363: What Can a Man Give in Exchange for His Soul? | +Quigg Lawrence

Good morning, friends.

Let me set this up from your point of view. You just said a bad word in church. I totally set you up because even though that's a word found in scripture, a lot of times it's not used in the scripture kind of way. The next story I'm going to tell you, I'm not actually using it in a scripture kind of way, but you just said the words, so I'm going to say it too, okay?

I want you to picture yourself. So sixty-four and forty years ago, you're in some holler. There's a bunch of old country boys playing bluegrass. There's a young kid who just met Jesus, trying to figure out how do you live as a Christian? How do you do this? Because I don't have any pattern for it. We're there having fun and my dad's there. My uncle Henry. And we're enjoying some beverages. It's eight degrees out. Ninety-eight and the humidity was a hundred and twenty. And we were sweating. And my dad was a very loud man. In fact, every time we go to a festival—this is the way we bond—but every time we're at the festival, my dad would be like, "Hey, what's up, man? Sure knows how to pick like Jess McReynolds or something like that," and the people, they're like, "Shh." And every time they tell my dad to be quiet, he would get louder. He'd have another beverage and get louder.

So that's kind of setting the stage. We're on this hill. It's sweating. Ralph Stanley, the boys are playing. And I said, emboldened by my beverage, "It's hot as hell out here." And my dad looked at me, and just for a moment, like all the fun, all the revelry went away. Just for a nanosecond, something that he'd never done in his life. He looked at me and said, "That's where I'm going."

It was so weird, y'all. Like, we were laughing and having fun with all this bluegrass, and I said, "It's hot as hell out here," and my dad just ripped out of that conversation, stared me right in the eyes, and goes, "That is where I'm going."

He was baptized as a Roman Catholic. He was confirmed as an Episcopalian. I think he had done some stints in the Methodist Church and some others. He had been to church. He actually served on the vestry of a church when he was like twenty-eight years old. And no one ever cared enough about my dad to ask him about the condition of his soul.

See, that's how it works in the church. Like, if you're nice—"Hi, I'm fine. I'm fine. Yes"—but we don't realize that a lot of people that come here are searching and seeking, but we never present the gospel clearly to them, and we never love them enough to step over our fears and ask the question: "Tell me where you are with Christ."

But you know, once your father gives you a peek into the darkness of his soul, I couldn't shake it. Fast forward—well, you'll hear the end of the story. It's a happy ending, but I tell you what, from that point on to my dad's deathbed, when I actually got to share with him where he was open, I couldn't get that out of my mind. This man looked so helpless, like he was drowning. And just for a second—because he didn't do personal stuff. He's funny, but he didn't do personal stuff. He laughed a lot, but the Bible says in laughter, there can be great sorrow—but he basically said, "Hey, I know the church says I'm born again, regenerate because of baptism. I know what they said in confirmation. They even elected me for the vestry, but I don't know Christ."

And then he went out of that moment of clarity and just back to being loud and making drunken comments. But it never left me.

I think that the church, in trying to be palatable to the world, is reticent. Now, we're more than reticent. We almost never ask somebody the condition of their soul because we'd rather be nice than be loving. Jesus did not have that problem.

The Question of Identity

Let's go to Mark chapter eight, and y'all are going to have to listen fast. Okay, so just first, set up what's been happening. Jesus has just done some miracles. He's shown his power, and everybody's like, "Wow, that's cool." He feeds the four thousand. He heals a blind man. That's amazing. And on the tail end of this passage we're going to look at is the Mount of Transfiguration, where he goes up on the mountain with Peter, James, and John. It was a holy event. Like, just as I had seen into the darkness of my father's soul, they were able to see the glory and the beauty of the Lord's splendor. It was amazing, but the message on the Mount of Transfiguration was simple: "Hey, this is my beloved son. Listen to him. Listen."

And so when we go to the passage in the middle, Jesus is trying to teach them something. He's trying to tell them something. And so it's no doubt that afterwards, the Lord said, "Listen to my son. Listen to what he's trying to tell you."

So here it goes:

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" — Mark 8:27

Now, I'm about a hundred degrees hot. Is anybody else hot here? That's always the way it is.

Well, if you can buy me one degree, I'll be very appreciative. He says, who do men say that I am? Like, if you just walk to a cocktail party or some gathering, a tailgate, and you had a mic and asked, "Who do you think Jesus is?" Oh, he's a good guy. Oh, I think he's a prophet. Oh, he's a good teacher. So he wanted to know what people were saying about him.

We know from Mark chapter six that Herod—the one who beheaded John the Baptist—was aware of the miracles Jesus was doing. The people were talking and they said, "Well, some say he's Elijah the prophet, and some say he's this, and some say he's that." And then Herod said, "Well, I think he might be John the Baptist come back from the dead. John, the one I beheaded." That's a really strange thing to say. But the point is, everybody has opinions about Jesus, and they can't all be right. He is who he is, and ultimately it doesn't even matter what my opinion or your opinion is. The only thing that matters is the truth.

"Who do people say that I am?" And that was a setup for the next question. Because you know how it is—we can talk about all those people out there that struggle with things, but I'm fine. You fine? I'm fine. But all those sinners, all those people out there. So Jesus hones in. He takes their view off the people, and he goes right to them and says, "Who do you say that I am?" See, that's the only question the Lord's ever going to ask you. He's not going to say, "Who did they say?" He's going to ask you, "But who do you say that I am?"

Am I merely an inspirational figure? Am I merely a rabbi? Am I merely a teacher? Am I merely a prophet? You know, almost every world religion will receive Jesus as a prophet, or at least as a moral man or good teacher. That's true in Sufi Islam. It's true in Hinduism. It's true in a lot of Druze religion. I mean, you could go on and on. So the question is, "Who do you say that I am?"

And then Peter—the impulsive Peter—he's the only one. It's kinda like when you're in Tim's Sunday School class. He asked a question, and I said, "I know the answer. I know the answer." And every time I would say it, it was the wrong answer. So now I just keep my hand down because I'm afraid to answer. But he said, "Who do you say that I am?" And Peter—I mean, clearly the Holy Spirit was giving him this. No man could know this. Peter says, "Jesus, you are the Christ." In other words, you're the long-foretold Messiah. You're the Savior of the world. You're the one in Genesis that was predicted to crush Satan's head. And all the prophets said, "There's one that's going to come out of Bethlehem. Too small to be numbered. There's going to come one. He's going to be the Savior of the world." All the prophets—Isaiah and all of them—they all talked about the coming Messiah. And so Peter was right on. He said, "Jesus, you are the anointed one. You're the Messiah. You're the Christ. You're the Savior. You're the one we've been waiting for."

In verse 30, he said, "And strictly Jesus strictly charged them to tell no one. It wasn't yet time. Jesus had a time." Verse 31 says, "He began to teach them. That's what Jesus does. He teaches. He's not only a teacher, but he does teach. They call Jesus what? In Hebrew, Rabbi. Rabbis teach, their students listen." And so Jesus began to teach his disciples, and he uses this kind of strange phrase. He says, "He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer, be rejected, be killed, and rise again."

He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer, be rejected, be killed, and rise again.

So that term right there—Son of Man. Anybody who's not been to seminary, I want you to answer this question: What does that come from? Son of Man. Like, we never use that. Daniel, Daniel seven? Well, let's just take a peek. So in Daniel seven, it's a vision Daniel's given, and this is many hundred years before Jesus came. And they're talking about one called the Ancient of Days—you know, the one that was and is and ever shall be, the Ancient of Days, the Lord God Almighty. And so the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was white as snow, and his hair was like pure wool, and his throne was fiery flames, and so forth and so on.

Then in Daniel chapter seven, verse 13, it says:

Behold, in the clouds of heaven came one like a Son of Man. And he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to the Son of Man was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom is one that shall not be destroyed.

— Daniel 7:13-14

Now, even if you're not the sharpest knife in the drawer, it's very clear that the Ancient of Days is the Father. Father God. Appearing before him is one—who else would he give this kind of authority to? Sovereignty, authority, power—and say his dominion will last forever. Could be no one else but the Word of God. Jesus, the Messiah. And so Jesus is intentionally using the term "Son of Man" to let them know who he is. He's not just a rabbi. He's not just a carpenter. He is, in fact, the one prophesied in the book of Daniel.

Now, what's going to happen to the Son of Man? What's gonna happen to God's son? The long-awaited Messiah. What's gonna happen? This really doesn't make any sense at all. It makes no sense. It says the Son of Man is gonna suffer, be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes—that is, the religious leaders. He's gonna be killed. And after three days rise again.

How many guys remember Tom Watkins? Tom and Wendell Linda Watkins. Tom loved to fish and he had a little Boston Whaler and he'd go in the Chesapeake Bay. It's probably too much bay for a little boat like that, but one time—it was not the middle of winter, but it was cold—and he was out there at night fishing for bluefish or whatever it was, and something happened and his boat turned over. It was in the middle of the night and he was caught under the Boston Whaler and he couldn't get his clothes unstuck from some hooks or whatever was catching him, and he was under the water for two minutes. He was an old man at the time. He should have drowned. The Lord saved him.

Eventually, he got unstuck. He got up, got a big breath. But now he's sitting in the Chesapeake Bay and it's like one or two in the morning. The water's freezing. He spent the entire night in the water waiting for someone to come rescue him. True story.

Now, imagine first thing in the morning at the crack of dawn, if the boat comes towards Tom, who's been in the water all night freezing, holding on for dear life, and all of a sudden the rescue boat comes and somebody hits him with an RPG. Poof. No more rescue boat. See, the point of a rescue boat is to rescue you. The point of a savior is to save you.

And so for Jesus to say that the savior, the Messiah, the Son of Man is gonna not only suffer and be rejected—okay, good enough—but he's gonna be killed, it made absolutely no sense. How can a savior that is killed save me? It's illogical. Except for the fact that Jesus gives him a hint and he says, after three days, he will rise again.

I don't think they could hear that. I think they only heard the first part: rejected, suffered, rejected, and killed. And so when they said that—verse 32, and 32 is my favorite number, in case you ever wanna know that. Do you have a favorite number? I know this is a little ADD thing, but do you have a favorite number? I have a pleasure in having a favorite color and a favorite number: blue and 32. Thank you.

Okay. So when I get to verse 32, it's so simple and it's just a couple words. After Jesus told him the mission the Father had put him on, the mission—it says, and he said this plainly. Here's what I want you to understand: like, you don't have to go to seminary to understand the things Jesus says. Now, you can learn a lot in seminary—church history and all kinds of facts. I don't remember 5% of what I learned in seminary. But you know what? I'm so grateful because those things rarely come up. What does come up is the plain teaching of Jesus. He's not trying to trick anybody. He's not trying to outsmart anybody. He's actually trying to reveal the gospel and the kingdom to you.

It says that Jesus said these things plainly, and as soon as he did, Peter—impulsive Peter, the one who had just confessed him as the Christ, the Messiah—Peter takes Jesus aside and begins to do what? Rebuke him.

Now, I don't know about you, but this reminds me of a child rebuking his parents. That ever happened in your home? Don't answer. You ever been to Walmart? Sometimes at Walmart, I take my little camera around and get pictures of the people of Walmart, and I listen. Oh my gosh. More kids have gotten their fancies whooped in Walmart for saying rebuking things to their mom.

My son, he's a strong Christian, a godly kid, but there's a time about age 12 where the testosterone started to pump into his body, started feeling like a man, you know what I'm saying? His mom told him to do something and he didn't wanna do it. She told him to do it again. We're still on? Next thing I know, I see this little 12-year-old boy cock his hand back.

Now, listen. As a kid who saw my father do that to my mother, I saw red. I really saw red. I grabbed that hand and I said, "Boy"—but this probably don't do this at home—but I was so mad, y'all. I'm like, no way. No way is my kid ever going to hit my wife. I said, "Don't ever raise your hand against my wife. A boy who hits his mother will also hit his wife."

You are to love her and to cherish her, honor, obey, and respect her. Sometimes rebukes are for her own good.

Now, let's pick up the story and finish up. Peter begins to rebuke Jesus. It's amazing—a student rebuking a rabbi. The guy who just called him the anointed one, the Messiah, the savior, is now rebuking him.

Why is Peter rebuking Jesus? Is he mad at him? No. He just thinks it's completely illogical for the savior to come and to come to his death. He's like, "That doesn't make any sense. And, oh, by the way, Jesus, we love you. We don't want you to die. We like you being with us." But the Father had a greater plan than Jesus just hanging out with twelve disciples for a season.

The mission was that he would come to be the Lamb of God. He would take away the sins of the world. He could have done it by doing this, but the way the Father arranged it is he was going to be the perfect sacrifice for sin. He would be that Lamb who would be slaughtered. His blood for your blood. His righteousness for your unrighteousness.

And so after Peter rebukes Jesus, guess what Jesus does? He is Master. He turns right around and rebukes Peter. He says, "Get thee behind me, Satan."

Now, does Jesus really think he's Satan? No. Satan means adversary. In that moment, Peter, probably for good reasons—he loved Jesus—but he was being an adversary to the kingdom, to the gospel, and to the mission the Father had given him. Peter wanted to save Jesus from a horrible death on the cross so he wouldn't have to suffer, so they could hang out together. But Jesus knew that if I don't go there, you're all going to perish. And so I'm not going to listen to what you think you need. I'm going to give you what you most need, what you must have.

You're not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

It's easy for me to judge Peter, but I do the same thing. Even as saved people, we do this. This is a little secret in the church—we get saved and we live perfect lives. Well, we get saved and we're saved, and nothing's going to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, but we still want to be our own god. That's the struggle.

The question for me is not so much whether Peter had set his mind on the things of men rather than the things of God, but do I do that? And the answer is, same as it is for you: yes, we do.

If my kid can be really good in sports, I'm going to feel happier about myself. And so I'm going to take all my resources and do everything I can so my kids will be these amazing athletes. That's putting the things of man above the things of God. Or if I get into UVA, then I'm going to be really happy, and that's going to be amazing. I was there for two point one two years, and then they told me bye bye. Oh, if you become a bishop and get a purple shirt, then you've really arrived. But why do you want to do that? Do you want to do that to be a servant, or do you want to do it so people will think highly of you?

We're masters at finding things that we can set our attention and our affections on. It's not wrong to have affections. It's just where we place them. God is not trying to deny you abundant life, but he's protecting you. He will say no to things that you think don't make sense so that he can protect you and give you abundant life. He's a good Father.

Following Jesus: Deny Yourself

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

The first thing I want you to notice is it says "if anyone." Does God love people from every tongue, tribe, and nation? Oh, you bet. Does he love holy people? There are none. Does he love sinners? Yes. Like, the worst ones. And the middle ones. And the ones that are not as bad.

He loves them, but he says, "If anyone would come after me"—now, what does it look like to walk as a disciple of Jesus? The first thing it says is to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him. These are not the means by which you get loved by God. They're not the means by which you get saved by God. They are what disciples do. If you're a follower of Christ, you're going to do this imperfectly, but every follower of Christ has to learn to deny his little self.

I always want to accumulate, accumulate, accumulate, do things that make me feel good, and live for me and my kingdom. That's why every morning—I told you guys this—almost every morning, I get out of my bed with my hair all like this, wearing my CPAP. Annette and I look like astronauts in an Apollo rocket. We do, it's amazing. Scares the kids and grandkids. But I say, "God, Lord, you're King."

You're king. I know you. You are king. I wanna be king, but you are king. And you have a kingdom. And Lord, would you give me your strength and power today to live for the true king and not myself? Would you give me the power to live for your kingdom and not try to create my own? Because I've tasted that and it's not a place you want to live.

So there's a king and there's a kingdom. And it says this:

If you want to save your life, you will lose it. And whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel will save it. — Mark 8:35

See, it's counterintuitive. It's an upside-down gospel. If you wanna save your life by accumulating and making yourself famous and doing all these things, it says you're gonna lose your life. But if you lose your life for my sake and the gospel, you're gonna save it.

Now, look at verse 36. We're gonna end with the tail end of the story of my dad, and we're just about done.

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? — Mark 8:36-37

I had a friend in seminary. Many of you have heard the story. He was my dear friend. I loved him. He was funny. He was a naughty boy—irreverent and funny—and we were pals. In seminary, around 1983, his mother died and he got an inheritance of $10,000,000 cash on the barrel head, and then there was another $20,000,000 that was tied up in land and other things. Look at all that he inherited. You know how the story ended? Not well. He ended up dying in the rescue mission in Greenville, South Carolina—in the wing that his family had donated. He burned through every penny. He was miserable. What can a man give in exchange for his soul?

You know, I so wish that somebody had loved my dad. One of the preachers that he sat in their church growing up would have cared enough about him and loved him enough—not to simply put him on vestry or to try to get some wisdom or business acumen, but actually cared enough to care for his soul. I don't hear anybody talking about this, y'all. We have people all around us. They're perishing. Jesus said the way that leads to destruction is wide, but narrow is the way that leads to eternal life. And we're sitting here being nice and kind—so nice that people are perishing because we don't love them, we like them. Maybe the call is to begin to love them as Jesus does.

What would a man give in exchange for your soul? I know most of you know Christ, and if you're in Christ, you're secure. But there are a bunch of people that come in every Sunday who do not know Jesus. Maybe they get dragged here by a spouse. Maybe they're coming here to get a little pep talk, a little inspiration. I have to love you enough to say: what would you give? What are you giving in exchange for your soul?

Jesus wants you to hear plainly. He wants you to deny yourself, take up your cross, follow him. In other words, he wants you to fire yourself as god and king and to make him your god and king.

I want to end with a song, Caleb, if you can put it up. I only got about 12 or 13 more sermons. This is for you, rector. A lot of you guys hate bluegrass and that's okay. But you need to learn to love Larry Sparks. You guys, what Larry Sparks—age 76—is singing is true.

What would a man give in exchange for his soul? What would you give in exchange for your soul? Women, sex, power, influence, people to like you, comfort—what would you give? I want to love you enough to say: that is fool's gold. The warning from Jesus is plain. What would a man give in exchange for his soul? Turn to him. Much better to deny yourself and inherit eternal life than to grab the things that will never satisfy.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.