In the sermon 'Self-Denial for Greater Gain', Gary Orr explores the profound teachings of Luke 9:23-27, emphasizing the essential Christian practice of self-denial and cross-bearing. Orr elucidates the interconnectedness of scripture, drawing parallels between Jesus' teachings and other biblical passages, such as the Transfiguration and Paul's writings. He challenges the congregation to consider the nature of 'the kingdom of God', suggesting its manifestation in the Transfiguration where Peter, James, and John witness Jesus in His glorified state. The sermon highlights the importance of daily self-denial, termed as a 'daily funeral', where believers are encouraged to surrender their own desires and pride in favor of following Christ. Orr warns against idolatry, the allure of worldly riches, and the temptation to be one's own savior, underscoring the necessity of total heart transformation and reliance on Jesus. Through vivid biblical references and personal anecdotes, Orr calls for a life of sacrificial devotion, where the ultimate glory and reward lie in eternal life with Christ.

I have always been fascinated by the number of connections within Scripture. So when I'm sitting listening to Jason preach, I am always being reminded of other passages and making the connections. Who here remembers when Wikipedia was new? Wikipedia, you look up a topic, you'd have an article and within that article were blue links that would take you to another Wikipedia page, which also had an article with blue links. And if you chase down that rabbit trail, you might get back to where you started, but you might not.

You might be worlds away. I feel that's what I have here for us this morning. Because I have so many connections out of this passage that I want to bring about and I want to exhort and admonish and encourage each of us as we consider this passage. It is my privilege and honor to be here filling a pulpit that is normally filled by Jason Dome. He is truly one of my very favorite pastors and of course he did have the difficulty this morning of being half a world away.

So you got me instead. With that said, I offer an apology. When I speak either after service or if I'm giving an exhortation for Lord's Supper, my notes are typically the Bible reference. I took courses in high school and college in public speaking. I'm comfortable up here no matter how I look.

Extemporaneous speaking is one of my favorite things. You're given a topic and given 10 minutes, I want five minutes on that. That's great. But coming to this, there's so much that I want to make sure we go over today. With all my apologies, I wrote an essay.

I have this word for word. I'm not going to try to appear to be reading this. Let me divert myself one more time. Years ago, there was a conference. It was long enough ago, it was in the Chevrolet Building in downtown Wake Forest that Scott was hosting.

And a young man named Jonathan Sides gave a talk. And his talk was entitled, The Sinfulness of a Boring Reading of Scripture. And his example text was Galatians 3, where Paul writes, Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? And he said, Far be it from us to remove the intensity, and it should be a confrontation, a yelling. So as you know, I've adopted that as my own.

I take that very seriously. So after an apology, after an explanation of what we're doing today, let's pray and ask God's help. Oh Lord, how good it is to gather around your Word. This efficiency of Scripture truly is a fun and wonderful doctrine and there is so much interconnectedness and I know I'm barely going to scratch the surface today, but I pray that you will speak clearly and you will prepare hearts for a word from you. We commit this time to you in the name of Jesus, who is Christ.

Now We have recited this text for three months. Whether or not you have brought it home and worked on it within the house, at least repeating it, citing it every week, your brain works on these things. You're filling your warehouse, which is why we do the recitation text. But what I'm getting at is that you should have some core idea and maybe some questions and applications of your own that you would have come up with. I look forward to the interaction after the sermon.

Do not, please do not play stump the speaker. So I want to do it justice this morning. However, before we get to our recitation passage, I want to start with verse 27 because verse 27 is a wonderful verse with so many misinterpretations and confusions where Luke writes Jesus says, but I tell you truly there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God." Primary difficulty is what is meant by kingdom of God. Is it the second coming? Or Is it the beginning of the church age in 70 AD with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem?

Is it the transfiguration that happens in the very next passage? There's a significant obstacle here In John 21, starting in verse 21, post-resurrection, Jesus is talking to his disciples and he says, this is in verses 21 and 22, Peter seeing him, John, said to Jesus, But Lord, what about this man? Jesus said to him, if I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow me. Then the saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die.

Now here's the trouble with this. John's gospel wasn't written until around 90 and so he's answering what was the scuttlebutt post-resurrection to the time of his writing. And yes, it is commonly believed that John was the last disciple of Christ to pass away, rumored about 95 AD on the island of Patmos after being exiled. But John wants to clear the air. So in the very next verse he says, then this saying went out among the brethren that the disciple would not die yet.

Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but if I will that he remain till I come. What is that to you? That was a smackdown. That was a mind of business. So, what if?

Remember, we'll encounter it here today, Jesus taught a lot in hyperbole. It's ridiculous to think that someone would be alive from the first century today or even well into the second century for that matter. The span of a man is 120 years, right? So the clarification is given immediately by the one whom Jesus was referring to. He wasn't looking towards an overly extended lifespan.

So what do we have here? We have the I tell you truly. And that's essentially doubling down on whatever he says next. It's dependable. It's gospel truth.

It means that there are some who would see the actual kingdom of God, but there's another problem with this. There's some not so unrelated cross references elsewhere in Scripture. Open up to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. We look at verses 2 to 4. This is the Apostle Paul writing to the Church of Corinth and he says this starting in verse 2, I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven.

Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know. God knows. And I know that this man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know, but God knows, was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. So this simply states that someone went and got a glimpse of heaven. I would presume it was in a vision, but we don't know for sure.

And of course when Paul says whether in the body or out, he says he doesn't know if it was a physical calling up or a vision. And then when he says it again, in the body or out, he doesn't know if this person is alive or not. Because it was fourteen years ago. Well, there's a problem with that because when you flip back and do this, flip back to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, we run into the problem with the vision that someone saw a glimpse of heaven. And that's in 1 Corinthians 15 at the end of the chapter, 51 to 53.

Paul writes, Behold I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound the dead will be raised incorruptible that means perfect and and we shall be changed for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. That's how we get prepared for the physical arrival in glory in heaven. We have to put on perfection. This flesh, this is flawed.

This is damaged goods. I cannot in my corrupted nature approach a holy God. I will be burned up, destroyed, gone. I have to put on whatever the new body is, and I have to be able to have my own perfection from Christ to actually see or be a part of heaven, of glory. So there's a problem then.

I'm not getting into a discussion of future events, but we have a problem. We have a struggle with what does the Kingdom of God actually refer to. We have three responses I mentioned, second coming, 70 AD, transfiguration. And of these, even though John was alive in the year 70 AD, I'm going to say that's not the right answer. Jesus did not typically talk about future events 40 years ahead.

All of it discourse not withstanding because he was talking about something 40 years in the future. But when it came to his teaching and what he was actually pursuing with people, he wanted to exhort them to believe the Gospel, to be saved, to have a new heart. That's going to be the theme, a new heart, now, not tomorrow, not next year, not 40 years from now. He wants the salvation to occur now. Don't wait.

So likely, where I'm going to land on this, the meaning of what actually Jesus says in verse 27 will be manifested in the very next passage, the Transfiguration, where Peter, James, and John will get a glimpse, though through a glass darkly, to quote Paul again, of Jesus in his glorified state. I'm not going to stomp all over Mike's territory, but take a glimpse at verse 28. Back to Luke 9. As he prayed, his appearance, the appearance of his face was altered and his robe became white and glistening. Now flip over to the very back of the book, Revelation chapter 1 verses 12 to 16.

This is where John has a vision and sees Jesus as he is in his glorified state. Listen to this description. Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to his feet, and girded about the chest with a golden band." By the way, the golden band is significant because the priests would have a golden thread.

So having a golden band is quite the power move, so to speak. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. He had in his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength." I'm not going to get into the nuanced differences of Jesus' robe on the Mount of Transfiguration versus what John saw, But the point is that these two descriptions are remarkably similar, albeit abbreviated.

We don't know how his face was altered. I would imagine it became bright white and bright shining like the sun, but the idea here was that Jesus was at least partially in his glory. I'll leave it to Mike next week to let you know what Jesus, Moses, and Elijah talked about. But that would indicate that Peter, James, and John are the quote, some standing here, that Jesus was referring to in verse 27. This interpretation is best and comes without delay, so please do not book any travel to go over to Mediterranean, Crete, Greece, Patmos and look for some really old guy named John.

You won't find him there. Back to our passage verse 23. Here's where we have been camped on for the last three months. Let's explore. Verse 23, Then he said to them all, If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Now, Jesus frequently called people to follow him.

James and John, they left their nets. Matthew walked out of his tax collector's booth. Some people left and followed right away, but then some hesitated. Flip over to Matthew chapter 8. I'll be starting in verse 19.

Matthew records this event. Then a certain scribe came and said to him, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." Then another of his disciples said to him, Lord let me first go and bury my father. That doesn't mean his father is dead, that means he wants to wait until his father passes away, settle the estate, get whatever inheritance, take care of all the final transactions, and then would be free to do what he will. Jesus said to him, follow me and let the dead bury their own dead, which is why his father wasn't actually dead.

He couldn't bury himself and dead people can't do very much at all, except those that are spiritually dead who can respond to the Lord's call. So this is also paralleled out at the end of Luke 9, so I'm not going to go into great detail about it, other than to say that we don't know if the scribe ultimately was a follower, or which of his disciples asked about his own follower. It says it was a disciple. Luke protects the identity of these people. He doesn't mention anything.

But Jesus alluded to the cost involved with following him and expanded it in verse 23. The cost of following Jesus is self-denial and cross bearing. This is a little odd even at the surface because crucifixion was a current practice but it was typically reserved for non-Romans who were rebels, deserters, slaves, or thieves, but it was not the most common form of punishment. It was an extreme form of punishment. You make a point with crucifixion.

There's going to be a firing squad coming up soon down in Fort Hood to execute a man who was a mass murderer and killed soldiers. So they are broadcasting that live in order to make a point. We in our culture in America, we have a very, very soft perspective when it comes to things like that. I mean right down to the sheets they bring out of the car accident involves a fatality. We have, either we have such a great sensitivity to blood on the street, or we want to have the general public shielded.

They don't do that overseas. Overseas, you'll see if you ever get a hold of some video from overseas news broadcasts, they show what happened. It's not pretty, but it's part of their reality. And American reality, praise God so far, doesn't involve such common carnage, for lack of a better term. So the idea that crucifixion was a statement containing form of punishment.

That's the hyperbole that Jesus often speaks of. That you carry your cross. What are you going to do with the cross? You're going to be crucified. So Jesus uses that as to cite the extreme devotion to God that is required.

Would you be willing to face crucifixion to be included in the kingdom of God? Would you be willing to associate with someone who is sentenced to crucifixion? More about that in a little bit. But Jesus called repentance and salvation has a price. That price is self and pride.

Years ago I heard a pastor say that, oh the church just wants your money. He was actually preaching out of Acts chapter 2 when he made that comment. He said, we don't want your money. We, and me as a pastor and we as a church are ambassadors of Christ. I don't want your money, we want your heart.

We want all of you. Because you look at Acts chapter 2, very familiar passages, Peter's sermon on Pentecost and the response in verse 37, when they heard this they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, man and brethren, what shall we do? Peter replied, Repent, let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ the crucified and Later the word comes from Peter and cut straight to the heart Cut straight to the heart Hebrews 412 There's the Wikipedia portion For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, out of the joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Sense a common theme? The call for the kingdom is for complete and total surrender starting with your heart, which can be considered one's will.

The importance of the last, the importance of total surrender is going to be called out later in this very chapter down in verse 62 where Jesus says, no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God. I'm not going to expound on that because it's coming in the future as your prequel, your trailer. So the call to the Kingdom is total, starting with daily cross-bearing. Years ago I had a friend up north and he recommended this. His counsel was you want to start each day with a daily funeral and you're going to go ahead and put your will, your desires, your schedule, your wants on that altar, kill it, bury it.

Your daily funeral. That's what Jesus is talking about, daily, to pick up your cross. What's the problem? The problem is that this is a living sacrifice. Oh, who just keyed on living sacrifice?

Romans 12, 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. What's the problem with a living sacrifice? It's going to crawl off the altar. It's going to get away.

That's the problem. That's why Jesus calls for it daily. Daily, have your daily funeral, Have your daily cross picking. The sacrifice Jesus made, the once for all, for the atonement of his people, well, we're kind of mirroring that. Some days better than others.

But while we can't compare the two, that daily funeral, that defeating of our own will and pride and selfishness to help impact our heart is a part of our journey of sanctification. And The cost of salvation can be significant. Look at what Jesus put up with. He put up with a steady stream of conflict, misunderstanding, dealing with idiots, proud idiots at that, strained relations with friends and family to the point where he was totally alone at his arrest. Everyone abandoned him.

Now similarly, although to a lesser degree, there are some in this room that have put up with strained relationships, broken family ties, friends and former friends slandering people, public ridicule of Christianity. Call that what it is, it's blasphemy. But it's becoming much more common, much more brazen, much more severe. We get to put up with it. If you respond how you want, That's not being very Christian like now is it?

So we need to keep our own pride and selfishness in check and that's a full-time job. And a full-time job I really don't want a performance review. No thank you. But when we look at the benefit, what's the benefit of the reward of this daily cross bearing, of having a daily funeral, what's the benefit of taking up my cross and following him? I get glory.

Now Rich Mullins, the singer back in the 90s, and in one interview he did have a history, he grew up in the Midwest, which is a different environment, and he used to hitchhike to get where he was going. I would not recommend that now. This is not an example. This is a metaphor. But what he said was that when you're finally climbing up into the back of that pickup truck, then you're going to get on your way.

The four hours of waiting in the rain don't feel so bad. And so when we get to glory, are we really going to spend a whole lot of time thinking what a struggle we had here in this life? I don't think so. I don't think so at all because just like Rich Mullins was saying, you know what? That was minor stuff.

Look what I get. Just as I mentioned a couple weeks ago in the Lord's Supper exhortation, Jesus, but for the joy set before Him, endured the cross despising its shame." He was focused on what's ahead. We should be focused on what's ahead to help us get over what we're going through right now. And that focus starts with the heart. So we have the encouragement from Apostle Paul in Philippians.

Let your eyes see this one. Philippians 3 because This should be our focus. Philippians 3, the second half of verse 13 and verse 14. Where Paul writes this, But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Now, Forgetting might be a bad translation. I did not dig into it.

Disregarding, not considering. We do learn all along the way. Every day is learning experience. So it's not a case of amnesiac forgetfulness of what happened rather than not dwelling on it. Don't let your focus be on, oh I got my feelings hurt.

Let your focus be on, I get to go to heaven. I get to go and spend eternity with Christ and with countless other believers, all in perfection, in glory, no pain, no tears, no suffering, no death, sign me up. So that's what Paul is getting at, that he's looking forward to. That should be our motivation to have a daily funeral. Put up with a daily funeral today and you'll reap the benefits tomorrow.

That's positive reinforcement. We all know about positive and negative reinforcement, right? You should, especially if you're a parent. I will reward you if you do what you're supposed to and I will chastise, discipline, or punish you if you don't. That's positive and negative reinforcement.

We get some negative reinforcement in the following verses. Verses 24 and 25. Jesus says, For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost. The phrase save his life in the Greek has the connotation of preservation or rescue or success and the word lose refers to destruction.

Fairly clear. But here's a paradox. The desire to save my life could cost me that life. Make that make sense. Well here's the problem.

Since saving anything should keep protect and preserve it and not put it at risk, Here's the question though. Who is doing the saving? Oh, what's he say? Whoever. Whoever desires to save his life will lose it.

Oh, what's that whoever imply? Me. Who else? No one. Just me.

If I want to be my own savior, can I do that? No. I can't be my own savior. I need a savior. I can't be a savior.

And so what Jesus is saying is that if you're going to try and be your own Savior and do your own thing and take autonomous control of your own life, you will fail. And that failure is complete destruction. Why? Because there is only one Lord and Savior. And even if you were to lose your life for His sake, then He's the one saving your life, your eternal life.

So to get lost and caught up and involved in the work of Jesus and the worship and praise and you devote your entire life to the cause of Christ, you could get killed for it. Go to some of our other countries on this planet, you could absolutely get killed for your faith and if you had the nerve to open up your mouth about it but if you lose your life for Christ's sake you'll save your eternal life. There's the negative you know If you want to be your own savior, it's not even a good luck with that. It's a, you will lose your life. You're done.

But if you lose your life, even if you go so far as to lose your life for the sake of Christ, you win. That's a good thing because He is the ultimate Savior. It's all based on who is doing the saving. Now, in my own feeble attempts to be my own Savior, I've failed. And it's because, as I mentioned, you're categorically rejecting any and every other Savior, including Jesus, and that failure will be eternal.

Jesus then talks about another distraction and another element of risk involved in all this. He says, for What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost? Again, Jesus taught in hyperbole. This is not a bad method, obviously, because Jesus used it, but the idea of taking anything to the nth degree, to the far extreme. I had a conversation with a young man and he mentioned that he was drinking the poison of bitterness.

Bitterness, as you may know, is a poison which I drink hoping you die. And he got to the point where he realized, if I'm stuck and I'm unforgivable, I have no hope. And if I don't like what you did to me, and I don't forgive you, and you are unforgivable, that translates, taken down to the extreme, That translates to unredeemable. We have to accept the forgiveness that Jesus offers and offer that same forgiveness to anyone who stepped on our toes. So the hyperbole is a good teaching method because when you take anything out to the extreme, you will see what its true nature is.

So that's not a bad thing. So again, about the, if you gain the whole world, it's not going to be a singular king of the world, but the translation is, if I have a bunch of stuff, then what good is that if I'm then destroyed or lost? Years ago there was a popular bumper sticker and it read this he who dies with the most toys wins. I think yes that's really stupid because as another friend of mine pointed out, he who dies with the most toys still died. What profit is it to gain the whole world and to forfeit your soul?

If you remember that marvelous movie and if you don't it's coming on again 127 times later this year. It's a wonderful life. Clarence, the angel, says, we don't use money in heaven. George Bailey says, well it comes in real handy down here. And it does, right?

Who wants money? Don't lie. Who wants money? If I don't see every hand, some of you are lying. I will take checks of any money you don't want.

I'll take cash too or Bitcoin. Think of the rich young ruler. He's in Matthew 19 and Mark 10. What was his real problem? Was his problem the wealth that he had?

Was his problem the assets that he possessed? The things that he could do and the authority that he had? Was that his problem? What was his problem? He had a heart condition.

Turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6. The midst of the Sermon on the Mount. Look at verses 19 through 21. Sermon on the Mount is worth studying. I don't know if, was it McCartney?

No. Who was it that taught on the Sermon on Mount for like 10 years or 20 years? I don't even know if it was Finney. Martin Lloyd-Jones I think it was. He preached on the Stremont Mount for over a decade.

It is just so dense. Go home and read it this afternoon. In Matthew 6 19 to 21, Jesus tells us to prioritize our treasure. He says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal." Here's the punchline, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Right back to that heart again.

This is a whole sermon on your heart. Jesus is not condemning assets or condoning a call to poverty. He's calling out the connection between assets and one's heart. Consider the caution contained in Psalm 62. You don't have to turn there, but if you want to, Psalm 62, 9 and 10.

The psalmist reveals how we are measured in the eyes of God and then give counsel. The Psalmist writes, surely men of low degree are a vapor. Men of high degree are a lie. If they are weighed in the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor. Do not trust in oppression nor vainly hope in robbery.

Here's a punchline. If riches increase, do not set your heart on them. Oh! So what's the connection? My heart.

Where am I focusing? What's my attention being spent on? I mean there are some who misinterpret Scripture. My favorite, money is the root of all evil. Wrong.

1 Timothy 6, 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." And this comes after Paul writes one of our other favorite verses in our family, Godliness with contentment is great gain. My wife put that to music. Does God bless people financially? Yes. Again, as George Bailey put it, it does come in real handy.

We need money to live on. We need money to bless others. We need money to fund missions. We need money to get the gospel out to the world. It took money to get Jason halfway around the world.

It's going to take more money to send Connor to bring him back. Money is valuable. It's a useful tool. It's not about the object. It's about the heart.

And don't forget the bottom line. 2 Peter 3, 10. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements, that's earth, will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. I have said frequently the four most frightening words in Scripture, in my opinion, they have their reward.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. They have their reward. Jesus is talking about the Pharisees who had the honor and the position and presumably the financial resources. They have their reward. Well, wait a minute.

Is there a reward here on earth? Uh-huh. Is the earth going to burn up with fervent heat and all the elements melt? Uh-huh. No, thank you.

I'd much rather work towards those treasures in heaven where neither rust or moth destroys or thieves break in and steal. So, I'm going to use a bad word. Let's call it what it is. It's idolatry. It's what it is.

It's idolatry. It's a distasteful word, but Jesus is pointing out the risk of idolatry to the hyperbolic extreme of gaining the whole world. It is ultimately destroyed. So we can set safeguards for ourselves. That's not a bad thing.

I will again call to mind Rich Mullins, great story in one of his interviews. He actually has set up a foundation called the Kid Brothers of St. Frank. Who's St. Frank?

Francis of Assisi, who was wealthy and took a vow of poverty in order to grow closer to God. I'm not saying good or bad, but that was certainly a safeguard to avoid the perils of riches, so to speak. And Rich Mullins, he set up this foundation and they handled all of his income and administration and everything was done for that. There was an interview with a gentleman who was good friends with Rich and he was having lunch and he said, how's your album doing? And he said, I guess it's doing okay.

He said, You're getting the royalties are coming in, right? And he says, I guess. And he says, I knew him well enough I could ask this question. They send you the check, don't they? And he said, no.

What? It goes to the foundation. I'm given a stipend based on the average working man's income for someone who lives where I live. Really? Why?

If I knew how much money I was making, I wouldn't want to give it away. So he saw a vulnerability in his own heart and he set up what we would call an extreme safety barrier. He was avoiding the idolatry. I don't know how wealthy he was. I know he was a fairly popular singer.

I love his music. It's very dense and deep. I recommend anything that he has written. But The idea was that he saw his own vulnerability. He saw where his heart was desperately wicked and deceitful above all things.

Who can know it? And he said, I don't want to even risk idolatry. Just give me something I can live on. He wasn't going full poverty, but he was avoiding the excesses that can come from his profession. And that's valuable.

We can set up our own safeguards as well, to a lesser degree. Don't go set up a foundation and run it like that. Work and earn your wages, but just keep in mind, it's not about the dollars and cents. It's not about the cars and the houses. It's about your heart's attitude towards that.

I've counseled my children. I hope that they would be able to corroborate this, talk to them later. Open hand. You hold things with an open hand. What did Job say?

Lord giveth, Lord taketh away. What can you put into a fist? If I have my very favorite thing, and I put this into my hand, and I say, oh, I want this. What else can I put into it? What else can I put in here?

Nothing. But, if I have my open hand, I can either receive more or what's my fear? It's taken away. What's that become? My idol.

I don't want that. I don't want that. Neither do you. Finally, the last verse, verse 26. Jesus says, for whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his own glory and in his Father's and of the holy angels.

Here's the punchline to his exhortation. It is a little shrouded, so we're going to go and look at a parallel passage, but he's talking about the final judgment coming at the end of the age. But we also have to take off our American eyes. And I know Jason has said this on multiple occasions that we are, well we have blinders. We've got to take off our American eyes.

Has anyone ever told someone, I'm ashamed of you? Have you told anyone, you should be ashamed of yourself? In our culture, it's not good, but it's more closely related to embarrassment than an honor. And in the Mediterranean culture, honor, public status, your persona, That was of high importance. And so the word shame, it really has an indication of disown.

And if you disown Jesus and his words now, he will disown you in the future. So it was damaging to your public persona to be willing to associate with someone who was crucified because they were obviously a traitor, a rebel, or a thief or something really really horrible and that could open you up to public scorn which you don't want. But the idea, the risk, again We have our positive and negative reinforcements, but here he's getting down to it. If you deny, disown, are ashamed, are you a Christian? Yeah.

That's how you're going to be welcomed at the judgment. Turn over to Matthew chapter 25. Because the twist here is that this scorned, despised, mocked teacher from Nazareth was actually the ultimate undercover boss. His reveal was very small. It was not a global broadcast.

Hey I'm Jesus, I'm the Son of God, I'm the second person in the triune Godhead, Lord of all. Why did he do that? Could he have done that? Sure. Of course, he could have revealed himself to everybody all at once.

He didn't. Why? One reason I believe. Gary's commentary. Don't take this as gospel, take this as a suggestion, Jesus had a limited group all the time because Hebrews 11 6 Without faith it's impossible to please God.

So in order for there to be the faith that pleases God, you can't have the sight. You can't have the proof. They're trying now to dig up Noah's Ark over in the Middle East. Again, this is not new news by the way. What difference will that make?

Some might say, well, there's sight, there's proof of the flood. Good! Glad to hear it. Does that promote my faith? Does that enhance my trust in Jesus as my Savior?

Maybe, maybe not. In the grand scheme does it matter no hey Gary they found Noah's Ark good what's next Matthew 25 starting in verse 31 when it's not if, when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all His holy angels with Him, Then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me.

I was in prison and you came to me." Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, When did we see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? The king will answer and say to them, assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me.

Then he will say to those on the left hand, depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, you gave me no food. I was thirsty, you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, you did not take me in naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me." Then they also will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick and in prison and didn't minister to you? And he will answer them saying, assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these you did not do it to me and These will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." The contrast in the Matthew is that the sheep didn't necessarily realize that their kind acts to others were a blessing to God directly, and the goats had no idea that their selfish pride or other rudeness or exclusivity was an offense to God.

You take both passages and merge them together, you have a clear picture of what the Christian life is supposed to look like. Self sacrifice, awareness of others needs, willingness to accept or put up with, scorn and the public ridicule, all with the proper motivation. But where does that motivation come from? You think, why didn't the righteous know? Well, yeah, we have a ministry to feed the poor.

We have people that are going out and visiting shut-ins and traveling across the world and putting clothes on people. They must have known that, right? What they didn't know was, what did you know it was Jesus we were doing, you're blessing God by doing that. But what was it really? It was an outpouring of their heart.

Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, and very few, if any people, will do something against their own will if you did something you wanted to do it. Almost always I'll allow an exception here or there but your heart guides your life that's why the Proverbs says, guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it springs the well. It is the wellspring of life. So it's always about your heart. It's been about the heart from the beginning.

But we get so caught up in the trappings. My counsel, if you have not repented, sign up for heart surgery. Let God change your heart. Take out that heart of stone and put it in a heart of flesh. Now, when I sit for a sermon, and this has been different for me because I'm not sitting through it, I'm also not eating candy through it, but I do typically have a response in my own mind.

So what? That's my response. So what? And that's when I love the applications that Jason typically brings, but what does this mean for me? How does this affect me?

We're very, very fortunate here today to have a passage that is very direct and pointed and aimed right at you rather than a narrative or a history or something else. I'm not belittling those. I'm saying this is easy to come away and say, so what? Here's the what. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved from this generation and perverse generation.

That's it. That's So what? Change your heart. Change your mind. Purpose in your own self.

Not, I will do better. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. What was Scott Brown's? He had the five solas and he said the sixth one is not a sola, sola bootstrappa.

Doesn't work that way. So Acts chapter 2 verse 40 and Hebrews 3 verses 7 and a half of 8 are applicable. And with many other words he testified and exhorted them saying, this is Peter, be saved from this perverse generation. They had a perverse generation back then, do you know that? We have a perverse generation now.

I'm willing to believe if Lord Terry's will have a perverse generation five years from now. They had a perverse generation back in the 40s, back in the 1800s, back when the gospel exploded through the missions movement in the mid-20th century, which sounds weird for me to say that because I spent most of my time there. Not in the missions explosion in the 20th century. Not that old. Close.

But the point is that yes, perverse generations are kind of permanent. When the perverse generations start, It involved a piece of fruit. That's where it all began. So then we have Hebrews 3. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.

The call is for today. Let today be the day of salvation. Let today be the day of witness and exhortation. Oh, That hurts. I don't know if I wanna.

Don't worry about it. Today is the day of salvation for you or others. There were people in Jesus, there were eyewitness and ear witnesses to Jesus teachings that did not believe. There are those that only hear about Jesus' teachings today and believe. Praise God.

So don't be afraid of the witness. Just don't try to say this as delicately as I can. Don't be stupid about it. I have pulled Titus 3.9 on several people in my history. Titus 3.9, go look at it, 3.9 to 11.

Paul writes to Titus, but avoid foolish disputes and genealogies, contentions and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and useless. Rejected divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning being self-condemned. Well, wait a minute, so if I'm rejected when I witness somebody, should I let them go? Maybe. Who wants to dispute this statement?

There are people around today that all they want to do is argue. Hearing no one. Listen, the Gospel message is as relevant to us as it was when John the Baptist said, Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It did not lose its relevance and if anything it gained importance because time is short. I don't know when Jesus is coming back.

I just know we're one day closer to it today. Could it be tomorrow? Yeah. Could it be a hundred years from now? Yeah.

You want to have a guess? Don't. But understand this. The Word of God is for everyone, Whether it's unto salvation or unto accountability. I saw an old clip from RC Spruill and he was talking about the environment in hell where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

We don't use these phrases very much. So it might be a little unclear. And he says this, if I, talking about himself, if I wake up tomorrow and I'm in hell, I'll know full well I deserved it. I will be weeping, broken-hearted, at my own failing, but I will be weeping and mourning and saddened. There are others who wake up in hell deservedly so, and they will be angry about it.

The gnashing of teeth is that angry response. It's the, how dare you! Because they were their own God. They were their own Savior. They were trying to save their own lives and they wind up losing it.

So we can't tell the difference here between pre-regenerate people and unregenerate people. They look the same. It's kind of like avocados. I can't tell a ripe one from a hard one, but I'll get into it a little bit. So what's the answer then?

Don't Discern. Preach. Witness. Give account for the joy and the peace that lies within you. And do that while it is today.

You never know who you're going to share with. Never know. Maybe you're planting seeds and someone else, or maybe you're watering. You never know. So share the witness.

It can be brief. I try to give a blessing in the checkout line, dumb stuff like that. I don't know if Lord's gonna use it. I don't know if he's gonna say, hey Gary that was great. No, he's probably like, nice try buddy.

I don't know, but the idea is that we need our own heart surgery and encourage others to have the same. I have four applications. Number one, have a daily funeral. Kill your selfishness and pride. Make it a daily process.

Eyes open up, good morning, new day, time for a funeral. Get it over with. Put to death your own sinful desires, your own selfish schedule. Number two, do not be enamored with all that glitters. Some of you have toddlers with you today.

Some of you have had toddlers in your home in the past, some will have toddlers in the future. You ever noticed when that fist gets all nice and tight what priceless treasures they're holding in there? Lint, trash, real trash, or their favorite raggedy toy that isn't worth anything at all but oh it's precious. What's the difference between that and grown-ups? Not much.

You like that shiny new car? You want that big house? You want to take that nice vacation? Same thing. Is that your treasure?

Is that your priceless treasure you're willing to put up a fight with to hold onto? Don't. Don't because all the glitters is not gold. Third, realize the cost-benefit analysis. Trust in Jesus and share the Word.

What's the cost of living a righteous life? I'm not talking about Pascal's payoff table. I don't mind Pascal's payoff table. Ask me later if you want. But the cost benefit, I'm gonna put up with what?

What did Paul call them? Momentary light afflictions. You know, like cancer. Like burying a baby. Like anything else?

Ruined relationships? Momentary light afflictions. What is that compared to the glory of God? Nothing. Number four.

Don't go looking for a two thousand year old disciple today. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your Word. Thank you for you. Thank you for the assurance of salvation.

Thank you for being the God who forgives, restores, blesses, and guides and provides. In Jesus name, Amen.