If you would open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 16, we're going to be looking at verses 24 through 27.
I'm going to pick up on 28 next week, but I'm just going to read 24 through 28.
And let's hear what our Lord Jesus is calling us to.
Then Jesus told his disciples,
He's going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
And if you look down to verse chapter 17, he's referring to the transfiguration.
When you wake up in the morning, what are the first things that come into your mind?
Here's typically what happens with me in the morning.
I wake up and I look at my watch, and it's usually glowing in the dark because I'm a notoriously early riser,
and I'm asking this question, oh, what time is it now?
Or maybe you're thinking, oh, I hope the coffee maker's on.
What's for breakfast?
If you're like me, you're saying something like, what day is it?
Is it Friday?
Saturday?
Monday?
And then when we start thinking about what day it is, usually an agenda starts coming in as well, right?
What do you need to get done that day?
Who do you need to talk to?
What needs to happen?
What would happen if the moment you wake up in the morning, there is something else that comes into your mind?
It's a question.
It's a question like this.
You wake up and your first thoughts are, what is the most important thing this day?
What is the thing of greatest importance today?
Just imagine Jesus' words, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
Every day you wake up, you are faced with a decision.
A decision of what matters most.
Of who you're going to live for.
And what Jesus says is there's basically two options.
You're either going to live for yourself or you're going to live for Christ.
And what Jesus is going to call us to this morning is, come live for me.
The call this morning is the call of the Christ to follow me.
And not only was it true back 2,000 years, it's just as poignant today.
Our Christ is a risen Christ.
And he's calling you to follow him.
In this passage, we see two moves.
We see the call of Christ to follow him in verse 24.
That's where we're going to spend most of our time this morning.
And then in verses 25, 26, and 27, Jesus provides a rationale.
Three reasons to follow him.
And you can see they're all signaled by a word for.
You can see it at the beginning of each sentence.
So this morning, what we're going to do is, we're going to look at the call to follow Jesus.
And then we're going to look somewhat briefly at his rationale.
The reasons to follow him.
What I want you to understand this morning is the point Jesus is making here.
In order to follow him.
In order to live for him.
In order to be his disciple.
You're going to have to die to yourself.
In order to live for Christ, you must die to yourself.
And in Christ, you will find life.
So if you look at verse 24, we read this.
If anyone would come after me.
Let me give you a little background on that word me.
On Jesus.
Remember, it's in verse 16 of chapter 16 that Peter has just confessed to Jesus,
You are the Christ.
The son of the living God.
And what he means by that is saying,
You're that Psalm 2 guy.
You're the 2 Samuel 7 guy.
You're the one, the king that was promised.
The anointed one of God who would come and take up David's throne and reign forever.
You're the one.
And Jesus responds by him saying,
Blessed are you, Simon Peter.
You didn't figure that one out on your own.
That was God's kindness in revealing that to you.
And then if you look down in verse 21,
Jesus clarifies the work of the Christ.
He says to his disciples from that time,
Or we read from that time,
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem
and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes,
and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
What Jesus is saying here is clarifying for his disciples.
He's like, hey, you got it right.
I'm the Christ, but let me just help you understand.
I've come to do something you're not expecting.
I've come to go to Jerusalem.
I've come to suffer.
I've come to die.
And I've come to be raised from the dead.
Peter, of course, says, no, never.
No, it's not going to happen.
Peter, and then Jesus says, get behind me, Satan.
You're hindrance to me.
You're not thinking God's thoughts.
You're thinking man's thoughts.
And every time we wake up in the morning,
we usually default into mankind thinking, don't we?
So this morning, as we think about that me,
if anyone would come after me,
you got to realize who it is.
It's the Christ, the one who would come,
suffer, die, be raised.
He's the one born of a virgin.
He's the one that was tempted by Satan.
Everything he could get to throw at Jesus, he withstood it.
This is the one when he came, he said, I didn't come to abolish the law,
but to fulfill it.
This is the one who came and exercised his authority over sin,
so that you may know that your sins are forgiven.
Get up and walk.
He came and exercised his authority over disease and over demons,
over raging deeps of the Sea of Galilee.
He even exercised his authority over death.
This is the one that's saying, if anyone would come after me.
He's the one who said, your greatest problem isn't outside of you.
Your greatest problem is inside of you.
Your sinful heart, which defiles you.
That's why he came.
He came to save sinners from their sin.
He's the one that miraculously fed 5,000 Jews, Jewish men,
and miraculously fed 4,000 Gentile men,
probably 20,000 people altogether.
This is the one who is the long-anticipated Christ,
the son of David,
who would come and take up the throne,
and he established and came to take up his throne
through suffering and being crucified
and being raised from the dead.
It's Jesus, the Christ,
who is God's plan for the fullness of time
that he set in motion before the foundation of the world.
That's who this is that is speaking.
It's the Christ
with all authority
on heaven and earth.
What does this kind of backstory show us?
This is no ordinary guy
calling us to come follow him.
This is the risen Christ,
God incarnate.
And so his words carry weight.
And so in looking at this call,
if anyone would come after me,
anyone,
he turns from Peter
and he turns to his disciples
and he speaks very generally.
If anyone,
if someone would come after me,
the invitation,
the welcome is wide.
If anyone in this room
would come after me,
if anyone living around Lincoln Square
would come after me,
anyone living on an uptown,
Frank neighborhood,
anywhere in Kenosha,
if anyone would come after me.
And that word would,
if you look at that word,
underneath it,
is this sense of desire,
willingness.
If anyone would choose
to come after me.
That two word,
those two words,
come after,
in a literal sense,
it means get in line, right?
I'm not sure if you,
this happened to you growing up,
but when I grew up,
I would have to get into
all sorts of different lines.
And I would have to get into lines
with kind of different ways.
For example,
get in line, Michael,
according to alphabetical order.
And so,
Salvati is at the end
and it always comes after an R.
Or I would have to get in line
according to my birthday,
which is in December.
So I would always have to come
after November.
Or I'd have to get in line
according to my height.
And so I would come after
someone who is shorter than me.
What is Jesus talking about
when he means come after me?
Is he calling you to come after him
in terms of your height?
Your birth date?
Your last name?
The relationship that he's talking about
is one of discipleship.
It's a discipleship relationship.
He's calling you to come after him
is a master calling his follower.
A teacher calling his learner.
Come after me.
And so what this is
is a call to discipleship.
And what that means
is that when you become
someone's disciple,
you submit yourself
to that person's authority.
You listen and learn
from that person's teaching.
You obey that person's commands.
You live according to the way
that person lived their life.
And so this call to follow me
has everything to do with Jesus.
to come under Jesus.
To follow after Jesus.
Everyone on the planet
is following somebody.
You're a disciple of someone.
You're coming after somebody.
You are submitting to someone.
You're learning from someone.
You're obeying someone.
You are living your life
after somebody.
The question is,
who is it?
Who's your Lord?
Who's your master?
Who's your teacher?
The chief rival
for living for Christ
is you.
Living for yourself.
You cannot live for yourself
in Jesus simultaneously.
You can only have one master.
You can only have one Lord.
And Jesus is saying,
I'm the one.
I'm the Christ.
Come follow me.
In order for you to live for Christ,
you must die to yourself.
And so here's the invitation.
If anyone would come after me,
and now Jesus is going to turn this
to three commands.
If you're willing to follow me,
if you're willing to come
under my leadership,
if you're willing to become
my disciple,
then you must deny yourself,
take up your cross,
follow me.
There are three commands.
There are three,
they're called imperatives.
Do this.
If you're going to follow Jesus,
you must do this.
It's not optional.
In the English version,
in the ESV at least,
it says,
if anyone would come after me,
let him deny himself.
And it kind of softens
the force of the command.
Jesus is saying,
if you're going to come after me,
you must do this.
You must deny yourself.
You must take up your cross.
You must follow me.
So let's be clear on what he means
by denying yourself,
taking up your cross,
and following him.
What does it mean to deny yourself?
Well,
at a basic sense,
it's this.
You cannot follow Jesus
without first denying yourself.
You can't live for yourself
and Christ.
It's one or the other.
Now, the temptation here
is to read something
into the command
to deny yourself
that's not there.
So for example,
you may think,
well,
in order for me to deny,
to follow Jesus,
I need to deny myself
eating Oreo cookies
or binging on Netflix
or gossiping about this person.
Now,
those things may be true.
But what Jesus is saying here,
he's not commanding you
to give something up.
He's commanding you
to deny yourself
who you are.
It's a call to relinquish
all claims on your life.
That's what he's saying.
That word deny
means to disassociate yourself
from someone.
Jesus is saying,
disassociate yourself
from living a life
for yourself
so that you can associate
with Christ
and live a life
for him.
That's what he's saying.
Do you remember
in Matthew 26,
Jesus and Peter,
Peter's like,
I'm going to go
to my death for you.
And Jesus is like,
actually, Peter,
you're going to deny me
three times.
And the word deny,
Jesus used in Matthew 26,
is the same word deny
Jesus is using here.
If anyone would come
after me,
he must deny himself.
So remember what happened
in Matthew 26,
the Peter's denials,
someone comes up
and says to Peter,
hey, you also were
with Jesus.
And Peter says,
I don't know what you mean.
He's playing dumb.
I don't know what you're
talking about.
What do you mean?
He's denying Jesus.
He's disassociating himself
from Jesus.
And then a girl comes up
and says to him,
this man was with Jesus.
And what does Peter do?
I do not know the man
referring to Jesus.
He denies him.
He's disassociating himself
from Jesus.
And then we read this.
Certainly you too
are one of them,
one of the disciples,
for your accent betrays you.
He's from Galilee.
And what Peter does
is this.
He calls down a curse,
he swears,
and he says,
I do not know the man.
He denies him three times.
He disassociates himself
from Jesus.
And the irony is,
is that Jesus is commanding
Peter right here
to say,
deny yourself
and follow me.
And what happens
in Matthew 26 is,
Peter denies Christ
for himself.
The point I'm trying
to make is this.
To deny yourself
means to disassociate
yourself
from yourself,
from living for yourself,
in order to live
for Christ.
You deny any claim
on your life.
It's saying,
I'm not in control
of my life anymore.
Jesus is.
I don't own my life.
Jesus does.
I do not claim
to know what's best for me.
Jesus does.
That's what it means
to deny yourself.
To disassociate
yourself
from living a life
unto yourself.
Another way to say it
is this.
It's to reject
a self-centered life
for a Christ-centered life.
It's to reject
a self-determined life
to live a Christ-determined life.
You can't have it both ways.
Jesus is saying,
if you're going to follow me,
you must deny yourself.
The Apostle Paul
captures this
in Galatians 2.20
where he says,
I have been crucified
with Christ.
And it's no longer
I who live,
but Christ lives in me
in the life
I now live
in the flesh.
I live by faith
in the Son of God
who loved me
and gave himself up
for me.
Denying himself.
So in order for us
to follow Jesus,
we first must not
deny ourselves
and then second,
we must take up
our cross.
And again,
here we've got to be careful
of not reading something in
that Jesus is not saying.
What does Jesus mean
when he says,
take up your cross?
cross.
Now,
all of us have burdens
to carry.
There are people
in this room
who are carrying
burdens
of a terminal illness.
Who are carrying
a burden
of a strained
relationship.
Maybe it's a spouse
or maybe it's
a wayward child.
trying to make
ends meet.
Carrying the responsibility
for a lot of people.
That can be a burden
to carry.
And what people
can say in those moments
is something like this.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
You know,
we all have our crosses
to carry.
We all have our crosses
to bear.
Is that what Jesus
means here?
The question we ask
to get what Jesus
is actually saying
is by asking this.
How would his disciples
have understood
what he's saying?
How would they
have received
his words
to deny themselves
and to take up
their crosses?
How would they
have responded
to it?
And any
first century
resident of Palestine
would have understood
Jesus
to be commanding
them to prepare
to die.
To take up
your cross.
Do you remember
Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
I was introduced
to him when I was
a new follower
of Jesus in college
and he wrote this book
called The Cost
of Discipleship
and he's famous
for saying
when Christ
calls a man
he bids him
come and die.
In our day
when we see
a cross somewhere
we think
of Christianity
we think
religious stuff.
If you see
kind of a cross
around somebody's neck
you think
well maybe
they're a Christian
or a tattoo
on their arm
it's like
maybe they had
some kind
of religious experience
or they got
a cross
kind of sewed
into their leather jacket
you're thinking
okay
you know
there's some
kind of
connection
with the Christian
faith
and so
nowadays
when we hear
about the cross
we tend to think
about Christianity
right
we think
that it's religious
but in Jesus' day
the cross
was not religious
it represented
a horrific
shameful
death
by execution
and so
in order to try
to capture that
for you
I thought
of a modern day
equivalent
of kind of
the first century
understanding
of the cross
it would be
the electric chair
think about
an electric chair
maybe you've seen
the green mile
a wooden chair
straps on the sides
and then this kind
of skull
metal skull cap
that would go
over your head
that runs the voltage
through to put
somebody to death
what Jesus is talking
about here
when he talks
about the cross
it's equivalent
to an electrical chair
it's like Jesus
is saying this
if anyone would
come after me
he must relinquish
all claims
on his life
take up his electric
chair
and follow me
when we read
Jesus talking
about the cross
he's talking
about death
if you're going
to come after me
be prepared
to die
and so
in that first command
if anyone
would come
after me
he must
deny himself
relinquish
claims on your
life
if you're going
to follow Jesus
take up your cross
you relinquish
all claims
to your death
now I've been
asking myself
a question
all week long
and here it is
if I had known
20 something
years ago
that by becoming
a follower
of Jesus
that I was
opening myself
up to the
possibility
of suffering
and even death
would I have
still followed him
would I
still have
chosen to say
yes Lord
I will follow
you anywhere
and my answer
is
I think so
but now
fast forward
that today
knowing what
I know
about Jesus
having this
command
put squarely
in front
of me
as if
Jesus himself
is calling
you and me
to say
hey if you
follow me
deny yourself
take up your
cross
and come
after
follow me
would I do
it today
and the answer
is a resounding
yes
you know why
oh he's worth it
who he is
what he's done
what he's doing
now
what he will do
when he comes
back
it's all worth
it
it's all worth
it
how about you
today
knowing what
Jesus is calling
you to
to deny
yourself
relinquish
all claims
on your life
and to come
and take up
your cross
even if
that means
suffering and
death
to follow him
are you still
willing to
follow him
are you willing
to suffer
and even
perhaps
die
to take up
your cross
in order
to follow
him
if anyone
would come
after me
let him
he must
deny himself
he must
take up
his cross
and follow
me
let's look
at this
last command
follow me
to follow
Jesus
is to live
for Jesus
to follow
Jesus
is to become
his disciple
and in order
to live
for Jesus
you must
die to
yourself
daily
so this
command
to follow
me
it is
an
all
consuming
life
comprehensive
call
to
discipleship
and there's
two mistakes
we can
make
mistake
number one
is this
to hear
this call
to discipleship
as like
a call
to a
kind of
special
unit
in those
who are
Christians
you know
how the
navy
sailors
there's
this thing
there's
people
called
the navy
seals
this elite
group
of people
who do
amazing
hard
things
what we
can do
in our
minds
is
we can
kind of
put
some
kind
of
distinction
between
being
a
Christian
and being
a
disciple
like
a
disciple
is
the
navy
seals
of
being
a
Christian
we
make
a
subset
out
of
that
like
okay
there's
the
everyday
Christians
and then
those
then
they're
the
people
who
really
kind
of
give
up
their
life
for
Jesus
Christians
that's
not
biblical
Christianity
if you
look at
Acts
chapter
11
verse
26
what you
read
is
this
it
was
in
Antioch
that
the
disciples
were
first
called
Christians
you know
what that
means
disciples
of Jesus
are
Christians
they're
one
and the
same
there's
no
distinction
if
you
are
a
follower
of
Christ
a
disciple
of
Christ
you
are
a
Christian
and
if
you
profess
to
be
a
Christian
you
are
to
obey
Jesus
in
all
respects
the
second
mistake
that
we
can
make
is
to
kind
of
make
my
discipleship
a
subset
of
my
life
so
for
example
I'm
a
husband
I'm
a
father
I
also
like
to
play
golf
every
once
in
a
while
and
then
10
hours
a
week
I
am
a
disciple
of
Jesus
Christ
and
what
we're
saying
there
is
you
know
I've
got
my
place
in
my
life
to
follow
Jesus
but
that
doesn't
really
bleed
into
these
other
areas
that
that's
not
biblical
Christianity
either
to
be
a
follower
of
Jesus
is
to
follow
him
all
the
time
in
every
area
of
your
life
to
follow
me
means
to
follow
him
everywhere
every
week
I start
up the
week
by doing
a thing
called
roles
and
goals
I lay
out
what
are
the
roles
God
has
called
me
to
and
what
are
the
goals
I
need
to
hit
for
each
week
it's
just
a
way
of
organizing
my
life
you
know
the
first
one
is
a
disciple
of
Jesus
it
governs
everything
it
governs
my
being
a
husband
to
Jenny
it
governs
me
being
a
father
to
my
four
children
it
governs
me
being
a
pastor
of
this
church
I'm
a
follower
of
Jesus
first
and
a
pastor
second
absolutely
not
am
I
growing
Lord
willing
yes
to
be a
disciple
of
Jesus
means
you
follow
him
in
every
aspect
of
your
life
yesterday
I
was
walking
from
the
building
and
I
was
walking
down
8th
avenue
here
and
I
crossed
58th
street
that's
where
the
heritage
house
is
and
as
I'm
walking
by
I
see
this
group
of
people
walk
out
from
behind
heritage
house
and
I
say
well
this
is
rather
interesting
so
there's
like
12
to
15
people
there
very
diverse
grown
men
boys
grown
women
little
girls
you know
a very
diverse
group
and in
the
middle
of
it
is
an
Asian
guy
and
I
hear
him
say
line
up
and
all
these
12
15
people
they
line
up
and
what
they
do
is
they
all
in
unison
said
yes
sensei
you're
going
to
sprint
down
to
the
sidewalk
and
back
yes
sensei
go
down
and
back
this
karate
sensei
had
brought
his
disciples
out
into
the
side
lawn
of
the
heritage
house
to have
them
do
some
exercises
for
their
good
and
so
these
disciples
were
following
their
master
they
were
trusting
and
obeying
him
when
we
follow
Jesus
he's
our
sensei
and
we
trust
and
obey
him
and
all
that
he
is
and
all
that
he
calls
us
to
do
we
say
yes
Lord
Jesus
yes
Lord
Jesus
gladly
Lord
Jesus
and
so
what
it
means
to
trust
him
is
this
we
trust
that
he's
sovereignly
at
work
over
the
entire
world
and
universe
that
by
his
word
he's
upholding
the
whole
cosmic
forces
of
all
things
and
so
his
timing
is
always
perfect
his
purposes
are
always
good
and
his
words
what
he
speaks
you
can
build
your
life
on
them
they're
trustworthy
they're
reliable
and
not only
that
when
his
words
put a
claim
on
you
and
they
call
you
to
obey
the answer
is
yes
to follow
Jesus
is to
say
yes
Lord
when
was
the
last
time
you
encountered
a
command
from the
Lord
Jesus
from
God's
word
and
your
response
was
yes
Lord
I'll
do
that
yes
Lord
I'll
obey
you
are
you
claiming
something
in your
life
right
now
as
kind
of
like
your
own
Jesus
I'll
obey
you
here
and
here
and
here
but
when
it
comes
to
this
area
that's
still
mine
is
there
a
command
in
your
Bible
that
you
conveniently
kind
of
just
kind
of
walk
around
that
you
do
not
take
it
to
heart
because
you
don't
want
to
change
you
don't
want
to
obey
when
Jesus
says
you
cannot
have
two
masters
man
cannot
serve
both
God
and
money
when
you
read
something
like
this
are
you
kind
of
like
that's
good
but
I'm
not
going
to
think
about
what
that
means
for
me
Jesus
wants
you
to
take
his
words
to
heart
he
wants
to
align
you
to
align
his
life
with
who
he
is
and
what
he
says
and
in
every
area
of
your
life
I've
got another
question
for you
this
call
that
Jesus
is
calling
us
to
is
a
costly
radical
call
if
you're
hearing
it
right
you
should
be
saying
whoa
he's
asking me
to give
up
everything
for him
and
that's
right
because
he
is
so
let me
ask
you
do
you
dilute
the
call
are
you
diluting
the
call
on
your
own
life
so
when
Jesus
says
deny
yourself
are
you
somehow
thinking
in
your
mind
well
sort
of
deny
yourself
sort
of
take
up
your
cross
sort
of
follow
me
or
are
you
saying
no
I
will
do
all
of
it
are
you
diluting
it
for
your
children
when
you
talk
about
Jesus
to
them
are
you
talking
to
them
about
a
Jesus
who
just
kind
of
finds
his
little
place
in
their
heart
or
you
are
talking
about
a
Jesus
who
requires
this
child
of
yours
to
give
up
their
life
to
follow
him
there's
a
big
difference
when
you
talk
to
non
Christians
and
you
talk
about
the
faith
to
them
are
you
kind
of
like
let's
not
talk
about
the
cost
yet
we'll
wait
till
you
profess
Jesus
and
then
we'll
come
back
and
we'll
talk
about
what
it
really
means
to
cost
to
follow
him
we
don't
need
to
dilute
the
message
here
it's
Jesus
calling
it
it's
Jesus
saying
deny
yourself
it's
Jesus
saying
take
up
your
cross
it's
Jesus
saying
follow
me
and
so
this
call
this
invitation
to
follow
him
it
comes
at
cost
and
the
question
is
it
worth
it
is
it
worth
it
to
deny
yourself
to
follow
Jesus
is
it
worth
it
to
take
up
your
cross
to
suffer
and
possibly
die
for
Jesus
is
it
worth
it
to
follow
him
in
all
that
he
commands
all
the
days
of
your
life
yes
it
is
yes
it
is
with
every
ounce
of
every
fiber
of
your
body
yes
it's
who
he
is
he's
the
one
he's
the
Christ
he
alone
can
make
this
call
on
your
life
in
order
to
follow
him
you
must
die
to
yourself
now
I'm
going to
point
you
to
these
three
reasons
why
he
gives
to
follow
him
and
I'm
going
to
be
lickety
split
through
him
I
want
you
to
feel
though
what
he's
saying
and
so
in
chapter
16
verse
24
if
anyone
would
come
after
me
let
him
deny
himself
and
take
up
his
cross
and
follow
me
verse
25
the
first
word
is
what
for
look at
verse
26
the
first
word
is
what
for
look at
verse
27
the
first
word
is
what
for
will
find
it
it's
referencing
something
that's
going to
happen
in the
future
and
one
of
the
things
that
is
kind
of
woven
throughout
this
these
three
reasons
is
a
future
orientation
Jesus
is saying
something
like this
deny
yourself
now
take
take up
your
cross
now
follow
me
now
for
then
it
will
go
well
with
you
but
if
you
don't
follow
me
now
if
you
don't
deny
yourself
if
you
don't
take
up
your
cross
if
you
don't
obey
what
I'm
calling
you
to
it
will
not
go
well
for
you
so
if
you
look
at
verse
25
you
could
read
it
like
this
for
whoever
would
save
his
life
now
will
lose
it
then
but
whoever
loses
his
life
for
my
sake
now
will
find
it
then
and
so
when
you
look
at
whoever
would
save
his
life
when
we
hear
the
word
save
we
think
positive
we
think
salvation
right
that's
not
how
Jesus
is
using
it
he's
using
it
negatively
it's
in
contrast
to
denying
yourself
taking
up
your
cross
and
follow
him
and
so
what
he's
saying
is
hey
if
you're
clinging
to
your
life
now
and
trying
to
protect
your
life
now
and
trying
to
live
a
life
that
you
think
is
going
to
bring
you
the
greatest
happiness
that's
separated
from
Jesus
you do
that
now
you
lose
it
then
but
if
you
give
you
give
you
gain
life
then
you
gain
life
then
so
the
first
reason
he
gives
is
this
follow
me
now
and
it
will
go
really
well
for
you
for
the
rest
of
eternity
but
if
you
don't
follow
me
now
you
will
suffer
for
all
of
eternity
the
second
reason
he
gets
at
is
you
follow
me
now
because
the
world
does
not
have
anything
to
offer
you
that
will
give
you
any
hope
on
the
day
of
judgment
verse
26
for
what
will
it
profit
a
man
if
he
gains
the
whole
world
and
forfeits
his
soul
on
that
day
or
what
shall
man
give
in
return
for
his
soul
on
that
day
you
choose
not
follow
Jesus
you
are
a
20
year
old
and
for
the
next
60
years
of
your
life
you
are
acquiring
all
sorts
of
houses
and
cars
and
money
and
people
all
around
the
world
God
calls
you
to
himself
one
day
and
you
are
standing
before
the
judgment
throne
of
God
and
you
have
got
all
this
stuff
in
the
bank
and
you
are
looking
at
your
judge
Jesus
what
are
you
going
to
look
at
my
bank
account
look
at
my
stuff
what
would
it
profit
you
on
that
day
it's a
rhetorical
question
no
profit
none
what
can
a man
exchange
for his
life
there's
nothing
that
this
world
offers
that
will
be
able
to
exchange
for
your
soul
on
that
day
Jesus
is
saying
life
is not
found
in
this
world
life
is
found
in
me
follow
me
and
the
last
four
is
in
verse
27
Jesus
says
follow
me
now
for
I'm
coming
back
and
when
I
come
back
I'm
going
to
judge
everyone
look
at
verse
27
for
the
son
of
man
is
going
to
come
with
his
angels
in
the
glory
of
his
father
and
then
he
will
repay
each
person
according
to
what
he
has
done
so
those
people
who
have
rejected
Christ
and
have
just
lived
after
this
world
he
will
repay
them
they
will
stand
before
them
and
give
an
account
Jesus
this
is
why
I
rejected
you
on
earth
and
he
will
repay
them
he'll
carry
out
judgment
but
for
those
of
us
who
bow
our
knee
now
and
are
saying
I'll
follow
you
deny
myself
take up
my cross
I'll
obey
you
in
all
things
when
he
comes
back
he
knows
that
we've
been
living
for
him
we've
responded
in
obedience
and
faith
and on
that
day
he'll
say
well
done
good
and
faithful
servant
come
into
the
joy
of
your
master
the
call
that
Jesus
makes
is
to
deny
yourself
take
up
your
cross
follow
me
and
the
reasons
he
gives
are
all
future
oriented
follow
me
now
because
judgment
is
coming
and
I'm
the
judge
tomorrow
morning
when
you
wake
up
what
will
be
your
first
thoughts
how
about
this
you
wake
up
and
your
first
thoughts
go
something
like
this
oh
today
Lord
today
it's
my
joy
to
deny
myself
take
up
my
cross
and
follow
you
for
you
Lord
Jesus
are
where
it's
at
you
are
the
one
who
matters
most
your
mission
your
fame
your
glory
and
so
today
I
deny
myself
take
up
my
cross
and
I'll
follow
you
wherever
you
go
let's
pray
God
in
heaven
would
you
press
this
call
to
discipleship
God
would
you
make
us
to
God
would
you
make
us
a
people
whose
greatest
desire
is not
for our
own
gain
but
for the
glory
of
Jesus
in
our
life
in
this
city
and
among
the
nations
God
would
you
bring
great
joy
into
our
hearts
when
we
call
people
to
give
it
all
up
to
follow
Jesus
because
Lord
Jesus
you
are
worth
it
would
you
press
that
into
our
hearts
it's
in
the
name
of
Christ
I
pray
amen