09/01/24 Mark 8:34-9:1 Pastor Cody

E if you know Jesus most likely the there are certain people he's placed in your life that you're hoping to get a chance to introduce to him and that's a great desire since Jesus said in the first chapter of Acts that we're to be his Witnesses in Jerusalem which many interpret as your local community but he also mentioned Judea Samaria and the ends of the Earth now let's talk about Judea for a moment if you were to examine the more than 6 million people in Missouri you'd most likely find that approximately three out of four people don't have a personal relationship with Christ now there are many ways to take the Gospel to this multitude but right now I'd like to talk about one that's proven very effective the Missouri missions offering churches across the state are making a major difference working together by pulling this designated offering into various Statewide Ministries and not just by giving money but in many cases also participating as we make disciples multiply churches and develop leaders here are just a few examples evangelizing to International students ministering to the needs of disaster survivors providing college students with the opportunity to live as missionaries training Christian couples to Foster and adopt starting new churches among unreached people groups and feeding hungry children just to name a few I know that's a lot to take in this very limited amount of time but you can also check out Mo baptist.org MMO for more information including videos the complete list of MMO Ministries the allocations amounts and the history and meaning of the offering so what's the point we're making here prayerfully consider how God would have you give to the Missouri missions offering either at your local church or online at the website you see on your screen join us to transform lives and communities

Across the state with the Gospel CH sure be on can you hear me all right first announcement is the lamine Baptist Association is having a discipleship conference that's going to be hosted here September 27th to 28th in your bulletins you can see that there it's the cost is 10 bucks and there are some great speakers coming out from the Missouri Baptist convention which we just heard a little bit about so be sure to put that on your calendars and make it out that's what the church is all about making disciples so let's let's prioritize that and learn together on the September 15th there's going to be a mission offering it's in your bulletins there the in gathering will take place Sunday September 15th the goal will be $2500 for more information on that offering you can also visit the mo baptist.org also draw your attention to board game night we're moving that to this Friday September 6th starting at six o'clock you can come at 5:30 but be sure to come and let your kids run around play games and just enjoy one another I need to make an announcement about volunteers I'm still looking for volunteers for aana and Sunday school and Kids Quest and Nursery so if the Lord is putting it on your heart please come talk to me after the service I'd love to talk with you and figure out where we could best plug you in it is our Family Worship Sunday and so we do have you'll notice that we have we move the welcome desk over to the old Fellowship Hall and behind there we have the kids packets and clipboards as well as children bulletin so if you didn't get one make sure to go grab one for your kids and also every first of the month is family

Worship so we will always have that stuff available for children there at this time let's bring up Chuck and Maggie they have an announcement to make hey guys I'm Chuck and this is Maggie CBO we are gonna do the it is okay we're going to have a Bible study men's and a women's different you know a men's and a women's separately it's going to be at either 9 a.m. And 6:30 p.m. On or and it's going to be on Mondays starting a week from tomorrow we are going to be going through the book of Colossians and we're going to be going through this book it is exalting Jesus Through the Gospels and about six years ago at our old church we didn't have a men's Bible study and I wanted one so I started one and we've been doing this for many years and went through many books and there's about a core group of 15 guys and they're still doing it even to this day which is really cool but we desire that you know we would lead Generations you know old young there's no age limits on this if you have a teenager that would benefit you feel free to come have them to come and we have you know and we're not theologians we're not Scholars we're just two people that love God love his word and love others and so you know so come and we'll have hopefully have a good time did I get everything all right thank You Chuck and Maggie I just want to say thanks for doing this I know for me sometimes I miss out on being fed through the different things in the church because you know as a Ministry leader I'm busy and stuff so I'm really looking forward to moving our morning meetings up so that I can make get to that and yeah so thank you guys for being flexible and pouring in that way one more thing don't forget to

Fill out this survey so that we can get a good understanding of what you guys think about Trunk or Treat okay let's pray dear heavenly father Lord we thank you for this day that you have set aside for us to rest to put aside all of our stresses and all of our anxieties all of our worldly hopes and dreams to come here and be reminded that our life is in you and that our souls have eternal value that need your life and need you Lord so I pre I pray that tonight today that as we worship you we would just enjoy your presence and The Fellowship of the gathered Saints here together we pray these things in Jesus name amen good morning church I don't know about you guys this morning but I got up and I made a decision that I was going to worship this morning we worship through study we worship through music we worship through listening to our pastor preach Biblical sound messages to us but I made a decision I love I love music this is this is God's gift this is my talent this is what God gave to me I love playing for you guys I love watching you guys sing so this morning let's make a decision to worship let's stand if you're able pray if you're able clap your hands sing if you're able do it all for the glory of God join us Church As we sing Come praise and glorify [Music] come praise and glorify Our God the father of our Lord in Christ he has in Heavenly His blessings on us for pure and blameless in his sight he destined us to be and now we've been adopted through his son eternally to the praise of your glory to the praise of your mercy and grace to the glory you are The God Who s come praise and glorify Our God who gives his grace in Christ in him our

Sins are washed away redeemed through sacrif Christ in him God has made known to us the mystery of his will that Christ should be the head of all his purpose to fulf to the praise of your glory to the praise of your mercy and grace to the glory you are the s come praise and glorify Our God for with believe the word and through our faith we have a sealed the spirit of the Lord the spirit guarantees Our Hope until Redemption St Until We join in Endless praise to God the three in one to the praise of your glory to the praise of your mercy and grace to the glory you are The God Who sing to the praise of your glory to the praise of your mercy and grace to the praise of your glory you are The God Who saes [Applause] [Music] what is Our Hope in life and death Christ Alone Christ Alone what is our only confidence that our souls to him beong who holds our days within his hands what comes apart from his command and what will keep us to the end the love of Christ in which we stand oh sing hallelu our hop BR Eternal oh sing h now and ever we can bless Christ Our Hope and life and what truth can come the TR Soul God is good God is good where is his grace and goodness known in a great Redeemer's blood who holds our faith when fears arise who stands above the stormy trials who sends the wav that bring us High onto the shore the rock of

Chist oh sing Hallelujah our hopes great Eternal oh sing Hallelujah now and ever we confess Christ Our Hope and life and death unto the grave what will we sing Christ he lives Christ he lives and what reward will Heaven bring everlasting life with him then we will rise to meet the Lord then sin and death will be destroyed and we will feast in end Joy when Christ is our forever more oh sing huah Our Hope Springs Eternal oh sing Hallelujah now andever we confess Christ Our Hope in life and death oh [Music] hallelu our hop brings Eternal oh sing H hallelu now and never we confess Christ Our Hope in life and death now and ever we confess Christ Our Hope and life and amen thank you worship team let's pray father God we thank you for this beautiful day that you've given us God thank you for everyone here in this room gathered to sing your Praises together thank you for the opportunity that we have to give back a portion of everything that you blessed us with God please take it and use it mightily I ask this all in your name amen today's Scripture reading comes out of Luke 12: 13- 21 someone in the crowd said to him teacher tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me but he said to them man who made you a judge or Arbiter over you and he said to them take care be on your guard against all covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions and he told them a parable saying the land of a rich

Man produced plentifully and he thought to himself what shall I do for I have nowhere to store my crops and he said I will do this I will tear down my Barns and build larger ones and there I will store all my grain and goods and I will say to my soul you have made ample Goods laid up for many years relax eat drink and be merry but God said to him fool this night your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared whose will they be so this is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God thank you [Music] this morning Dawn and day WS to you I bring my KNE oh gracious God my source of strength in you I live and breathe each shall res by wisdom plan each deed imp Power by Sovereign hand renew my spirit help me stand be glorified [Music] today as day unfolds I seek your will in all of th demons and you're the temp tries me still I cling to your commments let every eort of my life display the mless worth of Christ make me a living sacri be [Music] glorified [Music] today the sun gives way to Darkest Night your spirit still is here and though my strength is like the new mercies will appear I rest in you abide with me until our trust and suffering give way to final Victory be glorified [Music] today I rest in

You abide with me until our trial and suffering give way to final Victory be glorified [Music] today Father we do pray that you would be glorified be glorified in us as we transition now Lord into the teaching of your word I pray for Thomas pray for Cody give them Clarity of thought guide them through your spirit to teach us well we pray in Jesus name amen you may be seated all right kids it's time for children's lesson hey Wayne you doing all right good yeah come sit up here with us yeah absolutely if you're new welcome all right okay guys I got a story for you today but before I share the story I want to know what I want you guys to know the definition of a word okay and that word is Prophet what do you guys think I mean by the word Prophet someone who follows Jesus and shares about him okay that is a definition that's p r o p h e t yeah you're right I know it's kind of a trick question what we're going to be talking about today is profit p r fi T and it means gaining something of value where you're better off than you were before okay so to illustrate this I want you guys to think about a time have you guys ever been at a table where you opening your lunch and you're sharing your lunch with one another have you ever done that okay I want you guys what's what's a food that your mom puts in your lunch box that you really don't like does anybody have yeah brocc that's what I was thinking of yeah PB and J really what about Grandma's fruit cake you know it's not fruit or cake right you know I'm just

Kidding yeah broccoli is a good one and your friend across the table he's got your favorite chocolate cake all right and now so he says hey would you like to trade your broccoli for my chocolate cake what would you guys all say right you guys think that's a good deal I'm going to profit off this deal I'm going to get something I like and give away something I don't like all right so now you kind of understand what profit means okay we're going to tell I'm going to tell you guys a story about a king and he's a kind of a selfish King he doesn't really think about the future he doesn't think about tomorrow he just kind of enjoys the things of today and his name it's it's a myth that's not a real it's not a true story but his name was King Midas who's ever heard of King Midas all right the Golden Touch okay so King Midas was a pretty selfish guy and he loved eating and he would eat whatever came and he would loved entertainment so whenever entertainment came he would just be entertained and he really loved above all things he loved wealth he loved money he loved gold okay so one day he asked God and said hey give me the ability to have as much gold as I possibly could ever desire and so the God gave him the ability to turn anything he touched into gold well he runs back into his Palace and he's touching the walls he's touching you know statues he's touching candlesticks and everything is turning to Gold he's like wow it's gold I hav so rich well he starts to touch the grapes to eat and that turns into gold too and he takes a sip of water and he can't because it touches as soon as he touches his lips it turns into gold and then his daughter runs into the room and gives him a big hug and she turns into gold too everything and then he realized oh my goodness everything that I truly

Love is into gold now I got to ask you guys a question did turning everything into gold even though it's what he wanted profit him no it didn't hey let me take it back to you guys when you traded your broccoli for that chocolate cake did it re what's healthier for you so did that really profit you no it didn't well Jesus in Mark chapter 8 verse 36 says list hey everybody listen up he says what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul now what is Jesus saying about the soul I'm curious what do you guys think what is Jesus saying about the soul when he says that Lincoln we need to love God yeah he's saying something of that the soul is valuable above all else okay your soul is more valuable to you than the whole of the Earth why is that because it's Eternal because it's Eternal okay and so Jesus is saying guys don't worry about the world you need to focus on what your soul needs and you know what I'm not going to tell you right here because I want you guys to listen to Pastor Cody and know Pastor Cody's going to come up and he's going to explain what Jesus means by that so I want you guys okay to go back and listen to hear what Pastor Cody has to say and explaining what Jesus meant by what does it really profit us what do we really need to focus on in order to gain the most valuable thing that we have which is our soul okay let's pray dear heavenly father thank you so much for these little kids and Lord thank you for just this time where we can learn more about your word and open up your word and actually be able to read what it is that you would want us to hear I pray that you would give these

Little guys special attention today as they listen to Pastor Cody who pray these things in Jesus name amen okay I got some Golden Oreos for you guys so go over there Golden Oreos so there we go budget's looking up I guess well guys if you have your Bible and I hope that you do please turn with me to Mark chapter 8 we're going to be in verse 34 might notice that we did we did a couple songs fewer than we typically do and that's because I got to preach long and fast today so and we love our nursery workers and we want them to keep serving in the nursery so today we're talking about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ simply put the passage that we are going to examine is not a it's not a passage about an elite or special group of Christians okay it's just normal Christianity the passage that we are talking about it's following Jesus it's talking about following Jesus and I think that in our culture especially in America where we have all these different cultures cultural Comforts especially as Believers we have a lot of different things that we take for granted we oftentimes experience something that I like to call microwave Christianity it's where we take like the old leftovers from when we were really on fire for the Lord we take them out of this cold fridge we pop them in the microwave heat them up and we Feast upon those leftovers we take these times of you know great obedience and then years later we point back to those things of great obedience and say that's how I know that I'm a Christian instead we neglect the boring things the broccoli okay of spiritual habits of disciplines and many of you may have

Just been shocked out of listening to my sermon and I plead with you don't okay don't check out on me okay because the text that we're going to look at is for you to prove to yourself to be a disciple I can't judge you I don't know your heart I don't know your secret thoughts I don't don't know any of that however Jesus Christ Our Lord he makes it very clear In this passage that there are certain characteristics that Believers have that disciples have I'm convinced that many Christians they just want audits of the Christian Life you know what an audit is when it comes to college it's where you get to go in and you get to participate in the class but there's no homework you don't have to do any of the projects you don't have to do any of the examinations or anything like that you go in you get your information you get out no work on your behalf you're just there for information that's an audit and many people they do that every single Sunday they come in they audit Christ they audit the church they audit Believers and they just kind of go okay that's good enough for me in our passage Jesus he is just clearly revealed himself with many words that he is the Messiah and that the Messiah must suffer he must suffer many things and he tells them that he is going to be rejected killed buried and rise again on the third day and Peter along with the rest of the disciples they are offended and Peter he speaks up there's no way that this will ever happen to you my Lord there's no way in Jesus he rebukes Peter and why is that it's because they had a wrong view of the messiahship of Jesus because the path that the Messiah walks directly impacts the path that the Messiah's disciples will walk James Edwards he said that a wrong view of

Messiahship leads to a wrong view of discipleship so that leads us to our passage today if you would stand with me in honor of God's word as we read Mark 8: 34-9 verse one God's word says this 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 for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospels will save it for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul 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 will the son of man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the Holy Angels and he said to them truly I say to you there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power let's pray Our Father in heaven we just thank you so much for sending the Lord Jesus Christ to die on the cross to walk that path of suffering and shame to set forth an example for all of us as his disciples to walk in and I pray that today that you would move in our hearts to call us into deeper understanding and to correct any paths that we might be walking down that are not most pleasing and most glorifying to you and Lord we Just Surrender ourselves to you Lord we call you our Lord and Master and if there's anyone here that has not done that today that does not know you in the fullness of Salvation I pray and I plead that today would be that day we do want to lift up to you many in our community that are hurting Lord for the officer that passed and her family Lord we Just Surrender them to

You and we pray for peace we thank you that she was a Believer and that she dwells eternally and safely in your hands but Lord we also pray for peace on that family Lord grant them Comfort help them to know rest and peace Father we also pray for Denny Johnson we pray for healing for her and her body we've been praying for her for many months we just pray that you would heal her we also want to lift up to you U Janet WGT and we pray for healing on her body Lord as she has just increasing challenges Lord please prove yourself so faithful by healing her body Lord if that's according to your will we ask that by Faith Lord we pray for the preaching of the word today that you would just be Mighty Lord that you would move us God move our hearts in Jesus name amen well as we begin this passage Jesus himself makes a very clear distinction here that there is the disciples in the crowd and he says this if anyone would come after me so this is a message to all of the people if you want to follow Christ this is what you must do if anyone would come after me if you want to be a follower of Jesus Jesus doesn't water down the message for the crowd he tells him exactly what it means to follow Jesus right from the outset in fact Jesus he launches into some of the more difficult teachings in the Gospels and when we think about salvation we should think that it is free by Grace but it is not cheap Grace God has Grace on Sinners by which he calls us out of darkness and depravity and Into His Marvelous Light love that's what Jesus does and it's a completely and solely work of God and His grace and his Mercy upon the Sinner by which he regenerates our souls and we respond by Faith by

Crying out ABA father save me and yet Jesus also calls those Desiring to follow him to count the cost because following Jesus costs us everything in fact Jesus he says that this truth applies to everyone that professes Jesus Christ the Savior and Lord and so this sermon it's not for the elite Christians it's not for the missionaries and the pastors and you know the older prayer warriors in our church it's for you if you bear the name of a follower of Jesus the heidleberg catechism it asks the question why are you called a Christian and it answers this because I am a member of Christ by faith and thus am partaker of his anointing so that I may confess his name and present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to him and also that with a free and good conscience I may fight against sin and Satan in this life and afterwards I reign with him eternally you see directly tied to being a Christian and offering up our lives to Jesus is the inherent belief that Jesus Christ is Lord and that we are called to follow him by self-denial by taking up our cross and following him I love it when passages just write out the outlines for us so three actions of a disciple self denial that word deny means to disregard to put aside cast aside reject say no to this word in the Greek it's used here it's used in the parallel passages in Matthew and in Luke and it's also used when Peter denied Christ by using a filthy curse word looking at the example of The Prodigal Son the prodical he embraced his sinful desires and he left the father's presence the father's provision and his protection and he went out into the world this is what people call going out to find oneself right flying the coupe and where did his

Selfish Pursuits land him where did The Prodigal Son wind up he found himself in pigy his roommate was a hog and he looked at the gunk that was being fed to the hog and he longed to fill himself with the pods I don't even know what a pot is but he longed to have that hunger sad and what does the Scripture say it says but when he came to himself he left the father in order to find himself but in the process he lost himself whoever saves his life will lose it but he came to himself he understood how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread but I perish here with Hunger this is the young man who left the father this is the young man who squandered his entire inheritance and was left to poverty and he came to himself which means that he had gone away from himself and he fell away and he fell away from himself and yet his returning to himself is not a going away from himself anymore it's a returning to the father and this young man he realized that in order to gain his life he must lose the desire to do life his own way he had to deny himself his desire desires and he had to go back to his dad he had to deny himself in humility because it's not the self-righteous Pharisee that was justified look at what the passage says in Luke 18 I tell you that this man the tax collector who humbled himself beat his breast and said God be merciful to me a sinner he went down to his house Justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled but the one who humbles himself will be exalted Paul in Philippians 3 he Echoes this truth of self-denial there he's recounting all of the righteous things that he was before Christ in Philippians 3: 3-1 for we are

The circumcision who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh Also if anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh I have more that's a bold thing to say but then he lists it out circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel of The Tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law a Pharisee as to Zeal of persecutor of the church as to righteousness under the law blameless but whatever I had I counted as lost for the sake of Christ indeed I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ the righteousness from God that depends on faith that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings becoming like him in his death that by any mean means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead you see self-denial is the call to abandon your identity I abandon your purpose your self-determining ideals and to March to the place of execution it's not about giving up chocolates for Lent it's not about giving up meat for a season it's not even about denying yourself of things big point that I want you to write down is that it's not about the denial of something to the self but the denial of the self itself what are you trusting him for salvation you trusting in your goodness your baptism your prayer in order to follow Christ you have to deny yourself you have to disown yourself and surrender everything to God that's why Jesus in talking about the

Kingdom of Heaven he said it's like a treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up but then in his Joy he goes and sells all that he has he gets rid of everything and goes and buys that field again the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls who on finding one pearl of Great Value went and sold all that he had and bought it gaining the kingdom means giving up all that you have in order to gain Christ it's about total surrender your sin and your self-righteousness following our Lord and Master Jesus Christ is done on Jesus's terms not our ter terms this entails turning away from your old habits your old sins and trusting in God and not on the false things that you used to trust in so in order to follow Jesus you must deny yourself which means that you trust in him as Savior and you surrender to him as Lord Jesus secondly says that if we were to follow him we are to take up our cross remember remember that the cross it wasn't at this time some sort of sentimental symbol that you know people were wore it wasn't anything like that it was it was a means of execution Jesus he said whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple taking up your cross it's not optional it's a mandate it's a characteristic of being a Christian if you want to follow Jesus then you have to bury it you have to carry it you must bear it you have to carry it for the first century believer this would not be lost on them remember that Mark was written to Christians in Rome shortly after this they would experience the most intense persecution that the church had ever experienced Christians would be crucified set into the pit and

Feasted upon by lions they would be beheaded it'd be torn apart haved and quartered on and two why were they willing to suffer so much for the sake of the Gospel it's because in losing their life they find it's not that martyrdom saved him I want to clarify that for you it's that Jesus saved them and because of their salvation they joyfully surrendered to their Lord and Master and saides Lord whatever it takes that I might gain you that I might have your righteousness so what is your cross well let me say this it's not car troubles okay it's not an argument with a spouse it's not a health problem those are just common troubles that people have in their lives your wandering Tri child is not a cross your overbearing in-law is not a cross the taking up of a cross is not about accepting pain or discomfort in this world it can be applied that way for sure those are some byproducts of following Jesus what it means is that by following Christ there's a likelihood and a possibility of death means that we walk the narrow way of Christ we bear our cross when we walk in weakness when we walk in humility when we endure with faith when we suffer at the hands of others for the sake of Christ we bear the cross the truth is that we must follow Jesus with the expectation of being persecuted of being hated of being rejected and of being opposed look at what he says in John 15:18 if the world hates hat you know that it has hated me before it hated you if you were of the world the world would love you as its own but because you are not of the world but I chose you out of the world therefore the world hates you remember the word that I said to you a servant is not greater than his master if they persecuted me they will also persecute

You now you probably won't die as a martyr anytime soon martyrdom was a reality to these Christians that receive this letter that's how they would have understood it but as a Christian today you can't expect to be vilified mistrusted hated by others because you abide in Christ because you stand upon his word in fact following Jesus starts with the unconditional commitment to Christ with the acceptance of a death sentence are you willing to do that are you willing to lay your life down the first century believer says yes absolutely right here right now because following Jesus is worth it following Jesus comes with the hope of eternal life in heaven in Jesus he walked the path first he doesn't call us to do something that he was not unwilling to do Jesus thirdly says that we must in order to follow him we have to follow him which is weird that's a really weird phraseology isn't it anyone would come after me if anyone would follow me they must follow me following is that word aalo which means obey to fall in step with to pursue to go after it's the same word that Christ used when he was went up to the disciples and he said come and follow me and they dropped their Nets and they went and they followed him Jesus is not calling all of us to go and walk around the Sea of Galilee Jesus is not calling us to go and walk along the Via delosa in Jerusalem he is saying that in order to follow him we must agree with him and as a result of that agreement our mindset our heart and our Behavior changes to be counted as a follower of his then it requires action to follow Jesus means more than having your name on a on a church roster or simply saying that

You're a Christian it means putting yourself aside and walking with Christ to death Luke chapter 9 it says this as they were going along the road someone said to him I will follow you wherever you go and Jesus said foxes have holes and birds of the air have Nest but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head to another he said follow me but he said Lord let me first go and bury my Father and Jesus said to him leave the dead to bury their own dead but as for you go and proclaim the kingdom of God yet another said I Will Follow You Lord but let me first say farewell to those at my home Jesus said to him no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom God if we are in Christ the evidence of it is that we are obedient or growing in our obedience to Jesus as his disciples and it's important to clarify again that these instructions of denying yourself taking up your cross and following Jesus are not merits for our Salvation these these actions don't save but rather these these actions are the result of Salvation the result new life and repentance and if you don't see these things in your life then you must examine your heart examine it see if you are in the faith see if that New Birth has taken place and then Jesus he goes on and he explains the text for us he explains exactly what he means and in verse 35 you're most of y'all's translations will begin with a word for and when you see that word for in Scripture it means that there's an explanation occurring of something that's previously been taught and he says for Anytime for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospels will save it that's a paradoxical statement if we're trying to save our

Lives then the very attempt to save it will lead to the loss of our life that's a strange thing to say isn't it and save is contrasted with loss and destruction but losing is contrasted with salvation and when we come to Christ here's what we got to do we got to take our lives and we have to throw it away this life is not my own it's not mine anymore I don't even know that man anymore and we must consider ourselves dead to the world and alive to Christ and so we must count the cost and this teaching about discipleship and following Christ is ultimately a teaching about salvation not that this teaching saves but it is the evidence of it because he says whoever would save his life will lose it whoever loses his life for Christ's sake and the sake of the Gospel saves it and all the other passages they leave out that little addendum there and the Gospel's sake and why is that because we find out exactly what we are to spend our life on we're to spend our life on Christ on spreading the good news of the Gospel which isn't two goals but one as we glorify Christ we're going to share the Gospel as we share the Gospel we're going to glor glorify Christ doesn't mean that all of us are going to be pastors and missionaries but whatever it is that you do you do it for the glory of God whatever your profession is whether you're a manager or a teacher or an administrator you work in the health care industry or whatever it is that you do you do it for the glory of God and we follow Christ for his honor and His glory and so if we want to save our lives we can interpret it this way and a lot of passages do we want to keep our lives if we think that we can just add Jesus to our lives and not change anything else and we'll be perfectly fine on that

Last day then we are self deceived Jesus says if that's the goal you just want to add Jesus in as some sort of vitamin to your spiritual body then you will ultimately lose you don't get both and you don't get to both gain salvation and live however you want to it's either or either we die to ourselves and take up our cross and follow Jesus leading to life or we keep going down the path and try to fit Jesus in somewhere and that ultimately falls short and we will lose out on that last day we either standing Christ alone or not at all Jesus begins another explanation here he says four what does it profit you what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul Jesus is using a trade language in a way that would make a lot of sense to galileans it's a good investment to follow Jesus to gain eternal life than to live a life of wealth here and to die apart from knowing the Lord in the parable that Nathan read after the offering there was a warning in there about not being rich toward God the issue is not about wealth the issue is about what people do with their wealth to impact the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ do we actually believe that it's foolish to lay up Treasures on Earth in the year 1000 Emperor Otto he was the leader of the Holy Roman Empire at that time he opened the tomb of Charlemagne the great you guys know Charlamagne it's like you know probably the third greatest leader of the first Millennia probably behind Jesus Christ the Apostle Paul and then Charlamagne when Emperor Otto opened Charlemagne's tomb they stepped into this large mosum that was just adorned with gold and

Pillars it was magnificent marble was everywhere it was so extravagant there was it was gold there was trophies from mighty battles in which he had conquered so much of the world and at the far end of the room there was a skeleton figure seated upon this really beautiful Throne that was goldplated and inlaid with rubies and emeralds and the skeleton was sitting there and he had this Crown upon his head and he was garbed in beautiful robes and vestments and all these different things and upon his lap was this right here and that's called the Vienna coron coronation Gospels on the cover is Charlemagne along with Angelic figures and on his lap this thing was not was not closed but rather it was opened see it's got purple Vellum all of the that yellow that you see there is gold it's inlaid with gold and silver extremely valuable and as Otto the emperor Otto walked forward he looked and pointing the skeleton was pointing to a passage and the passage was what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul 50 years after you die everything that you own is going to be lost to your family more likely you might have some land or something like that no one's going to keep your trinkets your boat's going to go out of style folks are going to get new cars your clothes are going to be worn out and no one's going to want to wear them what are we living for Christ he gives us a third explanation here for what can a man give in return for his soul what is the value of your soul can you put a can you put a price tag on it I

Can't books and movies are full of all these stories about people selling their souls it's literally the worst transaction anyone could ever make what's your price do you know how valuable your soul is it's worth so much that Jesus was willing to pay the ultimate price to purchase Redemption for The Souls of men and that's not a new testament belief either look at the Old Testament it says truly no man can Ransom another or give to God the price of his life for The Ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice that he should live on forever and never see the pit no one can give to God the value of his own life none of us can Christ he gives another explanation for whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him will the son of man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the Holy Angels that word that word ashamed is a Pino my which means to be embarrassed to carry shame to have guilt and notice that being ashamed of Jesus and his words is right in line with saving your own life and there's so many Christians that try to walk that line of being culturally acceptable and getting with the 21st century meanwhile what they're doing is they're being ashamed of Jesus and what he has said very clearly in his word brother sister if that's you are in danger you are in danger not according to what Cody says but according to what Jesus says if you try to save your own life if you're trying to pursue your own desires if you're trying to live according to your own preferences guys According To Jesus those are salvation issues and Jesus he calls the crowd to himself and he says these things the crowd he tells us to if you're ashamed

Of me in my own words in this adulterous and sinful generation that's some that's some old test Testament language that the prophets would use in referring to the people of God remember that Jesus he said this that this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me yet people thought that they were just fine but they were alienated from God they didn't know the glory and the goodness of God they just had secondhand knowledge and Jesus says that if you're ashamed of me then I will be ashamed of you when the son of man comes in glory Jesus he said this on other occasions too in Matthew 10 so everyone who acknowledges me before men I will also acknowledge before my father who is in heaven but whoever denies me before men I also will deny before my father who is in heaven do not think that I've have come to bring peace to the Earth I've not come to bring peace but a sword for I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a person's enemies will be those of his own household whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me and whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it and yet as Christians we do not do this in our own power we can't do that power according to 2 Timothy chapter 1 God gave us a spirit not a fear but of power and love and self-control now if you've been following along in your passage you'll notice that Mark chapter 9 starts and the person that put it here he must have lost his place or sneezed or something because it should be chapter 9 verse two or yeah chapter N9 should start at verse two

Not here because he says and he said to them truly I say to you there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power now there's all sorts of wonky views about this the wonkiest is that somehow John the Beloved disciple is somewhere on Earth still alive okay we reject that view okay unless we meet him okay then I'm wrong but you know but some people they hold to that but and I can't get into all of them but I believe for the sake of time I wish I could but I can't I believe that this is in reference to the resurrection okay some people believe it's about the Transfiguration could be follows right after I believe it's about the resurrection and the reason why is because the coronation of the kingdom is not some sort of Future Hope but it's a present reality that we enjoy right now it was ushered in with the death burial and resurrection of Christ that's it's a right view of the Resurrection it shows the path that the disciples are to walk that the path of suffering leads to Resurrection and everlasting life and so we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and we also confess that we will become glorified glorified in Christ and so there were some people there that would not die until they saw the kingdom of God after he had come with power that power was most gloriously displayed in the resurrection of Jesus and so what do we learn well that salvation is a bit of a paradox that in order to live with Christ we must die to ourselves that salvation is simultaneously free and yet it costs us everything that salvation is by faith alone apart from any work and yet relying on Christ means giving up our own life and all the trappings and that we must deny ourselves and live

Totally for the Lord and Paul he uses this language as well to drive his point home in Romans chapter 6: 16-18 do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves you are slaves of the one whom you obey either of sin which leads to death or of obedience which leads to righteousness but thanks be to God that you were once slaves of sin who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed and having been set free from sin have become slaves of righteousness that slavery to Christ is true Freedom that slavery is adoption by which we become Heirs of God and coair with Christ it's a paradox we also learn about the great promise of denying ourselves and taking up our cross and following Jesus is salvation it is Jesus saying I know you and if denying Christ results in him denying us then the opposite also must be true that whoever acknowledges me before others I will also acknowledge before my Father in Heaven My Hope and my prayer for you is that you know the Lord Jesus Christ that he is your Lord that he is your master and that you profess him with great faith that is my hope and my prayer for you my hope and my prayer is that you would not ride the fence but that you would do something with Jesus Christ he demands our immediate attention he is the most glorious and the most wonderful and he demands to be answered Christ he called the disciples in the crowd he said if anyone is to follow me he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me have you done that are you going to do that's between you and the Lord I pray that he really messes with you until you become obedient head heart hand had God wants

You to know that salvation is by grace alone and that Grace prompts a reaction just as a newborn cries the cry is not the birth but the cry is the evidence that the birth has taken place so our obedience to Jesus does not save us but our obedience is evidence that we are saved heart God wants you to believe that obedience is Christ is on Christ's terms not our own terms we are called to take ourselves out of the equation to count ourselves as dead and to walk the path of Christ hand God he wants you to do these things if you are his follower you are called to deny yourself to take up your cross and to follow him and if you're not willing to do that then you are not his disciple and you are not saved and I want you to think about that as we prepare ourselves for the Lord's Supper let's pray so Lord we do thank you so much for this time that we get to have together as the elders come forward to administrate the Lord's Supper I pray that you would work in our hearts that you would just if there's anyone here that's in that darkness and they know that they need to get it right Lord I pray that right now right in their chairs they would get it right that they would talk to me afterwards and you know just say hey we need we need to meet we need to we need to get this settled we need to get this squared away because I want Jesus to be my Lord and my master and I just have not been doing it I pray that today would be that day that you call folks from Disobedience to obedience God for those of us that are your disciples that do walk and we bear our cross Lord thank you so much for the Salvation that we have and during this time of reflection Lord with joy we just thank you that you have saved us we thank you for that work that

You've done by Grace we don't deserve deserve it but Lord you have made us objects of your blessing so we just praise you and we thank you for being our Lord and Master and loving us so much that you came to die and more than that to rise again thank you for it in Jesus name amen [Music] Ephesians 2