Mark chapter 8. Let's read the text. Mark 8, verse 34 through 38.
Mark 8. When he had called the people
unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever
will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and
follow me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake in the gospel, the same shall save it. 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? Whosoever therefore shall be
ashamed of me And in 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." What we do here in this place? everything that we are doing
and saying has to do with this person named
Jesus Christ. That's what this is all about,
this gathering. We claim that we meet here in the honor of
Jesus Christ to hear from to hear from him, to learn about
him, to worship this person named Jesus Christ. His existence in history is undeniable. Many would like to be able to
disprove it But they can't. There was such a one who walked
this planet 2,000 years ago. Jesus. And he left a mark on
history as no other. So much so that even time is measured around this
man's life. That makes this man extraordinary,
doesn't it? It's certain that he lived nearly
2,000 years ago. It's certain. That's one thing to meet in honor
and admiration of a man named Jesus, as we might any other well-known
historical figure who did some wonderful things and was admired
by many. It's quite another to really
believe and worship him. We could get a large gathering
were we to meet in the name of some well-known figure such as
Abraham Lincoln, and we're going to talk about his life. We could
get a large gathering here, but we don't worship that man. And
we don't claim that he's still living. He's dead. We claim that this one who lived,
who actually lived, he did live, we claim that he's still living
and we've come to hear from him. That's strange and sounds mystical,
doesn't it? But it's true. He's different. What sets him
apart from any other man that ever lived is his claims about
himself, what he said about himself. And if you look, I just browsed
through the Scriptures this morning, and you know that the greatest
part of what he said was about himself. And what he said about himself,
his claims about himself, make this man a matter of life and
death, not just a matter of just some well-known person,
you know, that we're going to honor. Like I said, a lot of
people have met in the name of and out of respect to some fellow
named Jesus, who was a good man. It's quite another to worship
him. His claims about himself leave
no room for indifference. Nobody in here can be indifferent
this morning. He can't be indifferent. And
I'll tell you what he said about himself. Look over at John, chapter
5. Look over at John, chapter 5, and let's just briefly run
through some things he said concerning himself. Like I said, His claims
about himself are what set him apart from everybody else. There were a lot of religious
leaders, there were a lot of messiahs, a lot of fellows that
people followed. But his claims about himself
were extraordinary. And if they're true, Joe, if
they're true, what he's saying about himself, We can't be indifferent. We're either going to have to
bow and worship or reject him thumbs down, everything he did
say. We can't take part of what he said either, Stan. We can't
say, well, we'll take what he said, the good things he said,
and reject what he said about himself. John 5, look at verse 18. It
says the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only
had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father,
making himself equal with God. Look at verse 24. Christ is speaking
here. He says, barely, barely. He said
that a lot. He said barely, barely. That
means no doubt about it, no doubt about it, or of a truth, of a
truth. or this is so, this is so. Hear
ye, hear ye. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, for
he is passed from death unto life." Look at verse 39. Search
the Scriptures. Read the Bible. Let's talk to
some scribes and Pharisees who, they loved to read their Bibles.
No different than scribes and Pharisees today love to read
their Bible. He says, search the Bible, read
the Bible, in them you think you have eternal life. The Bible
is written about me, he said. The Bible is written about me,
he said. The Bible was written About me,
this man said. Look at verse forty-six. You
believe Moses? Had you believed Moses, you would
believe me. Moses wrote about me. Moses wrote about me. What a Jew, you know what he
was saying. You know, our generation So far
removed from Moses and so far from they they can't understand
what he's saying. Look at chapter six verse thirty
eight. Chapter six verse thirty eight listen to this he says
I came down from heaven. I came down from heaven. What have you heard a man say
that today. I came down from heaven, not," read on, verse 38, "'not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.' Came
down because God sent me." Look at chapter 8. Look over there.
Now, this is some claims he made about himself. All right? Either so or they're not. Tracy,
you need to sit there and believe it or don't. Reject it. If you reject it, what are we
doing here? Chapter 8, verse 12, Then spake
Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have light of life. Verse 23, He said
unto them, You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this
world, I am not of this world. Verse 24, I said unto you, therefore
unto you, that ye shall die in your sins, if ye believe not
that I am. What? That I am. That I am, that
I am, that I am, all I said I am. You will die in your sins, and
God will judge you and punish you if you don't believe in me. Now, this is more than just a
man here, isn't it? And it's more important than
just believing in Jesus. Everybody lived with Jesus, and
that is they believed on Jesus. Do you believe there is a G?
Yeah, he lives right down there. I know his mama. I know his brothers. Do you believe he lives? Yeah. After he was crucified, do you
believe he died? Yeah, I saw him. Read on. Look at verse 42 of
chapter 8. John 8, verse 42. Jesus said
unto them, If God were your father, you would love me. Because I
proceeded forth and came from God. I didn't come of myself.
God sent me. You know, there are millions
upon millions, billions of people throughout this world who do
not believe and trust and who reject this one and claim that
God is their father. All of the nations of Islam claim
that God is their father. Christ said if God were, he'd
believe me. You see why he got killed? At least humanly speaking. Look
at verse fifty-six. John eight, verse fifty-six.
Your father Abraham. Once again the Muslims believe
that Abraham is their father. You know that? All Islamic nations
claim Abraham. Yeah, Abraham had a son named
Ishmael. They reject Isaac, but they,
Ishmael, they claim to believe in Abraham. That Mecca thing
over in Mecca had something to do with Abraham. Over in Egypt,
Abraham was there. And it has something to do with
Abraham. And Christ, Jesus Christ, said this here in John 8, verse
56, "...if your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day." Abraham believed in me. And they
said, What? Verse 58, Christ said, "...and
to see you barely, barely of a truth, of a truth." I say unto
you, before Abraham was, I am." Look at John 10, verse 30. John
10, read on. Verse 30. John 10, verse 30. Got it? I and my Father are one,
one and the same. Me and God, he's saying, are
one. I'm God. Verse 31, the Jews took
up stones to stone him. They knew what he was saying. Jehovah's Witnesses today say
they never say he was God. Jews knew he was saying he was
God. That's the reason they sought to kill him from the very beginning.
They knew. We read it back there in John
5, didn't we? You're a man, you make yourself equal with God.
You're saying you're God. Verse 32, many good works, Christ
said, many good works have I showed you from my Father. What are
you stoning me for? Which of these good works? They
said, for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy,
because you're just a man and you make yourself God. So what did Jesus Christ say
about himself? He said, I'm God. That's what sets him apart from
everybody. You know it's kind of a flippant, careless statement
by people that make today. He says he thinks he's God. You
ever heard that? You ever heard somebody say that
about some fella? He thinks he's God. This man said he was God. Who's God? He's the one that
made us. The Creator. The one that made
us. The one who's going to judge
us. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,
you know, loves everybody and just wants to... The God who's
going to judge and cast people into hell. God. Now, do you understand what
I'm trying to say here? What this man said, everything
this one said, is more important, holds far greater weight than
what any mere mortal man would say, because this man's God.
This is God. Oh, if God would just come down
and tell us something. He did. The Scriptures bear witness of
him all the way from the beginning. People don't know him because
They don't know him. They don't know God. Isaiah 7
says unto us, or says, A virgin shall conceive and bear a child,
and shall call his name Immanuel, being interpreted God with us. It says, Behold, a child is born,
a son is given, the government shall be upon his shoulders,
his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father. This baby, this son, this man,
God. See why he can't be indifferent
to anything he says? Anything about him, he can't
be indifferent. God walked this earth. God walked this planet. God who's going to judge us.
And he said, if you believe not, you're going to die. Now, he
can't be indifferent. Nobody in here can be indifferent.
Our indifference is not indifference, it's rejection. Young people and old, our indifference
is not just, well, I haven't decided yet. Yeah, you have.
You already have. You say, I don't care about this. I don't care
about him. He lived. It's undeniable. Jesus,
this one named Jesus, lived. He said he was God. The God in
whose hands our breath is and all our way, the very clothes
we wear and the food in our bellies right now, the fact that our
bellies can digest the food that's there, it's because Jesus Christ
is controlling our bowels. It's because we're breathing
right now, we're living. Why? Because Jesus Christ's got
our breath and he says, breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe out,
breathe in, breathe out, breathe in. Well, do you believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the living God? Do you believe that? Young people. You can't be indifferent. And it's more than believing
facts, because everything he said, if you keep my word. You know, letting slip, letting
his word slip, go out the window without anything That's let slip
that's rejected it's not keeping it what are you doing to keep
some. Time. I've got this watch and I do
everything I can to keep it I don't just throw it anywhere and toss
it about misplace it. I'm going to keep this one. My
keys and I gave my keys to my daughter the other day going
to study here and get something for me. And she, you know, those
keys weren't that important to her, and she just kind of laid
them somewhere. I said, where are my keys? She said, I don't
know. I said, get me my keys. I've
never lost a pair of keys in my life. This keys is what opens,
gets me in my study, what gets me in my house, what gets me
in my car, what gets me where I'm going. It says, Jesus Christ
has the keys of hell and death at his side. I don't want to lose keys. Keep
him, his word, what he said. All right, well, he said something
else here in Mark 8, didn't he? He read it with me. He said a
lot of things, didn't he? One line, Catherine Kinsley,
one line of what Jesus Christ said. It bears eternal consequences. Why? Because he's God. And he
just, he wasn't just a good man, he was up and saying some good
things and practicing religious rhetoric. Or just some big, he wasn't just
some philosopher. Philosophize and take what you
will. Every word he said. Our life hinges on it. Right? He does or doesn't. According to who he is. Says
it does. It's God. God never Every word is life. Look at what he said here again.
Now, we read this for our scripture reading. We just read our little
scripture reading. You know, that's the reason sometimes
I don't like to go through the scripture reading, because I
think we get in a mode, a rut with us trying to read scripture.
I do. And this is God talking. Verse 34, And Christ, when he
called his people unto him with his disciples, he said, Whosoever. And I wish I could have heard
him say that. I wish I could hear him say this now. He's saying
it now. Wouldn't you like to have heard
his tone of voice? Wouldn't you like to have looked in his eye
heard his voice inflections and seen his gestures. And wouldn't
you, Barbara, wouldn't you like to heard him? They said no man
spake like this man. They were just, Matthew, follow
me. Here I come. Huh? Oh, Lord, take
this word right now. Speak to me. Whosoever will come
after me, Christ said, What are you doing where you
go when you really don't want to have I want to go to heaven
on that. Come at what's salvation all
about. Missing hail I mean who doesn't
want to. Preachers take kids. Today they
take kids and go through vacation. This reason people don't let
your children go to these vacation Bible schools. They'll show them
a film on hell and scare the living daylights out of them
and they'll go running down and make their little profession
and the preacher will chalk a notch on his belt and report it to
the convention. How many kids he got saved. Scaring people with hell is not
salvation. Don't let your children go to
those things. They wanna and all that crap. Don't do it. This thing is not
trying to entice kids with fun, you know, or try to scare people
to death or kids to death. It's that they might know Christ,
the true and living God, come to know him. And you know, they're
not gonna know their sins till they know Christ. And I don't know they're saying
gee appeared in. When Peter saw Christ finally
found us all Christ he said oh I'm a sinful man. He said depart
from me I'm a simple man. Thomas didn't know him did he
John until he saw Christ. He didn't know it. You were a
pretty good fellow until you met Christ weren't you John.
Religious cleaned your act up until you met Christ and you
said woe is me. Thomas didn't know him until
he saw him. who he was, and then he tells
him, My Lord and my God. A person. Salvation is a person. I've practiced everything with
this. What we're doing here has everything
to do with this person named Jesus Christ. And we're not here
to just honor some fellow named Jesus who was a good man. We're
here to bow, to submit, to hear from him. That's the reason what
I'm saying right now, either it is or isn't, it's what he's
saying. Come from him. I either am or
I'm not. If I'm not, go somewhere where a man is. And Christ said,
Whosoever will come after me, a person, read it, verse thirty-four,
let him deny himself. Let him deny himself. What does
this mean? Let him deny himself. You know what our problem is? That's our problem. What is the
philosophy of our day? Somebody tell you, some of you
psychologists, people who study philosophy and psychology and
sociology in college, would you tell me what the philosophy of
today is? It started back in the 60s. You know what it is?
Love yourself. That you're somebody. That you're
worth something. And you need to learn to love
yourself before you can love others. Well, I don't know. That boggles my mind. No, our Lord said, deny yourself. Deny yourself. Anything that
has to do with self. What other word do you think
of when you think of self? Pride? Pride? Aren't they synonymous? Self-worth. That's just a fancy word for
pride, isn't it? Scripture says it goes before
thought. You know, the Scriptures is not designed to make us feel
good about ourselves. It's designed to make us loathe
ourselves and hate ourselves. Yes. That's what our Lord said. He
denied us. Pride and guilt go before a fall. Who was it now
we're talking about, Tim? Terry, you and I, we're talking
about everything in the Scriptures is designed to break us, to bring
us down. that everything says pride goeth
before fall, but he that abaseth himself shall be exalted. It
says that Christ raiseth up. Who? Him there on the downhill. You're not going to be raised
unless you're where? On the downhill. Huh? He's not going to save who? But the lost. He's not going
to pardon but who? The guilty. He's not going to give life,
but to who? The dead. The dead. Deny self. Self-deny. Self-deny. And let me just elaborate on
this a little bit. Deny self. That doesn't mean
to live a life of asceticism. I've tried that. I've practiced
that. Go sit somewhere and deny your
appetites fast. deny all worldliness around you
and live a life of an ascetic, if that's so, not having things,
if that's what this means, not having things or possession,
if that's what worldliness is, owning things and having things,
and to deny self is to deny or do away with all this pleasure,
if that's what that means that there's a fellow sitting up on
the mountains of the Andes Mountains or up in the Ganges. He's washing
himself in that old muddy river of the Ganges. He's a dirty,
filthy Indian fellow with a loin cloth wrapped around his and
a beard down to his feet. He's the most holy man on earth.
Because he doesn't have nothing. All he's got is a little stick
and he wanders around walking around. Is that holiness? Is that self-denial? Is that
what Christ is talking about? Let him deny himself. What self? Self-worth. Self-worth. Self-goodness. Self-goodness. Scripture said, we deny our own
goodness. There's none good no more. Are you a good person? Well, yeah, I'm not. You remember
that fellow calling me? At one time I asked him, I said,
Are you a sinner? And he said, no, no, I think
I'm a pretty neat fella. Well, are you a pretty neat fella,
or are you a sinner? Huh? That's what it is to deny
yourself, to deny anything good about you. Nothing good about
me. You say you run the danger. Philosophers
say you run the danger. This is what this is. It's guilt
manipulation. You run the danger of breaking
people's wills and their self-esteem. Yeah, I do. I'm trying to break
self-esteem. That's exactly what I'm trying
to do. But you run the danger, philosophers would say, of breaking
someone down so far that they lose all hope. Because only when somebody loses
all hope will they turn to Him who is their only hope, Jesus Christ. And then Christ
says, I'll give you life, life more abundant. And we'll get
into that a little more deeper here in a moment. Deny self,
deny my own goodness, deny my own thoughts and opinions and
way. Well, this is what I think about it. Christ said, forget
that. Our thought goes out the window.
When we come to Christ, our thought is not in your vocabulary. Right? Right? Thou thoughtest, God said. This is what you thought. But
He said, My thoughts are not your thoughts. And when we deny
ourselves and come to Christ, our thoughts say, Lord, what
do you think? Then our self-worth? God doesn't need us. This preacher's
not going to tell anybody that God needs him. God doesn't need
anybody, does he? You see, only people that see
that God doesn't need me are going to need him and need Christ. That's what it means to be needed.
the poor and needy. Deny my own self-righteousness. Deny any good that I've done. Deny it. Forget it. The best
sermon this fellow's ever preached. Forget that. It's done. It's done. It's a silly sign,
you know. Only one life shall soon be passed.
Only what's done for Jesus will last. Boom! That's blasphemy. That's self-righteousness. God hates it. He says, that's
the filthiest, rottenest statement I've ever heard. Only what's done by Christ will
last. Not for Jesus. By Christ. Self-righteousness. Isaiah said
there's filthy rags. And look it up what that means.
Filthy rags. All our righteousness. To deny
self is to deny all I am and have. He must increase. This is what I'm trying to say.
When a man really believes and trusts Christ, Christ gets higher
and he gets lower. He must increase. John, best
man ever lived. Christ said it. Best man ever
lived was John the Baptist. Didn't he say that? The best
man who ever lived. What did John say? Who are you,
John? Well, I'm Dr. John. The right reverend. Well, I teach down at the seminary. I said, I'm nothing. A boy. And I'll leave you to decide
about all this stuff that's going on today in the name of Jesus
and all these fellas with their degrees. Leave you to decide
on the basis of that. He must increase. I must decrease. My degrees don't increase. They
decrease. I will be loath to have one.
Doctor? One position. It's to deny or
disclaim anything or anyone who gets in the way of Christ. Deny
myself? What do you want by nature? You want things for yourself,
don't you? It's to deny anything or anyone
who gets in the way of Christ. Deny self, personal ambitions,
anything that keeps us from Christ. Anything. Deny yourself. Deny
yourself. lusts against the Spirit, the
Scripture says. Deny that job that'd keep me from being worthy
of Gospels preached. Deny that husband who doesn't
give a flip about the Christ I claim to love. Deny that wife
is to keep from marrying that boy or that girl that doesn't
give a dang about Jesus Christ or the Gospels. Deny them. Say,
I don't want you, I want Christ more. This is what Christ is
saying. If any man come after me, if
you want me, you want that dude. They learn heart, Lord, and they
love Jesus Christ. Deny your motive to be a wife
and have babies. And deny that dude. Don't marry
that jerk. Marry me, Christ said. Well,
that's plain language. That's the way the Son of God
taught. them are made, Christ said. Serve
God or man, he says, you can't do both. Choose you this day
whom you will serve, Scripture says. Look at the next thing he says,
let him deny himself, take up his cross. Look at that, let
him deny himself, self-worth, self-righteousness, self-ambitions
and goals, Deny himself and take up his cross. Take up your cross. God Almighty said this. Whosoever
shall come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross. His cross. What is this cross?
What is, what was the cross to Jesus Christ? What was the cross? Now, he doesn't
mean, you know, some fool that actually is walking around the
United States carrying, I mean, a literal cross. Boy, he's not revealing he's
a disciple, he's revealing he's the most ignorant man on earth.
Carrying around a wooden cross. What was the cross to Christ?
What was the cross? Was that piece of wood, was that
the only thing? When Paul said, God forbid I should glory save
in a cross, glory in a piece of wood? Oh, so much more. Not even alluding to that. A
piece of wood? Christ suffered shame on the
cross. The cross was the most shameful
thing, the most shameful way anybody could ever die. Crucifixion was absolutely the
most hideous form of death of all. It was the most shameful.
They hung people naked before all the world, and it was the
slowest, most agonizing, painful death that could be done. And this scripture says, though,
that Christ, who for the joy that was sent before him, endured
the cross, despising the shame. For joy endured the cross, the
most shameful thing, despising the shame. Sammy, what he meant
by that was he didn't think anything about the shame that came with
it. The first thing that comes with a cross, we take it as a
shame that goes with it. What kind of shame? I mean, if it starts in subtle
ways. You're not going to church, are you? Huh? What? Where are you going? Church. What? What do you mean? Church? Yeah. And it keeps going. You don't
believe that, do you? You don't believe that? Why ain't
nobody else believe that? You don't believe it now, do
you? Yeah. Persecution. It grows. It keeps growing. It starts with
A. You're not going to church, are you? Yeah. And persecution keeps going with
it. It builds, it keeps building,
getting stronger. Now, your preacher thinks he's
right and everybody else is wrong. And those people down there,
they think they're right and everybody else is going to hell.
Now, you're not going to subscribe to that argument. I'm afraid. Well, you know, and we're so
meek and timid. Well, I believe the gospel that
they're preaching is the gospel, and it's the only one there is.
If there's any others, it's not the gospel. If anybody doesn't
believe this gospel, they are, yeah, they're going to hell.
Yeah. That's what I believe. Well, if what you're saying is
so, and then hatred comes. Persecution. In the hatred of
what you're saying is so. Then I'm not saying. Is that what you're saying if
what you're saying is so that I'm not saying. Well I'll have
you know. And then on and on again. And then you suffer loss the
loss of their friendship. Will you leave me for. So for
the loss of self-esteem, you've lost self-esteem. You know, everybody
likes to be liked, don't they? I like to be liked as much as
well as the next man. I do. I like to have friends. I
don't want people to hate me. Who wants that? You will. Christ said you will.
Just say you believe what you believe. Just say it. You will. You'll suffer these things. Self-esteem,
world acclaim, friends, lovers, family, job. Tell that boy you're
dating. Tell him. I dare you. Tell him
that I'm not going to marry you. I'm not going to have anything
more to do with you unless God does something for you. And see,
I'm more interested in Christ and eternal life than I am you. Tell him that. See how long a
relationship lasts. If he doesn't swindle you by
getting real religious so he can get you, and if God doesn't
do something for him, even if it's for the wrong reason, then
God might save him. But I tell you, girls, these
guys will get religious just to have you. They'll say anything
you want them to say just to have you. You're welcome to church. I get there and give them a shave
and give them a job. And once they've got you, they'll drop you in this place. Telling you the truth, aren't
I, parents? Christ said you must through much tribulation. This
is a cross. This is persecution he's talking
about. Through much tribulation enter the kingdom of heaven.
Read on. He says, whosoever shall He'll
come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow
me. Follow me. Take up his cross
and follow me. Follow me. Now let me just say
this, OK? Give me a few more minutes. This
bears saying. Jesus Christ didn't tell us Didn't tell us we'd have to sell
everything we own. Like I was saying this morning,
he told one man that, the rich young ruler, when he says you
forsake all that you have, it's in preference to him, in preference
to him. Nothing else really matters. It's an attitude, is what it
is. You can be a human being and
be a believer. This is the problem with most
religion today, and even in some well-meaning people. They think
that in order to be a believer and
disciple of Christ, you can't own anything, go anywhere, do
anything. You cannot enjoy yourself. Don't
you dare enjoy yourself. That's evil. Don't you dare have
pleasure. It's true. And our kids, what
one of our kids would want that? God doesn't, God wants me to
be miserable. Is that it? God wants me, show
your love for me, be miserable. Well, it's so absurd, that's
why you're laughing at it, Nancy. God gives us all things richly
to enjoy. He that made everything said,
use it. Use this world, don't abuse it, but use it. Make sure
it doesn't get a hold of your heart, is what he's saying. If
you're one of his own, he'll jerk it out of your heart. But
here, you can be a human being with human desires and on human
things. This is how absolutely absurd—men
cannot rationalize materialism. They can't rationalize it. They
cannot put a good grip on materialism, because you've got the army,
Sherry, that won't use anything of, you know, modern convenience,
then you got the next step up, they'll use just barely short
of modern convenience. Then you got to step up and step
up. Where is the standard? Where does it say that? Any of
this? Where did Christ say that? Here's the point I'm trying to
make. You can be a human being. You can own possessions. You
can be in this world and not be out of this world. Right? Preachers and things go
to seminaries. Why? Not to be worldly. Get out
of the world. Christ didn't say, do that. He
didn't tell a preacher to do that. He prayed in John 17, Lord,
don't take them out of this world. He didn't say that. Not to take
them out of the world, but to keep them from the world. Keep
it from their hearts. Keep it from getting a hold on.
Here's the point. When it comes to choosing, you
may own these things and enjoy this world. Yes, I said that. And have pleasure. But when it comes to Christ for
that, there's no choice. There's just no choice. Is there not if the love of God
is shared abroad in a man's heart? Abraham, Abraham was a rich man.
Abraham? Yes, Lord. Follow me. OK. Matthew was a rich man. Matthew?
Follow me. OK. And that's what you mean by forsaking
all that you have. When it comes down to a choice,
if it comes down to something getting in the way, if it comes
down to something, get in the way. You remember when we read
that over there in Luke, it says they all begin to make one excuse. I've done it. I've got this.
I've bought that. That got in the way. It got in the way. Why can't a man
own a car and Would you tell me that? I don't understand.
You can drive that car. John, if you have a car, you
can drive further to hear more gospel. Right? Stan, that's their excuse
for not going to hear the gospel. I believe these people don't
have a car, can't go. That's a real good excuse. We don't have one. We've got
one. We ought to go hear it every opportunity we've got. We've
got a good one. Got three of them one breaks
down and take another. I think cars a good thing I think
cars a great thing I think God for cars. Television what an
evil evil. You don't have one do you. See the devil's work. I know a man, there was a man
sitting in a chair in Pikeville, Kentucky, sitting in a chair
watching TV on Sunday morning. How ungodly. Drinking beer! Nine
o'clock in the morning. Drinking beer! Watching TV! What
an ungodly, filthy, wretched sinner! He's going to hell! He
heard the gospel. Watching TV. A man got on there
and said, you're a sinner. The man said, I ain't no sinner.
He turned over the field on a heater, whatever was on at the time.
or over to Rex Humbard. That's better entertainment. And he sat there and drank his
slits. Maybe I am a sinner. He went
back and turned it on again. And the man preached the gospel
to him. He'd been sitting here in the gospel ever since that
day. He was watching TV. Thank God for TVs. Thank God, I do wish there was
only one channel and it was only on at ten o'clock on Sunday morning.
David Pledger and Henry Mahan and so forth. I do wish that. Never the little evil in things.
Your mother told you sex. You wouldn't be here if Mama
didn't have fun one night. Ah! God made it pleasurable,
else men wouldn't multiply their plentishard. But not outside
of marriage, young ladies. It's positively filthy, and God
said it might kill you. There's no promise you won't
get AIDS. Pleasure. The world. Isn't it
evil? God made it. You see how absurdly ridiculous
all these notions are? When it comes down, what the
thing is, the thing is you can be in this world and own some
of this world, but you don't have to be of this world. I'd
value, I wish I, I'm going to get some copies of Brother Tim
James on what we think the world is. The world is the pursuit,
the direction, the ambitions, the love that the world is headed,
the direction that the world is headed. What's the world,
where's the world headed? Well, you say greed is part of it.
It sure is. Accumulating is part of it. Don't get part of it.
Take part of that. But I tell you, worse than that, it's anti-God,
down with God, down with religion, down with anything moral, good.
It's anything that the world, the direction that the world
is headed, the thoughts the world is headed. world. We're of God, the whole
world life, and we think like God. The whole world thinks like
the world. Christ said, follow me. Follow me. You can be a human being and
follow Jesus Christ. You sure can. But when it comes
to choosing, if there's a choice to be made, there is no choice
to be made. And let me just say this. Let's read on, and I'll quit.
Christ said, whosoever, verse 35, will save his life shall
lose it. That means your own reputation.
What are you concerned about? Your reputation or winning Christ
to be found in him. What are you concerned about?
Your soul or accumulate. Whosoever will save his life,
his reputation, This life, the goals in this life, is going
to lose it. What does that mean, that you
won't get a good job? No, it means, what it means is,
you see, we're going to lose everything we have. That doesn't mean when we follow
Christ we're going to lose everything we have, or it doesn't mean if
we don't follow Christ we'll lose it immediately. What I mean
is this world is a vapor, and Stan, at some point in time,
you're going to be, well, you might die tomorrow. But when
you become an old man, you're going to lose it all. You're
going to die. That's what Christ meant. You're
going to save this life? Is this life it? Is this all
there is? Well, then grab all the gusto
you got. But let me tell you this, Christ said, you're going
to lose it. I don't care how tightly you hold on to it, you're
going to lose it. It's going to go. These babies,
Steve, that boy, Johnson Pledge, he lost his boy. Don't make him your life. Christ is life. See, only if
you know Christ will you see that boy again. All of Christ, trust Him. Whosoever
shall save his life shall lose it. Whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake and the gospel, he'll save it. And Christ said
in another place, He said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and
all these things of the attitude. He said, Whosoever has forsaken
houses and lands and mother and father and husband and wife and
son or daughter for my sake, it shall be restored unto him
a hundredfold and in this life That's what I was trying to say
a while ago. Christ doesn't say, you're going to have to live
as a pauper all your life. He didn't say that. He says, seek first. Oh, when? When you make the profession?
No, all your life. He's always heard. And all these
things be added to. Follow me. What like you yet? You like anything yet? You see,
here it is Sunday. Well, I can make double time
and a half on Sunday. I work on Sunday. Who gave you the job to begin
with? My brother-in-law. I'm going
to start the tape again. Seek ye first! Now, he wasn't doing that so
he had three shops. And that's what the evil generations of
the religious world say, well, I'm going to give this up. I'm
going to send $10 so I can have a hundred. I'm going to seek
Jesus because he'll give me a better job. That's not it. The love
of Christ constrains that. He wasn't doing it so he could
have better business. He loved Christ. There wasn't
a choice to be made. And Christ promises. He promises. He'll save it. He'll save your
life. He'll save it. What shall it
profit a man if he could gain the whole world? Anyway, what's
he got? What's he got if he could gain
the whole world? What do you got? Like an ant, you've got
kindling. Like a termite. Like a maggot. Dead things. Dying. He's going
to die. The whole world. And lose his
soul. What's a soul? That's eternal.
What will a man give in exchange for his soul? I've said that
many times. It won't take much. Make that
choice for most people. It won't take much. An extra
dollar or two, a new car, a better house, or ten point bucks. a five pound bass. Or if Rusty Wallace will just
win one more. Exchange it for his soul. It makes these things absolutely
ridiculous, doesn't it? It's unbelievable. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. And I've got a
confession to make, people. Christ said, who's ever going
to lose his life will find that whosoever shall save his life shall lose it. Whosoever shall
follow or come after me, if you want Christ, he said, it's going
to cost you. And I didn't say that you're
going to have to, not like some of these preachers are saying. I was somewhere yesterday in
a public public. Place. And a man came up to me
and in the hearing of it was a lot of people and a man said
I spoke to him first as being. So so he said. And he should he might as well
said. He might as well said that. That's all the look. Oh no. One of those. You think I like that. Oh my. But I thought you know after
and. And I thought after that I said
are you ashamed of being a preacher. Would you trade it just to be
one of the boys? Would you go back to working
the railroad? Would you go back to working the railroad so you
can just be one of the guys and nobody hate you? I wouldn't trade it. He didn't want a choice to make.
When I asked myself that question, I mean, I didn't just entertain
it for a moment. I didn't say, well, you know,
it might be not for a minute. Boy, I know some preachers. Boy,
I call them preachers. That's what this calls God. That's
what the people call them. I told that fellow, I said, you
know, I said, please, don't call me that. It's not that I'm ashamed
of it, but To most people, when they say it, they say it in contempt. To most people, it's a title
of ridicule, somebody to mock. But you know, to me, it's a title
of honor and high calling. I know some Scott Richardson
people call him Preacher, the Preacher. What a title, what
an office. What about Christian disciple? Disciple of Jesus Christ. You're
not going to church, are you? Well, yeah, that's where Jesus
Christ is being worshiped. Why, yeah. And you're not? You know, we ought to be saying,
you're not? You mean you're not? You're not going to worship God?
You got everything you got, God gave it to you, and you're not
going to thank Him? You're the fool, man, I ain't
no fool. I'll be a fool for Christ's sake, won't you be, Ed? By His
grace. Though it's human, you know,
to think that. But would you trade? Would He
save your life? Would you be one of the boys?
Or would you be a son of God? Is there a choice? They was leaving,
you know. They were all leaving. Christ said to one of them, he
said, you going to go too? Well, I know. Where are we going
to go? Who are we going to go to? What
are we going to do? I tried that. Ain't nothing to
do that. I dove in the world just head
first. Had all Augusto. I haven't had all Augusto you
can get in just 19, 20 short years. Ain't nothing to it. It's like foam on top of beer.
Ain't nothing to it. Nothing to it. Bubbles. Appears for a little while and
then vanishes away. Boy, it's something to this. It's everything
to this. There was a lot to make. I said.
I know that's right. I know that's right. I know that's right. I know that's right. I know that's right.
I know that's right. I know that's right. I know that's right. I know that's right. I know that's
right. I know that's right. I know that's right. I know that's right. I know that's right.
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I know that's right. I know that's right. I know that's right. I know that's right. I
know that's right. I know that's right. I know that's right. I know that's right. I know that's right.
I know that's right. I know that's right. I know that