Luke 9:23-27 - 5 Verses That Will Change Your Life!

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That does two things.

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One, to secure interest and also to gain attention.

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I want you to know this morning that this passage we're going to look at needs no introduction.

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Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.

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For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

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What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

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For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the

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Father and of the holy angels. But I truly say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.

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Certainly five verses that I think will change your life. Take your Bibles and please turn to Luke chapter nine.

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We are working through the Bible, 66 books of the Bible, all put into one with one author, the

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Holy Spirit. And we know that the Bible is sufficient for all of our spiritual needs. We know it is authoritative.

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We know it is infallible. We know it's God's, God's, uh, it's breathed out by God.

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And this morning we're going to look at five verses in Luke nine, verses 23 through 27 that I think will change your life, dear

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Christian. And not only that, but believing in these verses and the man who said these verses, the

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Lord Jesus, not only change your life, but it'll cost you your life.

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Question this morning is what does a Christian look like? The question this morning is what's the sum of Christianity?

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Once God saves you through faith alone in Christ alone, how do you live after that?

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And by the way, is it beneficial? If it's a difficult life to live as a Christian, is the payoff worth it?

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Is there even a payoff? While entering the kingdom is through resting, receiving, accepting faith alone.

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Once we enter the kingdom by God's grace and you, we are united with Christ Jesus, there is a cost.

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There is sweat. There is toil. There is denial. There is picking up crosses.

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And so this morning we're going to look at Luke nine verses 23 through 27. If you're new to the church, welcome.

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We're just going chapter by chapter, verse by verse, because we just can't wait to see what's next. As a pastor, that's one of my favorite things is what is in the passage for next week?

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What's coming up? What can I learn? What can I be convicted of? What can I be encouraged in?

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Dear Christian, you have died with Christ and therefore you need to die to sin.

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That's what Romans six is. You've been raised with Christ and therefore you're raised to a newness of life so you can live for Jesus Christ.

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The Bible teaches in Colossians two, when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him.

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Having forgiven us all our trespasses are literally, he's graced you. You Christian are graced, not just unmerited favor and then given favor, but demerited favor, sin, and God gives you grace.

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So after God gives you grace, how do you live? And that's what we're going to look at this morning.

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We're saved by grace and grace alone. We receive that grace by faith and by faith alone. But after God saves you, how do you live?

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What's the response to God's saving work? So this morning for an outline, if you like outlines, by the way, do you like outlines?

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Most do. Put you on the spot. I mean, how can you say we hate outlines? But I give outlines because then you can see progression, you can work your way through it.

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It kind of helps you know what's going on with the text. The outline is simple. Two questions regarding this

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Christian life. I'm going to ask and answer, what are the two questions about the Christian life?

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And those two questions are, what are Christ's demands for discipleship and is it worth it? Two questions regarding the

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Christian life. What are Christ's demands for discipleship and is it worth it?

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Now, before we start, I want to make sure we understand two kind of initial things. Take a look at verse 23.

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Jesus said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

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This is not just a call to the disciples. This is a call to anyone and everyone.

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This is a call, not just for a select few, Peter, James, and John, just people in the Bible. This is for everyone.

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If anyone would come after me. And secondly, remember the context back in verse 18 of Luke chapter nine.

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Remember what was going on last time? So it'll help us understand where we are and where we're going to go.

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Luke 9, 18. Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him and he asked them, who do the crowds say that I am?

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And the answer, John the Baptist, but others say Elijah. And others, one of the prophets of old has risen.

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Then he said to them, but who do you say that I am? And Peter, the spokesperson said, the

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Christ of God. As you know, because you've been paying attention, Luke is trying to help us understand who

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Jesus is, that we might have certainty that this is the Messiah because certainly will we sin certainly will die.

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And we need to stand before God, blameless and righteous in the stead of another. And it needs to be someone who is the

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Messiah, the anointed one, the perfect one, a representative, a substitute, yes, a risen savior.

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So Luke wants you to know who Jesus is. Early on in chapter one, the angel said to Mary, you will bear a son and his name will be

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Jesus. He will be great and he'll be called the son of the most high. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father,

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David. And so early on in chapter one, who is this Jesus? He's going to be the

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Messiah. He is the Messiah rather. John the Baptist in chapter three, he knew who Jesus was.

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Satan in the temptation in Luke chapter four. If you're the son of God, I know you're the son of God, but prove it.

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Satan knew that Jesus is the son of God. The demons said, have you come to destroy us, the holy one of God?

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They knew, but not everybody knows. The disciples even said, who then is this that he commands even the winds and the water and they obey him.

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Peter had it right. Jesus is the Messiah, but he didn't have it completely right. Verse 21.

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Remember he had a good confession. He had a great confession, but the Messiah has something else that he's going to do, not just rule and reign, but also suffer.

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And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one. Verse 22, Luke nine, Jesus said of himself, the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed.

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And on the third day be raised. Jesus is saying, yes, in fact,

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I'm the Messiah and Peter, that's a good confession, but don't forget, I'm also the suffering servant who has to be killed.

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It's the providential purpose of God to do whatever thy hand and thy purpose predestined to occur.

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So now we move to our outline. Two questions from Luke nine, 23 through 27 regarding the

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Christian life. Question one, what does Christ demand for discipleship? What does

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Christ demand for discipleship? And you'll see it's right there in 23. If anyone would come after me, here's the first demand, let him deny himself.

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The second command, pick up his cross daily. And the third command, follow me. Now, sometimes people use these verses to say, you know what, this is how you become a

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Christian. You tell unbelievers to deny themselves, to pick up their cross daily and to follow me.

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They use these verses as like the entry point into Christianity. And we know better. We know sola fide, faith alone.

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The way you come into the kingdom, the way you receive the benefits of Jesus is by faith and faith alone, not by faith and baptism, faith and circumcision, faith and good works, faith and self -denial, faith and taking up your cross.

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Matter of fact, do you see in verse 23, let him deny himself and take up his cross what? Daily. These are commands to people who are believing in Jesus.

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These are commands to Christians. This is not about earning salvation. This is about the inevitable result of salvation.

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There are consequences to when God saves you. And those consequences are good works. Those consequences are self -denial.

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Those consequences are in many ways acting just like Jesus who denied himself and did what the father said.

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To say it one more time, the root of your salvation is Christ Jesus and his work.

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The father sent him. The fruit is going to be self -denial and picking up your cross.

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The way you receive the benefits is by faith and faith alone, accepting, resting, receiving.

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And immediately after God saves you and gives you the spirit of God, there will be consequences in your life.

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There will be evidences. There will be results. The root is Jesus and the fruit is here.

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Come after in Jesus by denying, take up his cross daily and following him.

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Let's look at that first demand for Christian living. And that is let him deny himself.

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Let him deny himself. I mean, I thought to myself, this is so counter -cultural.

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Deny yourself. This is what Christians are to do to deny self.

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I found all kinds of self words in the dictionary. Self -centered, self -seeking, self -love, self -importance, selfish, self -will, self -assured, self -reliant, self -righteous.

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How about selfies? Everything's just about self and how we promote self.

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I mean, social media is interesting because, you know, you don't usually see pictures of sad people or out of shape people or, you know, you just see people living their best life and promoting self.

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I'm not saying all social media is bad. I'm just saying lots of times it magnifies self. And here

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Jesus says, I've saved you. I've given you the spirit. You're united to Christ Jesus through the

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Holy Spirit. And what's a disciple look like? A disciple looks like someone who denies themselves.

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Interesting. Eric Fromm said John Calvin was a pest because John Calvin, that pest, said, for so blindly do we all rush into the direction of self -love that everyone thinks he has a good reason for exalting himself and despising all others in comparison.

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Calvin said, we just run to promote ourselves. And Fromm said, what a pest. Well, we like to promote ourselves. It's good to promote ourselves.

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One man said, Eve did the right thing in opting for self. And if we're not careful, if I'm not careful, seeped into the

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Christian life is self, self, self. Isn't that so unlike Jesus to be involved about self?

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I'm here to do the Father's will, Jesus said. I've been sent to do the Father's will. I always do what's pleasing to the

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Father. Not my will, but thy will be done. My food,

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Father, is to do your work. John chapter 17, Jesus said, have you accomplished the work that you gave me to do?

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While our self -denial isn't exactly like Jesus, Jesus says, it's pretty similar. Jesus denied self all the way to the cross and disciples of Jesus are to deny self.

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If someone said, what's the core of the Christian life? Not asking how do you get saved, not asking who

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Jesus is, but in terms of the category of sanctification, holy living, what's the core?

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How could you summarize it and distill it into what I should do? And make it simple.

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These two words, deny self. That's at the heart. That's at the core. Matthew Henry said, by the way, how many people have

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Matthew Henry commentaries? By the way, how many people have never read the commentaries that they have by Matthew Henry?

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Everyone has it, but hardly anyone reads it. I commend it to you. He said, self -denial is the first lesson in Christ's school.

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Deny self. Calvin even upped it a little bit and said, it's the sum of the

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Christian life. Because when you deny self, then you live for the Lord.

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When you say no to self, then you say yes to Christ Jesus. Now to deny self doesn't mean you deny something or someone.

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I'm giving up fish for lent. I'm not going to have chocolate for a season. I'm going to act like a monk or be aesthetic.

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I'm giving up electronics. I'm giving up such and such. That's not deny self. That's denying something or someone.

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This is to deny your own self. This is saying my own self -determination, my own desires,

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I have to say no to. By saying no to flesh, we say yes to the

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Lord Jesus. R .C.

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Sproul said, it's saying no to the old man. It's the mortification of sin.

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Taking up the cross is the path of discipleship for those who were already saved by grace.

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You Christian have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God with your what? Body. We're united to Christ.

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We have union with him by the spirit. And now we're supposed to live for him, not for ourselves.

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We're not our own. I had to ask myself this question this week.

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Mike, is that your desire to deny yourself? Is there any fruit in your life,

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Mike, that would deny self? Do you want to deny self more often?

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Mike, do you get convicted when you don't deny self? Those are questions not for me. I think you should ask yourself those questions as well.

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I mean, it's built into us in the warp and woof to affirm self and exalt self, and it's just self, self, self.

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I think John the Baptist had it right, did he not? I mean, we could summarize deny self with John the Baptist words.

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I want to decrease so that he what? Increases. John Stott said the greatest scandal of Christians Christianity today is nominal

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Christianity, where you just say you're a Christian and there's no self denial.

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And of course, to deny self, we're going to need grace. That's what Titus 2 says. The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness, saying no to self, and worldly passions, saying no to self, and to live self -controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age.

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Jesus probably could have said, you know what Christianity is like? You're to be a repenter, and you're to repent of your bad repentance.

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Adrian Rogers says, if you don't deny yourself, you'll deny Jesus. It's just one or the other.

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To deny self, I could use words like this, and this would typify deny self.

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You surrender your life to Jesus as a Christian. You submit your life to Jesus and his commands as a

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Christian. You yield yourself to Jesus and who he is as a Christian. You treasure his commands and who he is as a

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Christian. That's denying self. No to self, yes to God. When I got saved,

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I said to the Lord, I'll go anywhere for you, and I'll do anything for you, and if you would even give me enough grace to die for you,

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I'm willing to die for you. Did some of you say the same kind of thing when you got saved? If anybody would love me so and save my sins and die in my place, my response of gratitude is,

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I'll go anywhere. I'll do anything. I'm ready to go. I have my own hopes and dreams and five -year plan, ten -year plan, this, that, and the other.

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As most of you know, I never wanted to be a pastor, but I said to the

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Lord, those fateful words, I'll go anywhere. I didn't know he was going to bring me to Massachusetts, by the way, like the home of Larry Bird and Kevin McHale, but I'll go anywhere for you.

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Now I'm a local. You have no idea. Lord, you've saved me.

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I'll go anywhere. I'll do anything. I mean, I'm wondering if the church our size, maybe it's a good question to ask, why are there so few that say,

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I'm willing to go anywhere to do anything for you, and I'll go be a missionary. I'll go be a pastor. I'll be the pastor's wife.

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I'll be a missionary wife. Lord, you bought me. You sought me with your redeeming love, and I'm all in.

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You send me someplace. I'm going. Lord, you've saved me, and you've given me a desire to honor you and deny myself, so let me just serve others.

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Let me just pour out to others. For those of you that are serving at Bethlehem Bible Church and nursery and chairs and all these places that just day after day, the daily grind in the kitchen, thank you.

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Thank you, and for those of you that come to church, and you say, I want to worship, and maybe you do a few things here or there, but you don't really have a ministry,

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I'll ask you the question. Do you think you really are denying self and having no ministry? It's not too late to deny self.

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Well, I want this, and I want that, and I want the other thing. Someone said the middle letter in the word sin is what?

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This is what I want and desire and hopes and dreams, but you've been bought with a price. I've been bought with a price.

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The Christian life could be described as a life of self -denial, but not only that, another way to say it, secondly, how do you describe

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Christian discipleship? What's a Christian life look like? It looks like self -denial, and now, in addition to, it's kind of another way to say the same thing, let him deny himself,

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Jesus said, and take up his cross daily. This is tied with denying self up to and including death.

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This is not wearing a cross, this is the cross. This is not, you know what, my wife irritates me, she's the cross that I have to bear.

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This is not, I've got a bad back, this is the cross I have to bear. Obviously, there are difficulties in life, but what

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Jesus is talking about is not a physical ailment or a nagging spouse. We're so far removed from the death penalty in this country, people don't even want the death penalty, and they've voted against it.

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Think about capital punishment back in those days when Rome ruled Jerusalem, and you were condemned to death, and you would be led through the street or dragged through with the crossbar, with the beam for your own cross, for all to see public execution.

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Jesus is saying, you're to deny yourself. How much? Up to what point?

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How far? Up to death. Up to death. If you want to come after me, be prepared to be led out to public execution, humiliated by being crucified, following my example, and no one gets out unscathed.

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Do you notice the text again? Take up his cross daily. His cross.

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Everyone's got one. Sometimes it's up to death. Peter crucified upside down, they said, according to tradition, and sometimes just smaller things for the sake of the

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Lord Jesus. Take up his cross decisively. I want that as my desire.

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I know you want that for your desire. Lord, if I have to die for you, then

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I want to be able to do that. And if I have to go through other difficulties in this life for your behalf, whatever you give me,

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I want to honor you. It's hard though.

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I mean, remember when we talked about this a couple of weeks ago, after Jesus said some of these things, Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you,

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Lord, this shall never happen to you. But he turned to Peter and said, get behind me, Satan. You're not setting your mind on things of God, but on things of men.

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And Jesus could have said to Peter, these words, I must go to Calvary to be crucified.

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And you're my follower. And you've got a cross too. Willingness to be persecuted, even die, or have any other trouble that comes your way.

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Because it's death to self. It's denying self. No wonder those verses that I read in Colossians chapter three to start the service, put to death therefore what is earthly in you.

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This isn't how to become a Christian. You don't become a Christian by self -denial and picking up a cross.

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Once you're a Christian, this is your life. Horton said, we're not saved by taking up our crosses.

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We're saved unto a life that includes it. He's right. Self -centered, self -denial, hopes and dreams and aspirations, crucifixion.

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Remember Jesus on the cross? One of the things that Jesus said on the cross was,

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Father, what? Forgive them. They don't have any idea what they're doing. Lincoln Duncan said,

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I wonder if there's someone that you need to forgive. You're like, wow, what does that have to do with anything?

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A picking up cross and forgiveness. Duncan said, whatever that prayer means of Jesus and whatever that prayer accomplished,

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I'm struck by the fact that there is Jesus being wronged and he's praying, Father, forgive them.

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I want to suggest to you that you may well be that your work in self -denial and picking up your cross will involve forgiveness.

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Anybody you need to forgive? Moms, dads, husbands, wives. Southern Baptists say things like this.

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We're not instructed to try. We're instructed to die. Take up your cross.

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I mean, we just say it as Christians. It's Christianese. But all you'd have to do is look at a person on a cross. They say up to 30 ,000 people roamed crucified.

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And all you have to do is go through your five senses and you'd go by sight and you'd see the blood and you'd see the pain and you'd see the excruciating issues, the sounds of people yelling and trying to breathe, the smells, the flies, the maggots, the bloated bodies.

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Some of you know the man named A .W. Tozer. I think of two things when

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I think of Tozer. Tozer was really a good Bible teacher. But then when he got old, he got crabby and mean.

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And I was thinking to myself, Mike, don't be like A .W. Pink. He did the same thing. Got crabby and older.

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Now I know how Steve feels because if you're out of the pulpit for one week,

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I forgot what I'm doing here. Go to a conference for a week. I don't even know how to preach, how to talk.

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But Tozer said, you know what? I'll tell you something about a crucified person. They're facing only one direction.

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They've said their final goodbyes and they have no further plans of their own. They're facing one direction.

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They're not going back because they've said their final goodbyes and there's no further plans of their own. I want that.

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I want that to be my response. Lord, I'm yours. You save me. I know that's what you want as well.

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That's the Christian life. Death to self, death to self -interest. We know what love is.

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Jesus Christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. First John 3 .16.

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I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life that I live in the body,

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I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Therefore I urge you brothers in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices.

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If you go rent a car, fill out all the paperwork and sign all the indemnity forms and everything else and I don't know about you, but I don't read those eight pages.

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I just sign my life away. There's so much fine print.

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I can't go through all the fine print. Deny self, pick up your cross daily is not in the

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Christian fine print. It's big, it's bold, it's right there. You want to come after me? My disciples are like me essentially.

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I, Jesus, deny myself. I'm picking up my cross and I'm going to require the same of you.

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Thirdly, Christians follow Jesus. What's discipleship look like? What's a Christian life look like? Now there's other times we can talk about the joys that God has given us and we can enjoy things that he's freely made for us.

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First Timothy, there's there's room for all that, but right now here in Luke, Jesus is trying to say,

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I just fed 25 ,000 people and I can provide and I want you to know I am the Messiah, but the

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Messiah I am is a suffering Messiah and a suffering Messiah has suffering servants 2 ,000 years ago and now.

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And so he's talking about that and so we deny self, we pick up the cross daily and we follow Jesus. It's right there in verse 23 and follow me, follow

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Jesus example, follow Jesus's teaching, obeying Jesus, follow me.

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And back in those days when Jesus said follow me, I mean they would literally follow. They would go right behind him.

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This is what it means to be a disciple, to follow Jesus. For you've been called for this purpose.

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First Peter two, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth.

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And while being reviled, he did not revile and return while suffering. He uttered no threats and kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously.

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And he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness for by his wounds you're healed.

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What's Christianity look like? Self -denial, pick up your cross, follow Jesus. And you're like that's pretty heavy, that's pretty hard.

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Is it worth it? Is the payoff worth it? Well if I told you no hell, no perdition, no lake of fire, but to see

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God in heaven face to face, that would be enough.

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But Jesus encourages the men and now he says it's going to be worth it. There's value to being a

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Christian. There's a value to saying no to self, yes to the cross, and following Jesus.

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So we come to the second question. Is discipleship worth it? What would Christ demand for discipleship?

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Self -denial, pick up cross, follow me. Is it worth it? That's the question we look at now. The difficult life of Christian discipleship is worth it, number one, because your life will be saved.

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Your life will be saved eternally. Verse 24, for whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

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He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

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And I think you know who said that. Some people call that Christian algebra.

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I don't know what kind of games you played when you were a kid. For us, Red Rover, Red Rover, send the weakest person over.

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Kids, I don't know what they, we played, we didn't play dodgeball, we played war ball. Finders, keepers, losers, what?

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Weepers. And one writer said, that's not the game here, finders, keepers, losers, weepers.

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It's losers, finders, keepers, weepers. I know there's a delay there.

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At least Cran's got it right. I'll say it again. Losers, finders, keepers, weepers.

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Your dad owes you a dollar. Compared to the eternal value of knowing

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Christ and being forgiven, everything else is insignificant. Everything else doesn't matter. Even if I have to say no to self, no to self, yes to the cross, yes to the cross, and follow

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Jesus at my own expense, up until including death. Eternal perspectives are needed.

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You lose your life, you gain it. By the way, Jesus said this often. Luke 17, he'll say it again.

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Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. Matthew 10, whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

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Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

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And John 12, whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

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Jesus is not saying some kind of self -effort saves. Jesus saves by faith alone, through by grace alone, through faith alone.

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But good deeds result. There's evidence. There's the fruit. And we know it's the fruit because who else would say

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I'll lose my life for the sake of the kingdom without the Spirit of God dwelling in them? Who's going to die to self by themselves?

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And the world says look out for number one, and Jesus says you have to be willing to lose it all.

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I want to be like that. I know you want to be like that too. First Peter 1 .6,

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in this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may found to be resulting in the praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus.

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And though you've not seen him, you love him. And though you do not see him now, but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

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In other words, it's worth it. It's worth it. Not only will your life be saved, he just says the same thing on the opposite.

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Your life won't be lost. Verse 25, just as deny self, pick up cross, follow me, are pretty similar.

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They're all related. They kind of go together. So do these. Verse 25, he asked the question. By the way, sometime in your

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Bible study, just say to yourself, I'm going to try to find every question that Jesus asks in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

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I think you'll have a good study. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

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I mean, I think about Ecclesiastes. I think about cancer. I think about death. I think about I'm 65 years old.

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I think about people in the congregation. What if you gain the whole world and lose your whole soul? You gain everything.

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And then. You have to pay for your own sins. I mean,

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I can hear Satan say to Jesus, forget the suffering, forget the cross, forget self -denial.

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You can have it all. It's all yours now. Why think about the cross when you can have the crown now?

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And what Jesus is trying to tell the disciples and us, it's suffering, then glory. It's the cross, then the crown.

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This isn't heaven. By the way, how would you describe heaven? This is kind of a side note from this.

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How do you describe heaven? He gains the whole world. Section right there in verse 25 made me think of that.

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Heaven is going to be better than gaining the entire world. Did you know that?

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How would you like to gain the entire world? I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and my mom got to know

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Warren Buffett's girlfriend and wife, two different people.

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And so Warren Buffett gave us a key to his house. My brother would go over there and mow and all kinds of other things.

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What if he would give us some of his riches? I'll just take 1 % of Warren Buffett's riches.

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Just 1%, that's all I'm asking. It doesn't have to be according to, it can be out of. The whole world you can gain.

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And without Jesus, you're lost. If Warren Buffett doesn't repent, can you imagine? If you're an unbeliever here and you're hoarding and accumulating everything else,

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I mean, think about it. You're young and you're like, well, I'm going to have this house and it's going to be a 1 ,500 square foot house and I'm going to buy this.

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It's worth 2 ,500 and it's going to be 4 ,000 square foot house. I'm going to get this. I'm going to do that. I'm going to have the cars. And pretty soon, if there's not an accident, you're going to be in a rest home in a 40 by 50 foot room with nothing.

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But for the Christian, I want you to know that heaven is greater than gaining the entire world because you are a co -heir with Christ Jesus.

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And it's going to be all yours in Christ. Is it worth it?

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Is saying no to self worth it? Of course it is. Your life's going to be saved.

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It's not going to be lost. And number three found in verses 26 and 27, you're not going to be ashamed.

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You're going to be in glory. You're not going to be ashamed, Christian. You're going to be in glory. The negative is verse 26.

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The positive is 27 verse 26 to start. Whoever is ashamed of me in my words, who

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I am, what I'm going to do, what I will do for us, what he has done of him, the son of man will be ashamed.

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Wow. When he comes in his glory and the glory of the father and of the holy angels, by the way,

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Jesus's words are faithful and true. He is coming back. The second coming is legit, bodily, physically, the one who's true and faithful in Revelation 19, that no one knows his name except himself, who on his thigh is the name written

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King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus is coming back. So by the way, as we do certain things in terms of self -denial, pick up cross, follow

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Jesus, it's worth it because the King is returning and he's going to reward. But for those who say,

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I don't care about Jesus. I'm not a believer. I don't want to trust in him. I'm not so sinful. I don't believe there's just one way.

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When Jesus does come back, those people will be ashamed. Paul said,

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I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God for salvation. For the unbeliever, shame.

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Can you imagine just how awful that is? Could there be a greater sin than to be ashamed of Jesus?

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How wicked, how awful. I'm ashamed of Jesus. I don't want anything to do with him.

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I don't know you. I don't want to know you. I'm not part of who you are. There are terrible consequences for being ashamed of Jesus because to be ashamed of Jesus means

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I reject Jesus. I refuse to believe in Jesus. And that brings eternal judgment and shame.

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To lose one's soul. Jesus is the one, second

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Timothy says, is coming back to judge the living and the dead. But what about us?

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What about us? Verse 27. Here's a little sneak peek for the transfiguration for them, but it's going to be true for us in terms of our glory.

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But truly, I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. Is it worth it to believe in Jesus and then have a life of self -denial, pick up your cross daily and follow

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Jesus? Is it worth it? Well, you get heaven. You don't have to go to hell. And there's glory in your future.

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For three of these men, there was a preview for glory called the transfiguration, because you could see that where we'll be next week.

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Lord willing, for believers, there's not going to be shame.

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It is coming. There's going to be joy. It is coming. Listen to this. Matthew 10. Everyone who acknowledges me before men,

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Jesus said, I will also acknowledge before my father who is in heaven. Can you imagine on that day when you get to heaven?

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This is my child. This is the one father you sent me to ransom and to redeem and to and to bring home to glory.

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No shame, but great rejoicing. If you were to say to me,

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Mike, when you think of heaven, what do you think of the most? I don't say my mom, although I miss my mom.

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By the way, when I get to heaven, I think heaven's just kind of being populated with people. And of course, there's no time in heaven.

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And so I don't think my mom's going to say, I've been waiting for you for 20 years. She's there worshiping.

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And then all of a sudden I'm there worshiping and you're there worshiping. What does that have to do with anything?

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Well, it's a heavy message. So I'm just trying to. What's heaven like?

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Tears. That's true. No pain. That's true. No worrying about tomorrow. That's true.

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No wondering what's going to happen in current events overseas. That's true. Seeing Jesus face to face, the lamb of the center of the throne.

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That's true. I wouldn't want to take away from any of that. But when I think of heaven, the thing that I think of the most is recorded in Matthew 10 that I just read and spelled out in the

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Belgic confession right here. The faithful and the elect will be crowned with glory and honor.

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The son of God will confess their names before God, his father. That's what I think of heaven.

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I mean, sinful, frail, weak, sometimes not self -denying, sometimes not picking up the cross, following Jesus, sometimes not following me, frail, weak.

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He confesses their names before the father and the holy and elect angels.

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All tears will be wiped from their eyes and their cause at present condemned as heretical and evil will be acknowledged as the cause of the son of God.

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OK, here it comes. And as a gracious reward, the Lord will make them possess a glory such as the heart of man could never imagine.

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That's what I think of when I think of heaven, that somehow the father would hear from the son.

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This is who Mike Abendroth is because of me, because of grace, confessing their names before the father.

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He's mine. I look forward to those days. The Christian life is demanding.

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The Christian life should have sweat and toil. Energy, self -denial, picking up the cross and following him.

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But it's worth it because your life will be saved. It won't be lost. And there's glory waiting for you.

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Sign me up. Right, father. Amen. When we say amen, it's just not putting a stamp on an envelope so it gets to heaven.

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When we say amen, we say that's true. That's right. Verily, I say my life on it.

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I, by the grace of God, with you, dear Christians, we're staking our lives upon the fact that Jesus is certainly the

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Messiah. He's our sin bearer and he's conquered death and he's coming back to get us and take us to glory.

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I'm counting on that for my eternal soul. Are you? Of course you are, dear Christian. That's why with all the

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Middle East stuff and all the other stuff going on in the world, we're to be looking up saying, you know what? My eyes are looking upon the hills for there comes my help from him.

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And therefore it's all worth it to say no to self. I think it'd be fair to say if I were to lead in my marriage and say,

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I'm just going to be for this whole week, self -denial, say no to self so I could serve my wife.

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I wonder what our marriage would look like. What? What did

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I say? She's over there saying amen. She's like, this isn't just general

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Christianity. This is marriage, church, school, work, people at work trying to climb to the top and get all the stocks and get all the promotions and pushing other people down.

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This is how a Christian lives at work, at school, with friends and neighbors at church.

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Well, these people at church bug me. And these people, okay, where's self -denial and picking up cross? Where does that come in?

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By the way, it's worth it. As Votie says, I've gone from preaching to meddling.

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Let's pray. All right. Thank you, father, for this word. I'm convicted, but I'm also encouraged because I know what you command us to do.

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You help us to do. And I know if I would give my son something to do, it would be for his good and it would honor me.

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And so father, we know it's for our good to say no to self, pick up cross and follow

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Jesus. And it's worth it. You could just tell us to do it and not even say it's worth it and we should be doing it.

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So I pray that you would transform Bethlehem Bible Church, marriages, work, everything else as we want to follow the

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Lord Jesus. We're saved by faith and faith alone, but that faith isn't alone. So by the spirit's power, help us in Jesus name.