Loss of Everlasting Rewards
Mark 8:34-38
Matthew 16:24-26
Luke 9:23-26

And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.  For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?  Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

The second and third sentences of this section start with the word For,  which means that they are giving us reasons why we should obey the first sentence.  The last sentence starts with the words: Whosoever therefore,  which means that it is giving us the conclusion.  Knowing where you are going, and why, often helps people to obey a command that they naturally do not want to obey.  Who wants to obey a command to deny himself, and take up his cross daily?  Yet, our Lord obviously believes that some people will obey if they truly understand the reasons given here.  Therefore, we will start with the reasons and work back to the command.

1. The second part of Mark 8:38 says: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.  The phrase when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels  is talking about the return of Christ to rule and reign for 1,000-year.  The phrase of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed  is talking about how Jesus Christ will feel about some saved people who are in Heaven at the time that he returns.
• Matthew 10:32-33 says: Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.  If Jesus Christ is ashamed of some saved people, and denies them before my Father which is in heaven,  they will not be able to return with Him to rule and reign on Earth.
• The parables of the pounds (Luke 19) and of the talents (Matthew 25) warn us that the person who did not return a profit to their Lord, after their Lord told them to work for a profit in His kingdom, lost the single pound / talent that they had.  Thus they will be eternal paupers.
• Further, Matthew 25:30 tells us And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  This is not in Hell but a place in Heaven where God puts useless souls until after the great white throne judgment (Revelation 20:11).
• The two sentences before this one are part of the context and also show us this truth.  However, before we look at those sentences we need to consider the start of this sentence.
2. The first part of Mark 8:38 says: Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation.  Most people use the world's definition for the word adultery.
• The true Biblical definition is: 'A spiritual sin of violating a covenant agreement (spiritual contract) that is enforced by the court of God'.
• Thus, when Jesus says: this adulterous and sinful generation, He is identifying: 'A generation of people who make a spiritual covenant with God to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and then refuse to obey Him while pursuing sin'.
• The people who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation are God's people who refuse to loudly and publiclyrebuke sin.  They may do it in private, but they are not willing to suffer the consequences of doing so loudly and publicly.
3. Thus, what Mark 8:38 is telling us is that saved people who agree to accept Jesus as their personal Lord, and then refuse to obey His command to be a witness of Him and His words to their lost neighbors, will go to Heaven because they are saved.  However, he will be ashamed of them and not allow them to return for the 1,000-year reign of Christ on this Earth.

Our two sentences before the last said: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

• We have three parts; our soul our spirit and our body.  Our spirit is the real us.  It is attached to our body at conception and leaves the body at death.  Our soul is the long-term way that we think, the way that we make decisions and the way that we react emotionally to the circumstances of this life.  At death, our spirit takes our soul with it.
• Isaiah 55:8 says: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.  Unless we receive, and learn to follow, the mind of Christ  and the will of God in this life, we will not enjoy Heaven like we would if we receive, and learn to follow, the mind of Christ  and the will of God in this life.
• When our sentence says: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world,  Jesus is pointing out that anything which we gain in the world  will be left behind at death.  Therefore, there is no true profit'.  However, the time and effort spent gaining a profit in this world prevent saved people from gaining the 'mind of Christ  and the will of God in this life.  Thus, these people lose  the opportunity to mature their soul  in a way that will increase their enjoyment of eternity.  This eternal loss is what Jesus means by lose his own soul.

We see this truth more in the next prior sentence where we read: For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.

• When Jesus says whosoever will save his life,  He does mean refusing to be a martyr but he also means preserving the enjoyments of this world and flesh which come from the lusts of the flesh.  If we concentrate on getting everything that this world has to offer, we won't have the time to lay up treasure in Heaven.  The more treasure in Heaven  that a person has when they die, the more they will enjoy their everlasting life after they get to Heaven.  Therefore, when Jesus says that such a person shall lose it,  he means that they will lose all of the things which would make their eternal life more enjoyable.  Think about the difference in 'quality of life' between a typical dirt farmer and a typical multimillionaire.  That difference in 'quality of life' is what saved people can lose for eternity.
• When Jesus says whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it,  He is telling us how to get the best 'quality of life' in eternity.  The more that we neglect the desires of our flesh and this world, so that we can spend our time serving Jesus and the Gospel, the more treasure in heaven  we will have.  In addition, our spending time serving Jesus and the Gospel will get us the mind of Christ  and the will of God in this life, which will save our soul.  Finally, our spending time serving Jesus and the Gospel will return a spiritual profit to God, which will earn us a well done,  a crown and a place in the 1,000-year reign of Christ.

This brings us to our First sentence where Jesus told us what to do in order to get the best eternal results.  There we were told: Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  The details of this sentence are:

1. When we come after Jesus  we are seeking to go to Heaven like he did.  Our phrase is speaking about the truly Biblically saved ending up where Jesus is.
1. come  is and action verb.  People can not go to Heaven unless they actively obey God's command to call upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:12-13.  This means to 'trust in His power and authority to make you a child of God'.  Heaven is God's personal home.  He only allows His children to go there when they die.  All others are sent to the lake of fire to spend eternity with their spiritual father who is the devil.
2. after  means going the same way that he went and doing the same things that Jesus did in the way that He did them and striving for the same goal as He strove for.  That means devoting this life to being God's servant so that we can have eternal rewards after we get to Heaven.  (John 8:29 says: And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.).
3. me  means that Jesus is the only Saviour that there will ever be.  Acts 4:12 says: Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
4. Those who truly want to go to Heaven, where Jesus went, must obey the Bible like He did.  They must call upon the name of the Lord,  like the Bible commands, or they will not go to Heaven like Jesus did.
2. let him deny himself:  God does not lie like the devil does.  God does not tell you that you can spend this life fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and then go to a mansion in heaven and live in eternal bliss.  That is a lie of the devil.  God tells you that you will have to deny the lusts of your flesh.  He will be with you and help you to do this, but it is not optional.  The process of doing this denial will actually make you enjoy Heaven better by the things that you learn as you trust and obey God.
1. let  is the action verb of creation in Genesis 1.  This verb does not just mean to give permission with the option of not obeying but is a command from God.
2. deny  means: 'to refuse to grant oneself the desires of the flesh'.  This means stop seeking comfort and the things which give you status with peers and anything else that will interfere with doing what God wants you to do.
3. himself: Too many people want to deny God and the God given authority in their life like pastor and parents.
3. and take up his cross: his speaks of hard painful work.  Luke tells us that we must do this daily.
1. and  means that 'this is added to what came before'.  We can not obey this phrase until after we obey the prior phrase.
2. cross  speaks of suffering in this world.  This makes many people turn back from truly serving Jesus Christ.  However, they forget the promise of 1Corinthians 10:13, which is: There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
3. take up  means that we must willingly step forward and accept this suffering.  God will not force it on us.  However, neither will we get the eternal rewards without willingly doing this thing.
4. and follow me
1. and  means that this phrase is added to the prior phrase like we take repeated steps up a staircase.  This phrase can not be truly done until the prior two steps are truly done and done in the order specified.
2. follow  means 'to move in the same direction as the leader'.
3. me  means that we follow the example of Jesus on how to act in this flesh.  Please see the study called What Did Jesus Do?

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