The Ressurection

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Usually on Easter, pastors get up and they say, Jesus Christ is risen. And the congregation says,
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I don't know why we do that, but it's interesting. I've got a question for you.
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You say He's risen indeed. I'm not sure I believe it. I'm not really sure
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I believe that you think He is risen. For many of you,
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I know you believe it. And I think I know how to tell if you believe it or you don't.
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I can't read motives, I'm not omniscient. But show me someone's life who's committed to follow
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Christ Jesus no matter what, like Lisa's. And then I'll tell you if you really believe
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He's resurrected. Show me someone's life who doesn't follow
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Christ Jesus, who doesn't want to submit themselves to His Lordship, and I'll show you someone who does not believe in the resurrection no matter what they say.
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Because ideas have consequences. One of the things I loved about Jesus' preaching when
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He was on earth and I see it in the Scripture, He tells the people the truth and then He says, either directly or indirectly, so what?
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What are you going to do about it? You say the resurrection is true? Does your life show it?
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Oh, I don't mean perfectly, but to some degree, if you believe in the resurrection of Christ Jesus, and I think most of you do, or else you probably wouldn't be here today, could
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I tell your beliefs from your life? If you really believe something, it will affect the way you live, think, and act.
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And if you'll turn your Bibles this morning to Mark chapter 8, I want to show you from Mark 8, 9, and 10 this very thing.
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Now often we go to resurrection services on Easter, Resurrection Sunday morning, and we learn about Jesus' literal resurrection, and I think that's good.
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But now we're going to look at Jesus before He was crucified, before He was raised from the dead, and three times in the history of the
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Gospels, Jesus says, I'm going to suffer, I'll be crucified, I'll be raised from the dead, and in light of that, you must follow
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Me wholeheartedly. It's very interesting. In chapter 8, chapter 9, chapter 10,
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Jesus says, I'm going to be raised from the dead, and then He uses that as a springboard to talk about real discipleship, real faith.
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You say you're going to believe in this resurrected God, then follow Him. And I could say this morning very simply, if Jesus is in fact
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God, if He in fact did raise Himself from the dead, isn't God by definition worthwhile and worthy of you following Him for your whole life?
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If you have forgiveness of sins, you can just start doing the calculations. If you sin once a day, how many years are you, how old are you?
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It wouldn't take very long to think, I've got a lot of sins to pay for, and if Jesus has paid it all on the cross, then shouldn't
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I live unto the glory of God? And so Jesus is prepping them, and He's going to say these three times, chapter 8, chapter 9, chapter 10,
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I'm going to die, and then right after He says that, He says to the men, and then we say to you, so what are you going to do about it?
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Doing nothing means you don't believe what Jesus has said. So today I'm going to look at these three chapters, chapter 8, chapter 9, and chapter 10, three predictions from Jesus that talk about His life, no,
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His death and His resurrection, and then in light of that, He demands all your loyalty, all your commitment, to follow
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Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. In other words, you say you believe in the resurrection? Prove it.
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So let's look at Mark, chapter 8, 9, and 10. I love the book of Mark.
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I call this the Indiana Jones of the New Testament Gospels, because it is action -packed.
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It is go, go, go, and you just see this person of Christ, and you just look at Jesus Christ and listen to Him, and you say, there's no person like Him ever.
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There's no king like Him, no savior, no captain, no man, no general. This man, the way he speaks, the way he preaches, doesn't just demand respect.
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It inspires awe, confidence. And here we have the God -man
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Himself preaching. And He preaches about His resurrection, and then He says, in light of this resurrection, what are you going to do?
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You should be fully devoted to following Me. The first one is found in Mark, chapter 8, verse 31.
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And again, we're going to look at three predictions from Jesus that should inspire you to live for Him.
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If you're a Christian, great. We can just say, God, by Your grace, I'd like to follow You more wholeheartedly.
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And if you're not a Christian, I want you to know, as you leave here today, if you're not following Christ, then you don't really believe in the resurrection.
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You don't really believe in this Jesus, because if you realize your sin and Christ's greatness, and what
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He did, like Lisa just sang about, and His love offering for you, you would follow such a man.
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The first prediction is found in Mark, 8, verse 31. If you don't have a Bible, you've got to follow along, because this is just one of the most amazing passages you'll ever read about.
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And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days, rise again.
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I don't know if you've ever got slapped in the face before, with a hand, or with a cold hand.
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But that's what this sentence was like, figuratively, to these men. Aren't Messiahs supposed to be political victors?
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These men who come along and say, the Roman oppression is over. And here we're going to liberate you all, and Jesus says,
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I'm not that kind of Messiah, by the way, I'm the kind of Messiah that's going to suffer and be killed, and then be raised three days later.
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The tradition in those days said something like this, thinking about God as King and Messiah.
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How fine is the King, the Messiah, who will arise from those from the house of Judah. He girds
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His loins and goes forth and sets up the ranks of battle against His enemies, and kills the kings together with their commanders, and no king and commander can stand before Him.
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He reddens the mountains with blood, their blood, from their slain garments dipped in blood.
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Here's this Messiah that people wanted, and He was a Messiah that would come in and clean house, literally.
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And now Jesus says to these men, I'm going to die and be raised from the dead. What are you talking about?
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He says four things. What does He say? I must suffer. I must suffer.
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It is the eternal purpose of God for me to suffer. I'm not going to set up this messianic kingdom fully until later.
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Not just suffer to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes. Don't you think the Messiah, thinking kind of naturally and normally, would have the elders say, we affirm that.
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Yes, we're the leaders and we see the Messiah and we sign off on His credentials.
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They're not even supporting Him. These are the leaders. And then the
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Messiah must be lifted up and exalted and worshipped. No, what does the text say? Coronated, promoted, killed.
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And after three days, rise again. Now what would you do if you were there?
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You'd probably do what I would do, which was what Peter did. Look at what happens.
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There's not going to be a military coup. There's going to be suffering. There's going to be a resurrection.
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Death in between. And the apostles must have gone apoplectic.
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And verse 32 says of Mark 8, and he said this plainly. This was not some hidden parable, allegory, cloak saying, that only inside people could know what
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Jesus said, you've got to assign a number to and then figure it out, some kind of signature of God.
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This was plainly, and he said it over and over and over. He said this plainly. And Peter took
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Him aside and said, hallelujah, praise the Lord. We love suffering servants. We like suffering, you like suffering, let's all suffer together.
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And Jesus was took aside by Peter, and Peter began to rebuke Jesus. This is the same language where the disciples watched
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Jesus rebuke demons. And now Peter is rebuking Jesus. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked
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Peter and said, get behind me,
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Satan, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.
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Peter, put down the megaphone for Satan, because you are spouting Satan's language.
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You are not talking about God's will, where the Old Testament and the knowledge of God was, we are going to have
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Jesus go first, suffer, be killed, and then be raised from the dead. Just earlier in chapter 8,
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Peter said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. A, A for the letter grade.
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And now he is saying, no, don't do that. And now he has gone from A student to dunce cap in about a few short verses.
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Jesus had been on the Mount of Temptation in Matthew 4, and in Luke 4, and in Mark chapter 1, and Satan was tempting
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Jesus. Just take the easy route, and all these kingdoms will be added unto you. And he has already rebuked
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Satan and said, be gone, Satan. In the exact same language here, he says to Peter, stop this. Satan's M .O.,
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the way he operates, is always this. Glory, no suffering. Get the glory, but have no suffering.
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And God's M .O., his way is always suffering is transformed into glory.
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One of the other Gospels says that Peter said to Jesus, God forbid it, Lord, this shall never happen to you.
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Jesus said, you are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.
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God had planned the crucifixion of Christ. This was not some kind of accident. Acts chapter 2, this man
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Jesus delivered up by the predetermined plan of God. Acts chapter 4, thy hand and thy purpose,
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God, predestined this crucifixion to occur. And basically,
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Peter is told this. This is not my program. Here is my program. You follow me to the death and beyond.
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And look at what he does. He gives these demands of discipleship. The stakes are high.
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It's difficult. And what Jesus says now is like Churchill in World War II.
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What do I have to offer you men? Nothing except blood. What? Sweat and tears.
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It's not easy, but forgiveness of sins is worth it. If you're going to live forever in heaven or hell, you want to have your sins forgiven so you can live in heaven.
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And if you have your sins forgiven based on the work of another, it's worth all this. And here are the demands of discipleship.
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I kind of call them spiritual gut checks. You say you're a Christian? Prove it. This is not, you know, accept
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Jesus in your heart and live the way you want. This is all. It's all or nothing. Mark 8, 34.
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And calling to the crowd, calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, if anyone, not just the disciples now, not just Peter, but anyone, anyone listening today, if anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
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You say you believe in the resurrection? Jesus says it's going to cost you everything.
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It could cost you everything, including your life. What does he say first, do you notice? Deny himself.
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Just say no to self. How hard is that in our day and age in this culture?
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Prideful self, no. Self -righteous self, no. The self that says there's many ways to heaven, no.
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The self that says I don't want to trust in that man and his word, no. You want to follow
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Christ? Deny yourself. Total surrender.
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Yeah, but how far are we going to take this? I mean, if you've got to deny yourself, just how extreme? Let's just, you know, figure out how little we have to give to follow that and we'll be okay.
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And Jesus gives a second demand. How far are you willing to take this self -denial? Up to death. How about that?
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And pick up your cross. Now, this is not some person in your life that's kind of bugging you.
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I've got a cross to carry. My wife, you know, is my cross. I'm just talking for someone else.
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I'm not talking about Kim at all. I've got some physical ailment. It's my cross.
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Here he says it could cost you your life. How about living in America now where the death penalty is passe?
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If necessary, you have to be willing to follow Christ Jesus up to the point of death if he deems it necessary.
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It's like you're having a halter around your neck being drug down to the spot where Jesus is going to be crucified.
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Jesus says, I'm the sin bearer. I'm the Messiah. There's only forgiveness found in me.
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And I'll prove it to you by being killed on the cross. I'll raise myself from the dead. So now that that's going to be true, then it's going to cost you everything to follow me.
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Take up your cross by the way the disciples did. Peter was crucified according to tradition, head downward.
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Andrew, all these according to tradition, died on a cross in a
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Grecian colony. James, thrown off the pinnacle of the temple and then beaten to death with a club.
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Bartholomew, flayed alive in Armenia. James, the elder son of Zebedee, beheaded at Jerusalem.
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That's in the Bible. Thomas, the doubter, run through the body with the lance in the
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East Indies. Philip was hanged from a pillar in Abyssinia.
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Thaddeus was shot to death with arrows. The other Simon died on a cross in Iran. But if heaven is found through following and trusting and believing in this
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Christ Jesus, and I have no guilt, no shame, no penalty of sin, then it's worthy of my affections to follow
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Him no matter what. If you say, I confess Jesus as my
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Lord, I believe He was raised from the dead, but I won't follow Him anywhere, let alone to my death, then you're not really a believer in Christ Jesus.
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And look what he says there at the end. A person who loves Christ will follow Him and follow me.
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Keep on following me. That's the way they taught back in those days. Oh, I have some disciples?
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You just kind of follow me. And where I walk, you walk right behind me. Follow me.
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A cross is in my future, men, and a cross is in your future, too, if I ordain it. You say, give me some reasons for this.
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This is kind of extreme. Look at the first reason found in verse 35. These are the reasons behind these demands.
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God's ways are not like our ways. Verse 35, One man said, this is the way of total freedom.
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If you clutch your life wholly to yourself, protecting it against all others, asserting all your rights, needs, and privileges, you lose it because it isn't life any longer.
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If, however, you acknowledge that life is not yours by right, that all is privilege, and that it is to be lived in the love that the gospel story reveals, self -giving love, then you possess it wholly.
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I have a question for you. Verse 36. Answer? What if I owned everything?
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What if I was Warren Buffet or Bill Gates or anybody else and I owned it all? Will you exchange all that you have if I could own the whole world?
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And then say on judgment day, God, here's what I'm going to give you in exchange for my soul.
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He asks another question in verse 37. You can't buy salvation. For what can a man give in return for his soul?
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God, here's my gold bullion for you. Thanks for letting me go to heaven. God, here's all my
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Google stock. I've kept it all together. Please, heaven. Look at the serious consequences.
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Verse 38. For whoever is ashamed of me, not follow me up to and including death if necessary, and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation.
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Sounds like today. Of him will the son of man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels.
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I usually don't think of hell this way, but it's a good thought. It's a horrible thought, but it's a true thought.
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Hell is a place where God puts those who are ashamed of Jesus Christ. Let's go to Mark chapter 9.
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It's so much easier to say, Jesus Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. That's the easy part.
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But what you say is confirmed by what you believe. That is to say, if you really believe something, your life will show it.
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That's why Jesus preaches repentance. Change your mind, because if your mind is changed, everything changes. Now we go to prediction number 2,
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Mark chapter 9. I mean, already just kind of, you know, it's overwhelming. Thankfully, what
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God commands, the spirit of God attends to and gives grace so that we're able.
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Mark chapter 9, verse 30. Here's the second time Jesus told these men who wanted a political messiah that he was going to have to suffer and be raised from the dead, and then it will cost you something.
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There's a response to truth. Truth has consequences. Mark 9, 30.
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They went on from there and passed through Galilee, and he did not want anyone to know. Still in this kind of private, isolated ministry leading up to the cross.
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For he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, The Son of Man, an Old Testament term from Daniel to talk about the messiah, is going to be delivered into the hands of men?
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What do you mean, into men's hands? This is the messiah, and they will kill him? What do you mean the messiah is going to get killed?
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And when he is killed, after three days he will rise. Matthew says they were deeply grieved.
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Verse 32 of Mark says, They did not understand the scene and were afraid to ask him. Guys, remember what happened the last time
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Peter rebuked Jesus after he said this? Let's just kind of keep quiet. We're afraid to say something now.
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Let's not have any more bad news. Get thee behind me, Satan, to Peter. Every one of you, if you're a parent, knows there are certain times in life where there's a child, you're just living your life, and something happens, either good or bad, and you go, this is a teachable moment.
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Come here, daughter. Come here, son. We've got a good lesson. This is a good, teachable moment, and that's exactly what's going on here.
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Jesus is going to die, and in light of his death, what's the response? The response is,
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Be a humble servant of Christ Jesus. Verse 33, When they came to Capernaum, when he was in the house, it was probably
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Peter's house, in the house, he asked them, What were you discussing on the way? That's a bad thing coming up,
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I know. By the way, I just told you guys, I'm going to be killed, suffer, be killed.
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And you can tell, Jesus, it's like he just let them go talk on their own. He's walking this way,
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I'm just going to walk up a little ahead and let them talk among themselves. What were they talking about?
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Answer? Who's going to be the greatest? This is pre -Muhammad Ali, though, still in the heart of men and women.
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Verse 34, But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.
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The text says they just held their tongue for a long time. Yeah, Jesus is going to go get killed, and how great am
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I going to be? I'm better than you. Maybe all this talk of the kingdom made them think of who's going to be in the upper echelon of the kingdom, but it's still sinful nonetheless.
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Here comes the lesson, verse 35, And he sat down and called the twelve. You'd sit down as a rabbi for formal teaching.
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I stand up to teach. This way would be sitting down formally. And he said to them, If anyone would be first, like all you guys sitting there, he must be last of all and servant of all.
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If I'm the resurrected King and I am God incarnate, I'm going to call you to be servants just like I'm a servant.
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If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all. You say you believe in the resurrection, you should be willing to be a humble servant for Christ Jesus.
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If you're not at all, and you don't even want to be, and you're not even maturing in that area, then you need to go back to step one, and that is,
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Do I really believe in the risen Christ? By deliberate choice, I'm going to be last.
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By voluntary decision, I'm going to be last. And Jesus, just like He does so wonderfully, He uses a living illustration.
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What living illustration should we use? Verse 36, Perfectly, And He took a child, infant, toddler, right around that age, put him as a little boy in the midst of them.
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I'm great, I'm great, I'm great. One of the things we know about children, they don't contribute anything to their greatness.
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And taking him in His arms, He said to them, this is a very tender picture, here's
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Jesus the great teacher, Whoever receives one such child in My name receives
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Me, and whoever receives Me, receives not Me, but Him who sent Me. You want to be great?
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It entails dealing and loving insignificant people like this. Me He receives.
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Children don't have rank, they don't have prominence, they don't have eminence, they have no influence, no accomplishments, no fame.
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They're just children. They're immature, they're undeveloped, they're inarticulate, they're weak, they're needy, they have no power, no status, they're vulnerable, they're subject to authority, they are dependent.
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No influence, no child. Children by definition need things. And so Jesus says, here's
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My illustration. I'm going to go die, I'm going to be raised from the dead. I am in fact the
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God who created the universe with a word. And since that's true, here's what I'm asking you to do.
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I'm asking you to be a humble servant just like Me. It's amazing.
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Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10. The third prediction from Jesus about His own death and resurrection that should inspire you to live for Him.
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We always talk about the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ, that it's true. I was reading a while ago, they said
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Jesus wasn't really raised from the dead, it was a seance. The disciples got over here and they had a little seance, you know, they got their little
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Ouija board kind of thing. By the way, I can't believe it, I grew up playing Ouija board. What was my mom thinking?
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Oh, you know, let's get a couple of presents for Christmas, a monopoly, life. And, you know, a couple of Ouija boards are on sale.
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I remember sitting there, touching the Ouija board, I was going to go have a swim meet later that night, and I was saying to the
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God of the Ouija board, so Satan, you know, I didn't know that at the time, am I going to win the swim meet? You know, the yes was over here, and the no was over here, and so my mom got on the other side, and she's trying to push it to no because I need to be humbled, and I'm trying to push it to yes because I want to be exalted.
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You will follow Christ. If you aren't following Christ, saying things about Jesus that are true of Him in the
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Bible, you're not a Christian, and today's the day for your wake -up call. Today's the day for you to be reminded.
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Just two short weeks ago, we had our beloved brother laying right here in the casket, and I just kept thinking about it.
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I just kept thinking over and over and over, how could somebody,
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I could think of my mother laying there in the grave as well, in the casket, how could someone who is cold and hard be raised from the dead?
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How could somebody else raise Jairus' daughter from the dead like Jesus did, but how could that person themselves raise themselves up from the dead?
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And I guarantee you, if this particular wonderful gentleman Christian who was laying here stone -cold dead would have sat up and said,
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I'm going to tell you about life and death, I guarantee you I would have what? Paid attention.
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Because who has power like that? Nobody has that power. Nobody has power over life and death except the
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Creator. And here Jesus says, by the way, it's predicted that I'm going to be raised from the dead. It has been ordained by the
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Father, and He has sent me to go be raised from the dead, and now I'm going to be killed by these men, and then
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I will raise myself from the dead. If any man said that, you should go look at that man and say, by the way,
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I'm going to follow you the rest of my life because I'm going to die one day, and I need someone who has the power of my life and death and resurrection.
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I was thinking about it today, I saw the fishermen by the reservoir, and I thought, well, they're out worshipping today. It's Resurrection Sunday, we're all out worshipping.
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Then I thought, what's worse? Sitting by the reservoir worshipping, or actually just coming to church, and you've got,
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I can't multiply very fast, 365 days a year times 24 hours, and then you go, yeah,
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I know Jesus was raised from the dead, and I'll give Him one hour, I'll give
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Him an hour and a half a year. Friends, that's not true discipleship. That is insanity.
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You say, well, you know, I don't like to think about those things. Who does? But I'm telling you, every one of you, as I look around today, will die and then stand before God.
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And you can't say, well, there's a bunch of hypocrites in the church, so I don't follow them. Friends, we don't worship other
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Christians here. We worship the Savior who is no hypocrite whatsoever. Well, you know, I'll do that later.
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I'll follow God later. This is not scare tactic either, but there might not be a later.
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So what are preachers to do? Preachers get up and say, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the
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Father except through Him. He's the only Savior. Every other religion is wrong, and you'll die, and it'll be proven one day.
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Believe now before it's too late. See, that's not loving. Friends, that's the most loving thing I could do.
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People have it all worked up in their mind where they go, you know what, Jesus is going to be, He's going to suffer,
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He's going to die, He's going to be raised from the dead, and I'll just kind of throw God a bone of, well, you know, you can dunk me in some water, or sprinkle some water on my head, or I've got that letter, and I memorized
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Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and I've got some other questions. I don't know what religion that is, but that's not what
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Jesus says. Jesus says it's going to cost you everything. If I'm the God -man, follow me.
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After all, if there's two gods, God -A and God -Jesus, well, then, you know, split it up a little bit.
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But if there's only one God who made you, then He is worthy of all your adoration and obedience.
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People invite me once in a while to come and speak, and I have to remind them, I tell them this. Thank you very much for the invitation.
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I really appreciate it. I just would like you to know that I'm a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and if you ask me to speak,
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I'm going to say that Jesus is the only God, He's the only
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Savior, He's the only one who's been raised from the dead, and unless you trust in Him fully, turning from your sins, and believing in His death for you and resurrection, you're not going to heaven, but you're going to hell.
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And sometimes people go, that's exactly what we want. And other times I just, five seconds earlier,
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I just hear dial tone. Jesus bought the church with His own blood.
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This is not my church. This is, I'm not trying to build some mega church. I'm trying to be what? Faithful to the text.
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And Jesus says, you say you believe in the resurrection, it's going to cost you everything. It's going to cost you humble service.
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It's going to cost you life following Jesus, even up to death. The wonderful thing, when God saves people and makes them new, while none of us really want to die, we say in our heart of hearts,
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God has given me the grace to believe in Him, and if I have to die for Him, He'll give me the grace for that as well, and Lord, I'm willing to die for You.
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These guys are slow listeners, slow learners. I am too. I assume you are too, so let's just look at the last one,
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Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10, verse 32.
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Let me say one other thing while I'm thinking about it. My grandmother was dying, so I wrote her a little letter.
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The bad news is, I'd never written her a 14 -page letter before, and so the second she got it, she knew it was an evangelistic appeal.
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I thought, oh, I should have written her other longer letters, but I was concerned, because I believe what Jesus says.
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Appointed for man once to die, and then judgment. And I just told her, there's grace to be found, free grace.
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You can't earn heaven, you can't work to heaven, you can't climb up some kind of ladder to heaven. God has come down the ladder in the person of Christ Jesus, and you can come into the
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Master's house through Christ Jesus. I was listening this week to S.
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Lewis Johnson, and S. Lewis Johnson said, in the old days in India, and maybe it's still true, I'd have to talk to my
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Indian brothers and sisters, the servants who come into the Master's house had to take their shoes off.
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Can't go. But the sons could come into the house and have their shoes on. And so here this
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Indian servant, this Indian slave said, you know the wonderful thing about being a
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Christian? I get to slip into the sandals of the Son, and I have entrance now into the
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Father's house. I slip into the sandals of Christ Jesus, and now I'm accepted as a son in the
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Beloved. I remember going to my grandfather's. I mean, you can tell,
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I might not be the guy to ask to come when somebody's dying, if you want to just keep everything calm.
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But when somebody's dying, I want to tell them the truth. Oh, don't tell this person they're dying. No, I'm going to come and tell them they're dying, because it's time to meet
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God. Consider your soul. That's what today's sermon is. You say, are you this crazy every week?
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Well, ask the congregation. I doubt it, but I'm concerned about your soul now if you're here. And I remember going up to my grandfather, and I said,
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I actually had to have Kim take my grandmother away, because she would have a heart attack if I told this to him, and I just wasn't able to do it.
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I said, Grandpa, I think you're going to die soon, and then you're going to stand before God and left by yourself with sins and everything else.
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Your baptism, your confirmation, your being good, your church attendance isn't going to save you. You must be born again.
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I said, I'm like the linebacker who runs over and knocks somebody out, but I'm knocking you out before you go over the cliff.
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This is not unloving. This is just telling people the truth. This isn't all there is to life.
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If it is, it's not worth living. So right down the hallway,
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I hear my grandmother coming, and she starts screaming, No, no, no, no!
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Because I was telling my grandfather in front of my grandmother, it's nothing you can do, because all your works are tainted.
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It's Christ Jesus alone, the only one who can be raised from the dead. Christ Jesus and Him alone.
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You say, well, other people say that. No, Jesus says it. So you say, well, I want to be a Christian, but I don't want to believe what
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Jesus says. Then pick a different religion, because this is what the Bible says. Oh, the Bible's written by men.
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Friends, you can have a thousand excuses about what happened and this happened, but at the end of the day, you will die and stand before God, and you need
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Christ. The good news is, there's the free offer of salvation for all those to look away from self and look to Him.
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I don't know if my grandfather ever repented and believed, but it's our responsibility to tell people the truth.
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It's not a popularity contest. It certainly wasn't for Jesus, and now we look at Mark chapter 10, the third and final prediction of His death, burial and resurrection, that demands it all from His followers.
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Each time, Jesus says, I'm going to suffer, die, be raised from the dead, and now here's the object lesson, follow
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Me. Mark 10 .32, And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, no longer in isolation, just talking to the disciples.
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Now Jesus steadfastly sets His face towards Jerusalem, on His way to death, and He knows it.
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He's forcing the issue, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. They were amazed. You know you're going to go get killed, and there
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He goes, steadfastly, with a hitch and a step, as it were, going to be killed. And Jesus had taught them well enough that they knew if the
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Master is going to get killed, they're what? Next. And those who followed were, and taking the twelve again,
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He began to tell them what was happening to Him. It's a date with destiny.
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It's been agreed with the Father and the Son and the Spirit before time began. They're astonished.
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He used to withdraw from authorities, and now He's marching to Zion. Verse 33.
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See, we're going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man, that's the Messianic term for the Son of Man and Daniel, will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn
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Him to death and deliver Him over to the Gentiles. He says what
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He said before with more intensity. Look at how it's expanded. Here's almost an exposition of chapter 9.
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And they will mock Him and spit on Him and flog Him and kill Him. Some Messiah that is.
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And after three days, He will rise. I don't even know if they heard the words that He will rise, because when you hear about your
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Messiah, your friend, your teacher, your rabbi going to get spit on and flogged and killed and mocked,
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I don't know if you can hear the rest. And now here comes the message of discipleship. Our final one.
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Truth has consequences. Ideas have consequences. And James and John, the son of Zebedee, came up to Him and said to Him, Teacher, we want
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You to do for us whatever we ask of You.
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Wouldn't you expect them to say, Teacher, whatever you ask of us, forgiveness of sins,
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You're the only Messiah. You're the Holy One of God. You're the hope of Israel. It's all flipped around. Teacher, we want
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You to do for us whatever we ask of You. What? Now this is,
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I love mothers. Don't get me wrong. But this is the mother talking to the weak sons.
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Matthew 20, it says, Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons bowing down, making a request of Him.
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He said to the mother, What do you wish? She said to Him, Command that in your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and one on your left.
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These sons are following their mom's lead. Sinful son, sinful mother. You do what we want. And then
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Jesus said, Okay, verse 36, Is there ever a teacher like Jesus? He said to them,
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What do you want me to do for you? And they said, Grant us to sit, one at your right. It's a place of honor.
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And one on your left. Second best place of honor. That's what we want. At least they understood
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Jesus was the Messiah, but they missed it. He's been talking about suffering, persecution, death, crosses, following me, and now you want to be exalted?
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Verse 38, Wow! Jesus said to them, You do not know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?
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The cup of death? The cup of God's wrath poured out upon you? Or be baptized with the baptism which
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I am baptized? And they said to Him, Lord, have mercy on us sinners.
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We're in over our heads. They said, What? We're able. Jesus said to them,
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The cup that I drink, you will drink. You are going to get killed. And with the baptism with which
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I am baptized, you will be baptized. Ambition, man, has blinded you.
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Before glory, there's the cross. Before heaven, there's the suffering. And He submits to the
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Father by saying, verse 40, But to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant. But it is to those for whom it has been prepared.
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And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.
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What are they saying? You guys are super sinful. Be righteous. No? Here's what they say.
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Hey, you guys beat us to the punch. We wanted to be up there. We wanted to be exalted. Garland said,
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These disciples would rather bear a grudge than a cross. Verse 42,
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Jesus called them to Him and said to them, You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
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They lord it over people. It's survival of the fittest out there. Dictators of all sorts. Meligomaniacs.
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Gentiles play the tyrant, but not me. Verse 43, But it shall not be so for you either. It shall not be so among you.
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But whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be the slave of all.
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Say you believe in the resurrection, humble service to God's people. And then our last verse for this morning,
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For even the Son of Man, the one who has a right to be exalted, the sinless one, no sin nature, no taint of sin, even the
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Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. You want to follow Jesus? It's a life of serving.
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Or you don't really believe in the resurrection. And to give His life as a ransom for many.
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If Jesus Christ is going to give His life in the great exchange, dying on the behalf of sinners even though He wasn't a sinner, and then serving people, that's what
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God calls us to do as well. So I ask you the question, if you respond to me,
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Jesus Christ is risen, to respond to me as I say Jesus Christ is risen, He is risen indeed.
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That He is risen indeed should have all the weight of the Gospels that say He's worthy to follow unto death.
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He's worthy to serve. And His people are worthy to serve. Arthur Pink said,
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At the cross, all our iniquities were laid upon Christ and therefore did divine judgment fall on Him. There was no way of transferring sin without transferring its penalty.
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Both sin and its punishment were transferred to the Lord Jesus. On the cross, Christ was making propitiation solely towards God.
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It was a question of meeting the claims of God's holiness. It was a matter of satisfying the demands of justice.
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Not only was Christ's blood shed for us, but it was shed for God. Jesus speaks of His resurrection.
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Jesus speaks of His death because He demands followers. Our Heavenly Father, it is a joy to look at Christ's words even though they are difficult today, stark today, yet truth.
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And so Lord, I ask that Your Spirit now would drive these truths deep into the heart of folks here.
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I pray that those who are Christians would look back and have great joy knowing that when
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You save them, they were made new creatures in Christ and given even the ability and the desire and the will to obey and the will to want to follow.
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Father, for those who are here today and they have not bowed the knee, they are not born again, they are trusting in society, government, education, money, power, friends, or even something like going to church.
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I pray that You would grant them neither sleep nor rest until they are made right with You.
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God, I pray that You would declare them righteous, make them righteous in sanctification, do the work of conversion from start to finish and open their eyes so that they might see that this
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Jesus of the Bible is worth following even if it costs them their entire lives.
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Who could ever come up with such a belief? Lord, no one can, so I pray that You would grant that today for the sake of the glory of Christ Jesus, the risen