Now, if you will, let's turn
back to the eighth chapter of Mark. Now, I don't want to be guilty of setting one scripture against
another. We don't want to do that. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God in His profitable doctrine, reproof, instruction, correction,
edification. And Scripture is interpreted
in the light of Scripture, and man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word of God. And I don't want to be guilty
of isolating any portion of God's Word as being more important
than another part of God's Word. But there's something very special
about that passage of scripture that I read a moment ago, something
very special, very solemn, very personal, about this whole incident,
about this whole discourse. And every time that I've read
it, read it in preparing this message and read it again and
then read it in a study and then read it out here, every time
I read it, it comes with a greater impact. is saying something to
us, something vital, something that reaches down to the very
heart of this business of salvation and a relationship with Christ.
So let's see what we can get out of it in verse 27. In verse
27, he asks his disciples, What's the report from people
out yonder, whom do men in general say that I, the Son of Man, am?
What do they say? Well, the disciples answered
and said, they have a very high opinion of you, a very high opinion. They don't understand you. They're
saying that that you're a lot like John the Baptist, and they
respect and admire John the Baptist. You're a great, unusual prophet. You speak as one with authority. You speak not as the scribes
and Pharisees. And they're saying that you may
be John the Baptist who's come back from the dead, reincarnated,
I guess. But some say you are Elias. The
Jews believed that before the end, that Elijah would come back
on this earth and prophesy. Some think you're Elijah, or
one of the prophets. Now that's what they're saying.
They're saying that you're different, you're unusual, you're great.
We don't understand him. He's no ordinary man. And then
verse 29, the Lord said to the disciples, but whom say ye? that I am." What? Whom do you
say that I, the Son of Man, Jesus of Nazareth, this person standing
before you in the flesh? He said, Whom say ye that I,
the Son of Man, am? You say, where do you get that?
He said it, one of the other evangelists reported it as being
asked in this way. Who am I, the Son of Man? Whom
do you say that I, the Son of Man, am? What do you say? Who
is Jesus of Nazareth? And they answered and said unto
him, Peter was the spokesman, as he usually was. They answered,
Peter did, and said, Thou art the Christ. You realize what
Peter's saying? Thou art the Christ. The Christ. Now, Christ is not a name, it's
an office. When we say Jesus Christ, it's
really Jesus the Christ, isn't it, John? It's an office. You
know, when they came to John the Baptist, they said, Art thou
the Christ? When the woman of Samaria left
her water pot at the well and went down to the village, she
said, Is not this the Christ? What's this Christ business?
Well, clear back to the days of Adam, God promised the Christ. The Christ. He promised the Christ
is the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Emancipator, He's God, the
Lord, our righteousness, the Christ, Jesus, the Christ. Jesus
is the Christ. That's what Peter's saying. You're
the Christ. You're the one of whom God spoke in the Garden
of Eden when he promised the seed of woman. You're the one
of whom Moses wrote everything he wrote. You're the one of whom
the prophets in the Old Testament speak. You are the Lord, our
righteousness. You are the Lord. You are shallow
of whom Jacob spoke. You're shallow. You're Melchizedek. You're David's son. That's who
you are. You are the reigning, ruling
Messiah and Christ and Lord of heaven and earth. That's who
you are. That's what I believe about Him, Jesus of Nazareth.
He is their God of their God. He was with God, was God. All
things were made by Him. He's the Creator. He's the one
who said, let there be light. He's God in human flesh. He's
the Christ. And verse 30, he said a strange
thing to them. Don't tell anybody that. Don't you tell that. Don't you
tell that. Don't you tell any man that. Why in this world would the Lord
Jesus Christ charge His disciples that they tell no one that He's
the Christ. Well, verse 31 tells you why.
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer. The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of
the elders and of the chief priests and scribes and be killed and
after three days rise again. In other words, the Lord Jesus
is telling them The cross comes before the crown. That's what
he's saying. The cross before the crown. The
Lord Jesus is telling them that there's humiliation before exaltation. You see that, Charles? Don't
start backwards. Start with a crucified Christ,
and then you talk about the reigning Christ. He reigns because he
was crucified. He's Lord of the dead and the
living, for he died. and purchased that right. He
purchased those crown rights. And that's all these Jewish people
wanted. They wanted an earthly kingdom.
They weren't interested in the cross. They had no understanding,
no understanding of redemption. They had no understanding that
the law of God must be honored and the justice of God satisfied
and a people must be redeemed before there's a kingdom. They
had no idea, they had no understanding at all of a lamb slain. All they wanted was a lion to
reign in Judah. That's what they were interested
in. They were interested in establishing a kingdom. They were thinking
about a kingdom. They wanted an earthly kingdom,
a Jewish kingdom, a millennial kingdom, a reign over an earthly
people, and Jesus Christ came to establish a spiritual kingdom. and reign not from a carnal throne,
but reign in the hearts of sinners." Our Lord Jesus Christ came to
establish a reign over a spiritual kingdom. You bow to Christ the King when
you know Christ the Lamb. And that's what he's telling
these disciples, is saying, we know who you are. We know who
you are. You're the Christ. And he said,
but the message first is the cross before the crown. We've got to talk about purchasing
of people, redeeming of people. We've got to talk about humiliation
before exaltation, a cross before the crown. And there's a good
possibility, I jotted this down a while ago, this may be the
key right here to understanding what he's talking about later. what he's talking about later,
about discipleship. I don't know but what it's our,
but what it's our way to take a shortcut to the crown. Everybody
talks about heaven. Everybody talks about life after
death. Everybody talks about reigning with Christ. Everybody
talks about streets of gold and walls of jasper and Sweet by
and by and heavenly rewards and blessings and all that. But there's not much appetite
for humiliation. There's not much appetite for
suffering. There's not much appetite for
bearing his cross. Now watch this. Now verse 32.
See, this is not the sort of key. Peter took him aside and
began to rebuke him. I know that reads strangely,
Peter rebuked the Lord. Yeah, there's not much humility
in any of us, is there? Peter took him aside, Peter not
understanding at all, like the rest of them, the redemptive
work of Christ. Peter not understanding at all
the suffering. He was wounded for our transgression,
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. By his stripes we're healed,
not understanding. that the Son of God must suffer.
Though He told them, though He taught them, but let's not be
too impatient with them, we are slow learners too. He taught them that the Son of
Man must suffer many things. He must be rejected of the elders
of the chief priests and scribes and be killed. He must die for
our sins. He must suffer for our transgressions. Christ Jesus didn't die as a
martyr or an example. He died as a substitute. He's
a sin offering. He's a sin offering to God. He's
not an example on a cross to win the pity and sympathy of
men. He died to redeem sinners. He
died that God may be just and justify. He died to put away
our transgressions. He came to pay a debt that we
owe, and He satisfied it in full. He came to drink the bitter dregs
of the winepress of God's wrath which we deserved, and he drank
it dry in our place, and he did it unto God. He justified us
before God. He reconciled us to God. He was
a sin offering. He was a sin offering. Peter
didn't understand these things. Peter saw a religious reign,
a Jewish kingdom, power restored with the disciples, one on the
right hand and the other on the left, and others as sergeant
of arms or sheriffs or leaders or kings or rulers and reigning
on this earth. And he took him aside and he
said, now, let's don't talk about dying. Let's don't talk about
being killed. Let's don't talk about suffering.
Let's don't talk about being rejected. Let's don't talk about
a cross. Let's talk about the crown. Now,
there's another way of doing this. Let's talk about compromise. There's got to be some other
way. Here Jesus If Nazareth, you're talking about going to
Jerusalem and everybody that's anybody turning thumbs down on
you, you're talking about being rejected of all the leaders and
the men in power and the men of influence and the men of any
means, you're going to be rejected by all of them and despised and
nailed to a cross and buried? It's got to be a better way.
That's what Peter is saying. Now that's a dead-end street,
seems like to be. That's what he said. That's a
dead end straight. That's a dead end straight. And
he said, and rise again. But Peter didn't understand.
He'd never seen about rise again. But even if you rise again, you're
still dead. That's the way he's thinking.
You rise again, and you're going back to glory, and that leaves
us here on the earth still with no king, still with no kingdom,
still with no advantage. We want an advantage. people
of God. That's what preachers say today,
run up your standard and arm yourself and go out and fight
and rule this world. This is God's world, let's go
rule it. God calls somebody else the prince of this world. Our Lord's kingdom is a spiritual
kingdom. Our Lord's kingdom is a spiritual
kingdom, and He won it by dying and suffering. and agonizing
on a cruel cross and justified us with God. And we're just like
Abraham here. We're just passing through. That's
all. We've got no continuing city.
We're just passing through. We're looking for a city. But
it's not going to be here. It's going to be in His presence. And when Peter did that, verse
33, when Peter took Him and rebuked Him, our Lord turned about. He knows all things. He knew
what Peter was doing. He knows all things. Our Lord
is not taken by surprise. Peter is such a spokesman. Christ
said, whom you say that I am, die at the Christ. And then our
Lord told him about suffering dying. He took him aside and
he said, there's a better way. Let's talk about this death business. And our Lord wheeled around,
turned, and said to his disciples, he rebuked Peter in front of
them, he looked on, he rebuked Peter, and he said, get behind
me, Satan. This is satanic. All this reasoning
of yours, these thoughts of yours, these plans of yours are satanic. Because, here it is now, you
do not delight in, nor understand, do not savor. When you savor
something, you enjoy it. It's like a piece of peppermint
candy that you roll from cheek to cheek. You savor it. You enjoy
it. You think on it. You delight
in it. It gives you great pleasure. It's not the things of God that
you're delighting in. What is it? It's flesh and the
things of men. That's what you're delighting
in. That's satanic. That's Satan's way. It's not
God's way, and God's word, and God's will, and God's purpose,
and God's glory, and God's righteousness, and God's justice, and God Almighty's
integrity, and God's character. Here's what you're thinking about
me, and mine, and the flesh, and wealth. and health, and happiness,
and luxury, and comfort, and influence, and power, and advantage,
and money, and riches, and gains, and honor, and glory, cheers!
That's what we think about. That's what we roll in. We like
our satin sheets, and our air-conditioned blowing, and our radio playing
softly, and all these delightful things in the world. God really
blessed me, I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.
Somebody else said that one time. If I can remember, who was it
that said that? Somebody over in Revelation. And God said,
you don't know that you're naked and miserable and poor and blind. So what Peter's doing when he
took the mast over here and said, let's cut out all this talk about
a cross and dying and suffering and being rejected and hated
and despised and ridiculed, let's cut that out. Now let's talk
about a kingdom where us fellows that have been with you all this
time can gain from what we've given up. Awesome reward. And our Lord said, that's satanic.
And what you're doing is delighting. You're not delighting in God's
glory. You're not delighting in God's purpose. You've got
no thought at all of the things of God. You're savoring the things
that be of men. That's your problem. And he's
saying this to his trusted servant. You've got the wrong idea in
mind. And then verse 34, and I watch
it. He called everybody around him with his disciples. ain't
nobody left out of this, and spoke these words. He said
to them, now watch this, let everybody hear, disciple and one that's just dropped in, let
everybody hear this. Now hear this, we used to, when
I was in the Navy, now hear this! And that meant you better listen.
Now hear this, Right here, he's coming to the law of discipleship.
Right here, he's coming to the heart of faith. Right here, he's
coming to what it means to come to Christ. Right here, he's talking
about salvation. He says, whosoever. And he's looking at Peter, James,
and John, and Nathanael, all the rest of them. He's looking
at these other people. standing around on the outskirts.
I want everybody to hear, whosoever will come after me, let him die. Let him deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me. For whosoever shall save his
life, deliver it, reserve it, conserve it, protect it, this
human life, this human This human effort, this human
existence, if you conserve this at the expense
of your relationship with Christ, you're going to lose it. That's
what you're going to lose. But if you can let her go and
give it up and submit it and surrender it for His sake and
for this glorious gospel, you're going to save your whole existence. Now, you see, and let me tell
you this, And I've been in religion long enough to get just about
all I can stand of it. There's no division over here. There's no talk here of division
or strife or struggle or problem over church names and denominations. You know, I don't keep any Baptist,
Methodist, Catholic, Jew, Camelite, Nazarene. I can't find any of
that here. Can you find any of that here? I can't find any squabble
or conflict over how to raise money and how to spend it, whether
the church ought to vote or not to vote, whether you ought to
have deacons or not have deacons, whether you ought to have elders
or not have elders. I can't find any of that here. This is what
people divide over. These are the things that folks
split over. I can't find any battle here over the millennium.
I don't see any millennium or tribulation or three and a half
years or a thousand years. I don't see any of that here.
I don't see where a man has to make any decision about any of
that. I don't see any discussion here about Sabbath keeping, what
you can do on Sunday. One dear lady talked to me on
the phone. She said, I've been under such bondage and law for
the last few years. I started to buy a Sunday paper
one day out of a machine and got under conviction for violating
the Sabbath. I don't see any of that here.
I just see the master looking at all the professors and pretenders
and preachers here and saying this. Now, here's what he's saying.
Whosoever. I don't care who you are. White or black or rich or poor
or old or young or educated or ignorant or male or female, it
doesn't matter who you are. Preacher, deacon, elder, Sunday
school teacher, I don't care who you are. I don't care who
you are. He says whosoever, that's a wide
word, anybody, no matter who you are. If you will come after me, if
you've got any interest or intention of coming after me. Now, I'm
the Christ. I'm God. I'm the Savior. I'm
the way, the truth, and the life. If you've got any interest of
coming after me, any intention of coming after me, you've got
any desire to come after me, I'm the Savior. If you're going
to talk about winning Christ and being found in Christ and
knowing Christ and being my disciple, there you go. Let him deny himself. You're not going to get around
that to the crown. You're not going to bypass that to the throne.
You're not going to get around that to heaven. You're not going
to live your entire existence denying God and suddenly wake
up praising God. Now, come on. It ain't going
to be done. It's just not going to be done. Here's where the initial battle
is fought, won or lost. Before Christ is enthroned, self
is going to be dethroned. Now, I know that. I'm confident
it's going to be dethroned. It's going to be dethroned by
you, for the willing spirit. Before you wear His righteousness,
you're going to deny your own. You're not going to wear them
together. Before I walk the way of grace, I'm going to be brought
by the Spirit of God to forsake my way. That's right. Now, I'm telling you the truth.
My way. Before I serve the living God,
I'm going to turn from my idols. No man can serve two masters. Whosoever, I don't care who it
is, will come after me. Yeah, but I'm old. I went, whosoever? Yeah, but I'm just a kid. Whosoever?
But I'm a businessman. I've got a lot of irons in the
fire. Whosoever? But I'm a mother, and I've got
children, and I'm a... Whosoever? But I'm a preacher. I've been preaching a long time.
I'm pastor of a church. Whosoever will come after me? Let him deny himself. Well, preacher, come on now,
let's get down, what is this to deny myself, all right? I'll
tell you what the Word says. To deny myself, first of all,
is to forsake and refuse my thoughts for his thoughts. Let the wicked
forsake his thoughts. What did, when Naaman came, there
was Gehazi, there was Elijah, And Naaman came with his leprosy
to be healed. Now here's a dumb, ignorant general. You say, dumb, ignorant general.
Yeah, he's smart in the ways of war and dumb in the ways of
God. Isn't that right? And that's most of you. You're
smart in your business and dumb in spiritual things. Isn't that
right? Of course that's right. Just because a man's a general
doesn't mean he knows everything about God. He didn't know anything
about God. He's dumb. Ignorant. I don't
like to be called ignorant. See, you haven't forsaken your
thoughts yet. You think you're smart and God says you're dumb.
God says you're a liar. I ain't no liar. God says you're
a liar. God says let God be true and
every man a liar. You've got to deny yourself now. Just keep sitting there bragging
on yourself. But I don't like the way you talk. I didn't like
you when you talked to me this way either. But it so, an old mailman came
to the door, and Elisha wouldn't even come out to see him. He
stayed in that little house. He sent his servant out to see
this general. And his servant came out there
and said, My master said if you go dip seven times in the River
Jordan, you'd be healed. What? Well, I thought, uh-oh, I thought
that he'd come out to me. Does he know who's out here?
Yeah, I think he does. Well, I thought he'd come to
me, and he'd call on his God, and he'd put his hand over the
place and say some words, and I'd say, yeah, that's what you
think. That's the way you think God saves sinners, but God doesn't
save sinners that way. You're going to deny your thoughts,
and I am too. We're going to come to the place
where we're ignorant, foolish. Our glory is our shame, and our
shame is going to be our glory. We don't know anything. We're
just children. We've got to be taught. We bow to His Word. It
doesn't matter what it says. I bow to the Word. That's what
Peter told the Master. He said, I hear fishing all night.
Well, cast your net on the right side. Launch out a bit and cast
your net. I fished all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless,
it's Your Word. I lay down my net. I tell you what it is to deny
myself. It's to deny my thoughts. And to deny my ways. My ways. It's the way I'm going to do
it. Let the wicked forsake his thoughts and the unrighteous
man his what? Ways. My ways. To deny myself is to
denounce my works. You know what the Apostle Paul
did as far as his religious accomplishments and works and heritage and ancestry
and everything? He just summed it all up. And
he said, I count it but rubbish that I may win Christ and be
found in Him. Rubbish. All of my attainments
and accomplishments, my pedigree, my education, all of our preachers are getting
credentials and doctorates and special titles, and we're going
to have to denounce those works We're going to have to renounce
our righteousness. That's right. Our righteousness. You know what
the Bible says about our righteousnesses? I'm not talking about our evil
thoughts. You know they're bad. Even your
dreams are bad and you've said things you shouldn't say and
you've done things you shouldn't do. You've done things and said
things you're just ashamed of. You just hope nobody will tell
it on you. But do you know something? Now today's been a pretty good
day, hasn't it? You got up this morning, got ready, and came
to church, and you brought your offering, and you went to class,
and you read your Bible. This afternoon you might have
sat and read your Bible. Then you went to see a sick person,
and you took some flowers. And then the lady down the street
was sick, and you took some food. Didn't you? You took some food
down there, and you gave some clothes to somebody, and you
donated to the Cancer Society, and somebody came to the Heart
Association, and you gave to that, and all these different
things, and you prayed for the missionaries, and you come to
the end of this day, and here you are in church again, and
you're going to have to say right here, even all of that is filthy
rags in God's sight. Now listen to me. Hold on to
your, buckle your seatbelt. I wouldn't be any nearer or farther
away from God if I'd have spent the day drunk in a lounge somewhere. Can you take that as far as your
works are concerned? As far as your works are concerned.
That's right, isn't it? That's what you're singing about,
John. If you think that what you've
done recommends you to God, You haven't yet denied yourself.
You've still got self where Christ belongs. Without Christ, without His blood,
without His sacrifice, without His mediatorial work, without
His priestly intercession, what I've done today in the name of
God counts for no more than if I'd have spent the day drunk. That ain't what the Nazarenes
preach, is it? Oh, I couldn't say that in many
places. But I don't care. It's so. It's so. Now, don't go out and misquote
me. I said, now, Christ makes our
offerings acceptable. Christ makes our prayers acceptable. Christ makes our reading effectual. In Christ, we are accepted. Without Christ, this is dumb. Mike's singing, sing so pretty,
and John would sing so pretty, but if Christ is not in that,
that's rubbish, John. And Mike, that's filthy rag.
You might as well come dangle a bunch of old filthy rags in
God's sight and say, trip this, cover me with this. I don't want
to be covered with that. I want to be covered with his
robe. But that's denying yourself. I tell you, to deny myself is to renounce
my thoughts It ain't like you thought it was. God elected a people, that's
what the Word says. God chose them in Christ, gave
them to Christ He came down from, and they'll be called, and they'll
hear, and they'll come. And all that are ordained eternal life
will believe. That's what this Book, that ain't
the way I see it. See there? You hadn't denied
yourself yet. That old self is going to be
put back and Christ is going to be put here. Whatever he says
is all right, whatever he does is all right, whatever he is,
I bow to it. I'll tell you something else.
To deny myself is to forsake friends and family and companions
and anyone else who hinders my relationship with Christ. That's right. I'm talking about
a disciple now. will come after me, let him do
what? Deny himself. Well, these people have been
my friends for years. It's alright. To deny myself is to forsake
those that hinder my relationship with Christ. Anything that gets
in my way of having a saving relationship with Christ has
to go. To deny myself, To deny myself is to arrange my work,
and arrange my home, and arrange my place of habitation where
I live, to arrange my social life so that everything contributes
to Christ and my relationship with Christ. Now, that's it.
To deny myself, that's what I'm talking about. He said, look
at it again. That's like Peter came over and said, Lord, there's
another way. This way of rejection, this way
of suffering, this way of denial, self-denial, this way of death.
Let's try another way. He said, that's satanic. You're
not thinking about God, you're thinking about me. And you're
not thinking about God's way and God's honor and God's glory,
you're thinking about what you want to do. And he said, and
whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself. And do
what? His cross. It's significant that
he said, let Him take it up too. Let Him take it up. Willingly,
deliberately, personally, take up, take up His cross. You know, the cross is used several
ways in the Bible. The word cross is used over and
over again. First, the cross talks about
The tree of wood on which our Lord died, he bearing his cross,
went to Calvary. Well, I gladly take up that cross. I gladly take up that cross.
Our Lord died an ignominious, hateful, humiliating, shameful
death. And that cross was my cross.
That's my cross. I preached that hated, hated,
humiliating death. That crucified Christ is my Lord. Well, secondly, the cross in
the Bible is the preaching of the gospel of substitution. Paul
said the preaching of the cross is to them that are perishing
foolishness. Now, he's not talking about preaching
a block of wood. He's talking about preaching
all of the system of justification by the person and work of Christ.
righteousness, justification, sanctification, redemption before
God by their life and death and burial and resurrection and ascension
and reigning, mediatorial work of Christ. That's the preaching
of the cross. You see, from eternity past,
when Christ became our surety, to eternity future, when Christ
reigns as king over a purchased kingdom, the cross is the central
point. The cross is the critical high
point paramount of all of His purpose, planning, and redemption. It's finished! There, it culminates
right there. And that's the reason Paul calls
the whole system of grace, the whole redemptive work of God,
the great design of God, the preaching of the cross, because
it all flows from that. You see what I'm talking about?
It all flows from the cross. It all pointed to the cross and
points back to the cross. And I'm not ashamed of that.
That's what I preach. And this is the thing that bothers
me. So many preachers have so many
themes that are foreign to the cross. But if they had any understanding
of the cross, they could realize you preach every subject in the
light of the cross. Every subject in the light of
Christ and Calvary. It all is there. And then here's the third way
it's discussed in the scripture, the cross. And we take it up. I take up. I take up in my understanding
and in my knowledge my Lord's substitutionary sacrifice shall
dare. I take up the way He died. Humiliation. He died in my stead. All right.
Thirdly, it's the shame and reproach and offense that goes with the
gospel of grace. It's called the offense of the
cross. The offense of the cross. Turn
with me, if you'd like, to the book of Galatians. Galatians,
chapter 5, verse 11. This is what Paul's talking about.
Galatians 5, 11. It's the offense. What is offense? Distasteful. offensive, not acceptable, not modern, not what the general
public believes, that which makes people angry, offensive. An odor
is offensive. A horrible, gory sight is offensive. You see what I'm talking about?
Well, Paul said in Galatians 5.11, Brethren, if I preach circumcision,
You mean by the man, the cutting of the flesh as the Jewish token
of the covenant of old? No. No. That's just only one
part of that covenant. If I preach works for salvation,
Paul said, of any kind. You see, when circumcision is
used in the writings of Paul, he's saying this, that if a man
keeps a day, a Sabbath day, if he pays a tithe, if he keeps
the law, if he does anything religiously for acceptance with
God, that's salvation by works. And it's called circumcision.
It's under that head. Just like the preaching of the
cross, under that head comes everything Christ is, everything
Christ did, everything Christ gives. Under the head circumcision
comes anything that's in the law, in the Levitical law, in
the moral law, in the traditions, customs, days, washing, baptism,
sacrifice, anything. And if a man is circumcised in
order for acceptance with God, he's denied the grace of God,
fallen from the grace of God, and he's trying salvation by
works. And Paul said, if that's what I'm preaching, look at verse
11. Then why do I suffer persecution? Why are people angry with me?
For when you preach circumcision, then is the offense of the cross
ceased. There's no offense. You see,
no religious person has any objection to gaining heaven by his merit.
He's glad for that. No religious person has any offense
at all, any objections to works for salvation. And so Paul said,
that's what it is, it's the offense. And then I'll tell you what the
cross is, fourthly. The cross is death. That's what
it's called, death to self. Death. Now look at verse 35, back to
our text. Let's read verse 34. When he
called the people with him, his disciples, he said, now, here's
the heart of discipleship. Here's the essence of redemption.
If any man come after me, let him deny himself, and take up
his cross, and follow me." Now, whosoever shall save or preserve
his life, his thoughts, his way, man says, well, I'm just not
going to have that. I'm just, well, that's all right.
I mean, people won't like you if you preach that. Like the
prophet said one time, he said, you're going to ruin your ministry
preaching that. Well, what am I going to save,
my minister or my soul? Well, you're going to lose all
your friends. Well, I'm going to save my friends
or my soul. Well, you're going to lose your job. Well, I'm going
to save my job or my soul. That's what he... Whosoever shall
save his life, his comfort, his way, his will, his thoughts,
his preserved... The fellow said, well, this is
just like a young man over in North Carolina. came to believe
the message of grace. And his daddy and mother, strong
Southern Baptists, they said, if you go to that church and
believe that message, we will not pay your tuition in college. The boy was 18 years old. What
are you going to do, son? I mean, you're talking about
$7,000 or $8,000. He said, I'll pay my own tuition. I had one friend of mine, his
mother and daddy, when he came to love the grace of God, they
started charging him room and board to live at home. That's
how much they hated his message. Some of you have paid some prices,
haven't you? shall preserve his life, his
comforts, his way, his friends, his will, his work, at the expense
of his relationship with Christ, he's going to lose his soul.
That's what he said. He's going to lose his—he's going
to damn himself. But whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake and the gospel, he's going to save it. That's
just what it comes—see, Christ gave himself. That's what Peter,
see, that's why I said, Paul, this is the key to this thing,
when Peter took him aside, this put him on this message. Peter
took him aside and said, don't talk about dying, save yourself.
Don't talk about going down and everybody hating you and despising
you and ridiculing you and turning their thumbs down on you and
going to their cross and having those nails put. There's some
other way, surely. Christ said, get to your behind.
You're not thinking of God, you're thinking of yourself. And I'm
going to tell all of you this, whosoever shall come to me, he's
going to deny himself or he's not going to be my disciple. If you're going to save your
life and deliver your life and protect your life and keep your
position, and you're going to do that at the expense of the
gospel, you're going to lose your soul. But whosoever shall
lose his life for my sake will save it. And then what he said,
But what will it profit you if you gain the whole world and
lose your soul? Suppose you keep your in-laws'
friendship. Suppose you keep your social
position. Suppose they do elect you governor.
Suppose you do gain. Suppose all that you get, the
fame and the comfort and the wealth and the health and the
friends, everything this world can offer you, and lose your
soul? That's high rolling stakes, isn't
it? You talk about a poker pot, that's one, isn't it? That's one. My soul's in there. my soul. But I can tell you this. I can tell you this. It's going to be Christ. If it costs you, that's right. And you have to be. And you have
to point back up here and say the same thing. It's Christ. If it costs that little fella
sitting right there. I'd rather have my arm cut off than lose
him. But I can't lose Christ. Huh? Someday, someday, someday,
before very long, the doctor's going to make his last visit
around to your room. You know a little bit about this,
don't you? You didn't know whether you was going to be back here
or not, did you? A lot of folks thought you wouldn't. Your doctor
thought you wouldn't. But someday you won't. Someday
you won't. Someday they're going to come
and the family, they're going to call the family, brothers and sisters
long distance, and they're going to say he's not going to make
it. And then life's going to slip quietly away and eyelids
are closed and they'll pull the sheet up over your face and everybody
will go out crying. Call the mortician. He's going
to come up there and get you and sign the papers and take
you down there and put you on that slab down there and put
some some blue fluid in your veins and take all the blood
out. Try to fix you up to look halfway decent. Put you in one
of them fine, beautiful coffins and take you down there to all
our little traditions, you know, and put you down there and folks
are going to come around and stand and talk and exchange a
few memories and words of sympathy. And they're going to have a service
maybe here or somewhere else and somebody's going to say something.
When they get through they're going to have prayer and then
they're going to come And he's going to screw that lid down.
I watch him do that every time I go to school. And I sit there
and think they're locking her for good until God opens it. They're locking her up. I watch him turn that key. I
stand there and watch him. I wish people knew what was ahead. Turn that key. Lock that thing. And we go out there and say a
few words, and everybody leaves. But I've stood around a while
and watched what happens when y'all leave. They lower that
thing down in the ground, put a cover on it so dirty, plant
some flowers. Now then, let's start preaching.
Now then, let's talk about what's important. It doesn't matter then, Ronnie,
whether you're a governor or a senator or a principal or a
history teacher. or a tape director. It didn't
matter. You're dead. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter, Tom, whether you worked for that outfit or whether you
ran it. If it hindered your relationship with Christ, it'd be better if
you worked for it than you ran it. Right? Then it will. But you say, yeah,
but now, oh, now ought to be considered in the light of then.
Shouldn't it? Because what will it profit you
if you gain the whole world, lose your soul? And our Lord added this, what
will a man give in that day in exchange for his soul? Let me
run that race again, Lord. No, she's over. I'd like one
more shot at it. I know some things now. You know
some things now, but you won't act on them. That's exactly right. We don't
believe it. The value of things in the day
of judgment are going to drastically change. The hour cometh when
banknotes, stocks and bonds will be worth no more than waste paper. Diamonds and gold and precious
stones will be worth no more than dust in the streets. Houses
and farms and estates will be as worthless as worn out children's
toys. The honor and fame of this world
will be no more than faded, withered flowers. And the time will come
when our so-called human glory is going to be our shame. And
the time will come when those things of which we were ashamed
will be somebody's glory. The time will come. For everything
that we've accumulated, everything we've accomplished, everything
we've attained, will be worth absolutely nothing,
nothing. And those things which we've
so saddened and neglected, that relationship with the King
of Kings and Lord of Lords, that's going to be the whole thing.
Because God has appointed a day in which He'll judge the world,
by that man, Jesus Christ, whom we crucified and denied, and
with whom we are offended. And he sent word back to John
the Baptist, he said, blessed is the man that's not offended
in me. And I know it's difficult. But
he said something about to this effect. that the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed. The glory. Our Father, we see it even with these natural
eyes. We have some understanding of
what our Lord's teaching here in these minds some understanding
that we can hear him, but oh, that we might have a love for
it in our hearts. Oh, that I and this congregation
that you've given me to teach and to whom I preach, that every
one of us that might be submissive to him, submissive in thought
and Attitude and ways and desire to Christ Jesus. Not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation.
Not ashamed to call Him our Lord. Not ashamed. Devoted and dedicated
to Him. Oh, to win Christ and be found
in Him. We confess that our Christ, the
Son of the living God, whom we love and adore above all things,
enable us to bear whatever reproach or suffering or sacrifice that
is required of us individually for the glory of Jesus Christ
our Lord. We pray in his name and for his
sake. Amen.