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2 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 (Continued on Page 14.)