JESUS, I MY CROSS HAVE TAKEN Mark 8:34 Introduction Sermon JESUS, I MY CROSS HAVE TAKEN Mark 8:34 Introduction

The cross was the symbol of execution and death.

JESUS, I MY CROSS HAVE TAKEN by Henry Lyte, 1824

The Biblical truth undergirding the hymn is that since all the Big Eternal Questions are resolved through the Person and work of Christ, then we as believers can know supernatural joy and peace, even in the midst of trials.

Taking up our cross is SOMEONE WE MEET before it is something we do.

MARK 8 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 

35 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?

PHIL 3:7-8 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ

EPH 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,. . .

Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow Thee; Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou from hence my all shall be. Perish every fond ambition, All I’ve sought or hoped or known; Yet how rich is my condition, God and heav’n are still my own.

Psalm 73:25-26 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

1 Peter 4:12-14 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; 13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. 

14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

John 15:18-19 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

Let the world despise and leave me, They have left my Savior, too. Human hearts and looks deceive me; Thou art not, like man, untrue; And while Thou shalt smile upon me, God of wisdom, love, and might, Foes may hate and friends may shun me; Show Thy face, and all is bright.

JOHN 14:27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

PSALM 119:50, This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your word has revived me. :67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. :71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.

Psalm 119 :75 I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. :92 If Your law had not been my delight, Then I would have perished in my affliction.

Man may trouble and distress me, ‘Twill but drive me to Thy breast; Life with trials hard may press me, Heav’n will bring me sweeter rest. O ‘tis not in grief to harm me While Thy love is left to me; O ‘twere not in joy to charm me, Were that joy unmixed with Thee.

“harm will not bring me grief while God loves; it would be no joy at all if that joy were mixed with anything other than You Lord.”

Psalm 94:16ff. Who will stand up for me against evildoers? Who will take his stand for me against those who do wickedness? 17 If the Lord had not been my help, My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.

18 If I should say, "My foot has slipped," Your lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up. 19 When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.

JAMES 1:2-5 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

ROMANS 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Go, then, earthly fame and treasure, Come disaster, scorn and pain In Thy service, pain is pleasure, With Thy favor, loss is gain I have called Thee Abba Father, I have stayed my heart on Thee Storms may howl, and clouds may gather; All must work for good to me.

ROMANS 8:15FF 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 

17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Phil 1:21-22 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose…

Rom 8:31-32 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord

Gal 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Take, my soul, Thy full salvation; Rise o’er sin and fear and care; Joy to find in every station Something still to do or bear. Think what Spirit dwells within thee, What a Father’s smile is thine, What a Savior died to win thee: Child of heav’n, shouldst thou repine?

Eph 5:16-17 …in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Phil 3:20,21 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

2 Cor 4:16ff Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 

18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Hasten on from grace to glory, Armed by faith and winged by prayer; Heav’n’s eternal days before thee, God’s own hand shall guide thee there. Soon shall close thy earthly mission, Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days; Hope shall change to glad fruition, Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

LIFE LOOKS DIFFERENT WHEN VIEWED FROM ETERNITY.

DYING TO SELF=Taking up Your Cross When you are forgotten, neglected or purposely set at nought, and you don’t sting or hurt with the insult or the oversight, but your heart is happy at being counted worthy for being able to suffer for Christ, that is Taking up Your Cross.

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient loving silence, that is Taking up Your Cross.

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any impunctuality, any annoyance, when you come face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensitivity and endure it as Jesus endured it, that is Taking up Your Cross.

When you are content with any food, any offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God, that is Taking up Your Cross.

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or to recount your own good works or to itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown, that is Taking up Your Cross.

When you can see your brothers and sisters have their needs met, and you can honestly rejoice in spirit and feel no envy nor question God while your own needs are far greater and in more desperate circumstances, that is Taking up Your Cross.  

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly finding no rebellion or resentment rising in your heart, that is Taking up Your Cross.

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND ROOTS, BRANCHES, FRUIT  

The ABC’s of coming to faith – A - Admit that you’re weak and need grace and strength – That means there is GOOD NEWS FOR YOU   B- Believe that Jesus is the only savior who can heal your heart. C- confess to God that you want to trust Jesus as your savior and Lord.