Discipleship

I didn't like that description of life. I counted the cost, I said no. This morning we're going to consider two costs. What did my life cost Jesus? What does my new life in Christ cost me. We like to hear about that first one. We like to call the second one legalism and avoid it. Jesus calls us to count the cost to enter into his kingdom. He tells us, make sure you know what you're getting into. There's a declaration in the invitation, count the cost. He invites us to come and die.

Suffer for his name? Lose everything that this world has to promise? To lose as much as what my dad said I would lose if I joined the military, but more. Because he commands not just your body, but your soul. He commanded not just your outward obedience, but your actual love and affections. Jesus' recruiting slogan, lose everything. Suffer for my name's sake, follow me. But the power of that invitation is twofold.

I have come to die to forgive you of your sins and rise again and I will bring you into my glory. It's what he's done, his love and power fully displayed on the cross and the resurrection and the promise of what is still to come, eternal treasures in heaven. Simple summary of these, our passage, that has two main parts.

Jesus came to die and give you new life so you too might lose the life you have in order to gain the new life Christ provides. Jesus came to die and give you new life so you too might lose the life you have in order to gain the new life Christ provides. The first thing we'll see from verses 21 to 23, Jesus came to die and be resurrected.

Jesus came to die and be resurrected

Notice our text has not the most normal transition that Matthew provides from that time. It's the second time we've seen this transition. And if we think about how to break up the gospels, and especially the gospel of Matthew, we could go back to 417, which is the other time he uses this transition. There's a turning point in the gospel here. From that time, Matthew 417,

repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.

He now is on mission as the Messiah with Matthew 417.

Now a new transition, he has set his eyes on Jerusalem for the last time. The time where he will suffer and die. His mission has been declared. He's come to seek and to save the lost. His mission, his purpose was to proclaim the kingdom of God, repent, he's come. His purpose was to purchase a people for himself to establish his kingdom. The king came to die to set us free.

Now at this juncture of his ministry, he began showing his disciples what must happen, what will happen. Other Gospels record the actual words. Here, Matthew just says this is what he started to show them.

He must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed on the third day, be raised.

The pattern is consistent. He regularly is teaching the disciples what will come to prepare them. It's important he's helping his disciples see this, loving them. Now, they just confessed he's the son of the living God, and now he's helping them see how he's going to give them life.

As I think about this text, I wanna make sure we see that the significant word here is must. Jesus says he must suffer, die, and then the third day be raised again. Now, must sometimes refers to God's character. God must tell the truth, he cannot lie. God is free, so when we see the word must, we wanna ask, is this part of his character, his nature, that he must be like this because he's a holy, righteous God? Must Jesus suffer and die because of nature? The answer's no. Jesus must suffer and die because God made promises he must keep. We don't deserve this. It's not something God had to do because we were so deserving. No, it's what God committed himself to do, and therefore, he must do it.

Jesus must die because God promised his created people, human beings, that he would reverse the curse. God promised a people he would save them, and the only way for us to be saved is the death of God's own son who became incarnate and his resurrection. It's important we see that God did this in his freedom, in his grace, and his mercy. Once he commits himself to save us, it's going to be costly. Jesus must die because God promised to save us from our sin. Jesus must die because God is a righteous God and must punish our sin. Jesus must die because he is our substitute. God's righteous wrath is satisfied by his death and sacrifice.

This must is one of the most important to meditate upon, especially as Good Friday. That they will set aside to meditate on the cross and Easter are just around the corner. That this must die and rise again is at the heart and the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Never think about what the suffering is.

He was mocked, spat upon, falsely accused, beaten, tortured. This was his way of showing the extent of his love and his willingness to must keep his promise. It also demonstrates the wickedness of the man he's coming to save. If you want to think about where you would fit in that gospel narrative, there's really two places you can think about. I think you either have to think you're one of the people who was mocking Jesus, maligning God, attacking God, Crucifying God. The other option is you could think of yourself as Barabbas. See, Pilate, he understood there was something off with the false accusations, so he said, I'll set one prisoner free, Jesus or Barabbas, and the crowds, they crowd for Barabbas. Well, Barabbas is a known treacherous man.

He's guilty. He deserves the death and the cross. But the people say, let Barabbas go. Jesus, who's innocent, dies in his place. Where were either the people crying, crucify Jesus, or the Barabbas who set free because Christ died in our place. It's important. Christ must come because God promised to save a people. Christ must come and die because our sin deserves death.

You must believe in order to be saved. You must trust him. Just as he kept his promise to the point of death, you must trust him that he will save you by that death. That's a great, amazing transaction. He receives our death and judgment. He receives the penalty of sin that would destroy us. He's raised a new life and, well, he receives our judgment and we get his new life. God has committed himself. To save us, we must trust him. Now notice the disciples' response to this gospel declaration of what Jesus is going to do with the heart and center of the gospel.

Verse 22,

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. But Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan, you are a hindrance to me for you are not setting your mind to the things of God, but on the things of man.

Jesus is seeking to show him this must be, and Peter responds that this shall never happen.

Now remember, Peter just confessed by the Father's good will and revelation to him,

you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And so I can kind of appreciate Peter's conundrum. You're the Christ, the Son of the living God, how could you suffer and die? A couple things to help us appreciate this conundrum that Peter's in that We want to be pretty slow here to throw too much at them. Something important as you read the Gospels, the disciples seem to think there's only one coming of the Christ. I think it's an easy confusion to appreciate.

The Old Testament, we read one earlier, there was a coming of suffering and death. And then there's going to be a coming that is glorious and final and absolute. But they conflated these two and really just wanted the latter one, which wouldn't you want just the latter one? They had misunderstood there's two comings. There's one coming that's going to suffer, die. Then there's a coming of glory and righteousness.

So over and over again, when you ask, how are the disciples not getting it, well, they're just misunderstanding the two comings. Second, I think we can just appreciate a problem in a theology of suffering they would have. How is it that if he's a son of God, he would suffer?

The righteous holy God, he wouldn't deserve that. A good man's suffering would be countercultural. We can kind of appreciate this is why Islam and Muhammad said Jesus couldn't have died on the cross. A good, righteous man can't suffer that way. The other way in which we oftentimes believe this lie that the good and the righteous, there's no suffering.

It's just blessing and blessing. No, the righteous one of God, the anointed of God, he came to suffer. This helps us in our theology of suffering because the Bible actually has an answer for suffering. God himself has suffered for us, suffered with us. He is the solution to the suffering. Jesus has come to take away the penalty of sin. He will restore us from all suffering.

Now the rebuke of Peter is foolish. But I think we probably see those two things behind it, conflating the two comings and probably not understanding how a righteous one could suffer. Jesus turns to Peter and rebukes him harshly, sternly,

get behind me, Satan. You're a hindrance to me.

I think he says this because this sounds like one of the temptations Satan presented to Jesus in the wilderness.

When he offered, there's another way to glory without suffering. If you just bow down to me, you won't have to suffer. I'll give you the kingdom. There's another way to glory that skips the whole suffering bit. So Peter sounds like Satan by saying there is no suffering to glory. You should just have the glory.

Deny yourself

For you're not setting your mind on the things of God, but the things of man.

He has not yet received the lenses to see the glory of suffering, the power of suffering, the power of his death. He's not yet seen Christ risen. Christ has come to die and be raised again so that we can be saved. Our next section then, Jesus teaches his disciples about what it means to be a disciple. Second, Jesus calls us to die so we might live. He who came to die and be raised again, he now calls us to die so we might live. Verse 24,

then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

If there's a memory verse in the book of Matthew, that might be it. One of the simplest instructions of discipleship. The only one that could be simpler is Matthew 4, 17.

Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent. If you double click on the word repent, deny yourself, carry your cross, follow me. If you double click on that, it's the Sermon on the Mount, and then we keep going. But if you want the simple understanding of discipleship, deny yourself, carry your cross, follow me. I believe that this is actually a summary for the Sermon on the Mount.

Two things about this statement, if anyone would come after me, anyone is an invitation. Anyone, anyone made in the image of God, male, female, any human being, anyone, it is an invitation to God and restoration. He's inviting you. So first, it's an invitation. Second, it's an absolute. He doesn't say you must do these things. He's saying discipleship is these things. It's a definition. It's kind of like a triangle must have three sides. It's baked in. It is what the thing is. Discipleship cannot be less than these three ingredients. Deny yourself. take up your cross, follow Jesus. Deny yourself. Jesus says anyone who would be his disciple denies himself.

Now, you would not have had to say this to Adam in the garden. If he had not, followed Satan's temptation. If he would have denied Satan, this isn't part of being a follower of God or a good steward of God or right with God. Denying yourself is something that only happens after the fall because you're denying yourself of sin. You're denying yourself of the things of this world. Adam would have had a Love for God and a love for his neighbor, his wife, and a love for the creation. There's a way in which all things are ordered without him.

And now deny yourself as denying the things that are out of order, misaligned, not aligned with God. You see, we've denied God as the good gift giver. We complain about the gifts he gives. Or we take his gifts and use them in ways he didn't expect. He didn't, uh, require of us or command us.

Deny yourself. Deny yourself your personal insistence on what you believe as a lie, projecting on God, what you think he should be doing. At the most basic level, you're denying sin. What Jesus had to come and die for, you deny. That makes sense. Sin that was going to kill you, Jesus died for to save you from, and now calls you to deny yourself of that sin he died for. It's by the power of his death for that sin that you can deny that sin. If Jesus came to save us from that sin with his death, why would we keep entertaining it? Why would we keep playing with it? The sin that enslaves you and destroys you and deceives you, deny that sin.

Now, denial is somewhat scary for us because it does require this word no, which seems to be something we don't like in our culture. We don't like to hear the word no. Doesn't sound loving. God is good and has a whole list of thou shalt nots. God loves you and has declared what is out of bounds. It is loving to say no. Must deny the lie that says To say no to somebody isn't loving. No, to say no is wonderful. To say no means you're freed from what is wrong and deceptive and destructive.

Christian, denying yourself is contrary to our own deceptive desires. Remember, it's what comes from in here that defiles us. That's what Christ is calling us to deny ourselves of, to repent of. It's contrary to our culture. It's contrary to our logic. But look to the God who's come to save you with his own death. Deny yourself of the sin that keeps you from him.

Carry your cross

Carry your cross. Now, this maybe makes sense to us today, but I kinda wanna put us in the shoes of the disciples. Jesus hasn't done the cross yet. If you think about how that culture would have valued the cross, it would have been gross, despicable, and shameful. So this is confusing for us. There's been a transvaluation, a change of value about the cross. In that culture, you talk about the cross. We have it everywhere. Some of you have it on your person right now in some decoration. If you showed up in first century Judea or Rome, they would wonder what in the world you're doing.

The cross, as perfected by the Romans, was the most shameful, painful, harsh judgment they gave for the worst criminals. You hang a person up naked with nails in their hands and nails in their feet, and the torture is you suffocate. So you keep trying to pull up on the nails in your hands and your feet so you can breathe, and you die by suffocation. Lift it up for everybody to see how horrible you are.

To take up your cross for them, I don't think they have a category for what he's even saying. Until after the resurrection. until after he has showed the cross is the way to life and the cross is the way to glory. To take up your cross means in your faithfulness to Jesus Christ, you will suffer persecution for his name. There's all kinds of suffering that is under the plan of God and the will of God that you can bring glory to God. But I believe the cross here, really it must be specific Christian persecution.

And we can think about those brothers and sisters James prayed for in the prayer in the Middle East and other countries that are pressing the gospel. We think about our members meetings and the things we talk about. In some members meetings, they ask who's going to take care of the pastor's kids when the police come. There's real persecution by the government. There's persecution in our country.

Jesus is telling you it will happen. Don't be surprised. A disciple doesn't run away in fear from persecution. You trust the God who came to suffer for you. Carry your cross. Again, the Sermon on the Mount, I think, makes this clear.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Follow me

That's carrying your cross. If they rejected Jesus, they'll reject you if you're following Jesus and proclaiming him. A disciple follows the way of his master. This is what it means to carry your cross. The final one is follow me. I call to repent, deny yourself. I call to endure, carry your cross. I call to live, follow me. This one could be as simple as what would Jesus do?

But remember, his way is narrow and difficult. He's not pulling some kind of trick on us. He's told us exactly how to count the cost. His way is narrow, it is difficult. But it's the way to life, and it's the only way to life. His way is the way of wisdom, to walk in a new way, a better way. that might not make sense to you initially. Too many people get frustrated because they think Jesus isn't blessing them because they're not, they're doing something their way and thinking it's what God has commanded.

To walk along the way of Christ, again, go back and read the Sermon on the Mount. Do not be anxious. Let your yes be yes. Understand the sins of your heart are the adultery that's inside and the murder that's inside. Pray to God and trust him. See how good he is. We can see these commands in other places. Put off sin and put on Christ. Put sin to death. Walk in the spirit.

You're saved by faith. To walk in a new way that's good. If your way was running straight poured in a quick pace to hell with destruction, Christ came to save you so you can repent and walk in his new way that's blessed and leads to life. Oh, to walk a way that God designed us, to be restored to the design, the way you were fit to live, the way God designed you to enjoy happiness, That's what Christ calls us to in following him. I wanna go back to last week's text.

Remember Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church? Those are defensive structures. Does it feel like the church is really knocking down the gates of hell right now? The military strategy for the church to knock down the gates of hell is the church denies itself, carries its cross, follows it. If the church, a universal church, we could write this church. If the church would actually commit to these three simple ingredients of what a disciple is, the gates of hell go down. When we stop doing this, we let hell get inside and numb us, make us content. Are we thinking about what it means to deny ourselves?

Carry a cross, follow Jesus. The three most basic callings of what it means to be a disciple, to make a disciple. If you think about the things that concern you the most, are they concerned with how to be more faithful to deny yourself, carry your cross and follow him? This is what a disciple is most concerned about according to Jesus.

Let's back out one more time. The one, two, three of discipleship is what makes somebody a disciple. It's what we do, it's what we teach, it's what we try to produce in others. How often are we really most focused on something that's important but not that discipleship?

See, I think these three commands for a Christian are the most important thing for you to be a disciple. It's also the most important thing for you to be a good spouse, a good parent, a good employer, a good employee. These three commands are at the heart of who you should be in every relationship. So we often want some kind of secret sauce when it comes to how to be a better spouse, be a better parent, Deny yourself, carry your cross and follow Jesus.

Two ways to live

There's more to say about those topics than this, but it's never less. The Bible says more about those topics, but never less. This is the first foundational truth that establishes anything about any healthy relationship we have. Deny yourself, carry your cross, follow me. Let's look at verses 25 and 26. Notice here's a grounding for these three commandments. He's setting apart, there's really two ways to live, a disciple and then how we were living.

Whoever would save his life will lose it. Whoever loses life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return of his soul.

Significant rhetorical questions here. Many of his arguments make sense in the most clear way of what are you going to gain if you seek to hold on to your life. He would regularly ask, if you're worried, just look at the birds. He's reasoning with us in a way to help us think about what it means to be a disciple. This one is challenging.

You will lose your life if you're trying to save it. The more you cling to what you have claimed to be life, the more you're actually going to lose true life. Here at the most basic level, Jesus is saying you can't be your own savior. You can't be your own God. If you insist on your way and in saving yourself, you're just like the idolaters of Old Testament Israel. You will lose your life. No. The danger of losing your life, you have so few precious years here on this earth. What are you doing with them? You have so few precious years on this earth, are you wasting away and losing the life God has given you while on this earth?

The second way this is significant is you will face a just and good God and you will receive righteous wrath depending on how you've lived. If you lose your life, which means repent, the King will give you his life. When we seek to follow Christ, we think we're losing something. You know, you're gaining everything. To be more specific, look at verse 25.

For you would seek to save their life, they'll lose it. Those who lose will find it.

This is kind of a, if I try to figure out my own problem and be my own solution, you're going to keep messing things up. If you are a sinner and sin is the problem, you're only going to compound the problem you have. If you seek to be your own solution, you're going to mess things up.

Let's make this kind of fun. Yesterday at a wedding, I ran into my doctor and many of you know I've had this funny like finger splint on. I found myself in a place of explaining to my family practice doctor which I diagnosed myself in front of him. I've got a broken finger. It's just kind of weird. I'm telling my medical doctor who I pay to take care of me medically that I've got a broken finger. I found the awkwardness of it and I said, I'll see you Tuesday.

Do we come to God and we tell him all the problems that he needs to fix? Or do we go to God? Say, God, you knew me before I even existed. You know me better than I know myself because I deceive myself. You alone have the right wisdom and insight and truth to know who I truly am. Father, show me. My inward sin, show me my hidden faults. If we try to save ourselves, we're only going to mess it up. If we trust God who will take away sin and redirect us and give us new life, we live. Verse 26 is a slightly different problem.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man gain in return for his soul?

That first problem is trying to fix a problem.

This one seems to be, what am I gonna add to myself? What can I gain in this world? How can I find the most satisfaction in the things of this world? Really goes back to Jesus teaching, where are you storing up treasure? What is it you find most pleasing and what do you think is going to be most satisfying? Am I going to gain everything I can in this world but yet forfeit my soul? Am I going to invest in this world so much that I lose all of eternity? Are you pursuing your own path to peace and happiness?

God created you to have good things and enjoy those things. God created all things and all things are good. Our problem is that we take God's good gifts and pervert them and twist them. God alone satisfies the soul. He designed you. He's bringing you back into that design that he formed you into. He gives good gifts and then blesses us to enjoy them.

The problem here, when we're so focused on consuming, collecting, getting enough of what this world has, thinking it'll satisfy it, you lose your soul. Defiled from within, desiring this world for all the wrong reasons. We're like Esau. We give up our birthright for porridge.

That compulsive desire to be satisfied now rather than counting the cost to receive what only God can receive. What's wild is many will look at this teaching as some kind of old-fashioned religion. Jesus is teaching this to a people who don't have bread aisles. Jesus is teaching this to a people who have to work from farm to table themselves.

Folks, we live in consumer plus. We're swimming in just the waters of nothing but consumer and consumption. It's so dangerous for us to live this way. If you're living as a consumer, you're not living as a disciple because the disciple produces. We consume the grace of God to produce here on this earth. We're all rich. We'll have more than we ever asked for in this world. What have you gained and profited and what did it cost you? Did you cheat and lose your soul to get the grades or the job you want? Did you lie to make somebody like you more or to think less about someone else? Have you grown weary in doing good? Everything has a cost.

Recently I had a very encouraging conversation with a young lady. She was saying about her future profession and I think she welcomed my advice. I gave it to her anyway. And we were gonna have a conversation about what kind of decisions she might make because life has a time stamp. And decisions of career might make her hold, put off certain aspects of life too long, too far, that would be too hard.

See, everything has some kind of cost. Time, energy, body, soul, heart, and spirit. Make sure that whatever decisions you're making have the forefront, how will I love God with all of my heart, soul, mind? How will I love my neighbor? Consider the cost of the decisions you're making.

I've regularly told the young men that I'm able to disciple, you'll have to say no to a job promotion one day. Also that every young man and woman, you'll have to say no to a job promotion one day. You're all very competent. It's dangerous. It's one of the greatest dangers you have.

Your company will want more from you than you should give her. They'll want more from you that you need to recognize has a cost. You'll make more money, you'll have more letters beside your name, you'll have more prestige and power and authority, but at what cost?

Will you be a less faithful spouse? Will you have less time with your children? Will you be able to be a churchman? Will you be disqualified from being an elder because you're too busy pursuing what your job has offered you with more money, but less happiness? Less life. If God is not worthy now of all of your obedience, he's never going to be worthy of your imaginary then.

That's one of the dangers. We tell ourselves, I'll be more faithful when, I'll, I'll know, I'll do what I know I should do when. That, that when will never happen if it's not now. God is worthy now. He purchased your life now. My advice to the men and women having to say no to some promotion at some point has nothing to do with competence. It has everything to do with wisdom and pursuing the happy life that God blesses. Let him order your life so you gain true life and enjoy it. Another way to think about this body-soul is it's easy to pay attention to your body. You see it all the time.

Man, if we could see our souls, if we see that heart that's deceptive and produces the kind of desires that defile us, the soul, the deepest desires in our inner core, Young ladies, I'm encouraged by how many young ladies were at the modesty class. I highly encourage you. I know UVA no longer requires a modesty class. I don't even know if they offer it anymore.

But it is a unique opportunity to think about a very important topic that God gives us in his word. Consider what you might lose, what you might gain,

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose. He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

Again, if the church would simply put that into practice for a year, think about the gates of hell that go down.

He will come again in glory

Verse 27,

for the son of man is going to come with his angels and the glory of his father. And then he will pay each person according to what he has done.

Jesus is now making it clear. There's two comings. There's a coming of suffering and death and resurrection, and there's a coming of glory. A coming where he is not in the incognito.

When they looked at Jesus, there was nothing to see of any glory because he had made himself incognito. He had set aside all the trappings of his glory. Oh, that next coming, there is no doubt of who he is in all the glory. He will repay all for what they do.

Let's make sure we see this. The Son of Man, he's coming again. Again, Christ was born a virgin, that's his first coming. Humble beginning, humiliating death on the cross, powerful resurrection, he is now ascended, he will come again in glory, that's the gospel. And when he comes again, there's gonna be a judgment. He'll repay each person according to what he has done.

It's what we do. We believe justification by faith. No amen, okay? We believe in justification by faith, and you'll be judged for what you do. If your faith isn't a show-me faith, it's not real faith. Paul, who proclaims,

you're saved by grace through faith

, will then immediately say,

you're saved not by works, but for works.

If the faith you have placed in the Christ who died and rose again does not then lead you to deny yourself and follow him, it's not real faith. It's not saving faith. It's a show me faith. It's a fruit faith.

Faith without works is dead.

You are saved by faith alone, by God's grace alone, and by his grace, your faith produces the works that he repays with reward, heavenly treasure. If you're not a believer this morning, This is not in any way implying you can do enough good to outdo your bad works. It's not saying you can do enough that God would be happy and satisfied with you. No, our best deeds still must be sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Christ must forgive you. He must restore you. He must wash you, and that is done by faith alone. He will judge justly. Notice he doesn't judge based upon hearsay or without cause. It's what we did. It's what we did. All will be seen in the true light of God, and he will judge justly.

Verse 21, 28, I say to you, truly, truly, drawing our attention,

I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the son of man coming in his kingdom.

Now, all right, the big question, anytime Jesus says there are some standing here who will not taste death, what is he referring to? He is speaking to these disciples and he's saying you will see this. Some of you will live to see this and other times that's, referring to 70 AD with the temple being destroyed.

Here though, it's him coming in his kingdom. And here, I'm not sure we're referring to just that second coming. But there's many ways in which we can see Jesus coming into his kingdom because coming in his kingdom means we see him coming in his glory. So here's a trajectory for you to decide what this might refer to. Could be the very next thing.

Some of them, only some of them, are gonna see him transfigured into the glory that he had before the incarnation, at the mount of transfiguration. I believe there you see a simple taste of what it means to see him coming in the kingdom because he's revealing who he truly is.

Others are gonna see him after the resurrection. where when they see him, they,

my Lord and my God.

Then they're gonna see him again in his ascension to the right hand of the Father in the cloud. Again, three ways in which these disciples are going to see him in his glory. There's other times, Peter saw Jesus. Paul saw Jesus. There's a way in which we'll all see him in his coming when he returns. I think this is important for what the disciples were called to do for us.

Jesus assuring them, you're gonna be given the assurance of seeing me in my glory so that you know carrying your cross is worth the cost. They saw him in his glory and the transfiguration, the resurrection, the ascension. They were blessed with that and gave it to us by witness Because he do have to believe he's going to come again in glory to really suffer for him.

And to really deny yourself. Is it worth it? Only if you believe the glory's coming. Christian discipleship has an element of delayed gratification. But it's much more than that. It's not just I'm going to wait for what is good. I'm going to deny anything for what God gives me as best, to give up what you cannot keep in order to gain what you cannot lose.

Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you for not leaving us to walk in our broad way of destruction, deception, death, Thank you for turning us around, for sending your son to forgive us for all our wicked deeds that should be judged, for forgiving us, for rising from the dead and now having that eternal life that cannot be taken away or lost. May we know how to live according to his way. knowing him and his death, his suffering, his resurrection, denying ourselves, carrying our cross, following him. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.