Kingdom Come - Worth the Risk - Jason Paredes

Jason Paredes: 00:00:00

As you're grabbing your Bible to Matthew 10, we're gonna be in verse 16. And just those of you who are guests with us, every Sunday, we have guests joining us online, guests in the room.

We are in a beautiful, long journey through the Gospels. And we have been over the last several months in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, working our way through.

Now, last week, we ended with Jesus preparing his disciples for their first ever mission trip. He's about to send them out.

I explained last week that was a hinge point in the Gospel of Matthew, because up to that moment, Jesus has been doing all the preaching, teaching, and heal. And now he said, it's your turn. You're gonna go do the preaching, teaching, and healing. And he commissions them.

He gives them their assignment, and now he's about to give them a pep talk right before they go. Now, I'm gonna go ahead and forewarn you. It's the most pessimistic pep talk you've ever heard in your life.

When you read it, you're gonna see what I'm talking about. But in order to really understand it, you have to imagine yourself like you're about to go on your first ever mission trip.

Let's just say you're about to travel overseas. There's a team right now in Southeast Asia.

Let's just say you're about to go on a trip to Southeast Asia, and you're having your last team meeting, and your trip leader is going to give you a rah rah speech. And this is the speech he gives you. If you have that mindset, you'll understand the craziness of what Jesus just says. Verse 16 of Matthew 10.

Here's where it starts. Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them and the Gentiles when they deliver you over. Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say. For what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.

For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the Father, his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death.

And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next.

For truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.

It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher and the servant like his master. If they've called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household? Fill the church you were sent.

Could you imagine getting this pep talk from your troop leader? You're about to go overseas. Oh, by the way, they're going to hate you and they're going to try to kill you and they're going to incarcerate you.

Good luck. I don't know about you, but there's some bit of that where I'm going. Like, I don't know if I want to go on this trip.

I don't know if I want to get on that plane, if this is what's about to happen. But this is a pep talk Jesus gives them. You kind of like, why would you do this, Jesus?

Well, he's trying to help them see, it's about to get really nasty out there. There's gonna be a lot of people who are against you. He says, listen, if they hate me, they're gonna hate you too.

By the way, that's an odd statement in this particular part of the storyline, because people didn't really hate Jesus. Yet in this moment, people are awed and enthralled with Jesus. The Jesus stock is up and to the right at this moment.

He's just preached the Sermon on The Mount, Matthew 5, 6, 7. And at the end it says, and the crowds were astonished at his teaching because he taught them as one who had authority and not like their scribes.

They're going, holy cow, this guy's amazing. The Jesus stock is up. Then chapters eight and nine.

He's healing people right and left, casting out demons, healing lepers, healing the sick, raising the dead. I mean, everybody wants a peace of this guy Jesus. What do you mean when people hate you? But Jesus knew something the disciples didn't know.

You saw a little glimpse of it back in chapter nine when he had healed the mute man and the Pharisees said, no, we think he's doing this by the prince of demons. You see, Jesus knew the moment he started to attack the establishment, that's when it was going to get nasty.

That's when they were going to turn on him. Jesus knew what was coming. So he's trying to prepare them. Don't get too comfortable. They might like us now.

They're about to turn on us and you need to be ready for it. And the way to be ready is what he says in verse 17. He says, Beware of men.

Be on the lookout for the evil of men because there's wickedness in them and they're going to be coming after you. By the way, that imperative beware is a present tense. I say this all the time. That means an ongoing thing.

You have to live your life in constant awareness of the danger of people around you because they are wicked and they're going to hate me and they're going to hate you. Keep on the alert. He says there's a side.

When you hear this, when you read what Jesus is teaching, it's like Jesus, almost like you're saying we shouldn't trust anybody. Verse 17 he says, don't trust the religious leaders. They're gonna drag you into the synagogues and flog you.

Verse 18 he says, Don't trust your political leaders because they're gonna drag you before governors and kings and they're gonna have their way with you. He even says you don't even. Verse 21.

Don't even trust your own family because brothers can turn against brother, children against parents, parents against children. You finish, you're like, I don't know if it's safe anywhere. Who do I even trust at this point? Now I'm just curious. I'm going to pause for a moment.

Have any of you, you don't have to raise your hand, you don't even have to nod.

But have any of you ever gotten to the point where you feel like, I don't know if I can trust anybody, where it's just like everybody I was supposed to depend upon has hurt me, has turned their back on me, has harmed me. I can't trust the media. I mean, you never know what kind of angle they're coming from. They're just trying to make a business, sell a, a story.

You can't trust them. Can't trust our political leaders because you know it's going to be the flip flop opinion. They're here for us, they're not over here for us.

Or one person's in office and somebody else is in office and who knows, there's no stability there. Can't even trust religious leaders. I mean, like, how many pastors right now do you see falling all over the place? Moral failures right and left?

Some of you go, I don't even know if I Trust you, Jason. You probably have a reason not to. It's hard. How do we even trust our religious leaders?

We don't trust my friends who were supposed to be there for me. They stab me in the back and say things about me and hurt me, and they're not there for me. And I can't even trust them sometimes.

Even my own family, they were supposed to help me, and they abandoned me or harmed me, and I don't even know what to. Who do I even trust?

Listen, when it comes to that moment in your life, there's a grave danger of cynicism that'll come inside you, and cynicism will lead to isolation. I can't trust anybody, so I'm gonna turn my back on everybody. I'm just gonna be me. I don't need y' all. Y' all don't need me. I'm just gonna.

I'm just gonna do my own thing. Jesus is saying, beware of men. There's wickedness in men. But he is not saying, turn your back on men. There's a balance.

In verse 16, I don't know if you noticed it. He talks about the whole, you're gonna be like sheep among wolves. And he says, therefore, I want you to be wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.

That's the balance point. The wisest serpents, I don't know if you know this about serpents, but they're very shrewd in that they can feel the ground tremble.

And so if somebody is walking toward them or an animal's walking toward them, they feel it and they scurry away. They're aware of danger. They're shrewd that way. He's saying, be aware of danger. There's wickedness all around.

You feel the tremble of it and guard yourself against it. Recognize what's coming against you, but at the same time, don't lose your hope. People can still be saved.

You know, he talks about being innocent as doves. That's really. I'm a picture like a childlikeness, you know? The most innocent people in the world are little children. I think about Father's Day.

I've got a big span of age in my family. My older kids, they've lived long enough to know that their daddy ain't perfect.

And this is one of the reasons why teenage years are so hard to parent through, because they start seeing who you really are. And they recognize, well, you don't have it all together. And most teenagers go, therefore, I don't have to listen to you. Anymore.

That's the teenage portion of it. But the little kids, they still think Daddy's perfect. And I love it for however long. That's why we keep having more kids.

I want little ones who just still want to think Daddy's perfect. There's an innocence to that. There's still. I still see good. I still see potential. I still see I love.

And Jesus is saying, I want you to have that innocence about you when you look at the lost world. Still recognizing, yes, there's wickedness in them.

Be shrewd as serpents, wise as serpents, but also recognize they bear my image and there's goodness in them and there's potential for the future. You gotta counterbalance both of these. Cause if you don't, you're gonna grow weary of serving the very people you've been sent to serve.

You're gonna start to lose hope. And you're gonna stop praying for them to come to salvation. Cause you're gonna start to believe they've got no hope.

You're gonna grow weary in sharing Christ with others. Here's what I want you to know.

The same gospel power that saves a person who is riddled with addiction is the same gospel power that saves the kid who grew up in church and never had a big sin in their life. Because all of our sins are wicked. Every single one of us are so grotesque in our heart that we deserve eternal damnation.

So if God were to save any of us, it's the greatest miracle of all.

But that also means that that serial killer who repents on death row and makes it into heaven, the thief on the cross who does nothing but says, remember me when you come in paradise. It takes the same grace to save them as it does us. Nobody is beyond the grace of our king. That's what it means to be innocent as dust.

It's still to believe I can go anywhere and I can share the gospel and I can pray for the lost and. And there's still hope that some will be saved. Yeah, there's wickedness, but there's hope. And therefore I don't grow weary. I'm gonna give you.

I'm gonna give you five points. It's more than I normally give you today. But there's just a lot in here that I wanna give you. Here's the first one. You may wanna write this down.

Here's what the scripture's teaching. We must learn how to beware of men without becoming weary of men. That's the balance point. How do I live that life where I have to beware of men.

There's danger, there's wicked.

But I must never become weary of men thinking there's no hope, not taking the gospel to them, because there's anything we have in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is hope. Anybody can be saved. Don't stop sharing with that friend or that family member or that work associate.

Keep sharing, keep believing, because there's hope. But I also want you to hear this. Even though everybody can be saved, it definitely does not mean everybody will be saved.

Even though the Gospel has power to save, not everybody's gonna receive the Gospel. And that also means that many will reject not just the gospel, but the messenger who brings the gospel. And we gotta be prepared for it.

That's what verse 22 was talking about. I want you to go back to verse 22. Hard truth he slaps us with right here. He says in verse 22, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake.

But the one who endures to the end will be saved. You will be hated by all for my name's sake. He says, go ahead and buckle up. It's going to get nasty out there. Be ready for it.

But he also says, the one who endures to the end will be saved. Now, I got to help clear some confusion because it's very simple to come to the wrong idea in reading that.

And what you might read in there is what Jesus teaching is.

If I work really hard, if I try to keep my face at it, if I just pull myself by the bootstraps and I work hard to endure, then I'll earn my salvation. That is not what Jesus is teaching. We do not earn our salvation. You have the book of Ephesians, chapter 2.

Paul says very clearly, we're saved by faith in Christ alone, not by our work. So that we don't boast. It's the work of Christ. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. That's the message of the gospel.

So you can't have that message and then turn around and say, and now I gotta work really hard to earn my salvation. It's not what he's saying. Here's what he is saying. He's saying a genuine faith in Jesus Christ will endure to the end.

And therefore, if you don't endure, you didn't have a genuine faith to begin with. And here's the reason why. Faith in Christ overcomes every single area of our life that would cause us to. To throw in the towel, not to endure.

So take their situation, for example. The Reason why they would not endure would be fear of men. My brother might hand me over.

I might be dragged before the governors or the kings or the synagogues or my own family. And I'm scared to death of what's going to happen. Therefore, I recant my faith because I'm scared of men. And here's what he's trying to teach us.

He's saying, I want you to understand, faith in God will kill every single bit of your fear of men. You don't have to be afraid of them. You just gotta trust me. When you trust me, it drowns out fear.

This is exactly why he goes into where he goes Next in verse 26. So now you've heard this rah rah speech that he's been given the most pessimistic support speech ever.

But now he's gonna come in a little more positive and say, you don't actually have to live in fear. Verse 26. So have no fear of them. For nothing is covered that will not be revealed or hidden, that will not be known.

What I tell you in the dark, say in the light and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body.

In hell are not two sparrows sold for a penny, and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father, but even the hairs on your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, for you of more value than many sparrows. Now, I'm going to stop right there.

You just got six verses, and three times in six verses you hear some form of don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Have no fear. Fear not.

Just over and over, every single time you hear Jesus say something three times in a quick succession, he's saying, it's really, really important. Lean in and listen. Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, don't be afraid. He's saying you don't have to live in fear of men.

Your faith can endure because when you are in genuine faith of me, it will kill every vestige of fear of men that might rise up inside you to the highest degree, even death. He says. Did you notice what he said back in verse 28? He said, See how and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

Even if they could kill your body. You don't have to be afraid of them. Okay, I want to be. I'm going to be real honest with you.

There are times when somebody wants to kill my body and I'm afraid of them. There's a longer story to this. I've told parts of it in the past. I'm just gonna give you the quick version.

There was a time when I was just a little outside of Waco, when I was in school and college and I was in the middle of nowhere. And I walked up to this dilapidated mobile home and I knocked on the door because I needed help.

And the door flung open and a person, really crazy looking man, put a shotgun about two inches from my nose and started screaming at me. Can I go ahead and tell you? I was afraid for my life in that moment. Now, I should have remembered the scripture.

Don't be afraid, you know, of somebody who can kill my body, but he could kill my body. And I was afraid. Had to throw those pantalones away when it was all said and done. Because it was like every body fear you got was coming out.

Sometimes when people can harm us, our body, whether we like it or not, it creates fear. I remember I was in Argentina. I was living overseas and I was in a. Buenos Aires is a massive city, 15, 16 million people.

And there's a part of it called Fuerte Apache. It means strong Apache Indian. And it was like the Bronx, but in Buenos Aires.

And I was told by so many different people, never be in Fuerte Apache at night because you probably won't make out of there alive. So I'd gone over there as a missionary and I'd ridden the bus. And I'm there at a church service.

Let me go and tell you about church services in Argentina. You think it's long? Like an hour and a half here it's like a four hour church service. And so we're. Yeah, praise God, let's do that.

Four hours, I like it. And we were there worshiping and I could see out the window. I'm like, oh, it's getting dark, it's getting dark. And it was over. It was dark.

I mean, like, dark, dark. And it was time for me to leave. And I was all by myself. And I had to make the walk over to the bus station to get on my bus to head home.

And I want you to know, as I'm walking around, I'm looking at every single movement. I'm like, I'm gonna die. I know way I'm gonna make it out here. Either return now, King Jesus, or it's over. Because there's no way I'm gonna.

They told me I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. Right now, I was afraid of every movement.

And then somebody comes out of the corner and walks up to me looking as thuggish as you've done ever seen before in your life. Like tatted up and down, crazy looking. And here it's over. He's coming and he says to me, quiensto vo y porquesta sa qui? Which means, who are you?

What are you doing here? And I thought, okay, I don't you want to stab me in the back? The front? What you want? Can I just go and tell you?

In that moment though, Jesus says, don't be afraid of somebody who can kill your body. I was afraid of somebody who could kill my body. Now I'll tell you in a moment what happened. So. So hang in tight right there. I did survive.

Don't worry, I made it. But it was one of those realizations that Jesus's words here sometimes are hard to live out. We just got to be honest with that. It's easy to hear.

It's hard to live out. But Jesus is saying, it is possible, though it may be hard, it is possible. And he tells us how.

He says, let the greater fear drown out the lesser fear. Did you notice what he said in there? He said, don't fear the ones who can kill the body. Fear the one who can throw body and soul into hell.

He's saying, listen, there's an earthly body and there are humans who can kill the earthly body, but only for this life. And the Bible tells us this life is like a wisp of soil, just poof. And then it's gone and there's all eternity.

But there is somebody, almighty God, who has power over our eternity. Fear him. And let the greater fear drown out the lesser fears. Let me go ahead and give you the next point that I want you to have. Here's what it is.

Fear of God drowns out fear of men. The greater fear drowns out the lesser fear. By the way, when I say fear of God, I don't mean tremble. You're scared of God, he might hurt you.

The Bible refers to it as reverence and awe. Fear of God, respect and awe. The God who holds the universe will drown out the fear of men.

Have you ever noticed that a greater fear drowns out a lesser fear? I remember this was a while back, but I remember one of my kids was really freaking out about an upcoming math test.

And I'm not going to tell you which kid it is, because all my kids are here and they don't like it when I tell stories about them. So the kid who will not be named was freaking out about a math test. I'm talking, like, hyperventilating. Life is over.

I'm not gonna make it into college. My whole life is ruined because I'm gonna fail this math test. And it's over.

Like, just overwhelmed about this upcoming math test, totally afraid until the tornado sirens went off. And then my brother, who is like, he always watching the weather, says, you gotta go ahead and seek cover.

And we go, we have to remove everything for the closet underneath our staircase. And we're all huddled in there and ducking cover and hearing the rain pelt the window and the hail and all that.

Can I go ahead and tell you the last thing my daughter was thinking about in that moment was her math test. She was just thinking, oh, Jesus, let us survive this moment. The greater fear drowned out the lesser fear. That's how the human psyche works.

And this is what he's telling us. And Jesus is saying, let the greater fear, fear of God, drown out the lesser fear.

Because when you know who God is, that he is all powerful and you're on his side, why would you ever fear man? What can they do to you when God is on your side?

Therefore, the most important thing you can do is make sure that God is on your side and you are on his side. Which is exactly why he goes into saying, just acknowledge me before us. Listen to where he goes next.

Jesus has a reason for everything he's telling us. We keep Moving on. Verse 32. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.

But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter in law against her mother in law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds this life will lose it.

And whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. So he starts off by saying, if you acknowledge me before others, I'll acknowledge you before my Father who's in heaven.

My king, the Father, the one who has authority over all this universe. Just acknowledge me and I'll acknowledge him. And you got Nothing to fear. I want to go back to that story.

When I was in Fuerte Apache and that guy came up to me and I thought, he's about to kill me. There was one ace card I had up my sleeve.

So I had been told by a number of people and church members, if anybody ever comes up to you in this neighborhood and you feel scared, you just tell them, I'm with Pastor Emilio from the church just down the corner, the Iglesia Bautista, just down the corner, the Baptist church. I'm with Pastor Emilio because, see, Pastor Emilio had been in Fuerte Apache for decades doing ministry. He had been loving on people.

He'd been visiting people in the hospital. He'd been providing food for hungry families. He'd been praying over the sick, and they'd seen miracles. He had done such a ministry.

Everybody respected Pastor Emilio. And so when that guy came up to me and I was scared to death, I'm literally trembling all over. All I could say is, I'm with Pastor Emilio.

And the guy just said, cuidate means watch yourself, and then let me go. This is exactly what Jesus is talking about. You don't have to be afraid of men when they come up to you. Just say, I'm with Him. I'm with Jesus.

I acknowledge him. I'm with him. And the devil himself has to say, watch yourself. Go on. I can do nothing to you. That's why we acknowledge Jesus.

That's why we don't have fear. Because we say, I'm with him, I'm with him, I'm with him. But if we don't acknowledge him, then we'd best be afraid.

Because this world has power over us. We gotta claim Jesus. But here's the next point I want you to write down. You need to know this.

When we claim Jesus, he claims us, but he claims all of us. Make sure you understand that. Yeah, you need to claim Jesus, acknowledge him, call him Lord and Savior.

When we claim Jesus, you know he's going to claim you right back. But when he claims you, he claims every single bit of you.

That's why Jesus says in this passage, if anyone loves father or mother more than me, he is not worthy of me. If anyone loves son or daughter, you can put anything in there. Job, sports, team activity, possession. More than me, not worthy of me whatsoever.

That's an interesting thing. You might not know this, but in Jewish culture, the nuclear family was the most important element of all culture.

It was something you never messed with. You don't get in the way of a family.

So rabbis, though, they would make high demands of their disciples, their apprentices, they would never actually stand in the way of their own family, a rabbi. That was not their position because the family was stronger even than the relationship between rabbi and disciple.

And yet Jesus breaks all those rules. He says, no, actually I demand allegiance. Even above your own family, Even above spouse, parents, children. There's a reason why.

Because he's no ordinary rabbi. Because He's God in the flesh. And therefore he deserves our complete and total allegiance.

And if we do not give it to him, then we are not worthy of Him. Fourth point I want you to write down. We're getting somewhere. Now, here's what it is.

If we do not esteem Jesus above everything, then we don't actually esteem him at all. If we esteem anything above Jesus anything at all, we don't actually esteem him at all. He has to be highest or he's not ours.

Jesus is an all or nothing kind of savior and master. If we esteem anything above him, just know it, whatever that may be, then we don't actually esteem him at all.

And I want you to know Jesus will test us on this. He will expose the areas of our life where we do not esteem him as we should.

I've told the longer version of this story before, but I'm gonna share a shortened version of it because it's pertinent to this. There was a time in my life where the Father showed me this.

So those of you who've been in the church for a while and know Pastor Gary, the pastor who was here before me, know Pastor his story. He shares it often. But there was a time when he had to go through the hardest of hard. And the Lord allowed one of his sons to be taken.

He was 13 years old. His son was shot and killed. And he had to endure the hardest of pain imaginable to a human being.

And it was one of the reasons why he could minister to people like you had never seen before, because he endured the hardest of heart. And when somebody was suffering and a man who'd lost their own son said, you're going to make it through.

Trust me, you're going to make you believed him. And so I knew.

This was 11, 12 years ago, when they were first starting to talk about me becoming the next pastor of this church, I knew that if I had any hope of shepherding this flock the way Pastor Gary shepherded this flock, I'd have to go through some hardships. And one of the greatest fears of my life was that God would take one of my children.

And as we were in the discussion about me potentially becoming the next pastor of the church, it looked like it was starting to happen.

My daughter anneliese got into some medicine, and she was being rushed to the hospital, and it looked like she was going to die, that the medicine was going to take her that she shouldn't have gotten into. And I went in my backyard and started screaming, praying to God. But it was not a good prayer. It was an angry prayer.

And it was, I don't want this, Jesus. If me being the pastor of this church means you're going to take one of my children, I'm out. I'm not willing.

I don't even know if I want to follow you, if taking my children is one of the things you would allow. So I'm out. I'm done. Now, by the grace of God, My daughter Annelise is alive and well. Just got back from the Houston mission trip.

Everybody knows Lulu loves her, but God was never intending to take her. He was just intending to expose my heart to me. He was just intending to show me I have allegiances that are above him.

And I had to repent, and I had to say, jesus, forgive me. I didn't trust you, and I should have. If we esteem anything our own children above Christ, we don't actually esteem him at all.

He demands full allegiance. This is why he's given this pep talk to his disciples before he sends them out on their first mission trip. It's gonna be really hard out there.

You're gonna want to turn your back on me. But I need you to know, if you don't esteem me above even your own world, your own life, you, can't even be my disciple. It's a hard call for us.

This is why he talks about, take your cross. If anyone's not willing to take his cross and follow me, he's not worthy of me.

You know, it's interesting that he would mention the cross this early in the story. We hear him say, take up your cross, and we go, yeah, that makes sense, because, you know, he died on the cross.

Well, at this point in the story, he was still years away from the cross.

In fact, there are some scholars who would say they didn't think Jesus actually said this, because there's no way he would have talked about the cross this early. It must have been something Matthew added later, because he mentions the cross so early in the ministry, to which I think is a bunch of hogwash.

Everybody knew what the cross was back then because they were all oppressed by the Romans. The Romans loved to show their power through crucifixion. In fact, if you ever visited Jerusalem, at least on a weekly basis, you saw crucifixions.

And they were very cruel in how they did it.

And one of the things they would do every time they crucified somebody is they would force him to carry the cross beam through town on his way to crucifixion. That's what it means to carry your cross. It's the march of death, as you're carrying the cross beam on your way over to be crucified.

And it was to show the whole city, don't you mess with Rome. That march of death is what Jesus is talking about.

If you're not willing to carry the cross beam in front of everybody on your way to death, then you're not worthy of me. If you're not willing to give up everything for me, if you esteem even your own life above me, you're not worthy of me.

Persecutions may come, hardship may come, death may come, but I want you to follow me anyway. He says, I gotta be real with you.

There's some of you right now going, look, I didn't know if I wanted to follow Jesus or not, but now I definitely don't want to follow Jesus.

Why would anybody want to follow a guy who says, yeah, I want to go ahead and let you be hated and persecuted and beat up and maybe even killed for my sake. Why? Why would anybody do this? There is an answer. It's because it's worth it. Following Jesus is worth it.

This is why, when Jesus finishes this pep talk, he finishes by telling them about the reward. The last few verses, you're going to hear him say three times again the word reward. Let's finish up the Matthew passage, chapter 10, verses 40 to 42.

He says, Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward.

And the one who receives a righteous person, because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly I say to you, he.

He will by no means lose his reward. Reward. Reward. Reward. Three times. Remember I told you, when he says something three times, you listen.

He wanted to end his talk on the reminder that it's going to be hard, it's going to get nasty, but it's going to be absolutely worth it. Those three different levels he's saying the prophet's reward. If you receive a prophet, you'll receive a prophet's reward. What is that?

It's the life that comes with receiving the message of that prophet. That prophet delivers truth to you, and when you live according to his truth, you experience the blessings of that.

Well, what's the reward of a righteous man? Well, that's the message of the whole gospel. That we were unrighteous and deserve the wrath of hell. But Jesus Christ was righteous.

When we receive a righteous man, we get his righteousness imputed upon us. Well, what about the cup of cold water? Well, here's what it's saying.

He's saying, if you do the smallest, the least act of help for my mission, I'll bless you beyond what you could imagine.

I don't know if you know this, but in ancient Israel, if you've ever been to Israel, Palestine area, even into Jordan, it's a very arid, dry place, very little natural water.

So the most basic base level of hospitality everybody was expected to give was to give a cup of cold water to somebody who was going by like that's almost like a no brainer, you have to do that. And he's saying, even if you do the smallest act of mercy toward those who are about my mission, I will give you an incredible reward.

He doesn't miss a thing we sacrifice for him. A thing we give. It is eternally worth it. I want you to flip over. We're going to finish up passage in Mark chapter 10, verses 29 and 30.

And I want you to listen to how Jesus talks about the reward.

Mark: 10:29

He says, even in this life, it's gonna be worth it. Now when he says, I'm gonna give you lands and mother, sister, brother and all that.

This is not a health, wealth, prosperity, you get whatever you want. What this is is him saying, you get the church, you have a family, you have brothers and sisters all over the world, spiritual mothers and fathers.

Whatever the church owns, you own it because you're now one of the recipients of my inheritance. But most importantly, you get eternal life. The reward will never cease. Fifth, last point. I want you to hear.

The cost of following Jesus is high, but the reward is infinitely higher. The reward never stops. Infinitely higher. Why do you go on the mission? Because it will be worth it for all eternity.

The question is, do you have enough faith to actually believe it? I'm going to be real honest with you. Christianity is hard. Following Jesus is hard. If it's not, then you're not following Jesus.

There are far too many preachers out there, and they drive me loony. I want to scream when I hear them say that following Jesus will make your life so much easier and so much better.

Because that is not the message King Jesus taught. He said, you're gonna have persecutions, suffering and hardship. People are gonna hate you because everybody's swimming one direction.

I want you to swim the other. Things are gonna happen that you can't quite explain. You're just gonna have to trust me. It's really hard, but it's worth it.

Jesus himself already taught in the Sermon on the Mount. You know, the gate is wide and the way is easy. That leads to destruction.

And those who enter by it are many, but the gate is narrow and the way is hard. That leads to life, and those who find it are few. It's hard, but it's worth it. Will you trust him that it's worth it?

I believe the Lord is calling us to do some hard things this morning. In fact, there are three different ways that I think the Lord is calling us to do something hard.

And many of you will need to respond in one of these three ways. And the only way you're going to respond is if you believe in Christ. It's going to be worth it. Here's the first way.

I believe there are some of you who need to do the hard work of repentance this morning. I believe there are some of you.

And as you look at your life and the teaching Jesus just gave, you've realized that you had an opportunity to acknowledge Jesus in front of other people and you shrunk back and you didn't. Maybe it was a friend. Maybe it was somebody you met at the store. Maybe it was a family member.

And you had the opportunity to talk about Jesus, but you were afraid of what they would think about you or how they might respond, and you shrunk back. You were denying him in that moment. And maybe you need to repent. Jesus says, take it real seriously.

Maybe you need to come down, just bow down and say, forgive me. Maybe. Maybe everybody was going One direction.

And you knew to be a follower of Christ meant you weren't supposed to drink that drink, wash that thing, go to that party, do that thing, whatever, make that decision, tell that lie. But everybody else was doing it, and you just went with it. Maybe you need to say, oh, God, forgive me.

I was supposed to live different in the world and I didn't esteem you enough to do it. Maybe there is something that you love more than Jesus and you need to confess it.

I had to get on my knees and I had to confess to the Lord over and over again whenever I realized there was something I had affection for greater than Jesus. Maybe you need to do that. Maybe the Lord is revealing to you that you love someone or something else more than Jesus.

And you come down here and just bow down and say, forgive me. It's hard. People might see you bowing down, going, oh, no, that person's got some problems.

And you're saying, I don't care because the reward is worth it. The lifting of that weight upon me is worth it. Being in a right relationship with my Father is worth it. There's a second way.

The second hard thing you might need to do. You might need to come forward and receive prayer for something going on. Our Father cares for you.

He talked about caring about even the hair on our head, every single one of them numbered. And if you don't have hair up top, armpit hair somewhere, he knows every single one of your hairs. He's got it covered. He knows you.

And if he cares about the least important things of all, he cares about what's going on in your life. But every once in a while, it can look like God doesn't care.

I bet you when those disciples are being persecuted and being roughed up and being drugged before kings and governors, it didn't feel like God cared. And he said, I want you to have faith and still trust me.

Maybe some of you have been praying for something for a long time and the Father hadn't done anything yet, and you're starting to lose hope. You're starting to get cynical. Maybe you don't want to pray because you don't want to open yourself up to disappointment. What if God doesn't do it?

What if. What if it doesn't work out? I don't know if my faith can handle it. I don't know if I want to pray. Or maybe my issue just doesn't matter to him.

Sometimes it's hard to slip down and come forward. But you might need to say it's a hard thing. But it's worth it if my father will answer. I'm going to keep asking, keep trusting.

So if you need to, in a moment, I'm going to invite you to come. The last one, the most important one of all. I believe there are some of you and you need to take seriously what he said.

If you acknowledge me before men, I will acknowledge you before the Father. This baptistry is on stage because it is the first step of acknowledging Jesus.

When you get baptized, you are acknowledging you are dead and buried in Christ Jesus. And when you come out of the water, you are acknowledging you are resurrected in Christ Jesus and he's now Lord and master of your life.

And you need to acknowledge him here. I just know there are some people. You have been hearing the gospel. I hear it all the time. And they go, I just don't know if I'm ready for it yet.

I mean, I believe the message is true, but I'm not ready. Maybe there's a few things I need to get right in my life. Have some more conversations, do something. And you are not acknowledging him before men.

Let me tell you, if you're not acknowledging him before men, you're denying him before men. And he says, if anyone denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father.

And I'm gonna go ahead and tell you, if you can't even acknowledge him in front of a room of people who love Jesus, how are you ever gonna acknowledge him outside the walls of this church building? It starts here. It is time for you to acknowledge publicly the private faith that you have in Jesus Christ. There's no better day than today.

And I want to give you a chance to do it. I'm invite you all to stand to your feet. I'm invite the prayer team to come down here, spread out and get ready. There's nowhere else you need to be.

I promise you, your father will wait for you to deal with God today. We're going to sing to him. We're going to seek prayer. If you need to come bow down in repentance, do it. If you need prayer, do it.

If you're ready to declare Jesus as your savior through baptism, you come let us know and we'll get you ready. Now's the time.