We need to know and be assured that
salvation has nothing to do with us being resolved. to be saved. We don't enter the kingdom because
we resolve to do so. However, when God begins a work in someone's
heart, he creates that resolve. Like our Lord said in one place,
he said, The kingdom of God suffereth violence, and the violent take
it by force. You need to go and learn what
that means if you don't already. All right, John chapter 12. John
chapter 12. This is a very important message. I hope I'm able to convey it. I hope you're able to hear it
and heed it. Last Sunday morning, and again
Wednesday night, we considered why Jesus Christ had to die. We looked at what the gospel
is. The gospel is Jesus Christ and
him crucified. The gospel is Jesus Christ, his
person. and him crucified, his work. He is the sole cause of salvation. Christ and him crucified, his
person and his work, he is the sole cause of salvation. It is not a cooperative effort
between God and man. No, sir. It is Christ All right,
look at verse 23 and 24 here. This is what he says here. The
hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. His greatest glory being saving
sinners. Verse 24. And then he tells us Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. Except a seed fall into the ground
and die, it will remain a seed. But if it die, if it be planted
and die, it bringeth forth much fruit. Then we looked at 1 Corinthians
15 last week that says this, verse 22, it says, In Adam all
die. The seed of sin which came to our father Adam,
the seed of sin which was planted in him, Cause the death of all
human kind. Spiritual death. The scripture
says in Adam all die. All those who are in Adam or
come from him die. And then it says in Christ shall
all be made alive. All who are in Christ. Christ
being the seed of life. Not death, but life. of righteousness,
that all who are in Christ are made alive. Not all human beings,
but all in Christ. Then we looked at bloodshed.
This talks about dying here. There's no bloodshed for a seed. However, Christ said in verse
32, if I be lifted up from the earth, it will draw all unto
me. this, he said, signifying what
death he should die. That's the crucifixion, bloodshed,
which Hebrews 9, 22 says, without which there's no remission of
sin. Bloodshed just indicates death. And we saw how that this
must be because God is holy, God is just. God's justice must
be satisfied. His justice must be carried out.
Sins must be punished. Your sin, my sin, must be punished. And he did this by Christ being
made sin for his people and bearing their punishment. All right,
now look at verses twenty-seven and twenty-eight. He says this,
Now is my soul troubled, what shall I say? Father, save me
from this hour. But for this cause came I unto
this hour." And we pointed out how that Christ was not fearful
or shirking or avoiding the cross, not at all. He said, this is why I came to
the cross. And another place he sweat blood
and cried in the garden. We're going to see that later.
If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. He's not saying
I don't want to go to the cross. But he's saying that this him
being made sin is almost more than he could bear. Now is my
soul troubled. He made his God made his soul
an offering for sin. Look at verse twenty-eight, and
it says, Father, glorify thy name. Glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from
heaven, saying, I have. I have both glorified it and
will glorify it again. And I want you to turn back to
Exodus thirty-three with me. Exodus thirty-three, Christ said,
glorify thy name. Father, glorify thy name. God
answers him, says, I have both glorified it and will glorify
it again. What is his name? What is God's
name? There's a psalm that says those
that know his name will put their trust in him. What is God's name? Well, you know that God reveals
his name to all those that he saves. His name. You mean, what do you
mean, his name? Well, look at it here. Exodus
33, look at verse 19. God says, I will make all my
goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee. Now look across the page at chapter
34, verse 6, and the Lord passed by. He's going to reveal his
name to Moses. Lord passed by before him and
proclaimed his name. The Lord. Not if you let him. But he is the
Lord. That means absolute ruler, the
Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. The Lord, not a
Lord, the Lord. That's his name, the Lord God.
the creator, the sovereign, merciful, read on, this is his name, he's
still proclaiming his name, merciful and gracious, long-suffering,
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and That will, by no
means, clear the guilty. So there's his name. Holy, just,
sovereign, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, good, forgiving. Won't clear the guilty. Just. All these things he reveals to
everyone that he's saved. All right. So the Lord says,
Father, glorify thy name. Now, how does he do this? How
does God glorify his name? And all these all these characteristics
all these attributes that we just looked at how. How is God's name how are all
those attributes and all those characteristics. Glorified or
how do we see all those things where. In Christ hanging on the
cross that's where we say we see Christ hanging on the cross
and we see him God will by no means clear the guilt. Right? We see how much God hates sin,
and that he will punish it. Even if he finds it on his own
son, he'll kill him. He said, soul that sinneth must
surely die. And Isaiah said he made his soul
an offering for sin. Christ was made sin, and God
saw sin on his son. And how holy is he? He killed
him. Sent him to hell right there.
His own son. That's how holy God is. God isn't
just love. God's holy. God's just. He will by no means clear the
guilty. However, at the same time, we see the mercy of God
there. See, that should have been me
hanging there. That should have been you hanging there. That
should have been mankind in general hanging there. But God is merciful. He spared not his own son so
he could spare us. It's true what they said about
him in derision, he saved others, himself he can't save. Grace, we see the grace of God
in him hanging there, don't we? We see the gift of God, the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God, we see it hanging there.
He didn't have to come, he didn't have to hang there. Remember when Peter started to
take up for him there in the garden, cut the fellow's ear
off, and Christ said, Don't you know I could send call to the
Father and he'd send twelve legions of angels right now. I don't
have to go to the cross and I don't have to be taken by these men,
but I do it willingly for this cause I came. We see the grace
of God. We see the goodness of God. All
these things you see are only seen at Calvary. So that's how
the Father's name is glorified. Next. All right? Now, he's saying
all these things to certain Greeks. One of the brethren pointed that
word out to me. I missed it. I'm surprised I
missed it. I'm glad he didn't. Certain Greeks. You remember, well, so many times
in the Scriptures it says a certain woman or a certain man. God saves
certain individuals. Just another word for elect,
predestined people, just another word, certain. It says certain
Greeks. Certain Greeks came to worship.
Why did they come to worship? Because God said of a certain
they will come to worship and they will come to me. certain Greeks. And he's speaking
to these Greeks and Philip and Andrew, and he reveals the gospel
to them. And that's how God saved. God
reveals the gospel to certain people. Not everyone. Everyone
doesn't hear the gospel, for one thing. There's some people
who never hear the gospel. The gospel. They hear enough
to make them accountable. There's enough in a man's own
mind, heart, and conscience to make him accountable. We'll not
go into that, but everyone doesn't get to hear it, but God reveals himself, reveals
the gospel to certain people. God elects certain people unto
salvation. That's all his mercy and his
grace and his goodness, we see that too. certain grief and Peter
or Philip and Andrew, he's speaking to it. All right. Look what he
says to them now. Verses 25 and 26. This is this
will make up the whole message tonight. Verses 25 and 26. I
just just talked about the seed falling in the ground and dying
and bringing forth fruit. Now, verse 25, he that loveth
his life shall lose it. And he that hateth his life in
this world shall keep it unto life eternal." Love your life, you'll lose it.
Hate your life in this world, you'll keep it. Now why does he say that? What
does he mean by this? Loving and losing your life.
Hating and keeping your life. What does he mean by that? Are
you interested? And this is a fact, he says. Any man, he that loveth his life
shall lose it. He that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto life eternal. Are you interested? All right. Read the next verse. He says, If any man serve me,
let him follow me. Where I am, there shall also
my servant be. If any man serve me, Him will
my father honor, serve me, follow me. All right, now why does he
say these things to these two men? And, well, these Philip
and Andrew, and then I don't know how many Greeks there were.
Doesn't say, does it? But why does he say these things
to these fellas after he gives that one verse that describes
the gospel? Why does he say that? You think
about that and reading through this? Seems like a change of
thought, doesn't it? He talks about the seed falling
to the ground and dying, bringing forth much fruit. Then he says,
he that loveth his life shall lose it. Why does he say this to these
men? Well, I believe three reasons. If you're taking notes, listen
carefully. Because proof of true conversion
or salvation, proof of true salvation is number one, a change of heart and mind. Proof of true conversion, true
salvation is a change of one's heart and mind. Change about
yourself, about the world, about God. Proof of true conversion or salvation
is commitment. Total 100% commitment. Proof of true salvation or conversion
is to leave all others, forsake all others, even self, for Christ. Thirdly, Proof of true conversion. Proof of true salvation. True
discipleship. True discipleship seeks the glory
and honor of Christ even above yourself. True conversion. Proof of true
conversion and salvation seeks the glory and honor of Christ. Says, any man serve me, any man
serve me, him will my Father honor. And that one seeks the
honor of Christ above, especially above your own personal honor
and all else. All right? Anyone who has not
experienced these three things is not saved. That's how important this is. Anyone who has not experienced
these three things is not a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
not saved. I don't care how many times they've been baptized or
what they've done, whatever. They're not a true lover and
follower of Christ. All right, let's look at these
verses then. Let's look at what it means to love one's life and
yet lose it and hate one's life and yet keep it. Are you interested? Are you interested? All right. Verse 25 again, "...he
that loveth his life shall lose it." His life. It doesn't say
he that loveth life or this life. His life. Now look over at Luke
chapter 12 with me. Luke chapter 12. What is your life? What is your
life? "...he that loveth his life."
shall lose it. What is your life? Luke chapter 12. Look at these
verses here. Let's read several, beginning
with verse 15. Our Lord is speaking. Luke 12, verse 15. He said, Take
heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not
in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake
a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich
man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself,
saying, What shall I do? Because I have no room where
to bestow my fruits. And he said, This will I do,
I will, to pull down my barns, and build greater their forks.
And there will I, I will, bestow all my fruits and my goods. And
I will say to my soul, Thou hast much goods laid up for many a
year. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto
him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.
Then who shall these things be which thou hast provided? So
is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich
toward God." Verse 22 and 23. He said unto his disciple, Therefore,
I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall
eat, neither for the body, what you shall put on. The life is
more than meat. The body is more than raiment.
Verse 31, seek ye the kingdom of God. All these things shall
be added unto you. And let me read to you from 1
John chapter 2. Listen to this. If you don't turn, listen. 1
John 2, listen to these verses. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. All that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,
is not of the Father. but is of the world, and the
world passeth away, and the lusts thereof. But he that doeth the
will of God abideth forever." Love, not the world. These are
the things of the world. Now, what is it to love someone
or something? What is it to really love something
or someone? I believe love is To love something
or someone is to feel like you cannot do without it. To love something or someone
is to feel in your heart that you do not want to live without
it. All right? You follow me? So
our Lord says here in John 12, now, He says, He that loveth
his life shall lose it, because it passeth away." That's
what John said. It passeth away, and very quickly. Beauty. Let not the beautiful woman lower
in her beauty. Beauty is a very fleeting thing,
isn't it? But not the strong man, mighty
man, glory in his might. That passes away. I never thought
I'd see the day that my strength would be waning
like it is. Wisdom, so fleeting. Now look
at verse 25 again. He that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto life eternal. So, in other words, if this life
is your life, things in it, you love it. You love this world,
you love everything about it, you're not willing to part with
it, do not want to leave it. You love it and you're going
to lose it. That's all you got. You're going to lose it. But
he that hateth, and he that hateth his life and this world shall
keep it unto life eternal. Now turn to Mark chapter 8. Mark
chapter 8. Now you know the Lord is not
telling us to despise living. He's not telling us to
go out and commit suicide. He's not telling us to be miserable
people. That would go against where he
said be content with such things as you have, wouldn't it? Learn
whatever state you're in to be content. That would go against
the scriptures. So many scriptures that tell
us not to murmur or complain, but to be content. It's easy
for us to say, oh, I hate this world, when you have to go to
work at 6 a.m. and come home at 6 p.m. and you're
wore out and all that. Everybody, people that don't
know Christ, say that sometimes, don't they? That's not that doesn't
mean hey that's not what it means to hate this life or hate your
life people there people in that the people who commit suicide
hate this life. Right. That's not what he's saying
here. If people in a lot worse circumstances
than you that hate this hate the life they live that's not
what he's saying here. So don't tell me how much you
hate this life when it just means you hate all the trouble you
go through. That's not what he's saying here.
Not at all. Look at Mark, chapter 8. A very
similar statement, but more explanatory here. Mark 8, verses 34 and 35. When he called the people unto
him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever
will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, And
follow me, whosoever will save his life shall lose it. Whosoever shall lose his life
for my sake and the gospel of the same shall save it. All right? So it's saving your life, hating
your life, denying yourself. These are all synonyms. Deny yourself now. And he's not
talking about self denial in the sense of. Denying certain
pleasures and meats and drinks and bodily. Abstinence is not
talking about that at all. Not what he's talking about.
All right. Let's see if I can make good
on this. All right. He that loveth his life shall
lose it. He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto
life eternal. What does it mean to hate one's
life in this world? He that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto life eternal. What does that mean?
To deny yourself, to lose your life. He that loseth his life
shall find it. What does that mean? All right? Number one. To hate,
to deny, to lose your life or your self. It's to hate, to deny, to lose
your, or want to lose your sinful self. It's to hate your sinful self. is to deny, not to want to have
anything to do with, your sinful self. It's to say like the Apostle
Paul, O wretched man that I am. Not, O who shall deliver me from
all the troubles of this life? O no. Who shall deliver me from
me? That's what he's saying, And nobody's saved until they
see their self for what they really are. Utterly corrupt. Unworthy. Isaiah was a fine man, I bet
you. I bet you there was none finer
than Isaiah. What did he say about himself
when he saw the Lord high and lifted up in Isaiah 6? What did
he say? He said, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips, didn't
I? What did Peter say when he saw
Christ high and lifted up in that boat one day? He said, depart
from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. You can see right through me. And unless a man has reached
that point, Unless a woman has reached that point, they can
say from their heart, I'm a no good bum. God hasn't dealt with him yet.
He's not a saved man. Salvation is for sinners. I mean
rotten sinners. I'm not talking about general
sinners. Everybody says, yes, we're sinners.
The most self-righteous person on earth will say, yes, we're
all sinners, aren't we? We've all made mistakes. That's
not what I'm saying. It's like Isaiah, I'm no good. I'm not worth saving. God doesn't
need me. He'd be better off without me.
That's what it means to hate yourself. Your life is to say,
my life up to this point hadn't counted for nothing. That's what it means to hate
your life. That I've lived my whole life
in vain. That's what it means to hate.
Deny yourself. That's what it means. You remember me telling you about
that man watching my pastor on TV one time? He's sitting there.
Now the program comes on. We used to come on about nine
thirty, fellas sitting there drinking Budweiser, you know,
about nine thirty in the morning. That's not unusual. No, it's about average. But he's
sitting there watching TV, just flipping across the channels.
This was back when there was only three channels, and two
of them full of snow, and you'd only get one, you know, a good
one. And a flipping old, couldn't get anything but turned on there
mayhem was preaching. And about that time, the preacher
pointed at the screen and said, you ain't nothing but a sinner. And that fellow, as rotten as
he was, he became righteously indignant. You know, he said,
I ain't no sinner. Turn that off. Turn the TV off. He said, you know, Maybe I am
a sinner. He went back and turned it off.
And the Lord revealed the gospel to that old fellow. And he's
been hearing the gospel ever since. This gospel is for sinners. I mean zero, a big zero. Notification. Notification. That's what it means to hate,
deny, or lose yourself. Self. You'll be gone, self. Lose. Hit. Lost. Self. It's to hate, deny, and lose
your pride in self. You're worse. I've been saying
that. I'm going to repeat myself. It's to lose your worth. It's
to lose your wisdom. It's to deny yourself. What do
you know? What do I know? Nothing. Didn't Paul say in one
place, if any man thinketh he knoweth anything, he knoweth
nothing, yet is he ought to know. The disciples hung around Christ
for about three years and got all puffed up with pride, talking
about who was going to be greatest. And finally he took a little
child and put him on his knee and said, Now, except you be
converted and become like this, you're not even going to get
into heaven. You're full of pride. You're not going to get there
unless you realize you're nothing. You don't know anything. If you
know anything, I've got to reveal it to you. Deny your wisdom. Let not the
wise man go in his wisdom, as Christie says. What do we have? We have not received strength,
talent. To hate denies to lose that.
Be gone, pride, pride and self. To hate, deny, lose your life
is fifth. Here's the second thing. It's to hate, deny, and lose
not only yourself, but secondly, it's to hate, deny, and lose
your reputation. Your reputation before men, before
this world. Isn't that what our Lord said
to us back there in Matthew ten? Persecution for believing the
gospel. Didn't he say, you're going to
be hated by all men for my namesake? Didn't he say that? Because you're
still a good old Joe. Sorry, Joe. You're still a good
old Bill. And nobody's got any problem
with your religion. Didn't he say that? He says,
Woe unto you if men speak well of you, if there ain't somebody
out there that hates you because of what you believe. As a matter
of fact, if there ain't no people that hate you because of what
you believe, it's just the wrong God and wrong Jesus. There ain't
nobody mad at this Jesus today. There ain't nobody mad at anybody
that loves this Jesus today. Is it? Ain't nobody hates those
that talks about the love of God and Jesus' name. Nobody hates
anybody for that. What's there to hate about God
loves you and Christ does? What's there to hate about that?
What persecution will that get you? Nothing. If you go around
telling people that God doesn't necessarily love them, you'll
start, you'll watch them start drowning their teeth. Just declare to God the Bible.
Go around telling everybody just Christ is who he is and did what
he did. That he is the Christ, successful
Savior. He died for his people and saved
every one of them. Didn't try to save anybody. Died
for every one of them. Say that and watch them hate
you. And we don't want hatred, but
if that's what it means to be a disciple, that's what I want. Persecution is loss of influence. You'll lose your influence. Lose
your stature. You won't be somebody after Christ
saves you. You won't be somebody. You might
be somebody before he does. Pardon me for talking to you.
I'm talking to me. We might be somebody before Christ
saves us, but after he saves us, we're just another face in
the crowd. Just another nameless face. There's only one name worth
remembering, and only one face worth looking at. Isn't that
right? You've got to become a nobody
from nowhere, and know nothing. Lose your reputation. Lose your reputation. And that's
one problem. An old gutter-sniped sinner like
myself doesn't have any problem losing, but he never had one
to begin with. Had a real poor, real low reputation to begin
with. Nothing to lose. Everything to gain. Here's the
next thing. To hate, lose, deny yourself,
your life, to hate your life. It's to hate, lose, deny friends,
family, and position. And that goes along with reputation,
I guess. Now, you know the Lord's not
telling his people to hate people. Actually, hate people. But the
word here is to love Christ so much that they'll accuse you
of not loving them. That's the thing. to love Christ
so much and love the gospel and esteem the gospel. Esteem Christ
and Christ's people above everything else is to have your own flesh
and blood people say, well, you love me and you love me, don't
you? Let me give you an illustration
of that. I mean, you've heard it. Like I said, I've got twelve
illustrations, and you've heard them all. But it's a good one,
isn't it? I can tell you. Some of us couldn't
tell that. You could tell, I couldn't. You
know what I'm going to say. Walter Gruber, thirty-some
years ago, the Lord revealed the gospel to him, revealed himself
to an old steel mill worker, had to get home. young family, five children,
five children. The youngest, or the oldest,
was about six years old. The Lord revealed the gospel
to him, and as every true disciple becomes, he sold out lock, stock,
and barrel to Christ. Christ became all to him. The
Lord called him to the ministry, and Walter, for some reason,
not only to God, but led to go down to Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico,
about the most primitive place on earth at the time. I was there. I went there. And they still
live like they did thousands of years ago down there, grass
huts and dirt and clothes, took on open fire. Well, Walter took
his family Five kids, didn't know the language and no support.
Took his wife and family down to that harsh, hard, pagan country. And his family, this is what
they said to him when he did that. They said, you don't love
your children. How could you if you took them
down there like that? Subjected them to that. How could
you? You're going to have one of his
children preach to you Sunday morning. That's what the Lord
does. He that served me, him will my father honor. All five
of their children know and love Christ. Would you take your five
to Lake Chico if God disabled? Did he love them? He loves them
more than we love our own, I believe. Well, he loves, it's obvious,
he loved Christ supremely. And no loss at all. If you consider
the loss of former friends and position and family and home,
Walter quit his job, just quit it, and sold his house and moved
his family, that would be no big deal. What's the big deal about that? To him, I'm saying. It is for
the world. How could you? How could you?
How could I not? Abraham did it, didn't he? Abraham
was seventy-five years old when he quit his job. His pension was just starting
to come in, wasn't it? This was rocking chair time for
him. Hit the road, Abraham. God told him to cast out this
woman that served him for years, cast out his son, his first born
son, cast him out. And told him to take his true
born son, take him up and sacrifice him. OK. Moses, Moses was 40 years old. He left his father
and his mother in his home, left the treasures of Egypt, scriptures
say, prestige. Talk about reputation. He was
next in line to be Pharaoh. Reputation and honor, to wander
about in the desert, but no God. The Apostle Paul is over Philippians
3. The Apostle Paul And when we
studied in the men's Bible study, how we believe that rich young
ruler our Lord said he loved was none other than the Apostle
Paul. Had to have been somebody he
saved. The Lord doesn't love anybody he doesn't save. But Philippians 3, the Apostle
Paul was a man of great prestige and honor in the world. Great position, high, and there's
money in religion. You better believe he had some
money. He was rich. He was a ruler of the synagogue. He had money. Now listen, to hate, to hate,
deny, lose yourself is to hate, or your life in this world is
to hate yourself. Secondly, it's to hate, lose,
deny, willing to lose, and deny your own reputation, your honor,
your sin. Thirdly, it's to hate, deny,
lose, be willing to lose your friend's family position. And above all, especially, it's
to hate, deny, lose. Yea, you must lose. their former
religion, then nobody's saved who doesn't
renounce their former religion when they hear THE gospel. Let me repeat that. Nobody is
ever saved who does not renounce their former religion once they
hear THE gospel. They realized that there was
another gospel they believed. As another Jesus they believed.
This is the Jesus Christ of Scripture. This is the only gospel there
is. And they renounced every bit
of their past religion. Deborah Hutt, did you come up
in religion? Do you renounce it now? Did you
ever make a profession of baptism? False one, wasn't it? You were
like me. John, you got religion, didn't
you? Was it true? You renounced it, didn't you?
Fundamental religion, wasn't it? Blood, book, and the blessed
hope. You renounce it now as a false gospel, wasn't it? A
false gospel. Were you religious? Did you make
a profession? Was it a false one? Is that doctor
you heard the wrong one? Is this the only one? Sam? I
don't know if he made you like wrestling gutter snipers. John, didn't have any religion. Were you in religion? An upstanding
member of the church? Was it the right church? Was
it the right gospel? Did you renounce it? Joe? Nancy? Were you a deacon in that
place, Joe? A deacon? And a Southern Baptist? Was it a false gospel, Joe? Would you renounce it? Were you
lost? Thought you saved? Everyone who
hears the gospel says, I wasn't saved until I heard the Christ. Until I heard the gospel. Without exception. Look at the Apostle Paul. Look
at Philippians 3. Verses four through nine, he
says, I, if any man thinks he has whereof he might trust in
the flesh, I more. I've circumcised the eighth day
of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews,
and touching the law of Pharisees, concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless
You're talking about a good, moral, upstanding fellow. He was so good it was sickening. Why, everybody knew he was saved, but he was lost. Look at it,
verse 7, What things were gained to me, those I counted lost for
Christ. Yea, doubtless, without a doubt. Without the slightest reservation,
he says, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things. What do I count it? Horses. Look at verses twelve through
fourteen. Not as though I, and I'm not there yet, he said. Not
as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.
I follow after, if I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself
as apprehended. But this one thing I do, forget
the past. Forget those things. which are
behind. Reach forth unto those things
which are before. I press toward the mark of the
prize of high calling of God in Christ Jesus." If to renounce
your form of belief is wrong. I thought I knew God. I didn't.
I thought I knew Christ. I thought I saved. Lost. I thought I was somebody. Oh,
how wrong I was. I thought God needed me. Oh,
how wrong I was. I thought God loved everybody.
Oh, how wrong I was. I thought Christ died for everybody. Hang on, I'll get through to
that. It's to renounce the former profession.
I've gotten a baptism, and it's all in vain. Got in that water,
got wet, all in vain. Might as well have took a bath
in my tub at home. It was in vain. I was confessing
the wrong Christ. You baptized, John? Wrong Christ,
wasn't it? That's ridiculous. You got in
this pool again, didn't you, John? Not this pool again. You
got in the right pool at that time, confessing the right Christ. That's what it means to hate
your life, hate yourself, hate your religion, hate your past. Let's look at that. Let's look
over at 1 Thessalonians. This is what Paul says will happen.
1 Thessalonians. It'll happen. It'll start over.
You gotta start over. You gotta lose your seniority.
You know why people don't... You
know why a lot of people are loathe to admit they were
lost before. Life after life, I can't understand
why anybody that hears the gospel, that believes and hears the gospel,
wouldn't be just absolutely willing to say, whoo, that was a bunch
of stuff. Oh, I'm so glad to hear the truth
now, and be willing to tell it all. I see now. Those that say they saw are doubly
blind. But you know why? You know, this
is the number one reason why people are so loathe and unwilling
to renounce their former religion. They lose seniority. They lose their spiritual seniority.
So that means you're saved longer than I've been saved. Well, I can't just be saved a
month. Ain't that right? He asked somebody,
my wife asked a woman, a preacher's wife, how long you been saved? She said, basically all her life,
didn't she? That's too long. How long you been saved? When did you hear the gospel?
There comes a time when a man's got to hear the gospel. And he
ain't saved until he dies. And I'm telling you, he ain't
saved, she ain't saved until he renounces that form of the
gospel. That's what it means to confess
Christ. He said, he that denies me, I'll
deny him. But the man stands up and says,
no, Christ is Christ. This simple, pinhead Jesus that
everybody's talking about, that I used to believe, he's another
Jesus, he ain't the Christ, that ain't the gospel, can't save
a flea. That's what it means to confess to Christ. Christ
said, He that denieth me before me. Me! And I am that I am. And I do what
I do. Do what I say I do. And that woman was not saved,
didn't renounce all that. Look at 1 Thessalonians, chapter
one. Look at it. Forgive me if I'm preaching hard,
but I'm telling you, you know one thing, the apostles and the
prophets, you know, the hardest thing in
building The hardest thing in building
a building is if you've got to tear down
an old building before you start building a new one. You go in
a lot, go in a place, and I had a little experience with this.
You go in a lot and there's already an existing house there, a mighty
poor structure with a crumbling foundation. You go in there and
you're going to build a new place on that building, on that lot.
You're going to tear it down, dig up the foundation, dig, get
all the way down, go deep again, and pour the food you had to
start all over. And the hard part is tearing
away the soul, getting rid of all that rubbish before you can
start building a new one. All these preconceived notions,
all these thoughts, I thought, I thought, you've got to get
rid of all that thought. God said, Thou soughtest. That's
man's problem. That's what a man's got to go
through first. That's what God's got to do first, get rid of his
wrong thoughts of God. Remember, Nehemiah, building
the building, he said, We can't build a wall here. It's too much
rubbish. We've got to clean up the rubbish before we can start
building. First Thessalonians 1, look at verse 5. Our gospel
came, he said, not in word only, but in power. Holy Ghost and
much assurance. You became, verse 6, followers
of us. And look at verse 9. There were examples in verse
9. It says, They themselves show, these other people show, what
manner of entering in we had under you, how you turned to
God from idols. The God you used to have was
an idol, wasn't he? An idol is a figment of a man's
imagination. It's a God he's made, made up. Now, let me quit with this, OK? He says back in our text, he
says, Now you follow me. Him who has served me, let him
follow me. follow me." To follow Christ is to go after him. Go after him. To follow his leadership,
to follow his commands. He is a student, a disciple of
his. And it's also, we know that there in 1 Thessalonians, to
follow them who follow Christ. And in our text there, John 12.
John 12. He said, if any man serves me,
a true disciple, a true follower, who serves Christ, he's in it
for Christ's honor and glory. And this is another thing that
will prove a man or a woman whether they're saved or not. When they
hear the gospel and they start... If the questions come, and they
will come, there's nothing wrong with questions. But if a man
or a woman starts arguing for man against God, for a man's rights, for a man's
will, for a man ought to have a chance to be saved, for a man
is, for a man is. If he starts arguing that, he's
not in it to serve God's glory in Christ's name. He's got man's honor and loyalty.
Does that make sense, what I just
said? Well, him that served me, him
will my Father honor. To serve Christ, to serve him,
whether anybody else does or not, is to serve him, his cause,
his Lord, his goal. And here's the beauty, here's
the wonder of it all. Do you remember when Peter said
to the Lord, said, Lord, while we've left...was it right
after the rich young woman? I believe it was. Said he went
away sorrowful, had much possessions. And Peter said, Lord, while we've
left all of them Do you remember what our Lord
said? He said, He that hath left father, or mother, or son, or
daughter, or houses, or lands, or whatever for my sake in the
gospel, he shall receive a hundredfold in this life and life eternity. When our Lord seeks you first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things will be added
unto you. Amen. Amen. He gives back. Here's the beauty
and the glory of it all. You may not be called upon to
give up this or give up that. You sure need to be willing.
You will be called on to give up your religion and give up
your self and all that. He gives back a hundredfold.
True riches. I know some men and women who
have sacrificed a great job to go where the gospel was. Very few. I tell you, all that know and
love Christ must. They will. Without exception,
they will. Mostly the gospel to go for a
better job, not a believer. The believer is willing to lose
a good job and go where the gospel is. And without fail, without fail, without succession,
and I know I've known God has awarded them, given them a better
job than they had to begin with. Right now, you know, without
fail, I've known men to lose jobs and to go get a job elsewhere,
but say, no, there's no gospel there. I'm not losing. I live
on beans, if I have to, to hear this gospel. And without fail, without exception, God has refunded
with interest. Without payment. Without exception. And those who have lost their
family, you know, the family don't have the relationship with
their family. My father and mother forsake me for the gospel. A hundredfold. They get more mothers
than they wish they had. God's people begin to mother
them. True family. They're always going to be family. True friends. I think it's closer than a friend. True position. Lose your position
in this world. Who are you? Well, I'm Head Worm. I'm Head Worm. I'm superintendent
of the Worms Department. to lose that position to a son
of God, or religion. To lose that bunch
of... I wish I could tell you what
the Greek word for dung is. You never forget it. to lose all that crap, that religious
crap, and get real peace and comfort and hope so that you
can go home and you just don't have to be religious. And go to church and you don't
have to be religious if you trust in Christ. Ain't nobody, nothing
gonna disturb you. Hang a high crown on your door.
Do not disturb. I'm resting. Real peace. You don't have to
put on airs. You don't have to act like this
or act like what you're not. Put no confidence in the flesh. When you trade that old stuff,
you didn't trade anything that you got. Dung for purpose. That's what you traded in. Dung for purpose. Oh, my. Any man who loveth his
life, he'll lose it. He that hateth his life shall
find it." All right, let's sing it. Our Heavenly Father, make
your word effectual. It is effectual. We know that
we'll accomplish that which you've sent us to do. Lord, make it bring us all to
a definite conclusion. And make us all come to a verdict
about ourselves, about our state of our hearts and minds. Come
to a verdict about what is the gospel and what's not, about
who God is and who he isn't, about who Christ is and what
he did. Let us all, everyone in here
who's heard your words, come to a definite verdict. May we all come to the verdict
guilty. And all come to the conclusion
there is no other salvation than this one, no other name given among men
under heaven whereby we must be saved. One God, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one hope of our calling. Do this for your glory, and you'll
be all the glory and all that's said and done, whether you're
faithful or damned. So you'll get the glory, and
you'll do