When Luther pinned his 95 Thesis on the door of the church at Wittenberg, he had 95 declarations to make. Declaration number four called for self-hate. Nobody comes into God's Kingdom that does not hate himself. And the word "let him deny himself," the word here, the Greek term means to refuse to associate with. It is to disdain yourself. It is to refuse to associate any longer with the person you are.
Salvation is not about self-fulfillment, it is about self-denial. It is not about self-love, it is about self-hate. It is not about self-esteem, it is about self-disdain, disappointment. It is the rejection of who you are. It is hating yourself and loving God. And so the sinner is in an impossible situation because of his fallenness pride dominates his life, on his own he can not hate himself, and because he loves himself he cannot love God perfectly. But that is how you get into the Kingdom.
The Bible makes it clear that no matter what people’s “felt needs” may be, their real need is for forgiveness and salvation from sin, so as to escape eternal hell and enter the bliss of heaven. A fulfilled life, a happy marriage, a loving friendship, a successful career—those “needs” pale in comparison with the eternal issue facing every human being. It does not make any sense, then, for pastors to focus all of their energies on temporal surface attitudes while leaving the most profound eternal needs unaddressed. Besides, a true understanding of eternal life changes how you react to the passing troubles of this life.
The Bible also makes it clear that genuine belief includes more than just mental assent (cf. James 2:19). Biblical faith is more than just a profession of faith; it is a change of allegiance—from the mastery of sin to the lordship of Christ. It certainly would be convenient for me to preach a gospel that says, “If you’ve ever made a profession of faith in Jesus, then you’re saved, even if there’s nothing in your life to validate that claim.” But I can’t do that, because that’s not the true gospel. The true gospel repeatedly commands unbelievers to repent (Matthew 4:17; 11:20–21; Mark 6:12; Luke 5:32; 13:3, 5; 15:7, 10; 24:47; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 11:18; 17:30; 20:21; 2 Corinthians 7:9–10; 2 Timothy 2:25) and declares, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:6). It urges you to “test” yourself “to see if you are in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5), and reminds you that believers will be known “by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16-18; cf. Luke 6:43–44). So I preach the Bible because I want to make sure I’m preaching the true gospel, not a gospel of my own imagination.
(John MacArthur, www.gty.org)
Everyone would like to go to heaven, but know one wants to keep God's commandments
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