WEBVTT 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:06.400 We're back in Mark's Gospel, a couple of weeks uh out of uh Mark's Gospel. 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:12.800 We're continuing uh working our way through, and today we're in uh Mark chapter eight. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:21.440 So let's listen to the words of Almighty God. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:28.320 I'll read Mark chapter eight, verses thirty one to thirty-eight. 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:43.759 And Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:48.640 And he said this plainly, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:01:00.399 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:11.519 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, If any one would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.760 For whoever would save his life will lose it. 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:21.359 But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:26.000 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:29.439 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:45.280 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:57.760 So, Almighty God, we thank you for your word to us, and we ask that we would both see and hear our Saviour, in whose name we pray. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:01:58.719 Amen. 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:00.319 Amen. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:11.840 God's word to us today asks us this question: Do you follow Jesus? 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:20.000 In verse 34, Jesus says these words, if anyone would come after me. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:22.479 So Jesus is on a journey. 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:25.919 He is on a journey to Jerusalem. 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:33.599 So imagine the Lord Jesus Christ leaving his footsteps in the dust as he walks. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:36.960 Being a Christian means following him. 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:41.840 So where Jesus goes, you put your feet to. 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:44.080 Being a disciple, being a follower. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:47.360 That is what Jesus is talking about. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:52.879 And the Jesus we are to follow, it is the Jesus we meet here, here in the Bible. 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:54.000 There is no other Jesus. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:55.840 We are to follow Him. 00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:59.599 So do you follow Jesus? 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:07.840 At one level, this is very simple, but Christian people are not beyond needing a reminder. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:11.599 Grown-ups, Jesus wants you to follow Him. 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:18.879 Children, listen, children, the Lord Jesus, He wants you to follow Him. 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:25.919 Perhaps we're trying to share the Christian faith with a non-believing friend. 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:27.759 What are we doing? 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:41.919 At its most basic, we are trying to help someone to meet Jesus as he is presented to us in the Bible and to encourage him or her to follow Jesus. 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:46.560 Maybe you're a Christian of many, many years, but you are struggling. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:51.280 In your Christian walk, you are finding things tripping up your feet, left, right, and centre. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:58.319 Maybe it is busyness or the deceitfulness of riches or the desire for other things, or maybe it is suffering and hardship. 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:05.919 Maybe you can think of one thing which you know is hindering you from a clear walking after Jesus. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:12.240 You know you need to get back to being a pilgrim, walking with him, after him, with other pilgrims along the way. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:15.599 And we we really do need one another on this journey. 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:20.480 Maybe you're involved in Christian leadership in some way. 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:30.560 Perhaps you you try and help other disciples, or you maybe you lead a fellowship group, you care for children or young people, you're involved in a parachurch organization. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:32.319 That's lots of us here. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:34.000 Well, don't lose sight of this. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:38.000 You never, you never stop being a disciple. 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:40.399 Jesus says to you, follow him. 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:43.839 If we do forget that, we are in trouble. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:46.879 Maybe some of us need calling back to the simple truth. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:50.399 Being a Christian is about following Jesus. 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:57.360 We know other things have got in the way, personal ambitions, doing good stuff, maybe, maybe doing Christian stuff. 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:13.199 If you're on the outside of the Christian faith, looking in, as it were, for you to become a Christian will mean following Jesus, going after him and doing so on his terms. 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:23.360 This next section of Mark's Gospel that runs from chapter 8 and verse 31 down to the end of chapter 10, it is all about discipleship. 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:26.879 And literally, a disciple is one who follows. 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:28.800 That's a disciple, one who follows. 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:32.319 And this section, it begins with those words of Jesus to us all. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:39.600 He says in verse 34, if anyone would come after me, if anyone would come after me. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:45.839 So what would the Lord Jesus have us know about following him? 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:50.000 Now we have two simple points from our reading. 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:53.040 This really is the heart of the Christian faith. 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:55.680 Following Jesus, it costs you nothing. 00:05:56.079 --> 00:05:59.519 Following Jesus, it costs you everything. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:03.199 So first, and this is verses 31 to 33. 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:07.279 Following Jesus costs you nothing. 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:09.839 Look again at verse 31. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:28.399 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:38.319 The most amazing word in that verse, I think, is the word must. 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:44.079 Jesus says that he must, he must die upon the cross. 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:44.879 It must happen. 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:47.519 Not that it will happen, but it must happen. 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:48.639 It has to happen. 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:50.160 He's talking about necessity. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:53.199 Jesus had to die. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:57.759 Jesus had to die in order to obey his God and Father. 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:10.959 So the plan of God, the plan of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, their will was for God the Son to become a man, to live that perfectly obedient life and to die upon the cross. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:19.920 So part of his obedience to God, our Saviour Jesus, had to die upon the cross. 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:25.519 And Jesus had to die in order to save his people. 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:30.240 So just consider the cross of Christ, the death of our Lord Jesus on the cross. 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:35.040 What did it achieve for the person who is joined to Jesus? 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:39.839 So if you're not joined to Jesus, then you don't benefit. 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:45.839 You can't benefit from the blessings of Jesus' death and resurrection until such time as you are joined to him. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:54.319 But for that one who is, that man or woman, boy or girl who is joined to the Lord Jesus, what did his death achieve for you? 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:58.240 Well, he took something and he gave something. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:07:59.519 And it is wonderful. 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:11.839 He took something, he took my sins, he took my breaking of the law of God and the punishment that my law-breaking deserved. 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:17.040 He took that upon himself and he gave. 00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:26.879 He gave to me both forgiveness and he gave his righteousness, his perfection. 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:33.519 It's the glorious necessity of the cross to obey his father, to save his people, the Lord Jesus. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:36.480 I must go to the cross. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:38.960 And that explains his reaction to Peter, doesn't it? 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:42.559 So verse 32, Peter rebukes Jesus. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:45.200 You cannot die. 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:50.159 There is something fundamental about the gospel that Peter has not yet understood. 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:53.039 He knows who Jesus is, he is the Christ of God. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:57.679 But there is something deeply fundamental he does not yet understand. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:08:59.360 And so he rebukes Jesus. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:07.279 And then verse 33, Jesus says, Peter, you are being a mouthpiece for Satan in those words. 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:11.279 It's satanic, it's devilish, this idea that I do not die. 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:15.440 And Peter and the other disciples, they needed to know this. 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:25.840 Because the most basic lesson in walking with Jesus, it costs me nothing. 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:29.039 It costs Jesus everything. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:36.480 We are saved by obedience, but we are saved by the obedience of our Savior. 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:38.879 There was a price to be paid. 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:41.360 We have not, we cannot pay it. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:43.039 The Saviour paid it. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:46.159 And here is the saving grace of God. 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:54.639 Now for someone who's been a Christian for a while, maybe you've been serving Christ for long years. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:10.000 Well, there will never be a day, uh, there will never be a step you take along the disciples' path that is not a step, a walking in that grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:13.120 We never walk outside of it, we never can. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:19.919 All that we are, all that we do in the saving grace and mercy of Jesus. 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:42.960 If you're on the outside of the Christian faith and you're trying to learn of Christian things, well, before you start following this Jesus, you need to accept and to embrace the fact that you need a savior, that you need this Jesus to deal with your sin and to deal with the holy judgment that your sin deserves. 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:45.919 You cannot satisfy that yourself. 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:54.399 Here is the difference between the Christian faith and every other religion, and indeed no religion. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:58.559 Listen to these helpful words from Tim Keller. 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:05.840 Right there, you can see the difference between Christianity and all other religions, including no religion. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:09.120 The essence of other religions is advice. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:12.320 Christianity is essentially news. 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:17.200 Other religions say this is what you have to do in order to connect to God forever. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:20.559 This is how you have to live in order to earn your way to God. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:26.159 But the gospel says this is what has been done in history. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:30.879 This is how Jesus lived and died to earn the way to God for you. 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:34.000 Christianity is completely different. 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:36.480 It is joyful news. 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:38.960 You see the difference, you feel the difference. 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:40.720 Advice, it is a burden. 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:42.559 It might be inspiring, but it's a burden. 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:43.440 There is something to be done. 00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:44.320 Do this. 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:48.639 The gospel, good news. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:51.440 Jesus has done it. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:12:01.200 In his living, his dying, his rising, he's made it possible for people like you and me to relate to our God. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:10.480 It's humbling and it is wonderful that there is so much more grace in Christ than there is sin in me. 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:16.399 So if you're a Christian, you can say with the Bible that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:17.840 Wonderful. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:20.159 Love and mercy. 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:24.399 Now, how do we bring this into our daily walking? 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:30.960 So do you remember if anyone would come after me, being a Christian is it's walking through this life with the Lord Jesus. 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:33.600 How do we bring it into our daily life of walking? 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:35.759 Let me suggest just two places. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:52.399 First, in daily prayer, in daily prayer, when we when we confess our sins and we we consciously recall the cross, Jesus dying and rising, and we and we rest in that. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:56.639 We rest in our union with this Jesus who died and who rose. 00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:59.279 It's part of our daily praying. 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:04.240 In another part of our walk, we find this. 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:12.480 We find this in the sacraments, in baptism and the Lord's Supper, these signs and seals of God's grace in Christ. 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:17.279 The Lord knows what we are like, and He's provided water to wash us clean. 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:22.480 He gave us Savior whose blood was shed, whose body was broken for you and for me. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:33.440 So every step we take in the Christian life along the way, we do so in union with this Jesus, the crucified one, the one who must die and rise. 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:37.919 So, disciples, that's the first thing we need to know. 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:40.320 Following Jesus costs us nothing. 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:42.799 But our Saviour would also have us know this. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:46.080 Second, and this is verses 34 to 38. 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:50.480 Following Jesus costs you everything. 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:54.080 Listen to the whole of verse 34. 00:13:54.399 --> 00:14:07.440 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:12.080 So we don't atone for our own sins. 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:13.759 God be praised. 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:17.919 Forgiveness and righteousness, they are the free gift of God in Christ. 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:19.679 He offers them freely. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:21.440 It's a gift to receive. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:33.200 But the one to the one who is joined to Jesus, who has received that free gift, to whom all grace and life is given, Jesus then says, follow me. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:37.919 Follow me, and it will cost you everything. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:44.879 Now, if you're not yet a Christian, it is good to be really upfront with you about the cost of following Jesus. 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:50.720 It is the best of all lives, but it is not a cost-free life. 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:54.080 Christian people, we need to hear this regularly. 00:14:54.639 --> 00:15:00.480 Sin and the devil would love to whisper to us that you can have a cost-free discipleship. 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:03.759 And that's it's a blasphemous impossibility. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:07.279 So let's just slowly consider each of those words of Jesus. 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:11.519 He comes to us in verse 34 and he says, deny yourself. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:13.200 Deny yourself. 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:15.120 And he's talking here about control. 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:18.720 Who is in control of your life? 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:23.200 Sometimes used the analogy of your life being like a car. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:32.399 And who is behind the steering wheel, directing it, putting his foot on the accelerator and the brake. 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:35.200 And for the Christian, that is Christ. 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:39.039 The Christian does not control his or her life, Jesus does. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:54.320 So my desires, even learning to allow the Lord to shape and control my desires, my ambitions, my career, my family, it's all subject to the loving rule of Christ. 00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:58.080 It's not self-rule, it's not self-driving, it's Christ-driven. 00:15:58.320 --> 00:15:59.840 Deny yourself. 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:03.840 And then Jesus says, take up your cross. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:07.679 And he is speaking obviously of cost. 00:16:09.039 --> 00:16:13.039 Occasionally you hear people talk casually about uh taking up their cross. 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:14.320 You know, we all have our cross to bear. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:18.240 You know, it's Aunt Agatha's hip or I don't know, cousin Johnny's job, or something like that. 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:19.919 We all have our crosses to bear. 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:25.440 And by that we mean a minor inconvenience that kind of stumbles across our lives. 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:30.559 Think about where Jesus was going, where his feet were taking him as he said those words. 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:34.240 He was going to the cross to suffer and die. 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:44.559 And Jesus' point is that following him, being with him, being in union with a crucified Savior, it actually means dying. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:50.240 When Jesus calls someone to follow him, he calls him to come and die. 00:16:50.799 --> 00:16:55.120 So when you become a Christian, when you live as a Christian, there is a death of independence. 00:16:55.440 --> 00:17:00.159 And that works itself out in sometimes very costly ways. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:07.440 And the Lord Jesus, he loves it as his disciples follow him and take up their cross. 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:17.839 And to help us respond rightly to this, Jesus then kind of gives us an equation. 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:29.839 He says, on the one hand, you can you can hang on to your independence now, you can continue to drive your own car, as it were, and in the short term that might look like a really good idea. 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:40.079 But if you do that, if you choose not to follow Jesus on his terms, then you will lose your life eternally, and judgment and hell will follow. 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:48.240 So that's that's the kind of the equation that Jesus wants us to weigh up from these verses and to encourage us. 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:58.079 He says, look, if you follow me now, if you lose your life, and there is a sense in which following Jesus is a losing of your life. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:00.079 Actually, you will save it. 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:03.839 You will save it truly and gloriously. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:11.839 You might have heard of the uh great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy. 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:18.799 He tells a great short story about a Russian peasant whose name was Pakom. 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:23.279 The one thing Pakom is interested in is land. 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:28.960 Better land, more land to make him more money, and he will do anything for it. 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:38.079 And one day he hears a tale of wonderfully fertile land in a far-off part of Russia. 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:40.160 So off he goes, and it is wonderful. 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:52.480 And Pakom is amazed because the local custom is that if you put your 1,000 rubles up front, you can have as much land as you can run around in one day while the sun is up. 00:18:52.640 --> 00:19:00.240 And the only catch is if the sun sets, before you get back to the place you started, you lose everything. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.160 Now, PACOM is up for it. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:03.200 He pays his money. 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:04.799 At sunrise, he sets off. 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:07.200 He goes as hard as he can all day. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:09.920 And on the way, he's got choices to make. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:19.680 Do I try and take in that extra bit of land over there, which is so good, or do I take a shorter route to make sure I complete the circle? 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:24.319 Well, late afternoon comes and he's nearly back to where he began on the top of a hill. 00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:31.599 To his horror, he sees the shadow of the setting sun creeping up behind him, and it reaches him, and he collapses. 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:32.720 He's distraught. 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:37.039 But then in the distance, he hears the cries of the villagers, and they seem to be cheering him. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:43.039 And he sees that whilst down in the valley he's in the shadow, up on the hilltop, the sun is still there. 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:53.839 So he drags himself up, one last push, and just as the sun goes down over the horizon, he dives and he plants a peg in the ground at the spot where he began. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:58.640 And these huge celebrations, and the villagers, they all come and cluster round him. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:04.720 And Pacom's servant turns him over and sees that Pacom is dead. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:11.440 And the title of the story is How Much Land Does a Man Need? 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:17.200 And Tolstoy answers his question in the very last paragraph. 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:18.720 I wonder if you can guess. 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:23.680 Six feet from head to heel. 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:31.680 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul? 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:44.400 There is a cost to following Jesus, but the cost of not following him, the cost of trying to gain the whole world, the cost of judgment and hell. 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:47.359 So an encouragement for you. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:21:03.200 If you have sought to give up your life for Christ, such as you're able, with the Holy Spirit's help, if you're trying to walk with Jesus, you're trying to give him control of your life, you're trying to be a disciple, not perfectly, but you're trying to walk with Christ in this costly way. 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:05.680 You know that sometimes it hurts. 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:11.200 Maybe it's because you're trying to be a public Christian and that hurts. 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:15.440 Or maybe obeying Christ means you've had to give up something dear to you. 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:21.519 Maybe it's a good ambition which you've said goodbye to, so you can follow Christ more wholeheartedly. 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:28.960 Maybe you've said no to a relationship which you wanted to pursue, but you knew Christ did not want you to, and it is painful, it is costly. 00:21:29.440 --> 00:21:34.880 The Lord Jesus loves it when his followers walk his way. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:36.640 Because that's like him. 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:40.559 But Jesus would warn us too. 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:43.839 Are you trying to save your life? 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:49.440 Some of us will know we have never given over control of our lives to Jesus. 00:21:49.599 --> 00:22:01.839 Others of us will know there's a significant corner of our lives when we're trying to walk away from Jesus, where it can't be said, I'm denying self and taking up cross and wholeheartedly walking after this Jesus. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:14.240 And maybe that thing, it's not fertile farming land, but maybe it is money or possessions or career or relationship, or well, you know what it might be. 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:18.000 Maybe we're ashamed of Jesus and his words. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:23.599 We don't want publicly and clearly to line up behind the Bible and Jesus' words out of fear. 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:33.119 But Jesus would say there is a greater fear, the fear that he would be ashamed of you or me, and that is a fearful thought. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:40.640 There might be there are things here that we need to repent of and pray about and talk openly about with someone. 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:43.839 Maybe that's with your spouse or a friend or a church elder. 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:50.640 And the Jesus who warns us, do remember this. 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:54.960 He is the Jesus who died to offer life. 00:22:56.319 --> 00:22:59.680 To offer life to those who come after him. 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:08.480 And he's the reason why it's so gloriously right and so gloriously good to take up a cross and follow. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:11.279 Just think about Jesus' goodness for a minute. 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:14.559 I don't know what about the Lord Jesus you think is most wonderful. 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:26.799 Maybe it's his goodness that he's the friend of sinners who would embrace a leper, a Jesus who uh a bruised reed he will not break. 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:28.880 He's so kind, he's so gentle. 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:31.759 Uh that Jesus, he loves you and he is with you. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:39.920 Or maybe it's Jesus' wisdom in making this world and in ordering all of the days of our lives. 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:45.359 The days that we would choose and the days we would not choose. 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:54.000 How he reveals to us the will of God for every day, so that you can walk wisely in this his world. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:24:07.680 Or maybe it's Jesus' power, his resurrection power, or his power to cleanse and to forgive you, to raise these frail and mortal bodies from the grave, to remake, to remake this creation, to destroy the works of the evil one. 00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:14.720 You see, if you're with this Jesus, you can never ever lose out. 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:17.359 Let me pray. 00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:26.960 Father in heaven, uh, we thank you for your kindness and your patience. 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:33.279 We thank you for your word to us, which truly is life. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:44.240 Thank you for these words of your Son, the Lord Jesus, who has been speaking them even now to each one of us by his Holy Spirit. 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:51.599 Do these words in each one of us we pray for our everlasting good and for his glory. 00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:53.200 In whose name we pray. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:53.920 Amen.