25-0706p Transcript

Preacher: Jim Lokenbauer

(1:51) Good evening, everybody. I hope everybody had a pleasant day today. (1:57) Okay, this morning I brought to you a lesson called Come Follow Me, part one.

This will be (2:04) part two this evening, and it’s a study on discipleship. And we concluded this morning’s (2:12) lesson with a scripture, Luke 14, 27, which says, and anyone who does not carry his cross (2:21) and follow me cannot be my disciple. And that’s telling us that God has to be first in our lives.

(2:32) We can see the idea of self-denial, putting God and his will first. We also see that this (2:39) is a daily mindset that we must be in. And the scripture that was read for us (2:50) in Luke 9, where the man puts his hand to the plow and better not be looking back.

(3:01) That means he laments what he left behind. That’s not really putting God first. So in verse 26 of (3:13) Luke 14, we see that Christ warned his disciples that we shouldn’t shrink back or be ashamed of him (3:21) because the outcome is devastating.

Christ will deny us. In Matthew 10, 32 and 33, (3:29) we are warned, whoever acknowledged me before men, I also will acknowledge him before my Father (3:37) in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

(3:47) Now, could you imagine that, having your name mentioned before God in heaven, (3:58) having denied him, and then having Christ, who would normally be there as our advocate, (4:07) confirming that we denied our Savior? That would truly be sad. So let’s not give Jesus a backseat (4:17) ride in our lives. He must be first.

By acknowledging Jesus before men is to share your (4:25) faith in him or to teach about him, to tell others about him. And John tells us in 1 John 2, 28, (4:35) And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears, we may be confident and (4:44) unashamed before him at his coming. Why would somebody be ashamed or not confident (4:54) at Christ’s appearance? Well, if they were guilty of doing things they shouldn’t have done, (5:02) that would tend to make someone shrink back at his coming.

Like, oh, I didn’t have time to repent. (5:10) Well, don’t put yourself in that situation. We can only be confident if we have lived for him.

(5:21) We have to deny ourself and follow Jesus, putting him first in everything. So let’s add this to (5:28) our list of what a disciple is. A disciple is someone who is a baptized believer, taught God’s (5:37) word, and in one degree or another will teach others God’s word and have put Jesus first in (5:45) their daily life.

And next we have from John 8, 31 and 32, where it says, So Jesus said to the (5:55) Jews who had believed him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. Then you will (6:02) know the truth, and the truth will set you free. This verse is specifically about those Jews who (6:11) at the moment had come to believe in the Messiah, whereas in the preceding verses were told that (6:18) many of the Jews didn’t believe.

Their hearts were hard and not receptive to the truth. (6:26) But these particular Jews that stuck with him in this teaching, he gave this wonderful blessing. (6:34) So we see a conditional statement here in regard to being a disciple, and that is, (6:42) if you abide in Jesus' word or teachings, then you are a true disciple.

(6:49) We must abide in his teachings and not be like the double-minded man who is divided between masters (6:57) and whose faith is useless to the master. A true disciple does not have his allegiance divided. (7:05) He does not lose sight of the goal, which is the hope of eternal life, and he feeds upon (7:13) God’s bread of life, the sacred words of our Savior in his daily life.

Jesus tells us that (7:20) we are sanctified by the truth, and that his word is truth. Sanctification is to set apart for a (7:29) special purpose, set apart as holy, and that purpose is to tell others of the bread of life. (7:39) So God sanctifies us to share his word, and by Jesus' words in verse 32, we can tell that this (7:50) has a twofold promise to all of his disciples.

One, you shall know the truth. If we remain in (7:58) God’s word, making it the major part of our life through study and practice, we will know when (8:04) falsehood is presented to us and be able to reject it and refute it. And the truth will make you free, (8:16) free from spiritual ignorance and error, free from the power of sin.

The gospel will break (8:24) those chains of slavery, shining light on any darkness that may try to creep back into our (8:31) lives. The gospel brings liberty from sin. Amen.

The next verse I want us to look at about disciples (8:42) is John 13, 35. Actually, 34 and 35. But Jesus says, a new command I give to you, (8:53) that you love one another.

As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (8:59) All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. So Jesus introduces us (9:08) to agape love and commands it of us, a love unknown to the world at that time.

(9:17) This is a new love. This is God’s love revealed, Christian love. Greeks didn’t know this love, (9:28) but God made this particular Greek word, agape, and uses it.

So it’s special and new. (9:41) And Paul tells us by the Holy Spirit in the Galatian letter that the only thing that counts (9:52) is faith expressing itself through love. So love has to be our motivating factor (10:01) for all that we do.

Our faith, our belief must be fueled by agape love to be genuine. (10:10) Simply put, love is everything. When we love each other, we fulfill every command given by God (10:18) and every teaching the prophets ever gave us.

Matthew 7, 12 says, in everything do unto others (10:27) as you would have them do to you. For this sums up the law and the prophets. (10:33) Behind our every thought and our every motive and our every action, love must be the reason.

(10:41) One of the most familiar teachings on agape love is seen in 1 Corinthians 13, (10:47) 1 through 8, and it’s the very definition of agape love. And it says, if I speak in the tongues (10:58) of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. (11:07) If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, (11:13) and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

(11:20) If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, (11:27) I gain nothing. Love is patient. Love is kind.

It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud.

(11:36) It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered.

It keeps no record of wrongs. (11:47) Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, (11:55) always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. And this is true godly love. (12:07) So let’s add this to our list of what a disciple is.

A disciple is a baptized believer (12:15) who has taught God’s word and teaches others God’s word. He puts God first in his life, (12:23) abides in God’s word, and is recognized by his love for all the other disciples. (12:32) And my final point this evening on disciples is found in John 15.8, where Jesus says, (12:42) this is to my father’s glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

(12:51) So this is something else a disciple does. They’re fruitful. The 15th chapter of John (12:58) does not tell us exactly what this fruit is that we are to bear.

He does tell us that if we don’t (13:07) bear this fruit, that we will be pruned from the vine and cast into the fire. When we hear the (13:15) gospel and are saved by God’s grace, it has a powerful effect on our lives. The effect it has (13:25) is the changing of our character of one being ungodly, being worldly, also known as the old man, (13:37) and changing and transformed into the renewing of our mind into the image of Christ.

(13:43) We become God’s offspring, like he gets like. We become like him. This can be seen in Titus 2, (13:56) 11 through 14, where it says, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.

(14:05) It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, (14:12) upright, and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, (14:18) the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us (14:25) to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, (14:34) eager to do what is good. That being eager to do what is good is producing fruit of all types. (14:46) So here we see that the fruit of the Christian, that the Christian can bear, is to give up our (14:52) old worldly ways and be self-controlled and upright, and to be eager to do good works (15:00) which glorify God.

Often the misconception of bearing fruit is the idea that that particular (15:10) fruit is the number of souls we bring to Christ. But that’s not only what it is. It’s a wonderful (15:19) thing to bring souls to God, to turn the erring back to God.

This idea is an old idea. I mean, (15:29) it goes way back into the Old Testament times. In Proverbs 1130, it says, (15:35) the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.

So the person who wins (15:44) souls is producing fruit in the soul category. So there’s nothing wrong with having your fruit (15:52) be winning souls, but there’s more to it than that. But remember Noah and his success rate.

(16:00) He was preaching for a hundred years as he was building the ark, and how many sinners (16:08) were saved by his message. Was his fruitfulness determined or measured by the number of souls (16:16) that he saved or by his godly character and the effort he put forth? I’d suggest that (16:25) his godly character and obedient effort by doing what God commanded him is what was fruitful for (16:32) Noah. He was told to preach to the lost, and he did that.

And he was told to build the ark, (16:40) which he did. He was obedient. Our fruitfulness can even be obedience to God’s commands, (16:49) living the Christian life.

That’s good fruit. And there is also, Paul tells us, a fruit to life (16:59) through the spirit and a fruit unto death, which is the result from living life, a life controlled (17:07) by the sinful nature, being led by the flesh rather than led by the spirit. And Paul illustrates (17:16) that in his Roman letter in Romans 7, verses 4 through 6. There he says, so my brothers, (17:30) you also died to the law through the body of Christ that you might belong to another, to him (17:36) who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

For when we were (17:43) controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our (17:50) bodies so that we bore the fruit for death. But now by dying to what once bound us, we have been (18:01) released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the (18:08) written code. We get to know exactly what the fruit of death is and what the fruit of the spirit (18:17) are in Galatians chapter 5. Paul writes a whole list of all the things that are the fruit of the (18:27) flesh.

And we all know what those are. And then he also writes down what the fruit of the spirit (18:34) is. And that’s nine of them are mentioned there.

And Paul says, but I say, walk by the spirit (18:44) and you will not desire the flesh, or you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (18:53) But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (19:01) gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there are no laws.

This is the spiritual fruit the (19:09) kind of father is looking for in us to transform us into the image of his son. We need to bear this (19:19) fruit, the fruit of the spirit. And so it’s evident the fruit we’re to bear is the very nature (19:29) of that of our God and Savior.

So a disciple is someone who loves God so much he wants to be like (19:36) him. The disciple is never held accountable for how many souls have been saved. But it is a nice (19:45) feather in the cap.

You’ve got to admit that. If we do what we’re told to go and sow the seed (19:54) to make disciples, God will give the increase. We have to be sure that we’re busy in his vineyard.

(20:02) So to sum up what a disciple is, from the scriptures that we’ve gone over from this (20:07) morning and today, this evening, we can see that a disciple is a baptized believer who (20:14) has taught God’s word, who will teach others God’s word, who puts Jesus first in their life, (20:21) who abides in God’s word and obeys his commands, who is recognized by their love for each other, (20:29) and who will bear godly fruit to his glory. So that concludes my sermon on come follow me. (20:40) And if you have any reason to respond to the invitation, (20:45) you can come forward and let your need be known.

So come as we stand and sing.