Abandoned Love

I have been a student of Christian biography for years. I just love reading biographies of men and women whom God has used to reach their generation with the gospel. And there seems to be a common denominator between those who are among the mighty dead, and that is they were individuals who threw their lives away for Christ and the sake of souls.

They lived with an abandoned love, for they had abandoned their reputations. They had abandoned the love of the world. They had abandoned their love of money, love of the flesh, and abandoned, in many cases, their very own lives for God and eternity.

I like what C.T. Studd said. C.T. Studd was a missionary who had a millionaire for a father, and he abandoned his inherited wealth for the sake of the gospel. C.T. Studd did what the rich young ruler was unwilling to do.

And C.T. Studd burned himself out in the jungles of Africa for the sake of souls. He said the following. The fact remains, God can do little with those who love their lives or reputations.

But there is absolutely no limit to what God can do with men or women who care not whether they live or die, so long as they are allowed to fight for Christ and do the will of God. Studd also wrote, some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.

And he did just that. C.T. Studd lived with an abandoned love toward Christ and the gospel. Jim Elliott, the young missionary martyr who died at the hands of the Aka Indians as a young man, wrote the following in the margin of his Bible.

He wrote, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Jim Elliott gave his life so the gospel could be brought to the Akas. And several years ago, I shook hands with the Aka Indian that speared Jim Elliott.

He was in a church service giving his testimony as a Christian. My message this evening, friends, is entitled Abandoned Love. And my text can be found in the Gospel of Matthew.

You may turn in your Bibles there now. We'll be in chapter 16 in verses 24 through 25. Our Lord Jesus told his disciples what he expected from those who called themselves his followers.

Verse 24 begins, then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man 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. And whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

And I believe this passage from Matthew's Gospel, friends, relates to us not only what Jesus demands from us as his followers in a life of discipleship, but also what we must give to him as we serve him in our generation for the glory of God. These verses speak of the Christian's duty. We are to deny ourself, take up our cross, and follow him.

This speaks of the count and the cost of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. But the next verse speaks of something entirely more drastic than just hardship and self-denial. The next verse speaks volumes of the incapability of man doing something for God, apart from the specifics mentioned in this verse.

It speaks of a total abandonment for God, a giving of all, a giving up of everything we hold dear for the sake of the gospel, a willingness to be made nothing so he can be everything. Listen carefully to the words of our Lord Jesus. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it.

And whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. When I hear those words, I cannot help but thank Christ as our example here. He did not preserve his life but gave himself away for others.

He did not stay in the comforts of heaven but laid off his royal robes and came down to this sin-cursed earth to put on rough-hewn garments. He did not hold his reputation as something dear but abandoned his reputation for me. When Jesus was on his knees in Gethsemane in agony of soul, he sweat drops of blood for me.

When he submitted to his captors and endured their cruel mockings, he took that shame for me. When he went to Calvary and was nailed to that cross, it was a living and dying demonstration of his abandoned love for me. His love typified the words, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it.

And whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. He gave himself for me. His love was an abandoned love.

How much more does he expect the same from me? I should love Christ with an abandoned love. Nothing less. I should be willing to throw my life away for him and the sake of the gospel.

Lose my life for his sake. That way I will really find it. Those are his words.

But do we take them seriously? Do we take him seriously? Years ago, when my life was all sunshine and honey, I wrote the following words in my Bible. And I met them at the time. They were based on Matthew 16, 25.

I wrote these words on the inside cover of my Bible. Oh, what is my life that I should keep it selfishly for me? I choose to lose it so completely and have it found in thee. I asked God to make those words a reality in my life.

And I signed my name beside them. Little did I know at the time what those words would cost me. What price I would pay to enter into that reality of Matthew 16, 25.

Listen, friends. Jesus wants each one of us to live for him with an abandoned love and nothing less. If we attempt to hold on to something, if we attempt to serve him partially with our lives, he cannot use us as he would desire to use us.

He gave his all for you and me and held nothing back. How can I hold anything back from him and still call myself a Christian? The C.T. Studds and Jim Elliotts and T.O. Moody's knew the cost involved in following a crucified savior. And God used them in their generation in the salvation of souls.

T.O. Moody heard a minister one time tell him the following. The world has yet to see what God can do with the man wholly consecrated to him. Moody walked away and muttered beneath his breath.

By God's grace, I will be that man. Moody lived for Jesus with an abandoned love. And it was said of T.O. Moody when he died that he depopulated hell of a million souls.

Listen, dear friend. If you have a desire to live for God in your generation, in an abandonment to him, do you think he would give you that desire and then not give you the ability to make it a reality? How serious are you is the question. Are you willing to throw your life away for Christ and the sake of the gospel? Are you willing to love Jesus with an abandoned love that cares not for yourself or reputation? We tend to hinder our own usefulness in our generation by our own selfishness.

We sometimes say with our lips that we want to do this and that for God. But deep down, we really don't mean it. But God is looking for the man.

God is looking for the woman who is totally sold out to him. He's looking for the person who's willing to live on the out and out for him. One day, T.O. Moody was taking a stroll in New England with a Boston minister who asked, Mr. Moody, can I ask you a question? When I sign my name, I put D.D. after it because I am a doctor of divinity.

But I have noticed when you sign your name, you put the letters O.O. What does that mean? To this, T.O. Moody replied, I am Moody on the out and out for Christ. Listen, dear friend, do you wish to be a member in the out and out club as well? Do you hunger to live on the full stretch for your God? But something has been holding you back. I really believe the trouble with most of us is the stark reality that we're not willing to flesh out Matthew 16, 25 in our lives.

We tiptoe up to the brink of actually throwing our lives away for Christ. And we pull back to a more secure position. We love our reputations too much.

We love our own skins too much. But listen, friend, wouldn't you rather burn out for God and die young than live to an old age of conformity, comfortableness, and less usefulness? W. Graham Scroggie said of Stephen, Stephen's day of ministry had scarcely begun when it was violently ended. But the greatness of one's life must not be looked for in length of days.

Stephen means crown, and early did he receive his. We live in desperate times, and few of us realize how little time we each have left in this world to serve our God. God can remove any one of us at any time without any notice.

We have no guarantee of tomorrow. When I contemplate how much time I've already wasted in my life, I'm grieved in my spirit. How I wish I could go back and erase the years of idleness and foolishness and sin.

But I cannot. I can only live each day as God gives it to me, and the grace to live it for him and his glory. C.T. Studd's words cut me like a knife.

Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. That's all that matters, friends.

Eternity is all that matters. Things we hold dear and place such importance on now will one day be mere dust. God can bring you to that place of utter abandonment to him in service to him.

If you hunger for it, friend, it can be your greatest reality. Listen to this verse, my dear friends, found in 2 Chronicles 16 9. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. God wants to do something great through you, friend.

He wants to show himself strong through your surrendered life. He wants to bring the rivers of water gushing in, flowing and waterfalls through your life as a means of blessings to others. Go to your God, friend, and pray to him that he will make it a reality in your life.

Like Jim Elliott said, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Let that be your prayer, friend.

Oh, how I want to live for my God and my generation and the devil can go on to hell. I want to cry out like praying Hyde of India. Lord, give me souls or I die.

Let me go to God in prayer at this time, friends, and let each of us steal our hearts before our God and ask him to give us the ability to love him with a more abandoned love. Great God, give me the grace to serve you as I should in these last days until your return. Give me the grace to love you with an abandoned love.

Stamp eternity on my eyelids and touch my lips with a coal from thy altar. Burn within me, Holy Spirit, a flame of such intensity that others will feel the heat. Lord Jesus, you love me with an abandoned love.

When you died for me, you held nothing back but gave your all. You gave your very blood for my wretched sins. Great God, grant me the grace to live above this world and to be used of you in such a way as to cut a channel so deep that the influence will be felt in my generation.

Let me live on the out and out for thee. Let me burn out for thee in thy glory. What is my life that I should keep it? Selfishly for me, I choose to lose it so completely and have it found in thee.