When Self Takes a Walk to the Cross — E.A. Johnston

The Doctrine of the Cross in the Life of a Believer

I don't know many preachers today who preach the old doctrine of the cross in the life of a believer. Christ taught a life of discipleship to any follower of his. Then Jesus said unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Why Preachers Avoid the Doctrine of the Cross

I believe that means a crucified Christ must have crucified followers, but I don't know many folks today standing in pulpits who preach the old doctrine of the cross in the life of a believer. There may be reasons for this.

Perhaps they don't know this doctrine as a reality in their lives. Maybe they're afraid of it, that if they embraced it then they'd have to give up some things and their personal lives that they are not willing to part with.

Maybe they don't preach it because it's not a comforting subject and why ruffle the feathers of the old birds in the congregation who have lived their lives in entire self-rule. But Jesus taught this doctrine and I guess that makes it good enough for me, friends, to bring before you today.

Self Denial as the Way to Deeper Fellowship with God

I'm one of those Christians who actually believes in the doctrine of the cross in the life of a believer. I don't think you can embrace the Christ of the Gospels without an encounter with his cross. Now, there used to be more men in pulpits who preach this doctrine, but they have one by one died off, and the men that came behind them are mainly silent on this teaching.

But I do know this for sure, friends, and that is this. If you really want to go deeper with God and be more used to him in a more deeper capacity of where men feel your influence, then there has to come a day in your own life where self takes a walk to the cross.

And that's the title of my message today, friends, when self takes a walk to the cross. In biblical times, if you saw a man carrying a cross, you knew for sure that he was on his way to his execution.

Counting the Cost of Following Jesus

It was a one-way walk with no turning back. I believe I can point to numerous examples in the Gospels where Jesus confronted individuals to follow him. Some did. They counted the cost and followed him.

But we have others who turned tail and ran away from Jesus because the cost was too much for them. The rich young ruler comes to mind. I like what Vance Havner said of him. The rich young ruler was a good boy, but he wasn't God's boy.

We have a lot of good old boys in our denominations today, some even sitting at the top, but I don't know how many are really God's boy. When a certain scribe came and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

But when he heard the terms we no longer hear about him, Jesus told him, The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. I haven't slept in a bed in four years because I lost mine.

I sleep on a couch that wasn't even mine to begin with, but I'm thankful for it because my master didn't even have that. I think we've made it too easy to become a Christian in this country because we realized when we got into church growth and overbuilt our campuses, we now can no longer keep it up unless we get more bodies in there who will support it.

The Cost of Discipleship and the Softening of the Gospel

So we've broadened the way of salvation in ways Jesus never did. We don't tell folks about the cost of discipleship or what that even means, so how in the world could they embrace this doctrine of the cross and the life of a believer?

That's why we have so many 200-pound babies in our sanctuaries on milk because they can't handle real meat. So every Sunday we give them a little sip of more of their formula because they can't stomach any hard truths of the gospel.

If we started preaching that, if they wanted to be a Christian, then self must go to the cross. We'd hear a giant shuffle of feet as they got up and hightailed it out of our church. But I believe F .J. Hegel hit the nail on the head, friends, when he said, For forty years, on the lonely slopes of Midian, the fiery Moses is schooled.

There were graves, if I may so speak, scattered all over the mountainside where hope after hope was buried until at last self went down in utter annihilation. Listen to me, friend. If you desire to get closer to the God of the Bible, then there must come a day in your life, in your daily living, where self takes a walk to the cross.

Paul's Crucifixion with Christ

The apostle Paul came to that day when he wrote in Galatians 2 .20, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The Cost That Leads to Resurrection Glory

Stephen Ofer taught me the doctrine of the cross and the life of a believer, and he taught it to me with his daily living. I don't know many men who had such power in the pulpit as he did, but there was a cost, because what costs counts, and what counts costs.

If you've never done it, friend, don't you think it's about time in your own life when self takes a walk to the cross? I'll say this about that from a personal experience, friend. There is the pain and the shame of the cross, but there comes after that the glory of the resurrection.

Let us pray.