Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. Are you here, Jesus today? He's still calling it. What's he saying? If anyone would come after me, Let him Deny self.
and take up his cross. Nor to self. And yes to Jesus. Welcome to the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. Following Jesus Christ means much more than acknowledging the existence of Jesus and going to church on Sundays.
The decision to follow Christ is a very real and personal commitment that redefines your priorities as you make Jesus Lord in every area of your life. Each of us takes up our cross and follows him.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe with the second part of his message: take up your cross. Following Jesus involves not only learning what Jesus taught, but living what he taught. As we saw last time, The challenge to follow Jesus is so radical, so unique, so counter-cultural. that if you take the challenge seriously, your world will be turned upside down. Jesus tells his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
The call to follow Jesus is personal. He calls us by name.
So authentic Christianity is always explained in personal relationship to Jesus Christ. And this challenge is costly. To deny self is radical living. and completely the opposite of what our culture teaches us.
So Are you ready to follow Jesus? Take up your cross and follow him. Matthew chapter Sixteen Verse twenty-four Then Jesus told his disciples, here it is. 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 We'll find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or What shall a man give in return for his soul? First of all, the call.
The call To follow Jesus. is personal. The call comes to you personally. The call to follow Jesus is personal. Second, the challenge to follow Jesus is costly.
This is where it gets very convicting, doesn't it? The call is personal. The challenge to follow Jesus is costly. The challenge is first, and you're not going to like this, and I don't like it. is To deny Self.
Oh If anyone would come after me... Number one, let him deny. Self. Are you more concerned about pleasing yourself? Are you more concerned with your psychological well-being?
Or are you going to follow Christ? Because following Christ, taking up your cross, is not easy in a world which is increasingly hostile to the Lord Jesus, increasingly hostile to those of us who believe this book. And that's why I say: if you take this challenge seriously to follow Jesus Christ, your world is going to be turned upside down. Will you accept? the costly challenge.
The call is personal. The challenge is costly. Thirdly, The commitment to follow Jesus is continuous. The commitment to follow Jesus is continuous. For all of my life, I'm going to follow Jesus.
Follow me, verse 24, is in the present tense. Emphasizing that this following of Jesus is continuous. Present Tense is a lifetime of following Jesus. Luke makes that clear in his parallel passage in Luke chapter 9. Verse 23.
Luke 9, verse 23, he said to them, His disciples: If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross. Daily. And follow me. That's implied in Matthew. I'm going to follow him every day.
But Luke is making it very, very clear that this is a daily process. Today, I'm to follow Jesus. Tomorrow, if I'm alive, I have to follow. Jesus. If I live another 10 or 20 years, whatever it is, I'm still to follow the.
Jesus, I have to take up my cross daily. Following Jesus, yes, it begins with a decisive commitment in life. We call that conversion. We call that being saved.
So it begins with this decisive commitment where we come as a sinner to the cross of Jesus Christ and we turn from our sin and we receive Christ as our Savior and we're gloriously saved and all of our sins are forgiven. A wonderful experience of salvation. I trust you've been saved. This is where it begins, with this decisive commitment, ah. But there's the point.
It is a continuous relationship throughout all of life, always following Jesus, always learning. Every day, I'm to get my eyes on Jesus. Whether it's a good day or whether it's a bad day. Everything in life, yes, everything in life flows from this commitment to Jesus. Isn't that what Jesus said at Matthew six thirty three?
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Don't make the secondary the priority, your priority every day, whatever the circumstances, however difficult, however hard it is, however hostile it is, however tired you are.
However, disappointed and ill-treated you are, every single day you're to follow Jesus. That's some commitment, isn't it? The commitment to follow Jesus. It's continuous. This is not an experiment or a passing fad or a hobby.
It's not like joining a club and you fall out with people or you don't like. Um something about the club and you you leave it. I stand it. This is a total commitment. We talked today about being all in.
We've got a lot of dabblers in the Christian faith, don't we? Dabblers. Are following Jesus. This doesn't eliminate difficulties, problems, and discouragement.
Sometimes, as we follow Jesus, life gets more difficult. Tempted to quit? I spoke to someone recently that that said they had wandered away from the Lord for a couple of years. Easy done, isn't it? You fall into some sin.
You get discouraged.
Somebody's offended you, right? And it's not just that you stop coming to church, it's You really have stopped. Looking. To Christ. You see, we have an enemy, he doesn't, he attacks us fiercely.
And if you're serious about following Jesus, the enemy doesn't like us and he distracts us and he. harasses us. And when difficulties come, Sometimes we think this is unfair, this seems so unfair. Dover. felt God had treated you unfairly.
Do you ever think This shouldn't have happened and And when you go through these struggles, as many of you have, it's Easy to get your eyes off Jesus, isn't it? It's easy for a bit of self-pity. Uh uh Easy I think for people to retreat. and to isolate ourselves. And to think this is too tough.
to go away we we need we need to Just get away from this. This is too tiring. This is too awful. But we can't do that, can we? Why?
because our commitment is every day Yes, in the toughest day of our life, our commitment, I trust is your commitment, is to keep your eyes on Jesus, is to follow Jesus. Do we understand his ways? No, we don't. How can we understand God who's inscrutable? That God's ways are not our ways.
His thoughts are not our thoughts. But we do know He's our Heavenly Father who loves us and who cares for us. And in a way that only He can, He's working everything for our good. Yes, he moves in the mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. Yes, life is often very bitter.
And we bite into the bitterness of life and we go into the valley. That is true, but He continues to lead us, hasn't He promised? Yea, though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death. You will fear no evil why, for you are with. Mm.
Do we believe that? Do you believe that I believe that? I I've proved that. on the mountaintops of life when life has been absolutely brilliant. And I experience it in the valley.
of life. I want to ask that church To be committed Christians, committed Christians, as following Christ, to be committed. You know, there's cultural Christians. They can say the right things. They can answer the question.
They sometimes come to church, and if you speak to them about Jesus, oh, we know Jesus, yeah, I know Jesus, He's my Savior, but It's not authentic, is it? It doesn't really impact how they think, how they act. And then there's a kind of convenient Christianity, isn't there? where I'm going to follow Jesus some days and I'm not going to follow him other times. Uh and on on Sunday morning, if I'm kinda tired and Just want to be at home.
And watch the live stream in my pajamas with a cup of coffee. I can do that, right? I mean, why bother going to church? And Christianity then becomes like a fringe benefit in our life. It's there when we want it, and if we don't want Christ, we leave Him.
And of course, when the emergency comes in life, we turn to Him. John that kind of faith. Easy to get into that, isn't it? Easy. We all know that to a greater or lesser extent, doesn't it?
To have a convenient Christ. That's a very weak Christ, isn't it? I want to follow a strong Christ. I want to follow a Christ. who has promised me That He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
and that we will not go back. Jesus says, no man putting his hand to the plow goes back. No, we're not going to look back. We're going to continue with the grace of God and the strength of God. This commitment is continuous in all of life, in every day, in the worst day of my life, in the most brilliant day of my life, I'm going to follow Jesus.
That's what Jesus wants, isn't it? That's not what he's saying. And follow. Here's the last one: the consequences. This is wonderful, isn't it?
The consequences of following Jesus are eternal. Do you get that? The consequences of following Jesus are eternal. Notice as I read. The verse is again Notice the fars.
Which begin verse 25, 26, and 27.
So he gives the statement, the challenge in verse 24. to follow him. Verse 25, four. Whoever would save his life will lose it. Verse 26, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
Verse 27: For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father. Did you get this? There are the consequences. And there are eternal. In fact, putting it in the negative, the consequence of not following Jesus is to lose your life.
Don't lose your life. See, rather than following Jesus, You may choose to follow your own dreams, your own desires. You think you're wiser than God. You find it's too difficult to follow Jesus, you want to follow the crowd. You want to be this cool person that everyone likes and you just kind of go along with everything and follow your own ideas of success.
But a life not following Jesus has consequences. Restlessness, despair. futility, pointlessness, meaninglessness and ultimate Death. Jesus is saying something very profound, isn't he? If you try to save your life, you lose it.
But if you lose your life for the sake of the gospel, you'll find it. one of the many paradoxes of the teaching of Jesus. He turned things right upside down. Uh I I I want to gain my life.
Alright, says Jesus. You want to gain your life? you need to lose it. in following me. Individual then?
Who says, no, I can make it on my own. I don't really need Jesus, or I have a convenient Jesus rather than a commitment to Jesus. If you do that, you lose your life. Four. What will it profit you?
If you gain the whole world and lose your own soul. Wow, that stops with your tracks, doesn't it? Supposing you gain your dreams. Whatever that is. Quarterback for the Steelers.
Making how much do these guys make? Right. Millions, a lot.
Someone says a lot, yeah, a lot. I mean, that's great, wouldn't it? I mean That that sounds great to me, you know? If I was a high schooler playing Playing football, throwing a ball. Supposing you get that dream.
When you lose your soul, what what's the point? Your dream in business is to be a Uh a multi-millionaire.
Okay. You become a billionaire. That's pretty impressive, isn't it? You you you get it. You formed this company, you're the hot shot.
People look to you. You can buy anything you want. In fact, you have so much money you could buy me a Ferrari and give it to me, right? Any multi Billionaires out there, just a thought, right? Deny self, does that include denying yourself a Ferrari if someone gives it to you?
I don't know. I'll have to pray about that one. Right. But you get the point, don't you? Get your dream.
All of us, I think, have had an experience, maybe apart from the very young. Many of us have had the experience of really wanting something. And you get it. And Somehow the The lustre's worn off it, isn't it? Do you have you found that sometimes?
You want something, you dream about something. Uh uh perhaps promotion. Uh perhaps perhaps it is a car. But I'm you know and and you get it And it kind of becomes a bit sour. Doesn't it?
Don't build your self-worth. Don't build your identity and what you have and what you achieve. J. H. Howitt said the real measure of our wealth is how much we would be worth if we lost all of our money.
What would be your life? If you had zero possessions.
So if you're following Jesus He's gonna take care of you. Your soul is saved. Jesus is saying, There is no prophet in the world. What are you giving? What are you prepared to give in return for your soul?
No, Jesus is saying, to follow me is to save your life.
Now, the world thinks this is crazy. The world thinks this doesn't make sense. That's true. The preaching of the cross is Foolishness to the unbeliever. They they think we're we're crazy.
I I remember when I Was called from my law practice. I had some people who said to me, including a A well-known judge, you know, Monroe, it's a crazy thing to do. He's getting towards the top of his profession. Why would you stop it? I'm not suggesting everyone leave their work and become a pastor.
That's to my point. My point is this: that when God calls you, And when you know God Is directing you, you are to obey him because nothing in the world compares with following Jesus. Isn't that right? Many people spend years at their work.
Some of you men know this. You work and work for the company. You do very, very well and you go in one day and it's restructured and you're out the door. That's life, isn't it?
Someone has a dream. of being this wonderful athlete. And then the first day with the new team, they're injured. And their life seems Over. Live life.
with the internal perspective. This is a life of trust. Do you trust Jesus? Do you trust Jesus? So much that you can follow him.
So much you're not going to worry about these things. that this commitment is continuous. And the consequences of it are eternal. Jesus determines, not you, what's profit and loss. And Jesus says, verse 27, I'm coming back.
Mm-hmm. Yes, he's coming back. There's gonna be time of accounting.
Furthermore, You can Be called into the presence of God at any moment. I'm to live my life with this eternal perspective, not in a gloomy, lugubrious way, not at all. We're to be joyful as I follow Jesus Christ, but I follow Jesus Christ with the realization that Jesus Christ is coming back and that can happen at any moment, and I want to be ready for that. Secondly, I can die at any moment and be in the presence of God. Therefore, live life with an eternal perspective in the life to come.
All that you've accomplished in this world means absolutely nothing. All of your possessions. All of the things that you thought were so important. mean absolutely nothing, for what shall profit a man? If he gains the whole world and loses his own soul.
Yes, the day of accountability is coming. Revelation 22, verse 12: Behold, I'm coming quickly, and my reward is. With me. He's coming, and he's coming quickly, and his reward is with him. And those who've tried to save their life will discover they've lost it.
And those who have lost their life for the sake of the gospel. We'll find that. CS Lewis writes. Give up yourself. And you'll find your real self.
Lose your life, and you'll save it. Submit to death, the death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day, and the death of your body in the end. Submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours.
Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you'll find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ. And you'll find him and with him everything else thrown in. That's a promise, isn't it?
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. God is faithful. God's going to provide for you. God's going to take care of you. God's going to give me all of the strength, all of the help that I need.
I will do the same for you. As we follow him. as Christ is a consuming passion of our life. Today I'm asking you to follow Jesus. The call is personal.
Follow Jesus. The challenge is constantly. Deny self Take up your cross. The commitment is continuous. Yes, follow me every day.
The consequences are eternal. Yes, your soul is lost or gained. What's your Response. Jonathan Edwards says, resolved to follow God with all my heart. Resolved also whether others do it or not, I will.
That's why I'm saying today I don't know. are making a fresh commitment. of personal consecration. To follow Jesus. I asked you to do that.
This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? Do you know anything about the cost of following Jesus? Love of self and love of sin are the great stumbling blocks in following Jesus. But what a way to live. This is a life of fulfillment, of joy, of each day following Jesus Christ.
The one who tries to save his life will lose it. But if you lose your life for the sake of the gospel, you'll find it. So don't be afraid to surrender your life to Christ. There's nothing like living as an authentic follower of Jesus. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict.
I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
