Redemption and Destruction (Losing your life for the Gospels sake)

Luke 9:23-24 and the Call to Self-Denial

If you would turn in your Bibles this morning to Luke chapter 9, before we read the text, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, the psalmist writes, you have not treated us as we deserve. You have not rewarded us according to our iniquities, but Lord, you have shown grace and mercy in shedding your love abroad in the hearts of men, that we might be saved.

It is for that today that we are grateful, and it is for that today that we are thankful. And it is for that, Lord, which cause I bow my head in humble adoration and thanksgiving for salvation, Lord. We would ask you this morning, Lord, through the text, show us Christ, that we may see him more clearly, and Lord, that we may love him more dearly.

Dear Lord, I pray that you would convict lost, regenerate hearts and minds, bring new birth about to those that are lost and outside of you today. I pray that you would bring consolation, comfort, peace, and encouragement to those who are in Christ today, that we might feast on the riches of your grace according to the knowledge of your word, for it is in Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Luke chapter 9, and we're going to read verse 23 and 24. I know we went over 23 last week. Nevertheless, for a little bit of context, we're going to read verse 23 and 24 and look primarily and focus primarily on verse 24 this morning.

This is the word of the living God. He said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, the same will save it.

As far as the reading of God's word, we're going to be going to a few passages for reference this morning. We'll share that as we go, and I had posted up on Facebook, the message was going to be entitled, Redemption, Destruction, and the Soul of Man.

As most times is the case, I jump the gun and I speak or think or write something too.

Far ahead.

The soul of man really is going to be in verse 25, and we're not going to look at verse 25.

Today.

We are going to simply focus in on verse 24 because there is so much in the text today. So much in the text. First of all, let me say this, Christianity, what Christianity is not and what Christianity.

Is.

Christianity is not knowing cute Hillsong lyrics. Christianity is not having a Bible verse in your IG bio. Christianity is not following the world and chasing worldly possessions. Rosie, you learned that in class, right?

Greed is a what, Rosie? It's a sin.

Amen.

Christianity is not following Jesus only when you feel like it. Christianity is not being holy during Lent or Holy Week, then back to your dirty ways after Good Friday. That is not Christianity. Christianity is denying yourself and dying to yourself.

Christianity is being a doer of the word and not just a hearer of the word. Christianity is living for God 24 hours a day, seven days a week, worshiping him no matter how hard life gets, for he is worthy.

Christianity is pleasing Jesus. It's about pleasing Jesus rather than pleasing people, even if it costs you to lose relationships. Christianity is being so different from the world that you are considered an alien.

We're not called to blend in with the world. We are not to be a banana and be one of the bunch. Christianity is following the word of God and not manmade traditions. There are some very good biblical traditions that we should very well grasp tightly to.

And Christianity, lastly, is to not be ashamed of Jesus. To not be ashamed of Jesus in front of your friends or in front of your family or at work or at home or anywhere else. For we find later in the text as we get there in coming weeks ahead, Jesus said, if you would be ashamed of me and my words, I will be ashamed of you before my father, which is in heaven.

Living by the Spirit Rather Than the Flesh

Now, truly, church, there is a natural and there is a spiritual. We will live for ourselves or we will live for Christ Jesus. We will live unto the flesh or we will live unto the spirit of God. And if we live for the flesh, we will of the flesh reap corruption.

But if we live according to the spirit, then we will reap everlasting life. By the way, that's a direct quote from the Apostle Paul to the Galatian church. We must, Matthew Henry said this, we must accustom ourselves to all instances of self denial and patience.

According to verse 23 here, where Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Matthew Henry said we must accustom ourselves to all instances of self denial and patience.

This is the best preparative for martyrdom. We must live a life of self denial, of mortification and contempt of the world. We must not indulge our ease and appetite for it, then it will be hard to bear toil and weariness and want for Christ.

Now, if you are thinking what I was thinking and what I just said, I think every time I read this, it sounds almost like the old timers in the faith were about preaching a gospel that was not very palatable to men and women.

And it was a gospel that called regularly for self denial and taking up a cross.

Amen.

Henry goes on to say this, we are daily subject to affliction and we must accommodate ourselves to it and we must acquiesce in the will of God in it and must learn to endure hardship. We frequently meet with crosses in the way of duty and though we must not pull them upon our own heads, yet when they are laid out for us, we must take them up, we must carry them after Christ and we must make the best of those crosses.

Jesus' call to come, to come after him particularly, to deny ourselves and take up our crosses is a matter of action. It is a matter of action and that action is the resulting effect of being born again.

We are not called to live the Christian life in our own power and in our own strength, we are called to live according to the power of the Spirit of God that now dwells within.

Us.

A genuinely born again man, a genuinely born again woman, a genuinely born again girl or boy will follow Christ, period, end of statement, will follow Christ. Following Christ is the inevitable consequence of being saved.

This idea that a person can just simply say a prayer, walk an aisle and that as they say is that, is sadly not biblical salvation. For it's more than simply making a decision at a point in time, but it's recognizing and knowing and there being fruit born to the fact that that decision was not just something you did, but it was the work of God in you, that you were born again, that you were made a new creature.

Saving faith is a gift of God. Regeneration is solely the work of the Holy Spirit. This doctrine of sanctification is a little taught doctrine in churches today. When we speak of sanctification, we are speaking quite plainly of the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

So when we use that terminology, when you read that, that's what it's about. Sanctification is the ongoing work of the life of the Holy Spirit in the believer. Salvation is of the Lord. This call that Jesus gives to his disciples and by practical application to Christians in general is a call to personal holiness.

It's a call to separation from the world and a close communion with Christ. Jonathan Edwards said, I have many times had a sense of the glory of the third person in the Trinity and his office as sanctifier in his holy operation, communing divine light in life to the soul.

He went on to say, God has appeared as an infinite fountain of divine glory and sweetness, being full and sufficient to fill and satisfy the soul, pouring forth communications like the sun in its glory, sweetly and pleasantly diffusing light and life.

That's rich language there, but friends, that is true language. What Jonathan Edwards is testifying to here is the work of the Spirit of God in the soul of the believer. So just to be very practical for a moment, how can we as God's people live both holy and practical lives?

Holy and practical lives. Number one, you must be born again. This is the work of the Spirit of God. Number two, you must be given to prayer and the study of the scriptures. How can you live a holy life?

Number one, there is no holiness. It's for you to recognize there is no holiness outside of Jesus Christ. Number two, you must be given to study and prayer of the scriptures. For the scriptures is our source of strength.

It is God's revelation of man to himself. If we are to know the character, the nature and the work of God, we must look to the scriptures. We must be given to prayer and the scriptures. Number three, as Christians, we must attend church faithfully.

Preacher, are you just adding this in there?

No.

The scripture teaches us that we ought not to forsake the assembling of ourselves as the manner of some is, but we ought to exhort one another. So much the more, as you see, the day approaching is what the writer of Hebrews said.

The Lord put it in the tablets of stone, remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. It's the day set aside for worshiping the Lord. That is what this day is about. Number four, to live both holy and how you can work this out practically.

Number four, read godly theologians. Read godly theologians, and I'm going to add an AKA here, old dead guys.

Read the old dead guys.

Now, there are some living theologians today that are well worth you reading, but they are few and far between in comparison to the old theologians, the Puritans, the Reformers, those even before coming up.

There's much to be gleaned and learned from church history. It is very, very important. Then number five, repeat steps two through five. Study and pray. Study and pray through the scriptures. Attend church faithfully.

Read godly theologians, AKA the old dead guys, and then start over and repeat. B .B. Warfield said this about Jonathan Edwards. Warfield said he fed himself on the great Puritan divines, and he formed not merely his thought but his life upon them.

Puritanism was passe in 18th century New England when spiritual and doctrinal purity along with a right understanding of the depraved mind was scarce in New England, but Edwards saw to it that he would not be primarily affected by his times but by men 100 years before him.

He was reading old dead guys. Faithfulness to the biblical preaching of the Puritans, Edwards thought, would bring revival to New England, and it most certainly did in the great awakening. I think it was Spurgeon who said, if there is anything new in theology, it is not true.

For the truth of God's word is established. It is settled, and it is fixed forevermore. So, I would ask you today, what are you, this is a question for your personal reflection throughout the week, what are you spending your time reading?

Are you reading?

Are you reading the Bible? Are you praying regularly? Are you reading the old dead guys? Or are you reading the shack? Testing you.

Not a good book.

Horrible theology. So, the text here in verse 24, for whoever would save his life will lose it, is what.

Christ says.

But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. There are four words in the Greek in this one verse that say so much. It would be impossible for me to communicate all that is in this text, but I'm going to do our best to communicate what little bit I can this morning concerning verse 24.

Here we see Christ speaking. We see Christ making a contrast between saving our lives and losing our lives. This contrast is made. We see redemption and we see destruction. Those are the matters that are set before us today.

Four words in this verse. Save, your, or his, that's a personal pronoun. Life is a word you, Succae, and Apollo me, or lose. That means to lose. We're going to primarily talk about two definitions, definitions of two words this morning.

That word save and that word lose. The word save in the Greek is the word sozo. It's spelled S-O-Z-O in English, but it means this. This is the definition. It means to save in the technical biblical sense and it's used negatively.

Negatively in this way, for it means to deliver from the penalties of the messianic judgment. I'm thankful that we can have clarity with the words in God's word, in God's book here. There is certain meanings in this.

These are not, this is not fluid language. It doesn't change every time we want it to. It means what it means and it says what it says and it says what it means. So to save means to deliver from the penalties of the messianic judgment.

To save from the evils which obstruct the reception of the messianic deliverance. So in short, it means to be delivered from the wrath of God and it means to at the same time be delivered from the obstructions and the obstacles that come between us and God, which is what Christ came to do.

Christ came and he bridged the gap. He reconciled man and God for there is no other way that you can be saved outside of Jesus Christ. So it means to deliver from the penalties of the messianic judgment, to be saved from the evils which obstruct the reception of the messianic deliverance.

We are saved from the wrath of God. We are saved from the wrath of God. We are saved by the grace of God and we are saved for the glory of God. From the wrath of God, by the grace of God, for the glory of God.

The troubles and trials in this life, I understand, I recognize this. They are many in each and every one of our lives and our minds are deluged on a regular basis. We're overcome. The troubles and the cares of this world attack us from every side and anything, anything that comes between us and the Lord is an obstacle to be overcome.

However, good news here, faith is the victory. It is faith in Jesus Christ for the scriptures tell us for it is this faith that has overcome.

The world.

Faith in Jesus Christ and it is the gift of faith that is given to us by our Savior that causes us to be able to persevere and to be victorious in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is not of ourselves, but it is a gift of God and to be able to walk off the things that he has commanded.

Christ will not and has not ever commanded us to do a thing in which he does not. That was, I said a thing, didn't I? Sorry, that was very country. He does not cause us to do a thing that he does not provide the ability to do so and if he does not provide the ability to do such a thing, then we need not attempt that thing at all because it is of the Lord.

So concerning faith, the writer of Hebrews put it this way in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 30 and we're considering this word saved or yeah, saved or so-so Hebrews chapter 11 verse 30 through chapter 12 verse three, the scripture says this, notice what, how the scripture writer puts this, by faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.

By faith, the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace. That word perish used there in 31 is a form of the word that is used, the polymy here in our text today, it is a form of that word.

So what is demonstrated, what is set forth, what is proven here just from verse 32 alone or verse 31, I'm sorry, just verse 31 there in Hebrews chapter 11 is a perfect biblical example of what Jesus is calling these disciples to do, to lose their life for the sake of the gospel and in losing their life for the sake of the gospel, their lives in turn will be saved in him for it is in Christ that we are saved.

By faith, the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace. Verse 32 and what more the writer says, shall I say for the time would fail for me to tell of Gideon, of Barak, of Samson, of Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith and then in these next two verses or these next two and a half verses, he really concisely summarizes everything for it is who through faith these men subdued kingdoms, they worked righteousness, they obtained promises, they stopped the mouths of lions, they quenched the violence of fire, they escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness they were made strong, they became valiant in battle and they turned to flight the armies of aliens.

Women received their dead to life, raised again, oh, if that were only the full truth for we'll see the rest here, everyone's ready to put their name, sign their name on the dotted line when they read all those things but then when we get to this next section, this next part of that chapter 11, for right after he said women received their dead to life again, here we'll see the outcomes that are laid out, the outcomes change from positive to negative, however, know this, the mood of the text itself never changes, the mood and the aim of the letter never changes for the emphasis, the emphasis of faith is not on a natural physical outcome but the emphasis is on Jesus Christ the Messiah for he is our aim and he alone is our goal.

Notice what the scripture says, women had their dead raised to life again and then others were tortured, others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection, they had a hope, they had a view that was greater than what this world gives to us, we have a home prepared for us in the heavens, a city whose builder and whose maker is God, that they might obtain a better resurrection, still others had a trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and of imprisonment, they were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute, afflicted and tormented, of whom the writer says this world was not worthy.

These obscure men and women who died in the faith never having anybody, this world is not worthy of them, they wandered in deserts and mountains, in caves and dens of the earth and all these, all these having obtained a good testimony through faith did not receive the promise, but note what the writer says, God having provided something better for us that they should not be perfect apart from us, truth be told, however Old Testament saints saved versus New Testament saints saved, they're saved in exactly the same way, by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone, according to the word of God alone, for the glory of God alone, for their faith was looking forward to the Messiah and our faith now looks back to the Messiah, but it is the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who is the center of it all.

The writer goes on to say this in verse 1 of chapter 12, therefore we also, since we are compassed about, since we are surrounded about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience, let us run with endurance this race that is set before us.

How are we to do this? We are to look unto Jesus, for he is the author and he is the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despised the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Somebody might say, well, this sermon might be better suited to taking a different angle, to try to make the emphasis go upon you and how you can become better and how you can do this. Friends, it is not about you.

This is about the Lord, our God. This is about the holy, thrice holy Lord of glory. When we praise, when we worship, we are to praise the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. It must be Christ as the emphasis.

Charles Spurgeon said, no Christ in your sermon, sir, then go home. Most folks today, if you keep up with reformed stuff today, you've probably no doubt heard about John MacArthur telling Beth Moore to go home.

He didn't coin that phrase. I think Spurgeon may have coined the phrase. He said, no Christ in your sermon, sir, then go home and never preach again until you have something worth preaching about. Christ is everything.

For the scripture said, consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and faint in your minds. This word, sozo, going back again in the New Testament, 1 Timothy 4, beginning in verse 6, and we'll read through verse 16 there in 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy 4, verse 6.

Training in Godliness and the Public Ministry of the Church

The Apostle Paul is writing to young Timothy about how the church ought to be conducted in and of itself. He said, if you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ, being trained in the words of faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.

Have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths. Rather, train yourself unto godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness with contentment is great gain. Godliness is of value in every way as it holds the promise, here we go for practical holiness, it holds the promise for the present life and for the life to come.

This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For Paul says, for to this end we toil and strive because we have our hope set on the.

Living God.

Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus Christ. For Jesus said, whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Going on here in 1 Timothy, verse 11, command and teach these things.

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in impurity, until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and to teaching.

Do not neglect the gift you had which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. And then he said this, practice these things. Practice these things. Immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress.

And last verse there in verse 16, he said this, keep a close watch on yourself. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this for by so doing you will sozo. You will sozo, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

For what is the intent of that word sozo? It means to deliver from the penalties of the messianic judgment. How is a man to be saved by giving heed to the word of God, to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, to know that Christ came, that he died for your sins, that he was buried and that he rose again on the third day, to repent of your sins and to believe in what Jesus has done, to deliver from the penalties of the messianic judgment, to be saved from the evils which obstruct the reception of the messianic truth, the messianic word.

You will be saved both yourself and the hearers. This is why we must always be preaching the gospel. We must always be proclaiming the good news of what Jesus Christ has done. We must always be doing this.

And then the latter part. Christ said, whoever would save his life, sozo his life, will lose it. And then he turns it around. For whoever loses, apollumi, his life for my sake will sozo it. That word lose, the Greek word apollumi, it's spelled A-P-O-L-L-Y-M-I.

Again, that's the word for lose, apollumi, pronounced apollumi. Metaphorically, it's used to devote or to give over to eternal misery and hell. It means to perish, to be lost, to be ruined, to be destroyed.

So when lost is spoken of by Christ here, it's a big term. It's being under the wrath of God and being under eternal wrath of God and in eternal destruction versus being sozo, being redeemed from destruction.

The psalmist wrote that. Having redeemed our life from destruction is what the psalmist writes. So it's used in Matthew chapter 27, verse 20. It's used in this particular text. In Matthew 27, 20, the scripture says, the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to apollumi Jesus, to destroy Jesus.

It's used in Luke chapter 6. On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching and a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes, several months back we looked at this, and the scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath so that they might find a reason to accuse him.

But he knew their thoughts.

He said to the man with the withered hand, come and stand here. And he arose and he stood there. And Jesus said to them, I ask you, speaking to the Pharisees, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm to sozo life or apollumi life?

This is a big, big text that we have in verse 24. John chapter 12, verse 20, another example. Now, among those who went up to the worship, worship of worship feasts were with some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and they asked him, sir, we wish to see Jesus.

Philip went and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus, and Jesus answered them, the hour has come that the son of man may be glorified. Truly, truly, Jesus said, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.

But if it dies, it bears much fruit. See, again, coming back to this verse 24, Jesus doesn't use it in any different context in any different way. It means what it says, and it says what it means. Whoever loses his life, whoever apollumies his life, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

And then in verse 26 there in John 12, Jesus states again, if anyone serves me, he must.

Follow me.

And where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. I want to ask you a question and encourage you to consider this very seriously. For we are called in the scriptures to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith.

I would ask you today, do you know that you have been born again? That you are saved by God's grace? That you have been passed from death unto life? That God has granted unto you the right to be called a child of God?

One of the old hymns says, are you walking daily in the Spirit's power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? I cannot answer that question for you. But I can tell you this, according to the scriptures, if you have been saved, if you have been born again, then you will be a new creature.

Your wants, your desires, your walk, your talk, everything about you, it's not going to be, it may not, everything ain't going to be fixed. You're still going to have sin to deal with in your life, don't get me wrong.

But as a consistent pattern, your life will be different. Because you will no longer be following yourself, but now you are following the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you following Jesus? We're probably all familiar enough with hymns that have heard that song, I have decided to follow Jesus.

My cross I'll carry till I see Jesus, right? No turning back, no turning back. But it would do good for the church to understand the hymnology, to understand the meaning, to understand the reason that song was written.

I think it's about 150 years ago, there was a great revival in Wales. And as a result of this, many missionaries went to northeast India and they spread the gospel in the region known as Assam. It was comprised of hundreds of tribes who were primitive and aggressive headhunters.

And into these hostile and aggressive communities, there came a group of missionaries that came and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to them. And naturally they were not welcomed. One missionary succeeded in converting a man, his wife, and his two children out of.

All those people.

And this man's faith proved contagious and many villagers began to accept Christianity. The chief, this is the hymnology, this is the historicity, this is where this song came from, I have decided to follow Jesus.

The villagers began to get curious, the village chief summoned all the villagers, he called them and the family who had been converted to Christ, he called them and publicly in front of all the village called them to renounce their faith in Christ or he would publicly have them executed.

They would draw down bow and arrows and they would kill them. Moved by the Holy Spirit, the man said, I have decided to follow Jesus. India, enraged at the refusal of the man, the chief ordered his archers to arrow down the two children.

As both boys lay twitching on the floor, the chief asked, will you deny your faith now? You have lost both your children, you will lose your wife too. But the man replied, though no one joins me, still I will follow.

The chief was beside himself with fury and he ordered his wife to be arrowed down. And in the moment, she joined her two children in death and now he asked for the last time and he said, I will give you one last opportunity.

And in the face of death, the man said the final memorable lines of that song, the cross before me and the world behind me, no turning back, no turning back. He was shot dead like the rest of his family.

With their deaths, a miracle took place. The chief who had ordered the killings was moved by the faith of this man and he wondered why should this man, his wife and two children die for a man who lived far away in a far away land on another continent 2 ,000 years ago.

There must be some remarkable power behind the family's faith. And I too want to taste that faith, the chief said in a spontaneous confession of faith, he declared, I too belong to Jesus. And friends, when we make a public declaration of faith, know this, if you are not willing in plain language, if you are not willing to walk with Christ, then you're better off to turn around and quit now.

For Christ does not call us to a half-hearted Christianity. He calls us to a whole-hearted faith. When you are saved, you are saved body and soul. Everything about you now belongs to Jesus. And so in closing, the call is this, if you are saved, if you know that you have been born again, but you are not walking closely with Christ, I call you today, according to the word of God, to repent of your sin, to turn away from the mirror, to turn away from the self, yourself and to turn unto Jesus, to get as close to him as you can and to follow him as close as you can.

When you fall, when you stumble and when you sin, we have the good word that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and he is just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We have that promise.

Believers, we will never utterly and finally fall away, thanks be unto God, but you must examine yourself. Are you walking with Jesus? If not, you need to lose your life so that your life can be saved.

You need to lose your life and look unto Christ as we stand to sing our closing hymn this morning.