You can find Mark 8 on page 844 in the Pew Bible. Mark, chapter 8. I'm going to read from verse 29 to the end of the chapter. Mark 8, beginning at 29 and going to the end of the chapter. Let's give you attention to the Word of God. And Jesus asked his disciples, But who do you say that I am? Peter answered him, you are the Christ. And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, If anyone would come after me, Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospels will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man give in return for his love? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." As we saw in verse 29, we come to the end of the first half of the book, the disciples get The first key question, right? Who is this guy that we have been following? He's obviously got something of God in him, but there's different categories. Now see a prophet. You see a special prophet like Elijah. And Peter says, no, he is greater than that. He is the Christ, meaning the long-promised Savior, the King. the One that God said He would send, and now He has sent Him. You are the One that we have been waiting for." And we can see in Matthew that Jesus praises Peter, and says, God has revealed this to you. And then we go to the obvious next question, which is, if this is the King that God sent to save us, what's the plan? How are we going to get from Jesus wandering around teaching crowds and villages to actually setting up this kingdom? How do you go from this to being acclaimed as the King? As we said a few weeks ago, Jesus' answer to that was completely unacceptable to Peter and likely to all of the disciples. His answer for what the plan was, was to say, well, this is what it must be. But it's to say, this is what God wants it to be. God says that I have to suffer, be rejected, and die, and rise again. And Jesus didn't drop His voice at rise again. But their hearing dropped at rise again, because they got stuck on die. How do you set up a kingdom by dying? The key thing in any rebellion is, if you can kill off the would-be king, the rebellion is dead. That's embodied in the game of chess. Capture that other guy's king, game's over. Doesn't matter if you lost all your other pieces. As long as you get his king, he's done. And so Peter raises the obvious objection. Jesus says, no. No. You get behind me, Satan. You're not thinking the things of God, you're thinking the things of man. Which means we then have obvious questions. How is this supposed to work? What kind of kingdom is this? And if that's what happens to the king, what's going to happen to his followers? If that's what happens to the leader, what's going to happen to his followers? Jesus is many things. And one of them is, He's a good teacher. So He answers those questions. And He doesn't answer them digitally. He calls the crowd in. So both the crowd and His disciples. And the crowd don't even know all the back story. The disciples do. But whether they have the whole picture or not, Jesus wants them to understand what happens to His followers and what kind of kingdom He is setting up. At the beginning of verse 34, he says, you want to follow me? Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. Now, deny yourself is hard enough. We don't want to deny ourselves. I mean, just yesterday, there was this chocolate muffin out there. And I did not deny myself. I ate the muffin. We don't want to deny ourselves. We want to pamper ourselves. We want to promote ourselves. We want to praise ourselves. We want to preserve ourselves. We don't want to deny ourselves. But this at least is expected. Because here they are, a bunch of young men following the Christ. They're ready to be soldiers. And soldiers have to deny themselves. We read that in 2nd Timothy. You don't need to read that in the Bible. You should know it. The soldier has to obey orders. He doesn't get to say, well actually I think I'm going to stay in this trench. Like no, actually you're going to get out of the trench and charge against the enemy or the officer is going to shoot you right here. You must obey the orders. Denying yourself, getting up early, going across the world, going wherever your orders send you. The soldier must deny himself. They're right there with the king. You should understand to deny yourself. But when he says, take up your cross, never forget below that when Jesus said cross, nobody's mind went to an inch high piece of gold that could be worn around the neck. That is not what anybody thought. They thought of maybe a five or six foot across wooden plank. And they thought of an upright. And they thought of nails going through wrists to put you onto the plank. They thought of people stripped naked and hoisted up and put up there to die. And they knew that that's what the Romans would do to anybody who tried to challenge their control. And Jesus is the Christ, right? Isn't he supposed to set up God's kingdom? And so the crowd must have been shocked, because if you figure out what the cross means to them in the most literal and immediate way, which is at that point the only way that they have to understand it, he's basically saying, you want to follow me? Let's go. Let's get ready to lose. Follow me to defeat. Here we go. We're going to go lose and get crucified by Romans, like other rebellions had done. Now, one question you have to have is, okay, that's what Jesus said nearly 2,000 years ago. Has it proven true? Now, the losing has not proven true in the sense that I'm talking, but the dying on the cross, yeah. Yeah, the Romans ended up crucifying some of Jesus' followers. In fact, the Japanese crucified some of Jesus' followers in the year 1600, which is to say, relatively recently. So yes, people have followed Jesus and not only been literally crucified, but many people have been killed for the sake of Jesus through every century, and more in the 20th century than the previous 19th. Too early to say about our own century. So yes, it is true that the Christian life requires not only self-denial, but also sometimes a cross. That is, a violent death at the hands of persecutors. It's good to tell people what to expect. It's only fair. It's only fair to tell people what to expect. In today's Enquirer, there's a story of some lab down at Penn doing some great work, but people get interviewed. Okay, you're going to do this job. Oh, that's great. That's just the job I want. They show up for work. They're told you're going to do this job. How is this fair? You told me I was going to do that. It's only fair to tell people what to expect. It's also why. If you want people to work at what you want them to work at, it's good to tell them what's going to happen. Like if you tell them, come out for the cross-country team. Oh, what's the cross-country team? Oh, we paint landscapes. You go out in the country and you paint landscapes. Oh great, I'm a great guy. And you go out, first day, run seven miles. What? The cross-country team is actually running. You don't get much compliance at that point. Not many miles are run. But if you say, come out for cross country, it's running. Oh yeah, what else? Running. And after that, running. Your team will be smaller. But the guys who show up, come prepared. Run seven miles. Okay? You told me what to do. I know what to expect. What I signed up for. So Jesus here is both fair and wise. He tells his followers what to expect. The question is, Why should you want to do it? If he's saying, I have nothing to offer but self-denial and a cross and following me, OK, thank you for your honesty. But why should I go out for that particular thing? Why should I do this? In verses 35 to 38, Jesus goes on. You tell with the word for. Otherwise, because he's giving you the reasons why. He says whoever would save his life will lose it. And that's obviously true. We all try to save our lives all the time. We eat when we're hungry, we drink when we're thirsty, we breathe, we must wear masks. Even the ones who don't wear masks, why don't you wear a mask? Because you don't think you need to. If you thought it was really important for your health, you would wear it. We go to the doctor when we're sick. We undergo surgery and chemotherapy. We're trying to save our lives. And eventually, we lose it. Because we're mortal. Everyone who's trying to save their life, they all lose it. But Jesus here is also suggesting something deeper. Why are we mortal? We're mortal because the wrath of God rests on us for our sin. We're mortal because we stand condemned. And there's nothing that you can do by yourself to change your condemned status before the court of God. When you say, I will be better, I will obey my parents better, well, that's good, but that will by itself is not enough to clear you in God's courts. You say, I will be more pure, I will watch my eyes, I will not do as I have done. That is good, but it is not enough by itself to clear you in God's court. You say, God, just give me a minute, another ten years, and I will clean up my act. It is good to clean up your act, but the idea that you will put God at arm's length, the locked elbow, is the sin. Why are you trying to keep your God off at arm's length? You want to be bending your elbow and bringing him close. Jesus says, I stand at the door and knock, open the door and let me come in. That very impulse to say, wait a minute, give me more time and I will repay you everything. The very impulse adds to your debt. When you try to save your own life, to remove that condemned status in your own strength by being better, it is good to be better, but that doesn't deal with the problem. That's what makes death terrifying. Because it is appointed to us once to die, and then comes the judgment. So if somebody were to say, Jesus, why would I follow you to death? He would say, what you got to lose, you're going to die anyway. That's the brutal reality that's embedded in here. What you got to lose, you're going to die anyway. Whoever would save his life will lose it. But, now we get the better news. You get some really bad news in the Bible, but you generally get the word, but, after. And then you get the good news. But, whoever loses his life, for my sake and the gospel's, will save it. Now, in what sense are our lives saved? We can see that Christians die, Christians have been martyred, Christians have been crucified. So you don't save your life in the immediate physical sense of living to 300, or to infinity, which would really be what was required. No, we don't continue walking on this earth and never see the grave. So he speaks here not of avoiding the physical death, but of not being condemned. If you die for Jesus' sake and for the Gospels, you are not condemned. And if God does not condemn you, then He receives you. God doesn't hold us off at all. He either condemns or He adopts. He either sends away or he embraces. Believe in Jesus and you will not perish in hell, you'll have eternal life with God. And so, the question, what kind of kingdom is this Jesus? Turns out to be a much more profound and useful and necessary kingdom than what the disciples had in mind. They wanted a kingdom as you would draw on a map that says, Jesus rules within this territory. Send your tax dollars to Jerusalem. But no, Jesus is dealing with our existential problem of death and being in the hands of a holy God. A more profound and necessary and joyful kingdom. He addresses our real problem, dying and what follows? Our separation from our Maker. But some of us say, well, I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy. I think I want to go on with the goals and plans I already have. Your way sounds pretty risky. Let me go with what I know. Jesus says, well, what does it profit a man to gain all of his dreams and to achieve all of his goals and forfeit his life? What does it profit a man to be self-actualized and forfeit his life? What does it profit a man to become CEO And forfeit his life. What does it profit a man to gain the Nobel Prize? And forfeit his life. What does it profit a man to become a millionaire? That's too small. A billionaire. And forfeit his life. To forfeit your life speaks first of not being around to enjoy your gain. It speaks secondly of eternity. to die condemned is to spend eternity condemned. And eternity condemned outweighs by far whatever goal you had in mind for achieving in this world. As you know, I have a nephew whose name is Pascal. His name is Pascal in honor of a very great Christian scientist, mathematician, philosopher, and writer named Blaise Pascal. Pascal helped him to develop the branch of mathematics called probability, and he did it to help out his friend, the gambler, who wanted to know if this bet was better than this bet. Pascal, being a mathematician, said, that is a really interesting question. Let me invent some mathematics to answer it. And Pascal also said, as long as we're thinking about gambling, let's think about life. There are two ways to live your life. Live your life as if there is heaven and hell, or as if there is not. And there's two outcomes. Either there is heaven and hell, or there isn't. Two ways to live, and two possible sets of things waiting for us. Now, the good gambler maximizes his possible winnings, and he minimizes his possible losses. That would be how to gamble intelligently. Let's work through your options. If you live as if there is heaven and hell, and there is, you have maximized your winnings. If you live as if there's heaven and hell, and it turns out that there isn't, you have minimal losses. Because however bad your life and death were, they're quickly over. That's minimal losses. But if you live as if there's not heaven and hell, And there is. You have maximal losses. And any winnings that you might have, as it turns out, not to be happening now, any winnings you might have are, first of all, not exactly clear that those are always winnings. Clean life often works out well right now. But in any case, minimal winnings and maximal losses. If you live so as to gain the world, but you have ignored Jesus Christ, He says you will lose your life And what profit is that to you? Unless you say, well so what? He goes on in 37 and says, what can a man give in return for his life? Your life is you. That's you. Your life is all you got. If you don't have that, you're not around to have anything else. And he says, and what can you give as a ransom for it? He brings out our condemned status before God. What can we give to say, God, here you go. Now remove my condemnation. I always made my bed. I never stole at work. I worked every day till I was 88 and dropped dead in the office. God says, now what are these things compared to your sins? What are these things compared to ignoring My Son, whom I sent to love you and give His life for you, and you've ignored Him? What have you done? We cannot give anything in return for our lives, but apparently Jesus can. Because He concludes in verse 38, "...whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed." But elsewhere, he spells out what he's implying. Whoever confesses me before men, I will confess before my Father who is in heaven. Find it in Matthew 10, around verse 33. Jesus can confess us and thereby save us. And the reason is that the Son of Man must suffer, be rejected, and die. He was given as a ransom for sins. He, therefore, is able to confess us and save us. And that is why He is worth following, even onto or with a cross. You see, with verse 38, Jesus begins to give the big picture about His Kingdom. And He says, here's the thing to understand about My Kingdom. There are two stages to it. Already, Jesus the King is present. He demands our loyalty. Already we must follow Him. Already we must deny ourselves and risk death and perhaps die for Him. Not yet is He present visibly and in glory. Not yet do we get to see our lives saved as we lose them for His sake. But He promises there is a second stage when the Son of Man returns in the power of His Father and with the holy angels. And then we will see. Then He and we will be vindicated. He vindicated as the King in glory. We vindicated for following Him, as our lives are saved. There are two stages. There's the present stage. There's the future stage. And if we ask, well, why do I have to live during the difficult first stage? Let's consider that. Do you see that God the Father has one eternal Son, God the Son, who came for our sakes, to walk among us. Now, what kind of life did he have? Did he have a difficult life? Did he have a difficult death? Alright, well, if that's what the natural son suffers, then why should we, whose only hope is to become an adopted child of God, why would we, the adoptees, expect to have it easy, when the natural son has us as dividends? We must follow our elder brother through this life. Or consider what God has told us about His ways through the Bible. He called His people Israel out of slavery. He saved them. He promised them the Promised Land. They come out, they cross through the Red Sea, and they step right into the Promised Land, right? No, they came through the Red Sea into a desert. They had to go through the desert to reach the Promised Land. And God didn't send them straight. He sent them down this way. You had to go down to the south. You had to wait at Mount Sinai. You had to wait on God. You had to wait on Moses. You had to wait once things were built. Then they went on to the Promised Land. And then when they sinned, they stayed longer in the wilderness. In fact, it was the next generation that entered the Promised Land. It's through many sufferings that we enter the Kingdom of God. Or consider David, since Jesus is the son of David. David is anointed. David is blessed. David kills Goliath. Everybody loves David. David is a commander. He is acclaimed. He's popular. They're singing songs about David. So he steps right into the throne, right? Not at all. First he's driven out. He's persecuted. He goes to other countries. He has near escapes with his life. Only after many sufferings does David enter into his kingdom. And when he sins, he's back into the wilderness for a while. Kingdom's first stage is hard, because God is working on each one of us. He's renewing the image of God in us. He made us in His image and we've defiled it. And so He's renewing the image of God in us. And the fact is, that when everything goes our way, we don't grow much in character. We don't grow impatient, when there's nothing we have to be patient with. Our pride does not subside when we are never challenged and never thwarted. No, it is suffering produces endurance. Endurance, character, and character, hope. So since the Father has blessed us to say, I will conform you to the image of my Son as I adopt you, thank you, Lord. Alright, now what that means is that you must deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow my son who denied himself and took up his cross, for your sake and for your salvation." So again, what kind of kingdom is it? A kingdom that unfolds in two stages, dealing with the most important problems that we have. Now it is present in grace, and we can all enter it. No matter our record, we can now enter it. The kingdom of mercy and grace. And now is the time to enter it, for then the door will be shut. when the King comes in glory, ready for judgment. It's a two-stage Kingdom. What happens to the followers? Same as Jesus. Why should I do this? Well, there's a couple people that said, because you're not a fool when you give up what you're not going to keep in order to gain what you cannot lose. It's not my line. I'm going to say it again. He is no fool who gives up what he can't keep to gain what he can't lose. That's this passage in a nutshell. So then how can you enter the kingdom of God? Normally we say, in the words of Paul, repent and believe the gospel. Here Jesus makes that a little bit more vivid and real. I think he's saying the same thing. He's putting it in other terms. Deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me. As Bonhoeffer said, when Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die. See, that's an exaggeration. Did you read the passage? What is it to take up a cross, but to come and die? When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die. So deny yourself. As Calvin says, this refers partially to how you treat other people, and mostly to God. Deny yourself in relation to other people. You see that in Philippians 2. In lowliness of mind, consider others worthy of more honor than yourselves. You deny yourself. Now you are humble with others. Now you're not argumentative with others. You don't need to be justifying that you were right with others. You don't have to be going first in front of others. When you deny yourself, you become someone that you can actually live with. When you deny yourself, it refers to how you treat others. But chiefly it refers to how we respond to God. God says, pray this way. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. So we pray, Your will be done. And then Jesus shows us what that means. That means, not my will, but Yours be done. That's embedded in Your will be done. Embedded in there is self-denial. Not my will, but Yours be done. We have to give up seeking a blessing apart from God. Saying, God, I'll take this blessing, this blessing, and this blessing, and if you'll just hang on a second, I'm going to turn my back on you, God, while I grab a blessing over here. That's not self-denial. And it's all in front of God's face. We have to give up seeking a blessing apart from God. And every good gift is from the Lord. Only His blessing makes you secure in the enjoyment of whatever you're getting. It should not be too hard to deny ourselves. Every good gift comes from the Lord. And taking up the cross. At the end of the passage you connect that to not being ashamed of Jesus. Now the world wants you to be ashamed. The world wants you to be intimidated. The world wants Christians to be, well, not seen because we don't know who you are because you weren't heard. Unheard and therefore unseen because you're just another person. But we are not to be those who cower in a closet. Maybe we should take a cue from others who refuse to stay in a closet and say, I am out and proud. Are we ashamed to be out and proud? Are we afraid to be out and proud? Why should we be afraid to be out and proud? Are we not called to be out and proud? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him. Are we to lack courage? compared to those who don't know the Lord. Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed. We're to endure persecution for the sake of Christ. We know it's way worse overseas. We know what foreign brothers endure. We know foreign sisters who fled here to find safety among us. It's time for the American church to take courage and take up our cross and follow Him. We should be prepared to lose our lives for Christ's sake. In Calvin's days, the cross is medicine. We take this medicine and we learn our weakness. We learn to stop relying on our own strength. And as we rely on God, we begin to see that it works. Because He comes to us and helps us and bears us up in our suffering. Something that we never learn, as long as we are always strong and self-sufficient. The cross overturns our vain hopes, teaches us to obey, teaches us that we have to test the patience that God supplies. And when you suffer for righteousness' sake, you have this comfort. That now you know you're Christ, because you have His badge. Now you suffer the way Christ suffers. We have here a most bracing call. We have a most remarkable recruiting pitch. You have a very honest discussion of the costs. And he tells us elsewhere to count the costs. Because when you count the costs and you count the benefits, this is the best invitation you could possibly have. For this we enter into the eternal bliss of the Kingdom of God. So deny yourself and take up the cross of Jesus Christ and follow Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, help us to take your words to heart. Help us, Lord, to focus on you. and to focus on Jesus Christ, and to see him, and to follow him with patience. We thank you, Lord Jesus, for the upward call of the gospel. We confess our cowardice, and we ask that you would give us courage and wisdom. Help us, Lord, to stand, to stand professing your faith and your gospel. We pray this in Jesus' name.