The ABC’s of the Christian Life (3): Following Jesus unto Salvation (1)

First Baptist Church Leominster

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If you will, turn in your

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Bibles to Mark chapter 8, and we're going to get there eventually. In fact, it's going to be a while before we get to Mark 8, so maybe you ought to first turn to Isaiah 35.

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Now, in our study of the basic principles of Christian living, which we began three

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Sundays ago, we spent the first two

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Lord's Days dealing with the initial coming to Christ for salvation. But having come to Christ in repentance and faith, what are we then to do as new

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Christians, let's say? And so we want to say very simply, after coming to Christ, we are now to follow

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Christ. That's not that difficult, is it? We come to Him, but we're not just coming to Him in faith.

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We're coming to Him with the intention and purpose to follow Him or to follow after Him.

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And every true Christian does, and every true Christian should. And so we may see this responsibility for those who come unto

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Him quite clearly in the Word of God. Now, in addressing this subject of the

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Christian life, and again, we're referring to this as the ABCs of the Christian life,

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I'm attempting to do more than just explain what it is we're to do.

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Oftentimes, this is how we think as human beings, just tell me what I'm supposed to do.

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We're little legalists at heart, and I try and avoid that, giving lists of things that we're to do, although that's important in its place.

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It's also important for us to understand why we're to do what we do.

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And so this is a little bit more complex. And so in our dealing with the ABCs of the

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Christian faith, I'm not trying to be too simplistic. I'm trying to be simple in one sense, but I'm trying to be a little broader, to give us a broader perspective of these matters.

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And so this isn't just for new Christians, but it's for us that might have been in the Lord a while longer.

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And so we not only want to analyze the truth, and what analyzing is, is basically taking a subject and breaking it down into smaller parts so that we understand the subject.

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And a lot of what we do is analyzing. But we want to do more than just analyze, we want to synthesize, we want to bring the parts back together so we can see the whole, see the bigger picture of matters.

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So we can see the world through God's, from God's perspective, to understand better what it is and why it is

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He would have us do what we do. And so we can better understand what

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God is doing through history. Ultimately, we want to stand back and understand this.

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It's more than just me and Jesus, you know, and my Bible. But we should try and understand

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God and who He is and what He's like, but also what He's doing through history.

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And this matter of following Jesus, I think, is an all -encompassing theme that we find throughout the

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Bible. And I want to show that in the beginning this morning, before we get into detail as to what it means to follow

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Jesus. And so in order that we might better understand our subject, we might consider this matter of following Christ from different vantage points.

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And first I want us to consider two Old Testament passages, both in Isaiah, which will enable us,

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Lord willing, to see the larger picture of matters. And then secondly, we will consider a number of instances in which the

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Lord Jesus told various persons during His earthly ministry to follow Him. But then thirdly,

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Lord willing, if we have the time, we'll zero in on one particular passage I think that is very specific and all -encompassing as far as what it is to follow

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Him. And so let's consider two Old Testament passages which speak of the Lord leading His people as they follow

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Him. And I've selected Isaiah 35 and Isaiah 52. Most of Isaiah 52, all of Isaiah 35.

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Now, I might say this, I should have probably put it in my notes, but they are long enough as it is. You know the early churches for the first three or four decades didn't have a

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New Testament. Yes, Paul's maybe earliest letter

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AD 50, that's still 20 years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. And some of the other epistles later,

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John's gospel and his epistles wasn't written until 60 years after the resurrection up in the 90s

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AD. We have a tremendous privilege and advantage to those early churches because we have a

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New Testament. But they had scriptures too. They had the Hebrew scriptures. They had what we have as our

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Old Testament. And when those churches gathered on the Lord's Day, in those first decades, they opened up what we have as our

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Old Testament, and they preached Christ from that. They saw from the

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Old Testament Christ and what they are experiencing through faith in Him as having been foretold in the

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Old Testament. I might just interject this offhand. I'm always talking about this.

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I believe it's because of the sincere but errant views of dispensationalism.

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The Old Testament has been largely removed from the thinking and the mind of most evangelicals.

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Well, the Old Testament's for Jews. The New Testament's for Christians. And that's just not the case.

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The Old Testament is Christian scripture. In fact, it was Peter who declared that all of those things were written, not for them, but through the prophets, were written for us.

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And so, I am confident that the Apostle Paul picked up Isaiah 35 and preached

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Christ and New Testament Christianity. And he did the same with Isaiah 52, because there are some words in Isaiah 35 and Isaiah 52 that may be found in Paul's epistles, which clearly reveal he was alluding to these passages that spoke to this

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Christian life that we are currently enjoying. And so, let's consider

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Isaiah 35. There are 10 verses. Isaiah 35, again, might at first appear to be an irrelevant passage to our subject.

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You're talking about following Jesus, and you're going back to Isaiah 35. Well, here we read of God's promise to a remnant of Israel, a small surviving number of Jews, who had undergone

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God's judgment for their sin. And we're talking about the 6th century BC. Isaiah had previously predicted

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God's destruction of his people in Jerusalem, through his use of the Babylonian armies, a significant event in history.

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And this occurred in 587 BC. For Israel had broken its

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Mosaic covenant, and the curses of God came upon Israel. And through God's judgment, the land had been decimated,

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Jerusalem destroyed, and the temple razed to the ground. But Isaiah also foretold that after 70 years of exile,

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God would extend mercy to this remnant of Jews who were living in Babylon, and bring them to experience his salvation from judgment.

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The time would come when God would deliver his people from Babylon, and this deliverance from Babylon is mentioned in many places in the

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Prophets. And a number of times it's set forth as a second exodus.

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The first exodus, Israel coming out of Egypt, traveling through the wilderness onto the promised land.

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The second exodus, people coming out of Babylon, traveling through desert, wilderness, in order to travel back to Jerusalem.

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And so, God promised through Isaiah and others, that he would send a deliverer, the

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Messiah, who would bring them out of captivity. Now, in the historic setting, bringing a remnant back from Babylon, he raised up Cyrus, a

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Persian king, a pagan king. And he set forth as an anointed one.

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He was a type of Jesus Christ, who would later come to deliver his people. Well again, they would then journey after they escaped

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Babylon, after Babylon was destroyed, and they were allowed to escape their slavery, they would journey through the wilderness to their homeland.

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Again, just as Israel once had journeyed from Egypt, through the wilderness to their promised land.

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And God declared through his prophet, that he would lead them, and that they would follow him.

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And there you have the idea, these exiles being released from Babylon, and they are now following, as it were,

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God, who is going before them, and going behind them. Just like the Shekinah Glory, leading

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Israel through the wilderness, out of Egypt, even onto the promised land. And so, he would lead them, and he would follow them, even as he directed them, and provided for them in their return.

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And so, he would lead them to their promised land, even Jerusalem, that he would rebuild for them. But the

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Lord had a greater far -reaching message through Isaiah's words, than just a literal return of some

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Jews, from literal Babylon, to literal Jerusalem, and a literal rebuilt

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Temple. This salvation that Isaiah is talking about, both in Isaiah 35 and Isaiah 52, if you read it carefully, you'll see it's not just a physical deliverance from slavery, from a physical captivity, a deliverance from enslavement in the capital city of Babylon, to the liberty of living in their homeland of Israel, in a restored city of Jerusalem.

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Our dispensational friends, that's all they see though. And they actually project it even, they claim it's taking place now, since the foundation of Israel in 1948, and Jews returning to the land.

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But the Jews that are returning here, that are mentioned, they're all redeemed, they're all holy.

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He's not talking about unconverted people, returning to a literal, physical

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Israel. He's talking about the redeemed of the Lord, traveling a highway of holiness, on to their final destination, a heavenly

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Zion. And this is how the early churches would preach these passages.

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And so Isaiah 35, and other places also, are very rich.

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And yet they're so obscure, people don't see them, they don't see the glory in them.

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And I want us to see this. And so Isaiah 35 is a prophecy of the coming Messiah ultimately, even the

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Lord Jesus, who would come and deliver His people from condemnation and enslavement to sin itself.

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And He would lead them out of the fallen world, not just out of Babylon, but Babylon becomes an emblem of the world system.

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And He leads us out of this Babylon, an emblem of the fallen world system, and He directs

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His people, Christians we would argue, to their final destination, the fully realized

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Kingdom of God, even the Jerusalem that is above, the city whose builder and maker is

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God, that the writer of the Hebrews speaks about so wonderfully in Hebrews 11.

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And so here is Isaiah 35, which describes their wilderness, but notice

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I put wilderness in quotation marks, their wilderness journey. And the application for us, this wilderness journey, is the difficult life we're traveling through right now, as Christians.

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It's like a wilderness, traveling through this fallen world, even onto our heavenly destination.

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But thankfully, God refreshes us and feeds us and protects us in this journey.

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And so He makes the desert blossom like the rose, that's a metaphor of God making difficult things and situations pleasant for us.

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And there's pools of water that refresh us, assuage our thirst even as we travel.

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And so as we read this passage, attempt to understand it, not only in its historical setting or context of the 6th century

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B .C., but consider its greater realization through the salvation God has given us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

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And attempt to recognize those words and phrases, for those of you that may be more familiar with the

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Scriptures, recognize those words and phrases in this passage that are directly quoted or alluded to in the

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New Testament record of God's dealings with our salvation. Again, I think the

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Apostle Paul preached from this passage. He quotes it in some of his epistles.

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Isaiah 35. The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.

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It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, with the excellence of Carmel, that's

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Mount Carmel, and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our

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God. Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees.

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Does that look familiar to you? The writer to the Hebrews quoted that, referring to Christians, right on our pilgrimage in Hebrews 12.

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Say to those who are fearful -hearted, be strong and do not fear, behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God He will come and save you.

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Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

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That's prophetic of the Lord Jesus' ministry, isn't it? Quite clearly. And then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing, for water shall burst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

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The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. In the habitation of jackals, where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

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A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the highway of holiness."

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See, this is a spiritual highway, isn't it? I'm talking about a literal roadway from literal

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Babylon to literal Israel. We're talking about spiritual reality. A highway of holiness.

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And I want you to notice as we read, only the redeemed walk in this. This is not talking about unconverted people here.

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This is talking about people who have been saved by the grace of God, through Jesus Christ. It shall be called the highway of holiness.

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The unclean shall not pass over it. See, those that are not right with God. This is not talking about physical

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Jews returning from physical Babylon. This is talking about people who were saved by the grace of God, who were on this spiritual journey traveling.

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And it's a highway of holiness. But it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool shall not go astray.

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See, everyone makes it. Now that ought to be encouraging to every one of us, right? You and I might be fools, but we're going to make it.

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Everyone who travels this highway of holiness makes it to their destination. God sees to it.

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No lion shall be there. See, nothing can actually threaten your travel and your arrival.

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Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it. It shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.

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He's talking about saved people. And come to Zion with singing. He's not talking about physical

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Jerusalem. He's talking about a heavenly Jerusalem. Heavenly Zion. With everlasting joy on their heads, they shall obtain joy and gladness.

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And sorrow and sighing shall flee away. And so we see this journey that Isaiah is speaking about.

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In the context of Israelites being in bondage to Babylon and the release that was coming, but it speaks beyond that.

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The true reality is for those who have salvation through Jesus Christ. And so if we read this passage carefully, we must conclude that the

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Lord was revealing much more than a physical deliverance of Jewish people from Babylon, enabling them to return to the promised land.

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These people who are traveling this highway of holiness are all redeemed. On their journey to Zion, the unclean shall not pass over it.

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It is only those who are clean in the sight of God, only those who have salvation. And verse 10 declares that only the ransomed of the

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Lord shall return. The Lord will see to it that their journey is successful. Now there would be those that would accuse me of spiritualizing the passage.

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I would say not to understand it this way is to carnalize it, to fail to see the spiritual reality that clearly the

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Lord was intending to convey. No one in this journey will fail to arrive at the destination.

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Whoever walks the road, even though he's a fool, shall not go astray. Verse 8, thank the

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Lord for that. The Lord delivers people from their captivity, the enslavement to the fallen world, and He secures the final arrival of every one of His redeemed ones to their eternal inheritance.

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No ravenous beast will harm them. Even in their journey through the desert, He will provide water and food for them.

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He'll see to it that they arrive at the destination that He had prepared for them.

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And the whole, what we're emphasizing here is that God has delivered them, God is leading them, and He's going on before them and behind them.

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And what I'm arguing or setting the case for is when the Lord Jesus calls upon people to follow me, the

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Lord Jesus is leading us out of this fallen world, and we're to follow Him on the course that He has taken and He's directed for us.

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And it will lead ultimately to our eternal home. That's what it is to follow Jesus. He is our

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Savior, He is our Lord, and we follow Him in faith, and we follow Him in obedience. And that's what every

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Christian does. Now, let's turn over to Isaiah 52 to look at this second passage where we have a little bit more information, a little bit more detail in this spiritual pilgrimage, this journey of Christianness.

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And so in conjunction with this prophecy of Isaiah 35, we can cite this other, and we could have cited others throughout this book of Constellation, Isaiah 40 through Isaiah 66.

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But I want us to look at this same journey in Isaiah 52, 1 through 12. And we don't have time to look at it and read it, but recognize this is just before the 4th

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Servant Song of the Suffering Servant, which probably most of us are familiar with, where Isaiah talks about prophecy of Jesus suffering and dying upon the cross.

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This immediately precedes that announcement of the Savior who would die for His people.

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And it sets forth in Isaiah 52, 1 through 12, the command of the Lord to newly release captives from Babylon, and I put

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Babylon in quotation marks there, to make their journey back to the Promised Land, and I put that in quotation marks because it's talking about Heaven, you know, our ultimate destination, the

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New Heaven, the New Earth, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, and to Jerusalem.

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And so again, although it foretells in a limited way of a return of the remnant of Jews from the 70 year

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Babylonian captivity, it ultimately, and I think more clearly and accurately and fully, foretells of the redeemed of the

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Lord who are departing from this fallen world system and making an arduous journey, wilderness journey, to ultimately it's the

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Garden of Eden, it's Paradise restored is what they are traveling to, which the

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Promised Land was but an emblem. And just to see that Promised Land as that piece of geography over there in the

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Middle East, I think is very nearsighted and missing the whole, misses the glory of it.

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And so as we read these 12 verses of Isaiah 52, recognize that Jerusalem is set forth at the beginning as not just a city, but Jerusalem is set forth as it's described in the

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New Testament, as Zion the people of God itself, as Paul described the church,

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Christians in Galatians 4, the Jerusalem which is above, which is we.

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And so as we read this chapter, recognize Jerusalem is not just a city, but it's an emblem of the collective true people of God, Zion who are redeemed by God, and God Himself leads

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His people on their journey. And it's clear, this foretells of the

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Lord Jesus who not only delivers His people from this fallen world, but He leads them again onto their final destination, to a restored

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Paradise to dwell with God and His people. They are to follow their Redeemer onto their final destiny.

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And so here with that little bit of preparation we read Isaiah 52, 1 -12.

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Awake, awake, put on your strength O Zion, he's not talking about a physical city put on your beautiful garments

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O Jerusalem the holy city, for the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you.

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Shake yourself from the dust, arise, sit down O Jerusalem loose yourself from the bonds of your neck

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O captive daughter of Zion. See they are in bondage got a shackle around their neck, take that off, you're set free for thus says the

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Lord, you have sold yourselves for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money. And again later at the end of chapter 52, all of chapter 53 talks about the suffering servant, who through his own suffering brings about their release, their deliverance.

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For thus says the Lord God, my people went down at first into Egypt to dwell there and then the

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Assyrian oppressed them without cause and now therefore what have I here says the Lord that my people are taken away for nothing those who rule over them make them wail says the

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Lord and my name is blasphemed continually every day and therefore my people shall know my name and therefore shall they know in that day that I am he who speaks, behold it is

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I God reveals himself to his people. Look at verse 7, this ought to look familiar to many of you, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion your

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God reigns. Paul quotes that doesn't he in Romans 10 applying it to gospel preachers in this

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Christian age, that's why I'm convinced Paul preached from this passage

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New Testament Christianity because he applied this as a prophecy of New Testament preachers who proclaim the gospel.

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Now again it's talking about this spirit of Zion your watchmen who are on the walls watching shall lift up their voices with their voices they shall sing together for they shall see eye to eye when the

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Lord brings back Zion, he's bringing back the people break forth into joy sing together you waste places of Jerusalem for the

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Lord has comforted his people, speaks of salvation, he has redeemed Jerusalem brought them back, the

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Lord has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations now notice what here you have is an opening up that the purpose of salvation that God is bringing through this suffering servant is not just for Jewish people but for the world, even for Gentiles even for nations, all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God that's being realized in this church age we are a part of the realization of this prophecy depart, depart, go out from there, this is the command to depart from Babylon, again spiritual

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Babylon, this fallen world, depart, we are to follow our Lord, touch no unclean thing does that look familiar to you?

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Paul quotes this doesn't he in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 to the church at Corinth, go out from the midst of her be clean you who bear the vessels of the

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Lord for you shall not go out with haste nor by flight for the

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Lord will go before you, see he is leading, see here the Lord their

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Deliverer is going before them and they are following Him, and the Lord and the

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God of Israel will be your rear guard, just like the Shekinah glory leading Israel in the wilderness the glory of God went before and went after protecting them and guiding them, and so here we read of God's promise to restore and repopulate

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Zion, but whereas Zion is most frequently a reference to the ancient city of Jerusalem here it assumes a spiritual reality, this city is one whose builder and maker is

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God Himself only those redeemed from sin will dwell there, it is said to Zion for the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you, that's not a reference to Gentiles the uncircumcised, but that's a reference to those who are uncircumcised of heart, to those who have not been cleansed by God, those who do not have salvation, and he is saying that there is no one that is going to dwell within this city who is not redeemed by the

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Lord Jesus Himself, the uncircumcised is not a reference to Gentiles, it's not saying that only

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Jewish people will dwell in this restored city here the uncircumcised are those who are uncircumcised of heart, whether Jew or Gentile they will not dwell there, only those circumcised of heart in other words regenerate, born again who are truly clean will dwell in this city it's a spiritual city, it's not talking about a physical city back in the 6th century

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BC, and then the announcement of their deliverance of salvation is through divinely appointed messengers, again verse 7 reads how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, and it's the good news he is bringing that makes his feet beautiful, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things who proclaims salvation, who says design your

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God reigns, and that is the heart of the gospel, it's the gospel of the kingdom, we are declaring our

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God Jesus Christ reigns, and we are following him onto this destination and this is what we are doing through life, we are following Jesus after having initially come to him and again the apostle applies this prophecy to gospel preachers in this

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New Testament age, and so these redeemed are not referring to a

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Jewish remnant, but this people comprise even the nations of the world, verse 10 declares in the eyes of all the nations, all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God, and so this is a prophecy of the glory of the gospel, and the worldwide expansion and blessing of the gospel through King Jesus in this gospel age, and again

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Paul quoted from this passage in his epistles and so we have in 2nd

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Corinthians chapter 6, Paul wrote do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness, what communion has light with darkness, what accord or accordance or agreement has

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Christ with Belial or the devil, and what part has a believer with an unbeliever, there is no basis of fellowship there what agreement has the temple of God with idols, none for you are the temple of the living

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God, as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them, I will be their God, they shall be my people, and therefore and here we have the quotation that we just earlier read in Isaiah, come out from among them, and be separate says the

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Lord do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you, I will be a father to you, you shall be my sons and daughters says the

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Lord Almighty, God is calling his people to come out of Babylon as it were and again which is this fallen world system, we are being saved from our flesh yes, our sinful flesh, from the devil, yes, but also from the world, and the

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Lord Jesus is leading us out of the world, and he is leading us to a new world, a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, and so just as the

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Lord called a remnant of Jews to come out of Babylon, to separate themselves in order to return to their homeland, where they will experience joy, and renewed relationship with God and Zion, so God has called

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Christians to separate themselves from this world, from this spiritual Babylon, which is destined for judgment, that's what you have in Revelation, you know,

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Babylon Babylon, the time has arrived in one hour she is destroyed, it's the

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God's judgment upon the fallen world system and Christians have escaped, come out of her, flee out of her and again what we are saying is that when we initially come to Christ for salvation we come to him in faith, and faith alone justifies us, but then he bids us to follow him and he is leading us, just like the angel took

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Lot out of Sodom the Lord is leading us out of Babylon, because this world system, this

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Babylon is destined for judgment and so we escape, so we will not be a partaker of its sins, as the scriptures speak about, and so what we are arguing based on these

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Old Testament passages and we can cite more of them, to follow the Lord Jesus as he leads us in this life of pilgrimage, as Christians even through a wilderness journey and that's what this world is for the true

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Christian, it's a wilderness isn't it? And we are grieved every day by what we have to encounter and have to deal with and not just dealing with the world out there, but the thing that grieves us most is what's in here, isn't that right?

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It's the sin in here that grieves us most, and we are to follow our Lord Jesus in this life of pilgrimage onto our

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Heavenly Zion, the City of God as the writer of the Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 12 and so what we are saying is this imagery, this spiritual deliverance from this fallen world, and our journey to our

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Heavenly Zion I think is what's being set forth when we hear our Lord's words to us, follow me

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I hope that expands us a little bit in our comprehension of this, this is an all -encompassing biblical theme that we find throughout the scriptures, the

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Lord leading his people to a paradise, where there is this city that Abraham looked for, in which he would dwell with God and all of his spiritual descendants, even the

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Father of many nations well, let's next turn over to the

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Gospels and begin to look at a number of places where the Lord Jesus specifically said to individuals follow me, and again what we are advocating is that this is what a

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Christian does, this is what you and I do as Christians, and this is what every new Christian should embark on doing after coming to Jesus initially you follow him, and so when our

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Lord called onto himself, we are at the top of page 6 now if you are following in your notes, when our

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Lord called upon people himself, he frequently impressed upon them their responsibility to follow him, let's consider some of these

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Matthew 4 .18, he said it to his disciples, Matthew 4 .18 and 19

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Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brothers Simon called Peter, Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen, and then he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men, follow me, often repeated words, we see it in Matthew 8 .18

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-22 in Matthew 8 we read that following Jesus must take precedence over all matters of life, following Jesus is our full time interest, an occupation if you will, it's more important than what we might deem the most important of duties in life, when

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Jesus saw a great multitude about him, he gave a command to depart to the other side a certain scribe came and said to him, teacher

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I will follow you wherever you go Jesus said to him, foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head, and another of his disciples said to him,

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Lord let me first go and bury my father but Jesus said to him follow me, let the dead bury their own dead following Jesus is the most important matter possible in a person's life it has to take precedence over the most important matters,

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Matthew 9 .9 we have an incident here in Matthew 9 that shows the Lord Jesus calls great sinners even those excluded from the people of God, and this is what we have in Levi, a

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Jewish man who was apparently of the priestly tribe of Levi, he was called

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Levi he abandoned that, forsook that and became a Roman tax collector and so he was regarded as a traitor he was not allowed to come into the temple to worship, he was ostracized by everyone and yet we read in Matthew 9 .9

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as Jesus passed on from there he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office and he said to him, follow me, and we see

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Matthew left it all, and immediately followed him, and this is what every

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Christian is doing if he is truly coming to Christ for salvation he comes to Jesus, and then he follows him, whatever that means, and again it must take full precedence over all of life and thankfully there is no prior preparation of cleaning up your life to embark on this following Jesus he extended it to Matthew you can imagine what the other disciples were thinking remember they also had

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Simon the Zealot with them I mean there were two people that would be most opposed to one another in Israel at that time,

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Simon the zealous Jew, and Matthew the tax collector, the publican, and now they are both following the

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Lord as disciples that must have been interesting to see them develop a relationship with one another but he immediately followed him and sinners may do so, coming to Jesus that we talked about in the last two weeks, and then you begin to follow him.

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In Matthew 19 we see that following Jesus results in everlasting life in the

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Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke eternal life is set forth as a future destination or an inheritance that we will arrive at after a life of faith in John's Gospel eternal life is emphasized as a present reality it's a quality of life in Matthew, Mark, and Luke it's more of a temporal idea everlasting, but life is to be entered after a life of faith you enter a narrow gate, you follow a narrow path, narrow way that Jesus says leads to life, and here we read in Matthew 19 this idea that following Jesus results in everlasting life no one can have everlasting life unless they follow

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Jesus, you can claim all day long, well I've come to Jesus in faith,

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I hope you have but if you come to Jesus that means you ought to be following Jesus too, if you're not following Jesus you haven't come to Jesus, that's the bottom line

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Matthew 19, verse 16 now behold one came to him and said to him good teacher what good thing shall

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I do that I may have eternal life so he said to him why do you call me good no one is good but one, that is

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God, Jesus wasn't denied his deity this man could not have known that he was eternal

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God who assumed a human nature but if you want to enter into life keep the commandments Jesus wasn't being a legalist here everyone who enters into life keeps

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God's commandments that's what a Christian does this is love that you keep his commandments the

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Holy Spirit enables us to do so, not perfectly but they govern our lives, Jesus is Lord and he governs us by his law, his commandments and so the man of course when he was thinking in these terms, himself was probably thinking in terms of legalism, which ones?

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and Jesus recited some of the commandments 10 commandments, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal you shall not be a false witness on your father and mother you shall love your neighbors as yourself, he has that last one that is all encompassing it looks like he's hitting on the second tablet of the law a lot of people claim they're right with God, the first four commandments, but when push comes to shove it's usually our relationships with one another that reveal our sin and so the

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Lord Jesus pointed this out to him the young man said to him, all these things I've kept from my youth have you? what do

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I still lack? Jesus said to him, if you want to be perfect go sell what you have and give it to the poor, you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me there's the emphasis on following Jesus and when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions, following Jesus results in everlasting life if he failed to follow

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Jesus, it would not result in everlasting life John chapter 10,

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Jesus says those that follow him he gives to them eternal life only those who follow him are saved and we also read in John 10 what it is to follow him it's to hear his voice and to do what he tells us to do,

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Jesus is Lord and so in John 10 .22 it was at the feast of dedication in Jerusalem, it was winter

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Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch and the Jews surrounded him, said to him how long do you keep us in doubt if you're the

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Christ, tell us plainly Jesus answered them, I told you, you don't believe the works

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I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me, but you don't believe because you are not of my sheep, you don't become one of the

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Lord's sheep when you become a Christian, you become a Christian because you're one of the sheep the sheep are the elect of God and he declares, verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and it says, he declares here, they follow me that's what sheep do, that's what disciples do, and then verse 28 he declares, and I give them eternal life they will never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand, there's the security we saw in Isaiah 35, all the redeemed will reach that destination, nothing will prevent them there will be no ravenous beast that will slay them, even the fool that walks in that way is going to make it to the end, they shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck them out of my hand my

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Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no man is able to snatch them out of my

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Father's hand, I and my Father are one, we are one in this purpose, one in this intention it's going to be done and so following Jesus is the way of salvation it's not the basis of salvation it was

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Jesus following his Father and keeping his commandments through his life and then dying on the cross on our behalf that is the ground of our salvation not our following Jesus, but following Jesus characterizes every true believer this is what sheep do they hear his voice and they do follow him if you are one of the

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Lord's sheep, you follow Jesus, or you will one day follow him you may not even be aware you are one of the sheep yet, but if the

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Lord if you are, one day you are going to hear his voice and he is going to be calling you and you are going to follow him, he is going to see to it and so there are a number of passages in which the

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Lord Jesus repeatedly emphasized to people, follow me, they come to him some even believe, he says follow me and some refused at that point there were some disciples at the end of John chapter 6 when he offended them through his teaching

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John says they turned and they no longer walked with him, and Jesus said in another place you are my disciples indeed if you hear me and do my word if you keep my word a true

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Christian follows Jesus and so the command is given to us and next week

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Lord willing we are going to talk about the matter of baptism, that is how you initially begin to follow

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Jesus, that step of baptism is really a death to that former world you are separating yourself from that former world and you are identifying yourself with the people of God a new life in Christ, and you are beginning that journey from now on I am living for Christ and that is what

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Christians do, and they follow Jesus now I want us to look at one more passage that speaks clearly of what it is to follow

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Jesus, and that is in Mark 8 and here it is spelled out quite clearly and we see that the whole matter of following Jesus is wrapped up in salvation and so Mark 8, and it is actually found in all three synoptic gospels

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Mark 8, Matthew 16 and Luke 9, but we chose the

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Mark passage, Mark in passage, when Jesus had called the people to himself with his disciples also he said to them whoever desires to come after me, that is the same idea of following me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul, for what will a man give in exchange for his soul, for whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him the son of man also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels before us is the record of a very important occasion in the ministry of our

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Lord in which he informs his disciples of the nature and the cost of discipleship he is about to embark upon his final journey from Galilee to Jerusalem where he would suffer and die and the words of our

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Lord in verse 34 and following are words to his disciples that they must follow the same path that he is traversing, he is leading them and they are following him they must follow the same path in the same manner as he if they desire to share in his glory, if they desire to enter into eternal life, this is what it is to follow

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Jesus take note of what he is saying as it states the certain prospect of eternal life itself is set forth as the outcome of faith in Christ a faith characterized by denying self

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Adam and Eve did not deny self, we are going to serve ourselves and that's what sin is basically,

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I'm going to do my will rather than God's will, I insist on it oh I'll do God's will if it conforms to my will but ultimately my will is what's going to direct my life that is not the understanding the attitude and the belief of the

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Christian rather the true Christian who has faith denies himself he's tempted, he's always tempted to serve himself principally but he denies himself when that arises if he's thinking rightly acting rightly but a refusal or failure to live in this manner will result in one being lost or ashamed of the second coming of Christ and so here our

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Lord describes the way all his disciples are to live before him eternal life is assured to his disciples those who deny themselves and follow him but eternal life is promised only to them who follow him in the manner that he prescribes they are the ones who take up their cross daily and follow him and so what a grand incentive for people to believe on him and to respond in a commitment to him and following him is not a duty we recognize that, it's a passion the

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Lord put it in our heart, that's what we want to do we want to please our Savior and follow him, we know what it's like to govern our own life and what kind of misery that brought upon us and we want to follow him because he leads us in paths of righteousness doesn't he in the way of peace, in a sense of well -being and security, forgiveness of sins the assurance of everlasting life, this is not a drudgery on the part of the true

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Christian because the work of grace has been done on our souls, we were transformed and so that was a former way of living and we declared we were dead to that in our confession and baptism now we're alive to Christ identifying with his own death and resurrection and so this is not a drudgery even though we set it forth as a specific and direct command but clearly what the

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Lord Jesus is saying here is there is no salvation apart from following him and so we need to follow him we deny ourselves that means you put your own interest as secondary to doing the will of God I must do the will of God it's not always pleasant sometimes it can be quite fearful perhaps, we know the consequences of doing so, it's going to cost us for doing so but we must do so and so to deny ourselves means you put your own interest as secondary yes you have interests and there is nothing wrong with that as long as you put them secondary to other matters we are to love

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God and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves not be driven by our own interests be driven by the will of God and by our concern for our brethren if we're thinking rightly, living rightly, that's what governs our lives day by day you do not seek to exalt yourself in your own opinion rather you seek to serve people you don't seek the honor that comes from men, you want to please

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God that's what it means to deny yourself the Lord Jesus denied himself if anyone deserved honor, he did but he didn't seek it, did he?

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he denied himself, he did not even think equality with God was something to be grasped after but he assumed a human nature, he became a man

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Philippians 2 and not just a man, we highly value freedom, liberty to be free men and women of course,

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I'm speaking men generically yet the Lord Jesus, he didn't come as a free man, he came as a servant and you and I of course desire a right to life but our

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Lord Jesus denied himself of that right too, didn't he? he denied himself in every way and you hear people talk about the need the right to die with dignity you hear a lot of that in our culture today and yet the

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Lord Jesus denied that, he died a cross, a shameful death in every way he denied himself even though he had every basis whatsoever to be honored and glorified he denied himself and Paul said, let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus and then set forth the

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Lord Jesus as an example and this is how we're to be you deny yourself the notion that you're the

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Lord of your own life as a Christian if you're thinking rightly, when somebody asks your opinion, you don't think what's my opinion, you think, what does the

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Lord say about this in his word I mean that's what you resort to because the

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Lord's word governs you again, if you're thinking rightly and then he says you have to take up your cross daily crucifixion was a common form of execution in the first century, but it was reserved only to the worst of the worst in society everyone who died on the cross, a cross was thought to be forsaken by God if God was for him,

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God wouldn't allow a man to be so humiliated and shamed and dying in that way but the idea of the

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Lord Jesus is conveying that as disciples, as Christians following him we must be willing to endure shame and suffering in our life as disciples of Christ and so we confess him that's not always easy, sometimes it brings consequences, doesn't it sometimes we really need to seek courage and grace from the

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Lord to do so but we confess him some people say no,

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I'm not going to suffer God doesn't want me to suffer, he wants me to be happy God doesn't want me to be a doormat there are limits to the degree

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I'm going to suffer you can't be a Christian thinking rightly and think that way and then again

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Jesus said if you're going to come after me, you've got to follow me you've got to deny yourself, take up your cross daily and you follow me that's what we're doing and so following Jesus carries the idea of several things and we'll close with this, it implies that Jesus is leading us to a destination, follow me where to Lord, well

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I'll show you and ultimately it's going to end in everlasting life following him also carries the idea that he's gone on before the same path that we're going to be following and he set forth in that way in Hebrews, there's this long gathering of people traveling through this wilderness and Hebrews 11 describes the great cloud of witnesses, they've already arrived at the destination, and the way they lived in faith, demonstrated faith, are witnesses to us of what it is to live in faith, but the

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Lord Jesus has gone on ahead too and he's there, and so he is the trailblazer is the idea of our faith, he's blazed the trail and now we're part of this long procession of people traveling to our heavenly

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Zion, we're to follow him and he's leading us in that course he's enabling us, he provides for us in that course and he's leading us to this appointed destination, following him implies obedience, not just obedience but immediate obedience and complete obedience, following him carries no qualification if we're thinking rightly and doing rightly, and so may the

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Lord help us now let me explain this, it's important I say this and then we'll close, some people come to Jesus and they're truly

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Christians and the Lord graciously forgives them and they're righteous in the sight of God, Christ's righteousness imputed to them, but they haven't yet fully grasped perhaps what this

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Christian life is like and what's expected, but the longer we're Christians the more we understand and sometimes it's a struggle, we come to a crisis but if we're the

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Lord's people we surrender, don't we, and we go on and there's some people that are raised in church they've been under the hearing of the gospel all their lives and they came to believe on Jesus as an early age but when they hear something like we've been talking today it's something kind of new to them that doesn't necessarily declare you not to be a

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Christian, it's just when you hear these things from the Lord you respond yes

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Lord I will follow you as you enable me and as we grow as Christians and go through the

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Christian life He expects and demands more and more of us and so there's things that we go through maybe today that we had no comprehension whatsoever we were going to go through 20 years ago and had we known 20 years ago we might have really had doubts, but the

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Lord carries us through and He directs us, doesn't He, and our destination is secure to us,

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Christ secured it through His life and death and resurrection Amen? Let's pray

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Thank You Father for Your Word Thank You Father for this glorious theme that we find throughout

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Scripture, of You leading Your people our God back from a world of sin that's destined for destruction even into Your presence, into Your everlasting glory and we pray our

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Father that You would help each of us every one of us our God to truly follow

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Jesus as it's set forth in the Holy Scriptures and we know Lord no one is suitable for this, no one is capable of doing this apart from Your great grace that You work in our lives within our hearts and our minds and so may this grace be abundant toward us in Jesus Christ give us the desire and give us the ability to follow

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You our Lord Jesus even onto our glorious destination for we pray in Jesus' name,