May I please God to bless us
together this morning as we consider together his word. Let us turn
to the Gospel of Luke and chapter 9 and we'll read together verse
26. The Gospel of Luke chapter 9
and reading verse 26. For whosoever shall be ashamed
of me, and of 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. This is a very clear statement
from the Lord Jesus Christ. And you may wonder, well, pastor,
how did you come by a text like this? Well, I don't often tell
you how I come by a text, do I? But I will tell you this one. And last Wednesday was my wife's
birthday. So I took her out for dinner
in the evening, and I was going to say grace, and I did say grace. And as I was saying grace, the
thought came, oh, I hope nobody comes by and hears what I'm saying. And immediately, these words
really came into my heart, was I being
ashamed of the Lord Jesus? And I suppose, in reality, I
probably was. And that's a very sad thing,
isn't it? To think. Now I hope when you
young people go out to a restaurant or go and have a meal, that you're
never embarrassed to say grace. Because if you are, what it means
is you're really ashamed of the Lord Jesus. And just to encourage
you in that, when my wife started nursing in London, she started
at Queen Charlotte's Hospital, And it happened to be the same
time that my sister also started her training at Queen Charlotte's
Hospital. It was a maternity hospital. And what happened was, when they
came together for a meal, and of course it was a communal meal,
they noticed that each one bowed their head in prayer to say grace. And Therefore, there was an immediate
attraction and an immediate connection. So, we see there that rather
perhaps than thinking that, well, people might mock, and they may,
and they probably will, but don't worry about that. And so you
see, in God's providence, that's how I met my wife. through my
sister bringing her home to our home. Now these words here are very
striking and we should not think that they do not have a relevance
to each one of us in our lives and not just on the odd occasion. It is a very strong and a very
comprehensive statement. And all of us have to answer
before God in our lives as to whether, well if we have been,
and no doubt we will have been, ashamed of the Saviour, without
any doubt, I'm sure all of us would have been. but let us bless
God if he's given us his grace to desire that we are therefore
now not ashamed. And let us always realize that
such a following and such a favor are being numbered with the Lord's
people, with a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, will
in itself, without doubt, bring cost to our religion. If your life is one without any
cost, you have to doubt the reality of it. Because we know the Word of God
speaks to us about the cost of our religion. Indeed, We've read
it here together in these verses before us where the Lord spoke
and he said, if any man will come after me, the question was
if, what is he to do? Is he to please himself? Is he
to do those things that are just pleasing to him? No, says God. Let him deny himself. Let him
deny himself. That means not to please ourselves. That means not to follow our
own plans. That means to turn our back on
those things which are contrary to the word of God. It means to do those things which
are God-honoring. Otherwise, what must be the conclusion? The conclusion must be, surely,
that we are ashamed of the Lord Jesus. Put it another way, we're
embarrassed to be aligned with the Lord Jesus. We don't want
to be known as a believer. We don't want to be known as
someone who is a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps
some of us look back in our lives to occasions when we were younger,
that we are now ashamed of our lack of being a true follower
of the Lord Jesus. When I was at school, when I
was at college, no one would have known that I went to chapel
on a Sunday. You see, I changed my uniform,
as it were. I got all dressed up on a Sunday,
all smart and everything else. But what was the effect? I wasn't
good on the inside. I might have pleased the people. They might have thought, what
a lovely chap he is. In actual fact, he wasn't a lovely chap
at all. The reality is that I wasn't
prepared to deny myself. No, I didn't want to be thought
a strange character, some odd kind of person. I wanted to be
thought as I was one of the boys. Well, was that right? Was it God-honouring? I have to say it wasn't. So we have this statement then.
Very clear words, aren't they? And they apply to us all that
we are to deny ourselves and take up our cross. And that's
not just on a Sunday. Not just on a Sunday when we
can somehow get by. No, take up our cross every day,
daily. And there's something more. Follow
me. the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
Lord goes on to expound this. It's good for us to just notice
what he said. For whosoever will save his life. We might think, well, I can avoid
doing this and then I won't be criticized and I won't be ridiculed.
And I think I can get by with this. I can just kind of, you
know, have one one religion on Sunday and a different one in
the week. And so the Lord tells us, whoso will save his life,
try and save his life, will lose it. And whoso will lose his life
for my sake, the same shall save it. Again, you don't need a lot
of understanding to appreciate the words here. They're very
simple, aren't they? God's word is simple and we're
thankful for it. And it's very important, therefore, that we
have an understanding of these great truths because our eternal
state depends upon our life on this earth. If we live our life
on this earth and die living to the world, we should end up
in hell. And so what a blessing when the
Holy Spirit comes and affects us, touches our heart. That's our innermost being. And
that means it's our soul. And that's the vital thing. And so whoso will save his life,
we might want to try and save having any problems. But what
if you lose it? What if you're eternally lost? What would it have mattered if
you'd been thought badly of, wrongly of, criticised, ridiculed,
just for a very short time in your life? But, I'll tell you
the other side. It's the answer of a good conscience
before God. I'll tell you what that brings.
Peace to the soul. The other doesn't. It produces
turmoil. You think you're doing alright,
but inside there's that nagging all the time that you're not
doing right. You're displeasing yourself. And what's the end
of that? Eternal damnation. But Whosoever will lose his life,
that means the things of this world are relatively unimportant, for my sake. And that's the critical
point. For my sake. We do it for God's
sake, for his will. That which is well pleasing in
his sight, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged? if he gain the whole world and
lose himself or be cast away. Again, just weigh this up in
the sight of God. Just weigh this up. What would
you and I be profited if we had tremendous success and were able
to, as it were, gain the whole world and die in our sins and
go to hell? What would it have benefited
us? Just for a few, few fleeting moments of time, and then a lost
eternity. And so we come to this 26th verse. For whosoever shall be ashamed
of me and of 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. Surely what is being said here is that we cannot expect God
to receive us If we have turned our back on
God on this earth, and what that effectively means
is we've been ashamed of Him. Yes, we've been ashamed of Him.
We've thought the cost was too great. Did the Savior think the cost
was too great to redeem our souls? Did the Savior say, I'm not going
through with it? I'm not going to die for that
person and that person. They don't deserve any, any salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ gloriously
submitted himself to the will of his father. My friends, you and I are called
upon to submit ourselves to the will of God. We have to answer to God as to
whether we have done and whether we are doing this or whether we are serving the
devil. It's a very straight statement,
isn't it? It's a very solemn statement.
But you know, the word tells us we cannot serve God and mammon. You can't serve two masters,
and yet you see our nature wants to. What a wonderful blessing when
the Holy Spirit comes and speaks to our heart and removes the obstacles, and the obstacle
is usually self, pride. What a blessing when the Holy
Spirit comes and gives us that humble spirit to be able to say
in the words of the Lord, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. not forgetting and not passing
over, but led into the great wonderful favour and truth of
the enormous cost the Lord paid in order that you
and I might be redeemed from all our sins, from all the evil
of our lives, from all our sinful youth perhaps, The Bible describes
it. The slippery paths of youth.
They're very slippery. So easy to go downhill. And it's very hard to get back
uphill. Well, so the Word tells us, whosoever
So what does it mean? It means this, that either you
or I are amongst those today who are ashamed of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And carefully examine yourself
before God. Remember, He is the great judge.
He'll judge you. If you look into your heart,
you can't fool God. You might fool You might fool
people, you might fool your friends, you might fool me, you might
fool your parents. You can't fool God. He looks into your heart. He
sees what's there. He knows whether you've been
pretending to be what you're not. He knows whether you are and
are still perhaps being ashamed of the Saviour. You know when the Lord comes
and reveals to us His words. His words. To think of those
words, the words of life. The words which we so were undeserving
of. Perhaps words like this. Yea,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love, And with lovingkindness
I have drawn thee. And your reaction may be, Me,
Lord? Really? Such a bad person as
me? Remember, the Blessed Saviour
came to seek and to save those that were lost Those that were
ruined. Those that were undone. Those
that had given up all hope in themselves. Those that came to Jesus as they
were, weary and worn and sad. Whosoever shall be ashamed of
me, and of my words." It's a very searching thought,
isn't it? It's a very searching truth. And may the Holy Spirit come and, as it were, send home the
arrow, His arrow, through the Word of God of conviction to
our hearts, enable us to observe whether we are ashamed. Because what does the Word tell
us? This, and it's very solemn. Of Him shall the Son of Man be
ashamed. Surely none of us want the Lord
to be ashamed of us on that great day of judgment, when we stand
before the judge of the whole world. Surely we don't want to hear
those words, depart from me, I never knew you. It won't matter what we might
then try and stammer out, Lord I've done this and Lord I've
done that. The Lord's the judge and the
Lord's a just judge. He's not unjust. Well, this morning, whosoever
shall be ashamed of me and my words. Are we ashamed today? Are we
ashamed? Or do we hear such gracious words
of instruction for whosoever, if any man will come after me,
Let him unite himself and take up his cross daily and follow
me. What a mercy if the Lord has
come and the Lord has given us his gracious and wonderful call. We've referred to it on a couple
of occasions recently, but it's still worthwhile referring to
it again. Because the Apostle Paul, when
he wrote to the Corinthians, he spoke of the relevance of
the preaching of the gospel. because he came and he said,
but for after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom,
the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Now, let us not forget,
the Lord has ordained the preaching of the gospel as the way that
people are saved, the people who come to the knowledge of
themselves and the knowledge of God. And so the apostle goes
on to say, for the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after
wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews, a stumbling
block, and unto the Greeks, foolishness. So there's two types there. But,
and this is the relevant point, but unto them which are called. And so if God has called, God
has spoken, he's called you, spoken to your heart. But unto
them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power
of God, and the wisdom of God. You see, this sets before us
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul tells us in
the second chapter of this first epistle, he says, for I determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So when you hear the preaching
of the cross, When you hear the glorious gospel of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, what is your reaction? What is your reaction? Is it like this, my hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness? Or is it of
little value to just Leave chapel and go on your way and forget
everything that was said. And Christ and him crucified
means nothing. Well, I'll tell you this. When
you and I stand before the judgment seat of Christ, it will then
mean life or death. It will then mean either eternal
bliss or eternal misery. Yes, my friends, this is the
real truth of the Word of God. And remember what the Apostle
goes on to say, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and
the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling,
brethren, the calling of God, how that not many wise men after
the flesh Not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God
hath chosen. And this is very comforting to
the true seeker, the one who realizes they have no hope in
themselves. But God hath chosen. God hath
chosen. This is His words. For whosoever
shall be ashamed of me and my words. These are God's words.
People turn their nose up at such a truth as this. They say
it's unfair. It's not unfair at all. Because
we all deserve to be eternally damned. We all deserve to go
to hell. What a blessing if God has chosen
us. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world. to confound
the wise. And God has chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base
things of the world. Well, that may suit us, perhaps.
And the things which are despised. Don't be surprised if you're
despised, if God's chosen you. and things which are not, to
bring to naught things that are. And here is the reason, that
no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness,
and sanctification and redemption. Is that true? To you? To me? The Lord Jesus Christ,
blessed Saviour, eternal God, wonderful Favour, is made unto
us wisdom, eternal wisdom, righteousness, His righteousness, sanctification,
made holy, and redemption, redeemed with the precious blood of Christ,
that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. Where are you this morning? Are
you glorying in the Lord? You won't be glorying in the
Lord if you're ashamed of Him. But bless God if you're amongst
those whom He's chosen. Base as you are, yes, you're
not worthy of any notice. That's why the grace of God is
so glorious and so precious, as the Apostle said. For by grace
are we saved, through faith, not of ourselves, it is the gift
of God. What does this produce? It produces
a very humble spirit. It makes us cry out, why me,
O blessed God, why such a wretch as me, who must forever lie in
hell, were not salvation free. And so we have these words before
us this morning, whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words. Now there's no hiding from such
a statement, is there? The devil will try and give you
an excuse. He gave Eve an excuse why she
could eat of that fruit. What did he say? He caused her
to doubt the word of God. Hath God said? Oh, it's a question
mark. And my friends, it may be to
you and me this morning. It might be the devil's putting
a question mark in our mind. Whosoever shall be ashamed. Well,
he might say, well, you're not ashamed. He wants you to think
that. You may be ashamed. Don't believe
the devil. Never believe him. He's a deceiver. He always has been. He always
will be. Deceives people. Bless God, he
can't deceive the Church of God. My friends, what a mercy if you
and I are not deceived. But we are amongst those whom
God has graciously blessed, those whom God has graciously called. You know, when God calls, there
is a change. The apostle uses that phrase
only once, I think, in the word of God. He called me by his grace. And God comes and calls us by
his grace, his unmerited favor, and that call What does it do? It makes us alive. It's a spiritual
call. It brings us out of darkness
into the marvellous light of the Gospel. It's a quickening word. So that
we understand what the Apostle says. And you hath to quicken
who were dead in trespasses and in sins. Be made alive. because of His
grace, because of His unmerited favour, and follow that theme
and realise that it was because therefore the Blessed Lord then
died upon the cross at Calvary in order to atone for our sins. What a wonderful day it will
be for the Church of God, the Day of Judgement. What a terrible
day it'll be for all those who have not been called. Yes, for
those who have been called, it'll be the best day of their life.
For those who have not been called, it'll be the worst day of their
life. And all of us will be in one or the other camp. Yes, there's
no great areas in the things of God. There's no excuses with
the things of God. You and I will never be able
to come and stand before that judgment seat and make excuses. Because we will be utterly condemned
by the word of God, or we shall be utterly redeemed by the sacrifice
of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then I realised,
if the blessed Saviour has paid the price needful to
ransom us, to redeem us from our sins, and that price was
so great, and the Saviour so willingly so willingly died. He took our place. He died that
we might live. Oh, my friends, let us never
be ashamed of such a saviour. A great and glorious God. So the Lord Jesus, as you see,
he sets this for us so clearly. for whosoever shall be ashamed
of me and of my words. Let us, as it were, you remember,
David came in and he sat before the Lord. It's good if you and
I come and sit before the Lord and ponder our position, ponder
our situation. Am I ashamed? Am I ashamed? Whosoever shall be ashamed of
me and 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. There's no doubt, no doubt the
Lord will return. What a blessing therefore if
you and I are on the right side and not on the left side, not
on the wrong side. And by the grace of God, we have
been not ashamed of this great and glorious Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ. But by His Spirit, by His Spirit,
He has given us that grace to deny ourselves and to take up
our cross every day, every day, despising the cost, despising
the cost. The Lord Jesus Christ despised
the cost. You and I, not be left to count
the cost. If we are, let us wait up in
the balances of eternity. That's the balances you can use
to see whether the cost is justifiable or not. I can tell you it is. I can tell you it is. You and I don't want to find
ourselves on that judgment day lost because we have not been
blessed with the knowledge of God. We turned our back upon
God's Word. Turn our back upon those great
and solemn truths that the Lord has given us in His Word. in
such simple words that you and I can understand. My friends,
they do have an application. That is the Word of God. Do not
think this morning that I'm preaching anything other than the Word
of God. That Word which will bless or
condemn. And may ye be found, therefore,
doing that which is God-honouring, and never being left to be ashamed
of this great and glorious Jesus, that one in whom our hopes of
heaven depend. For whosoever shall be ashamed
of me, and of 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. No one can be too bad, too sinful,
too far off if the Holy Spirit comes into your heart and you
hear those gracious, encouraging words Come unto me, all ye that
labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of mind,
and you shall find rest unto your soul. Well, may we never
be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.