Can you deny yourself? Can you take the Lord’s cross? Can you lose your soul-life?
If we are honest, we will confess, “No. We can’t.” Why, then, does the Lord tell us to lose our soul-life if we want to follow Him? (Matt. 16:24) Seemingly, the Lord asks something impossible of us. Indeed, how are we able to change ourselves? Or to resist the influence of the world? The moment we step outside, our entire living is encompassed by this kosmos — this mandatory, impossible, worldly system. And it’s not just outside of us, but inside, as well.
But whether we try our hardest to overcome our situation, or we give up and give in to our failures, we find no way out. Our vision is limited; our scope is small. We see things with very physical eyes. When Peter heard that the Lord would be killed, he rebuked Him, saying, “This shall by no means happen to You!” (v. 22) But the Lord is living in a different scale — a different scope, a different realm. He is on a mission that cannot be altered, even by Peter’s lack of understanding. To Him, death is already defeated; death is not the focus. Death is to issue resurrection life forth (v. 21)! Maybe to us, death on the cross is just a painful dead end, but to the Lord, death was a way into life — and He wants us to follow Him there!
So can we deny ourselves? Can we take the Lord’s cross? Can we lose our soul-life? No! Trying is futile. But indeed, Somebody can! There is only one cross — not many crosses, nor many crucifixions — and on it, He conquered death once and for all! Only by this powerful resurrection life can we deny our soul-life. We have lived a whole life dependent on a system set up by Satan, and we can’t deny Satan with a life under Satan’s rule. Only the Lord’s death on the cross can deny and put away Satan. Only that new life produced by the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ has the power to deny our old and natural soul-life — to shut up the gates of Hades!
Being saved by the Lord doesn’t require our pitiful self-effort. And it surely isn’t painful! Just as Mary poured out her alabaster flask in love for the Lord (26:7), wasting what was most precious for Him, when we meet the Lord, we can waste all with no regret. And that offering is a noble deed. We can lose our soul-life with no hesitation; in return, we gain our true soul-life to be His ultimate satisfaction. And that is truly beautiful and well-pleasing. That is the essence of a life prevailing over death!
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 11/23/2024, not reviewed by the speaker.)