The Cost and Joy of Following Jesus | Dr. Andy Brown

What does it truly mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?

In this message, we look at Luke 9 and Jesus’ call to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Him. Discipleship is not passive listening or casual religion. It is a life patterned after Jesus, surrendered to His authority, shaped by His cross, and lived in the hope of His coming glory.

Following Jesus comes with a cost, but there is no true loss in giving your life to Him. The real loss is trying to save your life apart from Christ. Jesus calls us to deny ourselves daily, embrace our new identity in Him, pursue Him without shame, and live with eternity in view.

If you are wrestling with what it means to follow Jesus, surrender your life, or live as a true disciple, this message is for you.

Scripture: Luke 9:23–26

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Would you consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ? And let me ask it another way. Would others around you consider you? Are you known as a follower of Jesus Christ? Well, what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus Christ? Those earliest followers of Jesus, they were called disciples. Now you've heard of the disciples, haven't you? Those who followed Jesus. But what does it mean to be a disciple? Well, the word disciple literally means learner. It literally means a learner. Now, oftentimes I think in our context, when we hear the word disciple and then we start thinking through, well, it's someone who learns, we can think about our discipleship or following Jesus sort of in a passive kind of tone. Sort of like since we're learners of Jesus, we just need to sit and listen to whatever it is that he says. But as opposed to sitting and listening, discipleship is more about actively doing. It's about patterning your life after your teacher. Patterning your life after your master. It's the difference between enrolling in a class, coming to class faithfully, which you all should, right? Coming to class, faithfully attending class, not just when there's a test, but attending class faithfully. It's the difference between attending a class and becoming the teacher. Attending a class and becoming a teacher. It's sort of like in our context now. We're all sitting, we're all listening. There's a difference between what you're doing and what I'm doing. And so, uh, Brent, if you wouldn't mind, just come up here and preach. Would you mind doing that? No. Okay, right? There's a difference between actively engaging in one activity and giving your whole life to something. And that's what it means to be a disciple. To be a disciple means, listen, to be a follower of Jesus means to pattern your very life after his. And after all, the Bible says in Romans chapter 8, listen to this. The Bible says that you have been predestined. That's a strong word, has a lot of implications. But you have been predestined to be conformed into the image of Jesus. And so you know what that means? It means that as a follower of Jesus Christ, it is a preordained purpose of God for your life to be patterned after who Jesus Christ is. And let me just say this: being a disciple of Jesus Christ is who you are always intended to be. Being a disciple of Jesus is who you are always meant to be. Now, following Jesus, there's a cost to following Jesus. It's not just a matter of haphazardly deciding one day I'm going to check a box and I'm going to say I'm a follower of Jesus. There is a cost to following Jesus, but listen to me carefully. There is a cost, but there's really no loss. There's a cost to following Jesus, but there's really no loss. And so to flesh those points out, would you join me in the book of Luke? In Luke chapter 9, as Jesus is talking about what it means to be a follower of his, what it means to come after him, what it means to be his disciple, he's going to tell us the cost of following Jesus. But here's what he's going to say. Yes, there's a cost, but there really is no loss. I think oftentimes when we approach discipleship, when we approach Jesus, we live as if there's, we live sort of disjointed from reality. We think that there's some other way to live that will lead to a destination that we really won't. But there's really just, there's really no other way for you to live than to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. Now, you say, what do you mean there's no other way to live? Yes, there is. Well, no, there isn't, because the Bible says any other way to live that's outside of the pattern of Jesus Christ is really not life at all. It's death. It may look like life, it may smell like life, it may feel like life, it may bring some kind of temporary moment of satisfaction, but the end thereof, the end therein, where does it lead? It leads not to life, but it leads to death. Listen to the Bible. It says this. Jesus here, and I can remember in another translation that I had, it was probably the King James growing up, it said the title of this section in Luke chapter 9 and verse 23 was Exacting Discipleship. In other words, this is what it means. Jesus is pressing in on us, showing us what does it mean to call yourself a follower of Jesus. Listen to what he says. He said to them all, if anyone. Now let's stop right there. That's you. If anyone, if there is anyone, this is a general call to whosoever. Jesus says, if anyone would come after me, here's the formula. Let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me, in my words, of him, the Son of Man, will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Now, go back to what Jesus just said. Do you see how he radically reorients what we think about this whole thing we call life and living? Jesus says this plainly. Now all of us, we want to save our life. We want to live life to its fullest. We want to experience life in the most satisfying terms. He says, whoever would save his life will lose it. So you see the pattern? If you're trying to save your life, if you are trying to save your life, Jesus says the pathway that you're on is a pathway to really lose it. But he says this whoever whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. You see the difference? And you hopefully you can see the difference. The difference is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ stands at the center of difference between life and death. The difference between life and death is centered in the person Jesus Christ. And then notice how exacting he gets. He says, For what does it profit someone if they were to gain the whole world? But yet they forfeit or they lose their own selves. Jesus would say, What's more valuable? Silver, gold, temporary satisfaction? Or the very reason for your existence. And the very reason for your existence, listen carefully, the very reason for your existence is for you to look more and more like Jesus Christ. And so what's a follower of Jesus Christ? Here's how we could define it. We could say this a follower of Jesus Christ is one who finds themselves by giving themselves away to Jesus. That's what it means to be a follower of Jesus. It's one who understands what life is all about. And what is life all about? Life is all about giving yourself away. Not just one time, but a continual time. It starts at one time, but it the more you realize how valuable Christ is, the more you realize how valuable your life is, the more willing you are to give yourself away to Him. It's to constantly come to Him and give yourself away to Him. So what's a follower of Jesus? It's someone who really learns how to find themselves, and the way that they find themselves is they give themselves away to Jesus. And so here's what I wanted to press in on while we have this time together. I want us to look at this passage. And I want us to just go through this passage from verse 23 through 26. We're going to flip around to some other passages in Scripture because we're going to reinforce these thoughts with the Word of God in other places. And I hope that you'll follow along and hopefully you're taking notes so that you can go back and review these truths later. But what are some characteristics of a disciple of Jesus? So if you say that you're a disciple of Jesus, how do you know? What are some things that must be true according to Jesus? Must be true of you if you are to be a disciple. Number one. Are you ready? If you're to be a disciple, number one, you have to deny yourself daily. You see what we've just started with, and this is the most challenging one, and this is why it's first. See, we live in an age that's filled full of self-help, and you want your best life and the best moment that you have. You want everything centered for you. But Jesus comes and he says this if you really want to know what it means to live, you have to die. You have to die to yourself. You have to die to your ambitions. You have to die to your wants. You have to die to your desires. You have to consider yourself wretched in sight of who I am. You have to consider yourself less and me more. Remember what Jesus said about John the Baptist? He said, There's not been one who's been born of women, and that's a lot of people, right? There's not been one who's been born of women who's been greater than John the Baptist. And what did John the Baptist say? John lived his life as a follower of Jesus. And what did John say? John said, He must increase, I must decrease. You see, it's almost like a paradox between the way that our world tells us, hey, you in 2025, you be your best self. And Jesus comes and confronts that and says, Hey, I've got a different formula for you. You want to be your best self? Learn to deny yourself. And not just one time, but daily. And see, when we learn to let go of the standards that the world has for us, when we learn to let go of even the standards that we may prop up for our own selves, and instead let go of those standards and embrace this life that Jesus has for us. Jesus says that's the formula, that's the pattern, that's the way for you to truly discover what living is all about. It's a life of denial, a denial of yourself. Go with me, if you wouldn't mind, to Romans chapter 7. I want you to notice this passage. Romans chapter 7, Paul in Romans 7, I believe that he's dealing with a common experience that those who are followers of Jesus have. And so we deny ourselves daily. And what does that mean? It means that we are constantly taking every thought and placing it under the obedience of Christ. God has a way for us, but before we start out on that way, we want to make sure that it's God's ordained way that He wants us to go. Because here's what we know. We now are constantly living this life of self-denial, not to give over to our desires, but to sift our desires through God and His Word. And so listen to what Paul says in Romans chapter 7. And I believe Romans chapter 7, Paul is describing the experience that every follower of Jesus has. Every follower of Jesus has, that is, learning to deny yourself, learning to say no to sinful desires that are still lingering, and yes to Jesus Christ. All of us are on this road, this pathway, if we were to use theological terms, we would call it sanctification. And that word just means that you right now are becoming more and more like Jesus. You are becoming more holy in your attitude, your disposition, the way you think, everything that you do. You are denying yourself daily so that you can let go of those things and embrace something greater. And so Paul is describing in Romans chapter 7 these attitudes that all of us have. Now look at verse 15. Verse 15, as we read it, it's going to describe, I'm going to guess, everyone in the room who's a follower of Jesus. Jesus, or excuse me, Paul says through, Paul says Romans 7, 15, for I do not understand my own actions. I do the very things that I don't want to do. Now, has any of you ever felt conviction? That is, you've been to a conference, you've been to church, you've read your Bible, and then you've had that encounter where Jesus comes and he convicts you of something, something in your life that you've embraced when Jesus has called you to deny it. And that experience that you have as you struggle, you said, Well, listen, I don't even understand my own actions, for I really don't want to do this, but for whatever reason I find myself doing this. Let's continue to read. He says, I do the very thing that I hate. Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it's good, so it's no longer I who do it. But look at this. This is why we're denying ourselves. Verse 17. Sin dwells within me. And all of us here, there is sin still dwelling in us. Don't have this idea that once you come to Jesus, you'll quit sinning. Listen, after coming to Jesus, I have confessed so much more because he lets me have this realization. Even my thoughts are not becoming to what this pattern of life that he has for me. He says in verse 17, so now it's no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. That's why we have to deny ourselves, because there's sin that's dwelling in each of us. For I know, verse 18, and this is where self-denial really starts. We have to agree with verse 18 and say, this is true. I know that nothing good dwells in me. That is, in my flesh. That's why to be a follower of Jesus, I'm denying myself. I'm denying my actions, I'm denying my attitudes, I'm denying my very ambitions. I don't trust myself, I trust Jesus. And so as his servant, I'm constantly giving myself over to him with my actions, with my attitudes, with my thoughts, everything over to Jesus. And then he says this. Verse 18. I have the desire to do what's right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I don't do the good I want, but the evil I don't want is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I don't want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. This is why we live a life of constant repentance and faith. Repentance means turning away from our sinful behavior. In some cases, that's our own fault. In some cases, that's our own attitudes, in some cases that's our own wants. Turning away, repenting, turning towards Jesus. And listen to the faith that's going to come at verse 21. For I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. So since evil lies close at hand, stay close to Jesus. Look at the next verse. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. And then look at verse 24. This is what a life of self-denial looks like. It looks like being able to say this about yourself wretched man, wretched woman, wretched boy, wretched girl that I am. And that's not for you to feel bad about yourself. It's not for guilt to take over, it's for grace to take the reins the rest of the way. Listen, wretched man that I am. And if the Bible just left there, we would have no good message, but it keeps going. It says this who is going to deliver me from this body of death? Is there anyone that can save you from yourself? And then listen to the way Paul answers the question. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. And then listen to verse chapter 8 of verse 1. Since Jesus has delivered me, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This is what a life of self-denial is about. It's not a life of saying, whoa, it's me. It's a life of realizing how great God is and realizing that God loves you so much. As we've said so many times from this stage, as we've said so many times in these moments, there's not one thing you can do to make God love you anymore. There's not one thing that God that you can do to make God love you any less than he already does. So what's the whole purpose? The whole purpose is for you to let go of death in your life and embrace life. And when you let go of death and you embrace life, you're only embracing Jesus. You're laying aside those things which so easily entangle you. And Jesus says, if you want to come after me, here's the place that you start. Not trying to have this idea of self-righteousness, not trying to justify your own actions, but coming to the point where you realize that the only good thing about you is God and His grace in your life. Not to trust yourself, not for you to do better, but for you to continually trust God, for you to continue to live a life of self-denial, for you to embrace the life that Jesus Christ has guaranteed for you through his cross. That's the reason that he died. That's the reason that he rose again. That's the reason that he's coming again. Also that he who is your life, when he appears, we can be grateful that he came. Because we're not trusting in our best efforts, we're instead trusting in what he has accomplished on the cross for us. And remember what he's done? He's done everything sufficient to save us from our sins, to save us from ourselves, to give us new life in him. So we're living this life, number one, to be a disciple. We are constantly not trusting in our best efforts, not trusting in our actions, but we're living this life of self-denial so that we can, number two, embrace this new identity that's who we are. Number two, if we're gonna be a disciple, then there's a brand new identity for you to embrace. And that new identity is based upon who God is and what he has done for you through the cross. Notice what Jesus says here. He says, if anyone is gonna come after me, here's what you do first. You deny yourself. And then secondly, he says, take up your cross daily and follow me. The most important thing about you, listen carefully, is that you are forgiven. The most important thing about you is that you have been forgiven of your sins. And you have been put on a pathway that leads to life. God has put his very life inside of you. The most important thing about you is not what you can do, but what Jesus Christ has already done for you. Now, when we think about this whole idea of Jesus calling us and saying, take up your cross and follow me, what's he asking us to do? He's not asking us to add to anything that he's done. You and I can't do that. Remember, we can't do one thing to make him love us anymore, one thing to make him love us any less. Remember what Jesus Christ said from the cross? When he went to the cross, he said, Well, half of it's done. Is that what he said? It'll be done one day. No. He said, it is finished. It is finished. Your new life has been secured by him who was crucified for your sin. And so what's he calling us to do? Is he asking us to add something to what he's already done when he calls us to take up our cross and follow him? No. He's asking us to remember our identity. And our identity is in him. Our identity is in the cross of Jesus Christ. The most important thing about us is Jesus. The most important thing about us is who he is and what he's done. And so we look at Jesus and we can't understand who Jesus is apart from a cross. When we see Jesus, we should automatically think a cross. But it's not just a cross, is it? After the cross was the tomb. And after three days later, Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And this Jesus, remember, he's the one telling us this word this morning. He's already experienced the cross. He's already experienced the resurrection. He's already experienced the ascension. And we are waiting on him to come. And in the meantime, here's what he says: if you want to follow after me, not to add to my finished work, but to embrace the work that I have accomplished for you. Embrace the work that I have done for you. To say it is finished. You're done with that old way of life. That doesn't define who you are anymore. You're one, as Paul says in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20. Go ahead and go over there if you wouldn't mind with me. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20, it's a summary statement of the entire Bible. He says this He says that I have been crucified with Christ. That's how you get to define yourself as one who has been crucified with Christ. And then he says this at Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20. And there again, this is the summary statement of the Christian life. I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live.

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Christ.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

You see this new identity that you have? You know the reason why you can't go to that place is because it's not who you are. You know why you can't watch those shows? The other world may, the world may look at the movies and the shows and they say, hey, they give hearty approval to these programs that are on television, but it's not fitting for a disciple of Jesus. Those conversations that are unbecoming of a follower of Jesus Christ. Why? Because you haven't, it's not who you are. It's not just a matter of it's not who, well, Jesus wouldn't approve. Well, yes, Jesus wouldn't approve, but it's not who you are. You're not your own, Paul would say in another place. You've been bought with a price. The reason why Andy Brown can't talk the way that he used to is because of Jesus. The reason why Andy Brown can't do the things that he used to do is because of Jesus. The reason why Andy Brown can't approve of the things that the world gives heartily approval for is simple. It's because of Jesus. The most important thing about me, listen carefully, the most important thing about me happened 2,000 years ago. Where Jesus Christ died on the cross. And according to the Apostle Paul, he says that he has been crucified with Christ. And that's what Jesus is calling us to do, to embrace this new identity, to embrace this life that he has already secured through giving his own life for you so that you wouldn't have to bear the cross. He bore it for you. So now this new identity that you have, this cruciform way of life, this life that's shaped by the cross, this life that's shaped sacrificially in service to God and for the good of others, for the glory of God and for the good of others, this is the way that you live. And I just wondered as I say that and as I as you hear that for the first time, maybe, coming from the Apostle Paul at Galatians chapter 2, is this truly the way that you live? Can you confidently say what God has said through the Apostle Paul? Is this the way that you live? Is the way of Jesus your way? And the way of Jesus is the way of a cross. And this, if you're going to be a follower of Jesus, Jesus says you have to embrace your identity. You have to come to grips, come to terms with reality. This is who you are in Christ. He says this. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Some of you say, Well, I really want Christ to live in me. Do you? Well, the only way for Christ to live in you is you have to take up your cross. The only way for Christ to live in you is you have to embrace your new identity and say that the most important thing about you happened 2,000 years ago when you were crucified with Christ. When Christ made an end of Andy, when Christ made an end of my old identity, when Christ made an end of my sinning, and he brought new life to me. It's no longer I who live, Paul says. It's Christ who lives in me. And how do we live our life now? Look at the verse. The life I now live in the flesh, how do we live? We live a life of faith. That's what it means to embrace or take up the cross. It's a life of faith. It's a life of denying yourself, your wants, your pleasures, your ambitions, your plans that you have, they all now belong to Jesus. If you're truly going to follow him. That is, Jesus Christ, when he comes, remember what he's saying? He says, guys, if you're going to follow me, then you have to let me take the lead. And if that's really the evaluation point that what we ask of our own lives, how many of us would truly say that, yeah, I'm following Jesus? If the evaluation point was this, is Jesus leading your life? How many of you would say yes? Or are there areas in your life that you say, you know, honestly, God's not in the lead here. And this is the point that we have as a follower of Jesus Christ to say, that spot where he's not in the lead, let him lead. You say, how do I do that? You deny yourself daily. And you embrace this new identity. Look at what Paul says again, Galatians. Flip over just a couple of pages. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 14. He says, Far be it from me to boast except for the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The reason for our boasting again is Jesus. The most important thing about us is Jesus. He says, by which, that is, by the cross, the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. In other words, I recognize that they crucified Jesus Christ. The world and its systems crucify Jesus. And listen, here's the point that all of us have to deal with. We're all living in this world together. The world is pulling for your affections in every way imaginable. The world is pulling for my affections in every way imaginable, trying to show us what they say will lead to life, what they say will lead to happiness, what they say will lead to success. But you and I know God wants you to be successful. God wants you to have life. He wants you to be happy. But happiness and success is simple. Listen, it's for your life to look more and more like Jesus. And your life and my life simply can't look like Jesus unless we can say, by the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. In other words, my standards have shifted. I don't do those things anymore. I used to be this way. I used to agree. I used to be right along with the wagon, the bandwagon, partying with everybody else, because that was the greatest and best thing that we thought was, but that's not who I am anymore. If you're going to be a disciple, you have to embrace your new identity. And that new identity, remember, is costly. Remember what they did to Jesus. The only perfect man that ever lived this side of heaven. In the world and its systems, they crucified him. But what they didn't realize is that Jesus Christ, according to 1 John, the reason that he came was he came to destroy the works of the devil. Why did he come to destroy the works of the devil? Because the devil is a liar. The devil is a deceiver. The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus Christ has come that you may have life and life more abundantly. And here's the secret. You ready? You want to have life in Jesus? You've got to deny yourself. You've got to embrace this new identity that has been secured for you by the indestructible life of Jesus Christ. The reason that he died was because of my sin. The reason that he died was because of your sin. The reason that he died was because of the sins of the whole world. And Jesus Christ was subjected himself to being crushed so that by his wounds we could be healed. By his wounds, by his crushing, he could put the world back on track that's gone astray. Now his life, according to John 1, shines as a light, beckoning men and women, boys and girls, me and you here today, to not just sit in a church and watch the preacher do something, or not just sit in a classroom, but to become the teacher, to take his way as my way to embrace this new identity that Jesus Christ has from me. Oh, yes, there will be cost. But please hear me. The true loss is not following Jesus. And there is almost as if, as we read this passage, it's almost as if Jesus realizes the challenge. And now he's going to opt the ante. It's like he realizes, hey, this word is already hard enough, Jesus. But now look at what he says. He presses into our very emotions. Listen to what he says next. He says at verse 25, What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? And then he says, okay, now you're chewing on that. Let's up the ante. Verse 26, for whoever is ashamed of me, in my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the glory, in his glory, and the glory of the Father and the Holy Angels. Jesus says, Hey, if you're going to be my disciple, you have to pursue me without any shame. You have to pursue me unashamedly. You ever been ashamed of something? You've ever felt that sense of shame? Because you were ashamed of something. If you're ashamed of something, you're probably not confident. And if you're ashamed of something and you're not confident, you're probably neglecting whatever it is. I can tell you a point in case in my life. It came time for me as a fourth or fifth grader, I'm pretty sure it was a fifth grader in Mrs. Beach's class, but that's too many details that we can talk about later. In fifth grade, it came time for me to get back to school shoes. And you know, you had to have back-to-school shoes, otherwise, you know, you'd get made fun of, right? And I didn't want anybody looking at my shoes and calling them 99 cent buddies, and so I had to have some really nice shoes. Well, there was something, there was an economic crisis going on. My dad had worked for Eastern Airlines for 21 years. It was the uh job that anchored him from the jungles of Vietnam back to society, and all of a sudden, he lost his job, and so we couldn't afford the back to school shoes. I wanted to go shop at Foot Locker. I wanted the Air Jordans. I've never had a pair of Jordans, by the way, never had one. Still to this day, don't really want any. But anyway, never had it. And my mom and dad, they took me to a store. My mother in particular, she took me to a store to buy my shoes. She took me to the worst store imaginable to buy back-to-school shoes for a fifth-grade boy. She took me to payless shoe source. And honestly, I remember going down the aisles crying. My mother picked out a pair of shoes for me. They were plastic. I mean, these shoes were, they were so ugly. And I remember crying, putting these shoes on, and my mother, she was so frustrated just because of all the circumstances and my poor attitude. My mother said, Listen, I remember asking mother, I said, Mother, what am I supposed to say when they asked me? They didn't even have name brands on them. It's like, what are these? What are they? I don't know what they are. What am I supposed to tell people? Where did I get these shoes, mother? And I remember my mother telling me, you tell them you got them from the Neiman Marcus, if anybody asks. And listen, I didn't even know what the Neiman Marcus was. But you can bet that when someone came to me and they said, Hey, where'd you get those shoes? I did not say payless. I would say anything else and payless. I was ashamed of those shoes. And I was neglectful. I didn't want to wear them. Now they didn't last but three weeks. You get what you pay for, right? But Jesus Christ wants us to pursue him with confidence. Not to think about him on the fringe of our life, but for Jesus Christ to become our life. I think about a biblical example of someone who was ashamed of Jesus and his name was Peter. Do you remember? The time when Jesus was being crucified for my sin, your sins, and the sins of the world. Peter was around that campfire. And they looked at him and they said, Hey, you look like one of those guys with Jesus. I've never met him before. Why did he say that? Well, maybe he was afraid. Maybe he was ashamed. Maybe for that moment the cost of following Jesus came to bear. And Jesus says, if you're really wanting to be called my disciple, you can't do it being ashamed of me. And the reason why that we can't do that is because remember, we're embracing this new identity. Jesus Christ wasn't ashamed of us. He came right where we were. He knows your darkest, dirtiest secret that you've been holding for decades. And Jesus says, I will take care of that. Matter of fact, I have taken care of that. Corey Tin Boom, who survived the Holocaust, her sister, who died during the Holocaust, she taught her that there is not a pit too deep, that the grace of God is not deeper still. Some of you are in shame this morning. Grace wants to come to that guilt that you have and release you and allow you to pursue this Jesus unashamedly. Because this Jesus, neglecting the glories of heaven, chose to not let the distance between what separated him and us be inseparable. Instead, he overcame the distance. He came to us right where we were. Romans 5 says, while we were still sinners, not when we had it all figured out. When everyone else looked at us, abandoned us, neglected us, Jesus Christ ran to us unashamedly. And Jesus says, Hey, if you're going to really come after me, you're going to embrace this identity that I have, you're going to have my way as your way. And when you pursue me, be all in. Not haphazardly. But be all in. Because fourthly, here's what we know there's a promise that Jesus gave. The promise is that Jesus one day is coming. We are a disciple of Jesus Christ. We show that we're a disciple of Jesus Christ by anticipating the glory. There is so much. What do we have to be ashamed of, folks? Eternity is ours. Are we going to have one moment of temporary pleasure? And that one moment of temporary pleasure can last 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 70 years, 80 years. What is a hundred years in light of eternity? Jesus Christ says, listen, live your life this way with the assurance that the second coming of Jesus Christ is more certain than I'm going to ever finish this sermon. The second coming of Jesus Christ is more certain than you have in lunch. The second coming, and I will let you out, I promise. The second coming of Jesus Christ is more certain than the Son coming up tomorrow. I am deciding to be His disciple. I'm going to pattern my life after His because after all, through the power of the Holy Spirit, it's His life that lives in me. When I think about embracing this identity and pursuing Him unashamedly and anticipating the glory that He has, this glory when He comes, my mind goes to 2 Timothy 2, 11 through 13, and this is going to be on the screen, and I want us to just end right here. Paul says, he says, this saying is trustworthy. For if we have died with him, we'll also live with him. If we endure, we'll also reign with him. Listen carefully. If we deny him, he will also deny us. And then he shifts the paradigm. And say, well, I'm not denying him, but I've just been unfaithful to him. Listen to what he says. If you are listening, are faithless. And he remains faithful. Why? Because he cannot, will not, nor never will deny himself. And it's this life of God that he has given you through Jesus Christ. This life of God inside of you. What does it mean to be a disciple? It means to just remember who you are. Remember who God has called you to be. Not for you to simply watch discipleship happen, not for you to just simply watch the whole world go by, but for you to embrace His way as your very own. And it's my prayer for you that if you've never done that, how do you begin to be a disciple? Go back to what Jesus said at the first. The first step, sometimes is the hardest, is for you to come to the end of yourself. Quit yourself justifying. Quit yourself aggrandizing. Quit self. Forget about yourself. Deny yourself. And confess Jesus Christ as Lord. For some of you, you've never done that. You have fooled people into thinking that you have, but you know in your heart that you've never committed your life to Jesus. For others who have done that, confident that you've done that, you're living a life where if you're honest, there's not a lot of denial that's going on. Instead, you're pursuing yourself. Let me tell you this. You talk about a dead end, you talk about a path that'll get you nowhere, you talk about spinning your wills. Just continue to pursue your wants, your desires. My challenge for you today maybe it's the first time, maybe it's for another time. But right now, give your life to Jesus.