In this sermon, Pastor Babij examines Jesus’ call to discipleship and posits that a wrong view of Messiahship leads to a wrong view of discipleship. He explains each of the following aspects of discipleship: 1) Disciples must deny themselves 2) Disciples must take up their cross 3) Disciples must follow Christ. He concludes that an understanding of true discipleship leads to the opposite of a performance-based worldview and should move Christians to live and proclaim the gospel.
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okay Mark chapter 8 we’re looking at the last five verses of that chapter Mark chapter 8: 34- 38 as you turn there let me read that passage Mark chap 8 verse 34 and he summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them if anyone wishes to come after me he must deny himself take up his cross and follow me for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake in the gospels will save it for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul for what will a man give in exchange for his soul for whoever is ashamed of me in my words in this adulterous and sinful generation the son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in glory of his father with the Holy Angels let’s pray father this morning I come to you in the great and awesome name of Jesus Christ who makes it possible for your people to come into your presence to come as people who are forgiven who have been cleansed by your blood who have been given your spirit and who have been also given your word and I pray Lord that you would take the word of God and use it to challenge us so we can make a difference in what we hear in our life and I pray Lord that as we do this morning especially in this text that we would definitely be walking out making specific decisions and choices that change the way we do things as Believers I pray that every one of us would examine ourselves to see if we truly are a disciple of Christ so show us Lord and prepare our heart for this truth in Christ’s name I pray amen now Mark is I’ve been saying the gospel of the servant savior and the key verse that summarizes the gospel is for even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life a ransom for many so that means that the son of man Jesus Christ came not to be waited on but actually to wait on us and to give his life a ransom so just thinking of that how can we seek our own when we think about what Christ accomplished on our behalf but this is really what baffled so many about the meaning of Messiah the kind of Messiah God sends is not the kind anyone was expecting everyone expected the Messiah to have a crown not coming as a servant to Bear a cross and of course this is just the human being’s attempt to reshape and redefine God to fit God into their own conception of what God should be or what God should do but we have to very be very uh Frank about it that the ways of God are opposed to the ways of man that’s why Jesus said to Peter right here in Mark chapter 8 in verse number 33 at the end of verse 33 you are are not setting your mind on God’s interest but man’s we must take that to heart that there are two ways of looking at things God’s way and man’s way and these two ways of looking at things lead in two different directions we therefore need to make sure that our good intentions our words our actions agree with God and not agree with really anything else Satan chose in this context to put his poisonous fangs into Peter’s mind and to produce a false understanding of jesus’ mission Peter was actually making himself a tool of Satan by being swayed to look at things from the vantage point of the world from the vantage point of the flesh from the vantage point of Satan himself that the tempter sometimes does speak even to us through the voice of a well-meaning person a family member even a friend so we have to know the truth to even cut through all that now we have to think also if a friend is not measuring things with God’s work they wouldn’t possess the wisdom that comes from above but instead would possess Earthly wisdom that has been twisted and turned by the wicked one and of course therefore their conclusions of things would be unreliable looking at things from man’s perspective and not God’s perspective so how would the enemy seduce our understanding of Jesus and his mission in our very comfortable good old USA how how would he do it well he would give us a nice middle class American Jesus as David Platt put in his uh in his blog on his book radical he says a Jesus who doesn’t mind materialism who would never call us to give away everything a Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion and would never want to infringe upon our Comforts a Jesus who wants to us to be balanced who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes and for that matter wants us to avoid all danger altogether a Jesus who brings comfort and prosperity to us as we live out our Christian spin of the American dream so in other words Satan would present to us a nice Jesus who would never Rock our boat too much who would never turn our world upside down who would never call us to some radical way of living if the enemy can prevent a person from seeing the truth from God’s perspective he will do that Jesus presses the point that his disciples must learn and affirm the ways of God over against the ways of man and the ways of the world this is Paramount in our text today this morning that we have come actually at this point to the middle of the Gospel of Mark at this midpoint in the gospel of Mark there’s a change in focus the first half of Mark focus on who Jesus is the second half of Mark focuses on what he came to do so we learned from the word of God all the word of God that Jesus is indeed the Messiah we have the whole story so we can conclude that he lived the perfect life that we couldn’t have lived he died to pay the penalty for our sins that we could have never paid for our our s and he rose from the grave to break the power of Satan and death and of course all those who take Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Savior find forgiveness of sin find peace with God they they find Assurance the Assurance of eternal life however I must add something to that that making a profession that Jesus is the Christ is not enough it is never enough because Jesus is the Messiah he expects to be followed he expects to be obeyed that Jesus is not calling Spectators he’s not calling people that merely admire him he is not calling people who want just the modest adjustment in their lives Jesus does not offer his disciples varieties of self-fulfillment and help books he’s not offering intoxicating spiritual experiences he’s not even offering in intellectual stimulation he’s not offering those things he calls his true disciples to Bear a cross like he did his disciples all his disciples of all time must become like Jesus in their obedience and they must live the cross that is the message this morning but that also means this that a wrong view of messiahship will lead to a wrong view of discipleship however a correct view of messiahship puts one on the path to a correct understanding of True Discipleship or Genuine discipleship well that brings me to our text this morning that Jesus really brings the multitude of people along with his disciples because he has a very very important message at this juncture in their spiritual growth that Jesus wants to teach the multitude and his disciples so they will clearly understand what true discipleship is and what the conditions of discipleship are this called to discipleship in our text is universal it applies to all of Jesus disciples not just a select few if you look at verse number 34 of chapter 8 of Mark it says and he summoned the multitude with his disciples and said to them all right so in other words this is for all of the multitude who wants to hear Jesus and his disciples who have already been chosen are following him who already believe in him now before Jesus lays down the conditions of real discipleship he shows that there are are two directions one’s desires can actually go in the first if you notice it says in verse number 34 and he summoned the multitude with his disciples and said to them if anyone wishes to come after me that word wishes is very important the emphasis with that word is placed on the conscious willingness of genuine followers in other words Jesus is not making anyone follow him he is putting in their heart a desire to follow a wish to follow in other words his genuine disciples have a continuous desire to follow after Christ to learn to accept what Christ is teaching and then to walk the path the Lord lays out before them the second Direction one’s desires can go following of course the context that’s coming is a desire to follow after the flesh to follow after your own desires your own passions to follow after the the world’s system and whever whatever way the wind’s blowing there to follow after Satan’s whims that he wants to throw at you see that’s the broad Road that’s the easy Road there’s always those two ch es to be perfectly clear Jesus presents in our text this morning the conditions of True Discipleship and there are three conditions for the path of True Discipleship what I want you to do this morning is to examine yourself to see if you’re on that path and to really look at yourself and take the text and examine yourself with it so Jesus lays down three conditions for the path of True Discipleship all right and of course whoever would belong to this suffering savior to this suffering servant must now do what Jesus says this is not optional matter of fact all these three conditions are imperatives they are commands there is a cost to following Jesus there is a cost to being a Christian so here’s the first condition of the path of True Discipleship in verse number 34 it says number one let him deny himself let him deny himself that means to turn someone off to disown someone to even repudiate that see the the thing that is disowned and the thing that is turned off is the self you know what the self is right the self is you with all your passions and desires and goals and dreams and all those kind of things you need to deny yourself now what are you actually denying yourself of you’re denying yourself of the sinful self the person who has their own own interest at the center and not God’s interests see the Gospel of Luke adds a word to this context and the word they add is daily it says in Luke and he was saying to them if anyone wishes to come after me he must deny himself all right take up his cross daily and follow me so Luke’s statement take up the cross daily does not mean mean that new crosses must be taken up each day but that there must be a willingness on the part of the disciple to accept his cross every single day so self-denial can take many shapes in our life it’s not the same necessarily for everyone for some it may mean leing a job and family as the disciples did they left their jobs they left their families to go follow Christ we saw that way in the beginning of the Gospel of Mark that’s going to come up again in Mark chapter 10 because they kind of like are thinking about that and says Lord we left all these things like what are we going to get self-denial could also mean for the proud person to renounce their desires for status and honor honor it could be mean for the greedy person renouncing their appetite for wealth and things for the complacent person it may mean renouncing the way of ease for the faint-hearted person it may mean abandoning the craving for security and for the violent person and the angry person it may mean to repudiate the desire for revenge and that list can go on in other words the flesh must be weakened and the spirit of God must be strengthened that’s always the case for a real disciple jesus’ disciples know and I know you know what hinders you from giving your lives over to God the things that you have to lay aside and deny yourself of to serve God wholeheartedly you know what they are you know what you have to do that’s the first condition the second condition goes along with that and it’s this in verse number 34 to take up his cross now let me first mention what the cross is not because you see all kinds of strange things about this one it is not trials it’s not the afflictions of suffering imposed by Divine Providence to chastise a Believer to refine a believer in their walk it’s also not people it’s not that domineering boss or that domineering parent or that meddling mother-in-law or that obnoxious neighbor those are not the crosses the Bible’s talking about also they are not some habit or or desire or personality disorder or some outward queer behavior that a person has that they have to deal with in their life these are not the crosses to bear it is not putting up with some inconvenience hardship or irritation it’s not that so then what is the cross just think for a moment what did Jesus just get done telling his disciples what ises he what does he tell them that in verse 31 he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things be rejected by the Elders of the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again if we think about the cross the cross is a symbol of execution it’s a symbol of suffering and death it is an image of extreme cruelty and pain it dehumanizing it causes great shame and of course the Romans at that time would take the condemn criminal and compel them to carry the Cross Beam to the place of execution and then the Cross Beam would be nailed to a wooden post and then they would be nailed to that Cross Beam and post so in other words to take up his cross meant that such one was going to die like his Lord each disciple must bear his own cross and that is the shame a disciple assumes because of their relationship to Jesus Christ you are following a suffering Savior and so therefore if the Lord suffered we must also suffer see the symbol of the Cross has one objective it ruthless ruthlessly intends to bring death to self the natural sinful self the rebel inside the sinful nature must be put to a slow and agonizing death our cream puff Society with the current wind of our culture blowing hard against us is not s signaling us to live a life of self-denial and cist cross bearing actually it tempts us and lures us every day to live a life of self-indulgence live a life for yourself because that’s all the pleasure you’ll get whatever you can get for yourself that’s the way you must live that’s the message of our day that’s really the message of every day we just have a new way of packaging it but the point is that the disciples all of Jesus disciples must no longer make their interest and their desires the Supreme concern of Life they must turn away from the idolatry of self-centeredness see you begin to see more clearly as a disciple that’s what the context is leading that as you grow and mature in Jesus Christ you are going to realize that there must be for more self-denial o in your life more death to self-importance More Death to self-satisfaction More Death to self-absorption More Death to self- advancement more death to self-dependence see the painful blows to the inner self are daily realized by all believers who follow Christ it’s the daily struggle that we have the reality of this principle of discipleship is brought out in our in the Bible in other passages like in Galatians chapter 5 and verse 24 listen what it says it says now those who belong to Christ Christ have crucified the flesh then it says this with its passions and desires and then of course men the recent memory verse that we’ve had in in our Iron Man Fellowship I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me see so the Lord Of Glory has called all his disciples to a life of self-denial and cross bearing that means it is absolutely impossible to be a Christian without self-denial and cross bearing it cannot be and that’s why Jesus says that at this portion of scripture that if you’re going to go on and follow me I want to remind you of the cost it will not be an easy Road in fact All Through This World it will not be an easy road but the more you kill the flesh the more you’ll strengthen the spirit and the more you strengthen the spirit the more you’ll have the Clear Sight spiritual sight to see what God wants you to do and to see what direction that you need to go go for it says also in Luke 14:27 Jesus said whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me can not be my disciple Jesus also said if you put your hand to the plow and look back you’re not worthy for the kingdom of God so you you cannot go back to where you came from Once you meet Christ and become his disciple it must always be forward following after the Lord but Jesus says listen if you follow me there are conditions these are imperatives you cannot get away from them you must deny yourself you must pick up your cross and the third thing the third condition in verse 34 is you must follow this command this third one denotes a continual persevering of obedience to follow after the leadership of Jesus Christ that Jesus goes to his death and all his disciples follow behind him and must also face death to self one person said if you want to follow me Christ don’t expect an easy time have you experienced that yet as a Believer have you run into the struggle that you have as a Believer do you realize that you do have to put things off and deny things so you can follow Christ do you realize there is a cross to bear while you put those things to death see a Believer as a Believer follows behind Christ and bears his cross he will feel its weight and its pain and its suffering and its conflict when that willing disciple of Jesus Christ Endeavors to hold fast to the apostolic Doctrine and live for Christ when they Endeavor to practice putting off sin and mortifying the Deeds of their body body when they Endeavor to live righteously in the middle of a wicked and immoral and willful generation when they Endeavor to hold the faith which is ridiculed by the world which the world thinks is too restrictive too narrow and too foolish when the Willing disciple Endeavors to put on the Armor of God and stand up against the Ws and schemes and deceptions of the devil when the Willing disciple Endeavors to live differently that means they they Endeavor to live wholly and godly in this world that’s the desire the spirit of God puts there and so they desire to live against the normal standard that the word world has for any generation that lives and of course the bottom line would be when the Willing disciple Endeavors to lose their life if needful for Christ’s sake and the gospel’s sake now those are the conditions those are the conditions all disciples must be evaluated by but the Lord also gives the rationale he gives the reasoning for accept accepting the three conditions and this is his reasoning he contrasts different things in the next several verses that there are are two alternatives for pursuing the meaning of life in this world everybody’s pursuing the meaning of life they may have their own meaning of what they think life ought to be but also other people are giving you the meaning of life cultures are giving the meaning of life for different groups of people parents are giving the meaning of Life all right teachers in school are giving the meaning of life there’s the all kinds of the meaning of life given to people but in our context here there’s only two that a person can pursue one Bible commentator described it as as as this if you notice in verse number 35 it says this for whoever wish to to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it person described it as this living a lower meaning of life the word very life used here means the outward Earthly life with its pleasures and its AIMS in other words the lower meaning of life is just living for what is temporal what you can get here without looking to Eternity without looking to anything past that and then there is the higher meaning of life that is the inward spiritual life that begins here and reaches into eternity it’s the person who is living life not for temporal gain but for Eternal gain so in a sense the Lord’s presenting a paradox to live a life on the physic iCal level alone or to live a life on the spiritual level and so the Lord uses this word life in two senses physical and spiritual and then so in other words the one way someone pursues the Ultimate Reality of life is temporary gain that brings Eternal loss where it says in verse 35 whoever wishes all right that means that this is it they wish to preserve their life they wish to save whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it that’s the whole motive for living a person who is devoted to the protection of his own life that’s all he lives for what can I get on this side how can I live to the ultimate and how can I protect myself and prevent death as much as possible the only problem is is that that if that is the only person’s Pursuit they will miss the life that is eternal in other words a disciple of Jesus Christ cannot live with that goal they must live with another goal and what’s the other goal in verse number 35 it’s the temporary loss that brings Eternal gain the middle of the verse but whoever loses his life and notice for the two things they may lose their life for my sake that’s Jes Jesus sake and the gospels shall save it and that’s what a disciple is called to do a disciple is called to follow Christ but as they are following Christ they are what they are living and proclaiming the gospel because that’s who God calls to advance the gospel so there are two choices to determine the meaning of life one lead leads to losing one’s life the other one leads to saving one’s life so the question could be what are the things that you can acquire and Achieve on this Earth to know that you have made it that you are valuable that you at least worth you’re worth a hill of beans at least see every culture has some things in it that want to provide the meaning of life one uh in my reading one person had put it this way most cultures have either a performance-based meaning of life or an achievement based meaning of life that’s built into the culture you can’t get away from it if it’s a traditional culture like you know a traditional Asian culture or polish culture that comes there’s going to be certain things to it usually a traditional culture would say you you are nobody unless you gain the respectability and Legacy of family and children but there’s also an individualistic cultural identity and of course that’s the one we have in America it’s different than a traditional cultural meaning of life because a individual individualistic identity is different in this way that the culture says your nobody unless you gain a fulfilling career unless that career brings in money and that you gain reputation and you gain status in life well we see it all around us the car someone drives the house someone owns the bank accounts people have the goals they have to secure their life that they can get the best thing possible while they’re here is really set up already in the culture for them to perform something they have to achieve something to be someone however the problem is no matter how many of these things you gain it is never enough to make you sure that you’ve arrived the gain supposed turns out to be uncertain the gain supposed turns out to be difficult it’s hard to get it also turns out once you get it to be unsatisfactory and then you find out at the end it’s just temporary you can’t take it with you Jesus says if you’re going to live like that you have missed the point you you will lose you your life see if you gain a lot of money you can lose it if you have a good career you can lose that also if you have good relationships these two could be lost so there’s nothing sure so Jesus what he does is he contrasts now the world with your soul wait a minute you mean you want me to think about my soul nobody thinks about their soul what they think about is what they can get what they can gain they don’t think about eternity they don’t think about after they’re gone that’s not in the fabric of cultures you only find that in the word of God and if they do come up they come up with some weird religious system on how you get there and what you have to do to get there so look what Jesus says in verse number 36 he says this asks a question for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and to Forfeit his soul there will never be any lasting sense of satisfaction or true gain from Earthly reward never never if you gain he says the whole world all its power all its wealth all its pleasure all its Glory all its Sensation that it can offer you all its enjoyments all its achievements all its satisfactions if you can gain all that you’re still at a loss that’s not good math you don’t want your Ledger books to always be at a loss matter of fact what happens is that the loss that you’ll sustain is a loss of Happiness a loss of Hope a loss of heaven but here’s the heavy loss that Jesus is emphasizing here the loss of your Eternal Soul that’s what you’ll lose it’s interesting I was reading uh in my reading I came across this interesting uh situation where David Lodge in his novel therapy it’s about therapy he says this the main character the main character’s therapist ask him to make a list of all the good things about life in one column and the bad things in another under the good column he wrote profet professionally successful well off good health stable marriage kids successfully launched into adult life a nice house a great car as many holidays as I wanted and in the bad column he only wrote just one thing I feel unhappy most of the time you know what I think there’s a lot of people in that category and this is the reason why they’re pursuing the wrong thing the meaning of life they’re pursuing is all wrong that’s not what a disciple of Christ pursues not at all that’s never the goal a person can live their life to win favor the favor of the world and it means loss of the favor of Heaven in verse 37 again it says what shall a man give in exchange for his soul in other words what can a person gain uh do to gain the Eternal Soul back if it’s forfeited what what’s equivalent what can be equivalent to the worth of a soul what price can be paid to get back a soul that was forfeited to that meaning of life the answer to that is there’s no price there’s nothing there’s no answer once the soul is forfeited it’s done it’s over and remember the soul is is that unspeakably valuable part of us that has been created in the image of God the soul that is eternal the soul that will live past death the death of our bodies and will live into eternity we all have souls and we shall all give an account to God because we have eternal Souls the only way the soul is kept safe in Time and Eternity is to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ that’s the only way so in other words the only meaning of life to pursue is the spiritual life the disciples life the life that not only believes in Jesus Christ and trusts in Jesus Christ but follows Jesus Christ by the conditions that Jesus gave to deny themselves that meaning of life to Bear their cross in putting their own self in sin to death and then following Christ and it will not be an easy Road and the Soul can be lost in many different ways matter of fact you don’t have to do much to lose your soul most people do nothing to lose their soul all that they do is they they just flow with life and they die and they’re hoping when they die that somehow God is going to look at their goodness and their good deeds and of evaluate how well they did and let them in well they’ll realize that is that’s not the way the Lord has given the gospel to us so a soul can be lost by loving sin and serving it a soul can be lost by cleaving to this present world and following its ways the spirit of our ages love yourself pamper yourself live for yourself that’s the Mantra of our day but you will lose a soul can be lost by choosing a religion that teaches lies and believes man-made rules and superstitions and only leads to Hell uh a soul can be lost by starving the soul of the truth of the gospel and re refusing to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord so you other in other words to die to Jesus to deny to deny Jesus to prefer this world to turn from him is in the end to stand helpless and condemned at the day of judgment in other words see the question that needs to be asked there several questions that need to be asked at this point is does your Christian Life cost you anything does it cost you to be a believer or are are you always looking for the easy way out the comfortable way out the way out where you don’t have to get be accountable to anybody or anything that when it comes to serving you’re not serving when it comes to being faithful just to come to church and be on time and come to Sunday school and learn more of the word of God you can’t get up real enough to do that if something else comes up you’re off doing it if some family member comes and says we got something else going on there you’re off doing that there’s no conviction there’s no commitment there is no cost is there any sacrifice to living your Christian Life does it carry with it any weight of a cross are you denying yourself the things a disciple needs to are you taking up your cross and following willfully following after Christ are you willing to be the black sheep of your family because you’re the only believer and every time you go somewhere to a family event they’re on your case or when you bring up the gospel they’re telling you to where to go see that’s all part of it it’s all part of being a disciple you’ll never be accepted in this world you’ll never be accepted in the intellectual circles as a genuine disciples you’ll never be accepted if you’re a scientist in those scientific circles if you’re a real disciple you’ll never really be accepted in this world that’s all part of it but don’t worry this world is temporary Heaven is eternal and that’s where we’re living and that’s what we’re living for so Jesus at this point gives a solemn warning to his disciples he’s warning them not to ignore the conditions of discipleship and this is what he says look at verse number 38 it says for whoever is ashamed of me now let me just stop for a minute and say this that if someone’s life does not show that they are following Christ as a real disciple and the conditions that I’ve already mentioned they are ashamed of Christ they have already taken the easy way they have already bought into the world’s meaning of life for Jesus says for whoever is ashamed of me in my words in this adulterous and sinful generation so see if a person’s decision in life has been to seek the approval of the world they are then denying Christ they are then ashamed of Jesus Christ but not only just ashamed of him they are ashamed of his words of his doctrine of his teaching they are ashamed that Jesus was crucified it means that the desires and the passions and the goals of that person were in line with the adulterous and sinful generation that they lived in do we live in an adulterous and sinful generation today yes everybody does see that’s the environment they’re comfortable in they’re envi they’re comfortable in the adulterous sinful generation in other words they they won’t enjoy Heaven they won’t enjoy fellowshipping with the Saints they won’t enjoy that and the reason why is because they enjoy the presence of the spiritually Unfaithful and that’s who they’ll end end up with they’ll end up with that unless they come to Christ see those who care only for this world and give Jesus only a token of Allegiance will answer to Jesus Christ at the final judgment and Jesus warns his disciples about that judgment when each one will have to give an account before the judge Believers at the beima seat and all the unbelievers at the great white Throne judgment and I believe it this is the second coming that’s mentioned here and if you notice what it says well again in Matthew it tells us that whoever denies me before men I will also deny him before my Father in heaven and then m Matthew 16:27 for the son of man is going to come in the glory of his father with his angels and will then repay every man according to his deeds see the judgment will be decided by the reaction of each individual to the claims of Christ by refusing the conditions of True Discipleship shows that person is ashamed of Christ if you know Jesus then you must openly profess Your Allegiance to him and if you notice what it says in our the word of God there in verse number 38 and whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation in verse 38 the son of man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his father with his Holy Angels so see we have to there’s nearly no secret disciples you can’t be a secret disciple you have to open your mouth you have to profess what Christ professes you have to confess what he confesses what does Christ confess well he confesses that he is the only son of God he confesses that he died for Sinners he confesses that he has been given power in heaven and on Earth and Authority in heaven in Earth and he confesses that he is the judge of the world he is the judge of the world in other words if you disown Christ you will he will disown you so this is the message that the Lord gives his disciples and us at this juncture in their maturity he wants them to really examine themselves he wants them to look at themselves and ask themselves has there there been a cost for me to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and am I willing to put these conditions into practice because they are non-negotiable and if you are and you follow Jesus then Jesus never really promises us a Rose Garden but he does promisees heaven he does promises that this will end someday suffering and humiliation will not go on forever it will end and that will be a great day that the blessing for the cross bearing Servants of Christ are not all resol reserved for uh for just for this world there is another world coming we have a great inheritance that is ours in Jesus Christ where Peter writes this to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you see that is the hope that goes along with being a real disciple it’s not just the difficult suffering it’s the hope that we have and what’s coming and of course Jesus tells his disciples too when they says Lord we’ve left houses and we left brothers and sisters and we left mothers and fathers and we’ve left children and farms and we left their business for your sake in the gospel sake what’s in it for us and this is what Jesus says to them but that he will receive aund times as much now in the present age houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and Farms along with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life Jesus saying no you are going to receive also the blessings of being a disciple you’re going to come into the fellowship of Believers while you’re here on this Earth you’re going to experience things that I give to you that blesses you and encourages you you’re going to have opportunity to learn the word of God you’re going to you have the spirit of God you’re going to grow you’re going to become stronger you’re going to become more mature and yes at the end of your life you’ll be in my presence I will not be your judge I will be your lord and savior see that’s the hope we have set before us as disciples all right so what what real difference do these truth about the Lord Jesus and the conditions of True Discipleship make for you what difference should it make what difference could it make or maybe you can ask yourself why doesn’t it make a difference and if it if a message like this doesn’t make a difference it doesn’t affirm something in your life doesn’t convict you of something doesn’t cause you to look at your own life and see if there has has been a difference since you come to Christ then maybe you are opting out as a disciple for the easy Road and not the cost of discipleship now you would think that after a message like that to his disciples they would up and leave well some did but nonetheless that is the message for us that there is not only a warning given to to us there’s a promise given to us there are conditions given to us that we can know for sure that we are following Christ and that before us is set the reality of being a a believer of Jesus Christ so in other words the health wealth and Prosperity Gospel just doesn’t come in here it actually destroys it but the reality of what the Christian Life is becomes crystal clear I know what I’m getting in I know what I’m in for and you know what as long as I follow Christ I know where he ends up and so that suffering servant becomes the reigning King and I become a child and a servant in his kingdom that’s where it ends and so that is the Glorious Truth for all of us to chew upon to think about and to evow oursel with as we live our Christian Life and I’m going to leave it there and pick it up next time let’s pray Lord I I do thank you again for this message for the truths found in these passages where Lord it it it makes it quite clear what the conditions are to be a genuine disciple and I I pray Lord that we would today take these truths and put oursel up against them and evaluate oursel and I pray Lord that you would show us the desire that we have in our heart to follow you you would show us Lord the places that we need to deny ourselves you would show us Lord the sins and this that we need to put to death you will show us Lord that following you is going to cost the meaning of life that we have been presented in the world and give us a new meaning of life that may include a path that is hard so I pray Lord that you would teach us those things and Lord let us Faithfully with a continuous desire want to follow you all of our days and I Praise You Lord For What you’ll do in Christ’s name amen