We can find the very heart of the gospel in Luke 9:23-26, where the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking to His disciples. The modern message we hear preached today is a far cry from what was preached by the Lord Himself. So radically different today from what we find in this passage! What we have in the main today is a message of easy-believism, and nothing could be farther from the truth.
Look at the words of the Son of God; "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me:
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: But whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?
For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man
be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s and of the holy angels."
We find in the above words a commandment, a challenge, a call from the Lord of glory who has come to earth in human flesh to redeem a people for Himself. Christ’s command is to turn from sin, take up our cross and follow Him. He makes this abundantly clear, that we cannot keep our lives for ourselves, to live a selfish life with self on the hearts throne, but we must be prepared to lose our lives for Christ’s sake in order to save our lives or to have eternal life.
This invitation comes in the form of a command; repent, believe and submit! This is the true gospel which has been watered down over the decades. There is a choice, "If any man WILL come after me." We make the choose to either obey the Lord’s command or disobey it, but what we do with His command will determine whether we become His disciples or not, and where we will spend eternity!
Notice the context in which the Spirit of God chose to tell us these truths in the same discourse in Mark 10:11?
"And he said unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she commiteth adultery."
Surely, to obey God’s command here is to take up your cross and follow Him? It is only a few verses down where Christ says, "Come, take up the cross, and follow me." Luke records the words, "let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily," This is not a preference; this is a command!
We do have a cross to bear, if we are to enter into the Kingdom of God. This is why Christ said to "come as a little child, before the evil days come upon you, when you shall say you have no pleasure in them." A little child has not got caught up in all the vices and wickedness of this sinful world. It is much harder to be prepared to turn from all your sin and take up your cross, which signifies death to self. That is vicious; that is terminal! Christ died our death that we might live.But He wants our lives for His! This is what Christ is saying in the above passage.
But this is no cheap grace, as one Hindu said to me recently as he sees those who profess to be Christians continue to live most ungodly lives. He said "You Christians count the grace of God so cheaply." No, this is not Christianity, but it all passes for Christianity in these last, spiritually dark and dangerous days as foretold in 2 Timothy chapter 3. This is NOT what Christ taught. Unless we can say of a truth; "When Christ died, I died," then we do not have eternal life, but we are still in our sins living in rebellion, out of communion with God.
"Verily, verily, (or truly, truly) I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground AND DIE, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." (Jn. 12:24, 25) In other words in comparison to our love for the Lord all else is hatred. We find this also in the passage where Christ says if we don’t hate our mother, father, etc we are not worthy of Him. This does not mean we actually hate them. It means that our love for Christ and being obedient to His will makes all other relationships subordinate.Christ demands first place in our lives, if we belong to Him. See Mark 12:30, 31.
This we could never accomplish ourselves by any measures. This is only possible when the "love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit." And this is only possible as we come in true repentance, as Christ has portrayed in the above verses, and put our trust in Christ for the forgiveness of sins and then we can be assured of a home in heaven.This is what the Bible calls being born again or regenerated.
Let us briefly look at the rich young ruler in Mark 10:17. He was eager to lay hold on eternal life, as he came running to the Saviour of the world. Surely today if one were to ask an evangelist this same question, "Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" they would have a field day with that one; the answer would be, "Say this prayer and invite Jesus into your life, tell Him you are sorry for your sins and you will be saved!" Two, four, six, eight and it is done and dusted!
This is not even scriptural. Nowhere are we told to say a prayer to get saved. The publican spoke to God, but he spoke from the heart with the UNDERSTANDING of what a great sinner he was, as he was deeply convicted of his sin, and thus he "would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." (Luke 18:13) God looks on the heart and He is looking for true repentance. (Notice Christ used the word understand eight times in Matthews Gospel?) True repentance involves turning away from all known sin. "Take up your cross and follow me."
You notice what happened to the rich young ruler? He came to the Saviour of the world and he desperately wanted to know how to obtain eternal life, and yet he went away the same way as he came – empty, still in his sins heading to a lost eternity! He was not willing to part with what lay the closest to his heart – his riches! Is there something that you are not willing to part with to become Christ’s true disciple? God does not look on the outward appearance, He looks on the heart. If we want eternal life, we have to be "fair dinkum," as we Aussies would term it. We cannot fool God; we must be real. Christ demands "the whole heart," not just a little part of it you keep for Him on Sundays, then live as you like for the rest of the week! No, that is not it! Jeremiah knew it; the Lord told him, "And ye shall seek me, and find me, WHEN YE SHALL SEARCH FOR ME WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART." (Jer. 29:13) Don't let anybody tell you that seeking the Lord is "works" as that is pure nonsense! I have had many Calvinists tell me this!
This is what is wrong today with so called "Christianity." This in the main is not Christianity, but Christendom, "a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof" as found in 2 Timothy. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Paul recorded in his letter to the Romans 8:9. Paul knew what is was to be a true believer. He had persecuted and killed Christians in God’s name, and now the persecutor had become the persecuted! Why? Because he knew of this transaction; "Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things ARE passed away, behold all things ARE become new." (2 Cor. Notice the word "are" used twice in this verse? This is in the continuous present tense, which is what happens when one is truly born again of the Spirit of God. Thosw ho have been redeemed cannot go on sinning habitually as before. See 1 John 3:9. The Holy Spirit wont let them, as they will be chastised and led in the paths of righteousness.
The Holy Spirit is indwelling those who are born again for ever. One cannot get unborn! This is why there is a change in the life, because of the indwelling Spirit of God. This is why the desires change, the feelings change, the attitude towards sin changes, because God will not allow the twice born to continue in sin, as now the resurrection power of God is sanctifying the believer. If we are not God's children then we will go on sinning and there will be no change in the life, and God then says that those who do not obey Him, but claim they are Christians are "bastards," and not sons. (Heb. 12:
We cannot sanctify ourselves, this is the work of God, as He conforms us "more and more into the image of his Son." Look at Christ’s prayer in John 17, where He asked the Father to sanctify all those those who would believe on Him; "Sanctify them through thy truth: THY WORD IS TRUTH." (Jn. 17:17)
"Enter in at the narrow gate." That narrow gate is Christ, and Christ alone! "I AM THE DOOR, BY ME IF ANY MAN SHALL ENTER IN HE SHALL BE SAVED, and shall go in and out and find green pasture." (Jn. 19:10) This door is open for all who will come the way that the Lord commands, "Repentance toward God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 21:20) There is no other way, even though there are many sign posts today pointing to heaven, which in fact are leading to hell! That is why we must "Study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15 We, after all will have to give an account of what we did with Jesus, who is called the Christ.
"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." (Proverbs 14:12) Don’t be fooled by man’s sign posts, but look only at God’s sign posts, as stated in His precious Word, the King James Bible. If you follow all these other corrupt versions, you will be sure to be led astray, as they are NOT God’s Word but only contain some of God’s Words, but mostly they are corrupted, as evidenced by the "fruit" over the past one hundred years or so!
"Then said one unto him, Lord, Lord, are there few that be saved?" We can only be saved through Christ’s accomplishment; not man’s achievements. It doesn’t matter about your religion, whether some kind of pagan religion such as Hinduism, or through sacraments, ceremonial or a works system connected to Christianity, these are all still on the broad road. None of these can save your precious soul! Look at what Christ said in answer to this question by His disciples;
"Strive to enter in at the straight gate: FOR MANY I SAY UNTO YOU, WILL SEEK TO ENTER IN, AND SHALL NOT BE ABLE."
(Luke 13:24) Why is this? Surely if it was that easy, as says the preaching of today to be saved, many would be saved, not few! If Christ has paid all our debt on the cross at Calvary, (Christ had the cross in view here) and done all the work on our behalf, when He said, "It is finished," then why is it so hard, as Christ is telling His disciples?It is because of sin. Many are not willing to leave all their sin behind, or repent, in order to gain Christ. The rich young ruler wasn’t. He loved his worldly goods too much to part with them, even for eternal life. This is the same today. This is why so very few are saved, and this is why we have a "Christianity" which denies Christ, not by words but by lives, and of which we are warned about, which would be very characteristic of the last days of grace, as found in 2 Timothy chapter 3. There is the long list of the traits which would characterize these false professors, part of which and we find in verses 2 and 3 of 2nd Timothy; "Traitors, heady, highminded, LOVERS OF PLEASURE MORE THAN LOVERS OF GOD:
HAVING A FORM OF GODLINESS, BUT DENYING THE POWER THEREOF:"
Have we "died with Christ"? Paul had it; he said, "I die daily." (1 Cor. 15:31) And, "For me to live IS Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil. 1:21 Can we say this of a truth; "For me to live IS Christ"? Because, if we can’t say "For me to live IS Christ", then to die will not be gain; it will be loss, as Christ has shown us by His own words! "What shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. 16:25, 26) There is no such a thing as having one foot in the church and one foot in the world. This is a man made fallacy, as the Word of God does not support this notion!
God demands submissive obedience to His Word. "Casting down imaginations, (sin begins in the mind) and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity EVERY THOUGHT TO THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST." (11 Cor. 10:5) Our obedience is the outward sign that an inward reality has taken place in the soul. "Lord, are there few that be saved?" It is clear to see why most people are not saved and why most will not get saved, it is because it is too hard to part with their sin, too hard to repent and deny self in order to know Christ and the power of sins forgiven and a home in heaven. This is sad, in fact this is a tragety; to die without Christ! Forever in that place of darkness, separated from God forever where there is "weeping and wailing and gnaashing of teeth." There are no unbelievers in hell! But the cry will be; "Too late, too late, if only I would have listened and believed!"
Paul knew the resurrection power of the cross of Christ. Do you know it? Have you been transformed by the power of the gospel? Have you been "delivered from the power of darkness" and been "translated into the kingdom of his dear Son"? Be sure you are on this narrow road, because if you are not on this road, then one day you will hear these most dreadful and appaling words from the Lord Himself;
"Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity." (Luke 13:27) My prayer is that all who read these words may instead hear those blessed words, also from the Lord Himself; "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: …. enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." (Matt. 25:21)
