Take Up Your Cross

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church

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Well, good morning church, please turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 9, we're gonna be examining verses 21 to 27.

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When you have that, please do stand for the reading of God's Word. Again, the

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Gospel of Luke chapter 9, starting verse 21, 21. 21. 21.

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21. 21. 21.

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21. 21. 21.

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20. Sovereign Father, we come before You grateful for Your provision of this week.

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We thank you, Lord, that even in the midst of trial, difficulty, sickness for many, you've preserved us even to be here in this moment.

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You've ordained this time to be sacred, holy, set apart for yourself. We ask now,

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Father, that by the working of your Spirit and by the indwelling of your Holy Spirit, you may grant us now peace to receive this word, to lay aside the earthly cares and sorrows and woes, and to set our hearts and attention solely on you and on your

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Word. May you reign supremely in our hearts now as in all times.

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We pray, God, that you'd continue to meet our provisions and our needs according to your riches and mercy in Christ Jesus.

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And Father, by your sovereign decree, let us know even today how it is that you have ordained for us to take up this mantle of this cross.

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And so follow your Son, Jesus Christ, to whom be glory both now and forevermore.

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Amen. In Luke chapter 9, again, starting in verse 21, we see that Jesus, after receiving this great confession of faith from the apostles, from Peter himself, that Jesus is indeed the

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Christ of God, the Son of the living God. He then tells them and charges them to tell no one of this.

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And rather, he goes on to say this, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, be killed, and on the third day be raised.

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Jesus was not one who was looking to be accepted by the people.

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He was not there to win a popularity contest. He was not there to win favor in the eyes of his own people.

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Jesus instead lays out the gospel beforehand to his disciples, and he starts to subvert their expectations that he came to establish a worldly kingdom with Israel ruling over the nations.

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Had he wanted that, he could have simply said, yes, Peter, I am the Messiah, I am the Christ, now go tell everyone, and let's take over Israel.

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And by means of taking over Israel, then we can take over the world. This was the expectation of many people who were expecting

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Messiah in the time of Jesus in the first century. Many were looking for a hero.

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Many were looking for a political ruler, a political revolution that would kick out the

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Gentile foreign powers out of the land so that then they can recoup and come and take over the entire world.

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This was the expectation and is indeed the expectation even today of many Jews who are awaiting the

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Messiah. They keep looking for a political leader who will bring peace to the region, who will allow

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Israel to dwell securely in the land. But Jesus is indeed laying out a different gospel, a different message, a message that subverts their expectations.

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Rather what Jesus does is that he demonstrates himself to be the foretold suffering servant, the suffering

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Messiah. You see, again, they had all these grand ideas of what the Messiah would do, but they forget of the ministry that the

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Messiah would accomplish in his sufferings, primarily in Isaiah chapter 53.

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If you can, please turn there for a moment. In Isaiah the 53rd chapter, starting in verse three, notice what it says about the

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Messiah who would come, the arm of the Lord that was prophesied. Speaking in the past tense, it says, he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

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As one from whom men hid their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

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Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.

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But he was pierced for our transgressions, and he was crushed for our iniquities.

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Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

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Yet notice the tragedy of verse six in this prophecy, and all we, like sheep, have gone astray.

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We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.

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Yet verse seven says, he was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.

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Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

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By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And as for his generation, he was considered that he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgressions of my people.

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And they made his grave with the wicked, with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

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Verse 10, yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him, and to put him to grief.

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When a soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, and the will of the

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Lord shall prosper in his hands. This is the prophecy concerning the

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Messiah. You know what's of interest of this, in this text? I've got many

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Jewish friends, and they've confirmed to me that this entire chapter of Isaiah is never read in the synagogue.

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Throughout the synagogue, they read the Bible yearly, as many churches and organizations do.

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But this chapter, they always skip. They always skip this chapter. I remember I was talking to an evangelist who had evangelized a

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Jew once, and he asked him if he could read a Bible verse from them, from the Bible to them. And he read Isaiah 53, he says, do you have any idea where in the

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Bible this is from? And the Jew responded to the evangelist saying, oh, that must be from your

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New Testament. That must be somewhere in the New Testament, because that sounds a lot like your Jesus. He's like, no, friend, this is from your

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Bible. This is from the book of Isaiah, and this is concerning your Messiah.

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You see, truly, many had forgotten what the Messiah would do and accomplish, knowing first and foremost that Jesus' first mission was to save and seek that which was lost.

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His first mission was not a political one, it was not a military operation, rather, it was a spiritual operation.

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He would come to save his people from their sins. Jesus was one who absorbs our sins, our sorrows, our grief, our transgressions, yet he was one who was to be despised and not even looked upon as esteemed.

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He would be the one who would bear our grief, carry our sorrows, yet he was one as what would be considered smitten by God and afflicted.

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Yes, he was the one who by his wounds we would be healed, but yet the one who would receive the chastisement of our own sins.

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This Jesus, on whom the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all, and who was oppressed and afflicted, was one who knew that his first coming, his first ministry, was one of suffering and death.

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I want you to write this in the notes if you're following along. Jesus foretells his sufferings and death.

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He confirms that he is indeed the suffering servant. He is the arm of the

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Lord that comes to save. As he says again in Luke chapter nine, he says, a son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, the scribes, and to be killed.

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Jesus knew that his mission was one of suffering and death, yet he also preaches the gospel, that not only would he die, but that he would also be raised on the third day.

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Jesus preaches the gospel to his disciples, letting them know that his is not a political operation, but a spiritual operation to save humanity from the depravity and from their sin.

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Surely, it says he charges them not to tell anyone.

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He gives them strict orders. The reason is surely the near certainty of misunderstanding, if it were to be spread abroad, that he is indeed the

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Messiah. People often wonder, why did Jesus not allow his disciples to go tell everyone that, yes, he's the

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Christ, yes, he's the Messiah, yes, he's the Holy One of Israel? It's because it would have likely have caused mad spread, misunderstanding, or misinformation about what the

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Messiah would actually do and accomplish. You see, the eschatological expectations of the people were not in sync with the

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Bible. And I would go so far as to tell you that the same is true today in the Christian church. The eschatological expectations of God's people are not always in line with God's Word.

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So much so that even the apostles, after the death and resurrection of Jesus, ask

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Jesus in Acts chapter 1, Lord, will you now restore the kingdom to Israel? That's the first question they're asking.

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Again, they did not understand the mission of the Messiah. They did not understand true biblical eschatology even at that point in redemptive history.

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And so we too often have misunderstandings about what the future will hold and what the future will bring in regard to the topic of eschatology, the study of the last things.

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And so we have to approach the subject of eschatology humbly as a servant, knowing that the

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Bible sometimes lays out things that are difficult for us to understand and comprehend.

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You see, people in the time of Jesus, the Jews detested their state of subjection to the

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Romans, and they longed for deliverance. They were ready to follow almost anyone who claimed to be the

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Messiah. And in fact, there were many who claimed to be the Messiah around the time of Jesus and started petty revolts.

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Had Jesus been widely hailed as the Messiah, people would have understood it as a political and military claim.

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They would have completely missed what Jesus was actually preaching and teaching.

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And this Messiah has a message that is unlike the messages that were being toiled and brought forth by these other false messiahs and all these other charlatans.

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These other charlatans says, come follow me and we will take over the world. Come follow me and we'll kick out the

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Romans. Come follow me and you will have sure victory. And notice what this

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Jesus preaches in Luke chapter 9, verse 23. And he 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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Wait a second. Did I get this right? This is

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Jesus, the Messiah, the one who's going to bring us victory over our enemies and who's going to destroy the

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Roman empire. And what does he say? To take up the cross. This doesn't make a lot of sense.

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Understand that the cross is the very sign of Roman rule in Israel.

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The streets and the roads were paved with many crosses with every single person who tried to revolt against Rome got the same death penalty, death on a cross.

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And Jesus is telling us that if we want to follow him, we're going to have to carry our own cross, the very symbol of Gentile rule in Israel.

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How could this be? He says in verse 24, for whoever would save his life will lose it.

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But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What an incredible claim.

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Jesus here is calling out the cost and the call of discipleship.

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And in that call, one must deny himself. Won't you write this in the notes?

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One must deny himself, which means that the disciple of Jesus can no longer live for oneself, but we live for another.

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As the Apostle Paul puts it this way in Galatians chapter 2 verse 20, that is no longer

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I that live, but rather it is Christ that lives in me.

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That's the call of a disciple. You want to be a Christian? Wonderful, great, beautiful.

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Just know what it costs. It'll cost you your life. It'll cost you your hopes, your dreams, your ambitions, your future, what you want to do with your life.

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You will no longer be your own sovereign, but you will have a sovereign over you. You will no longer be the center of your own existence.

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There'll be another who will be the center. You'll no longer be the head. You will now be the tail. You will no longer be the one who calls the shots.

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There is now one who calls the shots of life, and his name is Jesus. That's who you are to follow.

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That's who beckons us here in the Scripture who says, if anyone were to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, daily.

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See, the follower of Jesus must deny himself, must deny himself, not just himself, not just his sins, but his true self, his very center of being, meaning that he can no longer be self -centered.

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He now must be Christ -centered so that life revolves not around the self, not around the ego, not around what

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I want, what I wish, what I want to do, but rather what he would want me to do. The self is removed, and Christ is introduced.

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There is nothing self -indulgent about being a

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Christian. Know that. There's nothing self -indulgent about being a

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Christian. If you want to be a Christian, it will cost you. It is a costly life, so much so that again in verse 23, we are called to pick up or to take up this cross.

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I want you to write this in the notes as well. A true disciple must also take up his cross and follow

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Jesus on Sundays, Sundays when you feel like it, when it's convenient, when it's easy.

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No, and follow Jesus daily, daily. Isn't it remarkable that the

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Lord includes this in the statement that one must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me?

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This is a daily exercise. This is a daily routine. Again, the imagery here is very clear and it's stark.

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If you were in Rome in those days and you were to pick up your cross, it meant certain death.

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It was a death sentence. And Jesus is saying, do you want to be my follower? Great, it's a death sentence.

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And it's a death sentence that's lived out daily. Every single day, the

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Christian must die. Every single day, you must die so that he may live, so that he may reign in your lives.

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That's the call here. That's to start contrast. It's no longer about you. It's no longer about the self.

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It's now about Christ, the Lord, who calls us to be his disciples.

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And he calls us to follow him daily, daily. You see, the disciples had probably seen a man take up his cross literally in those days.

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They knew what it meant when a man from one of their villages took up a cross and went off with a little band of Roman soldiers.

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He was on a one -way journey. He would not be back.

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Taking up the cross means, in this context, the utmost in self -denial.

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There's no coming back. This is Luke's first use of the word cross in this gospel.

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And it comes with a striking effect. Christ's follower, a Christ follower has to die to a whole new way of life.

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Isn't this incredible? Luke tells us that this is not something that can be finished or got out of the way with.

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And indeed, it must be done daily. It's not just a one -time deal.

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We've got, I've grew up, well, I pastored in a Southern Baptist church for many years.

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I've been around a lot of Southern Baptists. My mentor, who I love dearly, one of my good friends,

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I view him as a father in the faith, loves doing what we call altar calls.

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And it's a very Southern Baptist thing to do. And so every service, there's an altar call. And that's the tradition

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I grew up with as a Christian. And I followed in that footsteps for many years, doing altar calls.

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And I see many wonderful times people lift up their hands or come to the front and they give their lives to Jesus. But one of the unfortunate realities that this sometimes creates in Christendom and evangelicalism is this false sense of security.

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Well, if you're telling me all I have to do is raise my hand, all I have to do is walk down an aisle and I can be made right with God.

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Well, who wouldn't take that deal? Who wouldn't take it? It's an easy deal. This is a done deal.

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And you're saying that all I gotta do is do this one time and I'm in. Excellent, I'll do it. And people walk down the aisle, they say the right words, they sit back down, and now they believe they're heaven bound.

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And yet, when it comes to Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, has there been a substantial change in their substance, in their life, in their being?

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Oftentimes not. And they walk around with a sense of security because one time, a long time ago, they said the right words.

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They walked down the aisle. They raised their hand. And yet, the call to be a disciple is not to walk down the aisle, is not to lift up one's hands, but instead to live their lives daily for Christ.

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That's the mark of a true Christian. That's the mark of a disciple. It's not one who lift up their hands one time a long time ago, but it's one who's lifting up their cross daily and walking with Jesus.

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They're living out their own death sentence every single day, and they're living out the life of Jesus.

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Again, this is what we see here in the text when Jesus says in 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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Isn't it interesting? There's a paradox at play here.

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Paradoxically, one can lose one's life trying to save it here. In the text, the

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Greek actually points out that this is more like would save is rather the wills to save that's being at play here.

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If one wills to save their own life, if one makes the effort to save their own life, that's where they lose it.

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Pointing again that we cannot be saved by works, brothers and sisters. There's no amount of willpower, there's no amount of strength that one can muster in living this

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Christian life, because you know what? Let's be real. This is not an easy life. You're called to a life of self -denial.

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There's a lot of places you could be right now, but you're here. There's a lot of things you could be doing right now, but you're here. There's a lot of things that you could be doing with your life that could be pleasing to the flesh, but you're here.

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It's a life of self -denial. It's a life of daily walking with Jesus.

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You see, it points in this text to the attitude of one who puts his emphasis on getting the best out of life for himself.

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One will always look out for one's best interest. We always do that which is in our best interest or normally do.

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We try to get ahead in life. We try to do the right things. We try to get the right steps so that we can get the best outcome, whether it's at a job offer, whether it's at school, whether it's at home.

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We're always doing that which is in our own best self -interest, and Jesus is calling us to abandon self -interest and adopt kingdom interest.

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Adopt Jesus as the center, citadel of human existence.

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Abandonment of self is at play here, and it's the main idea and the thought that's pervasive throughout this text of Scripture that we are to not save our lives by holding on to it, but that we save our lives by letting it go, by abandoning it.

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The way that man sets himself as a center of life is the way in which they will certainly lose life.

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That way, the way that seems right to man, the Bible says, ends in death. And that way means certain laws.

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It is the one who loses his life for Christ and for his sake who actually saves it.

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When the man gives up all that he has for Christ, he finds that he has entered that life which is life, true life indeed.

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A man by the name of Barclay Finley says this about this text of Scripture, the

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Christian must realize that he is given life not to keep it for himself, but to spend it for others.

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Not to husband its flame, but to burn himself out for Christ and for men.

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Isn't that incredible? Even within evangelicalism today, even amongst churches, we see this as an attempt to be holistic approach to life and ministry.

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And we hear about, as a pastor, I hear about this a lot and I've experienced it myself called pastoral burnout, right?

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And this idea of doing so much ministry that you just burn out. And of course, we don't want people to be hurt or harmed, but in the same time, maybe we actually do.

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Here's what I'm saying, brothers and sisters, if you give all that you are to the kingdom of God, you're doing what

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God requires. Even if it means you have nothing left in the tank, even if it means you've got nothing left in the bank, even if it means you've exhausted every avenue, but if you do what

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God requires and if you do what God commands, it will always be a win for God's kingdom. And it will always be for your good and not for your harm.

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It'll always be for a blessing and not for a curse. God always intends good for his people.

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And by losing your life, you may think, well, that's it. That's total loss. If I lose my life, that's it.

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What else could be gained? And the answer for the Christian is everything, everything. You see, we're not of those people who are in the world who believe that this life is all that there is, that what's before us in this existence, this is as good as it gets.

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We don't believe that. We don't confess that. We don't hold to that. We know that there is more to existence than the finite time that we get to spend here on this earth.

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We understand that in light of eternity, there is an eternal weight of glory that awaits those who follow

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Christ. And that every single suffering, warranted or unwarranted, whether for righteousness or for unrighteousness, is but fleeting and it's momentary.

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And Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians, it's a momentary light affliction.

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It's only here for a moment. Even the worst of calamities that we can experience in this life, whether it be physical loss, whether it's a job loss, whether it's a loss of health, whether it's cancer, sickness, death, it's all momentary and light in comparison to eternity.

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It's but a fading moment. All of our afflictions, all of our pain, all of our suffering, it's only here for a moment, brothers and sisters.

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And can I tell you, it will get better. It all gets better.

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And for the Christian, even if we lose our life physically as a result of placing our faith in Jesus Christ, what do we gain?

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Well, Paul says this in Philippians 1, that he says, for me to live is

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Christ and to die is gain. Why gain?

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Because he knew that as he died, and the language that he uses in Philippians, he uses this word, if I were to depart, the idea of departing there is a ship that is departing a port.

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He knows that if he was to die, which is his departing, his setting sails to heaven, he would be with Christ.

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And he says, that is far better. So for me to live is Christ, that means that while I'm here in this world, the life

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I live, I no longer live to myself, I now live for the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

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That's the life we must live. It's for Christ, for his glory, for his kingdom. And if we die, it is gain.

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It's gain. Because we shall be with him. And as he is, we shall be also, and we'll be transformed in that twinkling of an eye, and we will be in glory with the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that worth losing one's life for?

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I want you to write this in the notes, in the pursuit of self -centered preservation, you will lose your life. If you selfishly try to hold on to the things of this world and to your life, you will lose it.

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This is the paradox. But in giving your life away for the kingdom, you'll find eternal life, an eternal reward.

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See, life cannot be measured in terms of material things. There's more to life than what's before us.

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There's more to life than that which is physical. And the magnificent hyperbole

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Jesus here asks, what is the profit if a man gains the whole world but loses or forfeits his soul?

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Jesus says this again in verse 25. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself or his soul?

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What profit is there? You would think, and maybe the average person would say, well, there's a lot of profit there.

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Why? Because if I just give my life over and I get the whole world and the riches, the pleasures, the wealth, all these things, that sounds like a pretty good transaction to me.

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But what you're missing is in light of eternity, in light of eternity.

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There's a poem called Ozymandias. I'm not sure if you've ever heard of this. It's this foreign, a man who goes into this foreign desert and he sees the fallen statue and debris of a once great kingdom and a once great king.

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And he sees a statue of a king. Here lies Ozymandias, the ruler of the kings of the earth.

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And on the statue he lists all of his great accomplishments as the very waves of the sand hush and hover over the now fallen statue.

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This is a man who once had the world at the palm of his hands and now where is he?

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Where's his wealth? Where's his kingdom? Shrouded and covered by the sands of the desert.

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Every single thing in this world is fleeting. Every empire, every great king, every wealth, every business will one day end up in the same place in the ashbin of history.

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It shall all be but a fleeting moment. There is one king and one kingdom that will outlast it all.

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And it's the kingdom of the most high God. And it says in Daniel chapter seven that God will give this kingdom over to his people, to his saints and they shall possess the kingdom forever and ever and ever.

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That kingdom is reserved for those who forfeit their lives here and now but who gain eternal life and eternal kingdom in the world to come.

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Jesus again says, what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?

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I want you to write down the notes. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?

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You see, living and loving the world may seem to offer everything you've ever wanted.

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And it truly is alluring the allure of the world, the riches of the world.

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It promises fulfillment and happiness yet it almost never delivers and costs you the most valuable possessions, your soul.

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Think about this. What is man's greatest possession? It is truly his soul.

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You see, the Bible says that the eyes are kind of the windows of the soul. By it, you see things.

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By it, you receive things. Would you exchange both your eyes for a million dollars?

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Probably not. I've said this before in an audience and I only had one guy ever say, yeah, I would take that deal.

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But most people would not take that deal. Would you take a million dollars? How about two million?

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Why not five million? Most people won't exchange a large sum of money for their eyes because the eyes are precious because you know that even if you could get that money, what gain would it be if you could not see what that money could give you?

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If you could not see with your eyes the benefits that that money could give? And so you understand that your eyes are precious even more precious is your soul.

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There's no amount of money that can be given that could be enjoyed by man that could outweigh the value of the human soul.

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Brothers and sisters, do not trade your soul for the fleeting things of this world.

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There is a better way. There's a better promise. Again, the world never seems to fulfill on its promises and said it only takes.

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I want to read to you a short interview that was conducted back in June of 2005 on 60

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Minutes and the correspondent Steve Croft is speaking with then the New England Patriots quarterback

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Tom Brady about his success on and off the field. And what he said about being satisfied in life surprised everyone back in this interview.

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Notice what Tom Brady says. Tom Brady said this. There's times where I'm not the person that I want to be.

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Again, think about this. This is a man who's at this point has won I think two Super Bowl rings. He's at the height of his career, height of his wealth, settling down with a family at this moment.

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He's got everything going for him in life and notice what he says. There's times where I'm not the person that I want to be. Why do

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I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me?

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I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, hey man, this is what it is. I've reached my goal, my dream, my life.

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Me, I think, God, it's gotta be more than this.

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I mean, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be. I mean, I've done it. I'm 27.

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What else is there for me? That's what Tom Brady said. Steve Croft asked the question, what's the answer?

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Tom Brady says, I wish I knew. I wish I knew. There's good news for Tom Brady.

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There's good news for you and I. There is a better way and it's in giving one's life away for the kingdom of God.

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That's where the answer to true happiness lies. That's where true fulfillment can be found.

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It's in letting go one's life and serving the King of kings, the

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Lord of lords, even Jesus Christ, our master and owner. That's the answer to true happiness.

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That's the answer to the pursuit of life's true treasure. It's Jesus.

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It says this about Jesus in Colossians chapter two. In him is stored of all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

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Jesus truly is the treasure of ages. He's the treasure of the human heart. He's the treasure that can satisfy the longing of the human soul and the human condition.

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Jesus certainly is worth pursuing and following. Notice what else this

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Jesus says as he beckons us to take up our cross. He says in verse 26 of Luke nine, for whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the

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Son of Man be ashamed of when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

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Know this, and I want you to write this in the notes as well. If you're too ashamed to live for Christ, and there are many who are.

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Many within the Christian church who are too ashamed to outwardly live for Christ.

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They think that theirs is a private faith, theirs is a closeted faith, and yet that's not the call of being a disciple.

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You know, there's a term in the world that's used in the homosexual community coming out of the closet, right?

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When it usually has the connotation, hey, I had to hide myself, I had to hide my true feelings, my true self, and I had to come out of the closet.

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And now when you come out of the closet, it means I'm vocal, I'm loud, and I'm proud. And that should be the call of a disciple is to leave the former life behind and to now live out and proud and loudly our most holy and precious faith.

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And let me answer this question because it comes up often in this context. What about the homosexual who says,

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I was born this way? What about the sinner who says, I have this inclination, I was born this way, and I would say, amen?

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You were born that way. You were all born that way with sin ruling and reigning in your hearts.

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We were all born to be subject to the futility of our sinful disposition.

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That is, the natural state of man is to be a sinner. So what must the homosexual do?

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What must the adulterer do? What must the fornicator do? What must the idolater do? Repent and turn to Jesus.

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Deny oneself and trust in Christ. What's the answer for every single sinner regardless of the sin condition?

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You must deny yourself and pick up your cross. Your cross may look different from your neighbor.

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It may not be the same cross. It may not have the same ruggedness as the person next to you. But know this, each and every one of us has a cross to carry.

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Carry the cross. Carry it to the finish line. Because upon that finish line, there's a crown of life that awaits all of us as we run and win this race of life.

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So do not be ashamed to live for Christ. Because if you are ashamed to live for Christ, He will be ashamed of you on the day of His coming in judgment.

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I want you to write down the notes. He will be ashamed of you on the day of His coming in judgment.

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And Jesus gives us this word on how we're to live daily, but He also gives us an eschatological expectation to look forward to.

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There is a day in which He is coming back in glory. He will not be that lowly, humble, suffering servant who came to die for His people.

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Now He will return as King of kings, Lord of lords, as the King of God's kingdom. And He will come to destroy the enemies of God.

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And He shall come to bring eternal deliverance onto His people, the church. If you cannot live for Christ today, you will not live with Christ tomorrow.

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Amen? If you cannot live with Christ today, you will not live with Christ tomorrow.

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This is the call of discipleship. Now Jesus gives us something. I want to close with this in verse 27.

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Fascinating statement here that many people have a hard time wrapping their minds around or understanding. He says this, but I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.

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Now, what exactly does this mean? Many theorize that maybe the apostles would not die until Christ returned.

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And in fact, maybe some of the disciples also had this expectation. We see this at the end of John's gospel as well, where the beloved apostle

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John is speaking with Jesus. And they say, they ask basically, when are you coming back,

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Jesus? And is John still going to be around when you come back? It's the question. Is John still going to be around?

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Is this going to be an overlapping thing? Again, when Jesus is before his ascension into heaven in Acts chapter one, you see that the disciples are questioning, is it now

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Jesus? Now are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Now you're going to do all these things? But Jesus points out a different eschatological expectation.

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He says to his disciples that there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.

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There are those even within the Christian church today who have a wrong eschatology, eschatology meaning the study of end things or end times.

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There are those who believe that God's kingdom is still yet future, that God's kingdom is yet somewhere ethereal, somewhere in the future, where he returns and he establishes a millennial rule on the earth.

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I say unto you that the kingdom is reigning now. God's kingdom reigns now.

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It is evident in this text of Scripture that Jesus, when he tells his disciples, there are those who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.

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He was referring to the establishment of God's kingdom in their day. How then was

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God's kingdom established in the days of the apostles?

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I want you to turn to Psalm 110 for a moment as we gain some insight onto probably what is the most important prophecy in the book of Psalms.

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And it is indeed one of the most quoted Psalms in the New Testament. In Psalm 110, notice what it says, starting in verse 1.

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The Lord, that's Yahweh, says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

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And the Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Notice the decree. Rule in the midst of your enemies.

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Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power in holy garments from the womb of the morning and the dew of your youth will be yours.

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The Lord has sworn and he will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And the

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Lord is at your right hand. He shall shatter the kings on a day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses.

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He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way. Therefore, he will lift up his head.

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This is a messianic prophecy concerning the Messiah. And the decree is this, from Yahweh to his son, to the

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Lord, who Jesus in Matthew 22 says he is that Lord that David was looking forward to.

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And he says, it says that this Messiah would sit at God's right hand. This is his enthronement.

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Christ's enthronement in the kingdom is a sitting at the right hand of the Father, where he will make his enemies his footstool.

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And what does the decree in verse two says? The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter, rule in the midst of your enemies.

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Friends, I tell you today that this psalm is fulfilled and being fulfilled in our day.

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How do we know this? Because upon the ascension of Christ to the right hand of the

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Father, he is enthroned today as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Amen. He is now ruling today in the midst of his enemies.

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His people are indeed offering themselves freely on the day of his power.

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And as long as it is still called today, today is indeed the day of salvation, the apostle

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Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter six. This is the day. This is the day of salvation.

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This is the day of power. And his people today are here offering themselves willingly as disciples, laying down their lives for this king and his kingdom.

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The kingdom of God is now. It is here. And in Acts chapter two, verse 33,

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I'll read this verse to you very quickly. It says this from the preaching of the apostle

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Peter. It says, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, this is our

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Jesus. And having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured this out that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

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For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

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Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both

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Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. The first apostolic message of the early church was that Jesus is reigning over the house of Israel.

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Jesus is reigning over the nations. And the fact that the early church were speaking in tongues in the tongues of the nations was a demonstration of the power of the gospel now to go forth into the entire world because Jesus through the church, through his people who offer themselves freely is taking over the world.

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Amen. This is the fulfillment of the times that were prophesied.

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Jesus right now is enthroned as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He sits at the right hand of God the

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Father. And the good news is this, beloved, he reigns today, he reigns tomorrow, and he will reign forever.

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He is coming again in glory even so come Lord Jesus. Friends, this

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Jesus is coming again. He may come at any moment. He can come.

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I believe there's not much in prophecy that would stop our Lord from returning even soon.

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And so the question that I posit to you today is this, are you ready for his return?

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Are you right with God? Whether the Lord come or whether he take and ask for an account of your soul today.

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Where would you stand before God? Would you be right with God today? My hope is that you would.

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And if you have not been made right with God, if you've not been reconciled to the Father, this is what God requires of you that you repent of your sins today, turn from it and trust in Jesus, the now ruling

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King of God's kingdom. Trust in him. Pick up your cross, follow him daily.

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And may you find the reward of losing your life and finding your life now in his.

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Let's pray. King Jesus, we thank you that you are now indeed reigning, ruling in the midst of your enemies.

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Lord God, we thank you that because of your rule and because of your reign, the kingdom is the kingdom and the gospel of the kingdom is indeed growing all around the world.

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As this message is preached from pulpits and rooftops across the globe this morning, that Jesus lives and reigns.

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Lord God, help us to let go of the life that we count as so precious and help us to abandon ourselves and to receive you as the center of all that we are.

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For truly, Lord Jesus, you are the true citadel and center of all things.

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The universe was created by you and for you and all things are held together by the word of your might.

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Lord, help us to not consider ourselves of much, but to consider you of much value.

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Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the price that you paid on our behalf so that we might be right with you, so that we may inherit eternal life and have this message, this message of hope, this message that even kings and queens and celebrities have so desperately wanted and has been evading them.

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Lord, may this simple, but powerful gospel fill the world until you come again in glory.

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And we pray this in the name of all names, even the precious name of your son, Jesus Christ.