back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 9/29
00:07:05.000 |
We have announcement from our college ministry. 00:07:08.000 |
Pastor Nate's going to come up here and give the announcement. 00:07:15.000 |
If you are of the college age, we will be having next Sunday after third service. 00:07:21.000 |
So we're saying 1.30, but it's going to be directly after third service, 00:07:25.000 |
over there in the youth chapel, a welcome event. 00:07:28.000 |
And at this welcome event, we hope that you're able to join us, 00:07:31.000 |
because we're going to be explaining some of the events, 00:07:35.000 |
how college ministry kind of works, when we have our Bible studies, 00:07:41.000 |
So if you can come to that, we'll be providing food for you, 00:07:44.000 |
and you'll be able to meet some of our staff, our small group leaders, 00:07:48.000 |
and hopefully I'll be able to meet you as well. 00:07:52.000 |
This is second service, so you would have to, if you come to this service, 00:07:57.000 |
But please do put that in your calendars, make it something that you set to go, 00:08:02.000 |
because it's going to be very helpful for us to get to know you, 00:08:12.000 |
>> All right, a reminder, next Sunday is Communion Sunday, 00:08:15.000 |
so please prepare accordingly before you come. 00:08:18.000 |
Next Sunday there's a Vine, our youth group lunch fundraiser, 00:08:23.000 |
and they're raising funds for the retreat that's coming up. 00:08:26.000 |
It'll be Mediterranean chicken bowl, they say, and $10 for adults and $5 for kids. 00:08:31.000 |
And, again, we do this every time we have a members meeting. 00:08:34.000 |
So following the lunch, we're going to have our church members meeting. 00:08:38.000 |
Our new members will be presented, and also, again, 00:08:42.000 |
there's going to be a service fair at church. 00:08:45.000 |
So after our members meeting, we're going to be going out to the courtyard, 00:08:49.000 |
and you can visit and see what kinds of ministries are out there, 00:08:55.000 |
And so the lunch will be preceding that so that you don't have to go out, 00:08:59.000 |
and afterwards at 2 p.m. we're going to be having members meeting. 00:09:03.000 |
And then women's ministry event, that's happening on October 19th on Saturday, 8:30 a.m. 00:09:11.000 |
And, again, if you haven't signed up, the cost of it is $10. 00:09:14.000 |
So please sign up for that, and, again, on October 19th at 8:30 in this room. 00:09:20.000 |
And then, finally, family ministry picnic on Sunday, October 20th, 00:09:24.000 |
and they're going to be holding it from 11 to 3. 00:09:26.000 |
So it's kind of an open event, just opportunity to meet other family ministry members. 00:09:32.000 |
So you can just grab your lunch and go to Bill Barber Park, 00:09:36.000 |
and you just need to show up, and there will be other family members there 00:09:40.000 |
It's a casual opportunity just to see who's in the ministry. 00:09:43.000 |
So this is open for anybody in this ministry. 00:09:46.000 |
So it's going to be from 11 to 3 p.m. at Bill Barber Park. 00:09:51.000 |
So if you brought a physical offering, again, our physical offering box is in the back to the right 00:09:58.000 |
But otherwise, for the rest of us, let me pray for us, 00:10:01.000 |
and we'll give you a minute to give your offering electronically. 00:10:04.000 |
Then afterwards our brother Dominic is going to come up and give his testimony 00:10:11.000 |
Father, we praise you and thank you for this morning 00:10:14.000 |
and for all that you are doing that we know of, 00:10:18.000 |
many things, Lord, that you are orchestrating behind the scene. 00:10:21.000 |
And we pray, Father God, that as you drew us to yourself 00:10:28.000 |
that you continue to allow us to see a greater and greater glimpse of your glory 00:10:32.000 |
so that all that we do will be an overflow of the powerful work that you are doing in us. 00:10:37.000 |
I pray that even in this giving, I pray that you would bless us, 00:10:41.000 |
remind us, Lord God, that ultimately all of it is yours, 00:10:44.000 |
and that our act of giving would be an expression of our love, our worship, and our lordship to you. 00:10:50.000 |
May it be multiplied for the sake of your kingdom. 00:11:36.000 |
Let us all rise and let's spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us 00:20:32.000 |
So, like many others, I grew up in the church. 00:20:38.000 |
I even attended a Christian school for my elementary school years. 00:20:42.000 |
These were fun times, just growing alongside fellow children 00:20:49.000 |
In fifth grade, the year before, I transferred to public school. 00:20:54.000 |
If I was asked what I believed in regards to religion, 00:21:00.000 |
who believes that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 00:21:03.000 |
died for all sins on the cross and rose to life." 00:21:07.000 |
My belief in this statement was strong at the time, 00:21:13.000 |
and so I was a blank canvas still yet to be painted on. 00:21:32.000 |
and I managed to finally graft myself in with all the other people. 00:21:54.000 |
it says that bad company corrupts good morals. 00:22:04.000 |
Sin had taken hold of me and I began living a hedonistic life 00:22:14.000 |
and sexual sin ran rampant in the background. 00:22:17.000 |
Starting high school, I was basically indistinguishable from an unbeliever. 00:22:25.000 |
the information I received didn't pierce my heart. 00:22:31.000 |
And then COVID hit and all my church activities ceased. 00:22:34.000 |
All I had left during that time was just my life, 00:22:47.000 |
And even when things were back in person during the year, 00:22:53.000 |
Fast forward to senior year college acceptance letters. 00:22:57.000 |
I was sobered by the results, having only been accepted by UCI. 00:23:03.000 |
I was relieved that, of course, a college of such a caliber accepted me. 00:23:08.000 |
But the reality check came when I realized that it was far from home. 00:23:14.000 |
Questions filled my mind like, "Oh, what is my life going to be like?" 00:23:23.000 |
But a question I didn't expect to come to mind was, 00:23:31.000 |
In that very moment, I pondered that question and asked, 00:23:34.000 |
"Well, what if? What if I went back to church?" 00:23:40.000 |
I know that it was God who was looking after me, 00:23:43.000 |
even though I had basically just given up all over. 00:23:49.000 |
But he never gave up on me, even though my sin ran so deep. 00:23:53.000 |
I can't tell you if I repented once during those seven years of my life in public school. 00:24:07.000 |
And by his mercy, he has brought me to Berean, 00:24:10.000 |
where I have been blessed to walk alongside such wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:24:19.000 |
I have come to truly recognize and repent from my sins. 00:24:22.000 |
And although breaking sinning habits is incredibly hard, 00:24:28.000 |
so that I might become more like him, just as he has commanded us, 00:24:45.000 |
Do you understand when you go into the water, you're being united to Christ's death? 00:25:01.000 |
And when you come out, you're being united to his resurrected life? 00:25:05.000 |
And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:25:15.000 |
All right, Dominique, thank you for that encouraging testimony. 00:25:27.000 |
If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke 9. 00:25:31.000 |
We're going to be reading from verse 23 up to verse 27. 00:25:45.000 |
"And he was saying to them all, 'If anyone wishes to come after me, 00:25:49.000 |
he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 00:25:53.000 |
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, 00:25:56.000 |
but whoever loses his life for my sake, he is the one who will save it. 00:26:00.000 |
For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 00:26:08.000 |
the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory, 00:26:12.000 |
in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 00:26:15.000 |
But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here 00:26:18.000 |
who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.'" 00:26:26.000 |
We pray for your grace to lead us and guide us. 00:26:30.000 |
May your word and your word alone go forth, Lord God, from this pulpit. 00:26:42.000 |
there was a show back in the '70s called Tell the Truth. 00:26:46.000 |
And it was--I think it had reruns in the '80s, 00:26:54.000 |
they would have somebody of what the world would consider 00:26:59.000 |
and this is before social media and computers, 00:27:06.000 |
because you would only see them on the newspaper. 00:27:08.000 |
So you would bring maybe an Olympic gold medalist swimmer, 00:27:11.000 |
and they would have them sitting among, like, six or seven different people, 00:27:15.000 |
and the whole show was basically they would pretend to be that one person. 00:27:19.000 |
And so at the end of the show, after interviewing them, 00:27:23.000 |
so the contestants would basically have to guess, 00:27:25.000 |
"Who's the real one? Who's the real gold medalist?" 00:27:28.000 |
And so at the end, whoever it is that stands up, 00:27:41.000 |
and how do you discern who are just playing the game? 00:27:46.000 |
In our culture, I think in our generation of where you and I live, 00:27:53.000 |
the biggest challenge that's facing the church today 00:28:07.000 |
How do you identify a genuine follower of Christ 00:28:13.000 |
How do you identify people where the warning of Jesus says, 00:28:16.000 |
"Not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven," 00:28:22.000 |
who may have never committed their life to Christ? 00:28:25.000 |
And so obviously, I think most of you are sophisticated to know 00:28:30.000 |
that just coming to church doesn't make you a Christian. 00:28:33.000 |
Just because you've been baptized doesn't make you a Christian. 00:28:36.000 |
Just because you are a member of the church or serving the church, 00:28:40.000 |
or maybe even a Sunday school teacher, it doesn't make you a Christian. 00:28:46.000 |
So how do we determine in a post-Christian culture 00:28:49.000 |
who is genuinely following Christ and who is not? 00:28:56.000 |
and then they're going to face the truth and the reality of who they are 00:29:00.000 |
when they meet the resurrected Christ for the first time? 00:29:04.000 |
So it's imperative that in a post-Christian culture 00:29:08.000 |
where our church belongs, that we help people. 00:29:16.000 |
because you were raised in a church and you just assumed. 00:29:19.000 |
And you hear so many people who stand up here who are being baptized 00:29:23.000 |
and they give you the same testimony because they grew up in the church. 00:29:28.000 |
And once the Word of God began to get open to them, 00:29:30.000 |
they realized that they were far from Christ. 00:29:33.000 |
So how do we identify genuine Christianity versus cultural Christianity? 00:29:39.000 |
If you ask the general population in the United States, 00:29:43.000 |
a number is as high as 75% to 78% that claim to be Christian. 00:29:49.000 |
Now, most of us know that that's not the case, 78%. 00:29:59.000 |
But even the 5%, how did we come to that number 5%? 00:30:03.000 |
What was the criteria to determine that it's not 78% but it's actually 5%? 00:30:08.000 |
What was the litmus test that determined it's 5%? 00:30:12.000 |
We need to know because the question of who do you say I am 00:30:17.000 |
and how you answer that question and how you respond to that answer 00:30:21.000 |
will determine if you are a genuine follower of Christ or not. 00:30:24.000 |
We looked at last week, Jesus was given his credential 00:30:27.000 |
and after he showed his power to the multitudes and to his disciples, 00:30:31.000 |
he turns around and he asked them, "Who do you say that I am?" 00:30:36.000 |
Not what the crowd say but who do you say that I am? 00:30:39.000 |
And the response of the disciples, "You are the Christ of God." 00:30:43.000 |
So the first criteria of determining if somebody is a genuine follower of Christ 00:30:53.000 |
Not a cultural Jesus, not a Jesus that is convenient to follow, 00:31:16.000 |
that we're not just confessing a Christ of our own making, 00:31:21.000 |
And the second that we're going to be looking at today 00:31:23.000 |
is that if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, 00:31:31.000 |
But for whatever the reason, we have created a culture, 00:31:35.000 |
a generation of people who have no interest in following Jesus Christ 00:31:39.000 |
other than using the title, "I'm a follower of Jesus Christ." 00:31:43.000 |
Oh, you're actually following him? Not really. 00:31:47.000 |
So the second criteria is are you following Jesus? 00:32:02.000 |
the second that we want to look at is come from Luke 9.23. 00:32:08.000 |
"he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." 00:32:13.000 |
He says the condition upon how you determine if somebody is following Jesus or not, 00:32:18.000 |
he says he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 00:32:29.000 |
but I want to introduce a question to you here. 00:32:33.000 |
Who would want to follow Jesus if this is what he presents? 00:32:38.000 |
Consider how the gospel is being presented today. 00:32:44.000 |
Would you open your heart and receive him in your life? 00:32:58.000 |
And if you accept that, please come down the aisle, 00:33:00.000 |
and if you come down, we'll give you a free Bible, 00:33:06.000 |
Hopefully, you'll be a follower of Jesus Christ. 00:33:08.000 |
And so we have a generation filled with people who have accepted Jesus Christ 00:33:15.000 |
You will never find any language in the scripture where the gospel is presented 00:33:21.000 |
and at the end of the presence of the gospel where it says, 00:33:30.000 |
Every place where the word of God is taught, where the gospel is presented, 00:33:34.000 |
it concludes by saying, "Repent and be baptized." 00:33:48.000 |
Repentance basically is another word for saying what Jesus is saying here. 00:33:53.000 |
Repentance isn't simply saying, "You know, I lied. 00:33:58.000 |
Repentance basically is saying you are pursuing a life where you are at the center. 00:34:03.000 |
Our whole rebellion is a pursuit of what we covet. 00:34:12.000 |
It's the rebellion of mankind where he wants to take the place where only God can sit. 00:34:18.000 |
And so repentance is recognizing that my whole pursuit in life was for me. 00:34:25.000 |
And so I repent of the direction that I was headed, 00:34:28.000 |
and now I am headed toward Christ to make him my king. 00:34:44.000 |
every single one of these commandments, at the root of it, is our coveting. 00:34:51.000 |
The first commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me." 00:34:54.000 |
Why would the Jewish community ever even be tempted to worship other gods? 00:35:00.000 |
I mean, do you ever see the idols of the Old Testament? 00:35:06.000 |
It's just like a piece of wood that just carved out. 00:35:10.000 |
Why were they tempted to worship these idols? 00:35:16.000 |
It was periods when they were going through a drought, or they faced an enemy, 00:35:22.000 |
Something that they were coveting wasn't getting. 00:35:24.000 |
And then it looks like the Canaanites have it, but we don't have it. 00:35:27.000 |
Their field is growing wild, but we don't have anything. 00:35:31.000 |
And so they decide, since God's not answering our prayer, 00:35:37.000 |
So every time they turn to an idol is because they coveted something, 00:35:43.000 |
The second commandment is, "You shall make no graven images of God." 00:35:49.000 |
but the Yahweh that you worship is not the Yahweh of the Bible. 00:35:53.000 |
So making a graven image of him is basically calling him Jesus, 00:35:57.000 |
but you attach characteristics of Jesus that doesn't come from the Bible. 00:36:05.000 |
And so that's why we have a culture in our generation that would say, 00:36:08.000 |
"Well, my Jesus would never do that. My Jesus would always do this." 00:36:16.000 |
They've created an image of Jesus that would fit whatever it is that they're coveting. 00:36:22.000 |
And so they make graven images, and at the root of it is their coveting. 00:36:25.000 |
"You shall not take the name of the Lord God in vain." 00:36:29.000 |
How often do people use his name and say, "God wanted me to do this"? 00:36:34.000 |
In Christian circles, "God wants me to date you." 00:36:38.000 |
"God wants me to date you." "God wants me to have this business." 00:36:41.000 |
"God wants me to have that." And we use the Lord's name in vain 00:36:45.000 |
because we covet something, and we attach the name of God and make it godly. 00:36:50.000 |
That's what the third commandment is, using his name in vain. 00:36:52.000 |
But the root of that commandment is coveting. 00:36:56.000 |
They want something, and so the God of the Bible is not answering them. 00:37:00.000 |
So I create a God in the name of the God of the Bible, but it has nothing to do with him. 00:37:08.000 |
"Keep the Sabbath day holy." Why is he saying to separate it? 00:37:11.000 |
Because all other days to separate and devote it to God. 00:37:15.000 |
But because they covet whatever it is that they can get from work, they refuse. 00:37:25.000 |
Why does dissension and hatred and discord happen in the family? 00:37:29.000 |
Because the child is coveting something that the parents are not going to give them, so they rebel. 00:37:35.000 |
"You shall not murder." James makes that very clear. 00:37:40.000 |
You covet what you do not have, so it leads to arguments and then ultimately even to murder. 00:37:47.000 |
"You covet someone else's wife." "You shall not steal." 00:37:51.000 |
"You shall not bear witness against your neighbor." 00:37:54.000 |
And you covet your own reputation and how you are viewed. 00:37:57.000 |
And then finally he says, "You shall not covet." 00:38:00.000 |
And every single one of the Ten Commandments, at the root of it, is because we have desires that are unmet. 00:38:07.000 |
We want something. So we rebel, we lie, we steal, we slander, and ultimately even choose our own God. 00:38:18.000 |
Even in the church, even in the church, we call his name Jesus. 00:38:24.000 |
But oftentimes the Jesus that Christians call looks nothing like the Scripture. 00:38:31.000 |
That Jesus of the health and wealth gospel, and oftentimes even Bible teaching churches, 00:38:36.000 |
doesn't look anything like what we see in Scripture. 00:38:39.000 |
When he tells us, "If you want to follow me, you must deny yourself," 00:38:44.000 |
it is a call to repentance, to bear fruit in accordance to repentance. 00:38:50.000 |
To not simply say, "I won't do this, this, or this," but it's to surrender our life. 00:38:56.000 |
Metanoia. Repent means to change the direction of my life. 00:39:01.000 |
It's not simply, "I'm going to keep going down this direction, but I'm going to make some adjustments." 00:39:05.000 |
No, that's not repentance. That may be sanctification, but that's not repentance. 00:39:11.000 |
Repentance is my whole pursuit. I was at the center of my whole pursuit. 00:39:17.000 |
It is my happiness that I was most concerned about. 00:39:21.000 |
I am the king of my world, and I repent of that. 00:39:30.000 |
So when he says, "If you want to come after me, he must deny himself," it's just another call to genuine repentance. 00:39:36.000 |
Not just simple words, not just raising of hands, but to turn from a self-centered, self-pursuing life to pursue him. 00:39:45.000 |
Galatians 2.20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live. 00:39:51.000 |
My old life is dead, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh. 00:39:55.000 |
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." 00:40:00.000 |
I didn't simply add Jesus to my life. The old life is gone. 00:40:07.000 |
When Christ was crucified on the cross, he lived a life that I could not live. 00:40:11.000 |
But when he was crucified, we were crucified with him. 00:40:15.000 |
Our old life is gone, and so now we live a new life. 00:40:19.000 |
And that's why every time somebody gets baptized, we ask them, "Do you understand that when you go into the water, you are being buried?" 00:40:28.000 |
You're being buried. You're not just getting wet. 00:40:31.000 |
And that's why we believe that this is the biblical teaching of true baptism. 00:40:37.000 |
Because symbolically, you are dying with Christ, and then when you are coming out of the water, 00:40:42.000 |
you are saying you're being united to the resurrected life of Christ. 00:40:45.000 |
But an individual who continues to live his life independently for his own pursuit, 00:40:51.000 |
other than the fact that he attends church, other than the fact that he says, 00:40:56.000 |
"You know, I believe that this is who Jesus is," cannot claim to follow Jesus. 00:41:03.000 |
Imagine if two people are getting married, and they're entering into a covenant. 00:41:08.000 |
And in a traditional Christian wedding, and less and less people are doing this now, 00:41:14.000 |
but in a traditional Christian wedding, you have the mothers come in and they light two candles, 00:41:19.000 |
representing the two families where the children are coming from. 00:41:22.000 |
And then they would light the candle in the middle, and then what do they do? 00:41:25.000 |
They blow out the other two. What does that symbolize? 00:41:29.000 |
That now, the two independent lives are becoming one, and so there's a part of the ceremony. 00:41:35.000 |
He says, "What God has put together, let no man separate." 00:41:39.000 |
For the purpose of this union, he says, "You all leave and cleave to each other." 00:41:47.000 |
Can you imagine if two people come into a covenant and they say, 00:41:49.000 |
"You know what? We're going to get married, but I'm going to have everything that I had before I got married. 00:41:53.000 |
You know, I love playing basketball. I used to play six times a week, and I'm going to maintain that." 00:42:00.000 |
Or say, "You know what? I'm so used to just using the money any time, any way that I want, 00:42:08.000 |
Now, I could already tell you, if in marriage counseling, if any of you said that, 00:42:14.000 |
But I can guarantee you 100% you're going to have a hard time in your wedding. 00:42:18.000 |
When two people come together, you're basically saying that you're going to put away your old life, 00:42:23.000 |
and then you're going to learn to become one. 00:42:26.000 |
You don't have to put away things that you cannot bring to this covenant. 00:42:31.000 |
When we become followers of Jesus Christ, we enter into covenant marriage relationship with Jesus Christ. 00:42:38.000 |
You cannot retain your old life and then add Jesus. 00:42:43.000 |
That's why the Bible says, "If you are in Christ, the old has passed away. Behold, the new has come." 00:42:50.000 |
So to be a follower of Jesus Christ, to be in union with Christ, He says first you must deny yourself. 00:43:01.000 |
Whenever we study this text, and I'm sure you've heard it many times, we try to contextualize this. 00:43:09.000 |
And so I've heard people say, "You know, my cross is my husband because he's so lazy. 00:43:13.000 |
I mean, he doesn't take away the trash. That's my cross I need to bear." 00:43:18.000 |
And the husband would say, "You know, my wife is my cross because she nags me every day. 00:43:23.000 |
And every day I've got to pick up my cross. And I'm not saying that it isn't." 00:43:28.000 |
They say, "You know, I'm going to bear it, and I'm going to do the right things. I'm going to pick up my cross." 00:43:32.000 |
But before we get into the application of how it's applied today, we need to understand the context. 00:43:38.000 |
When Jesus said this, the literal cross was down the street for Him when He said this. 00:43:45.000 |
He's about eight months away from experiencing the most excruciating pain, 00:43:51.000 |
a torture device that was made up and practiced in order to deter any rebellion against the Roman government. 00:44:02.000 |
He had that in mind, and He's preparing His disciples that, "I'm headed down this way, 00:44:08.000 |
and if you don't deny yourself, if you don't pick up your cross, you're not going to be able to follow Me." 00:44:14.000 |
As you and I know, that's exactly what happened. 00:44:18.000 |
Jesus was about to go to the cross, and Peter could not comprehend. 00:44:23.000 |
"You are the Christ of God. You're here to make everything right. 00:44:29.000 |
You're here to feed the hungry, to heal the sick, to raise the dead. 00:44:35.000 |
I don't understand why you would go to the cross." 00:44:37.000 |
So when Jesus told them that He's going to head to the cross, Peter, in Matthew 16, 22, takes Him aside and rebukes Him. 00:44:47.000 |
Now, I want you to understand the boldness of what's happening, the arrogance of Apostle Paul. 00:44:53.000 |
He's the one who confessed to Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the God." 00:45:01.000 |
It's that Peter who made that confession, "You're God. You're the Son of God. 00:45:06.000 |
You're the one that all the prophets and all the forefathers have been prophesying, but Jesus." 00:45:14.000 |
Let me set you straight. Let me tell you how this world works. 00:45:19.000 |
And he turns aside, he says, in verse 22, "Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke the Son of God. 00:45:25.000 |
'God forbid it, Lord. This shall never happen to you.'" 00:45:28.000 |
Let me stop right here. As arrogant as this may sound, 00:45:32.000 |
you know how many times confessing Christians try to correct Jesus? 00:45:41.000 |
There's no way that that is meant to be applied here. 00:45:44.000 |
Maybe it meant that 2,000 years ago, but it can't mean that today. 00:45:48.000 |
You don't think that's just as arrogant to come to the Word of God and say, 00:45:54.000 |
"Maybe it was relevant then. It's no longer relevant today." 00:46:02.000 |
"But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan. 00:46:07.000 |
You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on God's interest, but man's.'" 00:46:13.000 |
So you're not thinking about the kingdom. You're not thinking about me. 00:46:16.000 |
You're not thinking about His mission. You're thinking about you. 00:46:24.000 |
You're thinking about the life that you worked so hard to build, 00:46:27.000 |
and you are hoping that I would make it better. 00:46:32.000 |
Christ says, "You have no idea what's about to happen." 00:46:38.000 |
So initially, when Jesus went to the cross, they all ran, 00:46:49.000 |
How can He lift us up to sit on the left and to the right if He goes to the cross? 00:46:53.000 |
How can He be that Messiah of Isaiah 61 that He said was going to be fulfilled? 00:47:00.000 |
Injustice will be taken care of. The sick will be healed. The prisoners will be released. 00:47:05.000 |
How can you go to the cross and fulfill that? 00:47:14.000 |
"If you don't deny yourself and take up your cross daily, you cannot follow me." 00:47:21.000 |
So the immediate context that Jesus was telling them was literal. 00:47:27.000 |
And that's exactly what happened to the disciples. 00:47:40.000 |
John was thrown into a burning pot of oil, survived, 00:47:45.000 |
and then lived out the rest of his life in misery and pain, 00:48:00.000 |
James, the son of Aphaeus, was stoned to death. 00:48:03.000 |
Thaddeus was shot to death by arrows in Persia. 00:48:06.000 |
Matthew also gave his life, but we don't know exactly the method. 00:48:15.000 |
So when Jesus said to them, "If you don't deny yourself and pick up your cross daily and follow me, 00:48:21.000 |
you will not be able to follow me," because that's where he's headed. 00:48:34.000 |
So in his attempt to salvage three years of his life, 00:48:38.000 |
he sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, which was the price of a slave at that time. 00:48:46.000 |
After selling, and once he came to his senses, he ended up hanging himself. 00:48:56.000 |
But the difference between the disciples and Judas was Judas, 00:49:00.000 |
in his attempt to live better, to salvage something, 00:49:05.000 |
he ended up dying anyway and went to eternal judgment. 00:49:13.000 |
But at the end of their life was glory waiting for them. 00:49:19.000 |
See, when he tells us to deny ourselves, he's saving us from ourselves. 00:49:26.000 |
In Luke 9, 24-25, it said, "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, 00:49:30.000 |
but whoever loses his life for my sake, he is the one who will save it. 00:49:35.000 |
For what is a man profit if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?" 00:49:41.000 |
You see, living in this fallen world, we are deceived. 00:49:45.000 |
The things that we think is going to cause better life, it actually produces death. 00:49:55.000 |
When social media was created, why was it created? 00:50:07.000 |
People on college campuses, to help them connect, 00:50:10.000 |
and people from this neighborhood, that neighborhood to connect, 00:50:15.000 |
And so social media in every format was created to bring the world together. 00:50:22.000 |
But in every study since social media, what has happened? 00:50:27.000 |
There's more isolation, more loneliness, more division than ever before. 00:50:34.000 |
The very thing that was supposed to cause community and utopia has done exactly the opposite. 00:50:56.000 |
The very thing that was created for the purpose of giving us life, 00:51:00.000 |
and in a rich country, is the largest source of health problems in our culture. 00:51:07.000 |
You know, people after work, you know, you're so fatigued and tired, 00:51:13.000 |
and because you're tired, you sit there and veg, 00:51:16.000 |
and then you watch television, and next thing you know, you're too tired, 00:51:19.000 |
so you've got to go to sleep, and then you wake up next day, 00:51:23.000 |
and then you're tired, and then your fatigue causes you to rest, 00:51:31.000 |
But our natural desire to rest, ultimately, is what's leading to death. 00:51:46.000 |
and they want to be recognized, are the hardest people to follow. 00:51:52.000 |
If you raise a child to be the center of the universe, and your whole goal, 00:51:57.000 |
every decision you make is you want to make your child happy, 00:52:06.000 |
Because as soon as you are gone, as soon as they are grown, 00:52:11.000 |
they're going to be a difficult person to be around. 00:52:15.000 |
And so what you've created was a child who is very difficult to love and accept. 00:52:22.000 |
And so your desire to give them a better life is ruining them. 00:52:35.000 |
50, 60 years ago, Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan were all very, very poor countries. 00:52:46.000 |
And in one generation, they've had so much money pour into these countries, 00:52:52.000 |
and they have become one of the wealthiest countries in the world. 00:52:56.000 |
Every single one of them, if their birth rate doesn't turn around in 30 years, 00:53:01.000 |
they said, "The country itself is just going to dissolve," 00:53:05.000 |
because they don't have enough children being born. 00:53:09.000 |
You're starting to notice that in Korea and China and in Taiwan. 00:53:14.000 |
And if you ask every single one of them, "Why aren't you guys having children?" 00:53:19.000 |
the typical answer that they will give is, "Because we can't afford it." 00:53:24.000 |
Because the life that they want to have, if you bring a child into that, 00:53:29.000 |
they're not going to be able to give them what we think they need. 00:53:33.000 |
And so as a result of their pursuit of this level of convenience, 00:53:42.000 |
What we think is going to bring life, ultimately, our pursuit is killing us. 00:53:48.000 |
So when he says, "If you want to come after me, deny yourself and pick up your cross," 00:53:52.000 |
he's actually telling us that what you think is going to bring life is what's causing the death. 00:54:00.000 |
The coveting in your heart is causing you to run away from God, to reject Him. 00:54:08.000 |
What does dying to yourself look like in our culture? 00:54:17.000 |
Denying the desire to be recognized, that coveting in your heart to be somebody, 00:54:24.000 |
the need to slander back when somebody slanders you, that's hard. 00:54:32.000 |
You can be in the church and surround yourself with friends, with people that you like. 00:54:40.000 |
And anybody that makes you feel uncomfortable, you won't tolerate it. 00:54:46.000 |
But our very identity, the Bible says, is the love that we practice, that He practiced with us. 00:54:59.000 |
You know, how much of the service, when we are doing it to be recognized, 00:55:08.000 |
Because we serve to be recognized, and when we don't get recognized, 00:55:18.000 |
Having integrity when there doesn't seem to be any tangible immediate benefit, 00:55:30.000 |
Whatever that may be, an individual who avoids suffering at all costs will suffer because of that. 00:55:40.000 |
Now let me ask you, why would anybody want to follow this Jesus? 00:55:47.000 |
The Jesus that's presented in our generation is He loves you unconditionally. 00:55:55.000 |
And so if you want to accept Him, raise your hand, come down to the aisle, give you a Bible, you're good! 00:56:00.000 |
Now hopefully you'll behave, hopefully you'll have some integrity, hopefully you'll be able to love people. 00:56:05.000 |
But you're not saved by that, so go live your life, fulfill your dreams, and hopefully Jesus will help you. 00:56:16.000 |
Even if you're an atheist, you hope that that God exists. 00:56:21.000 |
Even if all the evidence points to the fact that maybe He doesn't exist, 00:56:25.000 |
but even if you're an atheist, who wouldn't want that? 00:56:28.000 |
I really hope that that God that you are telling me exists, because I want that God. 00:56:34.000 |
But the God who says, "If you want to follow me, deny yourself. Pick up your cross daily." 00:56:42.000 |
Who wants to come to a church that is preaching this? 00:56:49.000 |
The problem is, if you look at the Scripture, that's exactly what He's preaching. 00:57:02.000 |
You search the Scripture to see if He's saying anything else. 00:57:06.000 |
The reason why people reject this is because they think somehow that what Jesus says is preventing me from having an abundant life. 00:57:17.000 |
When Jesus is telling us the abundant life is being prevented because you're pursuing your own life outside of Christ. 00:57:28.000 |
When He tells us to pick up our cross and to deny ourselves, 00:57:33.000 |
He's telling us to move away from the very things that are killing you. 00:57:44.000 |
There are two things that need to be in order for this to be true. 00:57:53.000 |
One, you would only follow this Jesus if you actually believe what He says. 00:58:01.000 |
Otherwise, you're going to pick and choose what you want. 00:58:06.000 |
But if you want to follow the Jesus of the Bible, you have to actually believe what He says. 00:58:09.000 |
When He says in Romans 8 24-25, "For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope. 00:58:17.000 |
But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it." 00:58:22.000 |
If you don't believe that, if you don't believe that there's true hope waiting for us after we die, 00:58:31.000 |
Only those who genuinely believe that the promises that Jesus made is true. 00:58:36.000 |
And who He said He was. 2 Corinthians 4 17-18. 00:58:39.000 |
"For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. 00:58:46.000 |
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. 00:58:50.000 |
For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 00:58:56.000 |
If you don't believe that, you confess, "Yes, Jesus died on the cross. 00:59:02.000 |
He was resurrected and then He died for my sins. 00:59:09.000 |
The difference between a Christian and the devil is not his theology. 00:59:29.000 |
Because I believe in the promises that Christ made. 00:59:34.000 |
I believe Him that even in the suffering there's greater glory waiting for me. 00:59:38.000 |
But the second reason why somebody would follow this Jesus 00:59:42.000 |
is that you see the beauty in Christ above every other temptation. 00:59:49.000 |
In Matthew 13-44 it says, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field which a man found and hid it again. 00:59:56.000 |
And from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." 01:00:03.000 |
He's trading a lesser glory that he's been tempted by all his life for a greater glory in Christ. 01:00:13.000 |
The treasure that is Christ worth selling everything to follow Him. 01:00:17.000 |
But if you don't believe that, if you don't see the treasure in Christ, how can you follow this Jesus? 01:00:23.000 |
All you're going to hear, if you don't believe that, if you don't know that, is to suffer for Jesus. 01:00:34.000 |
You need to discipline yourself to make sure that you don't get what you want. 01:00:38.000 |
The things that make you happy, don't have it. 01:00:42.000 |
But if you have seen and tasted the goodness of God, 01:00:51.000 |
Let go of the rubbish so that you can have the treasure in Christ. 01:00:55.000 |
Matthew 13-45-46, "Again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls 01:01:00.000 |
and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." 01:01:08.000 |
If Jesus is not your treasure, Jesus becomes your servant to get your treasure. 01:01:18.000 |
Then eventually when Jesus doesn't give you the treasure that you want, you end up questioning Him. 01:01:25.000 |
You become bitter at Him and then eventually you will leave Him. 01:01:31.000 |
Because if Jesus is not your treasure, Jesus will become your servant. 01:01:36.000 |
And if the servant doesn't listen to what I want, then I don't need Him as my servant anymore. 01:01:49.000 |
That's the difference between a Christian who confesses and is not following Christ, but a genuine disciple of Jesus. 01:01:56.000 |
That's why Apostle Paul says with all that he had, I mean, Apostle Paul was living a good life. 01:02:03.000 |
Roman citizen, highly educated, maybe already famous even before he met Jesus. 01:02:09.000 |
Had the highest scholar as his teacher, a Roman citizen. 01:02:13.000 |
And then he spent a huge chunk of his time being beaten, stoned, sitting in prison, 01:02:20.000 |
and eventually beheaded because he met Jesus. 01:02:27.000 |
And yet he says, in light of the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ, 01:02:43.000 |
We weren't good friends, we just knew each other. 01:02:45.000 |
He ran in a crowd that I did not run in, which was, he was very studious. 01:02:57.000 |
He was that valedictorian of the year that I graduated. 01:03:00.000 |
And he ended up making it to Stanford, right? 01:03:03.000 |
And even back then, Stanford was like, you can get into UCLA, Berkeley, but you made it to Stanford. 01:03:10.000 |
So he got into Stanford, and then, you know, obviously we all, he was like the talk of our class. 01:03:14.000 |
And, you know, he went to Stanford, and then we heard that by his second year, 01:03:18.000 |
sophomore year, he made it to the dean's list at Stanford. 01:03:21.000 |
You have to understand, Stanford back in the '80s, 01:03:25.000 |
like this is when the computer stuff was just coming around. 01:03:28.000 |
So, I mean, if you graduated Stanford with a computer degree, I mean, 01:03:31.000 |
you know, that's why all those Silicon Valley guys are making all this kind of money. 01:03:35.000 |
And so he made it to Stanford, and people were saying, 01:03:38.000 |
wow, this guy, you know, he made the dean's list at Stanford sophomore year. 01:03:42.000 |
And then about a year later, we found out that he dropped out of school. 01:03:49.000 |
And found out that he gave up everything, and he became a full-time missionary. 01:03:58.000 |
But I remember all my classmates graduated were talking about this fool. 01:04:08.000 |
Because they couldn't understand why would somebody who had all of that drop everything. 01:04:12.000 |
And a lot of times, even in the church, people would say, what a fool. 01:04:16.000 |
He's just finished, and you can make all this money, and then climb the ladder, 01:04:19.000 |
become a multibillionaire, and you can use that platform to preach about Christ. 01:04:28.000 |
Why would Apostle Paul give up everything and die preaching Christ? 01:04:34.000 |
Why would this guy who was on top of the world and had possibly a multimillionaire 01:04:40.000 |
give up all of that so that he can live the rest of his life preaching Christ? 01:04:45.000 |
If you have not met the resurrected Lord, and if you've not seen the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 01:04:58.000 |
You can admire Jesus from a distance, but you won't understand his decision. 01:05:03.000 |
Why would you drop everything and live your life suffering in a foreign country, 01:05:11.000 |
speaking a strange language, raising your children in a difficult area? 01:05:21.000 |
This command of Jesus only would make sense, or even attempt to practice it, 01:05:32.000 |
And Jesus is a greater treasure in your life than anything else in this world. 01:05:39.000 |
The goal of this church is to help you to see that, 01:05:46.000 |
not to simply change your behavior, not to simply so that you can have better theology, 01:05:51.000 |
it's so that you can recognize the beauty of Christ. 01:05:56.000 |
That just like Apostle Paul, in light of the beauty of our Lord Jesus Christ, 01:06:07.000 |
that all of a sudden everything else in this world becomes rubbish. 01:06:12.000 |
And honoring him, glorifying him, proclaiming him, 01:06:16.000 |
becomes a central passion of every single follower of Jesus Christ. 01:06:23.000 |
If all we did was cause you to attend church, 01:06:27.000 |
if all we did is cause you to study the Bible, 01:06:31.000 |
if all we did was to cause you to be just better people, 01:06:39.000 |
Jesus said, "If you want to follow after me, deny yourself. 01:06:54.000 |
Heavenly Father, we pray that the power of your word would continue to lead us and guide us, 01:07:06.000 |
Help us to be the church that you have created it to be, 01:07:11.000 |
that you've suffered for, that you've established, 01:07:15.000 |
and that you've promised that the gates of Hades would not be able to prevail against it. 01:07:22.000 |
Help us, Lord God, as the world becomes darker and darker, 01:07:31.000 |
that the light that you have called us to be would burn brightly, 01:07:36.000 |
that the world may know that you are a living Christ, 01:07:42.000 |
that hope is in you and life is in you and you alone. 01:08:51.000 |
♪ The force you feel measured by death you feel it made ♪ 01:10:37.220 |
♪ Your love is deeper than any ocean higher ♪ 01:10:59.060 |
♪ Your love, your love is deeper than any ocean higher ♪ 01:11:48.980 |
♪ Your love is deeper than any ocean higher ♪ 01:12:35.640 |
but I press on so that I may lay hold of that 01:12:38.000 |
for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 01:12:45.300 |
but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind 01:13:04.180 |
However, let us keep living by that same standard 01:13:13.420 |
and your life would be at the center of our pursuit. 01:13:21.340 |
Lord, would be completely in light of knowing Jesus Christ. 01:13:27.820 |
It would truly become rubbish that we may live our life, 01:13:32.060 |
this week in particular, for the sake of your glory.