Incentives to Discipleship

Introduction: The Non-Negotiable Terms of Discipleship

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, June 22, 1986, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Let us turn together to the Gospel according to Mark, Mark's Gospel, Chapter 8, and will you follow in your Bibles as I read, beginning with verse 34 to chapter 9 and verse 1, Mark 8, 34 through 9, 1.

0:45 Mark, recording the activities of the Lord Jesus, writes, And he called unto him the multitude with his disciples, and said unto them, If any man would come after me, let him deny. Deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever would save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel's shall save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

1:28 For what should a man give in exchange? In exchange for his soul. For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man also shall be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. And he said unto them, Truly I say unto you, there are some here of them that stand by, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God come with power.

2:14 Now let us again seek the face of God in prayer. And dear people, if ever, if ever your heart has gone out with those who lead in prayer for blessing upon the ministry of the Word, may it go out this morning as we come to some of the most profound and beautiful. Vital words ever uttered by the Lord Jesus, let us pray that we may feel their weight and understand their truth. Let us all pray.

2:45 Our Father, we come in the midst of the consciousness that your Word contains realities so weighty that we feel crushed by that weight, so vast and lofty that we feel utterly lost. So weighty that we feel crushed by that weight, so vast and lofty that we feel utterly lost. So weighty that we feel utterly threatened and shrunken before them. And how we plead with you as we come to these weighty words of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you would drive from our minds every last vestige of giddiness, worldly-mindedness, preoccupation with the temporal, the sensual, the earthly, and all for these moments of meditation, shut us in with yourself and with the great realities of the world to come. Oh, may we in this place today taste the powers of the world to come, and may every thought and every value system, every ambition, and every relationship be adjusted to suit the

4:06 great issues of eternity. Oh, may we in this place today taste the powers of the world to come, and may every thought, Oh, may we in this place today taste the powers of the world to come, and may every thought, Oh, God, come and answer our prayer for the good of our never-dying souls and for the glory of your beloved Son. Amen. As I have spent many hours this week reflecting on the passage read in your hearing, I have been struck afresh with the fact that it is a high and a holy privilege to have in our very hands and to set before our very eyes the Spirit himself.

4:46 And it is a peculiarly moving privilege to have within that record of the life and teaching of Jesus specific accounts of how Jesus actually dealt with sinners, seeking to draw them into the net of his own grace. And I have been struck afresh with the fact that it is a high and a holy privilege to have in our salvation. We have such records of his dealings with individuals. We have before us today the record of his dealing with a multitude of people, a multitude whom by instruction, warning, reasoning, and entreaty he seeks to draw within the orbit of his saving mercy. In the course of our expositions of the Gospel of Mark, we have contemplated, in verse 34, what our Lord Jesus says with reference to the non-negotiable terms of discipleship. Mark is very careful to underscore for us that the words of verse 34 and the words that follow were not spoken to a limited group of those already committed to Christ, but Jesus

6:11 called unto him the multitude to do so. And we have seen that in the course of our expositions of the Gospel of Mark. He would join the existing group of the inner circle and he speaks these words to all of his hearers and in them sets forth the non-negotiable terms of discipleship, life, and salvation. And as we examined those terms last week, we saw that they are very straightforward. If any man is willing to come after me, that's the essence of the gospel. And he is willing to come after me. And he is willing to come of discipleship. It is attachment to Jesus Christ in faith, in love, and obedience. And if we would come after him, three imperatives follow. He must deny himself, he must take up his cross, and he must follow me. As one has astutely observed, when taking a long journey, the journeyer must do three things. He must say his farewells, pick up his baggage, and start on his journey. And here our Lord says, if anyone would come after me, if anyone

7:29 would enter into the train of those who with me will go through suffering and on ultimately to glory, they must say their farewells. And the first farewell that must be said is the first farewell that must be said. And the first farewell that must be said is the first farewell that must be said is farewell to self. There must be a fundamental, a basic repudiation of self as the integrating factor in life. Self-righteousness, self-will, self-determination.

8:03 There must be a repudiation of self as the center of one's existence. Then there must be the taking up of the baggage. There must be a voluntary self-reputation. There must be the shouldering of the cross. There must be a willingness to be identified with Jesus in a life of rejection, of suffering, and if necessary, of death itself. And then there must be that loving attachment to the person of Christ. In obedience to him, we must be occupied for the rest of our days with following him. Now having set forth to the multitudes, those non-negotiable terms of discipleship, our Lord was very conscious that these terms were difficult terms. That they were flesh-withering terms. In some ways, they were nothing less

Four Incentives to Discipleship

9:02 than frightening terms. Under the Roman rule, cross could mean only one thing. Rejection, suffering, and even death itself. And conscious that these terms would cause a shock effect upon the minds and the spirits of his hearers, our Lord then very lovingly and winsomely and yet with tremendous searchingness proceeds to set before the multitude four basic incentives to the path of discipleship.

9:40 Having set forth the non-negotiable terms, by which men enter into life and discipleship, it is as though the Lord anticipates this reaction. But Lord, those terms are difficult. Those terms are contrary to all of our native inclinations. Lord, those terms will result in the loss of many things and many friends and many associations. Lord, the terms are high. The terms are stringent. The terms are withering to the flesh. O Lord, can it be that the terms are beyond us? And anticipating, as it were, the reaction of the ordinary mind and heart, our Lord draws alongside the multitude not to whittle away at the non-negotiable terms, but to give fortiful incentives to enter into the path of discipleship, in spite of the difficulty of the terms. in spite of the stringency of the demands, in spite of the flesh-withering nature of those requirements.

10:57 And we shall examine this morning, God willing, those four incentives to discipleship that are given to us in verses 35 to the end of the chapter. And then as a capstone over it all, we have one prophetic announcement to validate our Lord's claim, a claim to validate the incentives and to validate all the weighty issues contained in the entire call to discipleship. Now, as we bring this introductory section of our meditation to a close, let me just say a word about the use of the word life. There is but one word in the Greek New Testament for life and soul, the word psuche. We get the term psuche. We get the term psychology, psychologist from it, and it's used with great latitude. And the old authorized version was right in trying to express that latitude by translating the same Greek word, sometimes life, sometimes soul.

12:03 And I'll not bother you with the technicalities of the matter. I simply apprise you of that fact, and then you'll understand why in the 1901 edition the word life is used consistently through, whereas the old...

12:17 The old authorized uses the word soul, and some of the modern translators are divided as well. And then the second thing I want you to notice as we come to the passage is that there is no way to expose ourselves meaningfully to the words of Jesus if we are not prepared to exercise our minds. His first incentive comes in the form of a paradoxical statement, and you'll not grasp its significance unless you think, because a paradox is a statement that is apparently only on the surface contradictory. It contains a profound truth couched in such a way that its very apparent contradiction catches the ear and is meant to seize the mind, and then upon reflection we see the true significance. The next two incentives come in the form of questions. They are made, calculated, set forth with a view to pressing us to, shall it profit? What shall a man give?

13:22 Think, you multitudes! My demands for discipleship seem austere and high. They seem beyond you. But now think what the other alternatives are.

13:37 My dear listeners, if you don't care enough for your soul to think, if ever my own soul will be vexed to see heads turning and looking out the window and dropping and wandering eyes, my soul will be vexed this morning when even the Lord Jesus, by His own word, cannot get you to think upon the issues of eternity. Oh, I beg you this morning, listen to the Lord Jesus as He entreats, as He reasons, as He argues, as He implores, as He seeks to capture the minds of the crowds who heard Him and lay upon them such weighty incentives to do so. It is to discipleship that when He's through, only one thing could keep them from those terms. Moral insanity.

Incentive 1: The Law of Saving by Losing (Mark 8:35)

14:30 So compelling incentives that all who feel the weight of them would be forced to say, Oh, Jesus of Nazareth, the terms, though difficult, though high, though living to the flesh, in the light of the incentives you have given, what else can I do but say, Jesus, I, my, my cross have taken all to leave and follow Thee. First of all, then, the four incentives to discipleship, and then we'll consider the prophetic announcement that is the final capstone of the entire passage. The first incentive to discipleship, what is it? It's what I'm calling the law of saving by losing. Verse 35.

15:24 For whosoever would save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's shall save it. Now, will you try to put yourself back into that original situation? You have been part of the milling multitudes off a little distance from the Lord Jesus while He has personal dealings with His disciples. He's drawn forth from them in the area of Caesarea Philippi the great confession, You are the Christ.

16:01 He now begins to announce to them privately that He must go to Jerusalem, and there He must suffer and be rejected and killed, and the third day be raised from the dead. Peter objects and says, No, Lord, this shall never be to you. And the Lord rebukes Peter and calls him the adversary and lets him know that he's determined to march on unimpeded to that place where he will establish his messianic kingdom through suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection. And now that same Jesus leaves the little intimate crowd of the twelve, the intimate group of the twelve, and by some means summons the great multitude to come about Him.

16:43 In that context, He has just told them, If any one of you is committed in will to coming behind me and being my follower, you must... Say no to yourself.

16:55 You must pick up a cross. You must follow me.

17:02 The impact of those words begins to filter down in the consciousness of the hearers. It's as though our Lord anticipates them saying, But Jesus, Jesus, Rabbi, what you are saying is nothing less, in a very real sense, of life itself. What you are saying up until this moment, life regulated by mind, by desires in my plans and my standards, and my assessment of what is good and bad and right and wrong and virtuous and vicious. Lord, what you're demanding when you say that we must repudiate self, take up a cross and be identified with you. My Lord, in a sense, that's nothing less than losing life. Jesus says, You've heard me rightly. And here is the great law of saving by losing.

18:03 Whosoever would say, I would save his life, shall lose it. And whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, and the Gospels, shall save it. If you are determined to cling to life with self-righteousness, self-will, self-interest, self-determination at the center, if you would spare that life, you shall lose the life which can only be had in a, self-attachment with me. Eternal life with its present dimension of knowledge and communion with God under the canopy of His favor.

18:45 Eternal life in terms of its future dimension of standing with me in the glory hereafter, in the new heavens and in the new earth. If you would save that self-centered, self-justifying, self-indulgent, self-discipline, you shall lose the life, that is, his life indeed. But if you're prepared to lose that life by saying no to yourself, taking up the cross, entering into voluntary association with me, prepared in attachment to me, to be rejected, despised, thought foolish, thought reckless, thought to be a religious fanatic, you're willing to be rejected, afflicted, and suffer, and if necessary, even be killed, as I am going to Jerusalem, to be put to death at the hands of the religious leaders. If you're prepared to lose your life by having your will and your goals absorbed in my person, in my word, in my will, take up the cross and follow me, in losing your life, you shall save it. That's the great law of saving by losing. This is one of the most vital sayings of our Lord Jesus.

20:10 It's found in at least three other independent contexts in the Gospels. In Matthew 10 and verse 39, Jesus was commissioning the twelve, sending them out on a preaching tour. He is preparing them for the opposition that they will meet. He says that that opposition in the context will even come from the most intimate earthly ties, family ties.

20:40 Verse 34 of Matthew 10, I came not to send peace but a sword. I came to set a man at variance against the father, daughter against the mother, daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law. A man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

21:00 He that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He that does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Here we are. Here's the law of saving by losing.

21:12 He that finds his life shall lose it. And he that loses his life for my sake shall find it. You see what he's saying? When you've come to the place where that life that is only comfortable, when there is the loving acceptance of your dearest and nearest friends and associates, when you are prepared in attachment to me, to have even that inner deep circle of normal human ties segmented and factured, and in attachment to me, you're willing to suffer rejection from those that are closest to you.

21:53 In losing your life, you will save it. The second context is Luke 17. Here it's in a setting where our Lord is prophesying about the coming of the kingdom, the coming of that kingdom, in conjunction with the second advent, excuse me, and possibly the preview of that coming in the judgment that will fall upon Jerusalem in 70 AD. But you see it is in the context, totally different from that recorded in Matthew 10, that Jesus says this in verse 33, Whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. And in that setting, it has to do with the fact that the reality of the return of Christ demands a whole perspective on priorities that will cause us to be not like Lot's wife with heart and affection attached to that which is under the judgment of God, Sodom and Gomorrah being a type, as it were, of the world that will come under the fiery judgment of God

23:18 at the return of Christ. But we must be prepared to lose our life. We must be prepared in the language of Galatians 1 to have a salvation that delivers us out of this present evil age according to the will of God our Father. And then the third context in which Jesus says, the law of saving by losing, is John chapter 12, an entirely different setting.

23:45 The Greeks had come saying we would see Jesus. Jesus answers through Andrew and Philip and says this is what you are to tell them. Verse 24 of John 12, Verily, verily, I say to you, except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abides by itself alone, but if it die, it bears much fruit. He makes an announcement, the meaning of which is obvious to anyone who has any understanding of what happens when he plants a garden.

24:21 As long as the seed is there on the shelf in the basement, it abides by itself alone. It occupies a little spot on the shelf, but when it's taken off the shelf and placed in the damp earth and covered, and there it germinates, that seed dies. It splits open, and in the mystery of life, out of the death of that seed, comes a marvelous harvest. He says that's the great law that applies to him.

24:51 If you would see Jesus, you must remember that Jesus must die to have a harvest of souls, even among the Gentiles. But now notice the next verse. And he said, What applies to me in the procurement of salvation applies to every person who receives my salvation. He that loves his life loses it.

25:13 He that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me. He that loves his life loses it, but he that hates his life, what life? That life centered in self, that life centered in my plans, my purposes, my perspectives, my notions as to how to be right with God and honor God and serve God, or my life centered in the notion I don't care for God except Sunday to salve my conscience, whatever marks life centered in self, Jesus said, No one, no one keeps his true life unto eternal life who is not prepared to hate that self-centered life. Dear people, the law of saving by losing meets us in all of these differing contexts and with one united voice it says to us from Mark 8, Matthew 10, Luke 17, and John 12, if you hesitate, if you hesitate before the flesh-withering terms of discipleship is set forth by the Lord Jesus, listen to this law of life. You will never, never attain to eternal life now and in the age to come

26:40 unless you are prepared to lose that self-centered, self-willed, self-justifying, self-determining life with which you were born and conceived in Adam. It must be and being attached to Jesus Christ in faith and in love. That's why he says, look now back at Mark 8, he that loses his life for my sake and the gospel. It all has to do with attachment to Christ and how do we know of Christ? Only in the gospel. The only conduit as it were through which Christ comes to us is the gospel. But listen, it is Christ who comes to us through the gospel.

27:40 Just as there is no knowledge of Christ and therefore no saving attachment to Christ apart from the gospel, the end of anyone who suffered so you won't have to go to hell while you can live a giddy self-centered worldly life and go to heaven when you die. The end of the gospel is to wrench you loose from your self-centeredness and to bring you into attachment to the person of Christ. So you lose for his sake and the gospel. And what God has joined together let no man put asunder. We have no sympathy for any professed knowledge of Christ that a man says he has divorced of the gospel. He must know the basic facts of the gospel. The good news that God has come in mercy to rebel sinners in the person and work of his beloved Son who is the Messiah, Son of God who was rejected and suffered and died and was raised from the dead.

28:52 There is no knowledge of Christ apart from the gospel. But don't say that you have savingly embraced the gospel unless it has brought you into an attachment to Jesus Christ that has meant the virtual burial of the life centered in you. Save that life you'll lose it. Lose that life for his sake in the gospels and you save it.

Incentive 2: The Unanswerable Question of Gain and Loss (Mark 8:36)

29:28 Is that a powerful incentive to discipleship? My friends it's a matter of life and death. What is it that like the rich young ruler is the symbol of idolatrous attachment to self in you? With some of you it's your pride, your reputation that's composed of the raw materials of Adamic selfhood and before that idol you bow and you will be a professing Christian only so far as you can be one and save face. But if attachment to Jesus Christ leads to humbling yourself not just before God but before men confessing your sins to your wife and to your children to your fellow believers never! Oh yes you'll deal in vague generalities we're all sinners we're all undone but to go to a specific fellow human being and say my brother my sister my children son, daughter that is sin I'll be sinned I'll sin will you forgive me? No!

30:46 If you stand on your dignity you'll go to hell on your dignity You save your life I will relinquish my image All right go to hell with your image That's what Jesus says Oh do you feel the pressure of the incentive to discipleship in the law of saving by losing then our Lord goes on you think that would be enough but he knows the human heart that when it's entrenched in self-will and self-deception it is not easily pried loose into the way of discipleship so he adds a second incentive and what is it the next two are questions and the first one is what i call the unanswerable question of gain and loss we now come into commercial terms commercial terms gain and loss look at the text from the law that says you find life by dying our lord then goes on to say for what doth it profit commercial term a man to gain commercial term the whole world and forfeit commercial term his soul

32:08 now think of the setting it's as though jesus anticipates someone saying but lord to lose my life is to lose you this and that the other and they begin to enumerate and jesus says all right i'll give you a sheet of paper as long as the red sea and i'll put a pencil in your hand and i want you to do a little work of an accountant and i want you to draw a line and on the one side put gains and on the other side put loss and under your gains or your assets he says write down every single commodity that is of worth in the eyes of the world in the eyes of the world in the eyes of the world Right until your ledger, as long as the Red Sea is filled with ink, prestige, popularity, pleasure, possessions, adulation and praise and adoration of men, take all the assets of the entire world under your debits.

33:28 Let us put one phrase, lost soul, lost, lost, into that one phrase, all that Jesus taught about weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, outer darkness, where the worm dieth not and the fire is never quenched, put into the biblical doctrine of eternal punishment.

34:13 And now Jesus said, man, do some arithmetic. A profitable business merchant, if the price you pay to get the whole world is the price of the loss of your soul, think about it. What value will you place upon your never dying immortal soul, which when joined to your body in the resurrection, will according to Matthew 10, 28, soul and body sink into hell, into Gehenna, into everlasting. Amen. And grief and pain and unanswerable question of gain and loss, what shall it profit a man, whoever he be, in whatever age he lives, to gain the whole world and to forfeit his soul?

35:26 Dear person, young man, woman, boy or girl, do your arithmetic and do it now, under the pressure of the word of Jesus. Yes, yes, I know.

35:39 To take up the cross of identification with Christ. And his rejection and suffering is difficult.

35:48 Righteousness and holiness in an ungodly world. Path of self-denial.

36:00 And it's only for a few years. And then there's no pain, no sorrow, no grief.

36:12 And a barter away. A few brief years of difficulty to go down into everlasting torment. To the place where the smoke of their torment descends up forever and ever. And they have no rest.

36:28 Day nor night. What shall it profit you? If you gain the whole world. Not just that car, that boyfriend, that girlfriend, that marriage bed, that little home on the hill.

36:48 But if you could have the whole world.

36:53 What have you gained? Oh, may the word of Jesus reach.

37:00 As I trust it reached some on that day when he spoke them. But then incentive number three. You see, our Lord again adds one pressure to another. He first of all.

Incentive 3: The Unanswerable Question of Comparable Worth (Mark 8:37)

37:13 Lays upon them that inflexible law of saving by losing the unanswerable question of gain and loss. But now look at verse 37. It's what I call the unanswerable question of comparable worth. For what should a man give in exchange for his life?

37:41 Now, assuming this is what our Lord does. Assuming that someone says, well, let me think. What should I gain? If I had the whole world but lost my soul.

37:53 Assuming that I forfeited my soul for the sake of the world.

38:05 What should a man give in exchange? Is a word found in the Old Testament translation into Greek from Hebrew. In Ruth 4.7 and Job 28.15.

38:23 And this commercial concept of exchange is dominant. In those usages. Let me illustrate it this way. A man loses his guitar.

38:35 How in the world a guy can lose a guitar? I don't know. But this poor chap lost a guitar. Something that big.

38:41 But he knows that in his area there are several pawn shops and it might show up there. And sure enough, if he makes his rounds around the pawn shop about a week later. He sees his trusty rusty guitar sitting in the window. And he goes into the shop owner and says that guitar.

38:57 I lost it. He said, oh yeah, somebody came in here the other day. I gave him such and such for it. He said, well, I'd like to buy it back.

39:04 And so they dicker about a price. And when they come to an agreed price. The man plunks out his money. And as an exchange of comparable worth.

39:16 The pawn shop owner gives him back his guitar. There's an exchange. The pawn shop owner regards the amount of money as of comparable worth. As that guitar.

39:29 And so he relinquishes it. That's the concept. If a man should lose his soul, Jesus says. What should he give in exchange for it?

39:39 What can you bring forward that will purchase? Friend, listen. The greatest price that could ever be amassed has already been amassed and paid. The blood of Jesus Christ was spilt for the salvation of souls.

40:00 And there is nothing that you have or can do. That is of comparable worth to the soul. The worth by which God estimated it. When in the person of his son Jesus died the just for the unjust.

40:17 You better do your calculating, friend. You get in debt with a lost soul in hell. And you're in debt forever. Lose it.

40:37 Where shall you find something of comparable worth with which to exchange? Jesus says. Think man. Think woman.

40:47 Think young man, young woman. Before you sell your soul so cheaply to the sirens and seducers of this world. Is there something of comparable worth? And the question is unanswerable.

41:03 There is nothing. And then as the fourth incentive. Our Lord directs the attention of the multitude. To the search and coming of the day of judgment.

Incentive 4: The Certain Coming of the Day of Judgment (Mark 8:38)

41:14 Look at verse 38. Four. And in the original all four of these begin with a four. And the weakness of some of the modern translation is seen that you'd never know that.

41:27 The old 1901 and the RSV are accurate. Each one of these verses begins with a four. The Greek word gar is second in each sentence because it's never put first. But there is a strict structure.

41:40 Of four gar clauses. For another incentive now. Jesus saying in essence to his followers. I know the demands are high.

41:51 I know they are contrary to your flesh. But let me press these incentives upon you. The law of saving by losing. The question.

42:02 The great question of profit or loss. What shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world and forfeit his soul? The great question of comparable worth. What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

42:15 And now if these do not carry the day. He says now then let me take you to that great and final day. And he gives as the final incentive the certain coming of the day of judgment. Look at verse 38.

42:28 Four. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words. In this adulterous and sinful generation. Of him the son of man shall also be ashamed.

42:41 When he comes. When he comes in the glory of his Father. With the holy angels. Jesus Christ here by prophetic announcement declares in no uncertain terms that he is going to come again.

43:00 And when he comes the second time it will not be in humility and in veiled glory. He will come in the very undiminished glory of his Father. He will come. of His Father and with the retinue of His holy angels.

43:17 And Matthew 25, 31 says, When the Son of Man thus comes, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory and before Him shall be gathered all the nations. What He's saying to that multitude who hear His flesh-withering non-negotiable terms of discipleship is this. He's saying, Oh, dear listeners, if you still shrink back from the cost of discipleship, and you have failed to come to resolution that you will deny self, take up the cross and follow Me. The law of losing to save has not convinced you. The question of gain and loss has not pushed you over the line. The question of comparable worth has not ensnared you and drawn you. My listener, I have one more incentive to lay before you. Look beyond this beautiful hillside here in the northern part of Galilee.

44:17 Look beyond the rolling hills and the blue sky and the puffy clouds. Look beyond your friends and relatives. Even look beyond me, and see me with your mind's eye as Daniel, Son of Man. And that term had meaning for these Jews.

44:40 They would recall that reference to one like unto the Son of Man who would come with clouds and glory, to set up a kingdom. And Jesus says, let me take you in your mind's eye to that great day when I will be the arbiter of the destinies of all men. And in that day, one of two things will happen. I will either be ashamed of you, that is, I will refuse to acknowledge any relationship to you.

45:10 I will not speak for you, stand on your behalf. I will either be ashamed of you, that is, reject you and cast you from me, or I will welcome you as one of my own. Come ye blessed, depart ye cursed. Those are the words by which the whole human race in all of its total attitude will be divided. Come ye blessed, depart ye cursed. And he says, look, if you are ashamed of me and of my words, that is, you do not regard my stringent demands of discipleship as worthy of your allegiance, worthy of your obedience. You are ashamed of me, either the shame of refusal to bear my reproach, the shame of judging my standards too high, insincere, unrealistic, whatever it is that keeps you in this generation marked by spiritual adultery in which it costs to be identified with me, in which my greatest opposition comes not from

46:19 harlots and publicans, but from scribes and Pharisees and chief priests and elders. They're going to put me to death because of their spiritual harlotry and their willful rejection of light. It is a sinful and adulterous and sinful generation, yes, but if you're not prepared to enter into union with me on my terms, you're ashamed of me and of my words. Go down to that last day when it will no longer be a day when it will no longer be me, Jesus of Nazareth, standing here in the upper regions of Palestine, entreating, pleading, I will sit upon a throne of glory, and I will be blessed. Depart, ye cursed!

47:17 Does that have pressure on your conscience? Do you feel any weight from such words from the Son of God? Do you feel any inner trembling that you've refused to be Christ, disciple? Oh, if you can now bold and proud let him preach a hundred and poorly, it won't touch me. May God have mercy on you. May God have mercy on you. And if in that day he says, I'm ashamed of you. Oh, God, Lord, what did I do?

48:09 You heard my word. You heard my incentives. You sat and listened to my servant, but you determined to cling to me of my righteousness, of my laws, of my people, of my... Oh, I'm ashamed of you. You do not bear the likeness of the renewed sons of God. You're an ugly, distorted, twisted, self-centered sinner. Depart from me into the eternal junk heap of humanity.

48:55 Join the devil in his angel. You cannot join my redeemed ones. Those who by grace came to see their need of my righteousness. Those who by grace came to see that they were never made to run their own life any more than they were to save their own souls.

49:17 And they have said no to self, self-righteousness, self- will, self-determination. They took up the cross and through the belief of the gospel and faith in me, they came into union with me. They've loved me and served me. Oh, yes.

49:36 They have stumbled and even like my companion Peter in moments of weakness, they may have denied me, but I gladly own them all as mine because they said no to self, took up the cross and followed me. They are those who have entered into union with me by faith. They are those who by the refining work of my spirit have by degrees been made more and more like me. And now in my presence, they perfectly reflect the family likeness. And I am the elder brother amidst my brethren. And I'm not ashamed to call them my brethren. My friend,

50:17 wouldn't you long to have the Lord Jesus include you in that number in that day? That's what he's doing here toward the close of his ministry, coming down to the last months of his ministry. He's saying to his own, I must accomplish my messianic task by death, by suffering, rejection, resurrection. Nothing will stand in my way to the cross.

Capstone: The Kingdom of God Comes with Power (Mark 9:1)

50:43 I must go if I will have a redeemed people and all the people whom I redeem are those who gladly say no to self, take up the cross and follow me for great incentives to discipleship. And then I close just briefly with verse one of chapter nine. He adds this capstone and it should be included at the end of chapter eight. For if you take the time later today to look in the parallel passages in Matthew 16 and in Luke nine, you'll notice that this verse is included as the capstone of this entire section. Jesus said, truly I say unto you, there are some that stand by who shall in no wise taste of death till they see the kingdom of God come with power. What's he doing? I believe this is what our Lord is doing. He's saying now for anyone who have may have any doubt whatsoever that all of the weighty issues that I have been trafficking in our reality.

51:48 If you have any doubt that I will be the judge in the last day, some of you standing here in this multitude will not die physical death till with your eyes you see the kingdom of God come with power. And this will have occasion to demonstrate God willing later on when we get in the into Mark 13. I take the position that most responsible commentators take that Jesus is referring here not to the transfiguration. That would be no meaning something that happened just a couple of days later to say some of you shall not taste of death. It should be a period of time that would mean perhaps not a few of them would taste of death. And it takes us into that whole complex of events from Calvary, the resurrection, the descent of the spirit, the spread of the gospel among the nations. And then in 70 AD which would have been approximately 40 years subsequent to this pronouncement when a number of those standing would have died but some would yet remain with the dismantling of the whole Jewish economy with the cessation of the temple and the priesthood. What happened? The kingdom of God in

52:55 his present manifestation was established with power throughout the entire Roman Empire against all odds with a little bunch of fishermen and Jesus said that establishment of the kingdom of God with power before your very eyes will be another attestation that I'm telling the truth. And my friends we live this much further removed and we've seen that kingdom extend to the four corners of the earth so that this very day Jesus Christ has among all the nations people who acknowledge him as God's Lord and Christ and by the power of the spirit through the most unlikely instruments. God continues to take the weak things to confound the mighty and the things which are not to bring to naught the things that are and the kingdom of his dear son stands against all the combined efforts of the greatest intellects and military powers and venomous attitudes of the haters of Christ and yet his church exists today and is growing and expanding as God gives to his son the fruit of his suffering. Now when you can blot all that out then you've got the luxury of folding your Bible and going home and saying now that's just a lot of preachers hot air. You feel the weight of it? My friend Jesus who's established his kingdom with power is the Jesus before whom you'll stand in the day of judgment.

Call to Discipleship and Final Exhortation

54:22 He is God incarnate. That's why he demands supreme religious allegiance. He is truth incarnate. That's why you cannot lightly dispense with his words.

54:32 Oh may we feel the pressure of those incentives to discipleship and then come to the contemplating that prophetic utterance that validates his word. May we this day count the cost and say oh God I've looked at the ledger and if I gained everything my foolish heart wants but lost my soul what would I have gained? See the folly of the devil's arithmetic that tells you anything is gained if the price you pay for it is the loss of your soul. Face the question of comparable worth.

55:09 What can I get in all of the universe to give in exchange for my soul were it lost? All the tears and sighs and groans of the millions in hell cannot atone for one soul in that horrible denizen of the damned. Look forward to the day of judgment. Are you holding back from discipleship?

55:33 Because right now there are friends and you say oh I couldn't live without my friends. Yes you can! But you cannot live or die without Jesus as your friend. These friends for which you'd sell your soul, can they die on a cross for you?

55:50 Can they? Can they? Can they live a perfect life on your behalf and credit their obedience to your account? Can they? Then don't barter your soul for friends who can't do what Jesus can do. Run to him. Say Lord Jesus I'm fearful. I don't have any strength.

56:11 I don't stand by myself. But oh Lord Jesus in the light of your love to sinners, in the light of your willingness to call anyone and anything an adversary that stood in your way of the cross so thirsty for you for the salvation of men. Lord Jesus Lord Jesus I do say no to myself. Lord Jesus I take up the cross.

56:35 Lord Jesus I commit myself to trust you, to love you, to follow you, to serve you. With the strength that you give me. Oh may you this day be found in the ranks of his true disciples. And then in that last day be found in that glorified multitude rejoicing before God and the land.

57:00 And then I must say in closing and perhaps it may warrant another message I don't know. But that great law of saving by losing dear people that's been one of the texts that has influenced our whole perspective as a church. What's true in entrance upon the way of discipleship is true all along the way. If you would save life you lose it. The path of self-denial for Christ's sake and the gospels is the path if I may use a current term of the abundant life. The path of abundant life is not found in self-indulgence sprinkled with Christian terminology. It's found in the path of self-denial and the cross. May God grant that we shall understand and live in the light of that great law. Let us pray.

58:07 Our Father we thank you for the unspeakable privilege of being let in as it were to the discourse of Jesus there in the northern parts of Palestine. To hear him set forth the terms of discipleship. Then to lay one incentive upon another on the understanding and consciences of his hearers. And oh as we have reason to believe that his words prevailed with some that day.

58:40 Oh that they may prevail with some in this place today. May he not be despised and disowned and may not all who are yet in sin be ashamed of him. But may some this day be brought to the place where in brokenness of heart and true repentance and faith they are found embracing the Lord Jesus. Oh our God write your truth upon our hearts for by faith we see that coming day and we tremble for some. Lord we tremble to think the people who hear our voice today will hear his voice in that day saying depart from me ye cursed. Oh Lord have mercy have mercy that none who sit here under the overtures of your grace in the gospel will hear those words of rejection in the final day. Seal your word to our hearts we pray for your glory and for our good. Amen.