Your Bibles to Mark chapter 1 please. Mark chapter 1. We are going to continue our exposition of Mark. It would have been preached last week but we had only one service so we preached the Genesis sermon. It would have been preached the second service and now we will preach the Mark sermon. It would have been preached the first service. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Our Father, we thank you, Lord, for the time we have now to open up your word and examine the truth that it reveals to us. We thank you for the gospel that you've given us, Father, a four-part gospel, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, with each explaining a particular aspect and character of Christ's life. And we're thankful for this short gospel that you've given us of Mark, which explains much about Christ and his kingdom and his person and his work, and we pray Lord that as we examine these words and these verses and chapters that you would reveal to us what it is you would have this church know about Christ, that you would open our eyes and give us eyes to see and ears to hear, Father, that your spirit would reveal to us the deep things of God that you would show us, things that no eye can see or no ear can hear, that we might be enlightened in our heart and in our mind, that we would know your will, Father, that we would understand these deep mysteries that you've revealed to those who you love and those who submit themselves to you. So let this not simply be an academic exercise, Lord, but let it be one where the Spirit works upon our hearts and our minds in a mighty way to reveal great and mighty things to your people to give us the power, the grace, and the strength that we need to live a life pleasing and honorable to you we ask father if there are any here who do not know Christ who are still strangers to his covenants and his grace that they would hear of the greatness of Christ they would see their sin Lord and one who offers a free and full forgiveness and if they would come to believe in him and put their their life at his feet and follow him Lord we pray these things now in our blessed Savior's name Amen. Last month in our exposition of the Gospel of Mark, we finally got to Jesus' teaching on the Gospel in verses 14-15. Jesus introduces the Gospel with these words, The time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the Gospel. We noted that according to Christ, the Gospel was couched in the language of the Kingdom of God. The arrival of this kingdom was in fact the arrival of the gospel itself. We spend a great deal of time going through the Old Testament and seeing the hope of Israel and how it was tied to God's coming to the earth and establishing this kingdom. He would come and do two things when He came. First, He would judge and subdue the nations. And second, He would deliver His people, Israel, from their servitude to the nations and vindicate them in the eyes of all the world. They would be the center of God's new kingdom. And as they now served the nations, those same nations would now serve the people of Israel. God would exalt them above the nations. And those that now served, or they served, and those that subjected them to tyranny, now the Jews would rule over those people. When the Kingdom of God came, there would be a radical change in the world order. The God who now rules Heaven would rule the same way on Earth that He now rules in Heaven. This was a great Jewish hope, and it is expressed perfectly in the Lord's Prayer, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. That was the hope of every Jew. It's what He longed for in His heart. That the Lord would come to the Earth, and as King, He would establish his kingdom in such a way that his will on earth in heaven would be the same that as he ruled in heaven, he would now rule on the earth. We also noted how the preamble of Mark's gospel, verses 2-13, fit into the story of this gospel and the coming of the kingdom. What it tells us is that Jesus is the one who will come and usher in God's kingdom. Now what's astounding about this, about the preamble, verses 2-13, is that if you read the Old Testament quotes or allusions that are given here, it speaks either of Jehovah, the Lord God of Israel, or His Messiah. For example, the quote in Isaiah 40 is a reference to the Lord coming for His people by telling them that He is going to comfort them. That the mountains are to be made low, the valleys are to be raised up, the deserts are scraped flat to prepare the way of this great coming Lord. That the Lord, the one who measures the waters in the hollow of His hand, the one who marks off the heavens by His arm or the span of His arm, who counts all the dust of the earth, who weighs the mountains in a scale, that this Lord is coming to gather up His people like sheep. who will gather them as lambs and carry them in His bosom. When we read the Old Testament and read that this is fulfilled in Christ, what this is saying is that Jesus is the one who is going to fulfill those promises given in the Old Testament. In fact, that He is the Lord God who was prophesied in the Old Testament is coming. The reference of John the Baptist, of Jesus being the one who will baptize you in the Spirit, is referring to the work of the Lord God in sending His mighty Spirit to His people to give them life. The same God that breathes on that dead army in Ezekiel, who gives them life, who raises them from the dead. That same God is now Jesus coming to give the Spirit to His people that they may rise again from the dead and serve the living God. All these references in the Old Testament refer to Jehovah, the Lord Israel's great and mighty God, but in Mark's prologue they are all applied to whom? Jesus. Implying that the early church saw Jesus as the same Lord and God in the Old Testament. We also observe the references to Him being the Messiah, the great King referred to in Psalm 2, who the Lord calls His beloved Son. with whom He is well pleased, who has received the nations as an inheritance. And now as His inheritance, He demands that those same nations fall down and worship Him and give Him homage. Or these nations will suffer the rod of His wrath. But also this gracious King will give refuge to those who come to Him and trust in Him. And through his baptism, Jesus was endowed with the Spirit, marking him as the blessed Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one who would come and do God's will. What the Prayerable does for us in a wonderful way, is it unites the Lord God of the Old Testament and the Messiah into one single person, and that is Jesus Christ. Here is the Lord your God, here is the Messiah now standing before you, ushering in, bringing in that kingdom that He promised to establish. This is not some viceroy or representative of God who will do the Lord's will. He comes with all the authority, all the power, all the right of God Himself. Why? Because He is God Himself, the God of heaven and earth. And in his preamble, it is this initial announcement of the arrival of the Kingdom, Jesus is stating the theme of the Gospel of Mark. Everything in Mark records for us in his Gospel is teaching us something about the Kingdom of God. Everything that we're going to learn and study in Mark's Gospel is designed to do one thing, to tell us something about this Kingdom that Jesus is establishing. That's the whole purpose of Mark's Gospel. is to show us something about this kingdom. He's either revealing new truths about this kingdom that were not taught or not taught clearly in the Old Testament that were difficult to understand. Or he's affirming clear teaching about the kingdom. He's oftentimes correcting Jewish misconceptions about the kingdom. Or Jesus is demonstrating the fact that the kingdom has arrived. The primary purpose of the miracles is to demonstrate that the power of the kingdom is actually here present among you, meaning that the kingdom itself is here among you. Or Mark is showing how Jesus establishes or inaugurates this kingdom. This would be the resurrection of the cross demonstrating that Jesus has in fact set up and established this kingdom. So this is what the rest of the Gospel Mark does for us. It teaches us about the kingdom of God demonstrating or proving its arrival or it shows us how this kingdom is being established and inaugurated. Now, in his scheme of ushering in this kingdom, where does Jesus begin? After announcing the arrival of God's kingdom, and graciously inviting all those who would repent and believe to come into that kingdom, what is the first act that Jesus does in setting up His kingdom? Is He going to teach us about the kingdom, or is He going to do something to establish it, or bring that kingdom about? And we're going to see what He does today, is He actually does both. He takes the first steps to establish this kingdom, as well as teaching us something very important about the nature of this kingdom that he's come to start. Let's go ahead and read what he's going to do. Turn to Mark chapter one. Verse 16, this is right after the announcement of the kingdom. It says in verse 15, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the gospel. And as he was going along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Going on a little further he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother who were also in a boat mending the nets. Immediately he called to them and they left their father Zebedee in a boat with the hired servants and went away and followed him. Now you would expect when somebody starts a kingdom, especially when Christ comes, when God comes to set up his kingdom, that there would be some great event of cosmic or at least national proportions. Here is the long-awaited promise. The Messiah is here. The great visitation of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords has arrived. In the Old Testament, when the Lord comes to earth, we find these great earth-shattering events happening. We find the moon turning red, the sun being blotted out, stars actually falling from the sky. Those are things that are going to occur when the Lord comes to the earth. We see people struck with fear to the extent that they actually crawl into caves or holes in the ground and pray for those mountains to come falling down upon them. That's the fear that the coming of the Lord invokes in the unbelievers' hearts. Or when earthly kings announced the beginning of their reign, they did it with much fanfare. There was impressive shows of pomp and pageantry meant to impress their friends as well as intimidate their enemies. However, Jesus does something very, very different. Alone, he wanders by the sea and asks some common laborers to accompany him on his mission. What Jesus is doing here is telling us that his kingdom is not going to confirm to conventional standards of importance. In other words, he's saying here, do not expect my kingdom to be like the other kingdoms that you see in this world. Now, Jesus will show the same truth in many ways throughout the Gospel of Mark. Nevertheless, it is important to note that He immediately prepares the people not to expect a conventional kingdom like you would see in the world. My kingdom is going to be different from what you see on this earth. And he demonstrates that difference by the way that he chooses his first subjects for that kingdom. He's also going to show us that the values of his kingdoms will be far different from the values of the kingdoms of this world. Now, the rest of Mark, as we said, will show us what is different in more specific ways between the Kingdom of God and the world. But the way Jesus chooses to begin His Kingdom by quietly choosing His first disciples sets the pace. It lets us know that something is going to be different about what Jesus is doing. Now, there are many details in this story that we want to flesh out and apply, but let's just quickly walk through what happens here and give some background information about what Jesus is doing. First, he calls two brothers, Simon and Andrew. He finds them casting a net by the sea. The word for casting here means to throw around, which means most likely they had a big, large, round net that they would take and ball up and throw out into the water. And that net would have a rock or metal bar sewn into the edges, and it would go out and form a circle, land in the water, and then fall down to the surf, to the bottom of the water. Then they had a string that they would simply pull in, and that would trap all of the fish in the net. These fishermen would slowly pull the net in by a specially placed string that would bring the fish with it. Since there is no boat mentioned here, they were probably doing this from the shore. They were probably very poor men, for wealthier fishermen would have had a boat where many more fish could have been caught. Jesus calls these men and they simply come. The next disciples called are James and John, who are also brothers. James and John are with their father, and it says they are mending nets. Now, James and John probably would have been wealthier than Andrew and Simon for the following reasons. First, they had a boat. Boats were not cheap in those days. They were rather expensive, but if you had one, you could catch many more fish, a greater variety of fish, and larger fish, making their vocation far more profitable. Secondly, the reason it indicates they are wealthy is that they had hired servants. It says they left the father in his boat who was with the hired servants. And having hired servants meant being far more wealthy and successful. This does away with the idea that all the disciples were poor uneducated men who Jesus called out from the grinding poverty of the ancient world. They were not fabulously wealthy, but neither were they by no means poor. And some of them would have been considered rather well-to-do. We also know some things about where Jesus is right now, the Sea of Galilee. It was a beautiful freshwater lake supplied by the upper Jordan River. It was about 700 feet below sea level. It was 14 miles long and 6 miles wide. In the scripture, it's often called the Lake of Gennesaret. It's also called the Lake of Tiberias. In the Old Testament we see it's called the Lake of Kinneret. The word Kinneret here in Hebrew is the word for harp. And if you look at the C on a map, it's shaped sort of like a harp would be shaped. So the Jews called it the Sea of Kinneret, meaning the sea that looks like a harp. And one final point, most of Jesus' teaching and miracles were performed in this area. So it was a favorite place for Jesus, and he spent much time there with his disciples. Now, these are simply observations that we can take or leave. They may spot some interest, but they're simply there as part of the history and sociology of this text. Again, facts drawn from the text by studying what we know about the history and society in which Jesus and his disciples lived. Now, there are three aspects of this call to discipleship that I want to focus this sermon on. Three different aspects of this call that I think will be beneficial for us to understand. First and foremost, Jesus is the unqualified subject of this call. As he passes along the shore, he summons two pairs of brothers with these words, Come, follow me. That's all he says. Come, follow me. And what do they do? They drop what they're doing and go and follow Jesus. Now this form of call was far different from any other types of calls that existed in the ancient world. And there were basically two types of calls in the ancient world to religious purposes. First were those of the rabbi, and second were those of the prophets. The call of the rabbi was far different from what Jesus was doing, because a rabbinic school, the students sought out the rabbi. You had all these different rabbinic schools, sort of like we have schools today. and a person would look at the schools and decide, well, which school do I want to go to? Do I want to go to this rabbi's school, or that rabbi's school, or this rabbi's school? And you would make a decision as to which one you wanted to attend. And then normally there was some test you would take to see how much of the Torah that you know. And if you knew enough, they would accept you into that school and you would become a disciple of that rabbi as he explained to you and taught you the Torah. Now, Jesus did not do this. These disciples did not seek out Jesus. He went and sought them out. They didn't apply to Him or appeal to Him and say, let me come follow you. He came to them and said, follow me. And He didn't point them to the Torah. He pointed them to Himself. There's also a prophetic school where people went to learn how to be prophets. We can say that Jesus' call is much closer to that of a prophetic call than a rabbinic call, but it is still much different and the similarities are simply outward. The difference in the prophetic call is that the prophet did not call you to follow himself, but he called you to follow God. They were to point beyond themselves to God, the Holy One of Israel. But Jesus does not do that. He does not point to someone beyond himself. Instead, who does he point to? He does not say, follow God or follow Jehovah. He says, follow me. He's not pointing to somebody else. He says, I am the one that you are to follow. Drop what you're doing and follow me. And when he said those words, what did they do? They dropped everything and follow him. There's also a more of a radical nature to this call than there was in the call of a prophet. Remember when Elijah called Elisha. He permits him to go back and say goodbye to his father. And then Elisha offers a sacrifice. He takes his oxen and burns them as a sacrifice. But Jesus has none of this. He calls them. They hear. They drop their nests, leave their boats and their parents and go. No turning back. He'll say goodbye to mom, he'll sacrifice, drop everything and go follow him. So far more radical nature to the call of Christ than there was to the call of a prophet. Notice as well that the call is rooted in the authority of Christ and Christ alone. His knock call is based on the Torah, in the name of God, but on His authority, it is, come and follow me. Mark, there's no evidence that these men were formally acquainted with Christ before this call. This is the first time they'd ever heard this man's voice. Jesus does not argue with them. He doesn't debate with them. He does not perform some miracle to draw them. There's no moral persuasion. He simply speaks. They hear. They come. And they follow. Note as well that there are no qualifications that they had to perform. Remember, if you were signing up or going to a rabbinic school or trying to get accepted into one, you would have to take some test to show you had a certain degree of knowledge or learning before you could walk into that school. Like today, we take our SAT test or ACT test to prove that we have enough knowledge to go into these places of learning and benefit from them. But Jesus has none of that. He doesn't test them. He doesn't question them. He simply speaks. He calls. They drop everything and they follow. All that they had to learn, they would learn from Him after they became His disciples. So that's the first characteristic of the call of disciples. That they are called to the Jesus and Jesus alone. They are not called to a school of thought. They are not called to the Torah. They do not come because of some debate. They do not see a great miracle and then come. They do not come because Jesus begs them to come. They come because Jesus calls them, and in His call they hear the authority of God Himself, because by following Him, they are indeed following the Lord Himself. This is why Jesus calls them to Himself. Because he is God, the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and by calling them to himself, he's calling them to follow God. This is the first characteristic of his call. It is based on the authority of Christ and Christ alone. The second characteristic of this call is that it is a call to service. He says, follow me. He says, and I will make you fishers of men. In other words, they're calling them to do something, to participate in some specific activity, not simply just to follow him around his whole life and get gleaning from his teaching and simply be happy with that. No, Jesus is calling them to serve in a particular way in this kingdom, and that service is to be fishers of men. There is a goal, a purpose in following Jesus, and that is to serve him by becoming fishers of men. There are no longer fishermen who cast their nets into the sea. Instead, they would cast their nets into the world and catch men. Their catch was not for the market or for the table, but their catch was for the benefit. The harvest was for the kingdom of God that they were now serving. This requires a change in perspective. They would have to have their minds set on this kingdom of God and not on the kingdom of the world. Their main interest in this life is not their self, their own happiness, their own prosperity, but their main concern now is God and His kingdom. A kingdom that was now at hand, ready to be ushered in. So remember, the call to Jesus was a call to serve. Not a free ticket to heaven. Not a peaceful, stress-free life. It was anything but that. It was a call to serve Jesus by gathering into His kingdom people who also will serve this kingdom. So that is the second characteristic of this call. It was a call to service. To serve Jesus by becoming fishers of men. Now, the third and final aspect of this call to discipleship is that it was a call into a community. Jesus forms here a fellowship, a group of people joined together for one purpose and with one goal devoted and committed to one person, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. This is a community of individuals, people with faces and names. It's Simon, Andrew, James and John. And more people will come who also have names. After Jesus departs, he will send his blessed spirit to care for and to grow this church as others come into it. And they will also have names as well. They will be real people whose lives are changed by the power of Christ's resurrection. So Christ, by His call, is creating a wonderful community of followers who unite around Him and by faith live for Him and for each other. And it is a humble beginning. It is the inception of a great and glorious Church. Think of the Church as it exists today. All of its glory, all of its beauty and power that the Church has. I wish I could just do a sermon right now on the beauty and the glory of Christ's Church. We are vessels through which God's glory now shines and will shine throughout all eternity, unhindered by the stain of sin. Yet how did this glorious body begin? By Jesus calling four lonely fishermen to himself in a remote area of Palestine. That's the beginning of the kingdom of God. Did I not say that his kingdom was like no other kingdom? And we see it in the very inception of that kingdom. How can the humblest things become the most glorious? Well, brother, it's the way the kingdom of God works. Taking small, meaningless, insignificant things and doing something with them by God's power to make them the most glorious, wonderful, magnificent things. But there are other aspects of Jesus' call of these disciples that we must not forget as well. more applicable, I believe, to our lives. If you're a believer, then the truths here should drive you to further commit yourself to Christ. The call of these first four disciples in its nature is not some special call. It's the call that all of us hear. Whether you're a young child, an old man, a sophisticated socialite, a religious zealot, an atheist, a depraved blasphemer, all of us are called, brethren, the same way that these disciples were called. as these disciples did, so we as well recognize the call of Jesus. Through the Spirit of Christ, we not only hear, but we also see something of His glory. That He is not just any man, that He is not simply a great rabbi, or that He is a mighty prophet. We see Jesus Christ is the very Son of God, the Lord God Himself. And we hear, and we follow. Now such a call from anyone less would be appalling and outrageous. Imagine someone coming by your workplace and saying to you, drop everything and follow me, quit your job, leave your family, your mother and father behind, drop everything and come and follow me and do whatever I tell you to do. Such a totalitarian call would be contemptible and abysmal. It would be laughed at or scoffed at. But yet that's what we have Jesus doing here. Why can he do that and it not be laughed or scoffed at? Because he is God himself. He's one who is worthy of dropping everything and going and following him. Those who recognize Jesus, it is the most natural thing in the world to do. For when we see him as he truly is, all our earthly belongings suddenly become nothing. In the light of His glory, the glory of our jobs, our family, our possessions, are nothing but dust, or they're dung, as the Apostle Paul calls them, Philippians. This is why the world, brethren, is both puzzled at us and mocks us, because we have given up things that they see as valuable for something that they cannot even see or perceive. Remember, a missionary spoke at our churches way back when I was a new believer, probably one or two years as a believer in Connecticut, and he was presenting a slideshow, as missionaries always do. And there was one slide where it showed the grave of a little child, and this was in the Philippines. And the man as he showed this grave said, this is what my wife and I gave up for Christ in our service to him in the Philippines. And what happened was the child was very young, he contracted a disease that was very curable in the US. But because of their service in a third world country, they simply didn't have access to proper medical care. So this child died what we would see as an unnecessary, meaningless death. A simple shot would have cured him in our country. Now the way this man and his wife thought was like this, well, when Jesus called us, we gave him everything. All that we had was His. And it was His to do with whatever He wanted to do. Even their children they saw were Christ's. Something that He gave them. And when they came to Him, they even put their children at His feet and said, Lord, these are yours. So when the Lord decided to take one away, what could they say? Lord, this is what You've done. This is what You've called us to give up for the service that we've chosen to do for You. So amid much heartache, many tears, but when Christ came and took that child away, they understood their call, that they came to serve, they came to obey. And when the one who they served took something from them, no matter how precious that was, what could they do? It was already his. Because when it came to him, everything was put at his feet to begin with. They continued to serve. Let me offer another illustration to hopefully bring this point home because it's an important point, brethren, and it's one that's often neglected in our day. I've mentioned the testimony of a number of times in our prayer meetings and our Sunday school. I think I've sent this video out a number of times. A story told by a lady whose Paul was saying Romans was one who exchanged that which is natural for what is unnatural, a radical lesbian. And through the loving kindness of a pastor in a Presbyterian church, this woman came to know the Lord. Invited her into her home, cared for her, ministered to her, and eventually she came to know Christ through this family. And she was a radical feminist professor at a university in New York and one of those in-your-face type people who always are just wrapped up in their alternate lifestyle and have to be in everybody's face who doesn't agree with them 100%. And through this process of slowly having her eyes open, she realized that she was going to have to give up her lifestyle for Jesus. That He was calling her to put all that aside, to put it away, and come follow Him. And it angered her to have to do that. It was a part of who she was. And she didn't want to lay that at Christ's feet. So she got mad at the people in the church and she went to every one of them and said, what have you given up for Jesus? And they started explaining to her all that they'd given up. Some people gave up families for Him. Some people were abandoned by their husbands because of Jesus. Some people lost their jobs and careers. Some people lost fortunes for Christ. Some lost their children for Him. And she realized after listening to these people and the sincerity and the love that they spoke of Jesus with and how glad they were to give these things up to Him, she realized What is it to give up something for Him? Something that identified me, that made me happy and brought much joy in my life. What is that compared to what Christ has given to me? And what is it compared to what these people have had to give up for Him? So when the Lord opened her eyes and showed her these things, she gladly laid that lifestyle at His feet. And said, Lord, this is Yours. I have nothing to do with this. You call me to give this to you? And I gladly give it up. And anything else, Lord, that you point out in my life that I have to give up, I will gladly drop it and follow you. And she gladly laid it out at the feet of Jesus. And Jesus put in that place, that lifestyle, a godly, faithful husband and a quiver full of children. She actually married a Presbyterian minister. So Jesus didn't just take it, He replaced it with something wonderful, something delightful, something that pleases Him and brings more delight to our hearts than any other lifestyle could. But until she saw, like these first disciples did, the glory of Jesus, how worthy He really is, she simply could not do it. But once she saw, once she understood who Jesus really was, then it was very easy for her. She gladly laid that down at His feet. Just as those missionaries could take their child and put that at Christ's feet, so she could take her lifestyle and put it at His feet and say, Lord, take this. This is not my life to live. It's your life now. And if you call me to give you this, I gladly and joyfully give you this. With no expectation of anything in return other than Christ's approval, she gave it up. And Christ gave her far more than she could ever imagine. And the world looks at that Brethren, and it sees something so strange, so inexplicable, that they simply cannot fathom living life the way that we live. Why? Why is our life so strange to them? Because they do not see the glory of Christ. It's hidden from them. They cannot see it. There's a movie that we watched a number of years ago with the kids called Harvey and the main character is Elwood who's played by Jimmy Stewart. Elwood has a friend who's a 6 foot 3.5 inch rabbit. And everywhere he goes, this rabbit's with him. He eats with him, he talks with him, he even drinks at a local bar with him. But the thing is, nobody else can see this rabbit except Elwood. So he'll be walking down the street talking to this rabbit like he's right there and people are looking at him like he's a nut or they'll go into the bar and see Elwood sitting there next to this empty glass talking to this empty stool and they think the man is crazy and try to have him committed. Well, brethren, that's pretty much what it is with us in Christ. People just don't see him. They may see him as a great teacher. They may see him as a great man, a great leader, maybe even a prophet. But they don't see him as God himself. They don't see the glory of Christ the way it's been shown to us. So they look at us the same way somebody would look at Elwood. As a nut. As crazy. As living in some fantasy world not knowing anything about the truth of reality. Where in fact, brethren, we are the ones who live in reality. And they simply are living a lie and living in deception. The glory of Christ has been revealed to us. We see who He is and having seen, we drop everything and we follow Him. The world does not see Him as far as it is concerned. We are talking to an imaginary rabbit when we serve Jesus the way we do when we serve each other as He served us. So I hope, brethren, this reminds you of the reason that you serve. Why have you given all to follow Him? And I hope it will encourage you all the more to seek more of His glory. That through His Spirit, He would continue to enlighten your eyes and open your heart and show you more of His glory so that you might serve Him with a greater joy and a greater commitment. Now, if you're not a believer in Christ, if you have not trusted in Jesus, let me say this to you. You may be thinking, well, how harsh, how cruel it is for Jesus to make people suffer so much. How could a just God be so cruel and do such things to His people as taking a child away from them or making them give up a lifestyle that they enjoy and delight in? How could He be such a cruel God to do that to people? Now that may be true from your perspective, friend. But remember, Jesus asks infinitely less of his followers than he actually gives to them. In exchange for our paltry, weak lives and worthless earthly possessions and relationships, Jesus gives his own life for us. He has given His life as a ransom for many in exchange for our lives. His death brings us a glorious redemption, a new covenant where our sins are forgiven, where we have a true and saving knowledge of our Father. And His Spirit writes His law upon our hearts so that we might gladly and lovingly serve our God with grateful hearts. And Jesus is not as harsh as it may seem. Remember, he was harsh to the Pharisees, who crushed the people with the heavy load and burden of legalism and religion. But to the weak, to the oppressed, to those who have been humbled to see their need of him, to them he is meek, he is mild, and he is tender. That is how the Kingdom of God begins. Not with a wrathful, vengeful God paying everybody their dues. Now that will happen eventually to those who reject His Kingdom. But now at this point, at the inception of His Kingdom, He goes about as a kind, generous, gracious, benevolent King, offer the glorious blessings of His Kingdom to all who would come and follow Him. And as a gracious King, He gives refuge, He gives peace, joy, contentment, forgiveness and fulfillment to all who would hear His voice, come and follow Me. So He's not cruel. Anything that you would give up for His Kingdom, He has given far more for you, infinitely more for you. So to say that He's cruel means you have no understanding of what He did for you and dying for you. He paid an infinite price for your soul. And anything you give, even your very own life, is nothing compared to what He gave for you. So no, He's not cruel. He's good. He's kind. He's loving and merciful. And He says, come, follow me. Do you hear? If you do, then that is the Spirit of God calling you to come, calling you to believe, to eat, to drink, to enter, to be a member of that glorious kingdom. And if that's what you hear, then drop everything and come, believe, and repent, and enter His kingdom of glory. For there will be peace, joy, contentment, and forgiveness forever and ever. And a final word to those who have heard His voice and give it all to Him. Remember, when you are tested and tried, that He has given up far more for us than we could ever possibly give for Him. His love for His people drove Him to the cross, where He hung there on a tree, bearing the wrath of God. The wrath that we deserve was poured out for Him. So remember, when He looks to you and says, I want this, or give me back this, anything that we can give up for Him is infinitely less than what He has given up for us. And when you do give up all for Him, be assured that through our trials, He promises a strength to endure, and any grief that we suffer, or any loss that we have, is abundantly replaced with the lasting, abiding peace and unspeakable joy. That is the Savior that we serve. That is the King who we serve. And when we enter His kingdom, it is not a kingdom of fear. It is a kingdom of joy and peace. And all He asks us to do is to give up everything. And you may say, well, that's too much. No, in light of what He's given up for us, brethren, and my friend, that everything is nothing. Just believe and repent. Let's pray. Our Father, we do thank You for the clarity of Your Word, for the graciousness that is revealed to us. We thank You, Lord, for the kindness of our Savior that we worship, that He is good, that He is gracious that those who come to Him and meet Him at His terms, Father, have nothing to fear from Him, Father. So we pray that You would help us as believers to know and to serve Him with gladness, Lord, and much joy, being mindful of all that He's done for His people and bringing us into His kingdom, a kingdom not of darkness, but a kingdom of light and of glory. And for those, Father, who still do serve themselves, Father, maybe having never known or never heard of Christ, or never heard of Him explained this way, Father, we ask that You would give them light and understanding, Father. Show them mercy and patience and grace at this very moment, and open their eyes to see the truth of who Jesus really is. That He's not simply a man, not even a prophet, not even a great man or a great teacher, but He is the Lord God Himself, and He graciously calls all men Come to repent and believe or give them faith to believe this very moment this very day We pray these things in Jesus's name. Amen