No. 30 - BEAR YOUR CROSS By: John J. Blanchard Saturday, February 01, 2003 This morning I will do a Passover preparatory sermon, and I would like to start by turning first to John chapter 10. We will read a few scriptures and then get into the sermon itself. John 10, verse 1, Christs own words. We will read verses 1-18. THE SHEPHERD’S VOICE Christ acknowledges God the Father, and that He is working along with Him and for Him. He willingly lays down His life for the sheep. He also provides pasture, that is food, for the sheep. The sheep hear His voice and they follow Him willingly. His voice is His uttered word. Let us go to II Timothy 3, verse 14-17. God’s word is His voice. You have to have a voice to speak the word. Paul is telling Timothy here that all scripture is God breathed, God inspired. These are His uttered words. This is what He said to us. That is what we are listening to. The sheep understand what the word is trying to tell them. The sheep follow that voice willingly and will not follow a stranger’s voice. Do we hear the shepherd’s voice? Do you and I hear the shepherd’s voice, and do we follow? Do not answer too quickly in your own mind, and I won’t in mine. We are going to study this subject and see if sometimes we jump too quickly and say, yes, we hear the shepherd’s voice. PETER’S RESPONSE Peter answered too quickly without giving it much thought. Let us give it some thought. Turn to John 13 and we will see what happened to Peter and what Christ said to the apostles. We will read John 13:33-38. Peter hastily answered telling Christ I am willing to die for you. Christ said, wait a minute. Before the cock crows three times you are going to deny Me! Peter at that moment did not understand what was being taught him here. That was a lesson he learned bitterly later on. We need to count the cost, and we need to think about what it means to follow Christ. He said you must love one another to the point you are willing to lay down your life for one another like I am willing to lay down My life for you. That is what He was saying. I am willing to lay down My life for you! DO WE TRY TO AVOID PERSECUTION? Turn to John 15 please. Once again Christ is teaching His disciples. We will read John 15:18-27. Christ is warning them. He said you are going to see Me persecuted and you have seen Me persecuted. If you love Me, you will also be persecuted. Because if you walk with Me and do as I do, you will be hated by the world. You will no longer be of the world. That is what He was telling Peter earlier on. You cannot follow Me yet. You cannot do what I have to do, but soon you will be able to follow Me. We know that we are the sheep. Christ says His sheep follow Him. What is Christ getting at? What does it mean to follow Christ, and are we prepared to follow Christ? When Christ talks about following Him, He puts it right at the same time He is saying love one another. Lay down your lives for one another. Be willing to be like Me. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Do we love like that? Have we suffered bad persecution yet? We have suffered some, but maybe not nearly what we will in the future. We do not know. Continuing in John chapter 16. We will read John 16:1-4. Once again Christ says persecution comes in a variety of forms. Sometimes people are killed when they are persecuted, sometimes they are cast out of fellowship, sometimes they are maligned, slandered, isolated. This happens to God’s sheep. He said if I have been persecuted, you will be too. He was persecuted by His fellow Jews, as well as the Romans. He was persecuted by people who should have known better. It will happen to us and it has happened sometimes to some of us. When that happens, we have to accept that. We have to realize persecution and suffering comes with following Christ. Therefore, I want to title this sermon, “Bear Your Cross”. Sometimes persecution can be avoided. But when we try to avoid it, sometimes we give up carrying our cross! I am going to explain this with the scriptures. We are going to see quite a few scriptures today that bear this out and it will help us understand what it means to follow Christ. Turn to Galatians chapter 5. We will start reading in verse 11: “And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution?” Paul is asking a question. These were Jews mostly. The early Church was composed mostly of Jews, and they understood circumcision. He says why am I still being persecuted? Then he answers the question in the last half of verse 11: “Then the offense of the cross has ceased.” If we are not willing to suffer persecution for teaching something that is against the grain you might say, he says I am laying down my cross. Let us read that again. Galatians 5, verse 11. Continue reading verses 12-15. So once again Paul has learned this lesson that Christ was talking about, how loving one another is laying down our lives for one another. It means that sometimes we have to bear persecution. In this case, he was telling the brethren you did not need to be circumcised to be of the faith, to be a Christian. He said I could preach circumcision to get along with my persecutors, but if I was to do that to avoid persecution, I am not picking up my cross and carrying it. I am denying the cross of Christ because I am trying to make my life easier by avoiding persecution. That is essentially what this argument is here and what he is trying to explain. He said I cannot do that. If I have to preach something they do not like and that causes persecution, that is the way it has to be. Let us go to II Timothy chapter 3 again because you saw that scripture is good for doctrine, reproof and it is all God breathed. But that was in connection with persecution he is telling Timothy. Turn to II Timothy 3, starting in verse 10. We are going to read more of the context surrounding those scriptures now. This is Paul talking to a younger minister by the name of Timothy. II Timothy 3, starting in verse 10: “But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance...” He is saying, Timothy, you have followed these things. You have seen me and you have followed me in these things. Continuing in verse 11: He says you have also carefully followed me in “...persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra - what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.” He says Timothy you have seen the persecutions I have gone through. You have witnessed it, and you still follow me. Continue in verse 12: “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” He is basically telling Timothy be prepared. This is going to happen to you as well. Anyone who wants to follow Christ must be prepared for this. Verse 13: “But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” He is saying in a nutshell here Timothy you have seen that I have spoken the truth, the proper doctrines, explaining the scriptures to people and I have suffered persecution for it. But God delivered me! He said all who go and follow Christ will suffer persecution like that and must be willing to bear it and continue preaching the truth. This is something that Jesus said would happen. Paul is saying, yes, this is a way of life. This is what it means to pick up your cross and follow Christ. We need to trust God for deliverance. You notice he said I have been delivered by God through all things. We cannot deliver ourselves. When we try to deliver ourselves or we try to eliminate persecution from our lives, when we try to blend in and not say the truth, we in effect are not doing what we are supposed to be doing. We are not following in the footsteps of Christ. Let us examine what it means to follow Christ. After we examine what this means, we are going to ask ourselves a few questions preparatory to the Passover. We are going to ask ourselves some questions that we need to ponder and to use to examine ourselves to prepare to follow Christ for another year. FOLLOWING CHRIST Let us go through a series of scriptures now starting back in Matthew. Matthew chapter 10, verse 37: “‘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.’” Christ says if we love anything more than Him, we are not worthy to follow Him. That is following in His footsteps. He says you must be willing to take up your cross and follow Him. Are we willing to do that? Go down to Matthew chapter 16. Flip over a few pages. We will read Matthew 16, verse 24-27. Christ is being very blunt here. If you want a reward from Me, follow Me. If you say you want to follow Me, pick up your cross and deny yourself. Sacrifice yourself. Give of yourself. In other places it says love to the point where you are willing to lay down your life for the brethren. When you have reached that level of love, you are following me. Let us now go to Mark chapter 8. We will read Mark 8:34-38. Each time Christ is adding another dimension here. It is the same thing. What are you or I willing to exchange? Are we willing to exchange our eternal reward, our eternal life for our physical lives at this time? Are we even so weak as to be ashamed or afraid to preach the truth, ashamed of Christ and the true doctrines? Are we willing to avoid persecution at all cost even if it means keeping silent about the truth? For if we are, Christ says bluntly, then I will be ashamed of you! We do not want that to happen. Continuing in Mark 10. This is just a series of scriptures to drive this home. Mark 10, verse 17: “Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?’” You could imagine, this is a young man who comes running up the road to Christ all full of zeal. He is extremely excited to follow Christ. He wants to follow Christ. You could see him coming up in the distance and had been kneeling right before Christ and bowing and saying to Christ what can I do to gain eternal life? Verse 18: “So Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother.”’” Then this young man answers him. Verse 20: “And he answered and said to Him, ‘Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.’” There are a lot of people in the world who know basically right from wrong. That is what this man is saying. I have been doing all of those things since I was a little kid. Christ says in verse 21: “Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.’ But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” The man could keep the letter of the law. When it came to giving of himself and denying himself (laying down his life for others), which meant picking up the cross and following Jesus Christ, he balked. He could not handle that. He was very sad. Just a moment before he was full of zeal to follow Jesus Christ. That is why I said you and I cannot answer this question too hastily. Are we willing to follow Christ? Peter said I will follow You anywhere. I am willing to die for You. He spoke too soon. You and I could answer that question in haste, and we must never answer that question in haste! We must ask ourselves and ponder that issue every day actually. Every day we must be willing to follow Christ. TAKE UP THE CROSS DAILY Let us go to Luke chapter 9, 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.’” “Daily”, He says. Now He adds another dimension. He did not say once a week make sure you come to church. He said every day make a commitment to pick up your cross and follow Me. Verse 24: “‘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? 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.’” Brethren, we know and we recommit every year at Passover that we are God’s sheep. He said I lead My sheep and My sheep follow Me. They hear My voice and they come after Me. They follow My footsteps. What did He say if we want to follow His footsteps? We must pick up the cross. What does that mean? We do not have to walk around like a monk carrying a cross on our shoulder. He said deny yourself, sacrifice, give of yourself and be willing to lay down your life for the brethren and for our fellow man. Ultimately who is our brother? Christ answers that question too in another place. Everyone is our brother. We are part of the family of man. This adds a whole new dimension to our calling doesn’t it? We want to follow Christ, and we do not want Him ashamed of us when He returns. Because we could find ourselves in a position when He returns of saying Christ I have been following You. I have done all of these ten commandments. I have been tithing. I have been coming to church all of the time. He could say I am ashamed of you! You did not bear your cross. You did not follow in My footsteps. You did not hear My voice. Remember He said at one point when He was separating the sheep from the goats; He said I do not know you! Remember what He said about the sheep? They know Me. So that goes back and forth. We know His voice. We hear it and we follow. We do what He did willingly. Luke chapter 14, verse 25: “Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, ‘If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple’” A correct translation would mean “love them less” as He pointed out earlier. Christ is saying if you love your own life more than Me, you are not My disciple. You are not following Me. He did not love His physical life more than the humankind that He died for. When we follow in His footsteps, we must become like Him. COUNT THE COST Continuing in verse 26. We will read to verse 33. Brethren, we are called into something that is so much bigger than I think we realize! We just commit ourselves to the greatest calling a human being can have and then we start walking the way we have always walked! This is human nature at work. Christ said did you not count the cost? I am a King at war with another king. When you follow Me, you join the battle ranks. You join the battle ranks as one willing to lay down his life for the rest of mankind by denying yourself, by denying anything that gets in the way. We must use all the resources that you have been given or that I have been given: the life that we have, the breath that we breathe to further the cause of the gospel. This is an amazing calling, and He said if we are not willing to pick up our cross and follow His footsteps, we are not His disciples. We all want to be His disciples so we have to take that very seriously. FORSAKE ALL: PUT EVERYTHING IN PROPER PERSPECTIVE This word here “forsake” all that we have, if you were to look it up you would see it is #657. It comes from and is related to the #5021. Number 657 means to bid adieu and say good-bye. We say good-bye to the physical things that get in the way of Christ’s work. That does not mean we sell everything and we live in a dog house, but nothing can matter more than the work of God. Number 5021 means to put in the right position. In other words, put in a proper perspective. What are we living for and have we counted the cost? Do we count the cost? This is a perfect time of the year to start counting the cost prior to Passover. Are we in a position of following Christ? Have we placed ourselves in the position of following Christ or is there something in the way? Is there something preventing us from daily picking up our cross and denying ourselves? Because if there is, we need to get rid of it. We need to get that out of our lives. We need to get rid of false ranking, the wrong ranking. We need to see whatever it is above Jesus Christ and His work and get it in the proper perspective. We need to have it in the proper position and relation to Christ and His work. This is what it means to count the cost and be willing to follow Christ. Turn to I Corinthians chapter 1. These are Paul’s words. Let us listen closely. This may be a little different than we have ever noticed in these scriptures before. We will read verses 17-19. Paul is speaking Christ’s words here. This is his inspiration from Christ. Paul is saying I do not want you to run around just baptizing anybody and everybody. He names a few here. Paul names a few that he did baptize in this location. He says it was very few that I baptized. Why? I can imagine. He preached the gospel to everyone, but he made sure he baptized those who had counted the cost, (those who had counted the cost and who were willing to pick up the cross and follow Christ). That is what he means here. I am not just going to run around and baptize anybody and not preach correctly. Otherwise, the cross of Christ is made of no effect! These massive baptisms at rallies means the cross of Christ that people say they so easily accept is of no effect, if the people have not properly counted the cost and are not willing to deny themselves every single day! That is what Paul is saying. To be baptized, to be called and accept that calling is such a high honor and requires such a level of sacrifice that you just do not give it to anybody. Not yet anyway. Each in their own order, as we understand. It is important for us to realize once we have accepted that calling and have accepted Christ’s sacrifice and we say I will follow You, we better count that cost. We better count it often. Pick up the cross daily and follow Jesus Christ. CHRIST LIVES IN US Turn to Galatians chapter 2. With this understanding, other scriptures will open up like never before. We will see the seriousness behind the word of God, behind the shepherd’s voice. Go to Galatians chapter 2. A scripture I know we have all heard many, many times. This is Paul talking again. Galatians 2, verse 20: “‘I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.’” Paul says I am crucified with Christ and Christ now lives in me. He understood the full depth of the meaning of those words, which I think we are now coming to grasp. To follow in Christ’s steps, to pick up the cross means we have died to the life that we have and we are allowing Jesus Christ to live in a new body, that body being the Church that we are now a part of. That is the body of Christ. We let Christ live in us. It is a willing agreement, a covenant, between us and Jesus Christ. It is a very, very serious covenant that requires careful consideration, counting the cost and lots of self-examination. Turn back to Galatians chapter 6. We are going to come back to that example here that Paul used of circumcision. Galatians 6, starting in verse 11: “See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand! As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.” He is coming back to that issue. He says those of you who want to look good to the Jews to avoid persecution are missing the point. You are trying to avoid persecution. Don’t do that! If you do, you deny the cross of Christ. Continuing in verse 13: “For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” When we want or desire anything in the world more than Jesus Christ, we have not allowed crucifixion to take place in us properly. We have not allowed Christ to live in us, and we have not died to the world! This is the ultimate sacrifice that you and I have been called into. We have actually given our lives to Jesus Christ to live in us to accomplish some awesome things. Liberating the world from the influence of Satan. Bringing a new government to this planet. Then helping Jesus Christ rule. This is the desire of our lives. It is not the latest gizmo gadget, the next new car to come out. Anything physical, any desire for power, lusts of the flesh, lusts of the eyes or to look good to our fellowman, none of that can count for anything. The only thing that matters is picking up that cross, following Jesus Christ and denying ourselves. What is important is loving one another so much that the world can see our love for each other, and then loving our fellowman so much that they can recognize what it means to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. When we approach Passover, we are recommitting to that. That is what we are re-agreeing to do for another year. That is why it is very important to examine ourselves at this time. SCARS FROM FOLLOWING CHRIST Continuing in verse 16: “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.” Paul is saying here he is referring to anyone who is walking this way, by these rules. When we walk this way by these rules, mercy will be upon us. Help will be there. Peace will be in our lives for nothing else matters. We have given our lives to Jesus Christ, and we will bear the marks of our Lord. Does that mean we are going to have stigmata like some people say, and we are going to have a hole in our hand or lash marks on our back? No. It means we have sacrificed to the point that it hurts. Paul said here I bear those marks because he did have lashes on his back like Christ. He had been stoned and had scars, lumps and bumps. He could probably point at different parts of his body and say this scar I got when I was stoned in Lystra. This scar that is healing up, this bad gash, that is what I got in Iconium. Those lashes on my back the ones that look like this, those are from the Romans. These other ones were from the different things that the Jews beat me with. What he is saying is this is the evidence that I picked up my cross and I am following Jesus Christ. I actually bear the marks. You and I do not bear physical marks. We have not been called upon to suffer that much and give up that much. But you and I have some deep mental and emotional scars. We have been persecuted. We have suffered. We have sacrificed. Everybody in this room can say I could have had a better car, but I tithe. Or I could have a nicer house, but for twenty five years I have been tithing and giving offerings to Jesus Christ’s Church, to the body of Christ. Or I could have had that new CD player last year but I decided I am going to help some of the least of our brethren. That is laying down our lives. That is denying ourselves. Christ knows we have to live. We have to have a roof over our head. We have to have a car today to be able to earn a living and get around. We have to have a telephone. There are certain requirements we have to meet just to live. Christ knows that. But we also know that there are people out there who have every gizmo and gadget and desire only to get more. Just like the man who ran up to Jesus Christ who was all excited and wanted to follow Christ. Christ loved that guy. It says He loved him, and He was moved by that man. But He knew he was not ready. It would be doing him a disservice to make him one of His apostles. If I was to make thirteen disciples right now and say you are going to be my thirteenth disciple it would have been cruel to that man. Christ said you are not ready. Here is the one thing you would have to do. We all said we are ready, every one of us. Every one of us has recommitted at Passover after Passover saying we are ready to recommit. We are ready to continue following the footsteps of You, Jesus, and that is where we have to give it thought every year. We have to examine ourselves and count the cost. We have to be willing to lay down our lives and love one another. We need to ponder these things because this way of life shows, brethren. It shows. We may not have the marks. Like I cannot say look at this big lump I got on my forehead. That is because they stoned me last week. But I should be able to point to something in my life and say I do not have these marks, but here is what I do have. Here is my example. Just like Timothy was being taught by Paul, we all should be able to teach people we know and care about. We should be able to teach people we come into contact with. Here is what I had to do. You saw me, remember when I did this or that. I was doing it because I was following Christ. I go to the Feast and I travel a long way. I put a lot of money into it to receive spiritual food, because I follow Christ. Or I could have had that but I decided against having that new car because I have a commitment here. I have to give a tenth of my earnings to Jesus Christ. I follow Christ. No, I cannot go to that football game. I would love to go and see that team play on Saturday, but I follow Christ. By these examples, we have marks. We have marks that should show. If we do not stick out and show somehow, and it is because we are ashamed or afraid of persecution, Christ has already told us what it will be like when He returns. Let us go to Ephesians chapter 2. We will read Ephesians 2:4-10. We must walk in good works to pick up the cross of Christ, but we could not save ourselves. That was a free gift from Jesus Christ when He did the same thing for us. When He laid His life down for us, that cleaned us up. We could then, if we agreed (once we were called), pick up the cross and follow Him. When we did so, we became dead in Christ not dead in trespasses. There is a death in the world, but we are now dead and crucified with Christ. He lives in us. That is what he is explaining here in Ephesians chapter 2. This is supposed to become so real to us and so a part of our lives that we will look like it. We will be in that likeness. TAKE ON CHRIST’S LIKENESS Turn to Romans chapter 6, verse 4: “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death...” That baptism that we agreed to do, we were buried with Christ into His death. “...that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection...” Get the point! When we deny ourselves and we are willingly laying down our lives for others, we look like Christ when He died. We have taken on His likeness. When we think of Christ dying for us, we think of Him laying down His life for our sins. If we want to walk in His footsteps and we are like Paul said in Galatians, crucified, then we are like Him. This is what happened when we were baptized. We took on that likeness. If we were to walk in the ways of the world and the world loved us, we would not look like Him! We look like Satan’s world. Then Christ has to be ashamed of His own people for they are not looking like Him. Continuing in verse 6 of Romans 6: “...knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Now we can get the picture. When we have died to the ways of this world because we are crucified with Christ, we have been made alive by Him living in us. And we look like Him by how we live. That is an incredible thing to understand. By that we know how we are to live, bear the cross, pick it up and follow in His footsteps denying ourselves. THE TWO CRIMINALS REPRESENT THE CHURCH There is a strange happening that took place on the day of Christ’s crucifixion. With all of this that we just learned, we are going to look at how He died because we were just told we are crucified with Him. We are going to take a look at how He died and try to learn some things. Luke chapter 23, starting in verse 32: “There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death.” What has puzzled me about this incident and the recording of it is that we see Christ going to Pilate then back to Herod then back to Pilate and back and forth. He is beaten by the Roman guards and mocked and falsely accused. He is all by Himself. Even Peter has denied Him at this point and the apostles ran away. He is all by Himself, but then when He starts to get led up to Golgotha where He was crucified something strange happens. There are two other guys there. It says, “There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death.” Continuing in verse 33: “And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’” He was not talking about the criminals. He was talking about the people crucifying Him. But there was one hanging there on His left and one on His right. “And they divided His garments and cast lots.” Verse 35: “And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, ‘He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.’ The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, ‘If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.’ And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew...” People are making fun of Christ and they are saying save Yourself. If You are that Great God, do something. Continuing reading Luke 23:39-43. What is going on here? There are two criminals one to His left being crucified and one to His right being crucified. There is no record of Christ even talking to the one who blasphemed Him. What was that blasphemy? Save Yourself and me too if You are God. So what do we have pictured here? There is one on the right and one on the left. One is concerned about himself and one is concerned about Christ. One says save Yourself and us too. Get us out of this situation. Where the other one says we deserved what we are getting! This is God and He does not deserve what He is getting. He humbly asks to be remembered in the kingdom. One is selfish and one is not. One blasphemes Jesus and the other praises Him for what He is doing, dying without cause, without a good reason. One receives nothing, not even a comment from Christ. The other receives the gift you and I are looking for, eternal life in paradise! If you do not think that is what we are looking for, the same thing here, go to Revelation chapter 2. We understand the seven church eras spoken of here. Revelation chapter 2, verse 7: “‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.’” That is the exact same word. Christ gave to that second criminal who was humble, who was not selfish and who was crucified with Him eternal life. What is that lesson there for you and me? Aren’t we crucified with Christ? Didn’t Christ say pick up your cross and follow Me? If you know My voice, you follow Me willingly and you bear your cross, you will receive a reward. But if you pick up that cross, you do not follow Me, you are selfish and are ashamed of Me, I will be ashamed of you. We are in that incredible situation of the people called by God and answering that call at our baptism. We are recommitting each year at Passover to pick up our cross and follow Christ. We deny ourselves and sacrifice until it hurts. We are to love nothing more than Jesus Christ. We are in that group pictured at that time of Christ’s crucifixion by one hanging on the left and one hanging on the right. One who knew what Christ was doing and was humble and teachable and unselfishly accepting his fate because he deserved it. He was praising God for what He was doing. The other, only being selfish, and I am going to put it in different terms. I am going to say, “Take me to that place of safety, God. Rapture me! Protect me! If you are God, do not let this happen to me!” CROSS: EXTINGUISHING ALL SELFISHNESS That explains a lot of what it means to be a part of the body of Christ. We need to deny ourselves. If you were to go and look up (and I encourage you to do so), the word “cross”, you would find in your Strong’s it is #4716 and #4717. The first definition is a stake for crucifixion. There are only two definitions given. The second definition is extinguishing all selfishness. There is a spiritual understanding to what was happening here, and there was the physical. Christ was embodying total selfless behavior. He was giving of Himself completely for mankind still in sins. He is telling us to follow Me. Follow in My footsteps then you are worthy to be My disciple. Willingly lay down your life and let Me live in you. I will live there. We will continue to work as the body of Christ until the kingdom comes, and then I will reward you for following Me. For allowing Me to live in you to help mankind I will reward you. Because I know you. We want to be known by Jesus Christ. Go, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 53. This was a prophecy about Christ’s crucifixion and death. We will read the whole chapter carefully. Starting in verses 1-9. Up to now it is a description of Christ’s sacrifice for all of us, for all mankind. Verse 10: “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.” There are seed to follow Christ who pick up the cross. There are people willing to follow Christ. These are His labor. We are the labor of His love. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He is living in us. Verse 12: “Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” He was numbered with the wicked. He was numbered with transgressors yet He is going to share the spoil, share the reward of His kingdom with the strong. Both criminals who died on the cross next to Christ were transgressors. They are called criminals, malefactors, they were transgressors. He was numbered with them. Numbered with the rest of His body is what is pictured there, the body of Christ. We are all transgressors. Didn’t Christ say if you follow Me, I will reward you? This is the reward spoken of here. If you were to look up the term “strong”, you would find that one of the meanings of it is “body”. He will share it with His body. Number 6099 means “powerful” and it is related to #6105 and #6106, which is “the body”. Christ will share the spoil, the rewards, with those who have picked up their cross and were numbered with Him by following in His footsteps. They will be the ones laying down their lives for the brethren and their fellowman by denying themselves and giving themselves totally to Him. That is what it means to follow Christ. QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF Now we are not so hasty when we say, “Oh yes, we are following Christ. Yes, we are bearing our cross.” Let us ask ourselves some questions and deliberate over them and ponder over them in the next few weeks leading up to Passover. It is a list of questions. You can ask yourself others as well. (1) Do we deny Christ by how we live our daily lives by our example, our word or our deed? (2) Do we bring division into our families, into the Church and to people around us? (3) Have we found our life in this world or are we losing our life? (4) Do we worship mammon or God? In the vernacular, do we put our money where our mouth is? (5) Do we love our spouse, our family and the brethren as we love ourselves? (6) Are we selfless or selfish? (7) How important is our personal protection to us, our place of safety? How important is self-preservation? Are we willing to exchange anything to have it? We need to determine, brethren, if any of these are worth our eternal reward. Let us pick up our cross and bear it. Walk in His footsteps for it is a great honor to be called to do so!