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THE SYNOPSIS
I. Its Privilege—V:34.
1. Universal—“whosoever”
Any man.
2. The Will.
i,
11. Its Obligation—V:34.
1. “Deny Himself.”
2. “Take up his Cross.”
u 3. “Follow Me.”
111. Its Illustration—Saving ) V-36-37
Losing—V :35
IV. A Declaration —The world and the life —
I * I
ESUS in this lesson is paving the
way for His leaving. It is not
long now before He is to take His
departure, and He is beginning, as
rapidly as possible, to pave the way
for that leaving. He realizes that
the work of making disciples of the
children of men is henceforth com
mitted to men, and hence He is
—I I
very anxious that there should be no mistake
as to what discipleship really involves. So
He begins in this lesson to impress upon these
disciples who had been with Him thus far, and
who were to take the most conspicuous parts
in establishing His kingdom after He had gone,
all that discipleship means, and the first thing
that we find Him doing is asking questions.
This He does not that He may be inform
ed himself concerning something about which
He was at the time in need of information,
for He knew all things. He w T as God, and as
God He knew what men thought of Him. But
He desired to strengthen the disciples, and pre
pare them for what was yet to follow, and
hence He asked them: “Whom do men say
that I am?” And they answered: “John the
Baptist.” Among those believing that He was
John the Baptist was Herod; and “Elias,” the
Greek for Elijah. Many believed that Elijah
himself would come back to this earth as the
forerunner of the Messiah, and some thought
that this Jesus was Elijah come back again to
earth as the forerunner. Others said, “Jere
mias” —the Greek for Jeremiah. Jeremiah
stood first in the canon of the Jews. And so
they thought, some that He was John the Bap
tist; others that He was Elijah; others that
He was Jeremiah; and some said, “One of the
prophets.” But Jesus was not satisfied with
that. He really did not care to have them
inform Him concerning the impression that
men had of Him, for, as I have already said, He
knew too well what that was. But He was
just leading them along by asking questions—
a very good way! Perhaps, the very best way
to lead students in a class is by asking them
questions, and asking such questions as can
easily be answered. Let no teacher think that
it is a sign of good teaching to ask unanswer
able questions. Always ask your pupil a
question that you think he can answer, if you
want to lead him any further, else you may
never get a chance to lead him at all. And
so, Jesus is setting us an example of the very
best and wisest method of teaching. Then He
jkurns and asks them the more important ques
the really significant question: “Whom
he that I am?” Now, Jesus knew exactly
|g|is in their minds, and He did not ask
to inform himself, because they
hnform Him. but He asked the ques-
Ikey themselves might be strength
wen confession. There is a great
hdh in an open confession. No
h>ng so long as he is hiding him-
DISCIPLESHIP- -Mark 8:27-38
Wednesday Night Bible Lecture by Rev. Len G. Broughton, D.D., of Christ Church, London
The Golden Age for December 19, 1912.
Reported for The Golden Age by M. I. H.—Copyright Applied for.
self. There is a something that we cannot
describe that takes hold of a man the moment
he dares to openly stand out and confess Christ.
I have felt it myself, and you have felt it.
That is exactly what Jesus is trying to get out
of these disciples. He is trying to strengthen
them by leading them into an open declaration
of their faith in Him. “Whom say ye that I
am?” Peter spok§ for the rest, as he always
did. He said: “Thou art the Christ!” Now,
that is not the first time that Peter had made
the confession. He made it once before, and
following it Jesus gave him a bit of very in
teresting and helpful teaching. You remem
ber what it was? It was this: “Thou art
Peter, and upon this rock will I build my
Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it.”
Now, Jesus proposes, following this second
confession, to give him some more very inter
esting and needed teaching. The teaching
that He proposes to give him is not concerning
His Church, but first concerning himself, and
second concerning themselves. Look at the
31st verse and you will see it: Must suffer,
must be rejected, must be killed, must rise
again. These were the four things that Jesus
told His disciples that He must do.
This was just a bit more than Peter —impul-
sive Peter —could take in, and so he takes
Him aside, and says to Him: “Now this thing
that you have just said can never be!” How
much more Peter said than is recorded here I
do not know; I feel quite sure that he said a
good deal more than we have recorded. I
think that perhaps he went on to argue the
matter; I am sure if he had a chance he did,
because he felt very keenly about it, and we
cannot blame him for feeling keenly about it
with the light that he had, for it had not yet
dawned upon him that our Lord came to this
earth on a distinct mission of death. It has
not dawned on many of us that that is what
He came here for. We think that He came
to set an example, and that is true, but he came
here primarily to die —to atone for sin! Peter
had not caught a vision of that at all, and so we
are not to blame Peter for taking our Lord
aside, and saying to Him, in effect: “This
thing can never be. It will upset the whole
scheme; it ruins the whole plan. It puts to
nought all that we have done and said. It can
never be!” Jesus’ reply was, “Get thee, be
hind Me, Satan.” I do not think Jesus said
that in any harsh tone. The fact is, Ido not
think Jesus ever used a harsh tone, even when
He was talking to the Pharisees, and when he
referred to them as being hypocrites, blind
guides, whited sepulchres full of dead men’s
bones, serpents, a generation of vipers. I
don’t think He used harsh tones in connection
with those terrible words, and if He did use
harsh tones, I think there was something in His
look, His personality, His bearing, His face;
something that made the words weigh differ
ently from the words of other men. I think
He said those words as tenderly, as pathetically,
as lovingly, as fatherlike as it was possible for
words to be spoken. Then Jesus -began to talk
to them, not about himself, but about their re
lation to Him as disciples. This brings us to
what I really want to impress upon you.
What are the privileges of this discipleship
of Jesus? In the first place, it is universal.
Discipleship means a Christian; whatever that
means. It is more than salvation. A man
may be saved, and not be a Christian. A
Christian is a man who follows Christ, and
there are a great many saved people who do'
not follow Christ. The privilege of disciple
ship is a privilege not for the elect few, but it
is for the world, for humanity. There is not
a man or woman or child on the face of the
globe that has not a right to all the privileges
of discipleship. May I put it this way: there
is no privilege that I have, that you have not,
and there is no privilege that you have, that
I have not. There is no privilege that any
man has that I have not. The Pope of Rome
may arrogate to himself the privilege of repre
senting the Godhead on earth, but I know full
well that he does not have any more privilege
in that respect than I have.
We may talk about the king of England be
ing the head of the Church, but I know as a
matter of fact, and you know, that there is but
one head of the Church, and that is our Lord
himself.
The door of discipleship, so far as privileges
go, is as broad as the field of humanity, and
over it is the one word “Whosoever,” and as
long as you have got that word there you have
got all humanity invited. Now, that is how
much of an electionist I am! I am an elec
tionist; I believe in election I teach election,
but I do not believe in election as some men
are wont to believe it. My election is very
much of the character of that grand old states
man that we had in the State of North Caro
lina, when I was a boy; a man that I was taught
to honor and revere; a man who never had a
peer, if ever an equal, as a statesman in that
State; and a man who was an intimate friend
of my father’s. From childhood I was taught
to honor him. He was a Presbyterian, and the
Presbyterians go in tremendously for election,
especially in some sections of the world. In
this section, where he lived, they were very
strong in their advocacy of election. Senator
Vance was not an electionist, though he was
a Presbyterian. One day his minister took
him to task about it, and said, “Now, Senator,
you are not an electionist.” And he said,
“Well, yes I am. How can I be otherwise
when I am dependent for my bread and butter
upon elections.” But the minister said, “That
is the strange part of it. You are not an elec
tionist in the matter of salvation.” “Yes, I
am, just the same kind of electionist in the
matter of salvation as I am in the matter of
politics. 1 never saw a man elected to an of
fice that was worth having who was not first
a candidate. In salvation I believe every man
is elected who is a candidate.”
Now, if I know anything about the teach
ing of our Lord concerning the privileges of
discipleship it is just that. Elected, yes, but
upon the basis of his candidacy.
Then, in the second place, it is made effect
ive by the will. The will of man is the pivot
around which revolve the whole of the privi
leges of discipleship. Now, think of it! Every
thing that discipleship comprises—every privi
lege—and I wish I had time to stop now and
enumerate some of them —the privilege of
prayer, of communion, all the privileges of dis
cipleship, as great as they are, revolve around
the will. As a man wills, so it shall be. No
man will ever get from our Lord anything that
he does not will to have. He is no impostor;
He has too much self-respect for that, and He
has too much respect for us. He is not going
to stand at the door of a man’s heart and pound
upon it until it breaks down. He is a gentle
man, and I do not hesitate to use that word in
connection with Him, for if Jesus was anything,
He was a gentleman. I love to think of Him
as a gentleman. He is so much of a gentle
man that He will never intrude one inch further
than we invite Him.
Then we want to consider briefly its obliga
tions, for discipleship has obligations. There
is nothing worth having that does not impose
obligations. It is so when we come into the
fellowship of Jesus Christ as a disciple. There
are obligations that we are going to face the
momen that we enter, and we will face them for
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