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Matthew 16, God willing, we'll 
return to Philippians next Sunday evening, but tonight our focus 
will be on the description of discipleship that we find at 
the end of the chapter, specifically verses 24 to 27, but I'll begin 
reading in Matthew 16 at verse 13. When Jesus came into the region 
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do 
men say that I, the Son of Man, am? So they said, Some say John 
the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the 
prophets. He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon 
Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the 
living God. Jesus answered and said to him, 
Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed 
this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say 
to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my 
church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 
And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and 
whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever 
you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Then he commanded 
his disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus 
the Christ. From that time, Jesus began to 
show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer 
many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and 
be killed and be raised the third day. Then Peter took him aside 
and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord. This 
shall not happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, 
get behind me, Satan. You are an offense to me, for 
you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. Then Jesus said to his disciples, 
if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and 
take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save 
his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will 
find it. For what profit is it to 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 the Son of Man will 
come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he 
will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to 
you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death 
till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this wonderful 
confession. Thou art the Christ, the Son 
of the living and true God. We bless you, Lord Jesus, for 
coming into this world to save us from our sins. And we know 
it's by what you say in verse 21, that arrest, that betrayal, 
that sentence to death, and that resurrection again the third 
day. We thank you for the person and the work of our Lord Jesus 
God, and we praise you for giving us faith in him. We ask now that 
you would guide us by your Holy Spirit, cause us to reflect upon 
passages like these, and cause us, by grace, to conform our 
lives to those patterns that you've established in the New 
Testament. We pray this in the name of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, we try to emphasize 
and we preach a lot on justification by faith alone. If you look at 
the history of the church, whenever that doctrine is emphasized, 
there's oftentimes misunderstanding with reference to it. The idea 
being that I can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, be saved, 
and then it really doesn't matter how I ought to live. In fact, 
that has been a perennial problem in the church today. And oftentimes, 
one of the ways to address it is to go the other way and to 
get into legalism. But the gospel is sufficient. 
It can defend itself. It can stand on its own. The 
same God who justifies us freely by His grace, sanctifies us by 
His Holy Spirit. And so discipleship is crucial 
with reference to those who profess faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 
In fact, our own confession deals with it, I think, very efficiently 
in chapter 11 at paragraph 2. After paragraph 1 where it describes 
justification by faith alone, it says, faith thus receiving 
and resting on Christ and His righteousness is the alone instrument 
of justification, yet is not alone in the person justified, 
but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces and is 
no dead faith but works by love. In other words, those justified 
by God's grace will follow the Lamb wherever He goes. There 
is that desire to follow Jesus. There is that desire to deny 
oneself for Jesus. Jesus is the priority for the 
people of God. Now, in this particular instance, 
in Matthew chapter 16, from this point on in the gospel, the movement 
is toward the cross, both geographically, Jerusalem, and theologically. The cross casts its shadow over 
everything from this point on, and we see specifically in this 
section or in this context, we get the identity of our Lord 
Jesus when He asks, who do you say that I am? And Peter confesses 
in verse 16, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. He 
is the messianic son promised in the Davidic covenant that 
would build a house for God. And then he indicates his work 
in verse 21. From that time, Jesus began to 
show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer 
many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and 
be killed and be raised the third day. We've got his person, we've 
got work, and then we've got what it looks like when we follow 
him by God's grace through faith in him. As well, we see that 
the Messiah does not achieve power through worldly means. He doesn't come in bravado, He 
doesn't come with weaponry, He doesn't come with all kinds of 
tanks and military, but rather He achieves power through suffering, 
death, and resurrection. This also serves to highlight 
the nature of the life of the disciples. It's not through worldly 
means that we will have life. It is rather through the means 
of the cross, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. So 
I want to look first at the description of discipleship in verse 24 and 
then secondly the explanation of discipleship in verses 25 
to 27. Discipleship in its most fundamental 
definition is simply to follow. And Jesus isn't the only one 
that has disciples. Religious teachers, philosophers 
had their disciples, their followers, those who listened to their doctrine 
and those who attended to them and those who would do what they 
were told or what they were instructed by their teacher. So note first, 
with reference to the description, the necessity involved in verse 
24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, 
if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and 
take up his cross and follow me. Now man, apart from God's 
grace, has no desire to follow Jesus. Man, apart from God's 
grace, has every desire to reject Jesus. He finds himself, in Psalm 
2, on the side of the bad guys. Why do the nations rage and the 
peoples plot of vain things? They don't want Christ. They 
don't want God. They don't want those things. 
that are pleasing in his sight. But man in a state of grace now 
has a desire to follow Jesus. And we ought to pray that that 
desire would grow, that it would thrive, that it would flourish, 
that it would be earnest. So Jesus says, if anyone desires 
to come after me, the object of discipleship is the me in 
the text. It is the Lord Jesus, the Son 
of the living God, the one who will achieve victory through 
death and resurrection. And then notice, let him deny 
himself. So if anyone desires to come 
after me, let him deny himself. Now, the specifics here is that 
it's an imperative. It's not up for grabs. It's not 
optional. It's not a suggestion. If you 
really want to follow me, then maybe perhaps consider this self-denial 
thing. That's not it at all. It is an 
imperative. It is a command. If you want 
to follow Jesus, you have to deny yourself. Now, in this passage, 
he doesn't mean you have to put ashes in every bowl of soup and 
you have to wear hair shirts. He's not suggesting that you 
have to go live out in the wilderness. He is not suggesting that you 
have to live on top of a pole. He's not suggesting that you 
have to withdraw yourself wholly and completely in some sort of 
an ascetic monastery system. No, but this idea of self-denial. Self-denial is seen in renouncing 
all that we crave for ourselves. All that we crave for ourselves, 
those things that are the chief occupants of our attention, the 
chief pursuits of our hearts. Jesus says, if you want to follow 
me, you need to deny yourself. But I would suggest as well, 
self-denial is seen in renouncing all dependence upon self for 
acceptance with God. So it is a following Jesus understanding 
that it's only Jesus alone who can save us. It's not our good 
works, it's not our efforts, it's not our merits, it's not 
what we bring to the table, but rather it is what God has done 
by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But this idea 
of self-denial. Notice he then goes on to describe 
what self-denial looks like, specifically in verse 24. He 
says, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself 
and take up His cross and follow Me." Now the Lord here is referring 
to what He's already said in verse 21, that He must go to 
Jerusalem, He must die, He must be raised again. As I said, the 
cross casts its shadow over the entirety of Matthew's gospel 
from this point on. The Lord's reference here indicates 
crucifixion. Now, crucifixion is a ghastly 
form of execution. It is a horrific form of execution. In the States, they engage in 
lethal injection nowadays, and they think that's pretty barbaric, 
and they think that's brutal. Well, crucifixion was horrific. We've been considering it in 
our studies in John's gospel. It was a vicious form of execution. And so that's what he is referring 
here to. So when he says, let him deny 
himself and take up his cross, I think at times we get a little 
bit free with this passage, and we consider the crosses or the 
afflictions of our lives as what is in view in this particular 
instance. Well, I've got a difficult son, or I've got a difficult 
parent, or I've got a difficult situation at school, or I've 
got a difficult situation at work. That's not what he's talking 
about. And the disciples would not have 
thought that for a moment. When he says, take up the cross, 
they knew altogether what that meant. That meant a willingness 
to be nailed to a Roman cross or tied to it and hung there 
to die in a miserable and horrible fashion. And so for our Lord, 
when He's emphasizing this reality of following Him, it means taking 
up the cross and following Him. This is public, cruel, painful, 
and degrading execution. That's what the cross meant. 
France says to follow Jesus is to embrace martyrdom. That is 
the prospect Jesus holds out before any worthy disciple, a 
savage death and public disgrace. Calvin says, Luke adds in Luke 
9.23, the word daily. Let him take up his cross daily, 
which is very emphatic, for Christ's meaning is that there will be 
no end to our warfare till we leave the world. Now notice he 
says, take up his cross and follow me. This is Christian discipleship. There are persons adherents to 
false religions who bow to false gods that are willing to die. Think of Islam. If you're going 
to strap C4 on your body and go in and, you know, give it 
the old, I'll see you on the other side thing, that's not 
what's in view here. It's a willingness to die for 
Jesus. It's the Acts 5. After the disciples 
are beaten, they are rejoicing. Why? Because they had been counted 
worthy to suffer shame for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
So for our Lord, it's not simply a suggestion as I mentioned. 
You need to deny yourself. You need to take up the cross 
and you need to follow our Lord Jesus Christ. So the willingness 
to die is good. But again, even heretics do this. 
It's a willingness to die for Jesus. But I want to encourage 
us to think about something here. The pursuit of Christ is absolutely 
crucial and necessary. Revelation 14, the lamb is standing 
on Mount Zion with his fair army, and there's many descriptors 
given of his fair army, those 144,000, which I believe represents 
the entirety of the church. And one of the descriptors is 
these are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes. These are the ones who follow 
the Lamb wherever He goes. So we look at the Ten Commandments. 
The Lamb calls us to fidelity with reference to worship. We 
need to exercise fidelity with reference to worship. The Lamb 
calls us to conduct that is not blasphemous in nature. We are 
to follow the Lamb. The Lamb calls us to rest on 
the Lord's day. The Lamb calls us to be subordinate 
to our superiors. We need to imbibe that. The Lamb 
calls us not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to steal, 
not to lie, not to covet. We follow the Lamb wherever He 
goes. And I want to suggest as well, 
the willingness to die for Jesus is wonderful. I hope all of us 
are. All of us who have confessed 
saving faith in Jesus Christ. All of us justified freely by 
God's grace. I think it's good at times to 
think through this. I don't want to get too morbid. 
too weird and too gross, but what if somebody took a gun and 
put it to your head and said, are you willing to confess and 
own that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior? I hope you think 
through that in peacetime so you're prepared for, you know, 
the time of crux or the time of challenge. So it's good that 
we are willing to undergo martyrdom for the Lamb, to follow Him wherever 
He goes. I think I've told you many, many 
years ago I heard a sermon by Pastor Rick Anderson, an early 
friend of this local body. Haven't heard much from Rick 
lately, he's still pastoring in Oxnard. But I remember at 
a wedding ceremony, he was talking to the husband, he was exhorting 
the husband, and from Ephesians chapter 5 he says, husbands, 
love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself 
for her. He says, husbands, are you willing 
to give yourself for your wife? Are you willing to take a bullet 
for your wife? Are you willing to withstand 
intruders for your wife? Are you willing to do those big 
things for your wife? Well, all of us husbands sitting 
there are like, yeah, absolutely. Nobody's getting through my threshold. 
I'm going to let them have it. Then he says, are you willing 
to take out the garbage for your wife? Are you willing to unload 
the dishwasher for your wife? Are you willing to cut the grass 
for your wife without being harangued to death? What's the point? There's a lot of machismo on 
the part of the professing people of God that are willing to die 
for Jesus that aren't necessarily living for Jesus. We are to follow 
the Lamb wherever He goes. That means 24-7 we are on the 
clock. That means 365 days a year. That means all the rest of the 
years that we have on this earth. We are to follow the Lamb wherever 
He goes. So those who are saying, yeah, 
I'm willing to go to Martyrdom, I'm really willing to go to the 
Colosseum if they reinstitute, you know, sacrificing Christians 
to lions and that stuff, I'm willing to do that. But are you 
willing to read your Bible? Are you willing to pray for five 
minutes? Are you willing to attend church twice on Sunday? Are you 
willing to abide by the fourth commandment? Are you willing 
to love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for 
her? Ladies, you're willing to die for the master, but are you 
willing to be subordinate to your husbands? Children, you're 
willing to die for the master, but are you willing to obey and 
honor your parents and the Lord? You see, this is following the 
lamb wherever he goes. Any fool with a bit of machismo 
and bravado can say, oh, I'm willing to die for Jesus. Yeah, 
but are we willing to live for Jesus? What are we going to do 
tomorrow morning? We just fall out of bed and run 
off to work? Or do we spend some time in prayer? 
Spend some time in scripture? And I always run the risk in 
sermons like this. If you're like me, you don't 
want to be scolded. And I don't really like to scold, 
so I'm going to try not to do that. But you really don't want 
to have some legalistic list of what you have to do in order 
to be a follower of the lamp. So I'm not prescribing six minutes 
of scripture reading and eight minutes of, I'm not saying any 
of that. But if your life is a pattern of prayerlessness and 
scripturelessness, then it's hard to kind of get one's mind 
wrapped around what he describes here in terms of Christian discipleship. Now, if you're in a slump or 
there's been things going on, I'm not here to lambast you and 
I'm not here definitely as the guru who's mastered all this. That's not it at all. But this 
text means something. We're willing to deny ourselves, 
we're willing to take up the cross, and we're willing to follow 
the Lord. So yes, if it means death by 
crucifixion, the professing disciple of Jesus Christ is willing to 
embrace that. But it must also mean, it must 
also include a daily life lived in light of the gospel of our 
salvation. Let's look at some other emphases 
that go this direction. Again, justification by grace 
through faith does not result in indolence or laziness. Look 
at Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13. The great 
apostle of the doctrine of justification by faith alone had no problem 
pressing sanctification upon his readers and his hearers. 
Notice in Romans 13, specifically at verse 14, See, for Paul, justification 
by faith alone doesn't mean just go lay on the couch and enjoy 
your many blessings and do whatever you want. Everything's okay. 
No. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Make no provision for the flesh 
to fulfill its lusts. Live in a manner that is consistent 
with your calling in the gospel of your salvation. Look at 2 
Corinthians chapter 7. 2 Corinthians chapter 7, specifically 
at verse 1. Therefore, having these promises, 
beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh 
and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Perfecting 
holiness in the fear of God. Notice in Ephesians 4. We were 
in Ephesians prior to our time in Philippians. And in Ephesians 
4 and 5, we see this recurring emphasis on walk. And walk there 
doesn't simply mean what some of us do in the morning. We get 
outside, we get some fresh air and some sunshine, and we walk 
for the physical well-being of our bodies. No, walk here means 
conversation. Walk here means conduct. Walk 
here means your life. Remember that life lived for 
our Lord Jesus Christ in terms of discipleship. Notice in 4.1, 
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk 
worthy of the calling with which you were called. Verse 17, this 
I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you should no longer 
walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their 
mind. So in 4.1, walk in a manner that's 
consistent with your calling in the gospel. 4.17, don't walk 
like you used to walk, as a Gentile, in the futility of your mind. 
Notice in 5.2, and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and 
given himself for us, and offering a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling 
aroma. Notice in 5.8, for you were once 
darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children 
of light. And then notice in verse 15, 
see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming 
the time because the days are evil. Philippians chapter 1, 
we have seen this same theme in this particular book. Notice 
in 127, only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, 
so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear 
of your affairs, that you may stand fast in one spirit with 
one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. So when 
we go back to Matthew chapter 26, what he describes here in 
terms of discipleship is everywhere picked up on by the apostles 
in the New Testament. In other words, we confess saving 
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. It ought to trickle down to the 
way that we live for our Lord Jesus Christ. We follow Him. 
We deny ourselves. We take up the cross. We make 
much of Jesus. We're willing to die for Him. 
But as importantly, we're willing to live for Him. Back to Matthew 
16, notice in verses 25 to 27, He gives an explanation. He draws 
out some more teaching on what He said generally in verse 24. 
So notice in verses 25 to 27, you've got a declaration in verse 
25, you've got questions in verse 26, and then you've got the necessity 
in verse 27. He uses the coming judgment of 
Christ against ungodly and the coming blessing for the righteous, 
as an impetus or motivation for us to consider the demand of 
discipleship. But note first, with reference 
to the Declaration, the loss of eternal life in verse 25. 
Verse 25a, for whoever desires to save his life will lose it. 
Whoever desires to save his life will lose it. This has to do 
with temporal life. This has to do with the earthly. 
This has to do with the now. The contrast is obvious, this 
temporal age and the age to come. This physical life where we've 
got clothing and we've got shelter and we've got jobs and we've 
got, you know, families and we've got responsibilities and we've 
got cares and all those things. Jesus is making a contrast between 
this age and the age to come, but here specifically the desire 
to save their temporal life, the life now lived on earth. 
Brethren, we need to qualify this because the Bible envisages 
a proper self-love. Leviticus 19, we're to love our 
neighbor as who? Love our neighbor as ourself. 
There's a legitimacy about self-preservation. God made us in His image. And 
part of that image is we don't destroy ourselves. I know there's 
exceptions to the rule. I know that sometimes people 
do walk in front of trains purposefully. I know that sometimes people 
do ingest poison and sometimes people jump off tall buildings. 
I get that, general exceptions to the rule. But in God's order, 
there is a self-preservation, there is a legitimate self-love. 
That's not what Jesus is addressing. If you turn back to Matthew chapter 
6 in the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus cautions His disciples 
against carnal anxiety. He says in verse 25, do not worry 
about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor 
about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than 
food and the body more than clothing? Verse 31, do not, I'm sorry, 
verse 31, do not worry saying what shall we eat or what shall 
we drink? Verse 34, therefore do not worry about tomorrow. 
He's not suggesting, again, indolence. He's not suggesting quit your 
job. He's not saying, in contrast to Paul's admonition in 1 Timothy 
5, whoever does not provide for his own is worse than an infidel. Jesus is not saying that some 
degree of concern about what you're going to eat and about 
what you're going to wear, and I don't mean, you know, tonight for dinner, 
but how do we put food on the table for these children that 
are somehow dependent upon food. He's not suggesting that we throw 
all thoughts of that out the window. He is suggesting a priority 
structure. Therefore, verse 33, seek first 
the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then these things will be 
added to you. It's a matter of priority. It's not that you're 
not supposed to get a job. It's not that you're not supposed 
to work hard. It's not that you're not supposed 
to figure out how to put food and clothes on your children. 
That's not the point. The point is, is don't be so 
consumed with those things. That you sacrifice the kingdom 
of God and His righteousness. The same sort of thing is here 
in verse 25. Whoever desires to save his life 
will lose it. The desire to save their temporal 
life as a priority. That person who looks no further 
beyond this present evil age. This person who doesn't think 
about eternity. This person who doesn't think 
about the age to come. This person that has no concern 
for God and for judgment. This person that lives as if 
this is all there is. That's the one he's condemning 
here. Whoever desires to save his life will lose it. The losing 
of it means in the age to come. There's no eternal life for that 
one. There was no priority structure. There was no seeking first the 
kingdom of God and His righteousness. There was no taking up the cross 
and following Jesus. There was none of that. It's 
a pretty obvious statement. It's a pretty relevant statement 
to our own generation. There are multitudes that give 
no thought whatsoever to the age to come. No thought whatsoever 
to the demands of God upon their lives in terms of law and the 
grace of God in terms of gospel. I mean, talk to 10 sinners in 
a day. You'll find 10 different people 
that say, I just don't think about that. I just don't care. 
That's who Jesus is identifying here. Whoever desires to save 
his life will lose it. But then notice at the end of 
verse 25, he says, but whoever loses his life for my sake will 
find it. Again, there's a legitimate concern 
for oneself in terms of preservation. We don't jump off tall buildings. 
We don't stand in front of trains. We don't ingest poisons. We don't 
put guns up to our heads. There's just certain basic things 
that evidence a legitimate self-love, preservation. The overarching 
concern, however, with this person is that of Christ. Notice again, but whoever loses 
his life for my sake, it's priority, it's emphasis, it's what matters 
most, it's who matters most. Is it me and my daily needs or 
is it Jesus Christ and His glorious kingdom? It's always the issue 
for the disciple. Is it Jesus first or is it me 
first? The emphasis on Christ in the 
text. This isn't losing one's life 
for Allah. This isn't losing one's life 
for Beelzebub. This isn't losing one's life 
for some other dunghill deity. This is losing one's life for 
Jesus Christ. That's what Christian discipleship 
is all about. We're willing to die for him. 
We're willing to live for him. France says, loss of life as 
such is no gain. It is the life lost out of loyalty 
to Jesus which ensures that true life is gained. It's a blessed 
reality. So then Jesus moves to questions 
in verse 26, a question concerning profit. Verse 26, for what profit 
is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own 
soul? There's an assumption built into 
the text. Man, again, imaging God, wants to go out and work. Man, imaging God, wants to go 
out and be successful. There's nothing wrong with that. 
In fact, Solomon commends that man in the Proverbs. Do you see 
a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings. Hard 
work is commended in the Scripture. So Jesus assumes the reality 
that men are going to be spent with pursuing profit. But note 
the futility. For what profit is it to a man 
if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Again, the 
contrast is the temporal life, the age that we're in, in contrast 
with the age to come. What good is it if you amass 
everything and you lose your soul? Remember that bumper sticker 
many years ago? He who dies with the most toys 
wins. What a horrible philosophy of 
life. He who dies with the most toys 
wins. Really? If that's winning, that's 
bad. That's pathetic. That's what 
Jesus, I mean, that bumper sticker is exactly contrary to what Jesus 
says here in verse 26. It was the anti-Matthew 16, 26. 
He who dies with the most toys wins. Jesus says, what will it 
profit a man if he gains the whole world? He's got everything 
at his beck and call. He's got all the money, got all 
the resources, and yet he loses his soul. This is a futile position 
for one to be in. The importance is obvious. Not, 
again, don't work hard, The emphasis is not, don't go out and find 
a better job. The emphasis is, whatever you're 
doing, do it in the light of the coming age. Do it in the 
light of Christ and discipleship. Do it in the light of the reality 
that even if you gain the world, that does not secure your place 
in heaven. It is all about Christ. And, 
of course, this problem is replete throughout the earth. What profit 
is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own 
soul? The next has to do with priority. 
Look at what he says in verse 26b, or what will a man give 
in exchange for his soul? Again, the comparison. I think it's obvious. He's comparing. He's comparisoning. He is comparing. This age stuff and the age to 
come stuff. What will a man give in exchange 
for his soul? What is there that's more important 
than where you spend eternity? Moses in Psalm 90 says, if by 
reason of strength we live 80 or 90 years, we ultimately still 
fly away, where are you going to fly away to? You're not going 
to fly away to that big garage in the sky where you stored all 
your toys. It's heaven or hell. And that's 
what Jesus is pressing upon these men. You need to deny yourself, 
you need to take up your cross, and you need to follow me. You 
need to keep that in perspective because this life, this age is 
passing away. And if by reason of strength 
you live to the ripe old age of 90, it's a drop in the bucket 
to what you're entering into in terms of eternity. There's 
no end there. There's no cessation. There's 
no stopping. We sing the hymn when we've been 
there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun. We've no less days 
to sing God's praise than when we first begun. Can we even conceive 
of 10,000 years in the presence of God? Well, it's gonna be far 
longer than that. It's gonna be forever. So the 
question is appropriate. What will a man give in exchange 
for his soul? The futility of earthly profits, 
they do not obtain heavenly riches. Proverbs 11, 4, riches do not 
profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. 
The futility of false gods, the futility of our own works, the 
futility of anything that is not Christ, what will a man give 
in exchange for his soul? Jesus commends those who lose 
their lives for His sake. He affirms His identity as the 
Messianic Son of David in verse 16. He affirms the way of the 
cross and resurrection in verse 21 and He calls upon His disciples, 
yes, to believe on Him for justification and then to follow Him wherever 
He bids them to go. And then notice in verse 27, 
He underscores the necessity of all of this. by highlighting 
the second coming. It's masterful, isn't it? What's 
a good way to sort of level out the playing field? You know, 
a man is fixated upon this present evil age. A man is fixated on 
profit. A man is fixated on, you know, 
that above Christ. Again, I think as businessmen 
and as workers and as those who seek to honor God faithfully 
in the workplace, yeah, show up on time, work hard, work better, 
be faithful. You will probably get the raises. 
You will probably stand before kings. That is not denied or 
condemned by our Lord. It's a matter of priority. If 
that becomes the consuming passion to the neglect of Jesus, that's 
the problem. C.S. Lewis had a good statement 
about this. He says, oftentimes a young man 
will say, I'm making my way in the world. What they don't realize 
at times is that the world is making its way into the hearts 
of the young man. That's the issue. We've got to 
guard against that. Hard work, industry, diligence, 
earnestness, all that is commended, but not to be sidetracked from 
the master. not to be sidetracked from following 
the Lamb wherever he bids us to go. So he points them to this 
reality. Notice in verse 27, for the Son 
of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, 
and then he will reward each according to his works. Calvin 
says that the doctrine which had just been laid down may more 
deeply affect our minds. Christ places before our eyes 
the future judgment. masterful impetus, masterful 
way for us to consider this age and the age to come, a great 
sort of motivator for us to consider the things that are most important. 
It's not riches, it's not profit, it's not any of that, it's Christ. 
Seeking to honor Christ in our pursuit of those things can be 
a great blessing and can bring glory to Him. But being consumed 
with stuff and not Christ is a bad thing. So the Son of Man 
will come in the glory of His Father with His angels and then 
He will reward each according to His works. As Spurgeon says, 
the righteous shall through divine grace have their works taken 
as evidence of their love to God, and the wicked shall with 
justice have their doom appointed according to their works, because 
these works will be evidence that they had not the faith which 
produces good works. Gill makes a similar observation, 
as proofs and evidences of true faith in the person, blood, and 
righteousness of Christ. Our confession states the same 
thing. Good works are evidences. They are demonstrable proofs. 
They show the legitimacy of one's confession of saving faith in 
our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, in conclusion, I think 
that we ought to learn three things here. First, the priority 
of Christ. It's obvious, right? It's not 
profit, it's not stuff, it's not toys in your garage, it's 
not toys in your basement, it's not that, it's Jesus. We see 
the priority of Christ before family, notice in 1037. I'm not suggesting that you go 
home and kick your parents or spit on your children, but Jesus 
does, again, by way of contrast and comparison, show the necessity 
that Christ has priority. Notice in 1037, 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. 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. Similar concepts to what we're 
seeing in Matthew chapter 16. So Christ before family. Again, the blessed thing is when 
a family's converted, right? That blessed, beautiful harmony 
that we have with one another. Again, he's not saying to hate 
your, I know Luke says hate. Again, I think that's comparison 
or contrast. I don't think he actually means 
go home and tell your mother you hate her. It's about degree. Who's the priority? It's Christ. 
Christ before the world, Matthew 16, 26. What profit is it to a man if 
he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Christ has 
priority over the world. And Christ has priority even 
before our own lives. Before our own lives. Take up 
the cross and follow Him. And all the attendant horrors 
associated with the cross, it could mean death, it could mean 
martyrdom, it could mean being lion food. If you lived in the 
first century, in Rome. Secondly, the biblical demand 
of discipleship. Yes, to die for Jesus, but I 
think they've tried to encourage us to live for Jesus. In the language of Revelation 
14, follow the Lamb wherever He goes. And then I want to end 
on this perhaps negative note, a bit of an examination of our 
own hearts. Again, I don't want to scold 
anybody. I'm not up here as a guru who's mastered discipleship by 
any stretch of the imagination, but it is good for us to reflect 
once in a while in light of passages like these and ask some basic 
fundamental questions. Is it Christ first, or is it 
me? Is it Christ first, or is it 
stuff? Is it Christ first or is it this 
world? Is it Christ first or is it, 
you know, fill in the blank? I believe that we will see in 
light of the rest of the New Testament what a life lived for 
Jesus looks like. Again, put on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Jesus in his high priestly prayer 
says, sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is truth. We all confess 
belief in the authority, the infallibility, the inerrancy 
of Holy Scripture. If it is indeed the book of God, 
it will hopefully have a place in our hearts, it will hopefully 
have a place not just on our shelves, but in our minds, that 
there will be some sort of an approach to intake that word, 
to get it in us at some point, If we're husbands, we ought to 
read Ephesians 5 on how to love our wives. If we're wives, we 
ought to read Ephesians 5 on how to be submissive to our own 
husbands. If we have children and we have parents, which is 
pretty much everybody, we're going to read Ephesians chapter 
6 on how to deal with one another. In other words, the Word of God 
is absolutely crucial for the disciple of Jesus Christ. I would 
suggest prayer is another way to, you know, again, it's not 
18 minutes a day for, you know, 25 years indicates that, yeah, 
you have a lively and true faith. That's not what I'm talking about. 
But if our lives are marked by prayerlessness, it's hard to 
convince the jury that Jesus does mean everything. You know 
the bride describes the bridegroom as chief among 10,000 and altogether 
lovely. What does that mean for the bride? 
She wants to be with him. In fact she describes him such 
that the daughters of Jerusalem says, where is your beloved that 
we might find him too? In other words, familiarity with 
the Word of God, familiarity with the God of the Word in prayer. 
These are indicators. These are evidences of a lively 
faith in our hearts. As well, and again, this may 
sound, you know, a bit sort of a backhanded approach, but church, 
church life. Church is central in God's redemptive 
plan. in terms of the means of grace, 
in terms of the sacraments, in terms of the proclamation of 
the truth, in terms of fellowship and edification. If we play loose 
and free with the church of the living and true God, at some 
point we have to conclude we don't regard the head of the 
church as we ought. Christ is the head of the church, 
not the Pope of Rome. Not even a little bit, the Pope 
of Rome. It's Christ. So if the head of 
the church says, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves 
together, as is the custom of Psalm, and even so, so much more 
as you see the day approaching. And I take that day approaching 
in Hebrews 10 as the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. The apostle 
doesn't say, okay, I know there's this calamity coming, so prep. 
Get your canned goods, get your canned bacon, get all your items, 
get your beans, get your rice, and flee out of Jerusalem and 
hole up there, you know, wherever. No. Calamity's coming. What's the tendency or the temptation? 
Well, God won't miss us at church on that day because we got to 
get ready for this coming. No, no, no, no, no, no. even 
more as you see the day approaching. What does that mean? It means 
that there's something about the church. It may not appear 
that way all the time. It appears pretty regular and 
it appears pretty ordinary and at times it appears pretty mundane, 
pretty common. But according to scripture, church 
is where God comes to dwell with his people in this new covenant 
community. Christ is in the midst of the 
lampstands according to Revelation chapter one. Christ is present 
among his people when they gather for worship. Again, if the altogether 
lovely and the chief among 10,000 was gonna be at the Chilliwack 
Mall, I'd like to think we'd get in our cars and drive over 
there to see him. Well, the chief among 10,000 
and the altogether lovely has covenanted to be here every Lord's 
Day, without fail, every single time. The people of God meet 
together. Where is Christ? He's found in the midst of the 
lampstand. Well, I think it's incumbent upon us as lovers of 
this Christ, as followers of this Christ, to be where this 
Christ is. And I would suggest then finally, 
under the third head in terms of examination, a demonstration 
in all of life. What do our families look like? 
Do we look just like the heathen and the pagans? I'm sure we do 
at times. I know we do at times. I know 
we do a lot of times. Brethren, scripture is not silent 
on how we raise children. Scripture is not silent on how 
we love one another in marriage. Scripture is not silent on how 
men give service to their masters and on how masters govern the 
men that work for them. The Scripture gives us all that, 
and if it's to follow the Lamb wherever He goes, then all of 
life is a life of discipleship, following the Master, taking 
up the cross, being willing to die, denying ourselves and pursuing 
Him wherever He bids us to go. So there's the negative Nelly 
aspect. Let me just end it by saying, 
praise God Almighty that we're ultimately saved, not by how 
good we are at discipleship. And I'm not trying to undo everything 
I've just said for the last 40 minutes, probably a little more 
than 40 minutes, sorry. Grace through faith in Jesus. Justification by faith alone 
is the means by which sinners are forgiven of their sins and 
receive the righteousness of Jesus imputed to us and received 
by faith alone. Consequent to that justification, 
we have the life of sanctification, which involves this kind of discipleship, 
where we follow the master, denying ourselves, taking up the cross, 
and doing what he calls us to do in this present evil age. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the teaching 
of our blessed Savior. We pray that you would give us 
ears to hear and hearts to respond to the scripture and help us 
to follow the Lamb wherever he goes. Go with us, bless us in 
this coming week, be glorified in our lives, and we pray this 
through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.