Essential to Real Christianity

Introduction: The Life-Out-Of-Death Principle in God's Promise and Christ's Work

0:04 The following message was delivered on Sunday, December 8, 1991, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:14 Now let us once again seek God's face and ask the blessing of His Holy Spirit upon the preaching and application of His Word. Our Father, we confess with shame that the best among us this morning yet has so much vanity remaining in the heart. And we have sung, turn our eyes away from vanity, that we may, discovering the folly of our vanity, walk in the way of truth. Our Father, may Your Spirit so attend the proclamation, the opening up and the application of the Scriptures, that vanity will be purged, in many hearts this day, and that Your truth will take up permanent residence. Hear our cry and answer us, we plead, to the glory of Your name and to the good of our never-dying souls. Amen.

1:31 Now I'm sure that many, if not most, or even all of you, are familiar with the biblical account of the flood, which God sent upon the ancient world as a judgment upon that world in the days of Noah. And after the floodwaters subsided and Noah and his family were about to begin their significant task of a new replenishing and subduing of the earth, God was pleased to make a very gracious promise. In Genesis 8.22 we have the record of that promise.

2:11 While these... The earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

2:25 And in the outworking of that promise, men all over the world see lived out before them, again and again, what I have sought to describe as the life-out-of-death principle, in the word of God. When our Lord said, seedtime and harvest shall not cease, He was assuming that the bridge between seedtime and harvest would be the burial of the seed in the earth, the seed dying, losing its own identity as seed, and thereby springing up and bringing forth, abundant fruit. And it is just this life-out-of-death principle which forms the focus of our study again this morning. In the process of focusing on some of the biblical perspectives which have constituted the very nerve centers and lifeblood of this congregation for nearly 25 years, we have begun to examine the eighth of these nerve-center principles. And I expressed it last Lord's Day in this way.

3:50 We are determined to validate in our corporate experience the life-out-of-death principle essential to real Christianity. In seeking to demonstrate that principle from the word of God, we considered what I called last week the, foundational text, namely, John chapter 12, verses 20 through 25. And central to that text and the entire exposition, either led into it or flowed out of it, are the words of the Lord Jesus in verse 24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone. But if it die, it beareth much fruit. And as we examined that particular text in its setting, the truths leading into it and flowing out of it, I trust you went away with at least these two convictions embedded in your mind and heart as a result of our study of the passage. First, that Jesus can, only procure salvation for a vast multitude of sinners

5:17 if he is willing to die. He is the kernel of wheat. He must die if he is to bring to himself a multitude out of every kindred, tribe, and tongue, and nation. But then the second truth, equally clear in the passage, is that as surely as Jesus can, and procure salvation only in the way of death, so likewise it is only in the way of death that men appropriate that salvation.

5:55 All who appropriate the salvation provided by the death of Christ must indeed die to themselves if they are to rise in newness of life in union with the Lord Jesus. Now having examined, examined this foundational or watershed text which clearly establishes the life out of death principle as essential, not something added on, something extra, but as of the very essence of real Christianity, whether in its objective procurement in Christ or its subjective application to sinners who come to Christ, this morning I want us to consider, as I indicated I would do last week, several supportive texts which establish the life out of death principle as essential to real Christianity. Having looked at the foundational text, now this morning we'll examine three supportive texts which establish this same principle. And what I found fascinating in my preparation last week and again this morning, is that this principle is indeed so fundamental to real Christianity

Supportive Text 1: Dying to Idolatrous Human Attachments (Matthew 10:39)

7:20 that it is found in entirely different settings with different reference points in each of those settings and yet the principle is so crucial that it is stated in almost identical words though the immediate sphere of reference is fundamentally different. The first supportive text, to which I direct your attention, is found in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 10. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 10. And this is the only place where this life out of death principle is stated in this particular context.

8:02 The second text we'll look at is referred to in the other two synoptic Gospels, that is it's found both in Matthew, Mark and Luke, but this particular usage is found only here in Matthew. And the text is verse 39. He that findeth his life shall lose it. And he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

8:32 Here is the life out of death principle. He that finds his life shall lose it. He that spares and keeps his natural, self-centered, self-sufficient, self-seeking, self-willed life shall lose it. He'll lose what he seeks, but he that loses his life, he that is willing to abandon, to die to that life, centered in himself, and to do this for the sake of Christ, that person shall find life in him.

9:13 Indeed. Now, briefly, what is the setting in which this statement of the life out of death principle is found? Well, if you look at the first verse of Matthew 10, it is clear the setting is the commissioning of the twelve disciples now made apostles and given unique authority in Christ's name. He called unto him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to do good.

9:43 And to heal all manner of diseases and all manner of sicknesses. So here, we are introduced to the subject of this chapter. And it is our Lord's dealings with these who are given a unique office and with it, unique authority. Then, in verses 2 to 4, those twelve are named.

10:05 Verse 5, we have the beginning of Jesus charging them and giving them specific directions as to where they are to go and how they are to go in the fulfillment of those responsibilities. These twelve Jesus sent forth and charged them saying. And the charge then is given in verses 5 through 8. Then, in verses 9 through 15, he gives them practical directions with respect to how they are to maintain themselves as they fulfill the charge with respect to their commission.

10:45 Then, in verse 16, he begins and it follows all the way through to verse 33 to tell them that as they go out with this authority in obedience to his charge, obeying him in terms of how they will maintain and sustain themselves, that they are not going to have an easy task. He begins in verse 16 to tell them that they will go out into a hostile climate. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Verse 17, but beware of men for they shall deliver you up.

11:29 Verse 24, a disciple is not above his teacher nor a servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his teacher if they've called the master of the house Beelzebub. How much more? For they of the household.

11:45 Don't be afraid of those that can kill the body. He concentrates in verses 16 through 33 on the various avenues through which opposition will come to them, even threats upon their life and possibly martyrdom in obedience to Christ. Then in verse 34, there is a shift of emphasis. He now focuses on what will be the results of their ministry.

12:16 As they go forth doing what he said, where he said to do it, how he said to do it, in the midst of various forms of opposition, their ministry is going to have an effect upon those to whom they preach. And this is critical if we're to understand the peculiar emphasis of verse 39. Notice now verse 34. Think not, that I came to send peace on earth.

12:45 He's saying as you go out, don't mistake the nature of my mission. What I've told you may seem to be very incongruous with your concept of my mission. I want you not only to do my mission, but to think my thoughts about the mission I send you to perform. Do not think that I came to send peace on earth.

13:06 I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a man's foes shall be they of his own household. As you men go out to preach, don't have misconceptions. As you do, in obedience to my commission, which is but an outworking of the very purpose for which I came to earth, some will believe your message and they will believe that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

13:42 In the person of the king, they will be given eyes to see who I am, that I am indeed Israel's Messiah and only Savior. They will be given hearts to swear undivided allegiance to me. I will become to them the object of supreme religious trust and devotion. But within their own households there will be others who see no beauty in me, who see no glory in my person, who see nothing about me in spite of all my credentials personally validated and through you, my representatives displayed throughout the lost tribes, throughout the twelve tribes of Israel.

14:26 But there will be some who will not respond in obedience and when that happens, my mission has indeed been a sword that cuts into the deepest human natural ties that God has established. A man against his father, daughter against mother, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law, man's foes will come from his own household. Now in the light of that he makes a pronouncement. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

15:04 That is, when my message comes and someone is contemplating, embracing the message that the kingdom has come in the person of the king, and they are beginning to be disposed to embrace me for who I am, and they see that the cost that they will pay or the price they will pay is alienation from father or mother, brother, sister, father-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law. And because they see that, they are unwilling to have those human ties severed by the sword of Christ. He who clings to father or mother at the expense of clinging to me is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He that doth not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. And then he says, this whole teaching is all distilled in this one statement.

16:07 The life out of death principle, he that findeth his life shall be, shall lose it. And he that loseth his life for my sake, the same shall find it. Now, in this statement, who is the one who finds his life in this context? When he says, he that findeth his life, who is that person in this context?

16:38 Well, it's the person who out of fear, out of rejection by his nearest and dearest loved ones refuses to be identified with Christ and his kingdom. You see that in the context? He that finds his life is he who says, I could not live without the approval of father, mother, brother, sister, father-in-law and mother-in-law. And it's the price I must pay to be identified with Christ's face and his kingdom and his cause, his alienation from father, mother, brother, sister.

17:21 I cannot live without the affection and the approbation of my intimate circle of blood ties and marriage ties. That's the person who's finding his life. He says, I can only live meaningfully with the smile of my father, with the smile of my mother, with the smile of my mother-in-law and father-in-law to take those away as to take away life. I can only have and find life by preserving intact my love and loyalty to my blood relatives.

18:00 In the context, that's what it is to find your life. And Jesus said, in seeking to find it, you'll lose it. And what does he mean when he says you'll lose it? You'll lose Christ and in losing Christ, you'll lose your soul and in losing your soul, you've conscripted yourself for hell and outer darkness.

18:24 In the context, who is the one who loses his life? He that loses his life for my sake. There's the key. Here's the person who says, yes, I love father, I love mother, I love brother, sister, wife, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law.

18:44 But in the person of his representatives, Christ has come. And the message they've preached, is the kingdom of God is at hand. And the king himself comes, riding in the proclamation of his heralds. And the king not only welcomes sinners, for he came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

19:09 But the king stretches out his scepter. And the king demands supreme allegiance, supreme love, allegiance that will bind me to his ways, his laws, his laws, his laws, his people, his kingdom, in a way that those things will utterly dominate over all the claims that father, mother, brother, sister, in-laws may have upon me. And he loses his life. He loses that life that was comfortably lived with no sword of division.

19:46 There was the camaraderie of spiritual death. The camaraderie of spiritual death. The camaraderie of indifference to Christ and his ways and his people and his laws. But now grace has reached in and laid hold of one in that camaraderie of spiritual death.

20:07 And now this man loses his life for Christ's sake. That is, he is prepared to be attached to Christ at any cost of rejection by the Lord. By the deepest, most intimate human ties and wonder of wonders in losing his life, he finds that. What does he find?

20:32 He finds the life that is life indeed. Forgiveness of sin, acceptance with God, the knowledge of God in Christ, the pledge of everlasting life. This, in the context, is where our Lord articulates the life out of death. The life out of death principle.

20:55 It's articulated with reference to the dying to all idolatrous attachments to the dearest human ties and relationships for the sake of Christ and his claims. And this is not a matter of greater or lesser rewards. It's a matter of life and death.

21:18 And as I've pondered these passages, my heart has cried out and I've said, Oh God, don't let me become imbalanced in my thinking. But if these words mean what they seem to me, that Christ does not recognize anyone as his own, who does not in principle embrace him with such undivided devotion, that if the sword must sever him from father, mother, brother, sister, he says, welcome sword. But I will not relinquish it. I will not relinquish my Christ.

21:58 If that's so, there's an awful lot of people sitting here this morning who have no real heart religion.

22:10 There's an awful lot of people sitting in evangelical and even professedly reformed churches who I fear have no saving religion. For when push comes to shove, where there is a clashing of loyalties, it is loyalty to this inner circle of natural, wholesome, innocent ties in themselves which are not constantly militating against the claims of Christ. Because people will not live with the sword of division as their lifetime companion.

Supportive Text 2: Dying to Self in Discipleship (Mark 8:35)

22:47 Now there's a second supportive text in a totally different context and it's found in Mark chapter 8.

22:57 What I'm only attempting to do is by bringing forward these texts to convince your judgment that this life out of death principle is essential to true Christianity. It's not extra. Here in Mark chapter 8 and you could find a similar passage in Matthew 16, 25 and Luke 9, 24. Those are the parallel passages.

23:23 So those are not additional contexts but different accounts of the same context as we have in Mark 8 in verse 35. Here's the statement. Whosoever would save his life shall lose it. And whosoever shall lose it.

23:40 shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospels shall save it. Now what is the setting of this statement of the life out of death principle? We'll go down to verse 31 and you'll see. The setting is this.

23:56 He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things. It is that point in the history of our Lord when He began no longer to speak in veiled terms nor occasionally drop a hint but He began in a very focused concentrated way to instruct His inner circle that as the Son of Man before He could come to His glory He had to go through the ordeal of rejection and of death followed by resurrection. And He was always careful to include resurrection following His death as He does here in verse 31. And after three days rise again.

24:42 And He spoke the saying openly. Now it was no matter of an aside, a veiled reference, a secluded situation and saying it to just a few. Now it begins to be openly declared among His followers. Now Peter reacts quite violently to this and Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him.

25:08 Think of that. Taking the Son of God. What did He mean? He took Him.

25:11 Well, apparently He must have put hands on Him. Maybe the Lord was looking this way when He said it and Peter turned around and started to rebuke Him. He didn't say He started to plead with Him. He started to tell Him off.

25:25 Began to rebuke Him. And we know from the parallel passage His rebuke was Lord, this will never happen to you. Don't you dare say you must, you must, you must. I say you won't.

25:39 So what did the Lord do? But He turning about and seeing His disciples rebuked Peter and said, get thee behind me and of all the words for the devil He uses Satan. You know why? The word Satan means an adversary.

25:53 Get behind me adversary. Now notice for you mind this that is you are thinking not the things of God but the things of men. Peter, your problem is you're thinking like a natural man. You're not thinking God's thoughts after Him.

26:09 I've said that the way to the Son of Man coming into the possession of the kingdom promised Him there in Daniel the Son of Man who will come with clouds to the ancient of days and an everlasting kingdom will be given unto Him that the way is through suffering rejection death and resurrection and you say to me this will never happen to me you're an adversary to the only way the kingdom can come and that is through the way of death. Dying I will be raised and my kingdom established Peter says no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not the way to do it. And the Lord says Peter, you're thinking like a man.

26:50 You're not thinking as God thinks. Then He uses this occasion not only to underscore something to the disciples but to the mixed multitude. Notice and He called unto Him the multitude with His disciples and said unto them and now we have this clarion call to discipleship given to the multitudes very familiar words if any man would come after me if anyone would be attached to me in faith and love if anyone would come after me in the way of evangelical obedience be my true disciple let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Now in setting out the terms of discipleship what does Jesus say? He said three things are absolutely indispensable if you're to be my disciple. You first of all have got to repudiate yourself.

27:49 This is the word used when it says Peter swore took oaths and denied saying I know not the man he dissociated himself from Jesus. Jesus said you must do that with respect to yourself that is self-centered self self-seeking self self-willed self self-determining self self-sufficient self you must repudiate self the central sin of all sins. Self-centeredness living unto yourself if you would follow me not by bits and degrees along the way but by a radical repudiation of self and by that alone can you ever be my disciple. Then he says you must take up your cross and much could be said about this but at the end of the day folks the word cross brought one connotation to anyone living under Roman rule. You saw a man carrying the cross he was on his way to die. Die. Die.

28:49 He had had it. Whatever plans he had for his summer vacation they were botched. Whatever plans he may have had about going fishing next week they were scuttled. A man carrying a cross is a man consigned to death.

29:05 A man who's had it it's all over. Jesus said you want to come after me then you must not only repudiate self but you must consign yourself to death. Deliberately take up the cross be identified with the symbol of death. And he didn't mean literal death because then he said and follow me.

29:33 Now freed from the tyranny of self-will and self-centeredness and self-sufficiency and self-glory and self-advancement you're prepared to follow me. To be occupied with my will my purposes my glory my people my desires my smile. And the clear teaching is there can be no following of him. Remember he said if any man would come after me this is what you must do.

30:04 He doesn't say follow me. And then as you get to know how glorious and wonderful I am by degrees you'll see how terrible it is to live for yourself and by degrees you'll start lopping off self as the center of your life and you'll see that there must be a death blow struck to all that is focused in yourself and so you begin to construct a cross. No, he said you want to follow me here are the conditions that must be met before you can ever take the first step in true discipleship. You've got to say no to self shoulder across then you follow me.

30:37 That's what Jesus said. Now look at the next verse.

30:43 For whosoever would save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospels the same shall save it. What's the point of emphasis in the death out of life the life out of death principle in this context? Well you see the context here is not the division which Christ will bring by laying claim to the soul undivided affection of his followers. The context here is entirely different.

31:20 Jesus is on his way to die. Peter wants to hinder him and say Lord you don't come to your glory. You don't come to all that life means for the son of man through the dark valley of death. Never, never, never get behind me you adversary.

31:38 The way for me to come to the glories promised to the son of man is by the dark valley of death followed by glorious resurrection. And if anyone wants to come after me and be my disciple he too must die. He must say no to self. He must repudiate self as the central burning passion and motivation of his life.

32:07 And all of us by nature park right there.

32:12 That's why Paul could say in 2 Corinthians 5.15 that he died that they who live should no longer henceforth live unto themselves whatever our peculiar manifestations of sin may be. Subtle or gross inward or outward personal or social at the core of all patterns of a sinful life is living unto self. Self-will self-pleasing self-aggrandizement self-realization self-self-self-self-self Jesus said no you must repudiate self consign yourself to a living death to your own way.

32:50 That's why Luke says take up the cross daily. There's a decisive once for all consigning to death of your selfhood in conversion. But because of the doctrine of remaining sin it must be reaffirmed daily. Luke 9.23 and then he said follow me let my word and my will as revealed in the scriptures be the regulating principle for thought and emotions and life in every sphere in your personal life in your domestic life in your business life how you handle your money how you handle your love life how you handle your friends follow me follow me follow me follow me your life will be one unfolding of the principle of no longer living to yourself consigning your own natural life to death taking up a cross and he says in that context whosoever would save his life will lose it. What's saving your life in that context?

33:53 Refusing the terms of discipleship. That's what saving your life is in that context. Someone says but if I say no to self and consign myself to death in terms of all my own personal goals and ambitions framed in the dream room of my own dark and sin loving heart well that would be death to me. Christ said that's right it would be and if you're unwilling for that death you'll die eternal death.

34:25 Whosoever would save his life I've got to maintain this life in which what I want how I want to live what I want to do with my life the standards by which I'm going to regulate my sexual appetites and passions and capacities my ambitions and my faculties and my abilities to make money and friends nobody's going to tell me what to do. All right friend the day will come when somebody will tell you what to do. When he says depart from me into everlasting fire he'll tell you what to do and you'll do it.

35:03 You want to save your life for a few years?

35:06 Live a thumb sucking self centered life? Then Jesus says he that would save his life shall lose it but whosoever boy, girl, man or woman in any age in any context culturally sociologically it matters not whoever shall lose his life for my sake in the gospels what does it mean to lose your life? It means to comply with the terms of discipleship. You see it's done for Christ's sake in the gospels when the gospel holds forth the good news of sins forgiven through the death and resurrection of Jesus and the gospel call goes forth repent of your sin and believe on the Lord Jesus for his sake and the gospels you die to that self centered life you say no to self you pick up the cross consign yourself to death and you follow him he said that's losing your life but when you do look at the promise whosoever shall lose his life for my sake in the gospels shall save it and out of that death to self for Christ's sake in the gospels you find life that is life indeed life with a clear conscience life with a blood washed conscience life with no fear of hell life

36:34 with the knowledge that my life is ordered by one who knows me better than I know myself who knows the woman that's best for me to marry who knows best how I can glorify him in career and in strata of influence and standard of living who knows best how I can get to heaven safely with what friends and in what associations and company oh blessed be God for the truth of this word as I sat yesterday and reflected many times back over as I mentioned in yesterday morning's prayer meeting a half a century ago it doesn't seem possible I lay in bed with my wife last night and said honey a half a century and yet I can relive that December 7th 1941 as though it were yesterday I see that living room on 94 Soundview Avenue Stanford, Connecticut I see my father sitting on an old chair with my older sister on his knee I see that old round top radio with the veneer wood on it and the ugly cloth cover over the speaker I see that and the brown dials and I hear the president's words declaring war I hear them and I see my sister crying saying daddy are we going to be bombed and I see my father comforting her

38:04 50 years they've gone like that but I bless God that the last 40 the last 40 I've proved this verse because as a 17 year old senior in high school by the grace of God I lost my life lost my life no longer was it living to be popular and to be well known through sports and other avenues open to a kid in high school no longer was it pursuing the bubbles of my own dreams but Christ had lassoed my heart and I'd said no to self consign myself to death and began to follow him oh yes I lost my friends all but one of them they didn't want the new Al Martin he was a religious nut you couldn't cuss in his presence without him frowning you couldn't tell dirty jokes or he'd rebuke you oh yeah I was laughed at and mocked but I look back over these 40 years and I can say all of his paths dropped sweet he's really been cruel to me hadn't he given me a lovely wife with whom I've lived for 35 years and the love grows with every passing year he's been a cruel master

39:33 hadn't he well , all of my friends many of them in their second and third marriages I have the joy of actually still feeling lonely if my wife gets home an hour late from the shop God's really been mean to me and me never lacked for food on the table shelter over my head I've had the joy of being a father and a thousand other delights oh dear young people if I could persuade you by the word of God verified in my own experience Jesus is in love lying when he says whosoever shall lose his life for my sake in the gospels the same shall save it the same shall save it he means every word of it and it's out of death to self that we find that life in Christ that is life indeed but now we must look very quickly at the third text that articulates this life out of death principle of Passover opening up the remaining verses of Mark 8 it's not essential I had hoped to do it and planned to do it but in the interest of time turn to Luke 17 Luke 17 and look at verse 33 whosoever shall seek to gain

Supportive Text 3: Dying to Worldliness in Light of Christ's Return (Luke 17:33)

41:02 his life shall lose it but whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it or literally save it alive here's the life out of death principle again verse 33 whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it but whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it but now what is the context of this statement of the principle it's an entirely different context look at verse 20 and being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God cometh he answered and said the kingdom of God comes not without comes not with observation neither shall they say low here low there the kingdom of God is among you their question was we're waiting for some indication for the galaxies to jump and twitch and the moon and the sun to play leapfrog give us some indication that the kingdom is coming he said the kingdom is already among you in the person of the king you've seen the king's credentials you've seen it in me I've raised the dead and healed the sick and opened the eyes of the blind and unstopped the ears of the deaf and I've given my authority to the twelve and to the seventy and they too have cleansed the lepers raised the dead healed the sick what more do you want the kingdom is among you in the person of the king

42:31 and his credentials are scattered all over Palestine then verse 22 says and he said unto his disciples apparently now he's withdrawn with just his disciples and he says the days will come when you shall desire to see one of the days of the son of man and shall not see it to play on words he says the time is coming when you'd love to see one of the days of the son of man that is when his kingdom is consummated when sin and evil are forever put down and he ushers in the new heavens and the new earth you will long to see just one day of that as you serve me in a wicked world with wicked hearts and wicked men in the midst of unbelief and unbelief and opposition your hearts will yearn just for one day if you could see what this world will be like when the king comes back in his glory and I can say amen to that just to see one day before he comes he says you're going to long to see a day of the son of man and shall not see it now he's talking about the consummation so he launches into this discourse on the second coming they shall say lo here lo go not away nor follow them as the lightning when it lighteth out of one part unto the heaven and shineth to the other part so shall the son of man be in his day but first but first he must suffer many things and be rejected of this generation

43:59 his day of glory is coming but it must be through the valley of rejection and suffering and death but then he returns to the subject verse 26 it came to pass in the days of Noah so shall it be in the days of the son of man verse 28 came to pass in the days of Lot and it's in the context of predicting the circumstances that will obtain in that glorious day of his second coming that he says this verse 30 after the same manner shall it be in the day when the son of man is revealed in that day he that shall be on the housetop and his goods in the house let him not go down to take them away and let him that is in the field likewise not return back remember Lot's wife whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it but whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it now do you see the setting here it's not the setting of the commissioning of the twelve and the sword of division and those who are unwilling to bear it it's not the setting of Jesus announcing his own suffering and death and Peter opposing him and the Lord giving a general call to discipleship and saying that call must be complied with or you're saving

45:27 your life and you lose it when it is complied with you will lose your life and in losing it find it but this is the context of the second coming and he says in conjunction with the context of the second coming remember Lot's wife whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it now in that setting who is the one seeking to gain his life he is the person who like Lot's wife when the judgment of God was falling upon Sodom though she was outside of the sphere of the localized judgment of God when God was raining down hell out of heaven fire and brimstone upon the cities of the plain she showed that her heart was still so attached to Sodom its people its possessions and her ways that she looks back not with a mere glance of curiosity but her eyes went where her heart must and God says okay your heart is there I'll give you the same judgment that they get though you're not in the geographical precinct since she was turned into a pillar of salt and it's right after saying remember Lot's wife that he says whosoever shall save his life what is the reason is the picture go up to verse 31 it's underscored there again

46:55 in that day he that's on the housetop he and his person is on the housetop the returning Lord is coming and his first thought is uh oh the Lord's coming I don't have my goods with me Lord hold up there in the clouds while I go down and get my goods he who thinks of his dirty duds when the Son of God is returning in glory is a heart that's never seen his beauty can you imagine Terry Anderson and these others who've been captive when their loved ones are waiting to greet them and they're coming out the plane and their arms are open they stop and say oh oh sorry sorry wait a minute I think I left my bubble gum wrappers in the airplane seat isn't it Pastor Martin you've gone local no you say it's incongruous day after day month after month year after year these men have brought before them the image of their wives and their children yearning for the day when they would see them and when they see them they're not thinking of bubble gum wrappers and if you've ever seen the glory of Christ by faith by the illumination of the Holy Spirit at his return you won't be saying excuse me Lord for a few minutes while I go

48:22 get my bubble gum wrappers let him that is in the top of the house not go down to get his goods why because that's shows the heart of Lot's wife she was out of Sodom physically but she was not out of Sodom spiritually her affections her interests her concerns were there with the standards of Sodom the men and women of Sodom and all that Sodom stood for and Jesus said whosoever will seek to gain his life shall lose it that is in the light of the coming of the Lord Jesus if you treat that as a light thing and say Christ is coming so what I can't see him I can't hear him I know that generations have lived and died saying he's coming but I tell you one thing my boyfriend's real and his kisses are real that's what some of you are saying in this place this morning I'll choose my bubble gum wrappers heaven is not real but the thrill I get for that guy that girl those friends those sensual sins fooling mom and dad conning my elders I don't mean spiritual elders but those older than me putting on a nice face playing the game making everybody think everybody think I'm Mr. Sweet Guy

49:52 nice guy and knowing that I can tell the latest dirty joke as cleverly with expert comic timing as anybody my age ah those are the things that are real to me I don't care about this second coming business dear young man one woman older man older woman hear me I'm not a man you save your life you're going to lose it let your heart remain attached to the sodom of this world it's standards it's pleasures it's music it's fun it's games it's people and God says you'll lose the life that is life indeed whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it but whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it the person who's prepared to say while I thank God for all the liberties and treaties I enjoy in this land I see all about me a nation given over to living for the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life all of my peers as a teenager or a preteen all they're talking about is Madonna and the latest rap group and all they're concerned about is the latest catalogs with their funky styles and all they talk about is their latest boyfriend and who got frenched and who didn't I swear I'm going to see it for what it is slated

51:20 for judgment and I'm not going down with it and I'm going to see in Christ the one who calls me as a hell deserving sinner to a life of holiness a life of purity a life of devotion to God a life of uprightness a life of pity a life of conscious deliberate cultivation of my mind by thought and by faith and by faith by faith study, not blowing my mind with the pounding beat of the rappers, and defiling my soul with their hell-filled language. No more for me!

52:11 I die to the life that is life indeed. You young men and women, tears were shed for you in this building yesterday.

52:27 Yesterday morning, there were grown men who sobbed,

52:35 praying for your salvation.

52:40 What are you going to do with that? Stiff arm it some more? God have mercy on you. Tears, tears were shed in that auditorium for your salvation.

52:54 Listen, some of you husbands are not saved. Tears were shed for you yesterday. Tears were shed for you. And if you want to call me a liar, I can name the witnesses who were there.

53:07 Tears were shed!

53:11 Begging God to break the spell of demonic blindness that keeps you saving the life that will destroy you, rather than dying to that life and embracing the life that is life indeed. Who will be ready for Christ's return? Only those whose hearts have been won to Him. Not those who are merely found in the company of a righteous man, Lot, but whose hearts are really back in Sodom.

53:45 Remember Lot's wife. God will find you out. It's not where you are out, outwardly. At the Lord's return, it's what you are inwardly that will be made known.

53:56 Whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. Notice verse 34. If you question my interpretation, look at it. I say unto you in that night, should it be night time for some when he comes, there shall be two men on one bed. The one shall be taken and the other left. There shall be two women grinding together. The one taken and the other left. You see the issue?

The Essential Nature of the Life-Out-Of-Death Principle

54:24 The division on that day will have nothing to do with general associations of geographical proximity, bloodlines or anything else. The great division will be made in terms of did you lose your life or did you save it? That will be the issue that will be revealed in that day. So I close by underscoring again that this life out of death principle, is not something ancillary to real Christianity. It's not something in addition to. It is of the very essence of true saving Christianity. Christ could procure our redemption in no other way but by being the grain of wheat that fell into the ground. And out of his death there has blossomed life that this day, life I'll use the word it comes to mind, life that fructifies, life that flourishes and abounds throughout the nations. Think of it.

55:35 While we were sleeping millions in the other hemisphere had already gathered and raised hearts and voices in praise to the Lord Jesus. A harvest that came out of the one kernel that fell into the ground and died. I, if I be lifted up from the earth, shall draw all unto me, that indefinite all that we studied last Lord's Day evening. What a blessed thing to know that he died and is gathering and will continue to gather until the last fruit that comes from that one grain is gathered. And then the Lord will say enough. Let's take them all home to the heavenly barn. That's biblical imagery. Gathering the wheat into his garner. That's

56:29 central to Christianity. But as central as Christ dying as the one grain of wheat and that out of his death comes our life, so is it central to true Christian experience. The only ground of our pardon and forgiveness is in the perfect life and substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus. If that were not so, then he would not have had to be the grain who died. His death forms the ground of our acceptance with God. Yes! But in the way of our acceptance we never come into the participation of the virtue of his life and death unless we do die. Die to that self-centered life. That life based

57:15 on your native natural desires and inclinations and appetites and passions and standards and goals. You must say no to that. Take up a cross. Consign yourself to death.

57:30 And then in new, newness of life, follow him. My friends, that's fundamental, basic Christian experience. If that's not true of you, you're not Christian. You don't need to get the baptism of the Spirit or second work of grace or get sanctified. You need to be saved.

57:53 And could it be that some of you who have chronic, and I mean chronic problems of trying to live the Christian life in any way at all is that you've never entered upon that life because you've looked for a way of entrance that bypassed death to yourself. Oh yes, you wanted death to the grosser forms of your sin. The kinds of sins that might put you in jail or bring you in public shame, but you haven't wanted death to the principle of living for yourself.

58:33 And until that issue is settled, it'll never be clear whether there's life in you or not. Am I making sense for some of you? Oh, to God that somebody sitting here this morning will say, Lord, I see it. You've taught me where you've been. I see it, Lord.

58:49 It'll make all the labor and preparation and the labor and preaching worth it a thousand times over.

Application to the Church: Guarding Against 'Perfumed Self'

58:57 And I want to make one final application. This is why I've taken the time to show that this is essential to true Christianity. And here's the application.

59:07 If this ever ceases to be the fundamental starting point of the Christian experience of the individual members of Trinity Baptist Church, can you see what's going to happen to this church? If we start receiving into membership people who've never really died to self, who've never really said no to self and lost their lives in this biblical sense, and because they're respectable and orthodox and answer the right questions, we start taking people like that into the church, and they are members in good standing, and they don't commit gross sin or go into heresy, so you can't discipline them. But they're fundamentally self-centered. Can you see what happens if you begin to get any number of people like that forming the membership of Trinity Church? Then no longer will this church in its corporate life validate the life out of death principle in its priorities of time, use of money, use of personnel, and all the rest that we're going to look at next week. No. Why? Because

60:13 in the individual members the raw materials are not there to do it. And it will be self that determines how the money shall be spent, how the personnel shall be used, what projects will get first priority, and dear people I say it, not as exaggeration but as a horrible testimony to what happens. I've been in so-called Christian churches more concerned about preserving the shine on a brass plaque in honor to somebody's granny than sinners going to hell around the world.

60:53 Ready to fight that funds will be used to polish the plaque, but ready to dig their heels in and oppose any expenditure for the spread of the gospel, lest there not be enough money in the bank to polish granny's plaque. How does that come to pass? I'll tell you how. When the church begins to welcome into its ranks those who say they are Christians who've never lost their lives.

61:25 And when the ministry of this place ceases to articulate and in the power of the Holy Ghost is owned to be a barrier of admission to this church to anyone who has not experienced this death and emergence into life. God have mercy on this place. I think you begin to see it, aren't you? You see, and the curse of most American religion is it's just perfumed self.

62:00 Baptized self. Sprinkled with Jesus talk and Jesus activity. But at the root of it, it's self-centered. Do you have any other explanation? If you saw that 2020 or whatever it was that exposed those three charlatans, bleeding people to death, paupers and poor people and pensioners, promising them health, wealth and prosperity. I was so pained and angry I found myself praying prayers of imprecation, but then one of my former students, greatly perceptive, said, you know, Pastor, isn't it God's judgment on the very poor people who, if they could, they'd be right where these wealthy clowns are. And that's what gives them a following. They're promising them what they have.

62:48 And that's why they're following them. And I said, you know, you're right. In other words, the Christian faith is simply a means to the end to get in Christ what you couldn't get in the world. Wealth, prosperity, prestige, a name.

Final Exhortation and Prayer

63:05 You know, my friend, Christ calls you to say no to self, shoulder a cross, and follow him who had nowhere to lay his head, and who promises you nothing this side of heaven but himself. But when you've seen the glory of God in the face of Christ, then you say, Jesus, I, my cross, have taken all to leave and follow thee, destitute, despised, forsaken. Thou, from henceforth, my what? My seventy-five percent shall be? No, my all, my all shall be. Let us pray. Our Father, we earnestly pray that by the Spirit you will take this vital truth of your word and bring it home into the order of every conscience and every heart with power. O God, as we think of those for whom tears were shed even yesterday, draw them to yourself.

64:20 Show them the misery, of that self-centered, self-absorbed existence that will land them in that everlasting place of cursed selfhood, even the lake of fire. O show them the loveliness of Christ, that in him there is a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light. There is liberty from the tyranny of having to think the whole world must revolve around us. Liberated from thinking of everything in terms of what it'll do for me. O Lord, bring such deliverance this morning. Spirit of God, open blinded eyes.

65:07 Break the chains of enslaved wills and bring people to your Son. Seal your word, we beg of you. In Jesus' name. Amen.