believe because
God cannot lie. Their faith. Their faith. And what they're
believing is not the cause of God's love. God's love is the
cause of their believing. And what do they believe? They
believe everything, don't they? They believe everything that
God says, and they don't have a single objection. They believe
the testimony of God concerning his son, and they believe the
gospel message, that the Lord Jesus Christ lived a perfect
life before God on behalf of chosen sinners, and that the
Lord Jesus Christ accomplished their salvation in his death,
a blood-bought redemption. And that death, which was an
offering to God, was accepted by God, wasn't it? It was accepted.
The Lord says, whosoever will come. Whosoever will come. There is a problem. The natural
man will not come. The natural man has no desire
to come to Christ. The natural man is dead to the
things of Christ. Dead to the things of God. And
if God leaves a man to himself, that's the state he remains in.
He won't come. He can't come. He has no power
to come. He has no willingness to come. He has no desire to
come. In fact, he has no idea that he's even dead. He doesn't. He's dead. He has no consciousness
to godly things. No spiritual life and no spiritual
awareness unless God speaks life into him. So if you discover
in yourself a willingness to come to Christ, a desire for
Christ, that willingness and that desire can only be the result
of the work of the Lord upon you. It is a spiritual work that
only God can perform. In the book of Titus we read,
Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost. We have to be washed and we have
to be renewed. Not that old man, we're not washing
and we're not renewing that old man. That old man of sin, that
old man of the flesh remains the same. But that new man, born
of God. born of the Holy Ghost, that's
the man, that's the man who will live, which after God is created
in righteousness and in true holiness. He must be born again
as the Lord explained to Nicodemus. Let's read on. Whosoever will
come after me, let him deny himself, let him deny himself. No doubt
there are worldly and fleshly pleasures we ought to deny. But when men vow to deprive themselves
of certain comforts in this life, when men give themselves to some
type of service for God or any number of things that men do,
thinking that God will be impressed, such sacrifices can never bring
a man closer to God. Let him deny himself. What are we going to deny? What
is it that we're going to deny? Deny ourself? What is it? Perhaps first of
all, let him deny any credit for having
come to Christ. As I've already said, spiritually
speaking, we begin in this world spiritually dead and we cannot
lift a spiritual finger. to help ourselves or come to
Christ. Let a man deny himself, let him deny his own ability. We sing it every week, now under
him who is able to keep us from falling. We deny we are able
and we rejoice that he is able. Let him deny himself, let him
deny that he has any righteousness before God. Someone once said, it's not our
unrighteousness which keeps us from God, it's our righteousness.
Let him deny his own imaginary righteousness and look to Christ
for all righteousness. Let him deny himself. Let him
deny his own ways. The ways of a man live to death,
don't they? And the Lord said, I am the way.
I am the way. I'm the way and the truth of
my life. These are the things we deny, aren't they? Let him
deny his own will. Let him deny his own will as
any power in salvation. Not my will, but thy will be
done. That's our prayer, isn't it?
Let us deny the sinful flesh before God. James says, humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. Let him deny himself and take
up his cross. There are many things to say
about the cross. It speaks of humility and reputation
and obedience. Philippians 2 speaks so beautifully
of our Lord in this regard. Let me just read it to you. Philippians
2 verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. It seems little doubt to me that
the taking up of our cross, to take up his cross, is associated
with reproach. It's associated with persecution.
We know, don't we, along that path to Golgotha, our Lord endured
scorn and shame and mocking and unimaginable suffering. And by
their confession, the disciples, I beg your pardon, the disciples, also experienced terrible persecution. And we have in Hebrews 11 some
of those awful cruelties suffered by the Lord's people in those
early days. Before the birth of the Lord Jesus, these men
and women looked by faith to his coming and they endured.
They endured, they suffered reproach for Christ even before the birth
of our Lord. Moses had the pleasures of Egypt
at his feet. Hebrews 11 says, By faith Moses,
when he was come to use, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of
Egypt. For he had respect unto the recompense
of the reward. Moses reckoned that the supper
scorned for Christ was worth far more than all the riches
of Egypt. And what's our reward? The reward
of Moses was beyond the deliverance of the Israelites. Our reward
is not in temporal things. Abraham received the reward,
didn't he? What was his reward? The Lord told him, The Lord said
to Abraham in Genesis 15, fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield
and thy exceeding great reward. So when this is all over, when
this life is over, what is this reward? What is our reward? Our
reward is Him. It's Him. The Lord says, let him take up
his cross. Just briefly turn with me to
Matthew 10 and we'll wrap it up very soon. In Matthew chapter
10 the Lord Jesus uses this term, the same term in speaking of
suffering, reproach for the sake of Christ. Matthew chapter 10
verse 34. Think not that I am come to send
peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And
the man's foes shall be they of his own household. It's remarkable,
isn't it? Remarkable. We pray for our family,
don't we? We desperately desire their salvation. And I'm sure that all of us have
experienced this in some way, how true the Lord speaks this. The Lord has set believers at
variance with this world and even with family. Family ties
present no exception. Our faith is contradicted and
opposed and hated even by those closest to our hearts, isn't
it? And this is the cost. And reading on in that chapter,
verse 37, he that loveth father or mother more than me is not
worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me
is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross
and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth
his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake
shall find it. How serious is our gospel? It's a matter of life and death,
isn't it? These are sober things to contemplate. They are very
sober. The Lord says in our chapter,
In verse 35 of Mark chapter 8, for whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake
and the gospel's sake, the same shall save it. For what shall
a prophet of man if he shall gain the whole world and lose
his own soul? What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? What's this world worth? What's
this world worth? We hold on to the things of this
world with a loose grip. There is a cost, isn't there,
following our Lord. Is he not everything to us, though?
Is he not everything? We endure because we love him. We endure the reproach because we
love him and because he is worthy. He's worthy, he's worthy. Paul
said in Romans chapter 1, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. I trust that we love to be associated
with the Lord Jesus Christ, particularly in his death. And by and large,
this unbelieving world views the cross of Christ and everything
we do here, foolishness. Foolishness. It's a nonsense
to most people, isn't it? People walk by this service every
Sunday and they hardly even look in, hardly take it in. They think
it's foolishness. And it applies to religious people
as well. Religious people, church people, Bible-believing people
who profess Jesus Christ, ask them what happened at the cross.
Say to them that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ actually
saved those for whom it was shed. And many will say, that's a foolish
message, that's foolishness. They would argue that the blood
of Christ only made it possible for men to be saved. Say to them
that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, that we're
not under the law anymore. Colossians 2 says, he blotted
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. And many will say, that is a
foolish message. That is a foolish message. We
still have obligation, don't we, to keep the law of God. That's what they'll say. And
this is the result. 1 Corinthians 1 says, the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto
us which are saved it is the power of God. So when we take
up the cross of Christ, we take up the offense of Christ. The gospel is an offense. The
cross is an offensive message. In Galatians 5 Paul says, And
I, brethren, yet if I preach circumcision, then is the offence
of the cross ceased. Paul is simply saying that the
message of the cross is offensive to men because it declares that
men have no righteousness whatsoever. and we readily confess that he
is all our righteousness. Whosoever will come after me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Follow me. We follow him, don't
we? We follow the Lord Jesus Christ,
like sheep that follow a shepherd. He's the good shepherd. The Lord
said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by
the door into the sheepfold, that climbeth up another way,
the same as a thief and a robber, but he that entereth in by the
door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name,
and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his
own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. And a stranger, a stranger will
they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the
voice of strangers. We have a simple message, a simple
message. The sheep simply know the shepherd's
voice, and they follow him. And if the Lord gives us an eye
of faith to see him, to behold his beauty, to behold the wonder
of his person, they'll say what the Shulamites said in Song of
Solomon. He's the lily of the valley,
isn't he? He's the lily of the valley. He's the chiefest among
10,000. Draw me and we will run after
thee. Set me as a seal upon thine heart. May he be pleased to draw us
and may we follow him with joy and the willingness he gives
to his people. Amen.