As you're grabbing your Bible to Matthew 10, we're gonna be in
verse 16. And just those of you who are guests with us, every
Sunday, we have guests joining us online, guests in the room. We
are in a beautiful, long journey through the Gospels. And
we have been over the last several months in the Gospel of Matthew,
chapter by chapter, verse by verse, working our way through. Now,
last week, we ended with Jesus preparing his disciples for their
first ever mission trip. He's about to send them out. I explained
last week that was a hinge point in the Gospel of Matthew, because
up to that moment, Jesus has been doing all the preaching, teaching,
and heal. And now he said, it's your turn. You're gonna go do
the preaching, teaching, and healing. And he commissions them.
He gives them their assignment, and now he's about to
give them a pep talk right before they go. Now, I'm gonna go
ahead and forewarn you. It's the most pessimistic pep talk you've
ever heard in your life. When you read it, you're gonna see what
I'm talking about. But in order to really understand it, you
have to imagine yourself like you're about to go on your first
ever mission trip. Let's just say you're about to travel overseas.
There's a team right now in Southeast Asia. Let's just say you're
about to go on a trip to Southeast Asia, and you're having
your last team meeting, and your trip leader is going to give
you a rah rah speech. And this is the speech he gives you. If you
have that mindset, you'll understand the craziness of what
Jesus just says. Verse 16 of Matthew 10. Here's where it starts.
Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men,
for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues,
and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake to
bear witness before them and the Gentiles when they deliver you
over. Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are
to say. For what you are to say will be given to you in that
hour. For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your Father
speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death,
and the Father, his child, and children will rise against parents
and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for
my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved
when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. For truly,
I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of
Israel before the Son of Man comes. A disciple is not above his
teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the
disciple to be like his teacher and the servant like his
master. If they've called the master of the house Beelzebul, how
much more will they malign those of his household? Fill the
church you were sent. Could you imagine getting this pep talk
from your troop leader? You're about to go overseas. Oh, by the
way, they're going to hate you and they're going to try to kill
you and they're going to incarcerate you. Good luck. I don't
know about you, but there's some bit of that where I'm going.
Like, I don't know if I want to go on this trip. I don't know
if I want to get on that plane, if this is what's about to
happen. But this is a pep talk Jesus gives them. You kind of like,
why would you do this, Jesus? Well, he's trying to help them see,
it's about to get really nasty out there. There's gonna be a lot
of people who are against you. He says, listen, if they hate me,
they're gonna hate you too. By the way, that's an odd statement
in this particular part of the storyline, because people didn't
really hate Jesus. Yet in this moment, people are awed and enthralled
with Jesus. The Jesus stock is up and to the right at this moment.
He's just preached the Sermon on The Mount, Matthew 5, 6, 7. And
at the end it says, and the crowds were astonished at his teaching
because he taught them as one who had authority and not like their
scribes. They're going, holy cow, this guy's amazing. The Jesus
stock is up. Then chapters eight and nine. He's healing people
right and left, casting out demons, healing lepers, healing the
sick, raising the dead. I mean, everybody wants a peace of
this guy Jesus. What do you mean when people hate you? But Jesus
knew something the disciples didn't know. You saw a little glimpse
of it back in chapter nine when he had healed the mute man and
the Pharisees said, no, we think he's doing this by the prince
of demons. You see, Jesus knew the moment he started to attack the
establishment, that's when it was going to get nasty. That's when
they were going to turn on him. Jesus knew what was coming.
So he's trying to prepare them. Don't get too comfortable.
They might like us now. They're about to turn on us and you
need to be ready for it. And the way to be ready is what he says
in verse 17. He says, Beware of men. Be on the lookout for the
evil of men because there's wickedness in them and they're going
to be coming after you. By the way, that imperative beware is a
present tense. I say this all the time. That means an ongoing thing.
You have to live your life in constant awareness of the danger
of people around you because they are wicked and they're going
to hate me and they're going to hate you. Keep on the alert. He
says there's a side. When you hear this, when you read what Jesus
is teaching, it's like Jesus, almost like you're saying we shouldn't
trust anybody. Verse 17 he says, don't trust the religious leaders.
They're gonna drag you into the synagogues and flog you. Verse
18 he says, Don't trust your political leaders because they're
gonna drag you before governors and kings and they're gonna
have their way with you. He even says you don't even. Verse 21.
Don't even trust your own family because brothers can turn
against brother, children against parents, parents against
children. You finish, you're like, I don't know if it's safe anywhere.
Who do I even trust at this point? Now I'm just curious. I'm
going to pause for a moment. Have any of you, you don't have to
raise your hand, you don't even have to nod. But have any of
you ever gotten to the point where you feel like, I don't know
if I can trust anybody, where it's just like everybody I was supposed
to depend upon has hurt me, has turned their back on me, has
harmed me. I can't trust the media. I mean, you never know what
kind of angle they're coming from. They're just trying to make
a business, sell a, a story. You can't trust them. Can't trust
our political leaders because you know it's going to be the flip
flop opinion. They're here for us, they're not over here for us.
Or one person's in office and somebody else is in office and who
knows, there's no stability there. Can't even trust religious
leaders. I mean, like, how many pastors right now do you see
falling all over the place? Moral failures right and left? Some
of you go, I don't even know if I Trust you, Jason. You probably
have a reason not to. It's hard. How do we even trust our religious
leaders? We don't trust my friends who were supposed to be there
for me. They stab me in the back and say things about me and
hurt me, and they're not there for me. And I can't even trust them
sometimes. Even my own family, they were supposed to help me, and
they abandoned me or harmed me, and I don't even know what to.
Who do I even trust? Listen, when it comes to that moment in your
life, there's a grave danger of cynicism that'll come inside you,
and cynicism will lead to isolation. I can't trust anybody,
so I'm gonna turn my back on everybody. I'm just gonna be me.
I don't need y' all. Y' all don't need me. I'm just gonna. I'm
just gonna do my own thing. Jesus is saying, beware of men. There's
wickedness in men. But he is not saying, turn your back on men.
There's a balance. In verse 16, I don't know if you noticed it.
He talks about the whole, you're gonna be like sheep among
wolves. And he says, therefore, I want you to be wise
as serpents and as innocent as doves. That's the balance point.
The wisest serpents, I don't know if you know this about serpents,
but they're very shrewd in that they can feel the ground tremble.
And so if somebody is walking toward them or an animal's walking
toward them, they feel it and they scurry away. They're aware of
danger. They're shrewd that way. He's saying, be aware of danger.
There's wickedness all around. You feel the tremble of it and guard
yourself against it. Recognize what's coming against you, but at
the same time, don't lose your hope. People can still be saved.
You know, he talks about being innocent as doves. That's really.
I'm a picture like a childlikeness, you know? The most
innocent people in the world are little children. I think about
Father's Day. I've got a big span of age in my family. My older
kids, they've lived long enough to know that their daddy ain't
perfect. And this is one of the reasons why teenage years are
so hard to parent through, because they start seeing who you
really are. And they recognize, well, you don't have it
all together. And most teenagers go, therefore, I don't
have to listen to you. Anymore. That's the teenage portion
of it. But the little kids, they still think Daddy's perfect.
And I love it for however long. That's why we keep having more
kids. I want little ones who just still want to think Daddy's
perfect. There's an innocence to that. There's still. I still see
good. I still see potential. I still see I love. And Jesus is saying,
I want you to have that innocence about you when you look
at the lost world. Still recognizing, yes, there's wickedness
in them. Be shrewd as serpents, wise as serpents, but also
recognize they bear my image and there's goodness in them and
there's potential for the future. You gotta counterbalance
both of these. Cause if you don't, you're gonna grow weary of
serving the very people you've been sent to serve. You're gonna
start to lose hope. And you're gonna stop praying for them to come
to salvation. Cause you're gonna start to believe they've got
no hope. You're gonna grow weary in sharing Christ with others.
Here's what I want you to know. The same gospel power that
saves a person who is riddled with addiction is the same gospel
power that saves the kid who grew up in church and never had a
big sin in their life. Because all of our sins are wicked. Every
single one of us are so grotesque in our heart that we deserve
eternal damnation. So if God were to save any of us, it's the
greatest miracle of all. But that also means that that serial
killer who repents on death row and makes it into heaven, the
thief on the cross who does nothing but says, remember me when
you come in paradise. It takes the same grace to save them as it
does us. Nobody is beyond the grace of our king. That's what it
means to be innocent as dust. It's still to believe I can go anywhere
and I can share the gospel and I can pray for the lost and. And
there's still hope that some will be saved. Yeah, there's wickedness,
but there's hope. And therefore I don't grow weary. I'm
gonna give you. I'm gonna give you five points. It's more than I
normally give you today. But there's just a lot in here that I
wanna give you. Here's the first one. You may wanna write this
down. Here's what the scripture's teaching. We must learn
how to beware of men without becoming weary of men. That's the
balance point. How do I live that life where I have to beware
of men. There's danger, there's wicked. But I must never
become weary of men thinking there's no hope, not taking the gospel
to them, because there's anything we have in the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, it is hope. Anybody can be saved. Don't stop
sharing with that friend or that family member or that work associate.
Keep sharing, keep believing, because there's hope. But I also
want you to hear this. Even though everybody can be saved, it
definitely does not mean everybody will be saved. Even though
the Gospel has power to save, not everybody's gonna receive the
Gospel. And that also means that many will reject not just the
gospel, but the messenger who brings the gospel. And we gotta be
prepared for it. That's what verse 22 was talking about. I want
you to go back to verse 22. Hard truth he slaps us with right
here. He says in verse 22, and you will be hated by all for my name's
sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. You will
be hated by all for my name's sake. He says, go ahead and buckle
up. It's going to get nasty out there. Be ready for it. But he
also says, the one who endures to the end will be saved. Now, I
got to help clear some confusion because it's very simple
to come to the wrong idea in reading that. And what you might
read in there is what Jesus teaching is. If I work really hard,
if I try to keep my face at it, if I just pull myself by the
bootstraps and I work hard to endure, then I'll earn my salvation.
That is not what Jesus is teaching. We do not earn our salvation.
You have the book of Ephesians, chapter 2. Paul says very
clearly, we're saved by faith in Christ alone, not by our work.
So that we don't boast. It's the work of Christ. We are saved
by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. That's the
message of the gospel. So you can't have that message and then
turn around and say, and now I gotta work really hard to earn my
salvation. It's not what he's saying. Here's what he is saying.
He's saying a genuine faith in Jesus Christ will endure to the end.
And therefore, if you don't endure, you didn't have a genuine
faith to begin with. And here's the reason why. Faith in Christ
overcomes every single area of our life that would cause us to.
To throw in the towel, not to endure. So take their situation,
for example. The Reason why they would not endure would be fear
of men. My brother might hand me over. I might be dragged before
the governors or the kings or the synagogues or my own family.
And I'm scared to death of what's going to happen. Therefore,
I recant my faith because I'm scared of men. And here's what he's
trying to teach us. He's saying, I want you to understand,
faith in God will kill every single bit of your fear of men. You
don't have to be afraid of them. You just gotta trust me. When
you trust me, it drowns out fear. This is exactly why he goes
into where he goes Next in verse 26. So now you've heard this
rah rah speech that he's been given the most pessimistic support
speech ever. But now he's gonna come in a little more positive
and say, you don't actually have to live in fear. Verse 26. So
have no fear of them. For nothing is covered that will not
be revealed or hidden, that will not be known. What I tell you
in the dark, say in the light and what you hear whispered, proclaim
on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body, but
cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul
and body. In hell are not two sparrows sold for a penny, and not
one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father, but
even the hairs on your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore,
for you of more value than many sparrows. Now, I'm going to
stop right there. You just got six verses, and three times in six
verses you hear some form of don't be afraid, don't be afraid.
Have no fear. Fear not. Just over and over, every single time
you hear Jesus say something three times in a quick succession,
he's saying, it's really, really important. Lean in and listen.
Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, don't be afraid. He's saying
you don't have to live in fear of men. Your faith can endure because
when you are in genuine faith of me, it will kill every vestige
of fear of men that might rise up inside you to the highest degree,
even death. He says. Did you notice what he said back in verse
28? He said, See how and do not fear those who kill the body
but cannot kill the soul. Even if they could kill your body. You
don't have to be afraid of them. Okay, I want to be. I'm going
to be real honest with you. There are times when somebody wants
to kill my body and I'm afraid of them. There's a longer story to
this. I've told parts of it in the past. I'm just gonna give you
the quick version. There was a time when I was just a little outside
of Waco, when I was in school and college and I was in the middle
of nowhere. And I walked up to this dilapidated mobile home and
I knocked on the door because I needed help. And the door flung
open and a person, really crazy looking man, put a shotgun
about two inches from my nose and started screaming at me. Can
I go ahead and tell you? I was afraid for my life in that moment.
Now, I should have remembered the scripture. Don't be afraid, you
know, of somebody who can kill my body, but he could kill my body.
And I was afraid. Had to throw those pantalones away when it was
all said and done. Because it was like every body fear you got
was coming out. Sometimes when people can harm us, our body, whether
we like it or not, it creates fear. I remember I was in Argentina.
I was living overseas and I was in a. Buenos Aires is a massive
city, 15, 16 million people. And there's a part of it called Fuerte
Apache. It means strong Apache Indian. And it was like the Bronx,
but in Buenos Aires. And I was told by so many different people,
never be in Fuerte Apache at night because you probably won't
make out of there alive. So I'd gone over there as a missionary
and I'd ridden the bus. And I'm there at a church service. Let
me go and tell you about church services in Argentina. You
think it's long? Like an hour and a half here it's like a four
hour church service. And so we're. Yeah, praise God, let's do
that. Four hours, I like it. And we were there worshiping and
I could see out the window. I'm like, oh, it's getting dark,
it's getting dark. And it was over. It was dark. I mean, like,
dark, dark. And it was time for me to leave. And I was all by
myself. And I had to make the walk over to the bus station to get
on my bus to head home. And I want you to know, as I'm walking
around, I'm looking at every single movement. I'm like, I'm gonna
die. I know way I'm gonna make it out here. Either return now, King
Jesus, or it's over. Because there's no way I'm gonna. They told
me I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. Right now, I was afraid of every
movement. And then somebody comes out of the corner and walks
up to me looking as thuggish as you've done ever seen before in
your life. Like tatted up and down, crazy looking. And here it's
over. He's coming and he says to me, quiensto vo y porquesta sa
qui? Which means, who are you? What are you doing here? And I thought,
okay, I don't you want to stab me in the back? The front? What you
want? Can I just go and tell you? In that moment though, Jesus
says, don't be afraid of somebody who can kill your body.
I was afraid of somebody who could kill my body. Now I'll tell
you in a moment what happened. So. So hang in tight right there.
I did survive. Don't worry, I made it. But it was one of those
realizations that Jesus's words here sometimes are hard to
live out. We just got to be honest with that. It's easy to hear.
It's hard to live out. But Jesus is saying, it is possible,
though it may be hard, it is possible. And he tells us how. He
says, let the greater fear drown out the lesser fear. Did you
notice what he said in there? He said, don't fear the ones who
can kill the body. Fear the one who can throw body and soul into
hell. He's saying, listen, there's an earthly body and there
are humans who can kill the earthly body, but only for this life.
And the Bible tells us this life is like a wisp of soil, just
poof. And then it's gone and there's all eternity. But there is
somebody, almighty God, who has power over our eternity. Fear
him. And let the greater fear drown out the lesser fears. Let me
go ahead and give you the next point that I want you to have. Here's
what it is. Fear of God drowns out fear of men. The greater fear
drowns out the lesser fear. By the way, when I say fear of God,
I don't mean tremble. You're scared of God, he might hurt you.
The Bible refers to it as reverence and awe. Fear of God, respect
and awe. The God who holds the universe will drown out the fear
of men. Have you ever noticed that a greater fear drowns out a
lesser fear? I remember this was a while back, but I remember
one of my kids was really freaking out about an upcoming math
test. And I'm not going to tell you which kid it is, because
all my kids are here and they don't like it when I tell stories
about them. So the kid who will not be named was freaking out
about a math test. I'm talking, like, hyperventilating.
Life is over. I'm not gonna make it into college. My whole life
is ruined because I'm gonna fail this math test. And it's over.
Like, just overwhelmed about this upcoming math test, totally
afraid until the tornado sirens went off. And then my brother,
who is like, he always watching the weather, says, you gotta
go ahead and seek cover. And we go, we have to remove everything
for the closet underneath our staircase. And we're all huddled
in there and ducking cover and hearing the rain pelt the window
and the hail and all that. Can I go ahead and tell you the last
thing my daughter was thinking about in that moment was her math
test. She was just thinking, oh, Jesus, let us survive this moment.
The greater fear drowned out the lesser fear. That's how the human
psyche works. And this is what he's telling us. And Jesus is saying,
let the greater fear, fear of God, drown out the lesser fear. Because
when you know who God is, that he is all powerful and you're on
his side, why would you ever fear man? What can they do to you
when God is on your side? Therefore, the most important thing
you can do is make sure that God is on your side and you are on
his side. Which is exactly why he goes into saying, just acknowledge
me before us. Listen to where he goes next. Jesus has a reason
for everything he's telling us. We keep Moving on. Verse 32.
So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will 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 have come to bring peace to the earth. I have
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
this life will lose it. And whoever loses his life for my sake
will find it. So he starts off by saying, if you acknowledge me
before others, I'll acknowledge you before my Father
who's in heaven. My king, the Father, the one who has authority
over all this universe. Just acknowledge me and I'll acknowledge
him. And you got Nothing to fear. I want to go back to that story.
When I was in Fuerte Apache and that guy came up to me and I
thought, he's about to kill me. There was one ace card I had
up my sleeve. So I had been told by a number of people and church
members, if anybody ever comes up to you in this neighborhood and
you feel scared, you just tell them, I'm with Pastor Emilio from
the church just down the corner, the Iglesia Bautista, just
down the corner, the Baptist church. I'm with Pastor Emilio because,
see, Pastor Emilio had been in Fuerte Apache for decades doing ministry.
He had been loving on people. He'd been visiting people in the
hospital. He'd been providing food for hungry families. He'd been
praying over the sick, and they'd seen miracles. He had done
such a ministry. Everybody respected Pastor Emilio. And so when
that guy came up to me and I was scared to death, I'm literally
trembling all over. All I could say is, I'm with Pastor Emilio.
And the guy just said, cuidate means watch yourself, and then let
me go. This is exactly what Jesus is talking about. You don't
have to be afraid of men when they come up to you. Just say, I'm
with Him. I'm with Jesus. I acknowledge him. I'm with him. And
the devil himself has to say, watch yourself. Go on. I can do nothing
to you. That's why we acknowledge Jesus. That's why we
don't have fear. Because we say, I'm with him, I'm with him,
I'm with him. But if we don't acknowledge him, then we'd best be
afraid. Because this world has power over us. We gotta claim Jesus.
But here's the next point I want you to write down. You need
to know this. When we claim Jesus, he claims us, but he claims
all of us. Make sure you understand that. Yeah, you need to
claim Jesus, acknowledge him, call him Lord and Savior. When we
claim Jesus, you know he's going to claim you right back. But
when he claims you, he claims every single bit of you. That's why
Jesus says in this passage, if anyone loves father or mother more
than me, he is not worthy of me. If anyone loves son or daughter,
you can put anything in there. Job, sports, team activity, possession.
More than me, not worthy of me whatsoever. That's an interesting
thing. You might not know this, but in Jewish culture, the
nuclear family was the most important element of all culture.
It was something you never messed with. You don't get in the
way of a family. So rabbis, though, they would make high demands
of their disciples, their apprentices, they would never actually
stand in the way of their own family, a rabbi. That was not their
position because the family was stronger even than the relationship
between rabbi and disciple. And yet Jesus breaks all those rules.
He says, no, actually I demand allegiance. Even above your own family,
Even above spouse, parents, children. There's a reason why. Because
he's no ordinary rabbi. Because He's God in the flesh. And
therefore he deserves our complete and total allegiance. And
if we do not give it to him, then we are not worthy of Him. Fourth
point I want you to write down. We're getting somewhere. Now,
here's what it is. If we do not esteem Jesus above everything,
then we don't actually esteem him at all. If we esteem anything
above Jesus anything at all, we don't actually esteem him at all.
He has to be highest or he's not ours. Jesus is an all or nothing
kind of savior and master. If we esteem anything above him, just
know it, whatever that may be, then we don't actually esteem him
at all. And I want you to know Jesus will test us on this. He will
expose the areas of our life where we do not esteem him as we
should. I've told the longer version of this story before, but
I'm gonna share a shortened version of it because it's pertinent
to this. There was a time in my life where the Father showed me
this. So those of you who've been in the church for a while and
know Pastor Gary, the pastor who was here before me, know Pastor
his story. He shares it often. But there was a time when he had
to go through the hardest of hard. And the Lord allowed one of
his sons to be taken. He was 13 years old. His son was shot and
killed. And he had to endure the hardest of pain imaginable to
a human being. And it was one of the reasons why he could minister
to people like you had never seen before, because he endured the
hardest of heart. And when somebody was suffering and a man
who'd lost their own son said, you're going to make it through.
Trust me, you're going to make you believed him. And so I knew.
This was 11, 12 years ago, when they were first starting to
talk about me becoming the next pastor of this church, I knew
that if I had any hope of shepherding this flock the way Pastor
Gary shepherded this flock, I'd have to go through some hardships.
And one of the greatest fears of my life was that God would take
one of my children. And as we were in the discussion about me potentially
becoming the next pastor of the church, it looked like it was
starting to happen. My daughter anneliese got into some
medicine, and she was being rushed to the hospital, and it looked
like she was going to die, that the medicine was going to take
her that she shouldn't have gotten into. And I went in my backyard
and started screaming, praying to God. But it was not a good prayer.
It was an angry prayer. And it was, I don't want this, Jesus. If
me being the pastor of this church means you're going to take
one of my children, I'm out. I'm not willing. I don't even know
if I want to follow you, if taking my children is one of the
things you would allow. So I'm out. I'm done. Now, by the grace
of God, My daughter Annelise is alive and well. Just got back
from the Houston mission trip. Everybody knows Lulu loves her, but
God was never intending to take her. He was just intending to
expose my heart to me. He was just intending to show me I have
allegiances that are above him. And I had to repent, and I had
to say, jesus, forgive me. I didn't trust you, and I should have.
If we esteem anything our own children above Christ, we don't actually
esteem him at all. He demands full allegiance. This is why he's
given this pep talk to his disciples before he sends them out
on their first mission trip. It's gonna be really hard out there.
You're gonna want to turn your back on me. But I need you to know,
if you don't esteem me above even your own world, your own life,
you, can't even be my disciple. It's a hard call for us.
This is why he talks about, take your cross. If anyone's not
willing to take his cross and follow me, he's not worthy of me.
You know, it's interesting that he would mention the cross this
early in the story. We hear him say, take up your cross, and
we go, yeah, that makes sense, because, you know, he died on the
cross. Well, at this point in the story, he was still years away
from the cross. In fact, there are some scholars who would say they
didn't think Jesus actually said this, because there's no way
he would have talked about the cross this early. It must have been
something Matthew added later, because he mentions the cross so
early in the ministry, to which I think is a bunch of hogwash.
Everybody knew what the cross was back then because they were all
oppressed by the Romans. The Romans loved to show their power
through crucifixion. In fact, if you ever visited Jerusalem, at
least on a weekly basis, you saw crucifixions. And they were very
cruel in how they did it. And one of the things they would do every
time they crucified somebody is they would force him to carry
the cross beam through town on his way to crucifixion. That's what
it means to carry your cross. It's the march of death, as you're
carrying the cross beam on your way over to be crucified. And
it was to show the whole city, don't you mess with Rome. That march
of death is what Jesus is talking about. If you're not willing
to carry the cross beam in front of everybody on your way to
death, then you're not worthy of me. If you're not willing to give
up everything for me, if you esteem even your own life above me,
you're not worthy of me. Persecutions may come, hardship may
come, death may come, but I want you to follow me anyway. He
says, I gotta be real with you. There's some of you right now
going, look, I didn't know if I wanted to follow Jesus or not,
but now I definitely don't want to follow Jesus. Why would anybody
want to follow a guy who says, yeah, I want to go ahead and let
you be hated and persecuted and beat up and maybe even killed
for my sake. Why? Why would anybody do this? There is an answer.
It's because it's worth it. Following Jesus is worth it. This
is why, when Jesus finishes this pep talk, he finishes by telling
them about the reward. The last few verses, you're going to
hear him say three times again the word reward. Let's finish up
the Matthew passage, chapter 10, verses 40 to 42. He says, Whoever
receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him
who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is
a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. And the one who
receives a righteous person, because he is a righteous person
will receive a righteous person's reward. And whoever gives
one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is
a disciple, truly I say to you, he. He will by no means lose
his reward. Reward. Reward. Reward. Three times. Remember I told
you, when he says something three times, you listen. He wanted
to end his talk on the reminder that it's going to be hard,
it's going to get nasty, but it's going to be absolutely worth
it. Those three different levels he's saying the prophet's
reward. If you receive a prophet, you'll receive a prophet's
reward. What is that? It's the life that comes with receiving the
message of that prophet. That prophet delivers truth to you, and
when you live according to his truth, you experience the blessings
of that. Well, what's the reward of a righteous man? Well,
that's the message of the whole gospel. That we were unrighteous
and deserve the wrath of hell. But Jesus Christ was righteous. When
we receive a righteous man, we get his righteousness imputed upon
us. Well, what about the cup of cold water? Well, here's what
it's saying. He's saying, if you do the smallest, the least act
of help for my mission, I'll bless you beyond what you could imagine.
I don't know if you know this, but in ancient Israel, if you've
ever been to Israel, Palestine area, even into Jordan, it's a very
arid, dry place, very little natural water. So the most basic
base level of hospitality everybody was expected to give was
to give a cup of cold water to somebody who was going by like that's
almost like a no brainer, you have to do that. And he's saying,
even if you do the smallest act of mercy toward those who are
about my mission, I will give you an incredible reward. He doesn't
miss a thing we sacrifice for him. A thing we give. It is eternally
worth it. I want you to flip over. We're going to finish up passage
in Mark chapter 10, verses 29 and 30. And I want you to listen
to how Jesus talks about the reward. Mark 10:29, Jesus said, Truly
I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or
sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and
for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now and this
time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children
and lands with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life.
He says, yeah, I may ask you to give up some things, but it's
gonna be worth it. It's gonna be worth it. He says, even in this
life, it's gonna be worth it. Now when he says, I'm gonna give
you lands and mother, sister, brother and all that. This is not
a health, wealth, prosperity, you get whatever you want. What this
is is him saying, you get the church, you have a family, you have
brothers and sisters all over the world, spiritual mothers and
fathers. Whatever the church owns, you own it because you're now
one of the recipients of my inheritance. But most importantly,
you get eternal life. The reward will never cease. Fifth, last
point. I want you to hear. The cost of following Jesus is high,
but the reward is infinitely higher. The reward never stops. Infinitely
higher. Why do you go on the mission? Because it will be worth
it for all eternity. The question is, do you have enough faith
to actually believe it? I'm going to be real honest with you.
Christianity is hard. Following Jesus is hard. If it's
not, then you're not following Jesus. There are far too many preachers
out there, and they drive me loony. I want to scream when I hear
them say that following Jesus will make your life so much easier
and so much better. Because that is not the message King Jesus
taught. He said, you're gonna have persecutions, suffering and
hardship. People are gonna hate you because everybody's swimming
one direction. I want you to swim the other. Things are gonna
happen that you can't quite explain. You're just gonna have to
trust me. It's really hard, but it's worth it. Jesus himself
already taught in the Sermon on the Mount. You know, the gate
is wide and the way is easy. That leads to destruction. And those
who enter by it are many, but the gate is narrow and the way is
hard. That leads to life, and those who find it are few. It's hard,
but it's worth it. Will you trust him that it's worth it? I believe
the Lord is calling us to do some hard things this morning. In
fact, there are three different ways that I think the Lord
is calling us to do something hard. And many of you will need to
respond in one of these three ways. And the only way you're going
to respond is if you believe in Christ. It's going to be worth
it. Here's the first way. I believe there are some of you who
need to do the hard work of repentance this morning. I believe
there are some of you. And as you look at your life and the teaching
Jesus just gave, you've realized that you had an opportunity
to acknowledge Jesus in front of other people and you shrunk back
and you didn't. Maybe it was a friend. Maybe it was somebody you
met at the store. Maybe it was a family member. And you had the
opportunity to talk about Jesus, but you were afraid of what
they would think about you or how they might respond, and you shrunk
back. You were denying him in that moment. And maybe you need to
repent. Jesus says, take it real seriously. Maybe you need to
come down, just bow down and say, forgive me. Maybe. Maybe everybody
was going One direction. And you knew to be a follower of Christ
meant you weren't supposed to drink that drink, wash that thing,
go to that party, do that thing, whatever, make that decision,
tell that lie. But everybody else was doing it, and you just went
with it. Maybe you need to say, oh, God, forgive me. I was supposed
to live different in the world and I didn't esteem you enough to
do it. Maybe there is something that you love more than
Jesus and you need to confess it. I had to get on my knees and
I had to confess to the Lord over and over again whenever I realized
there was something I had affection for greater than Jesus.
Maybe you need to do that. Maybe the Lord is revealing to you
that you love someone or something else more than Jesus. And
you come down here and just bow down and say, forgive me. It's
hard. People might see you bowing down, going, oh, no, that
person's got some problems. And you're saying, I don't care because
the reward is worth it. The lifting of that weight upon me is
worth it. Being in a right relationship with my Father is worth
it. There's a second way. The second hard thing you might need
to do. You might need to come forward and receive prayer for something
going on. Our Father cares for you. He talked about caring about
even the hair on our head, every single one of them numbered.
And if you don't have hair up top, armpit hair somewhere, he knows
every single one of your hairs. He's got it covered. He knows
you. And if he cares about the least important things of all, he
cares about what's going on in your life. But every once in a while,
it can look like God doesn't care. I bet you when those disciples
are being persecuted and being roughed up and being drugged before
kings and governors, it didn't feel like God cared. And he said,
I want you to have faith and still trust me. Maybe some of you
have been praying for something for a long time and the
Father hadn't done anything yet, and you're starting to lose
hope. You're starting to get cynical. Maybe you don't want to
pray because you don't want to open yourself up to disappointment.
What if God doesn't do it? What if. What if it doesn't work
out? I don't know if my faith can handle it. I don't know if I
want to pray. Or maybe my issue just doesn't matter to him.
Sometimes it's hard to slip down and come forward. But you might
need to say it's a hard thing. But it's worth it if my father will
answer. I'm going to keep asking, keep trusting. So if you
need to, in a moment, I'm going to invite you to come. The
last one, the most important one of all. I believe there are some
of you and you need to take seriously what he said. If you acknowledge
me before men, I will acknowledge you before the Father.
This baptistry is on stage because it is the first step of acknowledging
Jesus. When you get baptized, you are acknowledging you are dead
and buried in Christ Jesus. And when you come out of the water,
you are acknowledging you are resurrected in Christ Jesus and he's
now Lord and master of your life. And you need to acknowledge
him here. I just know there are some people. You have been hearing
the gospel. I hear it all the time. And they go, I just don't know
if I'm ready for it yet. I mean, I believe the message is true,
but I'm not ready. Maybe there's a few things I need to get
right in my life. Have some more conversations, do something.
And you are not acknowledging him before men. Let me tell you,
if you're not acknowledging him before men, you're denying him
before men. And he says, if anyone denies me before men, I will
deny him before my Father. And I'm gonna go ahead and tell you,
if you can't even acknowledge him in front of a room of people
who love Jesus, how are you ever gonna acknowledge him outside
the walls of this church building? It starts here. It is time
for you to acknowledge publicly the private faith that you
have in Jesus Christ. There's no better day than today. And I want
to give you a chance to do it. I'm invite you all to stand to your
feet. I'm invite the prayer team to come down here, spread out
and get ready. There's nowhere else you need to be. I promise you,
your father will wait for you to deal with God today. We're going
to sing to him. We're going to seek prayer. If you need to come
bow down in repentance, do it. If you need prayer, do it. If you're
ready to declare Jesus as your savior through baptism, you come
let us know and we'll get you ready. Now's the time.