Make It Make Sense | Get Behind Me Satan | Landon Sherman

Welcome to Conference, let's stand and sing this with me. ♪ There was no way until you made me ♪ ♪ Grace upon grace, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Even though I don't deserve it, you did it ♪ ♪ Even though I couldn't earn it, you gave it ♪ ♪ Who am I that you keep me on your mind, God? ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ And all my life you've been right here by my side, God ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, there's only you ♪ ♪ I give you glory for all that you've done ♪ ♪ Even though I don't deserve it, you did it ♪ ♪ Even though I couldn't earn it, you gave it ♪ ♪ Who am I that you keep me on your mind, God? ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ And all my life you've been right here by my side, God ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ And I, I'm lifting both of my hands ♪ ♪ And I, I'm lifting both of my hands ♪ ♪ Because you gave me chance after chance, after chance ♪ ♪ And I, I'm giving all that I am ♪ ♪ Because you gave me chance after chance, after chance ♪ ♪ And I, I'm lifting both of my hands ♪ ♪ Because you gave me chance after chance, after chance ♪ ♪ And I, I'm giving all that I am ♪ ♪ Because you gave me chance after chance, after chance ♪ ♪ And who am I that you keep me on your mind, God? ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you ♪

♪ And all my life you've been right here by my side, God ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ And I survived and I'm here to testify, God ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ And I'm alright if they say I'm out of my mind, God ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ All right, church, let's sing this out together. ♪ In the darkness we were waiting ♪ ♪ Without hope and without light ♪ ♪ Till from heaven you came running ♪ ♪ There was mercy in your eyes ♪ ♪ To fulfill the law and prophets ♪ ♪ To a virgin came the Word ♪ ♪ From a throne of endless glory to a cradle in the dirt ♪ ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ God of glory ♪ ♪ Majesty, praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ To reveal the kingdom coming ♪ ♪ And to reconcile the lost ♪ ♪ To redeem all creation ♪ ♪ You did not despise the cross ♪ ♪ For even in your suffering you saw to the other side ♪ ♪ Knowing this was our salvation, Jesus for his sake you died ♪ ♪ So praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ God of holy majesty, praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ God of holy majesty, praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ In the morning that she rose, all of heaven held its breath ♪ ♪ For that stone was moved for good, for the lamb had conquered death ♪

♪ And the dead rose from their tombs, and the angels stood in awe ♪ ♪ For the souls of all who would go to the Father on his throne ♪ ♪ In the church of Christ was born, then the Spirit lit the flame ♪ ♪ Now this gospel truth of old shall not kneel, shall not faint ♪ ♪ By his blood and in his name, in his freedom I am free ♪ ♪ For the love of Jesus Christ, who was resurrected here ♪ ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one, God of glory, majesty ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings, praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ I wanna be close, close to your side ♪ ♪ So heaven is real, and death is a lie ♪ ♪ I wanna hear voices, and angels abide ♪ ♪ Sing as one, let's sing hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Sing as one, let's sing hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ He's the God Almighty, the great I Am ♪ ♪ Who is worthy, and I am beside Him ♪ ♪ God Almighty, the great I Am ♪ ♪ I wanna be near, near to your heart ♪ ♪ Loving the world, but hating the dark ♪ ♪ I wanna see dry bones living again ♪ ♪ Sing as one, let's sing hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Sing as one, let's sing hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ God Almighty, He's the great I Am ♪ ♪ Who is worthy, and I am beside Him ♪ ♪ God Almighty, the great I Am ♪ ♪ Yes, He is, the great I Am, forever and ever ♪ ♪ The great I Am ♪ Great I Am It's right here church. The mountains shake before you

The demons run and flee At the mention of your name King of Majesty There is no power in hell Or any who can stand Before the power and the presence Of the Great I Am The Great I Am The Great I Am The Great I Am The Great I Am The Great I Am Yes He is So we sing Hallelujah Holy, Holy God Almighty The Great I Am Who is worthy There's none beside Thee You're the God Almighty The Great I Am The Great I Am Yes He is Forever and ever The Great I Am The Great I Am The mountains shake The mountains shake before you The demons run and flee At the mention of your name

King of Majesty There is no power in hell Or any who can stand Before the power and the presence Of the Great I Am The Great I Am The Great I Am The Great I Am The Great I Am The Great I Am Hallelujah Hallelujah Holy, Holy God Almighty The Great I Am Who is worthy There's none beside Thee God Almighty The Great I Am The Great I Am Yes you are God The Great I Am The Great I Am The Great I Am All right, welcome to Compass. Our mission is navigating people to God. My name is Landon, and I have the chance to be on the teaching team here. It's always great to see you. Thanks for being here today,

especially if this is your first time. Happy summer, everyone. I'm excited to kick off this brand new series we're in called Make It Make Sense, looking at some of the more difficult sayings or statements of Jesus. Would you guys, though, if you can, would you help me by welcoming everybody on the opposite end of the camera, the All Red Unit guys watching right now, anybody watching online, thank you. So when I was a kid, and if you're a 90s kid, this will probably be of particular importance to you. There was a fashion phenomenon that swept our nation with these bracelets. Do you guys remember these? Okay, WWJD, which stands for What Would Jesus Do? And it seemed like back in the day on the playground, almost every day, Every kid in Texas had a WWJD bracelet on and it served as a reminder on how to think or what to act, right? And the thought was, you know, when in doubt, just do what Jesus would do, which is a great thought. So if somebody makes you mad, you know, and a friend would be there to remind you, hey, WWJD, bro, you know, love your neighbor. Somebody says something bad about you, you know, WWJD,

turn the other cheek. Your friend is a UT fan and you're an Aggie, you know, and they talk about how they beat you in football. Again, you know, what do you do? You slap them across the face, okay? No, I'm kidding, right? You love your enemies. WWJD, the implication was if Jesus does it or says it, we should do it, which I fully agree with. And then there are times when you read some of the things that Jesus said in the Gospels and WWJD doesn't make as much sense or it could even make you feel uncomfortable. And you see this happening all throughout the Gospels, the stories written about Jesus's life where people who were unfamiliar with him or maybe even those who were closely following him, he says something, right? Church people too. And they're trying to figure out what he means or even what to do with it. Statements like this, let the dead bury their own dead. Inspirational, you know, WWJD, everybody. How about this one? If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. Which for what it's worth, if you look this up online, you know how they give you the AI overviews on Google? It actually says, this is not literal medical advice from Jesus. All right, how about this one?

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. Yay, which if you don't have context is kind of weird, right? What is Jesus talking about in that moment? He's talking about communion, right? That we do that every week at Compass. And even if you do have context, it's still a little weird. In fact, after he gets done talking about that in John chapter six, I love the honesty and some of the people's reaction to what he says. John 6, 60, here's what it says. This is a hard teaching, who can accept it? And it actually says that many stopped following him. And so I wanna look at one of the make it make sense statements of Jesus today, Matthew chapter 16, 21 through 27 is where I'm gonna be the rest of the day if you have your Bibles with you. And as always, it'll be on the screens next to me. And here's something that I wanna start with as this overarching theme of this series. And definitely in the text that we're gonna look at today, the closer people got to the actual teachings of Jesus, the harder casual following became. Like if you're just wanna be associated with whatever benefits you, but don't wanna do anything that maybe costs you. And you know, it's interesting. Nobody followed Jesus in the first century when he was walking around the earth teaching because it was cultural, right?

We invented that. And nobody was of the category of, hey, I'm gonna go to church, you know, one and a half times a month because it fits my schedule or, you know, I'm gonna pray when I want and I'm gonna give when I want and everything else on, you know, we'll see what happens, right? That didn't exist. And now he had crowds because a lot of people were interested in that. I mean, he was healing people. He was an unbelievable teacher. There was inspiration, there was comfort, there was blessing. But after that, they would very quickly figure out that following Jesus would actually cost them something because he was inviting them into this journey. And the word that I wanna talk about the most today called discipleship. And that word disciple had real weight in the first century, right? It's what Jesus asks us to be, to be his disciple. And a disciple is not somebody who just maybe agrees or likes a certain teacher. A disciple is actually an apprentice, somebody who followed a rabbi, which Jesus has talked about as a Jewish teacher or rabbi many times throughout the New Testament. And what a disciple would do is they would identify a rabbi or rather,

a rabbi would identify them and they would dedicate their entire life to learn from that person, to become like their rabbi, to live like them. Now, it went past the point of maybe admiration, right? Disciples didn't just admire rabbi, they actually reoriented their entire life around them. And you can see this when Jesus calls like his 12 disciples, they have this decision moment where they actually leave their day jobs. Sometimes they even leave like their parents, their moms and dads, their families, their relationships. their priorities, their future, their identity, right? Everything. And to be a disciple meant that my life revolves around this person. I'm gonna learn how to do life like them. And you see Jesus call people throughout the gospels to follow him, to be his disciple. And that is the exact same invitation that he gives you and I, to be his disciple. And if you're taking notes, this would be a great thing to write down, to define disciple, cause I wanna make sure we all know exactly what this mean. Discipleship is surrendering your entire life to Jesus in order to follow him, become like him and live in his way. So discipleship is surrendering your entire life to Jesus in order to follow him, become like him

and live in his way. Because Jesus today is not saying, hey, add me into your existing life, where it makes sense, you know, when you can, he's saying, reorient your entire life around me. And that is a big ask. But there's nothing more important that you and I could ever consider. And that is no more clear than in Matthew chapter 16. We'll start in verse 21. Here's what it says. From that time on, Jesus began to explain to the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law and that he must be killed and on the third day raised to life. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, never Lord, this shall never happen to you. So this is a turning point in Matthew's gospel. Everything shifts here. And the reason why is because remember, we know who Jesus is. We know he died on the cross. We know he rose again. They didn't know that was part of his plan. Like up until this point, it's just this magnetic teacher that had taken over this area in Israel, right? And people were following him and he's healing people.

And so they thought, hey, maybe this guy could help us like overthrow Rome. Like we wouldn't be under their oppression anymore. Maybe he could help make us famous. Like you can see amongst the disciples, those who followed him, they're kind of constantly jockeying into who could be like next to Jesus on the hierarchy. Like he's a special miracle worker. He's got gifts. And now he begins telling his disciples that he's gonna go to Jerusalem, that he's gonna suffer, that he's gonna be killed, and then he'll rise again. That's the first time he ever clearly lays out the cross and it messes with their categories. And notice that it says, he must, which means the cross was not accidental. Okay, it wasn't something they added because the plans changed. It was the very reason that Jesus came. And I wanna make sure, I hear this sometimes, people will talk about Jesus as just a inspirational teacher. Listen, Jesus did not come merely to inspire people. He came to save people. That was his entire purpose. His name means salvation. And salvation would require suffering. And Peter, I love Peter.

God bless him, okay? Because he speaks first, then he thinks. You know anybody like that in your life? Okay, and I love Peter because he gives me hope because I'm kind of that way and God uses Peter and so hopefully he can use me. And Peter hears this and immediately rejects Jesus. No, you can't do that. And then we see him try to teach Jesus a lesson, which I've learned in my life doesn't work out as well as you think. It says, Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. You know, hey man, I don't think you get it. I don't know, Jesus, if this is really God's plan for your life. I think you're kind of messing up the plan. I don't know if you realize this or not, but we're kind of like on top of things right now. You're not supposed to do that. And then he says this, never Lord, never Lord. And I realized this week as I was preparing for this, that sentence in itself is contradictory because you can either say never or you can say Lord, but you can't say both. Here's why. If he's Lord, you don't get veto power. Yeah, but that's not fair. It's not. You don't want fair. Because fair is you standing on your own merit before God

after this life is done and pleading your case as to why your behavior is enough for you to inherit eternity. And by the way, that doesn't go well for any of us. And because of the cross, because of this make it make sense reality, instead, when it comes to that. And by the way, we all have it, the book of Romans says that everyone will give an account of himself to God. Every single time there's a strike against you or a strike against me, Jesus is standing there advocating on your behalf and saying, hey, I got that one. Like put that on my tab, okay? Because of the resurrection of Christ. And we all love the resurrection, don't we? We should, it's the greatest miracle of all time. We're here, right here in this moment because of the resurrection. But the cross didn't make any sense to Peter because it didn't look like victory. You see, Peter wanted Jesus without the cross. Victory, yes, suffering, no. He wanted the Jesus that like kind of fit in his God box. You ever done that before? Where you sort of maybe even subconsciously put God in a box or, you know, you sort of pull him out when you need him. God, if you could just help my son get into that college, please, you know.

Lord, if you could just make that person I don't like at work, just go away in Jesus' name, you know. Lord, if you could help me, you know, lose 10 pounds. And then all of a sudden he starts to confront you about something in your life and you put him back in the box and shut the lid. You know, I'll let you know when I need you again. Peter loved the idea of Jesus reigning and him benefiting from it. He just didn't want a suffering savior who demanded that he followed him no matter what. And I think I'm that way too sometimes, you know. Like, listen, you come to church and it's a happy message and, you know, people, it's peace and purpose and blessing and freedom and eternity. I mean, who wouldn't sign up for that? Like I'll sign up for that. And Jesus says, okay, well, I just need you to follow me, which means become my disciple and surrender obedience, sacrifice, discomfort, dying to self. Amen, here's what I've learned in like 20 years of trying to follow Jesus. We love a Jesus who saves, we just struggle with a Jesus who leads. You know, and here's how it looks. We pray prayers like, Jesus, I just need you to save my marriage, which is a great prayer to pray. Okay, and he says, well, I just need you to start with confessing to someone. Well, I can't do that, that'd be weird.

Okay, well, what if we started with forgiveness? Well, that's not realistic because they're the worst. Jesus, heal my anxiety. Okay, well, what if you put your phone away at night and stop doom scrolling for six hours and comparing yourself to other people? Well, what am I gonna do with my time? Yeah, bless my future. Okay, well, can I have it? Hmm, listen, I want you to hear this. I'm not mad at you today, I love you. And I love this place. And the good news is, is Jesus loves you way more than I do. But I wanna be faithful to this text. And do you know what this text teaches? That casual Christianity, like just being associated with Jesus when it benefits you, will kill you and lead you to nothing. Actually, casual Christianity paves the way to hell. And because I love you and God loves you, I don't want you to go there. Yes, in the next life, because this whole thing that we're in right now, the Bible says is a puff of smoke. But if you live that way in this life, you know what you'll get to? Hell on earth. Where you've got a God who's given you like the way out right now, but you just keep choosing like, hey, you can have 95%, but not this 5%. And what that creates is just misery

in the same old cycles in your life. Like we want Jesus to forgive our sin, but we don't wanna do our part and help crucify the flesh that keeps leading us there. Like we want Jesus close enough to comfort us, but not confront us. We say, Jesus, take my life, and then panic the second he leads us somewhere uncomfortable. And church, listen, Satan, the adversary of our life who wants no good things for you, and you're about to see this in this text, would love for you to just stay the same as you are right now. In fact, do everything you can, 2026 Christians, to just preserve your life. You got a good thing going? Just keep going, man, just keep going, right? That's what you see Peter. He's saying, no, no, no, you can't go to the cross. Like never, no, no, no. We got a good thing going. Don't mess this up by doing something costly. Isn't it amazing how like that is intricately woven in our heart? Why? The instinct of the human heart is self-preservation, and yet the invitation of Jesus is self-surrender. I told you casual Christianity would kill you and lead you to nothing. Here's the difference.

Discipleship requires. for you to lay down your life, but there's a resurrection on the other side. Okay, it's worth it. And it's costly. You think I'm serious? Listen to Jesus. Here's what he says, verse 23. "'Jesus turned and said to Peter, "'Get behind me, Satan. "'You're a stumbling block to me. "'You don't have in mind the concerns of God, "'but merely human concerns.'" That's one of the sharpest rebukes in the gospels. And listen, he's not saying Peter is Satan, but he's identifying the mindset behind the statement. A mindset, as you can see, the difference in this is, okay, mindset on the things of God, mindset on the things of man. So why such a strong response from Jesus? I think it's because Jesus had heard this temptation before in Matthew chapter four, which if you haven't read Matthew four, I'd encourage you to go do that this week. It's an amazing passage of scripture. Jesus is led to the desert to be tempted by Satan for 40 days, which how amazing is it that God in the flesh encountered temptation and yet did not send, 40 days. And he tempts him with a few different things

that can all be summarized by comfort. Avoid suffering, take the easy path, bypass the cross. And now Peter unknowingly echoes the same temptation. And what does Jesus say? You're not setting your mind on the things of God. No, no, no, it's on temporary things, the things of man, the heart of the passage. Isn't it amazing how quickly we can be all in on Jesus in one moment and all out on the other? You know, where I first realized this was I was a youth pastor for like 10 years and you'd have these kids that would go to camp and for what it's worth, if you're a parent of elementary school kids or teenage kids, you should definitely, man, sign up for camp. God does some incredible things there. But what I saw was like, you know, kids have these incredible moments and revelations about who God is and they make a decision and everybody, you've got a couple of hundred people cheering for you and, you know, encouraging you in your faith. And then you go back to your school or your team or whatever and it gets harder because people are trying to drag you somewhere else or maybe they're even like antagonistic of their faith. And it can lead to you feeling spiritually dry or wondering if this is even worth it. Just a few verses earlier,

Peter has the spiritual high of his entire life. Again, we know who Jesus is because we've been given the gift of the Bible. Those guys, the disciples, are still trying to figure out who he is. And yes, they believed as little Jewish boys that one day there would be this Messianic figure, this salvific figure who would come, save them. And Peter recognizes Jesus for who he is. He confesses him as the Christ, okay? And Jesus, I mean, think about this moment. He lifts Peter up because he saw God for who he really was and he encourages him. And here's what he says, Matthew 16, verse 18, just a few verses earlier from what we're reading today. And I tell you that you're Peter and on this rock I'll build my church and the gates of Hades or hell will never overcome it. The church is gonna be undefeated and I'm gonna use you, Peter, as my guy to help the great commission, the very thing that I'm gonna empower you to do, to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. The gates of hell will never overcome the church, which by the way is still true, can I? Okay, okay, listen. Imagine hearing Jesus say that about you. Massive affirmation, massive kingdom moment. And then a few verses later, he looks you in the eyes and says, get behind me, Satan.

So what happened? Peter had a genuine revelation. You cannot fake an encounter with Christ. Peter had one when he saw Jesus rightly, but still had areas of his life untouched by surrender. And instead of surrender, he had self-preservation. Self-preservation, right? This innate human desire to just resist whatever's hard, dangerous, or confronts whatever needs to be put to death in us. And I wanna be clear, spiritual revelation does not automatically eliminate the instinct of self-preservation. Okay, coming to church every week, going to Rooted, whatever you're gonna do around here to help you move towards and become more like Jesus, all of that is wonderful and godly. You see that in Peter's life. And we get a glimpse to the end of the story where Peter was restored by Jesus. He gets used by God in the book of Acts. And again, we're here today because of Peter, who became a pillar of the early church. What I do wanna point out is that you can genuinely follow Jesus and still have areas of your life resisting his lordship. Listen, the same Peter who publicly declared Jesus as Messiah still privately resisted surrender. And there's two competing mindsets. And if you ever wondered why, like as a Christian,

when you make a decision for Christ, or, you know, you really decide that this is gonna be a new you, right? That there's a death of self and a resurrection in this new life, and yet you still struggle. And you're wondering why I kind of thought that was over. It's because you can see in this text and all throughout the New Testament, there's two mindsets that are at war with one another. Human concerns, comfort, safety, protecting self, control, and God's concerns, surrender, redemption, trust, obedience, sacrifice, and eternal purpose. Paul later describes this tension in Romans chapter eight. Here's what he says. For to set the mind on the flesh, or of human concerns, is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit, or God's concerns, is what? Life and peace. One mindset on the flesh, one mindset on the Spirit. One says, protect yourself, live for yourself, follow your desires. The other says, surrender to God, follow Him, trust Him. And that's exactly what Jesus is exposing in Matthew 16. Peter resists it, why? Because self-preservation always resists surrender. And I think for us, listen,

like especially in DFW in Dallas, Satan could use that self-preservation, casual Christianity thing to destroy you and your family. And I think we are particularly sensitive to it because of where we are and what church and Christianity does culturally, okay? Now, not everybody in Dallas is a Christian. I'm not assuming that they are, but I know a lot of folks who it's not, if you go to church, it's kind of where you go. And just because we do the church thing, listen, doesn't mean we do the surrender thing, okay? Most people are not rejecting Jesus outright, they're just resisting surrender in specific areas, okay? Like I want Jesus, but I still want control. So I'm gonna put God back in his little box. I want salvation, but I don't want surrender. It's too costly, comfort, but not obedience. Like I want him close, but I don't know about the whole Lord thing. And if you ever realized that self-preservation feels wise at first, protect yourself, right? Avoid discomfort, stay safe, control the narrative, catch your image, stay comfortable. It's the factory settings of the human heart, factory settings of the human heart. And honestly, you guys, like that's one of the reasons why we started that whole gaining ground thing you heard Nathan talk about earlier,

because, listen, discipleship doesn't happen accidentally. But left to our own devices, what do we do? We drift into that whole human mindset. Again, there's a war going on in your flesh, the things of man, the things of God. And so left to our own devices without Christian community, without like the scriptures being the anchor of our life and the pursuit of Jesus, we start to drift into self-preservation. And what I saw and noticed is that there were a lot of men who were like trying to genuinely love Jesus, but they were trying to follow Him casually and alone. And so that's why we started this like first Wednesday thing and we're gonna do that again this Wednesday. And if you're a guy in this room, sign up, show up, 6.30 in the morning, compass center, we'd love to have you. Because it's a room full of people who are not, listen, they're not perfect, they're not pretending, they don't have it all figured out, but it's just God saying, hey, I don't wanna drift anymore, I wanna follow Jesus seriously because discipleship is not casual and it doesn't happen without intention. So how do we get out of casual discipleship? Jesus tells us verse 24, then Jesus said to his disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up the cross and follow me. So now Jesus expands the conversation beyond Peter because he says, whoever wants to be my disciple,

which means that includes us. So remember that word disciple, it's not admirer, it's not crowd member, it's not occasional listener, first time caller, no. He tells us what to do to be a disciple. He says, deny yourself, which collides violently with self-preservation. Preservation says express yourself. The cultural terminology is live your truth, follow your heart. Jesus says, deny yourself. And that's where a lot of people get off the bus, this whole following Jesus or Christianity thing. And I wanna be clear, what does it mean to deny yourself? Look at me, it's not self-hatred, it's not worthlessness. It's where do you get your worth from? Is it in a bunch of stuff that will never sacrifice for you? That only exist in the here and now? Or is it something eternal that can never be taken from you? You know what my struggle in this is? We wanna be accepted by Jesus but approved by everybody else. And what I'm learning is eventually those two roads split. And so I just wanna say, because I love you, listen, that thing that calls to you to go and find yourself and live your truth has never died for you and it never will. So what if you decide today to surrender the right to be in the Lord of your own life, deny yourself and take up your cross?

Do you know Jesus revolutionized what crosses meant? Right, we see them as symbols of victory. They're in every church building you go to, there's a giant one in the back of the room in the balcony. But for the first century, if you saw a cross, it represents death, humiliation, execution, the ending of one life. Did you know the same is true for us when you make Jesus the Lord of your life? Like, it's not just I identify with a new thing, it's actually that you were buried, put on the cross, and then you walk in a new life. Paul talks about this in the book of Galatians. Chapter two, verse 20, here's what he says. I have been crucified with who? With Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So there's a burial that happens and then a resurrection. So to be crucified with Christ, it's not self-improvement, it's not I'm doing better than I used to, or I'm doing better than that guy. No, the old life dies and the new life is formed in Christ. It's surrender, it's transformation. And that's exactly what Jesus is calling his disciples to in Matthew 16. He doesn't just wanna be a part of your life, he wants to be all of it. To surrender your life. And in fact, he says in verse 24, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves,

take up their cross, follow me, follow me, not admire me, occasionally agree with me, fit me into your schedule. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. A paradox. I have a friend serving a life sentence in prison. And if you were to ask some of the friends he used to have in his gang that he used to run with, he had the good old days and now he's locked up, so he's done. And the only thing he has to do in life is just to talk about how great it was back then. And he told me he used to just cling to that life, like just trying to make it, right? How can I self-preserve? How can I do this for as long as I possibly can? And then of course he gets caught, he gets locked up, he gets sentenced, loses his life for all intents and purposes. And he told me the other day, he met Christ in prison and he looked me in the eyes, life sentence in me, and says, I'm happier than I've ever been. I'm locked up physically, but I'm spiritually free. Make it make sense. You see, that's the great paradox of Christianity. The life you cling to is the one you lose. Because if you're chasing empty stuff, the emptier life becomes. Listen to me, the death of self

is not the destruction of joy, it's actually the pathway to it. Because there's something in eternity for you and I that will satisfy your soul more than anything in the here and now ever could. Including by the way, acknowledgement and fame. Verse 26, Jesus says, for what will the profit of man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? So what if you gain comfort, success, approval, influence, money, power? Listen, none of that is sin. It just can't be Lord of your life. So Jesus says, what if you get all that and lose your soul? Listen, how many of you know that stuff perishes? Right, that new car you were so excited about. You drove it off a lot, it's shiny, it's pretty. Now there's a flat screen TV on the inside of it. Let me ask you something, how's it look two years later? You got frozen waffles underneath the front seat. I mean, how did those even get there, okay? Is that just me, all right? That house you wanted, you were so excited, you were so excited, you signed those papers, right? Gets old, doesn't it? Now you got to renovate. That body you find yourself living in. Gravity happens to us all, all right? Can I get an amen, right? Listen, you put your faith, your worth in stuff,

you'll die with regret. You put your faith in Jesus, deny yourself, take up your cross, follow him, you'll never lack a day in your life. Whoever loses their life from me will find it. And you can't do that casually. He's not inviting you today to sprinkle them onto your existing life or wherever it makes sense. He's inviting us to surrender their life. And it's not lost on me, you guys, the reality and the weight and the magnitude of this room. Look, following Jesus is not casual because eternity is not casual. Listen, there's no way that I could stand up here, read scriptures like this, talk to you, if I didn't have the Holy Spirit with me, through me, because this is scary. But here's what's real and true. Every person that I ever pass at the gym, in my life, at a restaurant, will one day stand before God. And their acknowledgement of him is the direction of their eternity. So I wanna close this by asking you to answer two questions. For some of you, the question is this, do I believe in Jesus? Not just that he was some inspirational teacher or historical figure. No, that he was actually God in the flesh. He died on the cross, rose again.

And now I put my faith in him so that I can have goodness in this life by denying myself, taking up my cross, but also inherit eternity. And you see people answer this question every time we have a baptism. We had one this morning. And there's a confession of faith, a profession of faith. It goes something like this. I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God and I confess him now as Lord and Savior. In that moment, their name is written in the Lamb's book of life and they inherit eternity, not just because of magical words, but because that's what's gonna mark their life the rest of their time here. And for some of you, that's a decision you need to make and you haven't yet. It's the most important decision that you could ever make. That's the first question. The second question is this. There's some of us who believe but haven't fully surrendered yet. And so I just want you to analyze what you're still refusing to surrender to him. Where are you buying into self-preservation rather than self-surrender? And I put together a list and I just wanna sit with it for a moment, okay?

I told you Galatians 2.20, right? Paul says that I was put to death on the cross with Christ. And then it's not me who lives now, it's actually me with Christ. And so I want you to look at this list. You know, what needs to die so you can fully follow Jesus? There's something in your life that today maybe like you can nail to that cross. It's comfort, you just want your life to be comfortable. Man, image management, it's just whatever people think of you dictates whether or not you have a good day. You're cynical. Control of the future. You got some sort of hidden sin, sexual sin, pornography, whatever it is. The version of you that's refuses to surrender. And listen, if you're looking at that list and you're feeling, man, I'm a terrible person, there's no way that God could ever love me. I want you to hear that God is not disgusted with you. He loves you more than I ever could, more than I could ever like put into words. Like He created you on purpose for a reason. The scripture says in the Psalm that He formed you together in your mother's womb, that He intricately wove you to be here right now in this place and He wants to know you. So that feeling you have, maybe it's conviction from the Holy Spirit.

And I just want to say conviction isn't rejection. Sometimes it's proof that God is still pursuing you. You see Jesus rebuked Peter, but He never rejects Peter. And the most loving thing that Jesus can do is refuse to leave us trapped in self-preservation. And if you're looking at this list and I confess this to you, okay, that was my first reaction when I saw it. I mean, I wrote the dang list, right? So when I look at it, I'm like, you know, I think I'm doing pretty good. And if that was your reaction, I want you to join me in a prayer that God will remove your spiritual blindness. Listen, you don't need to make up a problem, but the truth of the scriptures is that there is a war going on in each one of us. We've read it a few times today. The things of man. The things of God and one day that war will be resolved But you got to fight You got to ask God to continually Sanctify you in his presence every day How do you do that? You look at the cross. Listen, you can either cling to the cross Or you can cling to your life, but you can't do both Okay, and on the cross of christ that thing that you're trying to get rid of can finally die right now Is it going to cost you a lot? Oh, yeah It's going to cost you everything

Why does he ask us to do something Like this why surrender to this level Here's why The last verse on the screen if you guys can put that up verse 27 says this Why is he asked to surrender to this level because he's coming back? Because christ will return again To where to here To get us To defeat satan for the last time. I don't know when listen, but here's what I do know. I want to be ready And I want to be able to answer the question What did you do with your one and only life for me to give my answer and hear those words? I hope for every single one of you well done good and faithful servant. Can I get an amen? Listen for the son of man is going to come in his father's glory with his angels and then he will reward each person According to what they've done. We don't have much time Are you ready Listen life is too short God is too good And king of god is too big For you to waste your life pursuing things that don't matter And a step towards jesus is the most important step that you could ever take The kingdom is coming Let's pray together Heavenly father god, we thank you for your presence. Thank you for the truth of the scriptures Lord right now. I just pray for two things first What do you believe about jesus I ask that question And if there are people in this room who aren't sure about their answer or maybe They would like to say

Lord, I believe I trust I surrender And if that's you in this room, I just want you to listen to my voice right now Um, I want you to come talk to somebody in guest gather Once you talk to a pastor come find me Because I want to make sure That we support you That we're able to introduce you to christian community That know love and follow jesus We'd love to talk to you We'll celebrate you in that decision And the second is this lord, whatever was identified From the words on the screen Father I just pray right now all across this room everybody listening to the sound of my voice right now that we would crucify that Through the power of the holy spirit in us by the blood of christ That that would be left on the cross and that lord that we would be resurrected Into new life, we love you. God. Thank you in your heavenly name. We pray. Amen