Greetings and welcome to the Bible Study program In Search of the Lord’s Way to become and to be a Christian. We’re so glad you have joined us. Let us pray we’ll both be blessed.
What a joy it is, friend, to have you with us in our search of the Scriptures for the Lord’s way to be saved and to live as Jesus taught everyone to live. We’re presented on this station by some of your friends– perhaps your neighbors next door or across the street– all of whom are members of some nearby churches of Christ. Thank them for the program when you see them, would you? And attend church with them, real soon. If you need our help to find one of these churches, let us help you, will you?
Our co-worker and brother in the Lord, Phil Sanders, has prepared a message for us today that I’m anxious to hear. He has titled it with some of the words of Jesus found in Luke chapter 9, verses 23 to 27. We need to give him all the time that he needs to develop that thought, so let me make my remarks very few.
I just need to tell you that if you’d like a free CD, or audio cassette tape or even a printed copy of this message, you may have it without charge by mailing your request for it to: In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083 or by e-mail: searchtv@searchtv.org. Or by telephone, and we will pay for the call, too if you use 1-800-321-8633. The message is being streamed on our website at www.searchtv.org. You’ll find daily devotionals prepared by Phil Sanders there, along with other spiritual teachings. Visit us there, will you? Now Ken Helterbrand is going to lead us as we sing, then Phil Sanders will read with you Luke 9:23 to 27.
Thank you, brother Mack; and it is a joy to be with you today. Our reading comes from the gospel of Luke chapter 9, verses 23 through 27. “Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.’” That is from the New King James Version. Let’s pray together. O Lord, we are thankful that your Son Jesus was willing to bear a cross for our sins. Father, help us to deny ourselves and to take up our cross and to follow You. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
The decision to follow Christ requires far more than many people think. Christ demands that we give ourselves completely to Him. We are called to die with Christ to an old way of sin so that we may live a new life with Him forever. Now, if we follow Jesus we must deny ourselves and take up our cross.
The Lord Jesus calls all of us to follow Him. Many people are ready to get in line, but they need to know what they are doing; and many want to be Christians as long as their Christianity is convenient and easy. The good things in Christianity are attractive, of course: love, joy, peace, grace, forgiveness, and heaven. But Christianity is more than songs and prayers. It requires far more of us than many people think.
Jesus Christ urges us to count the cost before we make a commitment to follow Him. He said to those great crowds that accompanied Him in Luke 14, verses 26 to 30, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” He said, “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, well, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’”
The Lord Jesus insists on first place in our lives. He must come before any member of our family and even before our own lives. Jesus said in Luke 9, verse 23 that, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself.” That’s not easy. Denying oneself means that one puts aside his own desires, and he does it for the Lord’s sake. It means that I can’t keep on doing that which God says don’t do. A person who is sexually immoral, for instance, has to stop being immoral. People need to stop being sexually active outside of marriage, for instance, and stop having babies out of wedlock. Did you know that four of every ten babies born in America are born to unmarried mothers? My, oh my, we aren’t listening to Jesus and we aren’t denying ourselves! My friend, you cannot follow Jesus and live like that. A person who steals or lies or gossips has to stop those activities! You can’t put money, or yourself, or anything else first. If you wish to be a Christian, you must put Christ first in everything.
We all need to count the cost of following Jesus. More than anything else, following the Lord begins with listening to Him, really listening, trying to understand what He wants us to know. Many people read the Bible with the thought of trying to see what they can make it say to please themselves. Some read to find passages that say what they want it to say. And they ignore the rest of Scripture and pay attention only to views that they already hold. They are not interested in learning from God-- that is all that He has to say. What they do is they use the Bible to show how God agrees with their views. They aren’t following Jesus; they are using Jesus to believe or to do what they want. Many people who speak today in the name of Christ really aren’t following Jesus at all.
Now, to listen is not always easy. It means that we concentrate on what someone else is saying rather than thinking about what we wish to say. Religion is an individual matter, that’s true, but you see that doesn’t mean that I can create my own religion. God created me, and God gave us the Bible. God is the creator of true religion. Oh, I can create my own religion just like pagans did with their own idols in ancient times, but what good is that? You see, it is only what God does and what God says that matters. Now, I would be foolish to think that I could create a religion that is as good as God’s. What I ought to do is listen to Him and do His will. Listen to these words of the Lord Jesus found at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 7, verses 21 to 23: He said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” Many religious people think that they have a relationship with the Lord. But you see, one day they are going to be surprised! They think everything is okay, but it’s not okay. They call Him, “Lord, Lord!” But if they are not obedient to what He says, doing His will, they are only fooling themselves. There is no relationship. The Lord Jesus doesn’t know them. And when a person doesn’t love Christ enough to do the will of the Father, he cannot be close to the Lord. Jesus one day will send him away. And all the good works people do won’t make up for living a wicked life. My friend, if you want to go to heaven, you have to deny yourself. You can’t ignore the will of God and live in sin. You must conform to the will of God.
Now the Lord continues in Matthew 7 verse 24 through 27: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it didn’t fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. Well, the rain fell, and the floods came, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Many people think they can have Christianity on their own terms, you know, the way they like it. They believe what they wish; they worship how they like. They edit God’s will to their own liking. Well, that was the thinking of the foolish man who built his house on the sand. Now, he heard what Jesus said but he didn’t do what Jesus said. He built his house the way that he wanted it; he did his own thing. Now, he probably had a well-built house that looked as good as the wise man’s house. He probably felt comfortable in his sand house.
And for a time, you wouldn’t notice the difference between the house built on the sand and the house built on the rock. You might even prefer the sand house. But that house won’t last. It needed rock, solidness, for a foundation. God said the man was foolish to build on sand; because when the winds blew and the rains descended, his house fell in that storm. We need the rock solid foundation of God’s Word, the Bible, for our faith to last. We need to live the Christian life according to God’s teaching. It is foolishness to think that we can reinvent the Christian religion. We are merely building our house upon sand to think we can ignore God’s teaching. Now if we invent our own “Christian” religion, then we are actually deceiving ourselves. The only Christianity is the one built upon the words of Christ.
Now, Jesus said in Luke 9 and verse 26, that “whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Some Christians today are ashamed of Jesus, and others are ashamed of what He teaches. Some say “Well, I am a Christian,” but they are ashamed to take up their cross daily and to follow Him. They are embarrassed for people to know what they believe. Some folks make fun of Christianity because it says that God created the earth in six days. Others get embarrassed over the fact that God made marriage only for a man and a woman. Some people get embarrassed over Jesus’ claim to be the only way to go to the Father in Heaven. Some Christians keep their mouths shut about moral questions and Christian beliefs because they are afraid of what people might think or say. They are more concerned about pleasing people than they are of the Lord. You remember the gospel of John chapter 12, verses 42 and 43, says, “Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” Oh, my friend, there is no denying of self in that kind of thinking; there is no taking up of a cross when you love people more than you love Jesus.
Now, the next time someone tempts you with sin, or speaks evil of Jesus, or maybe makes fun of the teaching of Jesus, why not deny yourself and defend the Truth. Stand with Jesus and His Word, even when the world doesn’t agree or understand. Do what is right even if the world thinks you are strange and speaks evil of you. I would rather have Jesus as my friend and enjoy His blessing than to be popular with people and lose God’s favor. I would rather be able to pray to God because I have a right relationship with Him, and because I am a faithful child of His than to have a half dozen bank accounts full of money. I want God’s approval more than man’s.
And when I think what Jesus means, and I think about Luke 9:23, “let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me,” I wonder what this “taking up the cross” means. The Lord Jesus knew about the cross and He knew what He was saying about the cross. Jesus would soon bear the agonizing punishment of being crucified. You see, that’s what crosses do; they put people to death. Well, does God want us to die physically? Well, yes, in a sense; but not in a literal sense. He wants us to die but not in a sense of being crucified like Jesus was. He wants us to die to our old self and to sin and to be born again to a new life in his Son Jesus. You see, taking up your cross is a way of life filled with faith and commitment.
Now the apostle Paul in the Scripture described what was “taking up the cross” and what that meant, and it was a spiritual sense. He said in Galatians 2 and verse 20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” My friend, taking up your cross means that your love for Christ is so strong that you are willing to live by faith. You trust Christ enough to believe and to practice what He teaches in the Word, no matter what anybody thinks and no matter what it costs. Because you see, you have died to the old, sinful way of life and now you find yourself imitating Jesus Christ in the way that you think, and how you treat people, and what you do. You can say with Paul, “For me to live is Christ.”
Well, how do we die to that old way and how do we start living the new way? Well, the Bible gives us the answer; and it is found in Romans 6, verses 1 through 7: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, then we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.”
Faith in Christ, repentance of sin, and baptism are closely linked in dying to the old man of sin and then rising to walk in newness of life. Now all three of these things are crucial to new life in Christ. Baptism is the beginning of the Christian life when sins are forgiven and when one is born again. Baptism is an immersion, a putting down under the water; it is immersion in water of a penitent believer and it’s done for the forgiveness of his sins. Now, baptism is the beginning of this new life that is lived with Christ and loving God’s will more than man’s ways. Now, when a person becomes a Christian, he takes up the cross daily; and that means every day of his life as long as he lives.
I’ve seen Christians who live with faith and commitment to the teaching of Christ all the way to their dying day. These people never quit believing, never quit serving Christ, never quit doing what is right. Oh, they belong to Jesus completely. Some Christians forget they belong to Christ; they need to rededicate their lives to the Lord, to come back to Him; and they need to repent when they do that. My friend, I pray that you are the kind of person that is living a godly life; that you are committed to Christ; that you are serving Christ every day. I hope you are going to church; I hope that you are giving of yourself; I hope you are telling others about the Lord Jesus; that you are reading your Bible; that you are living the life that you ought to live. My friend, have you denied yourself and have you taken up your cross daily to follow Him? If not, I hope and pray that you will. Let’s pray together. O Lord, we are so grateful for the joy we have because of You and your Son Jesus in dying for our sins. And, Father, we pray that You will help us to live our lives in such a way that the whole world knows that we are following You and being obedient to your will. This is our prayer in the name of our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen!
Well, Phil you’re so right. So many of us study the Bible only to see how we can justify our behavior or our beliefs. Oh my! You have blessed us so with this message. Thank you, Phil. My friend, if you think you have need for a free printed copy, or a free cassette tape or free CD of the message titled, “If Anyone Comes After Me,” simply mail your request for it to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083 or by e-mail to searchtv@searchtv.org. Or, if you prefer to call, please use this number: 1-800-321-8633 and we’ll pay for the call. You’ll find the message along with others and some other interesting material and very profitable material on our web-page at www.searchtv.org.
Yes, it’s as Phil Sanders very kindly, yet forcefully, said, we all need to count the cost of following Jesus. But we all need to follow Him! Are you? Well we hope you are and if we can assist you in anyway we would be happy to do that. If you need someone to come by your place and study the Bible with you in the privacy of your home, we can arrange that. Simply give us a call on that telephone number or write us a letter and inform us of so. We would love to do that; and we will not do it without your invitation. We respect your privacy very much. And we plan to be back next week; we hope you will be with us again, too. We love you.
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