The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-09-28

| failure of Christianity. every Sunday IN
Manchester more people are gathered to-
gethcr to sing the old hymns and hear the
old sermons-l beg your pardon. to hear
sermons on the old teXts-and listen to
the old, old story Of the cross than 1or any
other purpose.
The first point is this: That Il crowd
can never, as a crowd, get to know Jesus
Christ. Crowds may get TO know n very
great deal about Him, but not in crowds
do men know Him. And Jesus was always
attempting to draw out Of the crowd the
individual soul into individual and person.
al and immediate contact with Himself.
IF any man"-singular, lonely. personal.
eff any man will come after Me, let INN
deny himself and take up his cross and ioi-
low Me-" And so, Christ WAS always lac.
ing crowds.
That is what He is saying here. lie has
drawn the crowd together, but now lie
says, ".Any man." "by yourself" And
when this mornings service breaks up: the
proportion OF real value that there Is in 1T
TO you depends whether you get alone with
Christ or whether YOU simply form ono OF
Il multitude, admiring and knowing moth
ing. go.
Mark the terms, for a moment. Of This
call. ST any man will come after Me, let
him deny himself. take up his cross anu
! lOllON NIX. IL = IL SoithS VIZ H
vidual He is calling. the individual upon
the severest terms possible.
One OF two words about those terms and
| then a question as to this severity. What
are those terms? Three things, bnt only
one really, and yet it is necessary thus to
state it: Deny yourself, take up your cross,
follow Me. The other two indicate the
line along which men travel to follow Jesus
Christ. The positive word OF Christ to a
- =. E(Nx..o lob -, tI,,% nroy,-I onI fol-
low Me-" and Jesus indicates what that
means. Deny yourself. Take up your
cross. Follow Me.
Let us begin with the last. When Christ
was as fond OF 4 phrase as He evidently
was of that phrase Follow Me-" there
must be some deep signiiication in it. L
have been going through my New Iesta'
ment during the last few months. tracing
that phrase. 1t has been 4 very interest.
used it. 1t was the almost perpetual Tor.
mula of His call to individual SCULPTOR
low Me-"
Now what is it to follow? Two things
are involved. Neither of them covers all
the ground, taken alone. Both are re-
Quired.
First. to follow. I must trust. ] shall
never follow any one l haven't confidence
in. I may trust and yet not follow.
Secondly. not only is trust necessary, but
obedience is necessary. Christ c%ontronts
the individual soul. bringing that soul out
from the crowd. as lie is calling some man
trust Me? Then obey Me-" =,
How am l going to do it? What does it
mean, this trusting and obcying: Deny
yourself, take mp the cross 1T seems
to me that is the point which must be OBJ
served first. that to deny self is the only
wav in which you can follow Christ. How
shall 1 follow Him? Deny ~tlyself! The
two things are intimately related. and 1t
seems to me that everything is said when
Follow Me" is said. and yet it Is Ecces.
sary to say the other in order to under
stand what Tie means by following Him.
What is it Christ calls me to: TO deny
myself! Not to practice ~self-denial; that
is 4 very cheap business, but to deny SELF
a very costly matter. He says, DENY
yourself. Listen no longer to the call Of
your self. but listen to My call. Don't con.
slider any more whether this thing will
minister TO your pleasure or to your az
granIizement, or answer the cry o. your
ambition. But Ne first Christ says,
Deny yourself and follow Me. Put Nc ON
the throne and dethrone yourself. Don't
let the question OF the morning he, What
shall I like 10 do. but What will Christ
| luNC llC wv. IIoS W III b''E Joy ~ 49, '.
it hasten the coming OF the Kingdom OF
Coo. Don't let the underlying. mastering
passion OF Your life be your W selfish
desire: crown Ne. follow Me"
1t is a super.ativc call. and the call OF
Jesus is always imperial. lie will brook no
division of your loyalty, and that is what
lie means. "Iou must hate father, moth.
er, wife, child. That means that when the
soul comes into contact with Me L must be
absolutely first Let ire stop here TO say
that whenever a soul does that he gets
back a lundredIold lands and fields and
mother and father and children. Jesus
Christ said He must be first, and He has
never lowered that standard, and the re-
ligion that is simply an addendum is worth
nothing to Him.
Jesus Christ comes and says. DENY
yourself" but there is the other word,
Take up the cross" Well. what is it?
Christ's cross? No. No man can carry
Christ's cross. What then? Your own:
What is tins cross? ] don't think that it
is ever the same in two persons. The
cross is that in your life which immediate
ly costs you something II You crown
morning who is saying in his heart, NV ell,
if that is Christianity, l will have to go
home and change my method OF business"
That is Your cross. There is q young man
here saws that, If that is Christianity, j
it means putting Christ first. then l Will
have to 90 home and give up that compan.
ionship." That is your cross. Some one
here says, "Jf that is what Christ means,
that I am not to listen to the call OF my
own life, I shall have to 60 home and say
1 was wrong and confess, my wrong 70
| That is your cross. And somebody else
saws, IF that is Christianity | shall have
to 90 back on my history, throw up every.
thing / am doing and 60 into the minis
try" That is your cross.
You know what your cross il. Don + let
any one come and ask me. You know that
| thing which right in front Of you this
morning challengesy your allegiance to Jesus
Christ. You cannot play tricks witll God.
You cannot deceive your own conscience
when YOU stand III the clear hight OF the
call OF Christ. He says, Deny yourself:
| take up that cross land You know what IL
| isl and follow Me" IN
But why are Christ's terms so drastic?
For w reasons. First, no man ever gets
| to Christ but by the way or the enthrone-
| ment of Jesus Christ. 1t is possible to ad.
| rnire and cheer Him, possible to ipatronize
| Him and never to know Him. 1t is not
| the crowd that gets to Him, but the cross.
bearing soul. And if YOU read on you will
say, "Whosoever would save his life shall
lost it: whosoever will lose his life Tor My
] sake shall tEd it,"
Christ conironts the soul and says vlrtu-
ally this: You don't understand your own
| life. dear heart. You cannot realize your
own kingdom. You cannot build your w
| character and carve out your OWN destiny,
but | can do it, though ! can only do it
when you have put Me absolutely on the
throne for. your own life's lie, For its
founding and ennobling and developing
YOU must como to Me. and by the way OF
a whole-hearted surrender.
But there is another reason why CHRIST