Latest / Providence Baptist Church - Sermons / Mark 8:31-38
Transcript
- 0:00So let's begin together reading Mark chapter 8, beginning in verse 31.
- 0:08And 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.
- 0:20And he said this plainly.
- 0:22And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
- 0:25But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, get behind me, Satan.
- 0:30For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.
- 0:35And 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.
- 0:45For whoever would save his life will lose it.
- 0:47But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it.
- 0:52For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
- 0:56For what can a man give in return for his soul?
- 1:00For 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.
- 1:11This is God's word to us.
- 1:15It was written for his glory and for our good.
- 1:18We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
- 1:24Let's pray together.
- 1:25Father God, we do thank you this morning for your word.
- 1:32Written so many years ago, having meaning and purpose then that carries now to the present.
- 1:40Thank you, Father, for the church, for this blessed gathering of those who are yours, that we might come and minister to one another.
- 1:49And I pray, Father, that in these next minutes, that you will love on us through the preaching of your word.
- 1:57As I was asked before I came up here, if I was ready, I'm desperate, which I believe makes me most ready to preach your word.
- 2:05So please come and speak to us in power from your scriptures.
- 2:10And we pray this in the precious, exalted name of Christ.
- 2:14Amen.
- 2:15Amen.
- 2:17So we have thus far, beginning in Mark chapter 1, preached up through to the second half of Mark chapter 8.
- 2:25And Mark has really sped us along up until this point.
- 2:28We've seen primarily Jesus ministering in the region of Galilee to the northwest of the Sea of Galilee.
- 2:34And he's been transitioning away from that now for about a chapter.
- 2:38And we see him in verse 22 coming to a town called Bethsaida, which is on the western coast of the Sea of Galilee.
- 2:44And now moving off to some villages of the area of Caesarea Philippi, which was north of, about three days journey north of the Sea of Galilee.
- 2:53He's getting ready to begin his journey to Jerusalem, to his final destination, to the cross.
- 3:00And he's really beginning to turn his attention now to the disciples and to the process of teaching them what it is the kingdom of God is going to look like when it comes in power.
- 3:12Last week we looked at the amazing observation as Peter, as a spokesman of the disciples, as he makes the proclamation,
- 3:22You are the Christ.
- 3:25That is the anointed one of God.
- 3:27He seems to get to some degree who it is Jesus is and what all the things he's been doing mean that he is the anointed one of God.
- 3:37Yet, he still misunderstands.
- 3:41He has yet to entirely catch up to all the implications of this.
- 3:46And the evidence of this is that Jesus begins to tell him what that means, beginning in verse 31.
- 3:53It means that he'll come and he'll suffer and he'll die.
- 3:57He'll serve the world in a much different way than the Jews thought he was coming to serve the world.
- 4:03You see, Peter had bought into the cultural misconception.
- 4:06It wasn't uncommon for Jews of this day to think that Christ would come and reign on earth militarily and politically.
- 4:15This understanding, in some sense, rightly comes from passages like Isaiah 9, 6, and 7, which says,
- 4:22You see, they got in part that Jesus was going to come and he was going to establish peace.
- 4:52That he was going to rule with justice.
- 4:53That he was going to sit on the throne of David.
- 4:55But they thought this was going to happen in the temporal realm.
- 4:58They thought that he was going to come and sit on a physical throne in their day.
- 5:02That he was going to overthrow Rome.
- 5:04That he was going to restore them to their future glory.
- 5:07And they missed that what Jesus was going to come and do was going to be accomplished primarily in the spiritual realm.
- 5:15Peter wanted Jesus to take the way of power, which is why he rebukes him.
- 5:22Don't say such a thing of the Christ.
- 5:24Don't say that he would go and suffer and be rejected and die.
- 5:28Don't say such a thing.
- 5:30But Jesus then turns back to him and rebukes him.
- 5:34Calls him Satan.
- 5:36And it's not believed here that Peter was actually Satan or that he was in any way possessed by Satan.
- 5:41He was being the very mouthpiece of Satan.
- 5:45Satan also wanted Jesus to take the way of power.
- 5:49Speaking humanistically here.
- 5:51The visible, what we can see of power.
- 5:54Satan did not want Jesus to go to the cross.
- 5:59He understood the fate that God pronounced upon him in Genesis 3.15.
- 6:03God says to Satan,
- 6:06I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring.
- 6:11He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.
- 6:15This is the proto-evangelium.
- 6:17The first proclamation of the gospel.
- 6:20That Jesus would crush the head of Satan.
- 6:23And Satan knew this would happen on the cross.
- 6:26In Mark chapter 1, in verses 12 and 13,
- 6:31I get a very brief account of Jesus' temptation by Satan in the desert.
- 6:37There's a much more exhaustive account of it found in Matthew chapter 4, verses 1 through 11.
- 6:42You can turn there if you would like.
- 6:43But let me bring to your attention the very things that Satan was trying to tempt Jesus with.
- 6:49Verse 3,
- 6:50If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.
- 6:54If you have the power of God and you're hungry, you can turn these rocks into loaves.
- 7:02Take the way of power.
- 7:03Verse 6,
- 7:04If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
- 7:08He will command His angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up,
- 7:11lest you strike your foot against the stone.
- 7:14Call legions of angels to rescue you as you throw yourself off the temple mount.
- 7:20Verse 9,
- 7:21All these I will give you, observing the kingdoms of the world.
- 7:24All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship Me.
- 7:29Take the way of power, not the way of sacrifice and submission.
- 7:36Jesus knew that this was not the way He was meant to live.
- 7:39This was not the way He was to come and serve and to lead.
- 7:43Not in the way of power in humanistic terms,
- 7:46but rather a more powerful way, a supremely powerful way,
- 7:49which was the way of sacrifice and submission.
- 7:54And He begins to teach that here to the disciples in these coming chapters.
- 7:59We see three passion predictions, all three of them interestingly followed by misunderstandings.
- 8:04The apostles just don't quite seem to be able to wrap their mind around what this means for them.
- 8:11We see the first one here in chapter 8, verse 31.
- 8:15Later, chapter 9, verse 31.
- 8:17And then finally in chapter 10, verse 33 through 34.
- 8:22Three times in these coming chapters,
- 8:24He makes these predictions to teach the disciples what it means for them to follow Him.
- 8:30And three things are made very clear to us in these predictions.
- 8:33First, the way of sacrifice.
- 8:36Jesus will suffer and die.
- 8:41He makes the prediction of that.
- 8:42Mark 10, verse 45.
- 8:44Kind of the summation of this teaching.
- 8:47Jesus says,
- 8:48For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve,
- 8:53and to give His life as a ransom for many.
- 8:57Great high sacrifice of His life.
- 9:01Three times we see it predicted here.
- 9:04Secondly, it is His intention to suffer and die in submission to the will of the Father.
- 9:11So we see the way of submission, the way of sacrifice.
- 9:13We see the way of submission.
- 9:16He knew that it was God's will for Him to come and to die.
- 9:20Look at His rebuke of Peter in verse 33.
- 9:24For you are not setting your mind on the things of God.
- 9:28My prediction of my suffering, my being killed,
- 9:31after three days rising again,
- 9:33is the way of God.
- 9:37And so He submitted Himself willfully to the will of the Father.
- 9:42John 10, verse 17 and 18.
- 9:44Jesus says,
- 9:45He willfully submits Himself to the will of the Father.
- 10:06The way of sacrifice,
- 10:08the way of submission.
- 10:09And thirdly, He makes clear to us that He will rise again.
- 10:13After three days.
- 10:15All three points are made in all three of these passion predictions.
- 10:18He will rise again.
- 10:21He does not leave the disciples,
- 10:23and He does not leave us without hope.
- 10:26He died, but He was resurrected.
- 10:29The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
- 10:32is the central reality of redemptive history.
- 10:37In fact, it's the central reality of all of human history.
- 10:42And I certainly hope this morning that it is the central reality of your life.
- 10:46The very crux, the very thing on which your entire life hinges.
- 10:51I praise God, and I hope you do with me,
- 10:55that Jesus chose the path of sacrifice and submission
- 10:59so that in Him, our debt has been paid.
- 11:05Chapter 10, verse 24.
- 11:06We have been ransomed for God by Christ.
- 11:11We have been ransomed.
- 11:13It was a common practice.
- 11:15These people would have understood in military conquest
- 11:18somebody of value, a king, a governor of some sort,
- 11:23will be taken captive,
- 11:24and there would be a price put on their head.
- 11:26A purchase price that would have had been paid for them to go back and be free.
- 11:30This is what has happened for us in Christ.
- 11:35Jesus paid our infinite debt
- 11:38because we have sinned against an infinitely holy God.
- 11:41Our debt is infinite,
- 11:42and it could only be paid by infinite righteousness
- 11:45that was found in Christ.
- 11:49We have been ransomed if we are found in Him.
- 11:52What will be true of us
- 11:53if we have been ransomed by Christ?
- 11:56And this is where Jesus takes the teaching beyond
- 11:59simply what will happen to Him,
- 12:01but what will be required for those who want to follow Him.
- 12:07And here we see the path of conformity to Christ.
- 12:12So Jesus takes the path of sacrifice and submission.
- 12:14We are to take the path of conformity to Christ.
- 12:20This is what it means to be a disciple.
- 12:23A disciple is one who follows and spreads the teaching of one who may are a disciple of.
- 12:30If we desire to follow Jesus,
- 12:32it should be no surprise to us
- 12:34that we will also take the path of sacrifice and submission
- 12:39as we are conformed to His image.
- 12:42In Matthew 10, 24, in the first half of 25,
- 12:47Jesus says,
- 12:48A disciple is not above his teacher,
- 12:50nor a servant above his master.
- 12:52It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher,
- 12:55and the servant like his master.
- 12:58This is the great high calling of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- 13:03Bonhoeffer spoke of cheap grace.
- 13:06There's much cheap grace being peddled in our day.
- 13:09The kind of grace that says if you simply recite some prayer
- 13:13and simply walk an aisle,
- 13:15and these things, I believe,
- 13:16people truly become regenerate in the process of this.
- 13:19But we say,
- 13:20Just do this thing,
- 13:21and we're going to check a box,
- 13:23and we're going to give you a plaque,
- 13:24and you can have confidence of your eternal state,
- 13:27but their call of grace is a costly one.
- 13:32Grace is a free gift to us,
- 13:34but it requires of us our lives.
- 13:38Verse 34 is where He begins to teach this to the disciples.
- 13:43What is it going to mean if you're going to truly follow Me?
- 13:46And He makes this as a broad call.
- 13:48Notice that He calls the crowd to Him at this point.
- 13:51He's been teaching the disciples,
- 13:53and He calls around all those who are around Him.
- 13:55And remember, He's in Caesarea Philippi.
- 13:57The villages surrounding this area,
- 13:59this is a primarily Gentile area.
- 14:01These people would have been fairly unfamiliar.
- 14:03Maybe had heard some rumor of the work that He'd been doing in Galilee,
- 14:07but this was kind of a retreat for them.
- 14:09So many of these people may not even know who Jesus is,
- 14:12but He calls them around,
- 14:14and makes a broad gospel call to the crowd.
- 14:17If anyone would come after Me,
- 14:20let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
- 14:25What does He mean by this?
- 14:30The implications of such a statement are going to be unpacked across our lifetimes.
- 14:37But we should do well.
- 14:38We should try to wrap our brains around it and get our hearts to catch up to it this morning.
- 14:43What does He mean to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him?
- 14:49Well, He builds for us an explanation.
- 14:51After this very important statement,
- 14:53this incredibly, this axiomatic statement that He makes here,
- 14:57He begins to build for us an explanation.
- 14:59Notice the way that verses 35, 36, 37, and 38 all begin.
- 15:05They begin with the word for.
- 15:08Read it to you one more time.
- 15:09Remember, it's on the heels of this statement.
- 15:11If anyone would come after Me,
- 15:12let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
- 15:14For.
- 15:15And you can read in here the word because.
- 15:18Right?
- 15:18We would more likely,
- 15:20modern English, American speakers would say,
- 15:23because.
- 15:24Right?
- 15:25I'll read it that way, in fact, to serve us.
- 15:27Verse 35.
- 15:28Because whoever would save his life will lose it,
- 15:30but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospels will save it.
- 15:33Because what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
- 15:37Because what can a man give in return for his soul?
- 15:41Because whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation,
- 15:45of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.
- 15:51Jesus lays for us here a logical case.
- 15:54There's a logical progression in this.
- 15:57Right?
- 15:57But of all good logic,
- 15:59we can also take the adverse of the logic.
- 16:02And I think it's going to serve us well this morning to look at it in reverse order.
- 16:07Let me give you an example.
- 16:08Let me give you an example.
- 16:10I'm feeling a bit jittery.
- 16:13Because I just finished my second cup of coffee.
- 16:16Because I'm tired this morning.
- 16:19Because I went to bed late and I woke up early.
- 16:22Because I don't always manage my time well.
- 16:24This works the other way around as well.
- 16:30I don't always manage my time well.
- 16:32So I went to bed late and I woke up early.
- 16:35So I'm tired this morning.
- 16:36So I just finished my second cup of coffee.
- 16:38So I'm feeling a bit jittery.
- 16:40And we can see that we can come to the very same conclusions in either direction.
- 16:45And this is the way that Jesus builds this case.
- 16:47So let's look at it beginning in verse 38.
- 16:49Now we must ask, what is the opposite of being ashamed?
- 17:04If the outcome of being ashamed of the Son of Man, of Jesus Christ,
- 17:10is that He'll be ashamed of us when He comes in the glory of His Father,
- 17:15what is the opposite of that?
- 17:16What should we be?
- 17:17If we ought not be ashamed of Him, what should we be?
- 17:20We should be proud of Him.
- 17:23We should love Him.
- 17:25We should treasure Him.
- 17:27We should see Him for who He really is and exalt Him.
- 17:31We should love the name of Jesus Christ.
- 17:36And He's not speaking here of our momentary failings.
- 17:39We're not always proud in every moment.
- 17:40Sometimes we shy away from an opportunity to speak His name or to share Him.
- 17:44He's not speaking about that.
- 17:45He's speaking about the way in which our lives are oriented.
- 17:49Is our lives oriented in a direction that says,
- 17:52I am proud of Jesus Christ,
- 17:55my prophet, my priest, and my king.
- 17:58And if we are not proud of Him,
- 18:01He will not be proud of us.
- 18:03If we are proud of Him,
- 18:05He will be proud of us.
- 18:09Now, when He speaks here of coming in the glory of His Father
- 18:12with the holy angels,
- 18:14we can get our minds all way off in left field.
- 18:18This does not necessarily refer to a second coming of Christ,
- 18:21although I believe it does include His second coming.
- 18:24But it speaks rather to a different situation.
- 18:28A day when He will rule with absolute sovereignty.
- 18:32I would argue, but not with the time I have today,
- 18:35that He does, in fact, now rule with absolute sovereignty.
- 18:41His words seem to serve as an allusion to Daniel's prophetic vision.
- 18:46Found in Daniel chapter 7.
- 18:48You should turn there with me while I take a sip of water.
- 18:51Daniel chapter 7, verses 9 and 10, and then 13 and 14.
- 19:10This is Daniel's vision.
- 19:11As I looked, thrones were placed.
- 19:14And the Ancient of Days, this is God the Father,
- 19:16took His seat.
- 19:17His clothing was white as snow,
- 19:20and the hair of His head like pure wool.
- 19:23His throne was fiery flames.
- 19:25Its wheels were burning fire.
- 19:27A stream of fire issued and came out from before Him.
- 19:30A thousand thousands served Him.
- 19:33And ten thousand times, ten thousand stood before Him.
- 19:37The court sat in judgment,
- 19:39and the books were opened.
- 19:41And then verse 13.
- 19:43I saw in the night visions,
- 19:45and behold, with the clouds of heaven,
- 19:47there came one like a Son of Man.
- 19:50You see why Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man.
- 19:53And He came to the Ancient of Days,
- 19:55and was presented before Him.
- 19:57And to Him was given dominion,
- 19:58and glory,
- 20:00and a kingdom,
- 20:01that all peoples, nations,
- 20:03and languages should serve Him.
- 20:05His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
- 20:07which shall not pass away.
- 20:09And His kingdom,
- 20:10one that shall not be destroyed.
- 20:14This is true now in this day.
- 20:18Jesus is our advocate with the Father.
- 20:22Even now, as we sit in this room,
- 20:24He is seated at the right hand of the Father,
- 20:26always making intercession for us.
- 20:30Hebrews 7, verses 23 and 25,
- 20:32these words are so precious.
- 20:34The former priests were many in number,
- 20:36because they were prevented by death
- 20:38from continuing in office.
- 20:40The old former priestly line,
- 20:43it was flawed because these men were men,
- 20:45and they died.
- 20:46But He holds His priesthood permanently,
- 20:48because He continues forever.
- 20:51Consequently, He, this is Jesus,
- 20:54is able to save to the uttermost
- 20:55those who draw near to God through Him,
- 20:58since He always lives
- 21:00to make intercession for them.
- 21:03If we are proud of Jesus Christ,
- 21:06He is proud of us,
- 21:09and He intercedes for us,
- 21:10that when God looks at us,
- 21:13He sees Jesus.
- 21:14We are clothed in His righteousness.
- 21:17We have been ransomed,
- 21:20because Jesus came to serve,
- 21:22and not to be served.
- 21:23Verse 37,
- 21:28For what can a man give
- 21:29in return for his soul?
- 21:33For what can a man give?
- 21:35What can a man possibly have
- 21:36that would be an equal trade for his soul?
- 21:38And the clear answer to this is
- 21:40nothing.
- 21:42Nothing.
- 21:43Because God's holiness is infinite,
- 21:45our sin is infinite,
- 21:46and the only infinite,
- 21:47the only thing that can pay the price
- 21:48is the infinite righteousness of Christ
- 21:49for this infinite debt that we have.
- 21:52Psalm 49, verses 7-9,
- 21:54Truly no man can ransom another,
- 21:57or give to God the price of his life,
- 21:59for the ransom of their life
- 22:01is costly and can never suffice,
- 22:03that he should live on forever
- 22:05and never see the pit.
- 22:08Our debt can be paid
- 22:09by none other than Christ.
- 22:12And if you don't believe this to be true,
- 22:13you don't understand sin.
- 22:16You don't understand the great offense
- 22:19that it is to a holy God.
- 22:22If we are proud of Christ,
- 22:24He has paid our debt.
- 22:27We are part of the many that He speaks of
- 22:29that have been ransomed.
- 22:33Verse 36,
- 22:35For what does it profit a man
- 22:36to gain the whole world
- 22:37and forfeit his soul?
- 22:40What wonderful rhetoric.
- 22:43Nothing.
- 22:44It gains a man nothing
- 22:46to have everything in the world
- 22:48but to not have Himself.
- 22:51We are created in the image of God.
- 22:54But sin has absolutely
- 22:56and utterly destroyed
- 22:58our image-bearing capability,
- 23:00our very being.
- 23:02We are so unhuman
- 23:04when we live in sin.
- 23:07But in Christ,
- 23:08that image-bearing capacity
- 23:10has been restored.
- 23:11We don't do it perfectly.
- 23:12We still carry around our flesh.
- 23:15We do still sin,
- 23:16but the capacity has been restored.
- 23:19We have made beautiful.
- 23:21Once again,
- 23:21we have life.
- 23:24Proper life.
- 23:25True life.
- 23:26Because Jesus has restored
- 23:27that ability in us.
- 23:30What in the world
- 23:31would be worth trading for that?
- 23:33Nothing.
- 23:34It's a rhetorical question.
- 23:36Nothing.
- 23:37The person who is proud of Christ
- 23:39should share in the attitude of Paul.
- 23:41Philippians 3.
- 23:43Verse 7.
- 23:44Paul's speaking of his religious pedigree.
- 23:46He says,
- 23:46But whatever gain I had,
- 23:48I counted as loss
- 23:49for the sake of Christ.
- 23:52And then he goes on.
- 23:53He elaborates.
- 23:54Verse 8.
- 23:55Indeed,
- 23:55I count everything as loss
- 23:57because of the surpassing worth
- 23:59of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
- 24:03For His sake,
- 24:03I have suffered the loss of all things
- 24:05and count them as rubbish.
- 24:06Trash.
- 24:07In order that I may gain Christ.
- 24:12Christ and the life that we have in Him
- 24:13is a much more precious thing
- 24:15than anything this world
- 24:17could possibly afford us.
- 24:19Here we have Peter
- 24:20who wants Jesus to take the way of power.
- 24:22He wants to be a lieutenant in His army.
- 24:25He wants to reign with Him politically.
- 24:29Jesus is saying to them,
- 24:30No.
- 24:31Rather than that,
- 24:32you're going to suffer.
- 24:33You're not going to have things in this world
- 24:35because you're going to be part
- 24:36of a greater kingdom.
- 24:38A kingdom that has been ushered in
- 24:40and has yet to fully arrive.
- 24:44Verse 35.
- 24:46For whoever would save his life
- 24:48will lose it.
- 24:50But whoever loses his life for my sake
- 24:52and the Gospels
- 24:53will save it.
- 24:56And this statement is paradoxical.
- 24:59It's an apparent paradox.
- 25:00Interestingly,
- 25:02to save your life
- 25:02you have to lose your life.
- 25:03But if you lose your life,
- 25:04you saved your life.
- 25:05This is the very definition of paradox.
- 25:07It's a statement that contradicts itself.
- 25:10An example of this
- 25:12would be
- 25:12this statement is false.
- 25:17This statement is false.
- 25:19If the statement is true,
- 25:21then the statement is false,
- 25:23thereby making the statement true.
- 25:25You see how it goes around in circles.
- 25:27This is a paradox.
- 25:28Which is why I'm very careful to say
- 25:30that this is an apparent paradox.
- 25:34It's an apparent paradox.
- 25:35To us,
- 25:36on our level,
- 25:38the capacity of our minds,
- 25:40this is a difficult thing
- 25:41to understand.
- 25:44But should we be surprised
- 25:45that God has asked us
- 25:47to live lives
- 25:48that are paradoxical
- 25:50in this sense?
- 25:51When He came,
- 25:52the Son of the Most High God,
- 25:54as a baby,
- 25:54born in a stable
- 25:56and laid in a manger.
- 25:59He was raised
- 26:00as the son of a carpenter
- 26:01in the nothing town of Nazareth.
- 26:04The Christ,
- 26:05our anointed prophet,
- 26:07priest, and king,
- 26:08emptied Himself
- 26:08and became
- 26:10a selfless servant.
- 26:11Jesus' life
- 26:13was an apparent paradox.
- 26:16The One who came
- 26:17to save the world
- 26:18did so
- 26:19by sacrificing
- 26:20Himself.
- 26:22Himself.
- 26:24We must lose our lives
- 26:27in order to
- 26:28save our lives.
- 26:32Now,
- 26:32Jesus is not suggesting
- 26:33that we must simply
- 26:34bear some discomfort
- 26:36with patience
- 26:37in this life.
- 26:39So,
- 26:39so often you hear somebody say,
- 26:40well,
- 26:40I guess this is just
- 26:41my cross to bear.
- 26:43Right?
- 26:44This is not what Jesus
- 26:45is talking about here.
- 26:46Although it is true,
- 26:47it's a reality
- 26:48of the Christian experience
- 26:49that there are things
- 26:50we're going to suffer
- 26:51and we ought to suffer
- 26:52well in those things.
- 26:53This is true,
- 26:54but it's not right to say
- 26:56this is,
- 26:56oh,
- 26:56this is my cross to bear
- 26:57because what happened
- 26:58on a cross?
- 26:59You died.
- 27:00You died on a cross.
- 27:02They didn't let you
- 27:02suffer for a while
- 27:03and then take you down
- 27:04and say,
- 27:04oh,
- 27:04your punishment's been paid.
- 27:05You died on a cross.
- 27:08He is saying
- 27:08that if we are to follow Him
- 27:10and thereby save our lives,
- 27:12we must choose
- 27:13the path of conformity
- 27:15to His sacrifice
- 27:17and submission
- 27:18by abandoning
- 27:20our own identity
- 27:22and self-determination.
- 27:25It is no longer
- 27:26I who live,
- 27:29Galatians 2.20,
- 27:31but Christ who lives in me.
- 27:33Paul says,
- 27:33I have been crucified with Christ.
- 27:35It is no longer I who live,
- 27:36but Christ who lives in me.
- 27:37And the life I now live
- 27:38in the flesh,
- 27:39I live by faith
- 27:40in the Son of God
- 27:41who loved me
- 27:42and gave Himself
- 27:43for me.
- 27:45Because we have been
- 27:46ransomed by Christ,
- 27:47we now identify with Him
- 27:49in all things.
- 27:50I put down Nathan
- 27:52and Nathan's desires
- 27:53and Nathan's self-determination
- 27:55and I pick up
- 27:55the way of Christ.
- 27:57I follow Him
- 27:58wherever He will go.
- 28:00Remember,
- 28:01He has yet to be crucified.
- 28:03He has simply predicted
- 28:04that it would happen.
- 28:05He's on His way
- 28:06to do this.
- 28:07We know now,
- 28:08but they didn't know then
- 28:09that He was going to have
- 28:10to carry His own cross
- 28:12to the hill of Golgotha
- 28:13and what Jesus is saying
- 28:14is you should follow me there.
- 28:17You should follow me there
- 28:18and identify with me
- 28:19as Paul says,
- 28:20Galatians 2.20,
- 28:21I have been crucified
- 28:22with Christ.
- 28:24My old self
- 28:25has been put to death.
- 28:26I now am a new creation
- 28:28and in all things
- 28:29I give myself to God.
- 28:34Thus verse 34,
- 28:36back to the beginning,
- 28:38this axiomatic statement,
- 28:39if anyone would come after me,
- 28:41let him deny himself
- 28:42and take up his cross
- 28:43and follow me.
- 28:46The redeemed ones of God,
- 28:49those who have been ransomed
- 28:49by Christ,
- 28:51will live in conformity
- 28:53with Christ
- 28:53and give our lives
- 28:55to Him.
- 28:57It becomes a necessary outcome
- 28:58of who we are.
- 29:00We don't follow Jesus
- 29:02in order that we might be
- 29:03found disciples of Him.
- 29:04We are disciples of Him.
- 29:06Therefore,
- 29:07we follow Him.
- 29:09And this necessarily
- 29:11includes
- 29:12all
- 29:13of who
- 29:14we are.
- 29:16As Americans,
- 29:17we're very familiar
- 29:19with the Industrial Revolution,
- 29:20which specialized
- 29:21things for us.
- 29:22We specialize things.
- 29:24Different of us
- 29:24have different tasks
- 29:25in the world.
- 29:27Some install
- 29:28the cog.
- 29:29Some put the wheel on.
- 29:31We all serve
- 29:32different roles.
- 29:33And specialization
- 29:33has worked itself in
- 29:34to our very being.
- 29:35And unfortunately,
- 29:37it causes us
- 29:38to segment out
- 29:38our lives.
- 29:41So some of you
- 29:41might be an employee.
- 29:43Let's say a teacher.
- 29:44I know we have a number
- 29:44of teachers.
- 29:45A teacher,
- 29:47right,
- 29:47who has a wife
- 29:48and who has children,
- 29:50attends a church,
- 29:52is a Christian.
- 29:53We tend to make
- 29:53these things
- 29:54part of who we are
- 29:55rather than being
- 29:56a Christian,
- 29:56being a disciple of Christ,
- 29:58influencing all of who we are.
- 29:59It is the umbrella
- 30:00that arcs over everything.
- 30:02I am a Christian
- 30:03who is a teacher.
- 30:04I am a Christian
- 30:05who is a father.
- 30:07I am a Christian
- 30:07who is a husband.
- 30:10It includes all
- 30:11of who we are.
- 30:13It includes where we live.
- 30:15It includes the houses
- 30:16we live in,
- 30:16the cars we drive,
- 30:17the clothes we wear,
- 30:18the vacations we take.
- 30:20It includes the way
- 30:20we speak,
- 30:21the way we feel,
- 30:22the way we act,
- 30:23where we work,
- 30:25the effort we put
- 30:26into our work,
- 30:27how we spend our
- 30:28free time
- 30:29that belongs to Christ,
- 30:31how we relate
- 30:31to the church,
- 30:32give to the church,
- 30:33serve the church,
- 30:34how we relate
- 30:35to the world,
- 30:36give to it,
- 30:37serve it.
- 30:38It includes every aspect.
- 30:40We could spend days
- 30:41including all of the things
- 30:43and this is why
- 30:44I believe
- 30:45that this statement
- 30:46he makes to us
- 30:47in verse 34,
- 30:48if we are going
- 30:49to follow him,
- 30:50we are going to deny ourselves,
- 30:51take up our cross,
- 30:53has such
- 30:54massive implication.
- 30:57Massive implication.
- 30:58And it's so fitting
- 30:59that just after
- 31:00he is taught
- 31:01and Peter has come
- 31:04to this realization
- 31:04that he is the Christ,
- 31:06that he begins
- 31:06in this way.
- 31:09You're setting your mind
- 31:09on the things of God,
- 31:10not on the things of man.
- 31:11Let me tell you
- 31:12about the things
- 31:13of God.
- 31:15This is what serving
- 31:16in the kingdom
- 31:17looked like.
- 31:19Jesus chose the path
- 31:20of sacrifice
- 31:22and submission.
- 31:24But he did it
- 31:25for the eternal joy
- 31:26that was set before him.
- 31:27Hebrews chapter 12.
- 31:30Momentary suffering.
- 31:32Momentary
- 31:33in this world.
- 31:35It's a very small trade
- 31:37for us to trade things
- 31:38that we cannot hold on to
- 31:39for something
- 31:40that is infinite
- 31:40and glorious
- 31:41forever and ever
- 31:43that we might someday
- 31:44reign with Christ.
- 31:48This is a reality
- 31:49and it has meaning
- 31:50for each and every day.
- 31:52Every little decision
- 31:53that we make,
- 31:54all of it matters.
- 31:55that we might serve him
- 31:57and love him
- 31:58and so prove
- 32:00that we are
- 32:01his disciples.
- 32:04So one application
- 32:06question for you
- 32:08today
- 32:09and then I'll close
- 32:10in prayer.
- 32:11Will you choose
- 32:13the path
- 32:14of conformity
- 32:16to Christ?
- 32:18Let's pray.
- 32:19Let's pray.