This order of revealed truth is important.
And it starts there with Peter's confession in verse 29.
You can look at it there.
And he asked them, but who do you say that I am?
And Peter answered, you are the Christ.
There's this initial moment of revelation that was so necessary
because it's necessary that God convince us of Jesus's identity
because you cannot rightly understand what Jesus did apart from believing in who he is.
It had to start there.
And that's the structure of Mark's gospel.
He spends the first eight chapters really focusing in on who Jesus is.
And the disciples have now come to see that the Lord has opened their eyes to that.
In fact, in Matthew's account, Jesus immediately follows Peter's confession by saying,
blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,
but my father which is in heaven has revealed this to you.
God was opening their eyes.
This was a great moment, but it was a significant moment in the order.
They're seeing who Jesus is.
And then Jesus begins to plainly tell them about his coming suffering, death, and resurrection.
But that can only be understood in light of the fact that they had just acknowledged
who he is.
And now he opens up about what he is there to do.
You see that in verse 31.
We read it.
Let's read it again.
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things,
be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes.
That is a representation of the Sanhedrin.
And he would be killed.
And after three days, rise again.
Now, this truth was not easy for these men to understand or accept.
And of course, that's represented in the fact that Peter,
who had just made this great confession of Christ,
then pulls Jesus to the side and scolds him
because Jesus' mission didn't meet Peter's expectations.
And then what follows that is the most severe rebuke
that we see Jesus giving anyone in the Gospels who desired to follow him.
What was it that he said?
Get behind me, Satan.
And it wasn't that Jesus was insinuating that Peter had been possessed by the devil
or that he was otherwise under the influence of Satan in a very specific sense.
What he was saying is that the men in rejection of Christ's mission
had inadvertently set themselves in opposition to the will of God.
Because they did not accept the word of God,
they set themselves as adversaries to the will of God.
And then what was it that Jesus said immediately following?
You do not have your mind set on the things of God.
You know what your problem is, Peter?
You only want what you want.
You're not thinking about what God's desire,
what God's will is for this.
And isn't that the place that we often find ourselves in?
In the struggle, we're constantly fighting our tendency to only look at the eyes of man,
only to set our minds on the things of man,
rather than setting our minds on the things of God.
And look where it got Peter in this passage in the other men.
And then it's going to continue to be a theme as we get into these next verses.
Because they misunderstood the mission of Jesus,
they also misunderstood what it means to follow Jesus.
And now that he had plainly spoken about his purpose,
it was necessary that Jesus explain the true meaning of discipleship.
What does it really mean to follow Christ?
That's what he's getting at now.
And you see the progression now, right?
You see the order of revelation.
He focuses on his identity first.
Who do you say that I am?
And from there, he moves on to his purpose.
Now that you know that, this is the gospel.
Crucifixion and resurrection.
And once Jesus has initiated that revelation,
then he says, now here's what it means to follow me.
Here's what it means to follow me.
Because it is not enough, hear me,
it is not enough to acknowledge the truth of who Jesus is.
To acknowledge the truth of Jesus's purpose in an intellectual way.
Simply acknowledging those things is not enough.
You must follow Christ.
And so he doesn't just stop with the explanations.
He then calls them.
Here's who I am.
Here's what I'm doing.
Here's what it means to actually follow me.
And that's where we get here.
What Jesus called them to is radically different than what they expected.
And it may be that as we get into these verses,
it's radically different than your expectations too.
His teaching here is not hard to understand,
but it is very hard to receive.
After hearing his teaching,
the question for the 12 disciples,
and what will be the question for us,
the conclusion of this passage is this.
Is Jesus worth what it cost to follow him?
Look with me at verse 34.
Calling the crowd to him with his disciples,
he said to them,
if anyone would come after me,
let him deny himself,
take up his cross,
and follow me.
That's an intense call to discipleship.
If anyone will come after me,
if anyone desires to follow after me,
he must forget himself.
He must take up the cross.
Luke adds daily.
He must take up the cross daily.
And he must follow me.
There's been a significant amount of disagreement over the years
as to what Jesus means in this call to follow him.
And some have suggested that Jesus is referring to
sort of an elite category of Christian experience
that requires a higher level of commitment.
In their minds,
discipleship is this high level.
It's a believer that just decides,
okay,
I'm going to really give this all that I've got at this point,
that that's what discipleship is.
And so they reason that what Jesus is getting at here
is that if you really want to be a good disciple,
a good follower,
this is what will be true of your life.
And they say that a believer and a disciple
are two different things.
In their minds,
Jesus is referring to a Christian
that just wants to take their faith to the next level.
But Jesus makes no such distinction anywhere,
anywhere in the Gospels.
Jesus never says that there's two categories of Christians.
He never says that to be a disciple
is a different thing than being a believer.
And the summoning of the crowd here in verse 34
signals that the call to discipleship
is not exclusive to the individuals
that desire to go deeper in their faith.
Think about this.
In the last two conversations,
it's been private with his disciples.
On the road to Caesarea Philippi,
that's where the confession comes,
the confession of Christ.
It's once the,
or excuse me,
on the road to Caesarea Philippi.
And when they get there,
that's when this conversation takes place
about his purpose.
And now after those conversations has taken place,
notice what Jesus does.
Apparently there's nearby crowds,
no doubt desiring to be close to Jesus.
And what does he do
before he gets to the call to discipleship?
He calls the crowds.
Meaning that this message is not merely
for those who were already intrigued by him,
that were already following him.
This is the message for everyone.
It's not an exclusive group of Christians.
Jesus never called someone to believe in him
that he didn't expect to repent and follow him
as a faithful disciple.
Discipleship is not an exclusive category of Christianity.
It is Christianity.
And to be a believer in Christ is to be a disciple.
And what follows in Jesus's teaching here in these verses
is not a description of an elite Christian.
It is a description of a true Christian.
And I want to draw your mind for just a moment
back to Mark chapter four.
In Mark chapter four,
remember Jesus is telling these parables
and he opens with this parable about the soils.
Do you remember?
Jesus says there's four types of soils
and only one of those soils actually produces fruit.
The other three,
or in the other three types of soil,
the seed is ultimately destroyed
or it is removed in some way or another.
And later on, on that day,
Jesus is explaining what this parable was about.
And he says that the soils represent the heart of man.
Every man has a type of soil that is their heart.
And it falls into one of these four categories.
And then he says,
the seed is the word of God,
that as the seed,
the word of God is sown on man's heart.
There's only one type of heart
that will actually produce spiritual fruit
that will actually indicate genuine salvation.
And that is the fertile soil,
as you remember the parable.
But I think as Jesus gets here to Mark chapter eight
in this call to discipleship in verse 34,
he's anticipating those people
who are represented by the soil
that is rocky and weedy.
Remember?
Let me read it to you.
Mark chapter four, verse 16.
These are the ones, Jesus said,
that were sown on the rocky ground.
The ones who, when they hear the word,
immediately receive it with joy.
But they have no root in themselves.
They endure for a while.
Then when tribulation or persecution arises
on account of the word,
immediately they fall away.
And others are the ones sown among thorns.
They are those who hear the word,
but the cares of this world
and the deceitfulness of riches
and the desires for other things
enter in and choke the word
and it proves unfruitful.
Notice the things that ruin the seed in these soils.
First, persecution,
suffering,
tribulation,
difficulty,
not just difficulty in general,
difficulty as Jesus says,
on account of the word.
And they fall away.
What's the others?
The cares of this world.
The deceitfulness of riches,
following after wealth,
caught up in our own sin,
caught up in our own lives,
the desires for things other than the world,
than the word.
And what happens?
The word is choked out.
Now what's the common denominator
in both of these soils?
As Jesus told Peter in verse 33,
they have their minds set on the things of man
rather than the things of God.
And so these people at some point come to the word
and perhaps for a little while,
they receive it with joy
and they appear as far as we can tell
to be true Christians.
But whenever the hardship comes,
whenever somebody doesn't appreciate their Christianity,
they immediately fall away,
it's not worth it to them.
Or it gets choked out by the sin of their life
or their other pursuits of their life.
They never really follow Christ.
They're intrigued by Christ.
They're enamored by Christ,
but they never actually follow him.
And so ultimately,
they prove to be unfruitful.
And I think Jesus has these categories in mind
as he's calling the crowds to him in Mark chapter 8.
He's thinking,
listen, you may acknowledge who I am.
You may even see my purpose.
But so did the people who received it with joy.
So did the rocky soil people.
So did the weedy soil people.
But it didn't mean that they were true Christians.
When Jesus calls the crowds,
he anticipates that many would make a profession of faith
only to later abandon that faith
when following Christ just cost too much.
He warned that those who thought they could gain salvation
by merely acknowledging his identity and purpose
but never truly following him,
it was impossible.
So he proclaimed that the way of discipleship
includes total self-abandonment.
And it inevitably leads
to some form of suffering on account of Christ.
Jesus here is teaching the crowd to count the cost,
which is actually exactly what he said
when saying this same thing in another moment.
We find that in Luke 14.
In fact, why don't you turn there?
Luke chapter 14.
And read this with me.
Now great crowds accompanied him.
And he turned and here's what he said.
If anyone comes to me
and does not hate his own father and mother
and wife and children and brothers and sisters,
yes, in his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not bear his own cross
and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Now, of course, Jesus isn't advocating
that we actually hate those that we love.
That's not what he means here.
What he means is that
those who would love father and mother more than him,
as he says in Matthew 10,
are not worthy of him.
Those who would love son or daughter more than him
are not worthy of him.
That our love for Christ
will make our lesser loves
seem actually more like hate.
Okay?
That's what he's getting at.
Abandonment of self following him.
Now continue on with me.
For which of you desiring to build a tower
does not first sit down and count the cost,
whether he has enough to complete it?
Otherwise, when he's laid the foundation
and is not able to finish,
all who see it begin to mock him,
saying,
this man began to build
and was not able to finish.
Or what king going out
to encounter another king in war
will not sit down first
and deliberate
whether he is able with 10,000
to meet him who comes against him
with 20,000?
And if not,
while the other is yet a great way off,
he sends a delegation
and asks for terms of peace.
So therefore,
any one of you who does not renounce
all that he has
cannot be my disciple.
Those are hard words.
Hard words.
What is Jesus calling us to?
He's calling us to repentance.
To abandon everything else in this life
to follow him.
And an unwillingness to turn
means that we are not actually
his disciples.
So in Mark 8,
he's calling them to count the cost.
We've said this the last couple of weeks
and I think it's just helpful
to be reminded
that true conversion
does not only produce
a confession of Jesus,
but a follower of Jesus.
And a true follower of Jesus
will inevitably display
the marks that Jesus teaches
in this passage.
Isn't that what James
was getting on about
in his letter in James chapter 2?
Show me your faith
without your works
and I'll show you my faith
by my works.
In other words,
it's not the works that save us,
but true faith results
in radical change.
So true conversion
is not merely saying intellectually
giving assent to the things of Christ.
It is actually abandoning all
to follow after that Christ.
And the true disciple
ultimately will demonstrate
these marks here.
Jesus gives three imperatives
in this verse.
They all picture together
repentance, don't they?
You understand repentance.
Repentance, it literally means
to turn away.
It's a 180.
It's to be going in one direction
and then make a complete turn
and go in the other direction.
And Jesus gives these three imperatives
that together picture this perfectly.
He says, first,
you're heading down the way of self.
And if you're heading down
the way of self,
the first step is that
you have to turn away from self.
And in the process
of turning away from self,
you're picking up your cross
and then what are you doing?
You're following him.
You're going in the other direction.
Okay?
That's what Jesus is getting at
with these three imperatives.
Let's talk about them quickly.
Number one, he says,
deny yourself
or deny himself.
If anyone would come after me,
let him deny himself.
Many people don't make it past
this first item
because it goes against everything
in our nature, doesn't it?
Our culture idolizes self.
Self-love, self-care,
everything's me.
Everything's there to serve me.
It's my truth.
We are our own gods
and we worship daily
at the altar of self-pleasure.
That's the culture in which we live.
That's the nature
with which we are born.
But Jesus says that to follow me,
you're going to have to forget yourself.
Forget yourself.
This word for deny here
literally means disregard.
He's not talking about
the mere denial of pleasures.
He's not advocating an ascetic life.
That's not what Jesus is saying.
He's saying that when you come to me,
you forget everything else.
Forget yourself.
Stop following self.
Stop following what you want
and set your thoughts
on the things of God.
That's what a true disciple does.
Denies himself.
It's the total disregard
and an abandonment
of selfish desire
and ambition.
And then he says,
take up his cross.
If anyone wants to come after me,
let him deny himself
and take up his cross.
What does this mean?
We've all probably heard people make
silly statements about this, right?
Perhaps you've made them
even as a joke.
I got a headache today.
It's just my cross to bear.
No, that's not your cross to bear.
That's not what Jesus means here.
What was the cross?
It's interesting in this passage
because Jesus has not yet,
as far as we can tell,
actually plainly mentioned crucifixion
as the means of his execution.
He's just told them
that he's going to be killed
and that he's going to rise
three days later,
but there's no indication
that he's actually said
crucified yet.
So Jesus isn't necessarily
appealing to
his specific form of death,
even though that's an implication.
That's not necessarily
the primary appeal
that he's making.
He's appealing to what
their understanding
of crucifixion
would have been to begin with.
Well, what was crucifixion?
It was the Romans' favorite way,
at least in this time,
it seems to be their favorite way
of criminal execution.
And every one of the people
listening to this
would have known
exactly what Jesus meant.
The cross represented shame.
It wasn't a cultural icon
in their days like it is today.
Nobody wanted to be associated
with a cross.
That's the worst.
It's like being associated
with the electric chair
in our culture.
Nobody wants to be associated
with that.
That's shame.
It's reproach.
Criminal.
There was a Roman general
in around the time
of Jesus' birth.
His name was Verus.
He was assigned
to the Palestinian area
at the time.
There was a Jewish revolt
after the death
of Herod the Great.
And in this Jewish revolt,
Verus was called on
to subdue it.
And of course,
he easily did that.
But to make a point
in Galilee,
when Jesus was a child,
he crucified 2,000 Galileans.
And he did so
by lining their crosses
down the major road system
that went through Galilee
so that when you're taking
your kids to the market
in the morning,
what you're walking by
is cross after cross
after cross
of brutally executed
neighbors.
That's what the cross
meant to these people.
So when Jesus says,
if you're going to follow
after me,
you're going to have
to identify with the cross.
When the Romans
crucified somebody,
you know this
from Jesus' crucifixion,
but it was common.
They would have to
literally carry
a portion of their cross
to the place
of their execution.
The criminal would do that.
Remember,
in Jesus'
own execution,
he had to carry
his own cross,
but he was so weak
under the weight of it,
he couldn't go any further.
And they had to call
on somebody else
from the crowd
to actually finish
carrying the cross
to the place of execution.
That was common.
Jesus is literally saying,
if you're going to
come after me,
you might as well
go pick up a cross
because that's the direction
I'm headed.
It's going to be the direction
you're heading to.
People are going to look at you
when they find out
that you're following me.
They're going to look at you
with disdain.
Do you understand?
And the world hates us.
They hate us
because they hated Christ.
And isn't that what
he told his disciples
just before his crucifixion?
They've hated me.
They're going to hate you too.
Hey,
all of your friends
at the synagogue,
they're going to throw you
out of the synagogue.
And every one of you
are going to suffer for me.
And every one of them
did suffer for him.
All of them,
but one,
were executed
for the gospel.
And the one
who wasn't executed
was John.
And he might as well
have been executed.
He was boiled in oil
according to
Christian tradition
and somehow survived it
and was exiled
to an island
where he lived out
the rest of his life
and ultimately succumbed
his own injuries
or health
or whatever it was
that killed him.
That's what Jesus means.
To follow me means
no one's going to exalt you.
They're actually going to do
the opposite of that.
In Matthew 10,
Jesus said,
I did not come to bring peace
but a sword.
And then he talks about
family relationships.
And he says,
my gospel will divide families.
In some cases,
by God's grace,
it actually unites families
but in other cases,
it's going to divide families.
If your kids grow up
to deny Christ
and to deny you
if you continue
following Christ,
will he be enough?
If those who are closest to you
decide that if you're going
to continue on this path
of Christianity,
I don't think that we can
be friends any longer,
will you still follow Christ?
Is he enough?
Jesus isn't talking about
having a headache.
Jesus isn't talking about
the general hardships
that we all go through.
He's talking about persecution
for sake of the gospel
and he says it's inevitable
for all of us.
And then he says,
follow me.
What is it to really
follow Christ?
Well,
deny ourselves,
take up the cross,
and then we follow.
Isn't that the conclusion
of repentance?
He's not just calling us
away from something.
Get this.
This is the good part
of this.
He's not just calling us
away from self.
It's not what he's doing.
He's calling us
to himself.
Do you see it?
Deny yourself
because you can't follow me
and follow self
at the same time.
You see,
you can't do it.
He's saying,
leave yourself behind
and come to me
because what I have
to offer
is so much greater
than anything you think
you can provide
for yourself.
Follow me.
Come after me.
Come to me.
This is an invitation.
It's an invitation.
Do you have to count
the cost?
Of course.
Did Jesus sugarcoat
the process?
By no means.
But it was an invitation
nonetheless.
Follow me.
And if you're going
to follow me,
it means you've got to
stop following
everything else.
Follow me,
he says.
What does that mean?
You go where he goes.
You do as he does.
You suffer even as he
suffered, perhaps.
Now,
before I move on,
it's essential to know,
please hear me.
See,
I don't want to be
confusing on this.
These marks
do not provide salvation.
They are not what saves you.
Jesus isn't going to look
at your life
10 years from now
to make sure
that you make the cut
before he actually
provides his grace.
That's not what Jesus
is saying here.
These aren't
prerequisites for salvation.
They are proofs
of salvation.
Salvation comes
by God's grace
alone.
Ephesians 2,
for by grace
are you saved
through faith
and that not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God,
not of works,
lest any man should boast.
That's salvation.
It's none of you
and it's all of him.
But those who have
truly experienced
the regenerative work
of the Holy Spirit
will display these marks.
Not perfectly,
but they will display them.
They will turn from self.
They will take up the cross
and they will follow Christ.
Bible knows no form
of true Christianity
that doesn't produce
a fruitful faith.
it's not there.
It's not there.
True faith
always produces
a faithful disciple.
And so what is Jesus
saying here?
Follow me.
He wants you to follow him.
But then notice,
as we move on,
he expands upon this cost.
He explains it further.
At this point,
the people in the crowd,
they had to have been thinking,
maybe as you are perhaps thinking
even now,
why would anyone
follow that call?
It sounds like
a lot of sacrifice.
And I don't see
a lot of gain,
you may say.
But as we study this further,
we find that
what he offers
is far greater
than what we give up.
Isn't that true?
Do you find that
to be true?
Jesus didn't come
to take your life.
He came to give you life.
Isn't that what he said?
John chapter 10,
I came that they may have life
and that they may have it
abundantly.
That was the purpose
of his coming.
What is it that John
chapter 3 says?
Just after the famous verse
in 16,
we read in verse 17
that God did not send
his son to the world
to condemn it,
but that the world
would be saved through him.
He came to give life,
which means that
in this call to discipleship,
he's not only calling you
away from whatever
your pursuit is now,
he's calling you
to do something
far, far greater.
And he explains that
here.
Verse 35,
whoever would save
his life will lose it.
Whoever will lose
his life for my sake
and the gospels
will save it.
For what does it
profit a man
to gain the whole world
and forfeit his soul?
What can a man
give in return
for his soul?
Literally there
in that last question
is what man
can give the price
for his soul?
No man.
There's a Greek word here
that I don't want
to bore you with,
but I find it helpful
in understanding
the sequence
in these three verses here.
The word is psuche.
It's where we get psyche from.
It can be translated
as either life or soul.
And it's translated
as both things
here in these verses.
It's mentioned four times.
If you notice
in verse 35,
it's translated as life.
But if you notice
in verse 36
and then again
in verse 37,
it's translated as soul.
And Jesus is using it here
to introduce this paradox.
This paradox
where somehow
we lose our life
if we actually
attempt to save it.
But we gain our life
if we lose it.
But how can we both
gain and lose?
Does it make sense?
Here's what Jesus is doing.
He's acknowledging
the fact that
our physical life
is temporal.
temporal.
It will not last.
But there is a part of us
that will live on
in eternity.
That's our soul.
So Jesus is presenting
this paradox.
What good is it?
What good is it
to live all of your life
pursuing something
that's going to be over
before long?
Why would you forfeit
eternity
for something
that will be gone
perhaps today?
whoever loses his life
for my sake
in the gospel
will save it.
He doesn't have
necessarily in mind
this could be an implication
but I don't think
he has necessarily
in mind this scenario
where someone comes
into our church service
today and they hold
a gun to your head
and they say
recant Christ
or we will kill you.
I don't think
that's what Jesus
has in mind here
because our ability
to be weak
or strong
in that moment
is not the basis
of our salvation.
He will not reward us
for staying strong
and he will not
take away our salvation
if we have a moment
of weakness
or timidity
though God will give us grace.
That's not the point
that Jesus is making.
He's saying that
if you're willing
to let go of self
if you're willing
to abandon
all of those things
for my sake
in the gospel
guess what?
You get this life
that I offer.
That's the point here.
There's this gap
that he's bridging
between the temporal life
and the eternal soul
and what he's saying
is that our temptation
is to hold on
to both things.
Do you feel this struggle?
It's a daily struggle
isn't it?
It's a daily struggle
to hold on
on one hand
to eternity
and to Christ
but to have such a hard time
letting go on this hand
the things that you want
and the things that you pursue
and the sins
that really bring you pleasure
and Jesus is saying
you can't have this
and this
at the same time
it doesn't work.
Whoever gives
or saves his life
will ultimately lose it
and whoever loses
his life
for my sake
will save it
will gain it.
Jesus illustrated this
in one of my favorite ways
in Matthew
I think it's chapter 13
he said in verse 44
the kingdom of heaven
is like a treasure
in the field
a man found
and covered up
then in his joy
he goes and sells
all that he has
and buys that field
and again
the kingdom of heaven
is like a merchant
in search of fine pearls
who on finding
one pearl
of great value
went and sold
all that he had
and bought it.
I love that illustration
so much.
That's what Jesus
is getting at
in Mark chapter 8.
Jesus is that treasure.
Jesus is that pearl
and what he's saying
is that when someone
finally sees me
as the treasure
when they see me
as the pearl
there's no cost
that they're willing
to give up
in order to have me.
I'm that treasure.
I'm that pearl.
What a wonderful illustration
of discipleship.
This life isn't worth it.
There is nothing here
that's worth it.
And Jesus follows it
with two rhetorical questions.
What is it benefiting you
to gain the whole world
if in the end
you forfeit your soul?
What good is it?
It's no good.
That's a bad bargain
Jesus is saying.
And then he says
even if you were
to gain the whole world
what could you possibly
give to God
in redemption
of the soul
that you lost?
The answer?
Nothing.
Literally this phrase is
what man can give
the price for his soul?
And the answer is
no man can do that.
No man.
Which reminds me
of another parable
of Jesus
in Luke chapter 12.
The land of a rich man
Jesus said
produced plentifully.
And he thought to himself
what shall I do?
For I have nowhere
to store my crops.
He said I will do this.
I will tear down my barns
and build larger ones.
And there I will store
all my grain
and my goods.
And I will say
to my soul
soul
you have ample goods
laid up for many years.
Relax
eat
drink
and be merry.
And then Jesus said
but God said to him
fool
this night
your soul
is required of you.
And the things
you have prepared
whose will they be?
Jesus says
so is the one
who lays up treasure
for himself
and is not rich
toward God.
Jesus isn't saying
that wealth is sinful
in and of itself.
He's not saying
that if we don't have room
that we shouldn't
make more room
for the blessings
that God has given us
is not the point
that he's making there.
What's he saying?
What's the point
in living this life
for yourself
if at the end of it
or what if tonight?
In relation to this parable
up to this life
you're just doing
everything for yourself
trying to pursue
everything for yourself
little regard
for anything that God wants.
Setting your mind
on the things of man
on the things of God.
All of these great dreams
that you may have
but what happens
if God calls
for your soul
tonight?
What good is all of that?
It's no good.
Man spent his entire life
pursuing selfish ambition
and ignored the fact
that this life
is only temporary.
Every one of us
will stand before
God's judgment.
No amount of wealth
will be able to purchase
forgiveness
and eternal life.
But Jesus
paid the full price
for sin
and he offers
forgiveness
and life
to all
who will follow
him.
That's the point.
he's calling you
to himself.
Jim Elliot
was one of the five
missionaries
who lost their lives
in martyrdom
to the Alka Indians
in Ecuador.
This was in the 50s,
right?
And after the fact
they began to go
through
Jim's stuff
and they found
in his journals
where he had written
a famous line
that you've heard
many times before.
He is no fool
who gives
what he cannot keep
to gain
what he cannot lose.
It's true.
But lest we think
that Jim Elliot
is the word of God,
let's mention
what Paul said
about it.
Remember,
Paul's pursuit
in life
was not wealth.
Paul's pursuit
in life
was religious acumen.
And if you're
going to point
to anyone
who was
the greatest
religious mind
of their day,
you'd say,
surely it's Paul.
And yet,
what did he say
in Philippians 3?
Whatever gain
I had,
I counted
as loss
for the sake
of Christ.
Indeed,
I count everything
as a loss
because of the
surpassing
value
of knowing
Christ Jesus,
my Lord.
And then he says,
for his sake,
I have suffered
the loss
of all things
and count them
as trash
in order that
I may gain Christ
and be found
in him,
not having
my own righteousness
that comes
from the law,
but that which
comes through
faith in Christ.
The righteousness
of God
that depends
on faith.
He's using
accounting terms
for those of you
that are good
with money.
And he breaks
out his spiritual
ledger.
And he says,
on this side,
at one point
in my life,
I thought all
of these things
were in the
credit column.
I thought all
of these things
were in the
credit column,
but when I
found Christ,
I actually realized
all of those
things are actually
in the debit
column.
I was actually
bankrupt
until I found
Christ.
And all of that
stuff was so
easy to leave
behind.
Why?
Because of the
surpassing
value that I
found in Christ
Jesus,
the treasure in
the field,
and the pearl
of great price.
That's what Jesus
is saying in Mark
8.
Follow me.
I have way more
for you than what
you think.
What I have
is worth
whatever it
takes.
Follow
me.
And then we
get to verse
38,
and we see
what is the
consequence of
refusing this.
Look with me.
For whoever is
ashamed of me
and of my
words in this
adulterous and
sinful generation,
of him will the
Son of Man
also be ashamed
when he comes
in the glory of
his Father
with the holy
angels.
Notice Jesus
uses this title
again,
Son of Man.
He used that
before.
We talked about
it last week,
right?
It's from
Daniel 7.
It's a
messianic title.
Here's what
Daniel said about
it.
Daniel 7,
14.
And to him
was given
dominion and
glory and a
kingdom that
all peoples,
nations,
and languages
should serve
him.
His dominion
is an
everlasting
dominion which
shall not
pass away,
and his
kingdom one
that shall
not be
destroyed.
That's what
the disciples
were expecting
in this coming,
and they were
surprised to hear
Jesus say,
no, that's not
actually what I'm
doing this time.
What I'm doing
this time is I'm
going to
suffer,
and I'm
going to
die,
and I'm
going to
raise for
your sins.
But they
were expecting
Daniel 7.
Now what is
Jesus doing?
This would have
been so great
for these men,
wouldn't it?
In the very
next conversation,
he gets to
Mark 8,
38,
and here's what
Jesus says,
that the Son
of Man is
coming.
Fellas,
I know that's
not the purpose
of my coming
now,
but I can
assure you what
you're expecting
will come.
It's coming.
This time my
glory is veiled
as I have taken
on humanity.
It's veiled.
This time I
came alone,
but I'm going to
come later in the
fullness of the
glory of God,
and I'm going to
have the holy
angels with me who
are my messengers of
judgment, and I
will judge the
earth.
What's the point of
Jesus' statement
here?
That I may not
look like much to
you now, folks,
but I am
returning, and when
I return, it will
be for judgment.
Are you ready for
that judgment?
Are you ready for
him to return?
Because he says,
when I return,
whoever it is that's
been ashamed of
me, I'm going to
be ashamed of them
before the Father.
And he's not
talking about
embarrassment.
I've heard
preachers use this
verse to coerce
people in an altar
call at the end of a
service.
They say, if you
really want to follow
Christ, you raise
your hand, you stand
up, you come down
and fill out the
card or whatever it
is that you need to
do.
And they say,
now remember,
Jesus said, whoever
is ashamed of him,
that he will be
ashamed of them
before his Father.
That's not what
Jesus means here.
You're not talking
about embarrassment.
Listen to me, if
you're a believer
today, if you're a
believer today, there
is no shame in
Christ for you.
You are loved by
him.
Your position with
him is settled.
It's settled.
Whether you raise
your hand or stand
up or fill out the
card or not, it's
settled.
That's not what
Jesus is saying.
He's talking about
rejection.
Those who have
refused,
to abandon
self, to follow
me, I will
reject them in
the judgment.
And it's not
something he
glories in.
It's something that
he warns of here.
He says, follow me
because if you
don't follow me, I'm
going to reject you
in the judgment.
And he's coming
back.
Are you ready?
Martin Ross lived
just outside of
Ithaca, New York
at the turn of the
20th century.
He was an
alcoholic man that
had no interest in
religion of any
sort.
But he had a
faithful wife.
Her name was
Bertha.
And she was a
believer that prayed
for him.
Their church
prayed for him
that he would be
saved.
And through God's
grace, eventually
Martin became a
Christian and he
actually spent much
of his life preaching
that gospel that had
so radically
transformed his
life.
they had a one
daughter named
Ray.
And as an adult,
her name was
Ray Miller.
She reflected on
her father's testimony
of following Christ.
And she remembered
that he had on
several occasions
made this
proclamation of
how valuable Jesus
was to him.
That he was more
valuable to him
than any of the
other things that
this life could
ever offer.
And in 1922,
Ray Miller sat
down as a 28-year-old
adult reflecting
on the testimony
of Christ as the
example of her
father's life.
And she wrote a
poem that 10
years later was
picked up by
George Beverly
Shea, set to
music, and sung
probably all over
the world at the
various Billy
Graham crusades.
He would go and
travel with Billy
Graham.
And so as Ray
Miller would reflect
on her father's
testimony, here's
what she sat down
to write.
I'd rather have
Jesus than silver
or gold.
I'd rather be his
than have riches
untold.
I'd rather have
Jesus than houses
or lands.
I'd rather be led
by his nail-pierced
hand.
You know this song,
don't you?
than to be the
king of a vast
domain and be
held in sin's
dread sway.
I'd rather have
Jesus than anything
this world affords
today.
She went on to
write, thinking of
her father, I'd
rather have Jesus
than men's applause.
I'd rather be
faithful to his
dear cause.
I'd rather have
Jesus than
worldwide fame.
I'd rather be
true to his
holy name.
Because he's
fairer than
lilies of rarest
bloom.
And he's sweeter
than honey from
out of the comb.
He's all that my
hungering spirit
needs.
I'd rather have
Jesus and let him
lead.
God's
saved.
I think Martin
Ross and Ray
Miller and Jim
Elliot and the
Apostle Paul and
George Beverly
Shea understood what
Jesus meant when he
said,
whosoever would save
his life will lose
it.
And whosoever will
lose his life for my
sake and the gospel
will save it.
I think Martin
Ross would agree
with Paul in
Romans 8 when he
wrote,
for I consider that
the sufferings of
this present time are
not worth comparing
with the glory that
is to be revealed in
us.
At the heart of
verses 31 to 38
is love.
Jesus says in
verse 31,
I love you so
much that I'm
coming to suffer
and to die and
to rise for your
justification and
forgiveness in life.
And then in verse
34, he says that
the disciple will
love me enough to
deny themselves and
take up their cross
and follow me.
And so the question
for each of us is,
do you find him
worth?
following.