The Costly Call of the Christ

[0:01] And if you would open up your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark in your pew Bibles on page 1003, and we're going to be looking at 1003 and 1004, what we're about to read is a watershed moment in the Gospel of Mark.

[0:23] Hear the Word of God. This is Mark chapter 8, verses 27 through 38.

[0:35] And Jesus went on with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way He asked His disciples, who do people say that I am?

[0:46] And they told Him, John the Baptist, and others say, Elijah, and others, one of the prophets. And He asked them, but who do you say that I am? Peter answered Him, you are the Christ.

[0:56] You are the Christ. And He strictly charged them to tell no one about Him. And 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.

[1:12] And after three days rise again. And He said this plainly, and Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning and seeing His disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, get behind me, Satan, for you're not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

[1:27] And calling the crowd to Him with His disciples, He said to them, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

[1:39] For whoever would 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?

[1:51] For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him or her, will the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels?

[2:09] May God bless the reading of His Word. This is a watershed moment in the Gospel of Mark. Jesus, for the first time, is explicitly saying that He must suffer.

[2:21] And the suffering Messiah is at the heart of the Christian Gospel. But this Messiah, after tells His disciples that He must suffer, goes on to be very clear about the cost of following Him.

[2:40] And so this morning, we're going to look at the Christ and His call. It's a watershed moment. And this morning may be a watershed moment in your life.

[2:56] We must all respond to Jesus on His terms, not our terms. And my concern for the evangelical church at large and our church in particular, is that we ourselves follow Jesus and leave out vital information.

[3:18] Or we call people to follow Jesus without vital information. We kind of edit the call of Jesus. Thomas Jefferson, one of our founding fathers, brilliant man, is known for literally cutting out passages of the Greek New Testament.

[3:37] Passages that he didn't agree with. Any passage dealing with a miracle or the supernatural, he cut out because he found them disagreeable or distasteful.

[3:50] He read the Bible on his terms. Incredibly prideful. But we do something similar.

[4:00] When we talk about Jesus to ourselves or to others, we edit out hard things.

[4:17] The things that Jesus says in verse 34, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross. We tend to leave those things out because we want to make it easy for people to follow Jesus.

[4:35] We don't think that if people are presented with the suffering Christ and they hear His terms for following Him, they'd be like, no way would I ever do that.

[4:46] We tell our children that they need to ask Jesus into their hearts. How does that square with verse 34?

[4:58] We think our children, our neighbors, non-Christians in our lives, and even ourselves, we just can't bear to respond to these actual words of Jesus, so we water them down.

[5:18] Have you responded to these words of Jesus? Are you denying yourself? Are you taking up your cross?

[5:32] Are you following Jesus? Have you totally surrendered all to Him? His call is a costly call.

[5:47] And the question you need to ask, is He worth it? So we're going to look at two things in this passage.

[5:58] The Christ who must suffer and His call we must obey. So let's look at this Christ who must suffer.

[6:10] This is verses 27 through 33. There's more Q&A with Jesus. Jesus is on the road with His disciples. You can imagine them walking together about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee.

[6:22] And Jesus strikes up a conversation with them. He asks them two questions. And there is a reason why He's asking them these questions. He asks them two questions.

[6:33] Who do people say that I am? And then who do you say that I am? You can see He's moving from kind of a general question that's safe to answer to now more a very specific question for each one of them to have to answer.

[6:46] It gets personal. Who do people say that I am? And they answer verse 28. Some people say that you're John the Baptist who is beheaded in chapter 6. Herod thought that Jesus was John the Baptist brought back to life.

[7:01] Some people say that you are Elijah who was the prophet that was taken up in a whirlwind in the chariots of fire and was believed to have come back when just before the great and terrible day of the Lord.

[7:15] And then they believe that you're maybe one of the prophets. This might be a reference to the prophet Moses referenced in Deuteronomy 19.

[7:26] All of these answers are dealing with the same thing. Someone who is speaking the words of God. So popular opinion of the day is that Jesus is seen as a prophet and He's held in high esteem.

[7:37] Today, if you were to ask people, who do you say that Jesus is, you're going to get a variety of different answers. Some people would say, well, we think I, I don't know, religious myth.

[7:53] Some people will say it's more sentimental. Yeah, my grandma talked about Jesus a lot. Some people think that He's just a historical figure, that He's a good teacher.

[8:04] Some people think we don't need Him. That's just a psychological crutch. I mean, we have science today and technology today and helpful psychological help today.

[8:14] We don't need a Jesus. Most people, some people actually think that He's the Son of God, but it makes no difference in their life.

[8:30] It turns out most people don't think they need Jesus. Jesus asked His disciples, well, who do you say that I am? Peter's like, you are the Christ!

[8:42] Christ! I think He's talking on behalf of the other disciples. And when He's talking about the Christ, He has a specific kind of Christ in mind.

[8:57] A Christ who would come back in political power. Establish a rule on earth. Kick out the Romans.

[9:08] Push out the unrighteous. Set up a kingdom of righteousness. righteousness like back in the old days. 2 Samuel 7, Psalm 2, Jeremiah 23.

[9:23] What would fuel this anticipation of a Messiah King who would come and rescue us from our political oppression.

[9:35] How about you? If Jesus asked you, who do you say that I am? How would you answer that?

[9:49] Maybe you say, well, I'm not sure. The jury's still out. I don't have enough information yet. That's fine. Just take Jesus on His own terms. Maybe you think, to be honest with you, I think He's irrelevant.

[10:08] Maybe you're in this building against your will. Maybe your parents dragged you here. I knew a guy who said, I grew up with a drug problem. My parents drug me to church.

[10:18] Maybe you just think, He's largely irrelevant. I'm here just to, you know, keep a certain degree of peace in my family.

[10:33] Maybe you're thinking, hey, sign me up. I think He's the Christ. I think He's the long-awaited Messiah. And I would just ask you this. Well, what kind of Messiah?

[10:46] What kind of Messiah do you think Jesus is? In verse 30, Jesus' response to Peter is a bit surprising.

[11:01] Because one would think, if you're reading this for the first time, Peter says, you are the Christ. And Jesus would be like, you got it, baby. Nailed it. But Jesus responds in a very interesting way.

[11:12] He says, okay, guys, please, please don't let that information out. He strictly charged them to tell no one about Him.

[11:24] Now, this is kind of counter-evangelical in our minds. Wait, wait. I thought I was to be talking to other people about Jesus as the Christ. Why would Jesus say, don't tell people about me, the Christ?

[11:39] Well, this kind of bubbles up something that we've been bumping into throughout the gospel of Mark. Jesus has been regularly saying something like this to people. I mean, in chapter 1, on two different occasions, He actually tells demons, will you shut your mouth?

[11:57] They know who He is. And He says, be quiet. He does something similar in chapter 3, 11 and 12. And then with people He heals. There's a leper in chapter 1 where He tells, don't tell people about this.

[12:12] Chapter 5, He raises Jairus' daughter from the dead and He looks at her parents and Peter, James, and John and He says, don't tell anybody about this. There's a deaf man in chapter 7, tell no one.

[12:27] And that deaf guy kept on telling more people. Here in 830, He tells His disciples, strictly charges them to tell no one. And the next chapter, chapter 9, is the transfiguration. He is shown in His glory.

[12:39] And when they're coming down the mountain, He says to Peter, James, and John, hey, don't tell anybody about this. Man, I think I would want to tell everybody about that.

[12:50] What is going on? Why is He silencing people about who He is? Here's why. They didn't have all the information about the Christ.

[13:02] He knows something about Himself that no one else seems to know. And He is going to control the message about Himself until He has the moment where He can start announcing it.

[13:15] This is the moment. He's been waiting. This is why He asked them the questions. Who do people say that I am? Who do you say that I am? He's setting up a moment to be able to tell them who He truly is, the kind of Christ He is.

[13:33] He knew the kind of Christ. He knew the kind of Christ that His disciples were looking for. He knew the kind of Christ that the people were looking for.

[13:44] If you just look at John 6, 15, they were looking to make someone a king. And this is the moment. This is the moment where He is going to disclose some very important information.

[14:04] The Christ must suffer. In verse 30, He...

[14:16] In your Bible, is there a little gap between verse 30 and 31? A little space? It's unfortunate. Because it can seem like there's a passage of time when the reality is Jesus tells them to be...

[14:28] Strictly charges them to be quiet. And then He begins teaching them. Same breath. He begins telling them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed.

[14:42] And after three days, rise again. Now, when you hear Son of Man, what I've been trying to help you think is... Think back to Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 and 14. This one like the Son of Man whom God, the ancient of days, will entrust an eternal kingdom, an indestructible kingdom made up of people from all nations.

[14:59] This is the Son of Man. Did you notice that Jesus is referencing Himself as the Son of Man in connection to Peter's confession as Him as the Christ, the Messiah?

[15:12] Jesus is making a connection right there. The Christ, the Messiah, is the Son of Man. They're one and the same. And what He's saying, which would have been inconceivable, Vizzini from the Princess Bride, inconceivable, is that the Son of Man, the Christ, must suffer.

[15:36] Be rejected by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leadership council, made up of elders and chief priests and scribes, that He would be killed.

[15:49] He must be killed. He must be rejected. He must rise three days after the fact. Let's talk about that word must.

[16:04] That's a very important word. This is a divine must. This is a God must. This is God's will that His Christ, the Son of Man, must suffer.

[16:21] It's a prophetic must. If you flip back in your Bibles to Isaiah 53, it's on page 729 of your pew Bible. In verses 4 through 6, we read this.

[16:35] Surely He has borne our griefs, the suffering servant. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we have seen Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He, the suffering servant, was pierced for our transgressions.

[16:48] He, the suffering servant, was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him, the suffering servant, was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.

[16:59] We have turned everyone to His own way. And the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Verse 10, yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him.

[17:11] He has put Him to grief. When His soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see His offspring. He shall prolong His days. It's a hint of resurrection. The will of the Lord shall prosper in His hands.

[17:24] This must, the Son of Man must suffer. Jesus is saying, I'm the suffering servant. Listen, the Christ, the Son of Man, who is going to establish a forever indestructible kingdom, will suffer.

[17:42] And that's not just the only prophetic element to this. Jesus is making a prophecy right here. This is what's going to happen. And it does.

[17:56] But there's another aspect to this must. It's just not prophetic. It's salvific. Through His suffering, the Christ, the suffering servant, will accomplish our salvation.

[18:16] By His wounds we are healed. It's His chastisement that brought us peace. Did you notice? Did you notice the gospel in this?

[18:28] The Son of Man must suffer, be rejected, killed, and raised. This is good news of a suffering Messiah.

[18:44] It's salvific. This must is a prophetic must because it's a salvific must. This represents God's plan for the fullness of time to save as many sinners around the world as possible.

[18:57] This is great news. And His suffering is non-negotiable. It's the fulfillment of God's plan. So Jesus is putting a gag order on His disciples because they don't realize that He must suffer.

[19:15] And He doesn't want them proclaiming a Christ who won't suffer, but somehow think you need to anoint Him as King. Now, this must have sounded like an oxymoron.

[19:29] Do you know what an oxymoron is? It's deafening silence. What? How do those two go together? Organized chaos. If you look at my desk, it's organized chaos.

[19:40] Sweet sorrow. A winning loser. Suffering Christ. To His disciples, that would have been like, what did He just say?

[19:58] And Peter reacts strongly. Look at verse 32. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. Inconceivable.

[20:16] Jesus, can I talk to you for a second? I don't know what you're talking about. Being a suffering Christ?

[20:28] I don't know what you mean by being rejected. I mean, they'll see who you are. They'll make you King. Jesus, I don't understand why you would be killed.

[20:40] I don't get any of this raised on the third day business. But, hey, if you're the Christ, you're not supposed to be the one who suffers. You're the one who's going to inflict suffering on our enemies.

[20:55] Jesus, what do you think about me? Jesus, I saw you. I saw you. Calm the seas.

[21:06] I know what you can do. I saw you, Jesus. I saw you cast out the legion and the demoniac. Jesus, I was with you.

[21:17] I was probably the one, Peter, who was like, Lord Jesus, what do you mean someone touched you? Everybody is touching you right now. Now, I was there when she was healed.

[21:29] I was in the, Jesus, I was in the room with you when you raised Jairus' daughter. And I haven't said anything. So he's thinking, what do you mean suffer?

[21:44] You've got all this authority, Jesus. You're the Christ. Bring it to bear. Set our people free. Okay. Peter can't conceive that the Christ must suffer.

[22:00] It's what the Apostle Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 118. It's the message of the cross is folly to those who are perishing.

[22:13] But to those who are being saved, it's the power of God. Jesus responds to Peter with an even stronger rebuke in verse 33.

[22:27] He says, get behind me, Satan. That's strong. And then he says, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Why would Jesus say that to Peter?

[22:38] Why Satan? Well, Satan, we know he's God's enemy. He is not God's equal. It's not like if they got in a wrestling match, it would be close. Jesus responds by telling Peter, get behind me, Satan.

[22:55] He's like, hey, get out of the way. I've got places to go. Satan is constantly trying to obstruct God's plan of salvation. And so when Peter says, what do you mean, suffering servant?

[23:09] The devil will want to deny people, blind people to the suffering Messiah. To obstruct faith in a suffering Messiah.

[23:21] And so what Peter is doing, unbeknownst to him, he's lining himself up with Satan. Denying people a salvation that comes through a suffering Messiah.

[23:32] So he says, get behind me, Satan. You don't have the things of God on your mind. You're not thinking God's thoughts. You've got the things of man.

[23:46] You're thinking kingdom building kind of like in a worldly, manly way. Not God's way of building a kingdom. Jesus asked these questions.

[24:01] And then answers this way. Because the Christ must suffer. And for many of you in this room, you don't have to be like, that's ridiculous.

[24:13] For other of us in the room, it's like, glory to God. That's the only way. So Jesus is making crystal clear here. Who he is.

[24:26] Been waiting for this moment. He's going to repeat this two other times. In Mark chapter 8. Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 10. The Christ must suffer.

[24:39] Be rejected. Be killed. And raised on the third day. So now, what Jesus moves from saying who he is. The Christ. And he must suffer. Now he moves to his call.

[24:51] Which we must obey. In verses 34 and 38. Let me just, before we get into this. I gotta, I gotta ask you something.

[25:05] Many of you are familiar with these words. Will you please listen to Jesus on his terms. Not what you want to hear.

[25:19] On his terms. So after he has now disclosed that he is the son of man. The Christ who must suffer. He makes this costly call.

[25:32] And he's calling everyone in the room to this. He says, if anyone would come after me. The invitation to follow him is for anyone.

[25:47] And the invitation is to come after me. To follow me. And of course the me. Is a crucified Messiah.

[25:59] This is Jesus calling for a decision. If anyone would come after me.

[26:10] If anyone is willing to follow me. To become my disciple. To become a Christian. Here is what he or she. How they must respond.

[26:21] This is not easy. So Jesus has already shown that he is the gospel.

[26:32] God's grace to us. And now he's calling for a response. We read. If anyone would come after me.

[26:44] First. Let him deny himself. It may be a little bit. More accurate to say. If anyone would come after me.

[26:56] He must deny himself. It's an imperative. It's a command. And it is. A present imperative. Which means. He must continually.

[27:09] Deny himself. She must continually. Deny himself. Herself. So what does that mean? What does that mean? Well for Americans. Here's what that means. It means giving up.

[27:20] Your right. Of self determination. That's what that means. To deny yourself. Denying. Your. Authority.

[27:32] To call. The shots. On your life. That's what he's getting at. That's the heart of it. Last week.

[27:43] I made an appeal. To Star Trek. James. James. Tiberius. Kirk. Not only. Does he have great fashion. He's quite a leader.

[27:58] Well there's this. Moment. Where. If you're. If you watch the old Star Trek. At all. There's. There's this moment. Where. You know. Captain Kirk. Needs to go talk to Scotty. In the engine room.

[28:08] Or he needs to get. Beamed down to a planet. And he'll look to Spock. First officer. And he'll say. Spock. You got the bridge. And then Spock. Will say. Got the bridge. And then Spock.

[28:19] Will sit where? The captain's chair. What Jesus is saying here is. You need to deny yourself.

[28:30] The captain's chair. If you're going to follow me. Someone else is going to sit in that seat. That's not you calling the shots in your life. This is.

[28:44] What he is calling us to. And then. He wraps it up by saying. Follow me. Deny yourself.

[28:55] And follow me. And what this is. Is Jesus is saying. Hey. Acknowledge me. As the authoritative king.

[29:05] Who gets to sit. In your captain's chair. Depend on me. Obey me. Let me direct your life. Deny yourself.

[29:17] Self determination. And trust me. To give direction. To your life. Let me ask you. If. If you had to choose. Between. Who would do a better job.

[29:29] Of giving direction. To your life. Who would you choose? You or Jesus. The king of the universe. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

[29:41] You've got the bridge. We depend on him. We trust him. Daily. We're saying things like. Lord.

[29:51] Is this your will? Is it. I like to mountain bike. Lord. Is it your will. That I like mountain biking this much. Should I be. Giving it so much time.

[30:02] And energy. When we deny ourself. And follow him. It's a way of talking about. What we see throughout the New Testament. Repent and believe.

[30:15] It's this idea of. The gospel goes out. We hear it. And the response is. To repent. To turn from yourself. And then to believe. To turn to Christ. And not just once.

[30:28] Ongoingly. Before I move to. Verse 35. Man. Seems like. Hmm.

[30:40] Did I forget something? Did I forget something? In Jesus call. Let's see. Deny yourself. Take up your cross.

[30:52] And follow me. Earlier this week. I was. Asking the question. Why. Why does Jesus include that?

[31:04] What difference does it make? He could have just said. Deny yourself. Follow me. We're good. What. What. What. What. What does that little line contribute? Take up your cross. In the first century.

[31:16] That word cross. Well. It wouldn't generate. In your mind. A picture of like. A golden jewelry. Neclerus. The cross.

[31:27] Was the most brutal. And humiliating. Way. To die. It was a means of capital punishment. And so. Anybody. Who would hear that word cross.

[31:38] Is thinking. Suffering. They're thinking. Shame. They're thinking. Death. And so. When Jesus says. Deny yourself. Take up your cross.

[31:49] What Jesus says. Here's what I mean by that. Come ready to suffer. Come ready to bear shame. Come ready to even die.

[32:05] And he's saying. Do this willingly. It's. It was Bonhoeffer who said. When God calls a man. He calls him. Come and.

[32:16] Die. Die. We can't water this down. We can't make it a metaphor. For something else. Jesus. Is being very straightforward.

[32:27] And he is. He's calling a costly call. On all of us. He's saying. Following me will cost you. Identifying with me.

[32:38] Is going to cost you. Coming into my kingdom. And living for me. It's not popular. It will cost you. If anyone would come after me. He's got to be willing.

[32:49] He's got to be willing. Deny himself. Take up his cross. And follow me. You know what the real question is? Is he worth it? That's the question.

[33:03] I think we're all clear on his terms. The question is. Is he worth it? And in verses. 35. 36. 37. And 38. Each of those verses.

[33:15] Starts with the word. For. And each one is a reason. Why. We should. Deny ourselves. Take up our cross. And follow him.

[33:25] Why he's worth it. Let me just hit him real quick. Verse 35. He says this. For whoever would save his life. Will lose it. For whoever loses his life.

[33:36] For my sake. In the gospels. Will save it. What he's saying there. Is this. You can't save yourself. Living for yourself.

[33:48] Won't save you. He's exposing a lie. He's getting at this idea of.

[33:59] Hey. If I can just preserve. Self-determination. Then everything's going to be okay. Jesus is saying. Don't. Lie to yourself. You won't be saved that way. You can't save yourself.

[34:12] If you try. It won't end well. In fact. If we pull in what he says. To Peter. We can say.

[34:24] This is. Not thinking. In terms. Of the things of God. God. This is having the things. Of man. In your mind. So if you're prioritizing.

[34:38] Your self-determination. Above everything else. It will. Eternally cost you. Don't do that. Deny yourself.

[34:49] For me. The second reason. The second reason. Is in verse 36. For what does it profit a man. To gain the whole world. Or forfeit his soul. It's not self-determination.

[35:03] And. Whatever you can gain. For your world. From the world. That can't save you either. That not all. The material wealth. Not all. Of the accomplishments.

[35:13] And accolades of man. Not the prestige. Power. Comfort. Pleasure. None of that. In abundance. Altogether. Will be able to save you. There's.

[35:26] No salvation. In that. What Jesus is doing. Is helping us. See through. What the world. Offers. As temporary. And passing. It has no salvific power.

[35:40] Only the. Crucified. Messiah does. And so. If you're. Prioritizing. The world's. Goods. Above everything. Else. It's going to cost you.

[35:53] In the end. You can't live for that. You're making that a God. It's not worth. Sacrificing your life for. But Jesus is.

[36:05] Again. This would be another version of. You don't have the things of God. In your mind. You've got the things of man. Verse 36. Excuse me.

[36:16] 37. For what can a man give. In return for his soul. There is nothing. That you can offer.

[36:28] To save yourself. No act of self-determination. No acquisition of things. Nothing. You have. Can offer.

[36:39] To buy. Your soul. Your sinful condition. Is so desperate. You are so. In debt. There's nothing. You can do. Absolutely nothing.

[36:51] To redeem your soul. What could you possibly. Give God. For the sins. You've committed. Against him. There's nothing.

[37:03] And so. Jesus is doing here. He's saying. Don't. Don't think there's anything. In yourself. That you can buy back. Your soul with. If you're prioritizing.

[37:15] Anything. Above. Above Jesus. It's going to cost you. The last four. Is in verse 38. He says this.

[37:28] For whoever is ashamed of me. And of my words. In this adulterous. And sinful generation. Of him. Or her. Will the son of man. Also be ashamed. When he comes in glory. Of his father.

[37:38] With the holy angels. The son of man. Must suffer. Be rejected. Killed. And raised. And now we're learning. That the son of man. Is coming back.

[37:49] He's going to return. In glory. He came. In utter humiliation. He's coming back. In glory. As a conquering.

[38:01] King. Who will judge. The world. And so. If you're judging him now. And you are ashamed of him. He will judge you then.

[38:13] And be ashamed of you. There's this now and then. Aspect to verse 38. What you decide about him now. Matters.

[38:25] It matters. Then. What a. What a messiah. Both a suffering messiah. And a returning king.

[38:41] There's this. Idea of a dot and a line. Think of your life. As a 70 to 80 year dot. On the line of eternity. And what Jesus is doing here.

[38:53] Is he saying. Hey. If you're just living for the dot. For yourself. It's going to cost you. It's going to cost you eternity.

[39:04] But if you are living. Your 70, 80 years. Or however many years you get. For the line. For. For the messiah. Who came and suffered.

[39:14] And who's coming back. Back. You'll live. Being ashamed of Jesus now.

[39:26] Will. Cost you. When he comes back in the end. The point of all this is. Is pretty straightforward. We've got to take Jesus at his own words.

[39:38] And what he is saying here. Is a watershed moment. Do you see him for who he is. And are you willing to respond. To his costly call.

[39:49] It costs you everything. It's a watershed moment. In the gospel of Mark. And it should be a watershed moment.

[39:59] For you. The argument that Jesus is making here. Is that the costly call.

[40:10] Of following him. Is worth it. So if you're not a Christian. In the room. All this Jesus stuff.

[40:21] Is all new to you. You need to take Jesus at his words. Is he in fact. The suffering Messiah. Who's going to come back.

[40:32] And judge the world. Judge you. And. Is his call on your life. His call on your life. The question that you need to ask yourself.

[40:43] If you're not a Christian is. Is this suffering Messiah worth it. Jesus himself said. Would say yes. And there's many people in this room.

[40:54] Who would say yes as well. Now if you think you're a Christian. Maybe you accepted Jesus into your heart. When you were three. Maybe it was at a camp.

[41:06] Where the emotions were high. And you asked Jesus into your heart. But in either case. It has made no difference in your life. Maybe you've come to church.

[41:19] All of your life. You've heard this call. Over and over again. But if you were to be honest with yourself. You've actually never responded. Do you believe.

[41:33] That Jesus is this suffering Messiah. Are you willing to deny yourself. Take up your cross. And follow him. Today is the day.

[41:44] That you become a follower of Jesus. A Christian. It's possible to hear this. For a long time. With never responding in faith.

[41:59] Tell him. Tell him. Lord Jesus. I've successfully ignored you. For the last 30 years. Jesus. I've been holding back.

[42:11] But I'm holding back no longer. I gladly deny myself. I gladly take up my cross. I gladly follow you. Let the chips fall. It's about you. Not me. Have the bridge.

[42:25] If you are a Christian. You're like. You're like. Yes. Jesus is. A crucified Messiah. He's risen from the dead. It's not an oxymoron to me.

[42:38] It's the greatest news. I've ever heard. Well the question for you is. Are you daily. Coming after him. Are you daily. Denying yourself.

[42:49] Are you daily. Taking up your cross. Are you daily. Trusting. Depending on him. Obeying him. Here's a question. To be asking yourself daily.

[43:00] Lord Jesus. Does this please you. Lord. Does this please you. Does this honor you. Is this what you want for me. Could you imagine. If 200 people. In Christ the King Church.

[43:12] If we were saying. Asking that question. Throughout the day. As we're scattered around the city. Lord Jesus. Would this please you. Finally.

[43:23] If. If you've come to realize. That you've been watering down. This gospel. If you've been. Hush hush.

[43:35] On a suffering. Messiah. If you've been editing out. The denying yourself. And taking up your cross. You just want to make it easy. For your kids. And for your grandkids.

[43:46] You just think. They just need to ask Jesus. Into their heart. It's time to change. What you're saying. Convey.

[43:57] To the people you love. Jesus. On his terms. Sweetheart. I. I know you want to become a Christian. I think that's good.

[44:09] Your daddy. Well I am. I will never regret. Becoming a Christian. But. You need to give it. A little more time. You need to understand. Who Jesus is more.

[44:20] And. And you need to. You need to fathom. A little bit more. I wouldn't use fathom. With an 11 year old. You would need to understand more. What it means to deny yourself. Take up your cross.

[44:30] And follow him. You'll know when you're ready. What are we telling people? Are we giving people.

[44:41] A cheap gospel. Let's give them. The gospel of Jesus himself. Call people to.

[44:52] What he calls people to. He is no fool. To give up. What he cannot gain. Cannot lose. To gain what he. Cannot lose.

[45:03] Do you have to repent. Of something. This morning. We've been confronted. With the watershed passage. Of the gospel of Mark. From here and out. Jesus is on his way.

[45:14] To Jerusalem. This is the costly call. Of the Christ. And in it. Is life. May this. Be a watershed moment. For you. To choose Jesus.

[45:29] To follow him. On his terms. Because he's totally worth it. Let's pray. Lord Jesus.

[45:43] Would you have your way. In our midst. We acknowledge you. As our. Suffering. And risen king. Who's at the right hand. Of the father. Reigning.

[45:54] On high. And waiting. Waiting. Waiting for that day. That the father. Has set to return. Lord. We ask that you. Would exalt yourself.

[46:04] In our midst. That we would be a people. Who are living according to. Your words. Not our own. That we would be faithful. And making you known. To ourselves.

[46:15] And to others. Lord Jesus. We just want to take a minute. And just say this. It is our joy. Our joy. To deny ourselves.

[46:26] It's our joy. To take up our crosses. It's our joy. To follow you. Because you are worth it. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[46:39] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[46:54] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.