41 so it's been a great journey and Lord willing we'll finish up mark chapter 8 this morning So if you're not there already, please open your Bibles with me to mark 8 we'll be starting there in verse 34 down through verse 38 in a moment We started this section last week, so we're gonna pick up right where we left off and and Lord willing, finish it. But we started off last week with some questions to think about as we consider the cost of discipleship, the cost of discipleship, which is really the theme of this passage. And the questions I was asking you were, and asking myself, by the way, were do you follow Jesus? And you don't need to answer right now, but as you think about your life and what your lifestyle and your life choices are, Do they reflect a person who follows Jesus? Are you a true disciple of Jesus? And what does the word disciple mean to you? So Jesus really, in this passage, I believe, is talking to those that are already believers in Christ. And he's calling them to a deeper and more meaningful relationship with him. his disciples. So let's go ahead and pray and then we'll get into the outline for today. Father thank you so much for your Word. I thank you that it does indeed help us to understand how not only how to believe in Jesus and how to obtain the gift of eternal life, but then it continues to instruct us after we've believed on how to live the Christian life and how to be a true disciple, a true follower of Jesus. So I pray, Lord, through the message of your word, through the working of the Spirit as he teaches us, Lord, that we would be open. Help us to have ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to understand, Lord. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. All right. So Mark 8. Starting in verse 34, we'll just review a little bit from last week's lesson. So we looked at our outline, which the first point was the desire of following. The desire of following, we see this in Mark 8, 34a, the first part of the verse. It says, when he had called the people to himself with his disciples also, he said to them, whoever desires to come after me. And so we looked at that in depth last week. I won't go through all of that again for time's sake, but this is basically calling those that are believers to follow Christ even more closely and in a more deeper relationship. So we looked at the desire of following. Then we looked at the demands of following. Well, if I'm going to follow Jesus in a deeper way, if I'm gonna know him better, gonna know him more, and be his true disciple. What does that look like? What are the demands that Jesus gave? Well, he gave three demands. We looked at two of them last week. We'll look at the third one this morning. It says, again, Mark 8, 34, when he had called the people to himself with his disciples also, he said to them, whoever desires to come after me, let him, number one, deny himself, Number two, take up his cross, and number three, follow me. And they all kind of go together. These are connected things. I believe denying yourself and taking up your cross equals following Jesus. We wanna look at it specifically. Last week, we looked at denying self and what that meant. We looked at what it means to take up your cross we also talked about what it doesn't mean if you missed the lesson you want to go back it's it's it's on our website and Facebook and YouTube different places you can go back and watch that and catch up with us where we are today and we ended at the end of that second demand and so this morning we're going to go into this third demand of follow me what does it mean to follow Jesus well the word is Again, there's our text, the end of verse 34. So we've spent all last week and the first part of this week on one verse as Jesus broke it down for us. So follow me, he's calling us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. So what does that actually mean to follow? Well, the word means to follow as a disciple. It means to imitate. And so as we think about that, it's a true disciple imitates the one whom he is following. He watches what the teacher is doing, he watches what the master is doing, and then he copies, he mimics, he imitates that activity in his own life. So it's, he's seeing what the person he's following is doing, He's watching that very closely and trying to imitate that in his life. I was looking for a photograph that I had. This is one I found online. I have a photograph somewhere, and Rachel looked for it, and I looked for it. We couldn't find it. It's a photograph of myself mowing our front lawn and my son, Torrey, behind. He'll be 20 in a couple months. But he was much smaller in the picture and I wish I could have found it to show you. But as I was pushing our actual lawnmower, he was behind me like this little girl is doing with her dad with his toy lawnmower mowing the lawn with dad. And it's a really cute picture that my wife took. But I love this picture because I think it captures the idea of of imitating as a disciple. You notice that as the dad is walking, notice where his daughter is. She's behind him, right? She's not out in front. She's also going in the same direction as her dad. She's imitating his direction, and she's staying behind so she can follow. She's also imitating what he's doing. He's got his lawnmower, he's mowing his lawn, and she's got her toy lawnmower, and in her imagination, she's also mowing the lawn. Of course, we know that little pink and purple lawnmower is not doing anything to the grass. And that's kind of where the analogy breaks down because we as followers of Christ are called to actually do things that actually matter in time-space. We're called to actually take action and imitate Christ in a real way that actually makes a real difference for Christ as we imitate, as we follow Him. And so to be a disciple of Jesus means to imitate Jesus, to imitate the way he lived, how he responded to God's will and to God's word. Jesus always had the right response to God's will. He always had the right response to God's word. Now as we think about the context in which verse 34 is found, Go back to verse 31. This is what he had just said to his disciples. He began, it was the first time they were hearing this. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. Jesus knew what his mission was. He knew his mission was the cross. and he was always focused on the cross. Everything he did, he did with the cross in mind. He knew his time was short. He had to keep moving, he had to keep obeying the Father, keep following what the Father's will was according to the Father's word. Luke 9, 51, the excellent example of Jesus' focus. Now it came to pass when the time had come for him to be received up, that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem." Wait, Jerusalem, that's where all the guys are that want to kill you? Yes. That's where your crucifixion, your six illegal trials, and your horrible beating, and scourging, and mocking, and Your denial is going to happen there. The denial of Peter. The betrayal of Judas is going to happen there. And they're going to take you just outside the city walls, and they're going to nail you to a cross, and you're going to die there. Yes. And you still want to go there. Yes. I do. That's Jesus' focus. He was always focused and responding to God's will and to God's word. Remember in the garden when Peter draws his sword and cuts the ear off the servant of the high priest? Jesus rebukes this action. Do you not think that I, or do you think that I cannot now pray to my father and he will provide me with more than 12 legions of angels? Thousands upon thousands of angels were at his beck and call. but he reserved that and put it aside. He put aside that power and that right. How then could the scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen thus? Peter, you're getting in the way of the word of God, you're getting in the way of the will of God. That was his focus. So as we think about what does it mean to follow Jesus, it means that we take on that same mindset. that we're always responding, striving to. Of course, we don't always do it perfectly because we're still sinners in the sense of we've been forgiven, we've been redeemed, but we still have a sin nature. So we don't do it perfectly, but the call is to strive to always respond to the will of God, the word of God. By the way, those are one and the same for us. We don't have God giving us any new revelation outside of this Bible that we hold. So as we respond to that properly, we are following Jesus. This is what it means to follow him, to face whatever the will of God is with resolve and surrender. That's what he was doing here. I'm surrendered to the Father, Peter. There's something greater at work here. I'm doing what the Father wants me to do. And he had started teaching them this concept back in Mark 8.31. And now in the garden, he's still teaching them this. It's a willingness to give up control, to relinquish our autonomy that we cling so tightly to. It's a willing surrender of our entire lives to Christ. It's the willingness to face death, which we talked about with carrying the cross, bearing the cross, a symbol of death. willing to lose everything for Jesus' sake, imitating Jesus all the way, even if it means the death of the cross. A true disciple of Jesus must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow him. That's our calling as Christians. After we put our faith in Christ and we believe in him, our next step is to follow him in this true discipleship. So that brings us now to the final section of the passage. We looked at the first one and most of the second one last week. We finished up those demands, if you will, of discipleship. Now we come to this dilemma. It's really not a dilemma, it just sounds like one on the surface. So we're gonna walk through the text. The dilemma of following found in verses 35 through 38. Look with me at Mark 8.35. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it. We have already established that Jesus is speaking to Christians in this whole passage. He's speaking to the disciples that believe on him already. And that's very important to keep in mind as we walk through these next few verses. Because when we read a statement like this, it sounds maybe on the surface like Jesus is giving a prerequisite for eternal life, besides believing in him. Oh, now I've got to lose my life. Is that part of what the prerequisites are for eternal life? We would say no. The prerequisites, there's only one, singular, faith in Christ. That's what God is looking for, faith in Jesus. Because we know that eternal life is a free gift from God. And we know that gifts are given, they're not earned, they're not purchased, they're freely given So this passage then, by process of elimination, which sometimes good Bible study is figuring out what a verse or a passage is not saying, so then you can move on to understand what it is saying. And so we're gonna examine the words carefully, try to gain a true understanding of this, and come to a correct conclusion by the end. Look again with me. and compare this verse to verse 34. Notice the phrasing, the wording is similar. In verse 34, it was whoever desires to come after me. Verse 35, whoever desires to save his life will lose it. Jesus went on in verse 34 to describe what a true disciple of Jesus looked like, one who denied himself, that's the opposite of saving oneself. Took up a cross, the symbol of death, and followed or mimicked Jesus. Verse 34 was all about death to self, willingness to die for the cause of Christ. This statement in verse 35 gives us the opposite mindset. This describes someone who is avoiding death at all costs, and Christ is not their focus. This believer has not denied himself, has not taken up his cross, is not following Jesus. He's trying to be in control of his life. The desire to save one's life is to refuse discipleship. That's what he's equating it with. Peter's denial in the courtyard is a perfect example of this kind of a Christian. Peter was trying to save his skin, wasn't he? Oh, I don't wanna have anything to do with that man. Don't associate me with Jesus. Don't associate me with him. I mean, if that's what they're doing to Jesus, what are they going to do with me? I better deny him, even though I do know him, I do believe in him, I better deny him or I might be next. Peter was not a disciple in this moment. We call him a disciple of Christ because it kind of goes with his identity. But in this moment, Mark 14, 71, then he began to curse and swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak. Was Peter being a disciple here? Was Jesus the Lord of his life in this moment? No, he wasn't. He was distancing himself from Christ. He was cherishing and trying to preserve, trying to save his own personal life. And that was more important in this moment than serving God. Well, did Peter ever recover from this? Yes. Go with me to Acts chapter four. Let's look at the contrast. Now, in both cases, Peter is a believer in Jesus. Say, well, how do you know Peter was a believer when he denied Christ? Go and read the text, and I don't have it in front of me, the text in John in the upper room. When Jesus, it's in John 14 I think, I might be misquoting, they're in the upper room discourse, and Jesus comes to Peter to wash his feet. And first Peter denies, I don't want anything to do with that. Well then Peter, you're not even connected with me. He says, well then wash my whole body. Jesus says no. He who has been cleansed needs only to have his feet washed. It was symbolic of the fact that he was claiming, Jesus was saying there, Peter, you believe in me. I'm giving you a symbol of the fact that you need to have your sins cleansed, if you will, daily. Not to have eternal life, but to have fellowship with me. And so we believe that Peter was a Christian at the point of this, he wasn't called a Christian yet, but he was a believer in Christ, yet he began to curse, and this is the final of the three denials, and swear that he did not know this man. Acts four. I gotta get there now. Acts four, starting in verse number one. Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. However, many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5,000. And it came to pass on the next day that their rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem." It's the same group that was interrogating Jesus when Peter made his denial. Same people, keep that in mind. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have you done this? Referring to the healing of the man at the gate. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well? Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved." This is not the same Peter that we read about in Mark 14, 71. Both times, he was a believer in Christ, but in the courtyard, he denied. In the council, he proclaimed Christ boldly. Peter had finally decided to take up his cross, deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Christ. boldly proclaiming to the same men that he was so afraid of that he brought down curses on himself to distance himself from Christ, is now embracing Jesus. He's very clear, isn't he? Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Yes, that's the Jesus I'm proclaiming to you. Such boldness, such boldness. So Peter did indeed recover. And that gives us hope. We have hope because of this. We can also recover. When we choose to deny, we can then later choose to be a true disciple. If we keep reading in Acts, I'll just pull up a couple more verses here, Acts 5.29. they continue to have this discourse and they're told not to preach in the name of Jesus, Peter and the other Apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. He was making his stand. Later they were beaten. At the end of this, they were actually beaten, physically abused by this council. And what was their response? Verse 40 of Acts 5, and they agreed with them. And when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, They commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go. And what was their response? So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. When we talked about what it means to take up our cross, we talked about this idea of rejoicing, this delighting, because Jesus, for the joy set before Him, endured the shame, endured the cross. And so Peter is now living out what Jesus had called him to back in Mark 8, 34 through 38. Peter had now truly denied himself. He wasn't trying to save his skin anymore. He wasn't trying to preserve his life and his human strength. He had taken up his cross, he had followed Jesus, and now he delighted that he was counted worthy to suffer. When we suffer for Christ, it is our privilege. That's something the unbelieving world does not understand. Why did they rejoice? Because they had found their life. They had found their true meaning. They had found their true purpose. They were living out exactly what God wanted them to live out. They had found their true purpose and meaning in life, their true identity, anchored in Christ and in the cross and in his suffering, and they were living that out. So they could feel no other feeling, if you will. They could have no other response but rejoicing. They were finally living the life that they were called to live. And I can't help but think and wonder if they were thinking about these times where Jesus had called to them and said, take up your cross and follow me. Yes, we're getting it, we're doing it. Of course they rejoiced. In the courtyard, Peter had tried to save his life and had lost. Remember his response? He went out and wept bitterly, because he realized he had denied his own Lord. That happened in the courtyard, but in the council, Peter had given up his life and he had found it. He had found the true meaning and purpose of living the Christian life. Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospels will save it." Notice there's a cause and effect. Desiring to save one's life, that's living for self, equals losing one's life. Missing out on all the meaning and purpose and identity that Christ has for us on this earth. That's desiring to save. Losing one's life for the sake of Jesus in the gospel, that's living for Christ as a true disciple. That equals saving or finding one's life. When we desire to save our own skin, to live for this world and all that it has to offer, we lose. Well, we might feel like we're winning, but we're missing it, we're missing the whole purpose, and we keep coming up empty-handed when we pursue and expect things of this world to satisfy us like Christ. But when we're sold out for Jesus, we're living for Him, for the sake of the gospel, we win. We grasp true life. What does it mean in this verse to save one's life? Notice, whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel will save it. Well, a couple things to remember. We know there is only one Savior from sin, amen? Who is that? Jesus Christ is the Savior, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. He is the only, the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but by Him. He is the only Savior. So when we're talking here, and the wording's a little cryptic, but it says whoever loses his life for my gospel will save it. It puts whoever in a position of some kind of savior. And so we know, based on the fact that only Jesus saves, that this kind of saving here cannot be saving from hell, gaining eternal life, saving from the penalty of our sin, because only Jesus can save those things. So what kind of saving is Jesus talking about here? I want to show you another passage. It's not a parallel passage. So we've looked at some of those where especially the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, They have a lot of parallel passages. Sometimes John does too, but they're a record of the same exact event. Okay, that's a parallel passage. I wanna take you to a different passage. It's out of the Gospel of Matthew, but it's the same teaching. And I want you to notice the wording that Jesus uses here. And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Notice. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will what? Find it. He used save it in Mark, find it here in Matthew 10, 38 and 39. So the kind of saving that Jesus is teaching in our passage in Mark 8 is really about finding, discovering, grasping hold of. So you lose to find Jesus that's backwards. Yes it is. It's backwards. Jesus economy his spiritual economy is backwards of this world system. This world's view the world says take care of number one and everything will be better. In other words live to avoid death at all costs. Strive to protect yourself and And while certainly there's practical things of self-preservation that we would adhere to, the idea is that I can be my everything. I'm satisfied in me and what I can gain and what I can do. But Jesus says the opposite. He says in order to find true life, die to self. Losing means gaining. Back to our text, Mark 8.36. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? The word soul here is the same word used in the previous verse that's translated life in this translation. And I believe life is really potentially a better word there. So gaining the whole world equals losing one's life. Losing one's life for the sake of Jesus and the gospel equals saving one's life. Or we might say finding, as Jesus did in Matthew 10. When we seek to gain the whole world, we are laying up treasure for ourselves on earth as a means of ultimate fulfillment. If gaining the whole world is all I'm worried about, and my focus is off of Christ and on the physical, and I'm consumed with it. And I'm not worried about serving Christ anymore, because I'm consumed with pursuing the physical things of this life, the temporary things. I am losing, I am missing out on all the things that God has for me to do. Jesus warned us about this in Matthew 6, 19 and 20, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, where thieves do not break in and steal. Notice something, this is not teaching, this is not teaching, okay, a little disclaimer, it's not that careful, responsible, wealth management, investing, saving money, that's good stewardship. He's not teaching against that. It's not wrong to have, I mean, the things we have are from God anyway, and so if we're blessed by God in a financial way, in a physical way, that's a blessing from him, and he gets the praise for it, and he expects us to steward that well. That's not the issue here. The problem is not good stewardship, The problem comes when we believe that this world's treasure will satisfy, that is the ultimate goal, that it will satisfy us in ways that only God can. In other words, we make money or treasures or this world our idol. Jesus desires for us to live this life to the fullest in a spiritual sense and be able to fully embrace the life that he has for us to live. This is a call to service as disciples of Christ, to serve him and not serve ourselves. We are to live this life with eternity in view, with an eternal value system, that our decisions are based on. He continues on, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul, life? What will a man give in exchange for his soul or life? These are rhetorical questions. They have an expected answer. What will a man gain by living for himself? What will he profit If he gains the whole world and loses his own soul, his own life, his own purpose, the expected answer is nothing. There's nothing to be gained. He will lose out. We're gonna show some other passages in a moment that I believe show that. Or what will a man give in exchange? What will a man give up, in other words? What will he lose? exchange for his life, this life he's trying to cling to. The answer to this question is everything. He'll give up everything. Now he'll have his eternal life. I'll show you another passage in a moment where I believe that that's true, but he will miss out on on what God has for him to do in this life, and he will miss out in the rewards in the next life that we are supposed to be building up. Jesus said, lay up treasure in heaven. We're supposed to be building treasure there. That's our call. To do anything else is to disobey that calling. So our true purpose, our true passion in life, where we can delight even in suffering, it's like, man, how can people do that? Because they know that's what they're supposed to be doing. When you know what you're supposed to be doing and you're doing it, it is the greatest sense of fulfillment in this world, to know this is what God has for me and I'm doing it. Everything changes, everything looks different when we look at it with eternity in view. Go with me to 1 Corinthians 3 for a moment. I wanna expand on this idea of the idea of rewards and what that looks like in eternity, in the next phase of our eternal life, if you will. 1 Corinthians 3, I'm gonna start reading in verse 10. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 10. According to the grace of God, which was given me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another builds on it, but let each one take heed how he builds on it. Verse 11, for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. That's where we've got to understand this is for believers. If you don't believe in Jesus, everything that follows what I'm about to read out of 1 Corinthians 3 does not apply to you. And I don't believe the passage that we're studying here in Mark 8 applies to you either. This is for believers that have a foundation of faith in Christ. Verse 12, and we're gonna go up from there. The foundation is Christ. What about the Christian life and how's that supposed to look? Verse 12, now if anyone builds on this foundation, Jesus Christ, with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw. So you see the difference, gold, silver, precious stones over here, wood, hay, and straw over here. There's the contrast. Each one's work will become clear, for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on the foundation of Christ, so again, believers, if anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. That's what Paul is getting our eyes up. We're supposed to be trying to gain heavenly rewards. And I think the attitude of, well, we shouldn't do it for the reward. Why? It's what we're called to do, right here. We're called to try to earn heavenly rewards, not earthly. So yeah, I agree, we shouldn't be pompous and self-inflated that we want to earn rewards here on earth, but we need to be passionate about receiving rewards in heaven. Verse 15, If anyone's work is burned, in other words, if it's the wood hand straw, he will suffer loss. What will a man give in exchange for his soul? He's gonna lose. He's gonna lose. He will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Yes, he will have eternal life in heaven because of the blood of Christ and the faith in Christ that he has placed in him. His eternal security is indeed eternal security, okay? But he will suffer loss. We must grasp this idea of the doctrine of eternal rewards, so important. the life of a Christian, but often overlooked. We celebrate the gospel and we celebrate our eternal life, and we should be celebrating those things. But what about, I mean, He doesn't save us and just take us to heaven, or we wouldn't still be here. So there must be purpose and meaning in this life. right now that God is calling us to live in order to receive rewards in the next life. And I believe that's what was in Jesus' mind, and that's his heart of teaching here in this passage of Mark 8. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. I believe that's where Jesus is going in this last verse, Mark 8, 38. For whoever is ashamed of me, in my words, in this adulterous, sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. I don't remember the passage, but in one of the descriptions of Peter's denial in the courtyard, it might be in Luke, when Peter makes that third denial and the rooster crows, Jesus turns and his eyes meet Peter's eyes and they gaze at each other for a moment. You remember that passage? Can you imagine the shame in Peter's heart? He's the one that said, I will die for you. I'll swing a sword for you. in the garden, but in the courtyard, I'm gonna call down curses that I even know you. And that rooster crows, and Jesus turns and looks at him, and the feeling of shame must have just gripped Peter's heart as he ran out and sobbed in bitter agony of the shame of Christ. Now there's some eschatological truth in this verse. Jesus here, we're looking forward to the rapture. But Jesus here is not speaking of the rapture of the church. If you look at the wording, and I'll show you a couple verses as we conclude, he's really referencing his second coming when he comes back down on earth to establish his millennial kingdom. Notice some of the wording, the son of man, the glory of his Father, and the presence of the holy angels. Look with me, Daniel 7.13, I was watching in the night visions. Behold, one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. So that's the idea of the Son of Man. The Ancient of Days is the Father, God the Father, and his glory. We'll get there eventually, but Mark 13, the Olivet Discourse. Jesus again, speaking of his second coming, not the rapture, then they will see the Son of Man, there's that phrase, coming in the clouds with great power and glory, and he will send his angels and gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven. The rapture, the angels aren't gathering, we're just caught up. The second coming is the gathering, those tribulation saints. Go back to our text here. Forever is ashamed of me in my words and this adulterous and sinful generation of him the son of man also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angel. So we must remember Jesus is speaking to a largely Jewish audience. And the Jewish prophetic timeline was still in play. It had not been paused yet for the mystery of the church age to begin. That would happen less than or almost 40 years after this when the second temple was destroyed in 70 AD. That's when the prophetic, the Jewish prophetic timeline was paused. But it hadn't happened yet. So the prophetic timeline for Israel was still in play. So we would expect that Jesus would be speaking and teaching truth regarding that, not something regarding the mystery of the church age. So we come to that conclusion and say, well, what does this have to do with us? Let's make some applications as we close. I want you to think about the idea of shame. Crucifixion was not only physical painful, it was an experience of total shame for the condemned. They were brutally beaten, forced to carry their execution device, stripped naked, hung up high, bare, and exposed for all to see. It was complete and total torture and shame. They were mocked, spat upon. The soldiers did other very gross things to them when they would beat them. That's the shame Jesus endured for us. Now we looked at this verse last week when we talked about the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. But notice, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. As disciples of Christ, we are to imitate him. We already covered that. We're to mimic him. And so to despise the shame here means that Jesus disregarded it. It means to disregard the shame, to continue forward despite the shame for the joy that was set before Him. God has set joy before us. And He's calling us to be willing to despise the shame that we might face, to disregard the shame for the joy of serving Him. And I think that sometimes may be a reason that keeps us from denying ourself, taking up our cross and following Him, because we're so concerned and we refuse to do it because we're like, oh, I'm ashamed of Jesus and His words. That's what we're actually saying. We might say it different words. We're saying, I'm ashamed of Jesus and his worth. I don't want to know, I don't want anyone to know I'm a believer. That's exactly what Peter was doing that evening in the courtyard. He was ashamed of Christ. He was not despising the shame. He was letting the shame dictate how he would live. Thankfully, Peter would later write these words. 1 Peter 4.13, he says, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings. that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. He wrote this after the events that we read out of Acts 4 and 5 when he was beaten and rejoiced because of it. I don't know if he was thinking about that at this time. The Holy Spirit was inspiring this, of course. But he lived it. And then God inspired him to write it. And he's calling us to do the same. When we partake of Christ's sufferings, that's losing our life so that we might gain it. It's losing our life so that we might find it again. And when we stand before Him someday, and the gold and silver and precious stones, the works that we do in this life that honor Him for the right motive, the right purpose, and they survive, they pass the fire test, if you will, We get that reward that then we can take and present to Christ to worship Him. We want to stand before Him someday with exceeding joy, not suffering loss like we read out of 1 Corinthians 3. We want to stand before Him with exceeding joy. Let us be true disciples of Christ, willing to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him, even if it means suffering for His sake. This final thought. before we close. Salvation is free. I'm so glad, eternally glad. Salvation is free. Discipleship is costly, but the rewards are priceless. Let's keep that in our minds as we go out this week. Father, thank you again for your word. I thank you, Lord, that you save us freely. Lord, we cannot earn it, purchase it, or do anything to deserve it, Lord. but by the blood of Christ and our faith in him. And so we thank you, Father, that you've given us a way to have eternal life. But Lord, you left us here after we believed, so you must have more work for us to do. And I believe every person sitting here in the room or watching online, including myself, all of us, Lord, we have a purpose, we have a meaning, we have a life to live. Lord, are we missing it? Would you please show us that? Lord, are we seeking to save our lives? Are we seeking to grasp and grope for our own existence, thinking that we should be the ones, we're the ultimate? Lord, you are. Help us to live that way. Father, help us to lay up treasure in heaven so that we can stand before you one day with exceeding joy. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you guys so much for being here. Have a great day.