1. Cf. Zane C. Hodges, The Hungry Inherit (Portland, Ore.: Multnomah, 1980), 77 – 91.
The Treasure of the Kingdom
Calvinist friend once remarked that the contemporary church often fails to present the gospel clearly enough for the nonelect to reject it. He has a point. The gospel our age has popularized is a sugar-coated placebo designed more to soothe sinners than to convert them.
The gospel according to Jesus stands in stark contrast. Our Lord frequently chased the most enthusiastic inquirers away. We have already studied His challenge to the rich young ruler. That was no isolated episode in His evangelistic ministry. Luke 9:57 – 62, for example, relates how Jesus ran off three other hot prospects. Think also of the crowds that followed Jesus during the early days of His ministry. Why did so many of them turn away (cf. John 6:66)? Because Jesus repeatedly made difficult demands. He commanded those who sought eternal life to deny themselves, forsake all, and follow Him. He never held forth the hope of salvation to anyone who refused to submit to His sovereign lordship. His words to the multitudes in Mark 8:34 – 37 could hardly have been more straightforward: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; and whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's shall save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"
Some have tried to soften that demand by interpreting it as a call for saved people to take a further step of commitment.1 But similar words from the Lord in John 12:24 – 25 make His meaning unmistakable. The subject here is explicitly eternal life and salvation: "Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal" (emphasis added). Forsaking oneself for Christ's sake is not an optional step of discipleship subsequent to conversion; it is the sine qua non of saving faith.
1. Cf. Zane C. Hodges, Th e Hungry Inherit (Portland, Ore.: Multnomah, 1980), 77 – 91.