In today’s sermon, Pastor Babij teaches on the first of eight characteristics that demonstrate authentic discipleship. Pastor Babij explains that the battle for sanctification happens in the mind, therefore the mind must be continually transformed by the Word of God. Pastor Babij admonishes believers to surrender themselves unconditionally to the Lord Jesus Christ so they will not be rejected by Jesus. Pastor Babij also exhorts believers to let go of anything that hinders them from serving Christ unconditionally.
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let’s pray Lord we thank you this morning uh for bringing us here thank you Lord for the just beautiful weather and uh your awesome creation it is uh truly magnificent to behold as we consider the works of your hands and Lord even when we come to the word of God we see the work of your hand and giving us your mind giving us the scripture so we don’t have to be in the dark about the God created us and what he wants us to do what he wants us to know so I pray Lord every time we hear the word of God read taught preached that you would Advance us in our knowledge and wisdom of the Lord and about your plan and I pray Lord truly we would learn to think biblically about everything and I pray that you would start doing that with us today and I ask this in Christ’s name amen all right so let’s take our Bibles this morning what I like to do uh this morning is a little uh to go back to the gospel of Mark and to glean from the gospel of Mark eight characteristics of authentic Christlike disciples eight characteristics of authentic Christlike disciples now after studying through the gospel of Mark from verse one to the last chapter um I would like to bring these eight specific core attitudes and behaviors to your attention because these are the very things that the holy spirit is developing in every disciple of Jesus Christ in other words all authentic Disciples of Jesus will bear evidence of these character characteristics as they grow in spiritual character formation now because of the finished work of Christ and because a Believer receives the holy spirit of God at conversion these eight characteristics emerge under the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit and the in Conformity of course to the holy scriptures that the holy spirit is developing your character in order for you as a disciple to serve with developing Christ like attitudes and behaviors in everything that you do and as the Holy Spirit Works in us we of course are to cooperate with him and cultivate these eight characteristics in our daily experience now all the original disciples all the original Apostles had to learn and grow in these characteristics in other words they cannot be bypassed these are the very things God will instill in us so that means that all followers of Christ will be found at developing stages and at Le different levels of christlikeness these characteristics will be there they will be evident these are not all the characteristics the holy spirit is developing in US however these do give rise to further further Godly attitudes and behaviors so this Lord’s day let’s together consider the first one and I want to spend time on this first one because this first one is a crowning characteristic of all the rest of them and the first characteristic is for a authentic disciple is unconditional surrendering to God’s will an unconditional surrendering to God’s will like I just said this will be the crowning characteristic that the holy spirit will be developing in the disciples transformation we were created to reflect God in our thinking in our behavior and in our relationships since our calling Jesus has become our good master who is to be obeyed now just take your Bibles really quickly right in Mark 1 verse 17 and 18 the first thing we’re called to is simply to follow Christ and to be with him verse number 17 of chapter 1 says and Jesus said to them follow me and I will make you fishes of men and immediately Verse 18 they left their Nets and followed him so even in the beginning of Christ calling we see that there is this sense of surrendering to God ‘s will very quickly by his disciples at least the initial following of him and then over to Mark 8 and verse number 34 we see again in verse 34 and he summoned the crowd and his disciples and said to them follow me he said to them anyone who wishes to come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me in other words to be a disciple of Jesus Christ means that you will endeavor to let go of anything that will hinder your availability and service to Christ that’s what a disciple does they are willing to let go of anything and I mean anything that will hinder your availability and service to Christ because the whole Gospel of Mark is about service we just saw Christ in all his glory serving from the beginning to the end and now he’s calling us to serve Now by way of example if you remember the Rich Young Ruler in marap 10 the Rich Young Ruler was unwilling to let go of what was hindering him from becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ in Ro in Mark 10 in verse number 21 it says looking at him Jesus felt love for him and said to him one thing you lack go sell all you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come here it is follow me verse 22 but at these words he was saddened and went away grieving for he was one who owned much property now what the Rich Young Ruler did not recognize in his own heart was a developing very bad habit his sinful practice and his had actually his sinful practice had become such a part of him that it had become As Natural as breathing actually second Peter speaking of false prophets in Chapter 2 verse4 speaks about people who are trained in greed it says they’re having eyes full of adultery that never ceases from sin enticing unstable Souls having a heart trained in greed accused children that word trained is the term that we get gymnastics from gymnasio it means to exercise it means to train in other words a heart that has been exercised in greed is one that has Faithfully practiced greed so that greediness had be had become very very natural to them it had become a part of their character a part of the way they thought a part of what they did and to do that without consciously thinking about it such a person automatically behaves greedily so the Rich Young Ruler was just responding to Jesus according to a welldeveloped habit a well-developed way of thinking and when God’s will was presented to him sell your possessions give to the poor and follow me he responded in a very with a very sinful response a response that did not reflect unconditional surrender to God’s will but reflected an unconditional surrender to his own will to his own thinking and that’s what it says in Scripture that when he heard that he went away grieving for he had owned much property in other words he loved wealth he loved being rich he was not ready to give that up for anything so therefore Jesus goes on to say if you don’t respond respond in this way well you’re not even worthy to be my disciples Jesus also called us back in Mark chap 1 to become Fishers of Men and Jesus said follow me and I will make you become Fishers of Men and they of course left their Nets and followed him this whole image of fissures of men is connected actually to the Prophet Jeremiah IA in chapter 16 and verse 14- 21 which reads therefore behold days are coming declares the Lord when it will no longer be said as the Lord Lives who brought up the sons of Israel out of Egypt but as the Lord Lives who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where he had banished them for I will restore to their them to their land which I gave to their fathers and then in verse number 16 it says behold I am going to send for many fishermen declares the Lord and they will fish for them so this is what the Lord promises to Israel but he promises this to them only after he holds judgment on them and the reason why God holds judgment on them it’s told to us in Jeremiah that they had infested the land with detestable idols and Abominations and so God would bring upon them the Babylonian captivity and after that was done though he would send out people to fish for his people all over the world the context speaks of God’s judgment for Judah because her Idols have polluted the land and God’s judgment is in the form of of course the Babylonian exile once the punishment is complete the people will experience a second Exodus a second delivery in the context of cleansing the Lord will send Messengers to fish for his people to fish his people back to himself fishing refers to the gracious restoration and purification of God’s people after judgment see this Old Testament narrative is comparable to God’s Judgment of his son in his substitutionary death and is followed by the fishing of men to Restoration with him again in the context of cleansing a disciple who are both Justified and in the process of being purified jesus’ followers are called called by him to point others in other words they become Fishers of Men to point others in word and indeed to Restoration in Christ and purification based on the finished work of Christ on the cross now that’s what the Lord calls us to do he calls us to this unconditional surrender to follow him and and ultimately to become fishes of men but how is unconditional surrender to God maintained and sustained now this becomes a very practical thing for us the first thing is that unconditional surrender to God’s will is maintained by a transformed mind that’s how it is maintained because the ways of God are so opposed to the ways of sinful man the mind of the disciple is under constant transformation now remember in Mark when Jesus said to Peter in front of all his disciples in John in Mark 8:33 in the middle of the passage it says turning around seeing his disciples Jesus rebuked pet Peter and said get behind me Satan and this is what he said for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests but on man’s now we can’t really put all the blame on Peter because we all have the same problem the problem is we bring a lot of baggage into the Christian walk into the Christian Life in our mind that needs to be completely changed I have said before that whatever you knew about God before you became a Believer is all wrong until you come to Christ and then the word of God rearranges everything so we think correctly about who God is so we must take all take this to heart that there are basically two ways of looking at things God’s way or man’s way the two ways of looking at things leads to two different directions we therefore need our minds directed and bent towards God’s will in our intentions in our words in our actions which must align and agree with God’s word or we just give in the way we always used to think or the way way the world thinks so Satan chose to put his poisonous fangs into Peter’s mind and produce a false understanding of jesus’ mission Peter of course making himself a tool of Satan being swayed to look at things from the Vantage points of the world or the old ways or even save friend but an unsaved friend however if that friend is not measuring things himself the tempter of course will sometimes speak to us in a voice of a well-meaning with the word of God then they would possess a wisdom that does not come from above whose source is not God and of course they would possess then a Earthly demonic wisdom that has been of course twisted and turned by the wicked one himself then of course in the end it would be unreliable for looking at things from God’s perspective so then that a the transformation of the mind will be essential for following the Lord’s instructions there’s no way you and I can unconditionally surrender to God’s will unless our minds are being transformed it will just not take place and that’s just goes to show that the Lord does not bypass your mind he actually spends a lot of time on your mind in fact when you think about the spiritual battle the battle is about your mind it’s about your thoughts it’s about the way you think it’s about how you conceive and perceive things and that in turn is going to show how you do things how you conclude things the Apostle Paul exhorts Believers to do the same thing where he tells us in Romans CH 12 and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect so following Jesus means doing the will of God and doing the will of God is only accomplished with a transformed mind Jesus told his disciples back in Mark chapter 3 and whoever does the will of God he is my brother and sister and mother but before doing the will of God there must first be belief because action is based on belief the two two great themes taught in scripture are what are we to believe concerning God and the second would be what is the duty associated with such knowledge and such Faith there are two basic categories that come to light from these things the first category is where we need to ex exz discernment in regard to truth and error in relation to what we believe about God and the second category is that of the right and wrong in relation to how we act that is to know and do the will of God can we actually do that can we know how to act can we know the things that we’re doing that are actually things that not only please God but are characteristics produced by the spirit of God so we must first know the truth of God and then the will of God they cannot be reversed because the will of God comes out of the character of God so we must know who God is now maybe you have the same question that pilate had what is truth well here’s a simple definition drawn from what the Bible teaches truth is that which is consistent with the mind the will the character the glory and the being of God so that means that truth basically is theological it’s a theological concept we must think rightly about God because what we believe about him necess necessarily impacts what we do our thoughts of God shape our service for him when we think wrong thoughts about God we soon serve him in the wrong ways as well and with the wrong attitudes in other words that a Believer who is supposed to be serving God ends up being very very bitter in their relationships with people have somehow gotten off track to what pleases God in their attitude see they have somehow moved away from what it means to understand who God is and then to live according to his character it was a w toer who presented a challenge to all Christians in his little effective book called the knowledge of the Holy if you never read that book you should get it and read it because it is a very good book on the character of God his challenge was for believers to elevate their concept of God until it is worthy of him and until it is an accurate reflection of him from the word of God now let’s examine a passage of scripture that was penned by the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 12 I like you to turn there verse one and two but I want you to as you turn there I want you to understand this that the Apostle Paul did not pen these words in chapter 12 until he laid a solid foundation of truth about the knowledge of God now anybody who read and studied the book of Romans realizes that is quite a heavy book it is filled with Incredible deep theology but when that book gets a hold of you you will be different because you will come out of the study of that particular book with an understanding about God that will change the way you think so this truth about what God thinks is found in Romans about what he has done about his Plan of Redemption about who he is about what he has revealed of himself in scripture and only after that Doctrine has been well established does he show the steps to understand and Obey God’s Will and we find those steps in Romans CH 12 now these steps are not separated but are actually interwoven with each other it’s not like well I can do step one and not step two or I can do step one and three and not step one it’s they’re they are a package they go together so we should be working throughout our lives on all these steps all at the same time now what is the first step look look at Romans chapter 12 the first step is this that of course if I am going to be a disciple who and unconditionally surrender surrenders to God’s will then this step will be very important step one would be there must be a presentation of our bodies of of our members to god notice in verse number one of Romans chapter 12 it says to PR present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship so Paul is saying to us listen now that you understand a good amount of Doctrine now it’s time for your service but he just doesn’t go say go out and serve he says this is how you serve this is how you prepare yourself for service you present your body of course your bodies are not just the physical part of you you present your mind your emotions you’re a will to God and after a whole our whole body has been presented to God by a volun voluntary act all these roads into our being are now opened only to God so a Living Sacrifice means our bodies are to be presented like the animals in the Old Testament Paul often used this expression your body is a living Slaughter sacrifice when the Old Testament sacrifices were offered they all ended up dead so there’s kind of an oxymoron here going on now when the believer offers up his body he begins to really live he offers up himself to God so God can live through him so he can actually serve the way God wants that person to serve so when the spirit controls the believer’s body the victory resulting from Calvary is made good in our experience all deadness is displaced as a triumphant life of the Lord Jesus and is expressed through the members of the believer’s body it’s like what Galatians tells us those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires see formerly those Believers thus called on to offer their bodies as a Living Sacrifice were dead in trespasses and sins they could not serve God they could not offer up their bodies to God because they already offered up their bodies to sin and to their own passions and evil passions and desires and so had yielded their members as servants to iniquity but now that they are quickened by the spirit of God and risen with Christ they now walk in newness of Life In fact when you become a Believer you become more alive than you ever were because all the switches are turned on so once the sacri acfic is complete these bodies not only live but they partake of a higher life they partake of a holy life they partake of a Christlike life and remember a holy sacrifice was acceptable to God because it was brought into the presence of God properly it changed God’s attitude toward the sinful worshipper and instead of God having wrath on that worshipper he only had mercy on them and so in other words when we give our bodies up to be this Living Sacrifice to God what is the motivation for our offering if you notice in verse number one of chapter 12 therefore I urge you Brethren by the mercies of God that’s the motivation that that’s what brings me to the place that listen I am doing this because God was merciful to me he didn’t give me what I deserved I deserved judgment I deserved deserved wrath but he didn’t do that so in other words in my mind before I serve God I am understanding this is God’s attitude towards me he is merciful to me I’m one of his kids I am in his family I’m I am in his kingdom and so this is the way I ought to think when I come to my Lord to offer myself up to service now my mind is cleansed I’m cleansed of the defilement and The Sinner is now forgiven and restored to fellowship with God so a holy sacrifice means we are set AP heart and devoted to God that is that is of course a delight to him that is acceptable to him our bodies are to be surrendered to God for his righteous use see that according to scripture is reasonable worship why is it reasonable worship because it’s the way God prescribed this is what God told us to do to worship god with our body bodies is as rational as to worship him with our souls and of course with our minds so that is the first step so consider yourself when you come to God have you come to him offering yourself to him matter of fact this is something we don’t do just once in a while we do this every day every day we come to him offering Lord here I am take me heart mind soul my strength it’s I’m your your sacrifice and I’m your sacrifice because you were merciful to me now use me however you see fit use me to do your work work so my life in my thinking in my words in my actions are pleasing in your sight see that’s what real worship is beyond gathered worship this is Monday morning worship this is Tuesday all the way through the end of the week worship that you’re constantly mindful of this particular step that it’s a conscious presentation of yourself to God for his service but here’s the second step in verse number two of Romans 12 see there must be a separation of ourselves from this present age to God it says this in verse two and do not be conformed to this world this word conformed means to be shaped by to live after the pattern of it is interesting here that we have a command stop being shaped by the thinking of the world system stop living after the pattern of the age see worldliness is the very opposite of thinking rightly about God And yet when we come into the Christian Life is our mind filled with worldly thoughts it is nothing but worldly thoughts and that doesn’t go away just because you believed in Jesus Christ and now the second day it’s all gone all that luggage all that baggage is still in your mind so your mind of course has to be transformed but before that there is this command not to allow the world to continue to dictate to you what you should do and what you shouldn’t do Ian Murray in his book evangelicalism divided gave a real good definition of worldliness listen what he said and I quote worldliness is departing from God it is a man- centered way of thinking it proposes objectives which demand no radical breach with man’s Fallen nature it judges the importance of things based on the material and the present results it weighs success by numbers it covets human esteem and wants no unpopularity it knows no Truth for which it is worthy to suffer for it it declines to be a fool for Christ’s sake worldliness is the mindset of the unregenerate it adopts idols and is it is at war with God that’s what worldliness is it is completely the opposite of what the Lord is doing with us so the Bible is saying do not be veneered with the world when you’re a Christian underneath see Christians are not to be conformed by what marks and characterizes this stretch of time in which they live we are instead to continually shun Conformity during the entire course of our life because we are not citizens of this world we are citizens of heaven so Believers must make a deliberate decision to place themselves at God’s disp osal repeatedly and not at the world’s pragmatic worldview in other words that pragmatic worldview is if it works God must be behind it but you know what that’s the furthest thing from the truth because it’s very difficult to measure things from the world’s perspective about what God is doing see the world looks just for the results and the scripture is not the Arbiter of what is actually true the scripture ought to be the Arbiter of what is true and what is error when we do that then we will be hedging against worldliness not only seeping back into our mind but the worldliness that’s presently in our mind to be driven out all right so we give our bodies consciously to God as a Living Sacrifice and then we make sure that we are not being put pushed into the mold of the world but the third step in verse number two of chapter 12 is this but be transformed where by the renewing of your mind so this third step there must be a transformation of our minds continually we must dedicate oursel to knowing and understanding God’s word as is given to us in the Bible if we are to discern God’s will then we must have our minds transformed the Christian undergoes a kind of change because of knowing truth the truth of God as found in a consistent regular exposure to the word of God so this process where does it take place it takes place in our minds for in our thought life that controls our attitudes it’s our thought life that controls our feelings it’s our thought life that controls our actions so we are to let our lives be changed from the inside out and Brethren how much our minds have been opposed to God before Christ John Calvin said indeed nothing can be more true true than that the renewal of the mind is necessary for successful inquiry into every part of the will of God the natural man is in everything opposed to the mind of God so here is a renewal of the believer’s mental Powers our body life is to be evidenced of the constant metamorphosis actually the the actual Greek word used here for transformed is metamorphosis of course that means to be changed in form to be changed in character an example is the caterpillar which undergoes a metamorphosis in its cocoon and emerges a glorious butterfly the same creature which enters this filmy tomb eventually emerges but change the change is so remarkable that it cannot be recognized at the as the same creature it is this kind of change that the Holy Spirit wishes to work in the life of a Believer but to do it he must have control of the body and free access to the mind that the Holy Spirit wants to etch the likeness of Christ into our characters of course we call this sanctification right this is the Practical sanctification that God has called us to but remember sanctification is a cooperation with the spirit of God that we want to be transformed and part of that transformation is having the word of God change our minds so this is accomplished by the renewing of one Mind by the word of God see the mind is the the organ of moral thinking and knowing and when it is renewed it no longer thinks understands or judges as it once did old things pass away and behold All Things become new so we’ll no longer be fit we’ll no longer fit into into the world’s mold and its ways it’ll be quite uncomfortable once the trans the mind is transformed but we will have an increasing insight into the Divine perspective of things our whole outlook our whole experience will change see this is where God’s bringing us from conversion do you see that happening in your life do you see that you are completely different today than the day that you trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior do you see that do you see those changes that the spirit of God is making in your life and are you cooperating consciously cooperating with him about the areas that need changing are you identifying in your own thoughts worldly thinking are you identifying in your own actions things that need to be corrected in your words things that need to be altered in the way you say things in your body language all these things are things God is doing in our life to make us completely different than the way we were now why doesn’t a Christian not think as he once did it’s because their mind is being transformed it is being renewed by the word of God it Minds the things of the spirit which it never did before and it also ceases minding the things of the flesh which it always did so the transforming of the mind is so the will of God or what is willed by God can be apprehended by us and actually done by us so only a yielded mind can desire discover and choose God’s will see the renewed mind once it is renewed and it is being renewed red on a continual basis then Romans 12: number two the latter part of it becomes a reality to us that you may prove what the will of God is isn’t that the question today what is God’s will see the problem with that is that most people don’t really want to know what God’s prescriptive will is they want to know God’s secret will but you know what God doesn’t that God doesn’t give us his secret will that’s his he only gives us what we call the prescriptive will of God prescriptive will of God is the revealed will of God it is the will of God found in the word of God so in other words the REM renewed mind begins to test out the will of God it cannot test out the will of God until it is being renewed and when it does it will find out what is the good and acceptable and the perfect will of God see the renewed mind is bent on finding outout and following God’s will which it never did before the renew mind knows how to obey God which it didn’t do before because it is now shaped and governed by the revealed will of God found in the Bible so you’re not going to be able to have your mind transformed apart from a constant regular exposure to the teaching and preaching and reading and study of the word of God you cannot set your Bible aside and think that this process is going to take place it is not going to take place unless the word unless the word of God is part of the process Deuteronomy 29:29 says the secret things belong to the Lord Our God but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever that we may observe all the words of the law so maybe this is the Dilemma of so many Christians that they are so concerned and worried about the future of The Who and the what and the where instead the Christians should be asking and answering questions in League with his or her dedication to God such as how to test out the will of God good questions to find out what the re revealed word actually says about the will of God when the heart and mind is renewed and transformed it will bring forth good fruit it will bring forth fruit that is pleasing to God and it will ask questions like is the thing that I’m going to do really good for me and does it bring glory to God a question like is it well pleasing to God in other words my attitudes today have they been well pleasing to God in the things that I’ve been thinking in my imagination have they been pleasing to God my feelings have my feelings been altered and changed by truth or somehow is my feelings before truth that I do things because I feel like doing them instead of I do things because this is what the truth says to do one of the greatest hindrance I believe of sanctification is that we are too often people who go to our feelings about what we ought to do with no foundation on why we should do them except we feel we ought to there’s no way to measure that but if the truth is altering our feelings if the truth is molding our feelings then we will actually learn how to feel things correctly Lord in my motives have they been pleasing to you today in my actions as it says in the word of God am I making sure that my feelings are not the standard for deciding the revealed will of God and then be asking things like is it complete in and of itself what I’m about to do in other words is it something that will bring about christlikeness in my life or will it hinder my growth in godliness if so I am going to decide not to do some things not to go some places that I’ve gone not to listen to some people that I listen to see the word is the Criterion and measuring stick for knowing what is good and well pleasing and advances maturity in my life so we discover that from his word alone we are subject to all conceptions that come from God that are good for us that are pleasing to him that are complete and whole every test made without the word of God must be considered a deceptive test and ends up being the wrong advice and the wrong counsel that the renewed mind does not want to disregard God’s will it wants to know it and it wants to do it and a constant r rual of the mind is how unconditional surrender to God will be maintained but how will unconditional surrender surrendering To God Be sustained well it will be sustained by meeting the conditions of discipleship now I would like you to go back to Mark chapter 8 for a moment and let me look at this particular side of it because in Mark chapter 8 in verse number 34 the word of God tells us this and he summoned the crowd and with his disciples and said to them if any one wishes to come after me me he must deny himself take up his cross and follow me now the call to discipleship is a universal call it applies to all of jesus’ disciples not just to a select few and not just to the to the apostles now before Jesus lays down the condition of a real disciple he shows that there are two directions one’s desires can follow again first one can have the desire to follow after Christ that is the narrow road and of course one can take another Direction and follow the broad road which is the easy Road and so of course he doesn’t want us to follow the broad Road he wants to follow he wants us to follow the narrow road which is following him so Jesus sets before the disciples three conditions for the path of True Discipleship and the first condition being in verse number 34 if anyone wishes to come after me let him deny himself it means to turn yourself off in the sense to deny to disown to repudiate yourself and what do we turn off we turn off actually the sinful self the person who has their own interest at the center and not God’s interest that’s how we started off with the remark to Peter or to Peter in that Jesus gave the Gospel of Luke said this needs to be done on a daily basis now the self denial takes many shapes and is experienced in many ways and it’s different for every single person for some it may mean leaving a job or even uh in even in this case family for a time as the as the disciples had done to do the work of God to serve God for others it may be for someone who is dealing and struggling with pride it may mean daily renouncing of the desire for status and honor that they’re very conscious of that for the greedy it may mean daily renouncing the appetite for wealth the working the extra hour to make more money to going to a place in which they can constantly be figuring out how to increase their wealth for the complacent it may mean daily renouncing of the way of ease for the faint heart it may mean daily abandoning the craving for security for the Fring or the person who likes to worry all the time it means daily abandoning the desire to get caught in that vicious cycle of worry where it’s nothing else can get in there except this this tape that never stops for the violent it may mean a daily uh repudiation of the desire to have revenge on someone see jesus’ disciples know specifically what Hind ERS them from giving their lives over to God so then unconditional surrender is really expressed in a disciples daily s self-denial and then of course he tells us also the second condition was to take up his cross and remember the cross is a symbol of execution a symbol of suffering and death it is an image of extreme repugnance and an instrument of Cruelty of pain of dehumanization of Shame and of course the Romans compelled The Condemned criminal criminal to Bear the cross Bean to the place of execution to take up his cross meant that someone was going to die and like his Lord each disciple must bear his own cross it is the same as the denial of self but this is the shame and the suffering a disciple assumes because they have a relationship with Jesus Christ so the symbol of the Cross has really one objective it ruthlessly intends to bring death to self death to the Natural sinful self death to the rebel voice inside of us that is constantly going against God’s will death to the sinful nature that does not want to obey God see there must be put the sinful agon this the sinful Rebel inside of us must be put to a slow agonizing death that Jesus insisted that Christians must deny self within them again by self he meant the old desires the old ways the old practices the old habitual patterns that were acquired before conversion they all must go every one of them must go you and I must learn and practice to say no to what we used to say yes to and usually in an unconscious way and of course our society with the current Winds of our culture uh blowing really very hard against us is not signaling us to deny ourselves but really tempts us and lures us every day to self-indulgence indulge yourself is the message of the world not self-denial so the disciple must no longer make his own interest and desires the Supreme concern of his life but must turn away from idolatry the idolatry specifically of self self- centeredness as a disciple of Jesus Christ grows in spiritual maturity more self-denial is required that means more death to self-importance More Death to self satisfaction more death to self-absorption More Death to self- advancement more death to self-independence or dependence see the painful blow to the inner self are really daily realities to all believers of every generation the reality of this principle of discipleship is brought out in other Bible passages scriptures like where it says in Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live In the Flesh I live by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me so the Lord Of Glory has called all his disciples to a life of self-denial to a cross and jesus’ disciples know what sin so easily hinders them from giving their lives over to God so then unconditional surrender is exp is expressed in a disciple’s daily cross bearing this means it is absolutely impossible to be a Christian without self-denial and Jesus told his disciples in the Gospel of Luke whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple and then there’s one other condition of true discipleship the lord gave and he said again where I started off it ends off and follow me so this command denotes a continual persevering obedience to follow after the leadership of Jesus Christ that Jesus goes to his death and all his disciples who follow behind him must also face the death of self and as a Believer follows behind on Christ and bears his cross he will feel the weight its pain its suffering its conflict its struggle especially when the believer Endeavors to hold fast to the plain teaching of scripture while they’re living in this world and then they Endeavor to practice actually practice putting off sin and mortifying the Deeds of the body and putting on righteousness they will feel the struggle when they Endeavor to live righteously in the middle of a wicked and immoral and willful generation they will feel the struggle when they Endeavor to hold to a simple Faith which the world actually ridic ridicules as too restrictive and narrow and even foolish they will feel the struggle when they Endeavor to put on the armor of God and stand against the Ws and schemes and deceptions of the devil when they battle with him with truth they will feel the struggle when they Endeavor to live differently holy and godly lives than the normal standard of the world they will feel the struggle and when they Endeavor to lose their lives if needful for Christ’s sake in the gospel they will feel the struggle so then jesus’ real disciples are car characterized by an unconditional surrender to God now why well because they really have learned the reality of life and what is the reality of life well the reality of life is not the outward it’s not the Earthly life which with its pleasure pleasures and its aims it’s not the life that I I gain temporal gain but it is the inward spiritual life that begins at the point of conversion and continues on the rest of my life it is a is it’s living life not for temporal gain but for Eternal gain see these conditions May at first glance seem negative however there is a great positive we gain from becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ CS Lewis offered a helpful observation that must be taken into consideration Lewis observed when God talks of their losing their their s he means only abandoning abandoning the clamor of self-will you are not self-denying to make yourself small no you are essentially transferring control to Jesus Christ and letting him be at the center of your life and you think that is an easy shift it is not it is a shift that only comes by you giving yourself as a dedication to God and Living Sacrifice it comes only by you not being conformed to this world and it comes by your mind being transformed by the word of God Lewis went on to say after one abandons the clamor of self-will and surrenders control to Jesus the disciple is given back their personality that when they are wholly his they will be more themselves than ever that the work of God in and through Christ to pursue Us in love restores us to wholeness it restores us to personhood that salvation means among many other things restoration to the image of God that was destroyed by sin restoration through Christ then liberates us to live indiv individually and corporately as True Image bearers of God himself in other words disciples gained their life back and become whole in their personhood and and in their significance restored by God’s spirit to actually a real true existence I know why I’m alive I know what I’m supposed to do while I live I know where I’m going I know the God I serve see we didn’t know any of those things before and because of that we really were lost in this muddle of what it means to be human and what it means to have individuality but when we come to Christ it it’s getting restored which sin destroyed Christ is making whole again so see the goal of discipleship is to be fully redeemed transformed and living as a radiant model to others of God’s unmar mercy we have to see we have to see the tough challenges of self-denial and carrying one’s cross not as goals in themselves but as the means to the goal and what is the goal to be free to follow Christ which you were never free to follow him before that’s the goal free to follow Christ and as the scripture tells us temporary gain brings only Eternal loss where he says for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it and temporary loss that brings Eternal gain but whoever loses his life for my sake in the gospel shall save it and for what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and forfeit forfeit his soul see there will never be any lasting sense of satisfaction or true gain from any Earthly reward no matter what it is if you and I gain all the world all its power all its wealth all its pleasure all its Glory all its sensation all its enjoyment all its achievements all its satisfaction you will will still be at a great loss and that would be un an unprofitable waste of time but who shall a man give what shall a man give in exchange for his soul what can a person do to gain his Eternal Soul back if it’s forfeited what what can be equivalent to the soul the Eternal Soul of a person what price can be paid to get get the soul back from a human perspective the answer is nothing there’s no priz there’s no answer once the soul is forfeited the soul is unspeakably valuable because it is created in the image of God it is eternal it will live past the death of our bodies we will have souls for which we shall have to give an account to God the only way the soul can be kept safe in time and in eternity is to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ that’s it that’s the answer to deny Jesus to prefer this world to turn from him is to stand helpless and condemned in the day of judgment and of course Jesus gives a solemn warning that if you ignore the conditions of True Discipleship if you ignore the steps of being transformed in your mind then this is what he says for whoever is ashamed of me in my words in this adulterous sinful generation of course he says in verse 38 the son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his father with his Holy Angels so you see that for you and I this is the life that God called us to this is the cost of discipleship and this is a characteristic that is one of the first that arises from the gospel of Mark and leads into the seven other ones I will not do seven messages on the other ones I will be very quick with the other ones spend a little time on them but I really want to get through just a couple messages but I want to lay this Foundation because some of you may have heard but may have never heard that the this is the very way that the Lord is going to take us from point A to point B so this first characteristic of an authentic disciple is unconditional surrender to God’s will this is a giv been all the time for all believers no matter who you are how long you’ve been a Believer this is always operative and it’s maintained by a transformed mind it’s sustained by self-denial and carrying one’s cross to be freed up to follow Christ that’s the goal so today I’m going to start with the end with the question I started with are you endeavoring to let go of anything thing that is hindering your availability and service to Christ are you and do you know what those things are that hinder you from serving Christ and making yourself Ava available you got to pinpoint what they are and then you have to remove them so you can fully and freely serve Christ in whatever capacity the Lord’s called you to with your spiritual gifts in the church body so the gospel can go out to the world if not we won’t be able to carry out the second reason why we’re saved and that be that’s to become Fishers of Men see we never get there because we haven’t done these first things because that’s what the call of the church is to grow healthy as a body so we can get the gospel to those who’ve never heard it so we can be Fishers of Men so we can bring them back to Christ so they can be converted cleansed and then offered as a Living Sacrifice to the Lord all right that’s it this morning for that and so let me just have a word of prayer and uh I’ll close let’s pray father I thank you Father for the word of God I thank you for the complexity of it Lord and yet at the same time the Simplicity of it and I pray Lord as we heard the truth this morning I ask you Lord that you would take it that you’ll remind us of it every single day and I pray Lord that we would truly be people that would be characterized by unconditional surrendering to God’s Will and Lord show us this morning where that’s not happening and I pray Lord we would take care of you it as the revealed will of God illuminates our mind to show us what pleases you what doesn’t please you that you would we would identify it so Lord your will would be done in our life your good your acceptable and your perfect will your revealed will and Lord I’ll thank you for all that you have and will do in Christ’s name amen