SPEAKER_00: Well Church, you know, one thing that I think is universal in our culture, probably in y with you and with me, is uh inconsistency.
SPEAKER_00: I think few things are as common as actually being inconsistent.
SPEAKER_00: Logic, reason, and even the way that the universe operates, right?
SPEAKER_00: The seasons and and all these things and the way the way biology works, it's consistent.
SPEAKER_00: It preaches consistency to us.
SPEAKER_00: The creator of God is a consistent creator, because his creation is consistent.
SPEAKER_00: Logic and reason, we know that we can two plus two is four.
SPEAKER_00: It's consistent.
SPEAKER_00: Math is consistent.
SPEAKER_00: But people are consistently inconsistent.
SPEAKER_00: And we know it.
SPEAKER_00: We're just we're inconsistent people, even the best of us.
SPEAKER_00: We'll say one thing and we'll do another.
SPEAKER_00: We'll say what we think is right, but we won't walk that out.
SPEAKER_00: And we kind of have two ways of getting around this.
SPEAKER_00: And one is that we become legalistic monsters, right?
SPEAKER_00: So we just become so legalistic and we make lists and lists and lists of how you're supposed to do something, and then we impose that on others until that they fulfill our list, our law, so to speak, they're not right people, they're not good people.
SPEAKER_00: Or the other way of dealing with our inconsistencies is we just become tolerance monsters.
SPEAKER_00: Everything's we tolerate everything.
SPEAKER_00: Your truth is your truth, what you believe, that's fine, and everyone is a law in and unto themselves.
SPEAKER_00: And we do this because we have inconsistencies.
SPEAKER_00: And this isn't just a simple thing, this works through our whole nature.
SPEAKER_00: How often do you, is it, you know, it's the Saturday or Sunday evening, and the fresh week is before you, and you think, man, this is the week.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to exercise, I'm going to get up early and be in the Word and in prayer, I'm going to memorize the Bible passage, I'm going to evangelize.
SPEAKER_00: And you kind of make this list.
SPEAKER_00: Like, this is the week.
SPEAKER_00: You know, this is the new chapter.
SPEAKER_00: It's January 1st.
SPEAKER_00: And those aren't bad things.
SPEAKER_00: But we just know in our own experience, in our own life, how quickly what we say we want to do and what we genuinely think we want isn't what happens.
SPEAKER_00: And we have a lot of grace for one another in this sense.
SPEAKER_00: But it is interesting how inconsistent we can be.
SPEAKER_00: We can say that we love God, and we're worshiping God, and we're followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And it's helpful that we live in a culture that doesn't define that, and that can just mean just about anything, right?
SPEAKER_00: You can say, I follow Jesus, and you can be Mormon, you can be Jehovah's Witness, you can be a pagan who just thinks Jesus has good teachings.
SPEAKER_00: Anything.
SPEAKER_00: And so we get to self-define all these things.
SPEAKER_00: But it's difficult because deep down we know there's something wrong with that.
SPEAKER_00: Then if we're gonna be logical and take our inconsistencies out and apply them, then what are we left with?
SPEAKER_00: A bunch of hodgepodge things, and truth is up for grabs, and what we how what a good life looks like is up for grabs, what it means to be a good husband, a good uh wife, a good parent, all those things are just up for grabs if we allow inconsistency to rule the day.
SPEAKER_00: So what we're doing is we're seeking to say, how do we look to something that's consistent?
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus does for us.
SPEAKER_00: He is consistent, and he reveals the inconsistencies.
SPEAKER_00: So our quest, if you will, as Christians, walking with Jesus, following Jesus, this is a word for this, it's sanctification, it's us growing and maturing, is we're identifying our inconsistencies and we're dealing with them by God's grace, by his mercy, through his patient love.
SPEAKER_00: We're dealing with these things.
SPEAKER_00: But first and foremost, we must know who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: We must know who he is.
SPEAKER_00: Lord willing, this week and next week, we'll go through this passage and the next week, the transfiguration.
SPEAKER_00: And that the title this morning is A Theology Proper.
SPEAKER_00: A theology proper.
SPEAKER_00: Got a little theology theme going the last several weeks.
SPEAKER_00: And not to get into the nitty-gritty of all these things, but when people talk about theology proper, it doesn't just mean like their grammar is proper, their English is proper.
SPEAKER_00: It's talking about God Himself, His nature, His character, who He is.
SPEAKER_00: So anything related to God falls under theology, right?
SPEAKER_00: So big umbrella theology, then you have the theology of the church, which is ecclesiology, you have the theology of salvation, soteriology, all these big words.
SPEAKER_00: But the point is when someone says theology proper, we're talking about God.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about his nature, who he is, his attributes, how what he what he is.
SPEAKER_00: So this next two weeks we will be talking about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Who is he?
SPEAKER_00: What has he done?
SPEAKER_00: Getting a glimpse so that we have proper theology.
SPEAKER_00: We begin with right knowing.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first point this morning, right knowing.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what Jesus is getting after in verses 18 through 23.
SPEAKER_00: He's praying with his disciples alone.
SPEAKER_00: He's praying alone.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples were with him, and he asked them, Who do the crowds say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: There's a very, very well-known passage.
SPEAKER_00: And they answered him: John the Baptist, but others say Elijah, and others that that one of the prophets of old has risen.
SPEAKER_00: Then he said to them, But who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: And Peter, who almost always answers first, Peter says, the Christ of God.
SPEAKER_00: And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell no one, saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed on the third day.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is asking, he's getting after this very question: Who is Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: So right knowing is the first step.
SPEAKER_00: Again, Jesus wasn't saying, get close and you'll be good.
SPEAKER_00: You know, just get a general idea of this idea, a concept of this abstract idea of the Messiah, and then you'll be good.
SPEAKER_00: But he asks the disciples, and the first thing they say is what's kind of common, the ideas that are floating around in the general population.
SPEAKER_00: John the Baptist, some say Elijah, the prophets of old has risen, a prophet of old.
SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna get all kinds of answers, right?
SPEAKER_00: He was a good teacher.
SPEAKER_00: Um some might say he was a prophet, some might say he was a false teacher or someone who led a cult.
SPEAKER_00: Some people would say he just never existed, it was just made up.
SPEAKER_00: There's all kinds of answers that people have for this question.
SPEAKER_00: And in reality, everyone who has heard of the name of Jesus or is familiar with the ideas or the teachings of the Bible has to answer this question.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone has to have an answer to this question.
SPEAKER_00: You just have to.
SPEAKER_00: And you might not be confident in your answer, and you might not necessarily want to share your answer with everyone, but face with the reality that there was a Messiah, a creator, God Almighty, who came to the earth and dwelt in human form, took on flesh, walked the earth, was crucified, was killed, was buried and resurrected.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta deal with that.
SPEAKER_00: Is it real?
SPEAKER_00: Is it fake?
SPEAKER_00: What is going on here?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus just goes right after and says, okay, but who do you say?
SPEAKER_00: You who've been following me, you who say that you're my disciples, who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: Anything, any answer, but God Almighty in the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: And what you get is the continued struggle of the Old Testament narrative.
SPEAKER_00: The continued struggle of Israel, who's looking to be made right with God, but then they rebel and then they make sacrifices and then they're judged in this perpetual struggle.
SPEAKER_00: Never righteous, never keeping the law, having God's word, but never following God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Anything other than God Almighty in the flesh, in this continued struggle of we can't be made right with God, continues.
SPEAKER_00: This continued struggle of a people who are zealous for self-praise and self-gratification.
SPEAKER_00: The status quo just continues.
SPEAKER_00: But if Jesus is God in the flesh, then everything changes.
SPEAKER_00: It has to.
SPEAKER_00: The claims that Jesus has made, the miracles that he has done, the things that he's teaching, if he is the Messiah, if the disciples are saying, the Christ of God, you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God, that's their answer.
SPEAKER_00: It changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: That's why this question is so important.
SPEAKER_00: Who you say Jesus is matters immensely.
SPEAKER_00: It changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we know in church history most of the heresies and the church councils in the first few hundred years of the church were about Jesus, about his humanity and his deity.
SPEAKER_00: Who is he?
SPEAKER_00: Get it wrong?
SPEAKER_00: You get this wrong on who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: You're a heretic.
SPEAKER_00: That's how big it is.
SPEAKER_00: You get this wrong, you're a heretic.
SPEAKER_00: You're not a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we like to do this thing in Christianity in this day and age where we just say, let's let's stop all the division.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just be unified around the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just come and be unified around the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll put down our differences in our denominations and our doctrine and our theology, and we'll just come to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Which sounds great.
SPEAKER_00: And I think the reality is all Christians are doing that, and we'll see that happen in glory with our own eyes, or with new eyes, I should say.
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is, tell me which Jesus you're wanting us to come and all circle around.
SPEAKER_00: What Jesus is it that you're wanting us all to follow together?
SPEAKER_00: And when you press that question, people don't want to get into that.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's Jesus of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, is he God?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's God.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: Is he the God?
SPEAKER_00: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Division.
SPEAKER_00: Well, he's not the God, he's a God, some would say.
SPEAKER_00: And you start pressing in.
SPEAKER_00: And even in Protestant circles, you you press the question of is Jesus the creator of all things?
SPEAKER_00: And that means that we're now, he's the Lord of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Well, no, he can save you, but he doesn't have to be your Lord or your master.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's not the Jesus of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what He said.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Forsake all and follow me.
SPEAKER_00: Lay down our life and follow him.
SPEAKER_00: So we have to have this right knowing of who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: Think about your own life.
SPEAKER_00: And I know this is one of those passages we can kind of beat ourselves up with.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Can just, am I following Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not following Jesus because I'm sinning.
SPEAKER_00: If we're not careful, we can get into one ditch or the other where we just we read this and we think, I'm a sinner, I must not be a Christian, and then off we go into despair.
SPEAKER_00: Missing the gospel, missing God's work of grace in our life, and all those things.
SPEAKER_00: The other ditch is that we say, No, I know who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: He's the Christ of God, he's the Son of God, He's the Most High, He's the creator of all things.
SPEAKER_00: I know who He is.
SPEAKER_00: And then we just move on.
SPEAKER_00: It's easy to just acknowledge we know who Jesus is and move on.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to press a little bit on you and say, but when you think about your life, and again, we know the inconsistencies in all of our lives, we're inconsistent.
SPEAKER_00: But when you when you take your life and you look at it, you say, okay, but over the last five years or five months or twenty years, does it look like I believe in Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Does it look like if Jesus were to say to me, Who do you say that I am, that we would say the Christ of God.
SPEAKER_00: And we would say, You're our Lord and our master.
SPEAKER_00: We belong.
SPEAKER_00: See, there is this right knowing.
SPEAKER_00: This is really, really important.
SPEAKER_00: And then there is this right living.
SPEAKER_00: See, we must believe and follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Believe and follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I was talking with some people in our uh community group this week, and we're talking about evangelism, and we were just talking about how there's a lot of people who, when you're just sharing about Jesus with them, they just acknowledge, I believe in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And they genuinely do.
SPEAKER_00: Like they believe that Jesus is who he says he is, he's God.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So they've kind of done that first step.
SPEAKER_00: They have right knowing, just like the demons do.
SPEAKER_00: They know, they believe.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a scary spot, but it's a spot I think a lot of people live in.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, yeah, I believe in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But then there's this right living.
SPEAKER_00: Are you following Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Are you following him?
SPEAKER_00: This is the right living.
SPEAKER_00: This is my second point.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
SPEAKER_00: For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
SPEAKER_00: For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
SPEAKER_00: For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory.
SPEAKER_00: In the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
SPEAKER_00: But I tell you, truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus asked the question, Who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: And they answered correctly.
SPEAKER_00: And then he gives this instruction about what it means to follow him, this right living.
SPEAKER_00: What's interesting is Jesus going just back up to verse 22 for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: He's telling them that he's going to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus begins here in Luke's account.
SPEAKER_00: He begins, Jesus is starting to tell his followers more consistently and clearly that he will suffer and he will be crucified and then he will be raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: But before he gets to what he's asking for his followers, he's saying, listen, the Son of Man must suffer, be rejected.
SPEAKER_00: Rejected by who?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the elders, the chief priests, and scribes, so all the kind of religious elite, if you will, and be killed.
SPEAKER_00: And on the third day be raised.
SPEAKER_00: And then he gets into this when he's calling his followers to.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone would come after me, if anyone's saying, No, I know who you are, you're Jesus, the Son of God, the Christ of God, and I want to follow after you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be your disciple.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus saying, This is what it looks like.
SPEAKER_00: And you read a passage like this, very again, if you've grown up in the church, very familiar passage.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been in the church for a long time, denying yourself, take up your cross, follow me.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
SPEAKER_00: And you take a passage like this, and we again there's kind of two instincts in our flesh.
SPEAKER_00: And one is to be judgmental, to be, again, legalistic.
SPEAKER_00: And you start to measure people against your own standards.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Well, I'm doing this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the one who's following Jesus faithfully.
SPEAKER_00: And now I have the right to say how other people are following Jesus faithfully.
SPEAKER_00: And you make this about yourself, and you think in some ridiculous world that you're the standard bearer for this.
SPEAKER_00: But that's what we do in our pride.
SPEAKER_00: We make our own little standard, and then we judge other people against it so that we can feel good about our standard.
SPEAKER_00: And we meet someone else who maybe acts more holy than we are, or they know more the Bible than we do.
SPEAKER_00: Then it's easy.
SPEAKER_00: We just kind of tweak our standard a little bit, and now they're they're guilty and they're sinners and we're still good.
SPEAKER_00: Our hearts are crazy like that.
SPEAKER_00: They just do that that judgmental thing.
SPEAKER_00: Or you take this and you you just evaluate yourself and you despair.
SPEAKER_00: And you think, man, I forfeit?
SPEAKER_00: Like I don't want to, I don't want to give my I don't want to go to hell to forfeit my life.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I can do that.
SPEAKER_00: Deny myself?
SPEAKER_00: Take up my cross daily?
SPEAKER_00: Like I like genuinely, you know, it's like those times where you're just really hungry and you're standing with the fridge open, you know, it's like 10.30 at night.
SPEAKER_00: What should you do?
SPEAKER_00: Deny yourself, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's what you should do.
SPEAKER_00: Just, you know, it's it's tired, you're it's toward the end of the day, you just want to sit on the couch, kids are screaming, they can't even find a sink because it's piled in dishes.
SPEAKER_00: What should you do?
SPEAKER_00: Ah, you should go do the dishes, you should spend time with your family, but you want to turn on TV, you want to watch football or something.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: It's the denying yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And it's easy.
SPEAKER_00: This is where I think so many uh pop culture ideas seep into the church.
SPEAKER_00: This is where so many Christians can get sucked into pop culture ideas.
SPEAKER_00: And the idea is this.
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you just were more disciplined, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you're just more disciplined, if you actually did get up at 5 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: and did all these things and ran a mile every day, and you know, if you just did all these things, then you would be a better Christian.
SPEAKER_00: If you just would be more of a disciplined person.
SPEAKER_00: And the thing is, that's there's there's truth in that, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like if I did get up early every morning and spent quality, substantive time in the Word and in prayer, if I memorized scripture, if I was consistent in my prayer life, if I was disciplined in my evangelism, if I was denying myself, it would lead to more greater holiness or righteousness in my life, conquering sin, all those things.
SPEAKER_00: It would lead to that.
SPEAKER_00: But what where we get confused, church, where we get this backwards, is we quickly make this a works-based thing.
SPEAKER_00: You read in the book of Galatians, and the church is there, and Paul rebukes them for becoming works-based salvation churches.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Who has bewitched you?
SPEAKER_00: He said, if angels come down from heaven, giving you a different gospel, it's anathema.
SPEAKER_00: Don't fall for it.
SPEAKER_00: But in our day and age, in our culture, this is that subtle.
SPEAKER_00: Well, if I was just better, if I was just more disciplined, then I would be following Jesus and life would be better, and my finances would be better, and all those things.
SPEAKER_00: And there is just, there is some truth to that.
SPEAKER_00: There really is.
SPEAKER_00: But we talk about this a lot, like the fruit and the root.
SPEAKER_00: The fruit might you might see your schedule get better and your body be healthier and more rhythms and all those things.
SPEAKER_00: But if the root of all that is in your own behavior, if the root is anchored in your own behavior, you're just perpetuating a false gospel to yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You're saying, if I could be better, then God would love me more, or if I could be better, then more blessings would come my way.
SPEAKER_00: And you wouldn't, you miss the amazing beauty of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Then if you're gonna look at verses 23 through 24 or through 226, you have to do that in light of verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: But who is Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Who is Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: What has he done?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he's taken a dead sinner, me and you, and he's given us new life.
SPEAKER_00: He's made us right with God.
SPEAKER_00: He's taken a heart of stone out of us and put a heart of flesh in us, and he's given us the Holy Spirit to indwell us so that we can then walk in obedience and joy.
SPEAKER_00: The root is in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The fruit is self-denial, the fruit is obedience, the fruit is a transformed life.
SPEAKER_00: But the root is Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And when you get that backwards, you're chasing after everything the world is chasing after.
SPEAKER_00: You want this ideal life, and you kind of want Jesus sprinkled on top.
SPEAKER_00: That's just not how it works.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus gives these hard words in verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory.
SPEAKER_00: In the glory of the Father and of his holy angels.
SPEAKER_00: The impulse even for me in this moment is to soften that for us.
SPEAKER_00: To give a caveat.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, if you're this, then this isn't really what it means.
SPEAKER_00: Or if you're if you grew up in this kind of environment.
SPEAKER_00: But church, let God's word speak.
SPEAKER_00: For whoever's ashamed of me, this is Jesus saying, whoever's ashamed, ashamed of Jesus or his words.
SPEAKER_00: Connected.
SPEAKER_00: You can't separate him from his words.
SPEAKER_00: Of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory.
SPEAKER_00: There's just no way around that.
SPEAKER_00: And what's amazing is if you have eyes to see and ears to hear, and you as you read that, and you think, man, I can't do that.
SPEAKER_00: There are things that I just I can't do this on my own.
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: You can't live as a Christian on your own.
SPEAKER_00: You need the grace and the power of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: You can't do this on your own.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're sitting there and you're thinking, well, I'm just gonna be someone who drives around with Bible verses on my car and I'm gonna wear some Christian Bible verse t-shirts.
SPEAKER_00: And if I get persecuted, I get persecuted.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do that, okay.
SPEAKER_00: But what about when you're alone, when you're by yourself, when temptation is calling at you, when the lies of the enemy are being spoken to you, the lies of your flesh?
SPEAKER_00: Are you clinging to God's word?
SPEAKER_00: Are you running from it?
SPEAKER_00: When God says that all mankind is sinful and without hope, there's no other way of salvation but through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Are you ashamed of that?
SPEAKER_00: When you're around friends, coworkers, people, and they're talking about how narrow-minded Christians are about issues of gender and sexuality, or how narrow-minded they are on issues of marriage?
SPEAKER_00: Are you ashamed?
SPEAKER_00: Are you pulling back?
SPEAKER_00: What's interesting is Jesus is saying this to his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And what are they gonna do in just a matter of probably months?
SPEAKER_00: Within a short time frame, what are all the disciples gonna do?
SPEAKER_00: They're all gonna deny him.
SPEAKER_00: Every last one.
SPEAKER_00: They're all gonna flee, they're all gonna run, they'll all deny him.
SPEAKER_00: But the Lord in his mercy and his grace is maturing them, and he is preparing them for that when he does go.
SPEAKER_00: Because we stand on this side and we know how their lives ended and their testimony and their faithfulness to the Lord unto death.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord was faithful.
SPEAKER_00: But it's only through his power were they able to do these things.
SPEAKER_00: When you think about the question, who is Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Who do they say that I am?
SPEAKER_00: And you think about your own life.
SPEAKER_00: If you say he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, then you need to walk that out.
SPEAKER_00: You can't say, yes, I believe in Jesus and I want to follow Jesus as long as it's convenient and it's not awkward, as long as the world doesn't despise me, as long as it's hip and cool.
SPEAKER_00: But also into our own lives, our own walk with Jesus, not just publicly out there.
SPEAKER_00: But are we clinging?
SPEAKER_00: Are we submitting?
SPEAKER_00: Are we governed by Jesus, his words in our life?
SPEAKER_00: Are we willing to forfeit?
SPEAKER_00: Are we willing to deny?
SPEAKER_00: To let dreams die.
SPEAKER_00: To let things that we've hold on, we've held so tightly let them go, let them die.
SPEAKER_00: Went to Ecuador in the 1950s.
SPEAKER_00: Him and several other Christians, missionaries were martyred, right?
SPEAKER_00: They were speared to death.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that he said in his life, that one of his legacy, things that have been carried on from his legacy, he says, He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
SPEAKER_00: Is that not a summary of what Jesus is saying here?
SPEAKER_00: He is no fool to give up what he cannot keep, this life, this world here and now, to gain what he cannot lose, eternal life in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's easy for me and for you to behold this.
SPEAKER_00: And we see with our eyes, we hear how magnificent Jesus is and all the things that he's done.
SPEAKER_00: And we just like, yeah, I want to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I want to die for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I want to lay my life down for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And in just a few hours, you go home and there's an opportunity for you to deny yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's in your marriage or with your children or with a roommate or the situation going on, and what you choose is self.
SPEAKER_00: I want to serve me.
SPEAKER_00: I want to please me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to pick myself.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to encourage you, Christian, don't despair.
SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus' power and mercy through the Holy Spirit that will carry you on, that is maturing you and growing you.
SPEAKER_00: So don't just despair.
SPEAKER_00: But if there is something in you where you're like, hey, I'm cool with Jesus, I like Jesus, but just he stays over there and I stay over here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm happy to have the salvation, that's cool, but he just needs to leave my stuff alone.
SPEAKER_00: If that's in your heart, if you have things that you're unwilling to surrender to Jesus, dreams, desires, you're just not willing to turn those over to him.
SPEAKER_00: I want to call you to repent.
SPEAKER_00: I want to call you to follow Jesus and to know the joy and the mercy that he has, and to call you to a lifetime on this side of glory of stumbling and falling and taking a step forward and two steps backward and a step forward and another step backward.
SPEAKER_00: But this is what it means to follow Jesus, to keep failing forward, to keep moving forward as we're messing up.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus reveals himself to us.
SPEAKER_00: We've been given God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus reveals himself to us in his word.
SPEAKER_00: Lord willing, next week we will cover the passage on the transformation where some of the disciples get to behold Jesus in his glory.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a Christian, you too will behold Jesus in his glory.
SPEAKER_00: That is our hope.
SPEAKER_00: So the promise that some will standing here, as Jesus says, truly in verse 27, but I tell you truly, there is some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: But that's, in a sense, for all who are believers, we will see the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: We will see all the promises fulfilled, all of our hopes in Christ met and fulfilled, all of our desires taken care of, satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: Toward the end of Luke in chapter 21, verse 27, speaks of the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
SPEAKER_00: What was before the disciples was seeing their Savior crucified, buried.
SPEAKER_00: What was before them is seeing tremendous suffering and difficulty in their life.
SPEAKER_00: And they would see their Messiah raise again from the dead and then an ascend into heaven, where he will come again.
SPEAKER_00: Brother, sister, he will come again.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not a Christian, I'm telling you, Jesus is coming.
SPEAKER_00: Might not be in your lifetime, might not be in your children's lifetime, it might be later today, but he is coming.
SPEAKER_00: And what your answer is to the question of who is Jesus really matters.
SPEAKER_00: And are you following him?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said in the beginning of Mark that today is the day of salvation, for the kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: So repent.
SPEAKER_00: I want to encourage you to repent.
SPEAKER_00: For today is the day of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And Christian, brother and sister, today is the day that we stop looking to the things of the world, the ideas of the world to make us into something that only Jesus can do.
SPEAKER_00: So now we walk in obedience because of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Not to earn favor, not to get to a status with God, but because we're already His, because of the finished work of Christ on the cross, we walk in joyful obedience, putting to death the deeds of the flesh and following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Church, let's pray.