Matthew 16:24-26

DISCIPLESHIP

Matthew 16:24-26; Mark 8:34-37; Luke 9:23-25. Mark: “Calling to Him the multitude, along with His disciples, He said to them, Whosoever wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.” We have no mention of the multitude, since He has been at Caesarea-Philippi, till now, when it is said that Jesus called them to Him, that they might hear, along with His disciples. Hitherto He has been expounding the straight, practical facts relative to Himself, expository of His Christhood and atonement, which it is very important for His disciples to know with certainty at this late date of His ministry. Now that He proposes to elucidate the conditions of discipleship, the whole multitude are concerned; therefore we see that, desisting from these interviews with His disciples, He invites the multitude to enjoy His preaching. The conditions of discipleship are plain, positive, explicit, and unmistakable, beginning with total and unequivocal selfabnegation, and culminating in crucifixion. The sinner's way crosses, antagonizes, and disharmonizes with God's way. All this must be primarily and eternally abandoned. This is the great work of repentance, fundamental in salvation. Then he must follow this total self-abnegation by taking up his cross, and walking in the track of Jesus; this is justifying faith, which invariably involves the whole problem of practical Christianity, loving obedience to every commandment, and faithful discharge of every duty, however arduous and repellent to the flesh. N.B. The first hemisphere of this great transaction is total, unequivocal, and eternal self-abnegation, taking up the cross and following Jesus, through tempest and sunshine, prosperity and adversity, whether flowers bloom or fagots flame, birds sing or lions roar; i.e., forsaking all sin we do our whole duty, let it be ever so repellent to the flesh. Now, remember, there is another distinct hemisphere fitting on to the preceding, and constituting the beautiful celestial sphere of Christian discipleship Jesus carried His cross to die on it. Though He broke down on the way, a stout African disciple relieved Him. So if you break down under the cross of heavy and intolerable duty e. g., family prayer, public prayer, testimony, appeal, house-to-house visiting, slum work, street preaching God will send an angel to carry the cross for you, whether incarnate or excarnate.

Discipleship means following Jesus. The utility of His cross was to die on it. So, remember, you are not only to suffer while bearing the cross, but actually you are to be crucified on it, thus putting an end to all suffering, and radically reversing the former environments, putting you upon the cross; so that you no longer bear the cross, but the cross bears you. There is a woeful misapprehension appertaining to Christian discipleship, even among holiness people. It is generally taken for granted that the faithful cross-bearer is sanctified. This conclusion is utterly out of harmony with our Savior's exposition of discipleship. The masses of Church members simply refuse to bear the cross, thereby forfeiting all claims to discipleship, and putting themselves on a par with open sinners. A true conversion makes you a bona fide cross-bearer; while sanctification, crucifying Adam the First, and thus eliminating all repellency to Christian duty, puts you on top of the cross, so that henceforth it carries you; i.e., every duty to God which is heavy and irksome to the unsanctified, undergoes a mysterious and inexplicable metamorphism, so that, instead of being repellent and heavy, it is magnetic, charming, and delightful; so that, instead of chilling your enthusiasm and retarding your progress, it thrills you with new inspiration, giving you a fresh impetus on your heavenly way. To this there is no exception, even bloody martyrdom is disrobed of his terrors; so the pilgrim goes shouting to the burning stake. Hence you see that all who refuse to bear the cross of Christ are sinners. Those who bear it faithfully are justified; while the crucifixion which we receive on the cross, sanctifying us wholly, gives us the complete victory over all crosses, so that we carry them no more, but they carry us, every cross having eagle wings, mounting skywardly, and soaring away to glory, while we ride them triumphantly, with song and shouts of victory, till, welcomed by angelic millions, we sweep through the gates of glory.

Mark 8:35 : “For whosoever may wish to save his soul, shall lose it; and whosoever may lose his soul, for My sake and that of the gospel, he shall save it. For what shall it profit a man if he may gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” In this paragraph our Savior gives psyche, the regular and constant word for soul, four times. The E.V. translates it “life” in two instances, ‘and “soul” in two more. I must confess, I see no reason for this change. If our Savior had meant “life” in verse thirty-five, He certainly would have said zoe.

The very fact that He says psyche all the time, is sufficient reason why we should do likewise. Methinks the translators simply failed to apprehend the deep spiritual meaning of our Lord in this beautiful passage, given literally by Mark and Luke. James 1:4; James 4:8, speaking of the “double-minded man,” uses this same word, dipsychos i.e., double- souled applying it to the unsanctified Christian; setting forth the fact that the unregenerate have one evil soul, the sanctified one good soul, and the unsanctified Christian the double soul; i.e., the good soul created by the Holy Ghost in regeneration, and the bad soul inherited from Adam the First, subjugated in conversion, and kept subordinated by grace, but still surviving, and an antagonistical element in the deep interior of the heart, causing much hindrance to duty and many a defeat in spiritual conflict, and a perpetual impediment to our efficiency for God, till eradicated and removed in the second work of grace, in which case you are no longer “double-minded,” unstable in all your ways, but free as a bird of Paradise, and happy as a lark, soaring into the sky; unincumbered by a solitary impediment, you fight, conquer, sing, and shout your way to heaven. You see from our Savior's deliverances, that all religion is self-denial. The sinner refuses to deny himself of carnal pleasures, and sells out his soul to the devil for a “mess of pottage.” The unsanctified Christian finds self-denial hard and repellent to the flesh. There is where he flickers, lets go his hold on Jesus, and goes down to bell; while a sanctified man finds all self-denial no longer hard, but easy, and even delightful, so that he enjoys it, and runs after it, finding that every self-denial gives him an elastic bound for glory.

Here our Savior simply assures us that all who save their souls, shall lose them; and those who lose their souls for His sake, shall find them. We come into the world with a bad soul, which we must not only antagonize, but get rid of it altogether, coming to Jesus for a new soul, created in His own image and likeness. Hence the unpopularity of the true religion in all ages, and the paucity of its votaries. It is because the heavenly road is beset with crosses, which Adam the First can not pass, because they were put there to crucify him. Consequently, the carnal clergy, with the devil to help them, have in all ages led the people some other way. Satan has laid earth and hell under contribution, the last six thousand years, to render the way of death pleasant and charming to travelers. He has cut down the mountains, filled up the valleys, macadamized the road, paved it with gold, strewn it with flowers, and enchanted it with the most charming music, thus intermitting neither labor nor expenditure to make the road satisfactory to all, Church members and outsiders. No theology, Churchism, nor priestcraft can ever change the law of discipleship here propounded by the Prince of glory. If you would be a disciple, you must actually lose that evil soul you have had all your life, and take chances to get another; i.e., the man of sin must consent to lie down and die, taking the risk about living again.

The people of this world hold to the maxim, “A bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush.” Consequently they hold on to the soul which they have had since their earliest recollection, willing to take all the religion which they can have compatibly with that soul; i.e., they will join the Church, take water baptism, weekly sacraments, work faithfully in the Church machinery, do some very nice parrot talk in the social meetings, pay their dues, attend church, receive official honors, represent the Church in the Conferences, and, with a collegiate education, actually preach the gospel in their way. But to have heavy hands laid on them, nailing them to the cross, to bleed and die like Jesus, taking chances on the resurrection life, is utterly out of the question, and to be rejected contemptuously as the vain hallucination of the holiness cranks, who ought to be run out of the country. Good Lord, shine through us, and enable us to take Thy plain and simple Word, and be Thy true disciples!