Deny thyself

Call To Worship

Psalm 117:1–2 (ESV): Praise the Lord, all nations!

Extol him, all peoples!

2 For great is his steadfast love toward us,

and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord!

Introduction

Tell about Eustis taking the Dragons gold and turing into a dragon. He never was told the truth about dragons gold and so he became a dragon. Had he known the truth and denied himself such easy fleeting treasures he would not have been transformed into a dragon.

How many men and women have you seen, or maybe that is your story. Took today's fleeting pleasure over Christ. I don’t have enough hands to count how many times I’ve heard the story

Text Mark 8:34–9:1 (NKJV)

Mark 8:34–38 NKJV

34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Friend of Charles Spurgeon Pastor J. C. Ryle said this about our text this morning:

Salvation is undoubtedly all of grace. It is offered freely in the Gospel to the chief of sinners, without money and without price. "By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God--not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephes. 2:8, 9.) But all who accept this great salvation, must prove the reality of their faith by carrying the cross after Christ. They must not think to enter heaven without trouble, pain, suffering, and conflict on earth. They must be content to take up the cross of DOCTRINE, and the cross of PRACTICE--the cross of holding a faith which the world despises, and the cross of living a life which the world ridicules as too strict, and righteous overmuch. They must be willing to crucify the flesh, to mortify the deeds of the body, to fight daily with the devil, to come out from the world and to lose their lives, if needful, for Christ's sake and the Gospel's. These are hard sayings, but they admit of no evasion. The words of our Lord are plain and unmistakable. If we will not carry the cross, we shall never wear the crown.

This is much to absorb

Background and insight

This text follows the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah! He then calls his disciples, and through them us, to take up their cross. You and I don’t understand the wait of this mind picture. A cross is a weapon, a torture device, a vehicle of oppression and Jesus turns this symbol of death into a symbol of new life. We are so accustomed to that old rugged cross that we while being rightfully thankful for what it accomplished sometimes forget the weight that it truly bears.

Using that image Jesus gives us three commands in the text and then shows us the options we have set before us his commands are

Deny, Take up, and follow. Commands of God are not optional to us Christian

The whole idea is couched in an IF. Chr

Point 1 Verse 35-37

What lasts?

this question is pivtol. How many of us are trying to save our own lives. They Phraisees are to busy trying to grow their fame and forutune. The herodians trying to keep in good graces with the Roman government. The Sadduaces trying to keep up pretenses of their nobility. Do any of these things last?

Listen to this text

Isaiah 30:2–5 ESV

2 who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation. 4 For though his officials are at Zoan and his envoys reach Hanes, 5 everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace.”

Many people are willing to look outside God for their aid and protection.

Jesus is teaching us here to put our trust and faith in him the world and it’s good shall not last.

The Bible says this

Lamentations 3:24 ESV

24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Many men have trusted in everything but Jesus they’re willing to invest everything into that which will not give them eternal life

I just finished reading a 260 page book written by Puritan Thomas Brooks on that verse and it was specifically written to the merchants and tradesmen of England and in particular in London. He warns them that they trust to much in Gold and Silver. That their lives, the very thing they rest on is of the earth and that which cannot fail who is Jesus.

If you as the Pslamist warns

Psalm 20:7 ESV

7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

You will fail. You will lose your life

What can you add?

Remeber this parable

Luke 12:16–21 ESV

16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Are you trusting in your 401k, your household, your assessts. Your bodily strength. What if the Lord Calls you to himself today? What shall you do? Will you point to your heap of things that you cannot take with you? hurses aren’t followed by uhuals. all the Pharoahs Gold has been stolen or is in museums.

Are you denying Christ in hope that you may get more stuff. Just an update I’ve seen what happens when people trust in stuff I can remember 2008, 2020. it didn’t turn out well. Some of you are old enough to remeber the depression, the gas Crisis in the 70s. Stuff doesn’t add to your salvation if anything the scripture is clear wealth get’s in the way.

There is a movement online to convince men to not get married or have children and to just look use women for pleasure, seek out ease, and money.

And their is a movement for women which has been going on even longer which lies and says you can do it all, be a mom and a CEO. Only one of those jobs btw has eternal outcomes.

Both are attacks on the family, a God made insitutution.

All the things of this world you can’t add and will only lead to death.

How to Deny thyself for Christ

Deny

The deny thyself is the command that is the most difficult. I saw videos this week of families leaving out bowls of candy saying please take one, and in one case a couple of single mothers encouraging their children to take it all. Greed, not thinking of others, not denying themselves. Another video I saw was of a single little boy walking in taking a whole bowl of candy and then giving the door bell the middle finger and walking off. The failure in both these cases is the lack of denying themselves.

The worldly life is easy sure you may get the candy now, but you will give account for your actions. The parents and the children both will have to stand before God for that. God sees that selfishness.

A good parent teaches to deny thyself. Put the mission of me last. How do you deny yourself?

Men this is your verse. Write down Mark 8:34

Mark 8:34 ESV

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.

Memorize it, get it into you soul, have it out on the dash of your car, the screen of your phone, have a t-shirt made with it on. Paint it on your walls get it before you.

If your looking how to serve God the way you do so is to deny yourself. Put your family’s need before your own, put your children and grandchildren before your own, your wife.

The world, the devil, the old man in you will tempt you to abdication to comfort this is not a new trick

Genesis 3:9–12 (NKJV)

9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

Adam blamed the women, blame shifting, didn’t do his job wasn’t willing to Adam was to busy wanting to partake as opposed to deny himself and so through his whole race into sin.

When you deny yourself you act like Christ who didn’t fail as Adam did listen

John 10:10–11 (NKJV)

I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

Jesus gives his life for the sheep, that’s you and me.

So when your making a choice ask how can I deny myself as Christ?

Ladies you can do likewise. Often you can choose to lean into self-care, or the other gilded traps set for women or you can deny thyself.

Take Up

The bible Says Proverbs 25:28

Proverbs 25:28 ESV

28 A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.

How many would miss that if they took up the cross instead. I was listening to a story about a man so driven by this or that fad that I couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t have a mission for his life. Many men and women take up fake missions or possibly think their work is done. That is simply not the case.

Our mission is simple, the great commission so we must have self-control to finish the mission. That looks like focusing on the task yet finished before us, the evanagilization of the whole world. That requires you knowing what Jesus has said, that requires you doing what Jesus says to do.

A man that doesn’t follow Godly orders is not a worthy man. The Bible teaches that the meek shall inherit the earth. Jesus says that without any inserted other information or contradiction. The Christian church has believed that for over 2000 years

Habakkuk 2:14 ESV

14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Psalm 72:19 ESV

19 Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!

a meek man, that is a man of power under authority is a Christian man. If you keep your eye on the goal. Jesus says it will happen. All you need to do is take up your cross, and do and you will see the knowldge of the Lord increase in all the earth. This will have imdiate benefit to you and your family. The more the knowledge of the Lord fills the Earth the better things get for everyone.

It is a guarantee that the world will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord all these promises aren’t exclusively for the eternal state. They’re also for today and if the Lord tarries another 10,000 years. So take up your cross follow the mission of Christ in the things and place in your life God has given you.

This could look like a life of prayer if yopur not physcially able to do as you could, this could be a commitment to actually give 10% of what you make. This could be working to make sure your family knows Jesus. This could be getting involved locally to be salt and light, this could be going out with that friend or family member to talk to him/her about Jesus

Follow

This it the Gospel

The Gospel need (v38)

This is the outcome if you don’t cling to Christ

Benediction

Jude 24–25 (ESV): Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.