As I was standing singing that
last song I was looking at the choir loft here and you know
when your kids are growing up and grandkids and you want to
try to lead and direct and guide and say the right things you
know trying to steer them in a respectful way And knowing
that y'all know Clay Curtis and his son Will when I was in Franklin. Clay was there in the church
there in Franklin when I was there and so I knew Clay and
his family and Will. But I had a little grandson,
Jack. Jack and Will were good buddies
and they were all, you know, about like this. One day I had gone back to preach
there for Chris Cunningham and Jack came up to me. I was sitting
in a chair here, services getting ready to start, and Jack came
up to me and he said, He said, you see those benches back there?
And I said, yes I do, Jack. He said, Will and I slipped in
here early one night and we hid back there. And I'm wanting to
say the right thing, you know, I want to kind of show him, you
know, you're not supposed to be doing that kind of stuff. So I looked at him over the top
of my glasses and I said, Jack, You tell me that you and Will
went back there and hid? And look, those eyes got big.
And he said, yes, sir. He said, but we were praying. I choked, you know. I can't hardly
look at a choir all night. But we were praying. Yeah, I
know you were. Oh, I pray that truly the Lord might
meet with us today. I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to Mark, Mark chapter 8. Mark 8. I'd like to look at verses 34
to 38. I've entitled this message coming after Christ. Coming after Christ. And before I read this passage
of Scripture, verses 34 to 38, I'm going to tell you that I'm
totally convinced every believer who wants to know something about
coming to the Lord. Now that's a real familiar phrase. We hear that. Have you come to
the Lord? You know, coming to the Lord. I want to know something about
that. The Lord said in verse 34, Mark
8, 34, when He had called the people unto Him with His disciples
also, He said unto them, whosoever will come After me Now before
we go any any farther. I just want to take these scriptures
and just look at as the Lord the Spirit of God has this is
had Mark pin These these words if any man Whosoever whosoever
will come after me Now this is what I know about coming to the
Lord. I know that there is, by faith,
there is actually a response of a new heart. Until the Lord
gives a man a heart to desire to come, he's not coming. He
doesn't want to come. Thy people shall be willing when? You know, in the day of His power. That's when a man desires to
come. And when we start talking about
coming to the Lord, that is a response of a new heart, of a heart that
has been made anew, born from a man regenerated by the grace
of God, and that man In his heart, he responds. He comes to the
Lord. That's scriptural language. You
know, I know what I was taught. Many of you, maybe two. How do
you come to the Lord? Well, you walk down an aisle.
That just means that you've gone from 30 feet back there to here. All you've done is walked on
a piece of carpet. But to come to the Lord, How
does a man, whosoever will come unto me? How do you come? By faith. By faith. Where is the Lord? Well, the
Scripture says He's at the right hand of the Father. The Scripture
says that He's omniscient. The earth is the Lord, the fullness
of it. This universe is in Him. But
I'll tell you another thing. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, He said, I'm in the midst of you. I believe
that the Lord is in the midst of us. I've told the folks at
Katie, surely there's two or three here. Surely there's two
or three. Where two or three are gathered
together, I'm in the midst of, but I'll tell you where he's
in the heart of his people. Christ in you, the hope of glory. And when you put by faith, where
is he? Wherever he is, I come to him
by faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please him. He that cometh to God, must believe
that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him. That's a spiritual act, work,
a good work, not by which we were saved, but it's a response
of a new man. There's an action. Not coming to the altar, coming
to the baptismal pool, coming to the church, whosoever will
come after me. And that believer knows that
when he comes, he's going to admit, I come not because I chose
to. He gave me a heart to come. I
want to come. And as I said in service before,
if any man has ever come one time, he keeps coming. Whosoever cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. A believer wants to come. I want
to come. I want to. Now these that are
referred to in here as the whosoevers, those distinguished, that's what
verse 34, whosoever will come after me. Now I know this, I
know this about the whosoevers. I know that they're not men,
women, left to their own discretion, but I know that these whosoevers
are those that were everlastingly loved of God and chosen In Christ,
they were predestinated to the adoption of sons. And you know
what predestinated means. That means that God determined
the destination beforehand. That's what predestinated means.
It means before it actually came about. God purposed it before
the foundation of the world that Almighty God would predestinate
me to the adoption of being a son by Jesus Christ to himself. These whosorevers, how are you
going to know who they are? Whoever comes. Whoever comes
by faith according to the scriptures. Like I said, now I'm not interested
in what everybody's got to say about what they think about coming. I want to know what's the Lord
saying. I'm going to tell you what He
said. How are you going to distinguish these whosoevers? Just a minute. There is a desire to come to
the Lord and that desire is a miracle of God's grace. Now, these whosoevers, What is it about these whosoevers? Whosoever, he said, will come
after me. All right, here's one of the
marks of a true whosoever. Let him deny himself. Now I was, I like to look these
words up. so that I know that I understand
what I'm talking about. If I tell you that, we've talked
about this this morning, if we just use words that you've heard
of, and you know that they're a scriptural word, it's a biblical
word, you know, but if you don't know what it means, it really
doesn't do you any good. I mean, I want to know what,
Let him deny himself. Now, here's what the word deny
means. Disown, abstain, and declare
that he has no acquaintance or association with himself. Whosoever will come after me,
let him declare that he has no acquaintance or association with
himself. Let him deny himself. That's
what he's saying. Deny himself. What do you mean? I don't understand. That's impossible. Well, a believer will tell you
this. You know there's an old man You
know, I know I talked about this last service, but that's okay.
I'm gonna talk about it this service, too. Do you know that
every believer's got an old man in him? Do you know that every
believer has two natures? One of them does nothing but
sin. I told you this morning what
a sinner was. That's all he does is sin. That's all he does is
sin. That's all he thinks is sin.
Wretched man Paul says that I am But do you know there's another
man in you and you know the scripture says that which is born of God
Does not sin is sineth not Now you've got two two men you got
two natures there's two men two men there Whosoever will come after me. Let him declare that he has no
acquaintance or association with himself. I've got an old man
that's in me, one that wars against the law of my mind, Bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin that's in my members Oh
wretched man Paul said that I am that I am not that I used to
be Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? You know
what a believer says I? Don't have anything to do with
him in my love for Christ. There's an old man in me That does not love the Lord There's an old man in me that
resists everything that is right and holy and just. Whosoever
will come after me, let him deny himself. That old man wants credit. That's what he wants. He wants
credit. He wants credit for producing Possessing and maintaining a
righteousness before God. That old man wants credit. I haven't done much, but at least I came. I haven't
done much, but at least I gave my heart to Jesus. I know I don't
deserve all the credit, but most of it I do. Well, Scott, somebody asked him
one time, said, boy, I'll tell you what, here in the gospel,
sure, take the wind out of your sails, won't it? Scott said,
well, some of it. Some of it. Whosoever will come after me,
let him deny himself. There's an old man that wants
the credit, but you know what that new man admits? That we
are all as an unclean thing. And all of our righteousnesses,
he's talking about the old man now. Here's a believer talking
about himself. All of our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags, and we do all fade as a leaf. And our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away. That's what a new man says. That's what I am by nature, being
born in Adam. That's me. And you that believe,
know it. You know it. There's a battle,
there's a battle that goes on right now, and I'm telling you,
that new man, that new man wants to hear. He wants to believe.
He does believe. And you know what that old man
is saying? Don't forget about what we've got to do tomorrow.
And oh yeah, that instance we had at the office, you know. And don't forget now, we've got
some phone calls to make and stuff like that. Oh, wretched
man that I am. A man regenerated by the grace
of God, he does come after Christ. And he will deny his own opinion,
his own confidence in self, he'll deny his own wisdom, and he'll
especially deny that he has a will that is free from God's will.
There's two men and they are at the opposite ends of the spectrum.
And that new man denies himself. You don't get all the credit.
You don't deserve all the honor, all the glory, and all the praise.
He's gonna say, that new man will say, if I've been turned
by the grace of God for my wicked ways to follow after the Lord,
it's because he turned me. If any man will come after me,
whosoever, let him deny himself, second, let him take up his cross.
Now, you know, there's a lot of it, and I don't deny this
at all. We're talking about take up his cross. You know, we all
have a cross to bear. We all have chastisements and
trials and tribulations and weaknesses and sicknesses and perils, and
that's true. There's no doubt about that.
If you be without chastisement, you're none of His. Whom the
Lord loveth, He chasteneth and scourgeth everyone. He receives everyone that he's
called out of darkness. We do have trials and tribulations,
but let me tell you this. The cross that a believer takes
up or bears, let him take up his cross. Let me tell you the
cross that a believer takes up and bears. Everybody, everybody
in this world has problems. Believers and unbelievers. I
don't deny that, that's true. But that's not what this is talking
about. Let me tell you what this is talking about, about taking
up His cross. It is the reproach that is borne
by a believer for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let him
take up his cross. Acts 541 says, and they departed
from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted
worthy to suffer shame for his name. Do you have any idea the reputation
that Bethel Baptist Church has in this community for the stand
that is taken for the gospel of God's free grace? Do you know
what people in this community say about those that love the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you know what this is gonna
do to your reputation if people know and do know that you believe,
that you actually believe that Almighty God does not love everybody? Do you actually believe that
the Lord Jesus Christ only died for the elect? Do you believe
that? Do you believe that the Spirit
of God is absolutely, without fail, going to call everyone
that the Father has everlastingly loved and has given to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Do you actually believe that
the Spirit of God is absolutely going to call them out of darkness?
Yeah, you do. Do you know what the world thinks
of that kind of thinking? They think that you're a heretic. What you're doing is, they say,
what you're trying to do, you're trying to squeeze everybody out.
Oh no, we're not. What we're trying to do is be
faithful, number one, to God's Word, and we're going to say,
here's what we're going to say, here's what I believe. Whosoever
will come after him, this is what the Lord said, Deny yourself
Deny your will mess away. I believe that man has a free
will though Well, the Lord says for you to deny that Well, I believe that God loves
everybody well the Lord didn't say that Well, I believe that
Jesus died for everybody. Well, the Lord didn't say that Whosoever will come after me
let him deny himself and take up his cross and and follow me. If a man will come after Christ,
let him, by grace, surrender to the Lord's leadership and
direction according to the Scriptures, according to God's good providence,
and according to the leadership of the Holy Spirit of God as
He directs and leads Let every man follow with a spirit of humility,
zeal according to God's grace. Let him follow me. Let him follow me. Whatever happens today, do you
believe that that was the Lord's will? The answer is yes. Why do you believe that? Well,
because the scripture says, he worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. What's he doing? Everything that's
happening, I'm going to tell you, in this state, in West Virginia,
and in this world, everything that is happening is happening
for the glory of God and for the good and salvation of God's
saints. Everything. But what about, I
mean, how about over there, you know, in North Korea? What about
that guy over there shooting those missiles? What about it? What about it? All things That's pretty inclusive, isn't
it? All things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are of the call according to his purpose. All things, whatever
the Lord calls is to cross my path. Lord, give me a heart to
say, Lord, you do all things well. Lord, give me a heart that bows. May I be found following you. Whosoever will come after me,
let him deny himself, take up his cross, follow me. 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, I want you to notice that
verse 35 started off with a word. for. That word for means the
reason of or because. So here's what, I'm just going
to go back from the latter part of verse 34. Whosoever shall
come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow
me. Period. Because. Because. For the reason of whosoever will save his life. Whosoever will protect or seek
to preserve, you know when I mentioned to you all ago, what do you think
about, what do you think about the attitude that this community
has? Listen, Katie's got the same
reputation, believe me. Brother Scott was at Katie Baptist
Church 50 plus years. And Katie Baptist Church was
known. Every place where the Lord raises
up the truth. And believe me, Spring Lake is
a blessed city. To have the Lord raise up an
assembly here and has kept it here. That the Lord would allow
the candlestick of the gospel to be in this place? Do you realize
how many places Chuck and I drove down here yesterday? We left
West Virginia, and I'm gonna tell you something, I'll bet
you $100. I'm trying to think of the cities
we drove through. I'll bet you it's a good chance
there's not one city that we passed through, to my knowledge
for sure, let me say it like this, where the Lord's raised
up the gospel. As far as I know, there's four
places that I know of in West Virginia. There's one in Katy,
Mike Walker was in Cottageville, Gary Vance in Dingus, Walter
Pendleton in Crow, West Virginia. I don't know of another one.
Somebody can say, well, I know of a bunch of them. I say, well,
I don't. I'm not saying they're not there,
but I don't. But Spring Lake, North Carolina, why would God
show mercy to this place? Because he chose to. but for all that's left to themselves. To have no heart to come to Christ,
to deny himself, to take up his cross, to follow the Lord. Why? Because if a man is left to himself and will save his life, that
is, preserve his reputation, life, and not deny himself, refuse
in his heart to bow to the good pleasure of God, refuse in his
heart to come after Christ, to be reconciled by the grace of
God, refuse to take up the cross, the reproach of the gospel, I guess I heard the best verbalization
of a man that refused to, you know, take a stand for the glory of
God, to take up his cross. There was a church, it's in Tennessee,
and there was a Some men had gone down to preach
in this little church. Someone had requested from that
church for Brother Tom Harding to send some preachers over there. A man called him and said, I've
been listening to some messages by Brother Henry Mahan. Tom told
him, said, I know Henry. And he said, well, without a
pastor, would you send some men to preach? And Tom said, you
want me to send men to preach to this place? And he said, yes,
I do. And Tom said, okay, I'll send men. But he said, I'll send
them until you tell me to stop. The guy said, that's fair enough.
And so, Brother Tom went. And the first week and the second
week, another man went. The guy that, the second guy
that went, you know, I guess maybe they heard Brother Tom
and they thought, you know what, I'm gonna make sure I heard what
I thought I heard. And obviously the second fellow
that went, you know, evidently they were confirmed that that's
what they were hearing. And after that second guy went, they said don't send anybody
else. We don't want anybody else to come. And this is what the
song leader said. They had a special meeting after
that second fella came. He said, I'm gonna tell you something.
He said, what these guys are preaching, it's not worth splitting
a church over. That's his very word, Johnny.
It's not worth it. It's not worth it. It's not worth
it. Whosoever will come after me,
let him deny himself. Let that man take up his cross,
the reproach of the gospel, and follow me. For whosoever shall
save his life shall lose it. There is a high cost associating
with coming to the Lord. You're not just coming to church. If the Lord has given a man or
woman a heart to come and take a stand, I'll hold you in place
right here and turn to Luke 14.25. Luke 14.25. Luke 14.25. And there went great multitudes
with him, and he turned and said unto them, If any man come to
me, and hate not his father, his mother, wife, children, brethren,
sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his
cross, and come after me. Cannot be my disciple. Was the Lord teaching that you're
going to have to hate your mom and daddy and your sisters? No. Here's what He's saying. If it
comes to a point to where you're going to make a decision, mom
and daddy, wife, husband, children, Now you make up your mind what
you're gonna do. If you're going back to hear
that message, that sovereign grace message that's coming after
Christ, then I won't be here when you get back. Now what you
gonna do? What are you gonna do? That's
exactly what it's talking about. If it comes between the Lord
and anybody, whosoever will not come after me cannot be my disciple. And buddy, if you think that
it hadn't split homes and everything else, you're sadly mistaken,
because it has. I'm telling you, there's a high
cost to free grace. Believe me. It may cost you your
reputation, your associations, your livelihood, your family.
Without a love for Christ, a man will say it's not worth it. It's
just not worth it. We can go to church and we can
all get along. Many of them followed the Lord
in John 6. But when the Lord said, no man
can come after me, except it were given unto him of my father. And from that time, they walked
no more with him. And the Lord just turned to his
disciples and asked them this, will you go away also? Peter said, where are we going
to go? Lord, you have the words of eternal life, and we're sure. Peter made a marvelous confession,
and it was not very long after that, after the Lord's crucifixion
and resurrection, And after his resurrection, after
he had already met with the disciples twice after the resurrection,
you check this out. Check this out. After the second time the Lord
met with them, Peter said, I go a fishing. This is after the
second time that the Lord had met with them. Look up the word
go, G-O, and see what it means. You know what he said? I quit. I quit. I depart. I'm leaving and I'm not coming
back. I'm going back to what I was
doing before. I'm going back to it. When Peter said, I go a fishing,
it was the same word that the Lord asked them, would you go
away also? Peter said, Lord, where are we
going to go? And do you know why Peter did not actually depart
permanently? The grace of God. but for the
grace of God. The Lord was on the shore that
night after they'd fished all night and couldn't catch it,
didn't catch anything. And the Lord said to them, come and dine.
Sit down. Ask Peter, Peter, lovest thou
me more than these? Three times ask him that. Any
man that will follow after me. Let him deny himself, take up
his cross, and follow me. Verse 36-37, For what shall it
profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
own soul? For what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul? What is it going to profit a
man if you gain the whole world failing to lose your reputation. What if you get all by catering
to this economy, and religion, and pleasures, and care, and
status, and money, and applause, and all this fleeting glory,
and lose your own soul, and lose your soul? All this is going to burn up
and we know that. Every man, every woman is going to stand
before God. Do you realize all of the sincerity of false religion,
following after a false Christ? What is that going to profit
a man in that day? What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? What do you have to give for
your soul? Nothing. What are you going to give in
exchange? What's the equivalent of the worth of a soul? In closing, this is the first
thing I know about the soul. It's going to live forever. It's
going to live forever. The Lord made it. The Lord God
formed man to the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Let me tell you,
I tried to look up the definition of a soul. And here's the simplest
I read, just paragraphs and paragraphs. Here's the definition of a, it
is the eternal self. of a man. That's the eternal
self. This body is going to decay. You know that. It's going to
go back to the dust. It's going to go. I know this. When the Lord raises the self,
there's going to be a change. There's going to be a new body.
It's going to be sown in corruption and be raised in incorruption.
But this mortal body right here, it's going to go back to the
dust and I know that. But there is an eternal self. You're hearing my voice and you're
looking at me and this body and my eyes are moving around right
now and you're seeing me and I'm looking at you and you're
looking back. But you know why? Because there is something in
me called a soul that activates It activates this. When that soul is removed, this
body just collapses. There's nothing to keep it up.
There's nothing to keep it going. But God made that soul. He breathed into man and man
became a living soul. But something happened to that
soul. Man, by his disobedience, After
being told by God Almighty, told Adam, in the day you eat of that
fruit, you're going to die. Adam ate of the fruit. And something happened. His body
was still there. He was still talking. He was
still talking. He and Eve, they tried to hide
their nakedness by some fig leaves. He was still moving. But there
was something that was different about him. His soul died. His soul. That soul now was fearful. That soul desired no fellowship
with God. He hid. That's what he did. He
hid from the Lord. What will happen to that soul
if it's left in that state? It's going to spend eternity. That soul will spend eternity
in hell. A rich man, Lazarus, rich man
died and lifted up his eyes out of hell. He was alive, but he was
in hell. And Lazarus was in the bosom
of Abraham. That soul was still alive, left
to itself. What's going to happen? It's
going to die eternally. It's going to be separated from
God. What must be done For that soul, for a man not
to lose his soul, I can tell you what's going to have to happen
to it. It's going to have to be redeemed. That soul is going to have to
take, to be redeemed. The Spirit of God said, I'm so
glad the Spirit of the Lord wrote this, had David write this passage
of scripture right here. This tells us without dispute
what must be done to a soul that is dead, dead. This is what must be done for
it to have any hope. Psalm 34, 22, the Lord redeemeth
the soul of his servants. And none of them that trust in
him shall be desolate. That just without question just
answered any thoughts that I might have. What must be done? God's
going to have to redeem it. The Lord redeemeth the soul of
his servants. 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. What's going to have to happen?
The Lord's going to have to redeem the soul. Just consider the mercy
of the Lord to redeem the soul of His servants. That soul that
has been polluted by sin, that Christ would bear the guilt of
their sin, be made sin to satisfy God's justice at Calvary. and to keep His people from falling.
He redeemed their soul. He redeemed their soul. And then
what happens? What happens? He's redeemed their
soul. What happens? Well, in the fullness
of time, the Lord is pleased to get His
people unto the sound of the gospel. And what happens? Life that was
departed is now imparted. He said, I'm going to give you
a new heart. I'm going to give you a new heart. I'm going to restore that which
I took not away. That's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to birth you from above. And that soul that has been redeemed,
the penalty of it, prayed, and Almighty God regenerates His
people. And there's a new man there.
And the way that that new man now has been made to be in time,
God's going to keep him. He's going to keep him. He's
going to be kept by the power of God through faith, ready to
be. And when he dies, the way he
dies, that's the way he's going to spend eternity. A man that
dies in an unjust state, that's where he's going to spend eternity.
Listen to this, Revelation 22 11. He that's unjust, let him
be unjust still. He that's filthy, let him be
filthy still. He that's righteous, let him
be righteous still. He that's holy, let him be holy
still. Last verse, whosoever therefore, verse 38, 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.
Here's a warning to all who will not And what does it take for
a man not to come to Christ? Here it is. Here it is. For God
to leave him alone. Just leave him alone. Lord, don't leave me alone. Lord,
don't leave me to myself. You leave me alone and I know
exactly what I'll do. I know what I'll do. I know what
I'll do. I will not come, I'll never come. Whosoever shall be ashamed to
be attached, ashamed of me, attached to the Lord Jesus Christ. He
says, whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, that is
to the gospel, the gospel of God's sovereign grace. Whosoever is ashamed of electing,
redeeming, regenerating, preserving grace, whosoever is ashamed of
God's right to choose to show mercy to whomsoever He will, The declaration of particular
redemption, irresistible grace. 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. He's coming back.
He's coming back. And he said, That is a shame to me. All that
deny me, he said, I'm going to deny you. And you know what? I believe God. I believe he's
going to do just exactly what he says he's going to do. If you find yourself this morning
with a heart that loves the gospel of free grace, if you find yourself with this
attitude, I don't want to. If any man, you know, is asking
me of a reason, we looked at that, a reason, a good hope,
let me do it with meekness. Let me talk to him. You know,
a lot of times somebody will ask me something about the gospel
and they'll tell me, say, I'm a preacher, I'm this, that, and
the other. And I hate to have to admit this, but this is my
attitude normally when somebody tells me something like that.
And I don't know them. Usually, this is the first thing
I think. I'm just being honest with you. This is my attitude.
You're guilty until proven innocent. You know? I hate that. Don't
you? I hate that, but that's the way I am. Oh, I love God. Well, you're guilty until proven
innocent. Here's what Scripture says. When
we talk to somebody, let's do it with meekness and of a quiet
spirit. Who knows? We may be talking
to one of God's own. We may be talking to one of God's
elect. The one that the Lord has yet to call out of darkness.
The Lord is going to save His people. Let me have a right attitude
about it and all the while be doing it with thankfulness. Thankful
that the Lord would give me a heart to deny myself to take up my
cross and to follow Him. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart. Amen.