The Secret to Power - Mark 9:14-29 - August 2, 2020

These are the Sermon Notes for August 2, 2020. We are now meeting at the church with limited seating and specific procedures and protocols that need to be followed. Read our Returning to Worship plan here. You can still watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

Mark 9:14-29 The Secret to Power

Good morning! We are returning to our study in the Gospel of Mark, in chapter nine. This morning we are going to look at verses 14-29, that’s page 844 in the pew Bibles.

If you’re ever wondering why I always give you the Scripture reference and the page number in the pew Bibles, it’s more than just so you can follow along, though that is very helpful, it’s mostly to hold me accountable. It would be a great injustice to just say to you all, “Trust me, it’s in there somewhere.” If anybody says that to you about the Bible, stop listening to them immediately. Either what they are saying isn’t in the Bible they just make it sound like it should be, or, it’s in there and they just don’t know where and so it’s probably taken out of context and doesn’t mean what they are saying it means.

I give you all these references so you can look at it yourselves and see if what I am saying is right or not. If you believe me just because it’s me then we are both going to be in trouble, but if you believe me because what I’m saying is in God’s Word for real then we will both benefit, but if what I’m saying doesn’t agree with Scripture, if you have the references, you will be able to see it for yourself and correct me.

So, with that in mind let’s look at Mark 9:14-29, page 844.

14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

Let’s pray.

So here we have Jesus, Peter, James, and John, coming down the mountain of transfiguration, Mount Hermon, after a long and glorious night to fine the nine other disciples in an argument with the Scribes in the midst of a large crowd. When the crowd saw Jesus coming they got all excited and ran to Him and greeted Him.

What happens next has been among the more confusing Gospel accounts in my mind, and, like the account of the transfiguration from last week hasn’t gotten much more than an, “I dunno,” from me.

This is unfortunate because here in these verses, here in this account, we find the secret to living with power. I’m sure we all want a little more of that!

Now, we‘ve established over the last few weeks and months that the disciples, at this point in they’re walk with the Lord were in fact… Idiots. They had seen some amazing things, done some amazing things, heard some amazing things, but still struggled to put it all together.

So here are nine of the disciples having an argument with the Scribes in the midst of a big crowd and they were losing. I can only imagine their relief when they saw the Lord Jesus round the corner and the crowd ran to Him. And when they got to Him He asked them, in verse 16, “What are you arguing about with them?”

17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.”

Now think about this for a minute. The disciples had had quite a bit of success healing people and casting out demons in the past, what made this different?

This poor father brought his son in this sad condition that sounds a lot like epilepsy but as we read it was in fact a demon so don’t go to the neurologist’s office and try to cast demons out of their patients, not everybody with epilepsy has a demon!

So dad describes his son’s condition to Jesus, knowing that it was an unclean spirit, but also now knowing that the disciples were powerless to cast it out of him. And when Jesus hears the father’s story, how does He react?  

19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”

Who do think He said that to, the father? The Scribes? The crowd? He said it to the disciples.

 “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?”

What an indictment from the Lord, he was clearly frustrated with them. First, the night before, Peter wanted to set up tents for Jesus and Elijah and Moses so that they could set up an new kingdom on earth, and now, the nine other disciples didn’t have the sense to do what they needed to do to cast out one demon. He had to be frustrated! But that was a problem He would deal with later.

Jesus said, “bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him.

What a sad state. Many of us who have children who have been ill or have to deal with terrible situations that are out of our control, I’m sure, can identify with this poor father’s heart for his son.

This dad’s desperate cry to Jesus was, “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

The disciples hadn’t been able to do anything for this man nor his son, the Scribes had certainly been no help. This poor dad’s heart was plagued with doubt. But still, with what little faith he had, he begged Jesus, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

If you can… If you can…

I can’t help but imagine Jesus, in His great compassion, with a little smile as He says, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”

The poor father, in his humility, cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” What a statement! It’s as if he was saying, “it is useless to hide the unbelief that still struggles in this heart of mine; but that heart bears witness that I do believe in you; and if any distrust remains I disown it, I wrestle with it, I seek help from you against it!”

This should be our heart’s cry too: I believe; help my unbelief!

John Calvin wrote, “As our faith is never perfect, it follows that we are partly unbelievers; but God forgives us and exercises such forbearance towards us as to reckon us believers on account of a small portion of faith. It is our duty, in the meantime, carefully to shake off the remains of infidelity which adhere to us, to strive against them, and to pray to God to correct them, and, as often as we are engaged in this conflict, to fly to Him for aid.”

The problem was not with Jesus’ ability to heal, or even with the disciples’ inability to heal, the problem was with their ability to trust in God who can do what is humanly impossible. But that kind of trust is only possible with the help of the One who is its object.

25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

Jesus did the impossible, he cast out the demon forbidding it to ever enter the boy again, and after the demon left he raised the boy up as if he had been brought back from the dead. 

This was not beyond Jesus’ power.

And after this incredible scene the disciples were left wondering… what just happened?

28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

So is Jesus saying here that all the disciples had to do was pray and they could have cast the demon out themselves? Did they just not say the magic words? Did they just forget to bow their heads and close their eyes and fold their hands?

Don’t be fooled, the disciples expected something to happen, they expected the demon to come out when they told it to but it wouldn’t. Why is that? It’s because they were trying to do it on their own. They had done it before and so trusted in their own ability to follow the process.

But did they have the power to do it? No.

Who did have power to do it in this scene? The disciples? Nope. The Scribes? Nope. The crowd? Nope. The dad? Nope. Jesus. And that’s the secret to power.

Jesus said to the disciples, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” That wasn’t because it was a different type of demon, bigger, stronger, deeper.

That was because they cannot hope to cast out demons or do anything for God’s kingdom or even their own faith without connecting to the One who is the Source of all power.

Faith does not depend so much on the theoretical consciousness of a truth, as on the existence of a real and actual fellowship with God, and faith exposes our own powerlessness without the Lord’s intervention.

The disciples failed because they didn’t depend on God’s power, that’s why Jesus said that this kind couldn’t be cast out except by prayer because prayer is faith expressed. Faith is not just taking a flying leap into the unknown, it’s taking hold of the Lord and deriving strength from Him and we do this through prayer. 

Real and actual fellowship with God our Father through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the secret to power.

Our prayer ought always be the same as the poor father in this account: 

“I believe, help my unbelief! It is useless to hide the unbelief that still struggles in this heart of mine; but that heart bears witness that I do believe in you Lord Jesus, and if any distrust remains I disown it, I wrestle with it, I seek help from you against it! In Jesus’ Name!

Amen.

The Transfiguration of Jesus - Mark 9:1-13 - July 26, 2020

These are the Sermon Notes for July 26, 2020. We are now meeting at the church with limited seating and specific procedures and protocols that need to be followed. Read our Returning to Worship plan here. You can still watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

Mark 9:1-13 The Transfiguration of Jesus

Have you ever read a portion of Scripture, a story in the Bible and find yourself asking, “What was that all about?!” If you are like me and have found yourself in a scenario like that, when faced with this predicament you have two options. When you read an account that doesn’t make sense to you, you can simply shrug your shoulders and settle for, “I dunno,” and move on, or, you can dig in and try your best to figure it out and try and make sense of it.

This morning’s passage in Mark 9:1-13 is one of those passages, at least for me. It describes a fantastic event that, in the past, when I’ve read it I found myself wondering, “What was that all about?!” but my response, sadly, has been, “I dunno,” and I’ve moved on.

This is the beauty of verse by verse exposition of entire books of the Bible: I can’t skip over things I don’t understand. I am forced to deal with them no matter how difficult it is or how challenging the teaching is, or how contrary it is to my own biases and opinions.

So let’s look at Mark 9:1-13, page 844 in the pew Bibles, the account of Jesus’ transfiguration.

We are picking up right where we left off two weeks ago after Jesus had just taught the crowd about self-denial and sacrifice in following Him.

And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” 

2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. 

9 And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. 11 And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 12 And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

Let’s pray

So the last thing that Jesus says to the crowd that had gathered along with His disciples before leaving them was that there were some standing there that would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power… Ok… What do we do with that idea?

Some scholars say, incorrectly, that Jesus meant His Second Coming, but He that He was wrong. We know that is not correct because Jesus Himself said that He didn’t know the day or the hour, no one knew but the Father. So that could not be what He meant.

Some scholars say that Jesus was talking about the birth of the Church on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given to believers. This is certainly possible if you understand the church to be the kingdom of God and its power to be the power of the Holy Spirit.

Other scholars say that Jesus was alluding to what was about to happen six days later on the Mount of Transfiguration. 

While the first idea of Jesus’ Second Coming is clearly wrong, and the Day of Pentecost would certainly make sense, I believe that Jesus was talking about His transfiguration, which is why Jesus’ statement was included right before that account on the high mountain.

The high mountain that Jesus, Peter, James, and John went up is Mount Hermon, just north of Caesarea Philippi, at the northern most part of Israel on the border with Syria.

In Luke’s account of this event he says that Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain to pray. This was Jesus’ pattern, to get away from the crowd and commune with His Father, a practice we should all certainly adopt.

While they were there up on that mountain Jesus was transfigured before them. What does that mean, what is, “transfigured?” The Greek word, “metamorphoo,” means to be changed, to take on a new physical appearance, transformed. This is the same word that describes the changing of a caterpillar to a butterfly, metamorphosis.

 2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.

The Romans had a thing for intensely white linens, they called them “candorem.” They were linens so clean and white that they almost glistened. The Jews took on this idea as well and used linens like that to adorn priests and kings. But when Jesus was transfigured before the three disciples He made those candorems look dirty. “His clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.”

He was giving His disciples a glimpse into the kingdom, just a taste of His glory. What a scene it must have been!

And to add to this glory, there appeared with Jesus Moses and Elijah!

4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

Luke again offers us more insight into the conversation that was had between Jesus and Elijah and Moses. Luke 9:31 says that they spoke of His departure, or His exodus, that was about to be accomplished in Jerusalem. In this moment of extreme brightness Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah of His coming time of great darkness. What a scene!

But the question remains, why did Moses and Elijah appear? Were they there to teach Jesus? Were they there to encourage Him or cheer Him on? Why was it Moses in particular, why was it Elijah? Was it for Jesus’ benefit or something else? Was this just a random but really cool moment?

My response has historically: “I dunno. But I bet it was cool to see!” Childlike faith or lazy scholarship, you decide!

I’m going with lazy scholarship because there is great meaning in the particulars of this event.

What do Moses and Elijah represent? When you think of Moses what do you think of? The Law. How about Elijah? The Prophets.

Peter’s response to this scene is pretty telling of what the disciples thought about Jesus and His teaching at this time.

5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.

My thought about this response, though they were terrified and Peter was just not the type to shut his mouth in moments like this, I think what they really wanted was to simply add Jesus on to the Law and the Prophets. Setting up camp meant setting up a new type of religion where you start with the Law, then you add on the Prophets, and to top it all off you add the Gospel.

This, sadly, is the experience of many, many, people who call themselves Christians. Their faith is based on rules, on do’s and don’t’s, and on obscure misinterpretations of passages of prophecy in the Old Testament.

But we cannot overlook the fourth person who appears in this scene: God the Father Himself.

7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. 

The Father Himself emphasized the distinction between Jesus, His beloved Son, and Moses, the representative of the Law, and Elijah, the representative of the Prophets. The Law and the Prophets are merged in the glory of the gospel, their glory was temporary, but the gospel’s is eternal. Jesus didn’t abolish them but fulfilled them, and now when we read them they only make sense because of Him.

John Calvin wrote, “If we would properly avail ourselves of the aid of Moses, [and I would add the Prophets] we must not stop with [them] but endeavor to be conducted by [their] hand to Christ of whom both [they] and all the others are ministers.”

From the cloud of glory the Father calls Jesus, “His Beloved Son,” because He was the only mediator by whom the Father would reconcile the world to Himself, the Fulfiller of the Law and the Prophets.

The Father said, “Listen to Him,” because he is the supreme Teacher. The Father corrected the disciples by pointing to Jesus as the One they should listen to over Moses and Elijah, that He was the One who could properly interpret the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus is the Supreme Teacher of the Church and all others, especially me, are subordinate to Him.

John Calvin also wrote, “No man can be regarded as a faithful teacher of the church unless he himself be a disciple of Christ and bring others to be taught by Him.”

There is so much going on in this scene!

First, by appearing in glory, Jesus proved to His disciples, and to us, that He was not dragged unwillingly to His death. It would have been just as easy to protect His body as it was to clothe it with heavenly glory. Peter still didn’t get this concept, right up until Jesus’ betrayal in the Garden, but this was the plan all along.

Second, The Father endorses Jesus, His beloved Son, as the Head and Teacher of the Church, that the Law and the Prophets are not added to the Gospel but are fulfilled by it. The whole Old Testament, every page, points to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

But even still the disciples still don’t get it.

9 And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. 11 And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 12 And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

Jesus told them to keep silent about what they had seen until he had risen from the dead. Why? Because they would have gotten it all wrong! They didn’t understand the meaning of what had just taken place and so their recollection of the event could result in all sorts of wrong ideas and bad teaching.

They also didn’t understand the role of John the Baptist, who while he was not Elijah himself, came in the spirit and power of Elijah just as it was told of him before he was born.

Peter did eventually catch on but only after he received the Holy Spirit, and he wrote about this event and its meaning in 2 Peter 1:16-21.

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

So in thinking of the words of the Father from that cloud of majestic glory, “This is my beloved Son, listen to Him,” I have to ask you two questions.

First and foremost, have you been reconciled to the Father through faith in His Son? 

No amount of rule following or good deeds will earn you a place in God’s eternal kingdom, only faith in His Beloved Son Jesus.

The second question is: do you listen to Him? Is Jesus’ voice, as recorded in the Bible, chief of all others? 

The way we can tell is if we measure the words of any teacher by God’s Word before we believe it. 

Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Take Up Your Cross - Mark 8:34-38 - July 12, 2020

These are the Sermon Notes for July 12, 2020. We are now meeting at the church with limited seating and specific procedures and protocols that need to be followed. Read our Returning to Worship plan here. You can still watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

Mark 8:34-38 Take up Your Cross

Good morning! We are going to be studying Mark 8:34-38 this morning, page 844 in the pew Bibles.

This passage that we are going to look at today is one of the greatest proofs that Christianity is NOT a man-made religion, it’s not a product of some guy’s imagination. If it were, it would not include statements like we are going to look at this morning.

You’ll remember from last week that we looked at the disciples’ confession of Jesus as the Christ, God’s Anointed One, as well as Jesus’ rebuke of Peter for attempting to thwart God’s program and directives for Jesus. They were happy with Jesus’ work as Prophet and held Him up as King but they didn’t understand His work was also the work of the Priest, serving as the sacrifice for the sin of mankind, to sprinkle His own blood in the Holy of Holies in the heavenly Temple.

But there was more to the program for those who would follow Jesus, a way of suffering, of self-denial, and submission. So let’s look at our text together, Mark 8:34-38.

34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Let’s pray.

Can you see just from a quick reading of the text why I would say that Christianity couldn’t possibly have been invented in the minds of men? What person would hold self-denial up as a central principle of their made up religion? Every false religion ever invented puts man in the center of it, turning pleasure into an act of worship of one’s self. 

Jesus demands exactly the opposite.

In verse 34 Jesus lays down this central principle in what it means to follow Him and then gives us four “for’s” to flesh it out.

34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

This is a great example of the importance of considering the original audience in Bible study. Listen to Jesus’ statement: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

When Jesus mentions, taking up one’s cross, what do you think of? Jesus’ cross, right? Jesus’ death on the cross is THE central event in all of human history. But we are not the first ones to hear those words, the disciples and the crowd that was there that day near Caesarea Philippi. What do you think they thought of when Jesus mentions taking up one’s cross and following Him? He had yet to take up a cross, in Mark’s Gospel at least He hadn’t even mentioned a cross, He spoke about His death but nothing about a cross. So what did the statement mean to those who first heard Him say it?

Don’t misunderstand me, the people living there in Israel under Roman rule knew all too well what a cross was. It was an instrument of humiliation, torture, and death, invented by the Romans. Those who were crucified were crucified publically, for all to see as a warning for those who would dare to rebel against the iron fist of the Roman Empire.

So why would Jesus tell His followers to take up their own cross and follow Him? He wasn’t foreshadowing His own death as we might see it from our historical side of the cross. So what did He really mean?

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Jesus is talking about shifting allegiances. From the beginning Mankind has been acting in our own self-interest, treating ourselves as if we are the kings and queens of our own little kingdoms. But here Jesus suggests a different way, a better way, the ONLY way, the way of denying oneself, taking up our cross, and following Him.

There’s so much going on in this short statement!

First of all, I’m sure you have heard the expression, “We all have our crosses to bear.” The meaning of that expression is that “our cross” is some difficulty or challenge that we each face, or some inconvenience. This expression is based on this statement of Jesus but it’s so far from what Jesus intended and so cheapens the thought He was expressing.

As far as the Romans were concerned, Jesus’ crucifixion was pretty typical for the most part until it came to His actual death. It was common practice for the Romans to force the condemned to carry their own cross to the site of their crucifixion just like Jesus did. It was an act of forced submission to the authority that the condemned had once rebelled against. This was obviously not the case with Jesus as He had committed no crime, but it was for everybody else.

So when Jesus says to take up your cross, it goes hand in hand with the command to deny oneself. Instead of a forced submission it is a voluntary one, voluntarily demonstrating submission to Jesus as the ultimate authority in one’s life instead of oneself.

If anyone would shift their allegiance from themselves to Jesus, let them continually deny themselves, that’s the tense in the Greek, a continuous action, let them continually take up their cross, and follow Him.

Of course those of us on this side of the cross historically know that Jesus would eventually carry His own cross too, but not in submission to the Romans but in submission to Father God. Jesus’ self-denial would grant forgiveness of sin for all who would believe in Him and call on Him as Lord.

And calling on Jesus as Lord, following Him is what this passage is all about, and Jesus breaks it down further in His four “for’s.”

35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 

Paul wrote about this in Philippians 3:7-11,

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Paul had it all as far as the world was concerned, money, power, position, respect, but he gave it all up to follow Jesus, he denied himself, took up his cross, and followed Jesus, even though it cost him all of those things of worldly value. Though he lost his “life” he gained so much more!

36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

Jesus met a man like this in Luke 18:18-25,

18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ” 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

There’s no crime in being rich by the world’s standards but when wealth and power and privilege come before devotion to Christ we are in danger of forfeiting our very souls. 

37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?

JP Lange wrote, “The earthly-minded person gives his soul as a ransom price for the world, after laying down such a price, what does he have for a ransom price to buy his soul back? He who lays down his soul for the world will lose his soul AND the world; he who gains his soul gains the world as well.”

These two questions from Jesus are rhetorical, everyone who heard Him knew the answers.

What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? NOTHING

What can a man give in return for his soul? NOTHING

JP Lange also wrote, “You must not watch Christ, but follow Him; you must not boast about Him but act like Him.”

38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

What a horrible fate. And how many of us are guilty of this? When we compromise to fit in, when we keep silent to be accepted or to avoid conflict, when we hide our faith because someone might be looking or think we’re strange or dumb, this is exactly what we are doing.

So what is Jesus after, what was He calling the disciples and the crowd and us to do?

To submit to the Father like he did, to obey God’s will as revealed in His Word, like He did, to accept the consequences without reservation for Jesus’ sake and the sake of the gospel. To humbly and continuously, throughout the course of our lives, say no to ourselves and say yes to the Father.

World gained, nothing gained. Soul lost, all lost.

Amen