In the sermon titled 'Persecution and Rewards' by Scott Brown, the speaker explores the themes of confessing Jesus, the challenges of discipleship, and the structure of the Gospel of Matthew. The sermon highlights the importance of confessing Jesus before others, emphasizing that such a declaration, despite persecution, leads to acknowledgment before God. Brown explains the metaphorical 'sword' that the gospel brings into family relationships, causing divisions as individuals prioritize their faith over familial ties. The sermon discusses the cost of discipleship, likening it to taking up one's cross, an act of total submission to God's authority. Furthermore, it details the rewards promised for acts of service, even as simple as offering a cup of cold water to a disciple. The structural analysis of Matthew is presented, showing the alternation between narrative and discourse, underscoring Jesus's authority and the nature of His kingdom. The sermon concludes by urging believers to embrace their call to discipleship, understanding its cost, potential familial division, and the eternal rewards that come with faithful service.

We'll be reading verses 32 through 42. Therefore, who confesses me before man, him I will also confess before my Father who is in Heaven. But whoever denies me before man, him I will also deny before my Father who is in Heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

And a man's enemy will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me.

He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple. Assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. Lord, We just praise you for your word as you instructed your disciples.

Amen. Have a seat. In this passage, the Lord Jesus Christ is training his disciples how they might walk as they spread the gospel. As they go about with them with the most wonderful and most important message for all of mankind. Christ, Christ rose from the dead.

He chose disciples to wash them, to take care of their souls. And so here in this passage, as you know, if you've been walking with us here, we've been in Matthew chapter 10, here now I believe for the third week. And in verses 32 to 42 here, after explaining to his disciples the kind of resistance and the kind of hardship that they are going to experience, He assures them of his presence with them, that even the hairs of their head are numbered, that he's counted everything about them. He knows every single part of their body and everything that's happening to them. And after doing this, he now turns to speak of the significance of their confession or their denial.

And remember, he's sending them out to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and to the uttermost parts of the earth. And he's explaining how his disciples should conduct themselves. But he's telling them how they'll be hated, specifically how they'll be hated in many different categories, How they'll be sifted, how they'll be sustained. And finally, in the very last words in Matthew chapter 10, how they will be rewarded. And he is giving marching orders to his disciples and he's giving marching orders to us as well.

We're here in this passage of Scripture for the same purpose that the disciples were and that is that we might know how we ought to conduct ourselves in the world that God has called us to live in. We learned from this passage some really amazing things. One of them is that, you know, some are called to be prophets, but others are called to give water to prophets. And even in this passage you find the rich diversity of the body of Christ. All are not prophets, are they?

But some are. But all can have a prophet's reward by giving a cup of water to a prophet, meaning that the body of Christ is designed in such a way that there are so many parts to it. And so all of these things are spoken of here in this passage. The central force of the context here is that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. The disciples are following Jesus Christ in declaring that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Jesus in the previous section in the narrative In chapters 8 and 9, Jesus was going about declaring that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand and he was showing what his Kingdom is like. What happens when the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand? The healing that takes place, the blessing that comes. And Jesus, in chapters 8 and 9, declares his authority over all other powers. And the Kingdom of Heaven is the presence of Jesus Christ in the world.

Now, just to further give us a sense of what's happening here in the Gospel of Matthew. It's important that you understand the structure of Matthew. I hope that as we've been walking through this together that you're getting an idea of what Matthew is doing. He is, first of all, he's proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He's the long way to Messiah.

But he's doing it in a very interesting way. He's doing it by toggling back and forth from narrative to discourse or a speech of some kind. Narrative discourse, narrative discourse. Let me illustrate how that is for you. In chapters one through four is the first narrative.

And in this narrative, in chapters one through four, the glory of Jesus Christ is being communicated and his infancy, his forerunner, his temptation, and many explanations of his ministry. That's the first narrative section. And then the first discourse is, of course, the Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5 through 7. And there in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus is instructing His disciples. He's teaching them about His Kingdom.

Here's what My Kingdom looks like. Here's how you act in my kingdom. Here's a mark of a person in the kingdom. And chapters 5, 6, and 7 explain this in didactic form. Then right after that, Matthew launches back into a narrative again in chapters 8 and 9 where we see Jesus Christ launching out and preaching the gospel in the cities, He's crossing the sea.

He's going back again. He's meeting various kinds of people and He's healing all kinds of diseases. And we learn from that that he is absolutely sovereign over every disease. He's sovereign over distance. He's sovereign over all the demonic powers.

He's sovereign over all natural forces and even the winds and the waves obey him. So in that narrative, he's demonstrating in very vivid form who he is. He's declaring himself to be the Son of God, the King of the universe. And then after chapters 8 and 9, Matthew takes us into another discourse in chapter 10. This is the second discourse that we're in now.

This is the second speech, the second didactic portion of Matthew. What we'll, As we move on, as we go to chapters 11 and 12, we move into narrative again. So next week we'll begin the narrative that spans all through chapter 11 and all through chapter 12. And what we'll learn is the response of the generation to Jesus Christ. And some of the most amazing statements are there in this section that teach us not just about the ancient world that the Apostles live in, but our world as well, because nothing has changed.

And then there is another discourse in chapter 13. These are the parables. One parable after another, Jesus will in a didactic way explain again the way things really are in his kingdom. They are the parables of his kingdom and of his kingship. And then In chapters 14 through 17, we enter into another narrative section of Jesus founding his church, the Ecclesia.

The big focus here in this section is Peter and some of the famous stories that we're aware of. And then in chapter 18 is another discourse, another speech. This is the discourse in which the famous passage on church discipline, how church members deal with sin with one another and in the church at large. That's chapter 18. And then in chapters 19 through 23 is the narrative of the Passion.

And then in 24 and 25, we're back to discourse again with future judgment and salvation. We're very specific things we are instructed in regarding last things. And then in 26 through 28 is the final narrative section of the Passion and the Resurrection. And then finally I'm going to call the last two verses of Matthew a discourse and that would be the Great Commission. So that's how Matthew has structured his argument that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

And he just continues to toggle back and forth between narrative and discourse. So we are now in the final passages, passage of this discourse in chapter 10. Now, Jesus has been teaching his disciples what the marks of true discipleship happen to be. He's been unpacking them, not only the marks of true discipleship, but also the things that happen to true disciples. And the marks of those who are saying that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And what we learn in the marks in this passage is that it's a very costly confession. Secondly, that it brings a sword in the family. Thirdly, that it is about finding and losing life. And then Lastly, it includes receiving a reward. So that's where we're going this morning.

Now if you look at verse 32, you'll find that pivotal word, therefore, which gives us a marker in the text to understand that an argument is being made, things are being brought forward, and what the therefore of course refers to the immediate context, and Jesus has just been instructing his disciples about why they should not fear, because they will be so viciously attacked. So why should you not fear? Do not fear appears in this text. So when we pick up in verse 32, he's continuing this thought forward. And he's given several reasons not to fear already.

In verse 26 he said, he's saying, do not fear because nothing is covered that will not be revealed. In other words, you don't have to worry about your reputation or anything because everything will finally come to light. And you don't have to worry about the harm that the opposers of the gospel are doing to your character. You don't need to fear because everything will come to light. And then in verse 28, he says that there's another reason not to fear because they might be able to kill the body, but they can't kill the soul.

They can't kill the real you. And then in verse 28 again, he says, you don't need to fear because your father has the hairs of your head numbered. He's even counted your hair. He cares that much about every single part of you. He knows your thoughts, He knows your steps, and something that's so irrelevant that you just pick out and throw away.

He knows the number of the hairs on your head. Therefore do not fear. And then finally in verse 32, He gives another reason why you should not fear. And that is that true disciples have the Lord Jesus Christ confessing them to His Father. And that's another reason you shouldn't fear.

Because Jesus Christ is confessing you to your Father. In heaven, he's pleading before his throne for you. He is interceding before you day and night, perpetually. So these are the reasons not to fear. So as we move into verse 32, we read of this very costly confession before men.

Therefore, whoever confesses me before men, Him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven." Now the terminology here is very specific and I believe very laser-beam in its focus. The term for confess is homo, the same, and then logos, the same word. In other words, whoever says the same word, Whoever, as Jesus is saying, whoever says the same word as I say, that's what the term means. And so a true disciple says the same thing that Jesus says and is not afraid to say the same thing that Jesus says. Perhaps you've been struck with fear different times in your life to say the same thing that Jesus has said.

You're with an unbeliever and you're afraid to say what Jesus has said for the repercussions, for the division, for the hardship it might cost you, for the anger that it might produce, you hold back because to hobble a gao, to say the same thing is so threatening to you and it actually might lead to the losing of your life, so says this text. So whoever confesses me has to do with saying the same thing. Now, the terminology indicates a particular kind of confession, specifically the kind of confession that you would make in a courtroom or before some kind of a committee. It's making a statement before accusers the same way that you would make a formal confession or a sworn testimony before a jury. And Jesus is saying that true disciples confess him at any cost.

And we have to understand that men have died confessing Jesus Christ in this way before various kinds of witnesses. And that's why Jesus said, you will be hated by all men. This verse is often used to support the idea of decisional regeneration, where you accept Jesus by saying that you are now a follower of Jesus, and you use these words. You confess Him, and people say, well, did you confess Him? And they mean, did you say that you wanted to follow Jesus that's not the kind of confession that is in this text at all some think it might include praying a sinner's prayer or or standing in a meeting saying you've been born again.

This kind of confession that we're speaking about. The kind of confession that Jesus is speaking of here, it happens after salvation. It's not in the moment of salvation, but it may happen when you're standing before a committee or a friend or a group of people. But the confession is to say that Jesus Christ is Lord, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He is the King. And the confession is before men, as you see in the text here.

It's very much like what is spoken of in Acts chapter one, verse eight. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. It's equivalent to what Paul said to the Romans when he said, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. It's not the same kind of confession that Paul spoke of in the book of Romans when he said, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.

This kind of confession that Jesus is talking about is not that kind of confession. There are various kinds of confessions. Now there are other ways that people refuse to confess Christ. First by their silence or by their actions. And there are many examples of false professors in the Bible.

We're headed to Matthew chapter 13 and the parables that are there. And they're in the parable of the sower, in the parable of the weed and the tares, in the parable of the dragnet. Within all of these are examples of false professors who make a confession with their mouth, but it's not the kind of confession that is spoken of here at all. Judas was an example of a professor and a confessor who is not a true disciple. It includes the whole matter of being ashamed of the words of Christ in Mark chapter 8 verses 34 through 38.

Jesus says, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For what, whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels. How dangerous it is to be ashamed of the words of Christ. This is one of the mechanisms that God has given his children to understand, A, whether they are in the faith or whether they ought to repent.

When we are ashamed of the words of Christ and are fearful of speaking with them, it ought to wake us up as to the condition of our souls. If there are things in the Word of God that we do not appreciate, that we want to skip over, We have to understand what that is. It's a spirit of unbelief. The consequences of that spirit are enormous, because if you are not willing to confess Him, He will not be confessing you before His Father in heaven. This fear of confessing, of saying the same thing that God has said should strike us to the heart.

Do you remember when we were going through Deuteronomy and we were reading things that offended us? When we were saying, How could this be? How could this be God? Doesn't this make God a monster? This this strikes this strikes me as as Unfair when we say those kinds of things we have to understand the worldliness that has gripped our hearts and how important it is that we say the same thing that Jesus Christ has said so that we don't be found in this position of being ashamed of His words.

This verse follows the very same pattern that we've seen before. If you forgive, he will, if you do not forgive, he will not forgive you. It's the same kind of pattern. If you do not confess, neither will he confesses. Now, one of the most wonderful parts of this verse is the second half of the verse.

And I hope we can relish it and bask in it here for a moment this morning. And that is Jesus Christ is confessing before his Father in heaven. He says, Him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. This is the most precious gift that any human being can be given. There's nothing greater for a little boy or a little girl or an old man than to have Jesus Christ as his advocate.

And the Bible says that he never ceases his confession for us. In 1 John 2 verse 1, we read, My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. In Hebrews chapter seven, verses 24 and 25 are some of the most comforting words that any Christian ear could hear. But he, because he continues forever has an unchangeable priesthood.

Therefore he is able to save to the uttermost those to come, Those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. This is how Jesus Christ treats repentant sinners. He always makes intercession for them perpetually, 24 hours a day, pleading before his father. That's why this song that we sing, I love so much, before the throne of God, above I have a strong and perfect plea. A great high priest whose name is love, whoever lives and pleads for me." At the end of the Bible in Revelation, chapter 3 verse 5, we read, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels." And then of course there's the flip side, there's the denial in verse 33.

But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven. And this means to disown. He who disowns me before men, him I will also disown. As we studied in chapter seven, verse 22, many will come and say to him, Lord, Lord, And he will say, depart from me, I never knew you. This was the condition that was being experienced in the Church of Sardis in the Book of Revelation.

They had a name that they were alive, but actually they were dead. And Jesus Christ comes to that church and He says, be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, And you will not know what hour I will come upon you.

You have a few names, even in Sardis, who have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life. But I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. This warning in Sardis is our warning today.

If we are, as a church, or anyone individually, harboring sin, returning to the table of the Lord Jesus Christ without repenting of our sins. And we ought not to so profane the body and the blood of Jesus Christ that way. There are in churches those who have not washed their garments. They have not taken seriously the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, as the Lord Jesus said to the church in Sardis, that the Lord Jesus Christ would not say, depart from me, I never knew you.

So we first encounter this matter of a confession, what kind of confession it is. Confession it is. And then we encounter another aspect of true discipleship and that is that true disciples often experience a sword in their family. Verses 34 through 37 speak of it. Now this is the second time that the Lord Jesus has used the word peace because he opens this by speaking of peace and he says, do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.

I did not come to bring peace but a sword For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And the man's enemies will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." So the Lord Jesus is bringing up the matter of fracturing in a family as a result of the gospel. And He is saying that he is not coming to bring peace.

In the context of what Jesus is speaking of, he's been speaking of coming to a house and granting it peace. But if there is a rejection of the gospel, the peace will be returned. So he's been speaking of other people's houses and the peace or the lack of peace. Now he's talking about your house. Jesus has been having his disciples go through every city of Israel and he's been saying The disciples have been commanded to say the kingdom of heaven is at hand, meaning that they need to consider whether they are at war with God.

If they are at war with God, then they are to leave that place and go to the next and declare that household either at war with God or at peace with God. That's what this whole text is about, is that the disciples are going about the cities of Israel to declare the peace of Jesus Christ, but it may actually result in a sword by the judgment of God and to declare to those households to give up the fight against God. And that's the mission that they're on. Now the sword is metaphorical. It's the sword of the gospel.

It's not a metal sword. But it is reminiscent of Deuteronomy 20, where when God commanded the children of Israel to go into the promised land and take over the cities there, that they would go to a city and they would give the city two choices. First, they would offer peace to them. And then the people in that city would become their servants. But if they rejected the offer of peace, then they would go and destroy the city.

And so here in this passage now, the tension in families is acknowledged. And there's some wrong thinking that Jesus is beginning to deal with here. He says, do not think, do not think. There's some really, really wrong thinking about peace. And you need to have the Lord Jesus' view of peace because the disciples had wrong thinking about peace.

And so he says do not think because they weren't thinking rightly. You know he used this term before in Matthew 5 he said do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. Don't think wrongly about the law. Now he's thinking don't think wrongly about peace and what it is, what it really is.

Jesus said, I came to send fire on the earth in Luke 12 verse 49. He says, and how I wish it were already kindled. And so he says, do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. Now, our consciences have been so marred in thinking about peace. We think that Christ always brings peace.

He's always making peace. That's not true. This is faulty thinking. We often absorb sort of the peacenek view of peace. That, you know, somehow the whole culture of eco-peace and the brotherhood of man has so seeped into our brains that we can't think straight about peace.

And so our first reaction though is to say, what is he saying? I didn't come to bring peace. How can this be? Does the Bible contradict itself? He's the Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9, 6.

And now he says, I didn't bring peace. What does it mean, blessed are the peacemakers? He just said blessed are the peacemakers. Of course, he's talking about people who make peace with God. People who help those make peace with God.

In John 16, 33, he says, these things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you'll have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." How does that fit into this whole doctrine of peace? Well, that's a different kind of peace. Ephesians 2.14 says that, "'For he is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation." So if you think carefully about the passages that speak of peace, you can see how they're harmonized.

There's a sense that Christ does make peace between men as they love one another, as they forgive one another of their sins, as they're kind to one another, as they fulfill various biblical commands, particularly the one another's. In the Bible we can see how easily those make for peace. That's a different kind of peace. And he's talking about here. But there's another side to Christ's work in the world, and that is where he separates the sheep and the goats, how the Word of God divides.

But what about Luke 2, 14, where it says, Peace on earth and good will toward men? What's that all about? That's contradictory to what you're saying here. And actually, this translation, peace on earth, good will to men, is actually a mistranslation of the Greek text. And what Christ actually promises in Luke two is not peace between all men in the world.

He's promising peace on earth to men of goodwill, namely those on whom his favor rests. Those are the kind of men who have peace in the world. The other men don't have that kind of peace. The whole world will never have peace unless Jesus Christ is bowed down to in worship. There will be a day when every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, but it's not that day yet.

So there are different kinds of peace here. So there are only certain kinds of people on earth who have been promised peace. So we have to recognize that God's kind of peace is different. There is peace with God. There is a kind of peace with man, but there is a sword that the gospel brings that destroys peace between men.

And that's what Jesus is talking about. God is not at peace with the world, and the people of the world are not at peace with God. While man's heart longs for some kind of secular peace, it does not exist in God. And so it does not really exist in the world, and it can never exist in the world because the world is in opposition to God. Today we define peace as tolerance, you know, universalism on earth and tolerance toward all men.

That's really the kind of peace that this world offers. That's the only kind that it can ever have. And then the gospel is like a sword in a family. The term that is used, this sword, it indicates discord and strife and violence. Now, in this text there are three pairs of relationships that are affected.

I want you to look very carefully at them. Again, there are never any throwaway words in the Bible, but there's a very distinct definition of family relationships. He says, for I have come to set a man against his father. A man against his father. That's one kind of division.

This would be a, this would be a son against his father. And then a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And then, more broadly, kind of a summary statement, a man's enemies will be those of his own household. That's the summary of it all. But the term that he uses against is to cut in two, to separate.

And so there's this point of tension, which is why Jesus said, he who loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. This is not a destruction of the commands of God of love of parents toward their children or children toward their parents. This does not destroy the honor that a believing son owes his unbelieving father, nor does it destroy the love that a believing father owes to his unbelieving son. It's just an acknowledgement of a division that takes place.

It does not remove all of the family commands that are in Scripture. But within the context of those commands, there can be this division and how tragic and heartbreaking it is. There are examples of this in Scripture. In Luke chapter 9, where we read about people who shrink away from Christ because of family ties. One of these family members wants to wait for their inheritance.

The other wants to delay following Christ for family. This is family idolatry. This passage is touching on that matter of minimizing the Gospel for the sake of peace in the family and how wrong that is, which is actually making an idol out of your family. Jesus speaks of their being they're going on a journey on a road and someone says to him, Lord I'll follow you wherever you go. And Jesus says to him, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

And then he said to another, follow me. But he said, let me go first and bury my father. And Jesus said to him, Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow you, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are in my house. But Jesus said to one, No one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God." In Luke chapter 12 there's another example of a family.

It's actually a family of five. Very specifically, it's a family of five. And they're all in the same home and they're divided. In Luke 12, 49, He says, I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled, but I have a baptism to be baptized with and then distressed till it is accomplished. Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth?

I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on, five in one house will be divided, three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and a son against father. So there's a believing father and an unbelieving son. And mother against daughter, and a daughter against mother.

Mother in law against her daughter in law, and daughter in law against her mother in law. So in this family of five, there's a father and a mother, and there's an unmarried daughter, and there's a married son and his wife, and there's division in this home because of the gospel. The mother believes in Christ, so does the father and is divided from the children in the house. And in this passage, Jesus is quoting from Micah chapter 7. And Micah is speaking judgment on Israel.

And Jesus uses What Micah says to speak of this same thing again, Jesus is saying what was spoken of by the prophet. Micah is now being demonstrated before your eyes here and Jesus is quoting him. Micah reads like a lawsuit for a breach of contract. Israel has broken covenant and judgment is coming. The Northern Kingdom has been attacked.

The year is probably 700 to 735 BC. And Micah is in the southern kingdom. He's in Judah. And those in the north are being ravaged by Sennacherib, who's come to destroy the northern kingdom. And the prophet is speaking of their broken covenant.

It's a judgment that is foretelling a judgment that is coming on the south. Often judgment happens one place to warn you so that it won't happen in your place. And That's what's happening in Micah. This whole judgment of God, this Sennacherib, is a tool of the Lord to use to punish the children of Israel, to get them to turn back from their idols. It's also a parable, a picture for the Southern Kingdom, who are also running toward their idols, and they're letting their sins run rampant.

And Micah's prophesying as a result of this broken contract, this covenant that's broken. And God is announcing through Micah the judgment, and he says this in 7-5, do not trust in a friend. Do not put your confidence in a companion. Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom. Now you just reflect on that for a minute.

Guard your mouth, husband, from her who lies in your bosom because she's not a believer And she's divided from you because of the gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ is promising that this will happen to believers, that they will have wives who are not. And there will be wives who will have husbands who are not believers. Let's not let this moment pass. Are you that wife?

Are you that woman in the bosom of your husband? And you're not a believer? And you've not repented of your sins? And you maybe have sat in this church and you've also despised the volume, the blood of Jesus Christ. You've taken the Lord's table and abandoned you.

You know you're not a believer. Let this be an opportunity for you to cry out to God. Let God speak to you. Let him break your heart. Let him turn your heart from stone into flesh.

If you're not a believer, some of you have acted like unbelievers. Some of you husbands have acted like unbelievers toward your wives. And This should be a day of reckoning between husbands and wives here today. Because here Jesus says, you better, through the prophet Micah, be careful what you say, husband, to that wife of yours who is in your bosom. Because the gospel has divided you.

And then he says, for a son dishonors father. Often the dishonor of a son is because he's not a believer. Sons struggle with dishonor. Sometimes their struggle is because they're unconverted. You young men here, you sons, if you are defying your mother and your father, you need to recognize what that may mean.

If your heart is not soft for them, you need to flee to Jesus Christ and be saved. I'm not saying that every time a son dishonors his father that it means he's unconverted. I'm not saying that at all. But here in this text, the dishonor of a son is connected to his unbelief and the division and the sword that's in that family. And you have to take that seriously young man and young woman.

And then he says, a daughter rises against her mother. Are you a daughter uprising against your mother? And you loathe her authority. Is it possible that you are one of these and the sword of the gospel has divided you from your mother? Slee to Christ.

A daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. These kinds of family conflicts are no joke because often they have to do with the Gospel. We have so many examples of this in Scripture. You have Cain and Abel, you have Jacob and Esau, you have Nabal's opposition to Abigail.

That's why Jesus said in Luke 14, 26, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. So not only will true believers suffer division in the family, but they also may be cut off from the world and they may actually lose their life and lose it two ways. Lose it here in terms of affections for a certain kind of life and lose it ultimately. And that takes us to verses 36 to 39. Finding and losing life.

And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it." Now, this is the first time that the word cross is mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew. Now, today, a cross is thought of as like a piece of jewelry. It's shiny. It's clean.

You pay money for it. But a cross in the context of the life of Jesus. It's more, it's more, more clearly identified with a noose or a guillotine. Or an electric chair. So when Jesus is saying, take up your cross, he's talking about taking up an instrument of death.

It's an instrument of shame, because on the cross the shame of all of our sins, the whole sins of the world, were laid upon Jesus Christ on that cross. So it's a symbol of shame, of condemnation. It's a tool of death to the person who carries it. So when Jesus talks about taking up his cross, he's talking about a journey that believers, that true disciples, are on to a crucifixion. If you come to Christ, you are on a journey to a crucifixion.

A death penalty to be mocked, to be spat upon, to be hung naked on the cross, to be totally exposed. And Jesus here bids his disciples to come and die. His disciples would have understood what this meant to hang on a cross. The Romans made a big spectacle out of crosses just a few years before Jesus spoke these words. In probably 7 AD, a zealot by the name of Judas rose up to try to mount an insurrection against the Roman occupation.

And he was captured. And two thousand Jews were crucified. And he mounted the crosses along the roadways. The Romans were regularly crucifying hundreds, sometimes thousands of people to make a statement of the despicable nature of their shameful deed in order to show the whole world how ridiculous it is to rise up against Rome and shame upon shame for all those who would do so. And so when Jesus spoke these words, his disciples knew exactly what he was talking about.

When a man carries a cross, he's making a confession. To carry a cross is to acknowledge the authority of Rome. It means submission. I'm going to give you seven aspects of what this submission of a cross demands. First of all, it's a personal submission to authority.

Second, it's a public submission to authority. It's a public submission. This is not some kind of including Jesus in some part of your life. This is not like saying God is my co-pilot as if you have any role. It is complete and utter public submission.

That's what a cross means. Thirdly, it's daily submission. You take up your cross daily, as Luke 9.23 says. Fourth, It's costly and painful submission because a cross was rough and ended up soaked with your blood. Fifth, it was absolute submission because it involved every part of your life, your work, your home life, your hobbies, absolutely everything.

To take up the cross is not something you add on. It consumes everything. Sixth, it's future submission. It indicates Christ's leading forward into the future. It's the upward call of God.

And seventh, it's corporate submission. It's for all true disciples. And he says, he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. It's a cross of difficulty. But It's not the kind of difficulty that often people associate with taking up a cross.

What does this mean? People say, well, I have this cross to bear. What they usually mean by that is I'm having back problems or I have cancer or my wife is constantly badgering me. I just have to bear the cross. I have a vindictive mother-in-law.

You know? It's just a cross you have to bear. Difficulties like this are not crosses. Just Separate this from your mind forever. When someone says it's a cross I have to bear, that is absolutely a million miles away from what Jesus is saying here.

You cannot belittle the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ with your backache or your wife or your passive husband. That is not a cross. He associates it with loving and losing your life. In verse 39, he who finds his life will lose it and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. You know, What does it mean to find your life?

We are so diligent to protect our reputation, to have a certain kind of outward life in this world. And Jesus is saying that If you want your kind of life, you cannot have my kind of life. You know, our greatest stumbling block often is just desiring the approval of man. When Christ calls his disciples into a lack of approval of man. He's called us to lose our lives for his sake.

And if we fail to lose our lives for his sake, we will suffer a total loss. That's the significance of the cross. The English Führer to Matthew Shepard wrote this about the cross and the way that the Lord Jesus Christ has called his disciples to bear his cross. Unless Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free, no. There's a cross for everyone and there's a cross for me.

Jesus is appealing to us to understand the significance of the cross in the life of a disciple. And Matthew closes this second discourse with an encouraging note in verses 40 through 42 regarding the receiving of a reward. He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward." So Jesus winds up his instruction with rewards, And he's saying that receiving the messengers of Jesus is like receiving God.

You notice the number of things that are here. There's these successive levels of authority and maybe influence. There's a prophet, there's a righteous man, and there's a little one. So the smaller group of Christians, you know, the prophet, the larger group, the righteous man, and then the little ones, the larger group. That's possibly what he's implying.

It may not be, but whoever gives one of these little ones a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, he shall by no means lose his reward. What he's saying is that any act of service to any of God's people is rewardable. This is about the way that you treat the prophet, the righteous man, and the little one who are in the kingdom of heaven. It's a very wonderful thing that he's saying here. That even the simplest thing that a disciple does for another disciple is not unnoticed.

When Jesus said this in Matthew later, you did it unto me. If you do anything to these, the least of my disciples, you've done it unto me. And so you can participate in the preaching of a prophet by helping a prophet, by just giving him a cup of cold water, and you'll receive a prophet's reward. Maybe you're not a prophet, but you get a prophet's reward if you help. Reward if you help.

Here the Lord Jesus is opening to us a miracle of the body of Christ. That we have many members but not all the same function. And that the preaching of the gospel is the central thing and the whole church pulls for the preaching of the gospel to enable the prophets or the righteous men or the little ones to enable that all of us are enabling one another in this and even something so simple, something so worthless in terms of monetary value like a cup of cold water is rewardable. All of these things that you do, even the simplest, least expensive things are rewardable for all eternity. Isn't that amazing?

I hope that thrills your heart about how we function together in the church, how we relate to one another, how we help one another in the church. Even the littlest one has a prophet's reward. You remember the story of Rumpelstiltskin? You know, it's actually a horrible story. But there's only one part of it that's remarkable, and that is that there's a little elf that comes in and He spins gold out of straw.

He takes the ordinary thing of life, He takes the cheapest thing in life, and turns it into gold. That's like giving a cup of cold water. You take this very simple thing, and it becomes gold. It becomes treasure in heaven. You're sending forth treasures, even in these small acts of mercy and kindness, and help toward any disciple of Jesus Christ.

It's taking the straw, just the ordinary means of life. You don't even have to have anything to do this. All you have to do is have a heart of mercy toward a disciple of Jesus Christ to help them along their way. And it's rewardable. It's like turning straw into gold.

It's like turning water into gold for all eternity. Now, the cup of cold water is often used wrongly. It's used as just doing something nice for somebody, like caring for the poor or the needy. But that's not what this is about. It's about taking care of Christ's disciples.

It's not about giving money to the poor all over the world. It's about doing something for a disciple. God so prioritizes his people that he would concentrate one of them on one another to be for acts of kindness, not to neglect the world, obviously. To neglect the world would be to neglect all kinds of other commands. So that's not about neglecting other kinds of ministry, but it does so clarify that there is something that the servants of God do along their way in life, and every cup of cold water is rewardable.

Cold water is rewardable. In 3 John chapter 5, we read, Beloved, You do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you do well. You will do well. Why?

And he answers it, because they went forth for his name's sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers for the truth. Here in 3 John, the apostle is saying that when you send people out, they don't need the Gentiles, they only need the people of God, and in helping them on their way, you become a fellow worker for the truth in them. So as you practice hospitality, as you speed them on their way in various ways, you're participating in their ministry. You're rewarded for their ministry.

You become fellow workers for the truth, as John says. In Acts chapter 17, we see that sometimes this can be costly. The household of Jason. Jason took in the Apostle Paul, and the whole city came and invaded his house because he was built by association. It was dangerous.

It was dangerous to associate with the disciple. Someday Perhaps it will be in our own land. We can think of it in terms of the way that the Galatians received Paul. He said, you know that because of physical infirmity, I preached the gospel to you at first, and my trial, which was in my flesh, you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ himself." That's what he's talking about. That church in Galatia received Paul, and they received him as if he was like an angel from God, even as if he was Christ himself.

That's the level of attentiveness and mercy and care God would have disciples have toward one another. We could turn to 1 Kings chapter 17 because there's this exact same imagery. There was no food. It was hard. A prophet was given food by a destitute woman.

She had no food. She was ready to die. But she gave it to him anyway and God rewarded her. She received a prophet's reward. When she entertained and blessed the prophet, even though she had absolutely nothing, she participated in his ministry and received treasure in heaven by acquiring for herself, by her gift, a prophet's reward.

She wasn't a prophet, she was a mother, yet with a prophet's reward. Matthew 6 is all about rewards, wasn't it? Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. If you give alms for men, assuredly, I say to you, you have your reward if you pray for man you have your reward for man if you fast and make sure everybody knows about it, you have your reward from man, but not from God. This is about rewards.

I'm just going to leave you with two thoughts on rewards. The first comes from Genesis 15, verse 1, Where God says to Abraham, I am your shield, your very great reward. Here God says, I am the reward. God is the reward. When you give a cup of cold water, What do you get?

You get God. He is your reward. The second is from 1 Corinthians 4 verse 5. Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts, then each one's praise will come from God." In 1 Corinthians 4, 5, the reward is praise from God. You know, in Matthew chapter 6, everyone was wanting praise from man, and so they gave their money and they prayed and they fasted because they wanted the praise of man.

But here the Lord Jesus is telling us that our reward is praise from God. So everything that comes from faith is rewardable, so says Romans 14, 23. I want to close with Hebrews chapter 11, verse 5. By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and was not found, because God had taken him. For before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God.

He pleased God. But without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder to those who diligently seek him. So here the Lord Jesus is instructing His disciples about the costliness of the confession, about the sword that may come in the family, about finding and losing life, And finally, about receiving a reward. Would you pray with me?

Oh Lord, we need such grace from heaven not to waste our afflictions, but to learn from them and turn from everything that would contradict what you have said here in your Word. O Lord, have mercy on us.