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Following Christ Part 2 By John McCallum

 The Epistle of Paul to the Romans in chapter 10.
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.
For Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law that the man which doeth these things shall live by them.
But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh in this wise,
Say not in thy heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above.
Or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring up Christ again from the dead.
But what sayeth it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the word of faith which we preach.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For the scripture says, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?
As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.
But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed, I'll report.
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
But I say, have they not heard? Yes, verily their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
But I say, did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy.
By them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.
But Isaiah is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not.
I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
But to Israel he saith, all day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
And we turn again this evening to the gospel according to Matthew in chapter 16, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in verses 24 and 25.
Then Jesus said unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
For whosoever will serve his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Now we have already considered these words this morning in terms of a kind of general introduction.
And we were emphasizing the invitation that Christ gives to follow him.
And then the description that he gives of following him in terms of walking, this idea of following him has to do with taking a walk as it were.
Setting out in a new course of life, in a new direction, with a new power.
But following him, following his example, following his teaching.
And we saw also this morning the explanation of why this is fundamental.
If we do not follow him we lose our soul.
And if we do follow him we save our soul.
Now it's important for us when we think of these things to remember that when our Lord Jesus Christ utters this word.
He is speaking to everyone. He is speaking to all classes in all ages and in all places.
He says if anyone, if any man. So the terms are the same for all.
There is no distinction. There is not a way of salvation for some.
That is one way and a different way for others.
If you and I are going to be saved from our sins we must become followers of Christ.
And we must become those who serve the King.
We must also remember that in this new life that Christ is inviting us to embrace.
And to pursue that we do not do it not only in our own strength but we don't do it on our own.
The great commission you remember.
When Christ left his disciples to return into the heavenly glory.
He gave them that final word of command to make disciples of all the nations.
He gave them also the words of promise that they would receive power.
When the Holy Spirit came upon them enabling them to do whatever was required of them to do in this world.
And you remember how he also promised them his presence.
I am with you always even unto the end of the world.
He never leaves us nor forsakes us.
The Old Testament for example emphasizes this very truth.
God in the midst of his people doth dwell.
God never left his people.
Even in the darkest days of Israel's history.
He still had an eye and he still had a tender mercy and a covenant faithfulness towards those who were his own chosen people.
And that principle applies to every Christian believer.
When you and I set out in this new life in Christ.
We walk with the Lord.
He never leaves us and he never forsakes us.
We are never on our own.
Our friends may despise us.
The church may disappoint us.
But Christ says I am with you always.
Even unto the end of the age.
He is the friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Now we want to come this evening to speak further concerning this great sin of the following after Christ.
And then in the next two sessions we will look at some thoughts around self-denial, denying ourselves.
What does that mean?
And then we will look at some thoughts also and taking up our cross.
What does that mean?
But we are going to limit ourselves this evening to this sin about following Christ.
And the first thing that I want us to notice in this connection.
There are many things we could say.
We could spend a long time.
We could spend a long time dealing with these passages.
This is very full of good rich meat.
Strong meat and yet there is something here for everybody.
And so I am not trying to be exhaustive.
I am trying to be simply relevant.
That is the word they use nowadays.
But also encouraging for the people of God.
It is good for us to be reminded of Christian truth in these matters.
It is an interesting thing in the scriptures that when God would encourage his people.
He never gives them platitudes.
He never tells us to grin and bear it or to cheer up simply.
He gives us reasons why we should be encouraged in our most holy faith.
You remember how in the Old Testament when God would comfort Israel in Isaiah chapter 40.
Comfort ye my people says your God.
And how is the prophet to comfort Israel?
By going to Israel and giving Israel a message.
Tell Jerusalem that the Lord has saved her from all her sins.
That her sins are done away.
And that she has received from the Lord's hand a double for all her sins.
There is an atonement being made.
That is the comfort.
Not simply telling us to grin and bear it and put up with it as best we can.
That is not the biblical way.
God gives us reasons as to why we should do things.
And God gives us reasons as to why we should continue to do what God would have us do.
He always tells us why.
And you have the same thing in the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ you remember.
In the upper room when he would comfort his disciples.
In the 14th chapter of John.
Let not your heart be troubled.
Why not?
Because you believe in God.
That's why not.
Believe also in me.
And all is well with your soul.
If you believe and if you trust in the word of God and in the God who speaks to us in the word.
And so there are always reasons given.
The Bible explains to us why it is that we should do what we have to do in order to be saved.
And it's the same in this great business of following after Christ.
There are certain things we need to keep in mind.
And the first thing I want to emphasize this evening in this connection.
Is that we must remember that following our Lord Jesus Christ is not some kind of option.
There is an absolute obligation.
It is a duty of every human being to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
An individual has no right not to be a Christian.
If it is true that there is the God of heaven who is the only living and true God.
And if it is true that we are his creatures that we are made in his image.
And if it is true that our supreme practice of existence is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.
Then we have no option.
We are not at liberty to choose to follow Christ or to reject Christ.
There is a divine mandate that lays an absolute obligation on every man woman and child in this world.
To be a worshipper of the only living and true God.
We have no business to be agnostic or to be atheist or to be heathen or to be considering the matter.
When Christ gives us the invitation to come.
When he explains to us that this is the way into heaven.
Then there is to be on our part an immediate acceptance.
And an immediate compliance of the terms of salvation.
It's not a matter for discussion.
It's not a matter for postponement or I'll go and pray about it.
Or I'll go and think about it.
When he speaks to us.
He speaks to us as the word of God coming to us with all the divine authority of everything that God says to men.
We have an obligation to obey all things that he commands.
That is the term of the Great Commission.
We are to try to make disciples amongst the nations of the world.
And we are to make disciples who not only will name the name of Christ.
But who will observe all things whatsoever he commands us to do.
We are to tell others that is what he expects them to do.
And we are to be the living embodiment of that.
We will never make disciples who will observe to do all things that he commands.
Unless we ourselves are seen to be those who endeavor at least to do all things that he has commanded us to do.
You remember the question that our Lord Jesus Christ asked at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.
As it is recorded in the sixth chapter of the Gospel by Luke.
And in verse 46 there the Lord you remember he poses a question as he comes to the conclusion of that great sermon.
And he says why do you call me Lord, Lord and yet do not do the things that I command you.
In other words he is saying there is something incongruous.
There is something indeed contradictory in saying I believe in Jesus as Lord.
I own him as Lord and I make a confession before men that he is my Lord.
And yet we do not do the things that he commands us to do.
He who loves me is the one who keeps my commandments.
We must never as Christians ever ever divorce Christian love from Christian obedience.
And I want to emphasize that because there is a great deal of using this word love in the Christian church of our day.
And you will find that the context in which that word is used is often far far removed from obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Love is the keeping of the law. It is the keeping of the law of God.
It is doing what he commands us to do.
And here in this text we are being reminded of the need to follow him.
And that means that this is not some kind of appeal or some kind of invitation where he is leaving us with an option whether we will comply or not.
This is a divine imperative that comes to us to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now what does it mean for us if we are going to follow Christ in this say obligatory way that is so clearly described in the Word of God and in the terms of the Gospel.
What does it mean for us to be serving the King? What are the obligations that are laid upon us?
Well I would suggest to you first of all this. There is the obligation to obey the Ten Commandments.
Our Lord Jesus Christ reminds us in Matthew chapter 5 that he has not come to destroy or to abolish the law.
He has come to fulfill on our behalf what we cannot do with regards to the law.
Now I am not saying that any of us are going to keep the law. I break the law every day and so do you.
The law is summarized in two great presets. We are to love God with all our heart and we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
And we have all failed. We have all come short of the glory of God. And that is what sin is.
It is the transgression of the law of God. That is where we come short. And that is wherein our terrible guilt consists.
And yet for the Christian believer the law remains. Not as a condemning thing but as a commanding thing.
And don't you ever listen to any preacher who will tell you that you can believe in Christ and live as you please.
That is not the Christian gospel whatsoever. The law of God is not abrogated. It is not done away.
The Ten Commandments remain inviolate. They are intact and they have a purpose in the Christian life.
They are that ideal standard towards which we move in the life of sanctification.
And we could say a great deal more about that. But I want to emphasize something else. This obligation to follow Christ.
This obligation to follow him in his own terms means obedience on our part.
We are the servants. He is the master and we will never be greater than the Lord.
It means not only that we keep the Ten Commandments and that we endeavor to keep the ten Ten Commandments.
All the commandments, not nine. The Sabbath commandment is as sacred and inviolate as any other commandment.
And all the commandments they stand together as a corpus of God's will for our lives.
But not only is there the observation of the commandments, but there is such a thing as obedience to the gospel.
And that is why I was reading in Romans chapter 10. In verse 16 there the apostle says, referring to Isaiah,
that they have not all obeyed the gospel because Isaiah says, Lord who has received our report.
And you have the same kind of emphasis in the second epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians.
In chapter 1 verse 8, where he is referring there to the second coming of Christ.
In the power and in the fiery judgment with which he will come. And he will come to judge all those who obey not the gospel.
So what I'm saying is this. To be a follower of Christ, the obligation to follow him, is the obligation to do what he tells us to do.
In terms of keeping the law of God and asking God's forgiveness where in we fail to keep it.
And also obeying the gospel of God. Now what does it mean to obey the gospel?
Well it means, it means many things. But I want to emphasize two in particular.
It means first of all this, that we repent of all sin and we embrace every known command.
There is no place for sin in the life of a servant of Christ.
And by that I do not mean that we become sinless. I'm not preaching sinless perfection.
But I am preaching that we don't come to terms with sin. We don't minimize our sin.
We don't excuse it. We don't deny it. We don't cover it.
Those who cover their sin shall not prosper. And those who confess and forsake their sin, they shall find mercy, says the scripture.
And so what I mean is that we never come to terms with sin. We have a holy abhorrence of it.
And whatever sin it may be, it may be sins that we are dearly attached to.
We endeavor to be rid of sin. We fight sin. The lust of our flesh. The carnal thinking of our minds.
And all these things that rise up within us. Those evil intents and evil desires fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
The Christian must die to these things. Because we can never serve Christ. We are never following him.
Unless we are in that process of dying to sin. Dying daily and putting off the old man. And putting on the new man.
We must, if we are Christians, repent of sin. And that again is not an option you see.
In Acts chapter 17 Paul, you remember, is preaching to the Athenians.
And he's reminding them of God as the creator, and God as the preserver, and God as the savior, and God as the judge.
And Paul reminds them of how God has been lenient to these heathen nations.
And God has in a sense overlooked. And God has in a sense not broken out in judgment against them for their sin.
And now he commandeth all men to repent. Because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that one man whom he has appointed.
And he has given a token, he has given evidence to all men that he has raised him from the dead.
God commands us to repent. And if God's command comes, the obligation remains.
And it is an immediate obligation. There is nothing to argue about. There is nothing to consider.
God commands us to repent and to believe the gospel. That is the message of Christ.
That's the message on the Baptist. That was the message of the Apostle Paul in Acts 20.
Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.
And just as the command to repent is a command, so the command to believe in Christ is a command.
Again you see I want to emphasize this because we are in a day when free thinking is the order.
And if everybody can do as he pleases in this particular. But we must be clear the Bible is a divine revelation of what God thinks of us.
And what God requires us to be and what God requires of us to do. And he requires us to turn from sin and to turn to Christ.
Believe in his Son. This is his commandment. 1 John chapter 3, Adversary.
This is his commandment. That we believe in his Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another.
And that's the obligation I say which our Lord Jesus Christ is emphasizing in this very portion when he says come.
Or when he says if any man will come and follow after me. There is this obligation to follow after Christ.
Now when you think of it, that is a tremendous thing. Because we are so tolerant you see.
We are in a multicultural society and we must be clear that multiculturalism means multi-religiousism.
Religion and culture go together. And different countries have different cultures because they have different religions.
Religion and culture go together. And what you find increasingly in Australia is this tolerance of other religions.
And there are many in our land and they say they're all equally good, they're all equally bad or all equally bank.
But from the Christian standpoint we can never take that perspective.
Because God's command is that men turn from every other idol and they turn to believe in Christ.
And to turn from sin. That is what it means to obey the Gospel.
Now there is nothing new in that. This isn't particularly or peculiarly New Testament doctrine.
You have the same thing in the Old Testament. What is the very first commandment I'm sure some of you know.
I'm sure I hope most of you know. In Exodus chapter 20 when God is giving the commandments to Israel.
You remember how he begins. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
And in Isaiah chapter 45 he gives an invitation. The great God and Saviour look unto me.
O ye the ends of the earth because I am God. And besides me there is no other.
There is no other Saviour. There is no other giver of pardon. I and there is no other besides me.
And so this New Testament emphasis upon the uniqueness and the exclusiveness of this way of salvation.
It's not something novel. The Old Testament and the New Testament in many ways is one book.
It's one message with different aspects and dispensations. That's all. But it's one message.
One God. The same way of salvation in the Old as in the New. The same terms.
Anyone wanting to be saved in the Old Testament had to become an Israelite and do what the Israelites were commanded to do.
They had to be circumcised. They had to observe the past. They had to become Israelites indeed.
And anyone could become an Israelite. It wasn't limited to the blood descendants of Abraham.
Anyone could be an Israelite and embrace the faith of the living and the true God.
And that's what we find in the New Testament and that's what Christ is emphasizing and that's what he's teaching.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And that means that you and I have got no right to live in sin one moment more.
If you and I have a sin that we're determined to hold onto we are jeopardizing our salvation.
If you and I have a commandment that we are choosing to ignore or reject we are jeopardizing our salvation.
Because if we embrace Christ we will obey him. Commanding all that he has commanded to observe all that he has commanded us.
And that begins with us as an obligation when we begin to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Now there is no one going to follow Christ until he is deeply convinced that without Christ we perish.
And there is no one going to embrace Christ with the willingness and indeed the delight that he is to be embraced with.
Until we feel that intolerable pain and the burden of our sin.
But how precious Christ becomes to one who has felt the burden and who knows that without him we can do nothing and we are nothing.
And one who knows that he is a spiritual bankrupt. Oh how precious then the message of the Gospel becomes.
And how easy and delights on this obligation to follow Christ becomes.
And we become a willing people in the day of his power.
This is a wonderful truth and there are many things we would love to say but time is pressing I notice.
And there's a second thing I want to emphasize this evening about following Christ.
Now notice how Christ here in these verses he is making as it were an open invitation for all men the same terms for all people in all places.
But yet he's reminding us of a certain difficulty involved. He's reminding us of a certain stringency.
There is a most winsome and pleasing aspect but there is also another side.
There is a darker side and he refers to that in self-denial and taking up the cross and following him because these two go together.
We can never follow him without self-denial or taking up the cross. There is that emphasis.
And so this takes me to the second thing that I want to draw attention to this evening about following after Christ.
And that is that there are real barriers to following Christ. There's not only this obligation but there are barriers.
And there are reasons why the vast multitude of people and perhaps people here tonight for all I know are not following Christ.
If you speak to someone who is not a Christian and I'm sure we all try to speak to them about these things.
You will find that they will give reasons as to why they are not Christians and they will say ah that.
And here's the reason and sometimes it's the lives of Christians, the inconsistency.
Sometimes it is that they have been imbued from their infancy with the doctrine of evolution.
And their most basic assumption in life is that there is no God and that there is no resurrection.
And when you die you're dead and that's the end of you six feet under.
And we die like the beast because we are just beasts. That is the philosophy of so many.
And they don't believe in the gospel. Others have other reasons. They've suffered too much in the world.
There's too much inconsistency and too much injustice and so on.
What I'm saying is that you'll find many people will give you reasons.
And that means that there are tremendous barriers and obstacles to following after our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Lord doesn't make it easy because he knows it isn't easy and he's not going to deceive us.
He's not going to say that it is one thing when in reality it is something else.
It means a death to self and a taking up of a cross and that's not an easy thing.
And there are all kinds of objections that men make as to why we in particular should not deny ourselves.
And why we should not take up our cross and to follow after him.
Now we can't deal with this in any great detail.
But I would say this that there are reasons both within ourselves and there are reasons outside of ourselves.
The scripture is realistic concerning the human heart.
And that is that it is desperately wicked and desperately corrupt and we cannot even begin to understand it.
And that foolishness is bound up even in the heart of a child.
And the scripture reminds us that from the youth upwards the only thoughts of a man's heart is evil and that continually.
And many such passages the appalling depravity of the human heart and the human condition.
And part of that depravity is enmity to God. Romans chapter 8.
The carnal mind is at enmity to God.
And the carnal mind sees nothing attractive in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is a root out of a dry ground, a dried up stick.
And there is nothing that would draw us to him, no comeliness that we should believe in him.
And every unconverted person, however religious or however irreligious, however refined or however crude and boorish.
However intellectually gifted or however intellectually non-gifted.
It matters not the heart of man is at enmity to God.
And we don't like it. We don't like the message of Christ.
And we don't like Christ. We don't like his terms.
We don't like what he requires of us.
And we don't even like the message that tells us of why he has come into the world.
We don't appreciate it. We have no taste for it. We have no appetite for it.
And the Lord knows that.
And there are all these upsurges of resentment.
And all these reasons come up within our bosom as to why we should not live this kind of life.
And why we should live some other life and listen to some other way.
And the Lord knows that and is mentioning these barriers.
And these barriers must be overcome.
And anyone who has ever followed Christ will know of these barriers.
The terrible insinuations of the evil one.
Do we believe as Christians tonight that there is such a being?
Called the devil who goes about like a roaring lion and seeking whom he will devour.
The Bible speaks of him. The Bible makes no apology.
It doesn't try to minimize or in any way explain away with an embarrassed smile.
It's teaching about the devil. The tempter who destroys us. Who whispers lies to us.
Who tells us that we will not die. We can disobey God. You shall not die.
When God says if you disobey you shall die.
And every soul that sins shall die. The wages of sin is death.
The devil says sin with impunity. You will not die.
And none of us is immune from that suggestion. It comes to me as it comes to you.
And sometimes we wonder can these things be.
And there are all kinds of barriers.
And we must overcome those barriers within ourselves.
And we must overcome the barriers that are out with ourselves.
Perhaps one of the greatest barriers to overcome for many to follow Christ.
Is to overcome the fear of man.
Which worketh us ne'er. The fear of man which paralyzes us spiritually so often.
Shuts our mouth. Closes our ears. Stops us doing things. Stops us going places.
Because the fear of man. What will my friends say?
How many wives are there?
Who are not following Christ because they're afraid of what their unconverted husband is going to say.
It's a real barrier. It's a real difficulty.
Because if they begin to follow Christ there's going to be trouble in the home.
The marriage might even break up. It's not the first time it'll have happened.
Or what about an unconverted wife.
Who is perhaps the barrier to her husband following Christ.
He doesn't go to church because he's afraid to offend his wife.
Or perhaps there are children and they're not following Christ.
Because they see the ungodliness of their parents.
And they know that they'll be laughed at and ridiculed. There are barriers to overcome.
And everyone who has ever tried to follow Christ has found these barriers.
And these barriers begin to become living realities to us the moment we ever consider following after Christ.
The man who contemplates Christ is immediately the peculiar subject of the devil's attention.
And he will take the word of God and he will try to pluck it out of his memory.
And out of his conscience.
And whisper that all this is just so much hot air and these preachers they're telling you lies.
And hell is a dream and heaven is a dream.
No, no. We could go on.
And these barriers as we go through the Christian life too they continue.
Think of the apostle Paul.
I want to think of Paul again because he is a wonderful example of a Christian man.
Who took up the cross and followed Christ and who knew what it was to endure much and experience much in so doing.
And remember how the apostle Paul puts it in Romans chapter 7.
Now I suppose some of you have heard different views of Romans chapter 7.
And there are those who take the view that Romans chapter 7 refers to when Paul speaks that in my flesh there is no good thing.
And how the law convicted him of sin and so on.
And there are those who take the view that the apostle is speaking of his pre-conversion days.
And this is what he was like before he became a Christian when the law began to work.
It's convicting work and he began to know that sin was exceedingly sinful.
Because he realized that the law of God not only had to do with outward things but inward things.
Thou shalt not covet.
You will not even look with desire at what does not belong to you.
And desire to have it in an ungodly and an unlawful way.
And the searching of the law.
And there are those who say that this is the experience of a convicted man.
Yes it's the experience of a convicted man.
It's also the experience of a converted man.
Not a man who is just under conviction or one who is in the process of conversion.
The apostle Paul had been a converted man for over 20 years when he wrote the epistle to the Romans.
He was already a preacher of the gospel.
He was already authorized to be a writer of scripture.
An experienced man of God.
And he recognizes the tremendous barriers of sin within his members.
As a power, as a law he says.
Laws demand obedience.
They have a power of coercion within them.
And Paul speaks of sin.
As an old saint of God sin is still a law in my members.
And he must overcome.
And sin was not for the apostle Paul some trifling thing that he would entertain and dismiss in a moment.
Sin was something that demanded his constant vigilance.
And the moment that he would lose that vigilance sin in his members would rear and indeed overcome him.
What I'm saying is that in following Christ we must not be imagining that this is going to be a little stroll into heaven.
Now you might wonder why I'm emphasizing that.
I'm emphasizing it because I fear that in many, many churches of our day we have lost the place in this particular regard.
And there are evangelists.
And they will present Christ to you as the sweet panacea for your problems.
And they will tell you that yes you've got problems.
There are problems in your marriage.
There's problems in your school.
There's problems.
You've got a problem and we've all got problems.
And they will tell you of the terrible world that we live in and it could blow itself to smithereens at any moment.
And if you have Christ you'll be happy and you will find that your problems will diminish.
Now that is not biblical.
That's not biblical.
There will be many problems which will be solved in a moment when we believe in Christ.
Because many of our problems have to do with sin and disobedience.
And when we become obedient we find that many problems are solved immediately.
Happy marriages.
Happy homes for our children.
Decency in our streets and so on.
All of these things.
But we must never present Christ as one who is simply a sweetener for the ill of life.
A sweet panacea.
He says that if we're going to follow him there's going to be sweetness to be sure but there's going to be self-mortification.
And there's going to be cross bearing.
There are going to be real barriers.
And so often poor people in an evangelistic meeting told by these evangelists to come to Christ in this kind of way.
They're looking for release these poor souls.
And they're coming to a Christ who has never been adequately explained to them as the saviour of their soul who pardons their sin.
Their big problem is sin.
And Christ has come to seek and to save sinners who are lost.
He has come to save us from our sin.
And there are all kinds of barriers I say.
We could go on and on.
And these barriers, these difficulties of following Christ.
They begin to become living and grim realities when we become Christians.
They continue as long as we continue as Christians.
And these barriers are only finally overcome when we leave this world and we depart into glory.
And then for us at that moment the form of things are passed away.
But until then we fight and we strive and we struggle against the world and the flesh and the devil.
And this world is not our home.
This is a place of pilgrimage.
It's a wilderness for us.
It's a valley of tears.
And so it is and must be because that is part of the discipline and part of the privilege of experiencing following after Christ.
We are the ones in the world who fight against the world and the flesh and the devil.
And that is why for us the barriers are so real and so strong because we don't go with the flood.
The dead fish you see, he flows with the stream.
The living fish is one who can swim against the stream and that is a struggle often for the living who goes against the stream.
Now in all of this, time is half past eight.
I'd better press on.
In all of this we must heed scripture and we must heed the Apostle Peter.
When in his first epistle in chapter four, verse twelve, he speaks to the Christians there that they must not be surprised at the fiery trials which are to try them as though some strange thing happened unto them.
If you're a Christian following Christ, then you've got trouble.
You're persecuted to a greater or lesser degree.
You weep easily and you're mourning your sin.
That's what you are. That's what you do.
You confess with tears and with shame your shortcoming.
That's what you do.
That's the kind of creature that God's grace has made you.
Tender heart, hating sin, longing to depart, to be with Christ, which is far better.
Be not surprised because those experiences of fiery trials are exactly the same as what all our brothers and sisters in Christ have always experienced.
And what they're experiencing now, the same trial, the same time of affliction in all your brethren, in all the world.
You'll never meet a Christian who doesn't have these barriers and he is overcoming them through the grace of God.
And neither, so we're not to be amazed or surprised at these things, neither are we to be afraid of men.
Be not afraid of men.
They're only men. Men speak against us.
But God doesn't speak against his people.
Men are against us and they hate us but God is not against us and God is not speaking against us, he's for us.
Who can be against us, says the apostle. Everybody's against us I suppose, who isn't a Christian.
But God is for us and who then can prevail against us.
And therefore don't be afraid of what men will say.
They're only men and they're going to be dead soon and laid in the grave.
And don't be ashamed of our Lord Jesus Christ and the ignominy that he is to name in this world.
And that he calls upon us to bear and to share for his name.
Now I must come to a third thing that I want to emphasize this evening.
You might think well I'm very heavy and I'm emphasizing all the hard things.
There is an obligation to follow Christ.
There are real barriers to overcome in following Christ.
But there are also encouragements to follow Christ.
And I can do no better than simply to remind you of some precious portions of scripture.
Think of what the psalmist said in Psalm 119 verse 54.
Thy statutes have been my comfort in the house of my pilgrimage.
That whole Psalm 119 is an extolling and a rejoicing in the Word of God.
How I love thy God. It is my meditation all the day.
It is a light to my feet. It is a lamp unto my path.
It is the comfort of the people of God.
And when we are encouraged to continue not only to begin but to continue following Christ.
We have the comforts of the words of God.
Do you know something?
The Word of God is meant to make us wise unto salvation.
But it's meant to do more than that.
It's meant to make us perfect, thoroughly equipping us unto every good work.
2 Timothy chapter 3 speaks of that. Do you remember?
And it's good for doctrine, for correction, for reproof and all these things that we need.
But you will never find anything in the Word of God to be a discouragement
or to be destructive to the people of God.
Even the hard sayings, even the things that we find rather hard to bear.
They are not destructive things.
There is nothing in the whole of scripture that I can think of
that is a destructive or a disappointing text.
And I would come to it and find myself put off following after Christ.
It may be a rebuke. It may be a doctrine and a correction.
But it's not a disappointment or a barrier. It's not meant to be that.
It is meant to be to make me wise unto salvation and increasingly wiser unto salvation.
And so the encouragements that you and I have as Christians
are the encouragements that we have from the Word of God.
And this Word of God tells us many things. It tells us what God does for us.
What do you think God has done for you?
What encouragements do you think you can derive from a consideration of what God has done for you?
All things work together for good to those who love God.
Who are the called according to His purpose.
Who love God and who are the called according to His purpose.
Why?
Because those whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son.
And those whom He did predestinate, then He also called.
And those whom He called, He also justified.
And those whom He justified, He also glorified right into eternity.
And God has done it.
And is that not an encouragement to continue in this brief moment of time and pain?
Because there is the glory of being conformed to the image of God's dear Son.
And all through our experience in life, God is working everything together for our God.
Remember how the Psalmist puts it in Psalm 107.
I think at verse 7, I can't remember the verse exactly.
He led them by the right way that they should go to a city of habitation.
He led them by the right way and they would go to the city.
That's your life and that's my life in Christ.
Or then think of the words of Christ Himself to us.
The words that He says are life, everlasting life, they are said.
And what are we to make of those words?
Well surely we are to make of those words the same as Peter did.
You remember how in John chapter 6 many listened to Christ, many of His disciples.
He was teaching them about eating His flesh and drinking His blood.
The stringent side of discipleship.
And many of them said this is a hard saying and who can bear this and they would follow Him no more.
And the Lord turned to the 11 disciples, the 12 disciples.
Will you also go away and Peter, again Peter, to whom else can we go?
For thou hast the words of eternal life.
Where are you going to go?
Supposing we find the Christian life to be too hard to bear.
Very well then, where are you going to go?
To whom else? What other teacher are you going to listen to?
What place are you going to go apart from the place where Christ is?
What other teacher? Where else would you find words that not only speak of life but give life, life giving words?
Where he would tell us, I am the resurrection and the life and he who believes in me even though he was dead, yet shall he live.
He who believeth in me shall have everlasting life because I live, you shall live also.
Where else do you find life giving words?
Where else do you find one who died for your sins and who rose again for your justification?
There are encouragements to follow Christ and the Christian life is not all hardship, it's not all cross bearing.
It is hearing the voice, the comforting voice of the good shepherd listening to him and following him and receiving at the last life that is everlasting.
This is Easter weekend and we think of the work of Christ dying on the cross of Calvary for our sins according to the scriptures and rising again according to the scriptures.
And that's not doctrine, that's history, that's an event.
These great truths are not just dogmas of the church, they are the record of history.
Under Pontius Pilate he suffered and died and on the third day the tomb was emptied.
What an encouragement to know that our Lord Jesus Christ, the one whom we follow tonight, is not a dead Christ but a living Christ and that he is mighty to save the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
We are encouraged too, are we not?
Not only by God's word and what God does for us and what Christ says to us and does for us.
But even the people of God are an encouragement to us.
Colossians chapter 4 verse 11, Paul you remember in prison at Rome and there were certain ones whom he recommends to the Colossians.
He mentions them, they have been a comfort unto me.
And we could multiply such texts, the people of God are an encouragement to the people of God.
Because they understand us.
Because their fellow journeyers, sojourners, they have experienced the same thing.
When you speak to a Christian you're speaking to one who in a measure understands you and shares your fears and your faith and your hopes.
And he knows what it is to be tempted too, just like you.
And so we have encouragement, we're not alone you see.
We have the community of the redeemed to encourage us in the faith.
It's a wonderful thing to be a Christian believer.
And to take up the cross is a light thing, looked at from a particular aspect.
It's a light thing, this light affliction which is only for a moment.
And it prepares for us an eternal, an exceeding, eternal weight of glory.
There are difficulties and there are barriers.
But life will soon be over for us all.
And the sufferings of this present time are limited to this time.
And when this present time is done, so are the sufferings done.
It was a wise man who said, and this I'm going to bring this to a close I better.
It was a wise man who put it like this.
Evaluating time and eternity and the issues of heaven and hell.
He put it like this.
This world is the only heaven that a sinner is ever going to know.
This world is the only hell that a Christian is ever going to know.
And may that be a consideration for us willingly to take up the cross.
Not to be ashamed and to look at the tremendous privilege that is ours.
And the encouragement to follow Christ.
To do what he commands and to hear at the last his words,
May the Lord come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world.
May God bless his Word to us.