In this sermon, the speaker discusses the importance of presenting the gospel with a focus on repentance. They emphasize the need for individuals to deeply reflect on their sins and continually seek repentance as God reveals areas of their lives that need to change. The speaker criticizes the practice of rushing through the gospel message and having a short altar call, instead advocating for a more thorough and transformative approach. They also highlight the significance of understanding one's sinful condition, the fear of God, and the reality of death and judgment as foundational aspects of the gospel.

Father in heaven, we come to you today and we desire to sit at your feet and just make our hearts burn within us. Open our eyes to your word and graft it into our souls so that we can be saved. We love you. We just pray that you would be with us now. Bring your presence here and your anointing in Jesus' name. We started yesterday looking at 16 different revelations of the gospel. Because of the great need of the hour, the time that we live in, we saw that the gospel is incomplete when it's presented in many cases. And it's kind of like a cake and all the parts of the recipe that you have to have to bake that cake. And when you take out key ingredients, you don't get the same result. And that's what we're seeing right now in this country. So we looked at the first four of the 16. Number one was a revelation of your unholy vile condition before a holy and pure creator. Number two was a revelation of your unbroken will. Number three was a revelation of the fear of God. And number four was a revelation of the reality of death and of the coming judgment. So let's look at five through ten or eleven today. Let's look at number five. Remember, each of these are key ingredients in the presentation of the gospel, and many of them are missing. The first three that we're going to look at today, we're going to go through briefly. Because fortunately, for the most part, they're not missing. These are ones that aren't missing. So there's no need to go in depth with them, but just not to minimize them, but to mention them. Number five is a revelation of Jesus as Lord, Savior, and the only way to the Father. Fortunately, this hasn't fallen off the presentation of the gospel too much. I mean, there are some emergent churches now that are saying that people can know God outside of Jesus and other countries and end up in heaven without being born again. But you know, the scripture is very clear in Acts 4.12, there's no other name under heaven given to men or by we must be saved. It's through Jesus. This is a fundamental basic aspect of the gospel. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nobody's going to go to heaven outside of Christ. Jesus said in John 5, he said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hears my word and believes on him that sent me has everlasting life. So it's through Jesus Christ alone that we can get into heaven. And I know this is a basic thing. But like I said, it is a legitimate key ingredient to the gospel. Anybody that studies the accuracy of the scriptures as opposed to other religions, you know, Hinduism and the Muslim religion and all the different other religions that offer an alternate route. When you look at the scriptures, you see it's 100% accurate, you know, in its predictions of future events in history, archaeology, medically predicting things. There's no way that the Bible could have just been written by mere men with all of the different studies. And the main, you know, aspect of that that I want to look at, and then move on to the next point is that when you look at the Old Testament, and you see God speaking to men about a coming Messiah, a coming Savior, and men making these prophecies, this is going to happen, and that's going to happen. There's hundreds of them. And you study the life of Jesus. And you see him fulfilling them to a T, even down to the exact year that he went into Jerusalem on a donkey. If you study that prophecy, he's the only one throughout history that could have been the Messiah, because it was so many years after the rebuilding of the wall that the Messiah would enter in. And that came the exact year that Jesus came into Jerusalem, proving that he is the Messiah, and thus the only way to heaven. So like I said, no need to belabor that. You can study that out on your own. Unfortunately, it's not been taken out too much. So let's look at the next one. The next ingredient is a revelation of the cross and the death of the cross of Jesus, which is the death or the blood, however you want to say it. Once we've seen these first five ingredients, I see how vile I am. I see how sinful I am. I have a fear of God come over me. I see that the essence of sin is my stubborn will. I realize I'm going to stand before this Holy God. I realize I'm going to have to give an account for him. I realize that it's Jesus. He's the only way to the Father. Then the next aspect is seeing the truth and the beauty of the cross. As you look at the scriptures, the Bible says, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. God gave us these laws out of love. When we break those laws, there has to be a punishment. God, out of love for us, said, I'll wrap myself in human flesh. I'll come down here and I'll pay the price myself so that mankind doesn't have to. This is the essence of the gospel. This is a key element. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 2, real quick here. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 1, Paul says, When I came unto you, brothers, I did not come with eloquency or superior wisdom as I proclaimed unto you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. This is it in a nutshell. It's about Jesus Christ and it's about him crucified. The first elements are important for us to see our need, but ultimately we have to come to this point of salvation is in Christ and it's through the cross. It's not through me going to mosques. It's not through me going to temples. It's not through me doing religious activities. It's through his blood sacrifice. We're all familiar with the verses that teach this, John 3, 16 and similar verses. There's no need to stay on this, but it is the gospel. The death of this innocent, sinless man who was God wrapped in the flesh, nailed to a tree as a penalty for the sins of mankind. When we look at it and study it and meditate on it, it is what fundamentally separates the message of Jesus from all the other religions, that God would pay my price and give me his blood for salvation. Very important. Okay, let's move on just for sake of time. Like I said, we're going to kind of focus on not in a matter of priority, but in a matter of what's lacking as far as message. If you're in a wood shop and there's 20 guys making legs to tables and there's nobody making tabletops and there's hundreds of table legs, somebody has to start making tabletops. There are a lot of people preaching on the cross and there's movies about the passion of the Christ and where we get a picture of what it was like. No need to park there because there is an understanding of that. Maybe not as deep as it should be, but there is. Let's look at seven and eight and they kind of go along with six. Number seven and number eight are both a revelation of the burial and a revelation of the resurrection. So what we see here is this God came, wrapped in a human, lived a sinless life, they crucified him and for three days he allowed himself to be buried and then after three days he rose again to prove that he wasn't just some prophet, he wasn't just some guy that had some new religious ideas. Nobody could die for three days and then resurrect themselves unless they were supernaturally from God. This is a key element of the gospel and it's kind of interesting to note. Look at Acts chapter four. I know the churches that I was involved in in my past and you know reading a lot of gospel tracts and listening to a lot of gospel sermons, this point really isn't emphasized too much. It is emphasized but not too much. But look at Acts chapter four verse 33. It says, and with great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and much grace was upon them all. So this was a part of their presentation of the gospel, if you will, that Jesus raised from the dead. Again you know nowadays it's not that you know of an important ingredient to people. I mean maybe around Easter time they talk about it but to them it was a key element. First Peter chapter 3 verse 21 he says, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience towards God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So we're saved by the death of Christ on the cross, that blood, but we are also saved by the resurrection of Christ because if Christ didn't raise from the dead, if he's still dead then we're gonna, you know, when we die we're gonna stay dead. So this is an important element and Paul kind of sums it up. Let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15. He kind of sums up the gospel here. He doesn't limit it to this but he kind of sums it up for the sake of the passage and what he's trying to deal with in this passage. Let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 1. He says, now brothers I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to the word that I preached unto you, otherwise you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried and that he was raised the third day according to the Scriptures. So this is the gospel, you know, kind of like in a nutshell. The death, the burial, and the resurrection. So this is what I would kind of call the means of the gospel. This is how the means of salvation, this is how we can enter into this forgiveness that we saw in the first four points that we need. We need forgiveness, we need God, and how do we get to God through Christ, the mediator between God and man, through his death, his burial, and his resurrection. But what I mainly want to focus on today is the ninth revelation, and it's a revelation of repentance. And this is a major ingredient that is lacking today in the presentation of the gospel. And I want to really spend my time, a lot of my time here today, on repentance. Because we need to see, you know, God is a God of second chances. He is a God of mercy. He doesn't take delight, you know, in judging anyone. So he offers this second chance to us, and it's freely, you know, it's freely being offered to all men. And what we need to see about repentance is, I'm walking this way, I'm going along this path, the self-chosen way, kind of doing what I want to do, living life the way I want to live, thinking the thoughts I want to think, spending the money I want to spend, wearing the clothes I want to wear, the job, the career I have, you know, who my friends are, the music, tastes, everything. I'm just doing what I want to do. And the creator of this universe, the one that made me, the one that made me for the purpose of fellowshipping with him, he comes behind me, either through my conscience or through his spirit, and he says, you know, he says, turn to me. I want you. I want to have a relationship with you. And so repentance is this turning away from myself as the center of life, turning away from that to Jesus. And this is so important. But the way the gospel is presented nowadays, as we saw last night, is I'm going along this way, and someone presents to me the gospel, and I kind of pick it up and put it in my pocket, and then I can continue to go this way. You see, I'm kind of adding Jesus to my existing life. And they say, you know, well, you're a sinner. Well, yeah, I know I'm a sinner. You're going to hell. Well, yeah, I realize that. Do you want to go to heaven? Well, yeah. Okay, we'll say this prayer. Okay. And they kind of get, you know, salvation and just continue to go that way. But repentance isn't preached. And when we look at the scripture here, we see that this is a major ingredient. God is behind you saying, turn to me. And this is the war that we have to go through in our soul. You mean turn from all this, turn from this world, turn to Christ? And he's saying, yes, turn. If we look at this verse here, Matthew chapter four, let's turn there. This was what Jesus began in his ministry. This was like the foundation of his preaching. Matthew chapter four, verse 17. It says, from that time, Jesus began to preach, repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. So this is, this is how he began his ministry saying, repent, turn from self as the center of life, and turn to God. The disciples, look at, look at Mark there. Mark chapter six, the disciples preach the same thing. Mark chapter six, verse 11. If any, he says, and if any place will not welcome you, or listen to you, shake the dust of your feet off when you leave as a testimony against them. Then they went out and preached that people should repent. Yet many, you know, today say, well, you should, you shouldn't tell people, you're going to hell if you don't repent. You know, that's not the way, you know, we should do it, we should be, you know, loving and eventually we'll kind of get around to that in a subtle way through, you know, long relationships, eventually saying that maybe they shouldn't do that. But you know, Jesus is sending them out saying that people should repent. And look at, this is a kind of a common verse on this, but it's really important. Luke chapter 13. And you know, I want to pattern the way I present the good news after the way Jesus did. I don't want to use my carnal mind and my human reasoning. I don't want to be influenced by culture and Christian fads. I want to look at the life of Jesus and I want to speak how he spoke and I want to love, you know, the way that he loved. And he, he saw the beginning from the end. He saw how horrible it is to be without God throughout eternity. And that love is what motivated him. In Luke chapter 13 here, it says, now there were some present at the time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their own sacrifice. Jesus answered, do you think that these Galileans were sinners more than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you too also will perish. Are those 18 who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them? Do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you too will perish. So I can't add to or take away from what Jesus said. Jesus said, you know, repent or perish. And I know it's kind of a, a cheesy bumper sticker, you know, or something, you know, repent or perish. And it sounds kind of like something, some street preacher with a three piece suit would be saying, but Jesus said it. He said, turn, if you don't turn to Christ, you'll perish. And he said that out of love and in our desire to try to help people and be effective, we can't take this ingredient out. This is, it's, it's so important to keep this in here because it's the essence of the gospel. And it's important to know when I'm speaking about repentance, when I'm, I'm not saying you need to clean up your life and then turn to Christ. That's not what repentance is. Repentance is like we saw last night, someone comes to the light, they see how evil they are. And repentance is turning to Christ and saying, this is the way I am. I can't stop being this way. I have lusts and I have addictions and I have desires and, and I can't control my tongue and my eyes. And I am not like you, God, I can't be like you. I've tried and I can't do it. Change me. That's what repentance is. So it's not me cleaning myself up. Like a lot of religions, you know, that they might teach a lot of similar things that Christianity teaches, but people are trying to do it through will worship, you know, through self denial, asceticism, they're trying to, you know, not eat certain types of foods and, you know, go through physical washings of the body. And they're trying to change themselves through meditation and all that. That's not what repentance is. Repentance is saying, God, I can't do this. I need you to change me. And I desire for you to change me. It's a change of mind. It's saying, I no longer want to live like this anymore. And so I'm changing my mind. I'm saying, God, I agree with you. This is the way I am. Please change me. So let's look at a couple more verses on that. And then we'll move on to the next one. Notice this in 1 Thessalonians. This is a really good verse on repentance. Because see, repentance isn't just, it's not just me turning from sin. But it's like I said, it's turning to Christ. And it says here in 1 Thessalonians chapter one, verse nine. It says, for they themselves show of what manner of entering in we had to you and how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. So see, God isn't some jerk in heaven that, you know, he puts us down here on earth, and he puts all these desires in us. And then we see all this stuff in the world. And he says, okay, don't touch any of it. Don't enjoy any of it. And then just kind of lock yourself in a room and be miserable. And just kind of sit there and deny yourself. That's not what repentance is. Repentance is first turning to God from idols, you see, he's saying, you can have me, you can either have me, or the things that I've created, you can have the creator or the created things. And he's saying, I want to have a relationship with you. I'll give you peace, I'll give you joy, I'll fill that emptiness in your heart. But you can't have this world and me, you can't have both. So he's saying, make a choice. And the Thessalonians were known for the fact that they turn to God from their idols. And it's the same thing today. There's idols, whether they're false religions, false understandings of Jesus, or the American dream, you know, money, there's so many idols. And we have to make the decision to turn from them to Christ. And repentance is it's like, it's like a filter, like a water filter. And you go to third world country, and you get some real mucky water. And you have a filter there, and you run it through the filter, and you hold that glass up, and well, it's still dirty. And then you filter through again, well, it's still dirty, you keep filtering it through. The way that we have to present the gospel to people is to emphasize repentance so much to where people are on their face, and they're they're filtering their life through this repentance in their God's giving them light on areas in their life that are sin. And then they see those areas, and they repent, and then God gives them more light, and they repent. And this is why it's so important that we don't take the gospel, present it in a 25 minute sermon, and then have a five minute altar call. You know, while the music's playing melodiously, you know, in the background, somebody's playing a piano, and, you know, and somebody hits the altar, and, and then somebody comes up to help them out. And, you know, they spent about four minutes with the person, and then they say, Hey, pray after me. And the person, you know, has to hurry up and pray, because the pastor's got to close the meeting up, you know. And it all kind of fits into this meeting. You know, that's, that's not salvation. Like we talked about last night, this is, this is a serious thing. This is me coming to the God of the universe, and he's giving me light, and I'm making choices in my heart. I'm turning from sins, and he's giving me more light, and he's giving me more light. And, and there's, there's ramifications, you know, repentance involves restitution. You know, supposing, supposing I robbed a bank, and I got a million dollars. And then two weeks later, I went and heard the gospel and came to Christ. You know, do I have to give the million dollars back? You know, can I say, Well, that was before I was a Christian, you know, and now I get to live the rest of my life with the million dollars? No, I have to restore, I have to restore things. And the repentance that's taught today is kind of limited to this. You know, you're a sinner, and you need to be sorry for your sin. And that's kind of, for the most part, I'm not saying that's the way it always is. There's a lot of, you know, people preaching a full measure of repentance. But for the most part, it is, you realize you're a sinner? Yeah. Are you sorry for your sin? Yeah. But the problem with that is, you know, supposing I, I got drunk. And I was driving, and I killed a family. And then I stood before the judge. And the judge said, Are you sorry? You got drunk and drove? Yeah. Are you sorry that you killed his family? Yeah. And then, you know, and then I said, Can you please let me, you know, not have to go to jail? And then if the judge said, Well, are you willing to quit drinking and driving? And I said, Well, no, I'm not. I'm not willing to quit that. But I'm sorry. You know, and that's, that's, that's the difference between just being sorrowful for something and sorrowful for the ramifications of that. And that that's the difference between that and repenting. Repenting is saying, I'm willing to turn from this. I'm willing to stop this. I can't do it in my own power. But I am willing to stop. And this must be presented in the Gospel, a willingness to turn from it and to stop doing it. Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, go and sin no more. And we must do the same. So another aspect of repentance, which is what we're going to look at next, is number 10. This is kind of taking repentance and expanding it a little bit. Number 10 is a revelation of the need to forsake all, a revelation of the need to forsake all. And I think unfortunately, this is probably the greatest ingredient out of all of the ingredients that we've been looking at, that are missing today in the message of the Gospel. Very, very, very rarely, would you ever see this message of forsaking all in Gospel tracts or sermons. It's almost entirely absent. And it's such an important ingredient. And we must see, as we looked at last night, I must come to Jesus on his terms. I can't come to Jesus on my terms. I have to come on his terms. And that's why we looked last night at fearing God and repenting of sin. And this matter of forsaking all, it's so incredibly important because a lot of people believe in Jesus. It says in James, the devils believe and they even tremble. But are the devils going to be saved? No. Why won't they be saved? Because they won't forsake all. They won't repent. It's the same thing today. A lot of people believe in Jesus. They believe he's a loving God and he died for their sins. But are they going to be with him in heaven? No. Because they won't forsake all and follow him. They're coming to him and they're following him on their terms, not on his terms. And Jesus says, I'm not going to go along with it. It's my way or nothing. It's not, you know, just add me to your existing life. But let's look at this. Mark chapter 10, Jesus and his dealings with men made the road narrow. He said, few there be that find it. In Mark chapter 10, verse 21, it says, and Jesus beholding him, loved him and said to him, and we know the story about the rich man. He wants to follow Christ. He's keeping all the other 10, nine of the 10 commandments. And then it says here, one thing you lack, go and sell whatever you have and give to the poor. And then you'll have treasure in heaven and come and take up the cross and follow me. So even last night, I find it ironic. Alan and I were having a conversation with a gentleman that was here and Alan was kind of giving his testimony about when he came to Christ and I had spoken at a Bible study at his high school and this was five years ago or so. And I said, God does not want 99% of your heart. It's a hundred percent or nothing. He won't take 99%. And this gentleman that was here said, well, I don't know if that's right. Um, you know, you, I don't think you can measure it in percentages, you know, and, um, but as we see here, you know, this, this rich man wanted to follow Christ. He was obeying nine out of 10 commandments, but see, there was this one area in his life, this love for money and Jesus found the one area and, and, and put his finger on that one area and said, if you're going to follow me, you know, turn from this love of money. And that one thing, the guy went away sorrowful. I mean, he could have been an apostle or something. And I don't know if he eventually ended up getting saved or not, but at that moment, he chose money over relationship with the God of this universe. That's how much he loved money. And when the gospel is presented today, it's not presented as all or nothing. It, you know, it's presented as a, as a choice. And, and the way Jesus is presenting it is, it's, it's almost like, uh, two people getting married, you know, and here's the preacher and here's the couple and they're going to get married. And if the preacher says, um, you know, are you willing to be faithful to your husband and love him the rest of your life? You know, if that, uh, if that bride said, well, I love you, honey, I want to be faithful to you. I want to be married to you. But one week out of the year, I want to go stay at my ex-boyfriend's house because I still love him, you know, a little bit, you know, would the guy get married? No, I love you 99%, honey. He still wouldn't marry him. And it's the same thing. What Jesus is saying is, if you see the reality of what we're talking about, that, that you need me and that there's an eternal judgment and that you're miserable without me, when the ramifications of this come and you see the reality of it, you're going to turn from everything and forsake everything and come to me. Let's look at that. John, I'm sorry, Luke chapter nine, verse 23, Luke 9, 23. And it says, um, and he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. So Jesus isn't presenting a ticket to heaven, a one-time prayer, uh, a confirmation he's, he's causing people to have to, to count the cost. Okay. Are you guys really seeing what I'm saying here? Because if you're really seeing this, this is a lifelong journey of knowing me, of following me. If you're going to come after me, it's a daily, me not doing my will, but I will be done every day. The cross, you know, is a picture of, of death to self. If you're going to follow me, it's daily coming after me. And, um, and again, I hate to, you know, keep kicking a dead dog here, but ask yourself, how many times do you hear this preached in the presentation of the gospel? That it's a lifelong following of Christ. It's so rare anymore. It's usually, you know, Romans chapter 10 says, if you confess with your mouth, you will be saved. Boom, you're saved, you know? And, and it's not the way that Jesus is, you know, presenting it. Uh, let's look here at, um, some of the different aspects when I'm, when I'm talking about counting the cost and forsaking all, you may be saying, what do you mean forsake all? Well, one of the key elements of forsaking all is, um, this umbilical cord concept. You know, a baby comes out of it, of its mom with the umbilical cord. And that, that is how that baby has had its life for nine months has come through that cord. And now it's born and it's still attached. And can you imagine a woman walking around for years, you know, with a baby that still had its umbilical cord attached? It'd be, you know, it'd be unhealthy and weird. Um, but that's the way a lot of people, when they, their concept of Christianity, you see, we spend our whole life, we have our umbilical cord, if you will, attached to this world, this kingdom. It is how this kingdom has given us a false life. And we've gotten our joy and our peace and, and everything from this kingdom, our, our family, our relatives, our friends, our desires, everything from this kingdom. And so the message of the gospel is to cut that umbilical cord off and completely get your life in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Let's look at that in Luke chapter nine and verse 59. And this is why he keeps saying, you know, you need to count the cost of following me is going to cost you everything. Luke chapter nine, verse 59. And he said unto another, follow me. Um, but he said, the person that Jesus was talking to Lord, allow me first to go bury my father now. So let's give some background. Jesus sees a guy. He says, Hey, follow me. And the guy says, okay, I want to follow you. I'm willing to give up everything. Um, but my dad died, you know, and I have to, to, to go bury him. So legitimate request, right? To go to your dad's funeral and, and bury him. And what does Jesus say? Jesus said in verse 60, and Jesus said unto him, let the dead bury the dead, but go down and preach the God of the kingdom of God. What are you talking about? Jesus? The guy just wants to go to his dad's funeral and Jesus says, let the dead bury the dead. So what is Jesus saying here? Look at verse 61 and another said to him, Lord, I will follow you, but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at my house. So here's another guy. He wants to follow you. He wants to follow Jesus. He says, I will follow you. I just want to go say goodbye to my mom and my dad. Maybe my family, just, I just want to go say goodbye to him again. That sounds like a legitimate request, right? And what does Jesus say to him? And Jesus verse 62, and Jesus said unto him, no man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. So again, this is so rare that you hear this preached today like this. I mean, this is a radical message. It's crazy that he's saying, come to me, follow me. And anything that's going to hold you back from that is not legitimate. Anything. There's no excuses. I've married a wife, therefore I cannot come. I've bought a field. I have a job. You know, all the, the excuses that run through our mind, they all kind of represent one thing that we still have that umbilical cord attached to this world. And the call to follow Jesus is excused away through one of millions of different reasons, but it doesn't matter what the reason is. It ultimately represents somebody that still loves this world. They still love their self, their self will. And this is just an excuse. And Jesus is saying, cut that umbilical cord. Come to me. Look at Matthew chapter 10, Matthew chapter 10, verse 36. It says a man's foe shall be they of his own household. He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. See a lot of people, you know, they, they, they ask the question, have you accepted Christ? And people say, yeah, I've accepted Christ. But that's really not the question that we need to be asking. The question we need to be asking is, has Christ accepted you? Because we see here in this verse, there are people that are not worthy of Christ. And it's not talking about some self-righteous thing. Like I have to, you know, not eat certain foods and not do certain things. And then I'll be worthy of salvation. I'm earning salvation by works. It's not talking about that. The worthiness that it's talking about is simply this. Have I cut my own umbilical cord off from mom, dad, relatives, friends, the opinions of men, my own desires, my own goals, this whole world system? Have I cut that umbilical cord off? And that's repentance. Lord, I don't want anything to do with this. Please, I want you. That's the gospel. And that's what, that's how we need to present it. Jesus had to cut it himself. Look at Matthew chapter 12. And we see here how, you know, how radical he was. Matthew chapter 12, verse 46. It says, while he yet talked with the people, behold, his mother and his brother stood without desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, behold, thy mother and thy brother stand without desiring to speak with you. So just like right now, I'm speaking here. Let's say there was another hundred people crammed in here all over the floor. And my mom and my brother come to the door and they say, you know, they send some, Alan, you know, up here. Hey, your mom and your brother want to speak with you. And it doesn't sound like an unreasonable request. What does Jesus say? Verse 48, but he answered and said, and told him who is my mother and who are my brother. And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, behold, my mother and my brethren for whosoever shall do the will of my father, which is in heaven, the same as my brother and sister and mother. I mean, it sounds, you know, kind of radical or cultish or something, but that's what Jesus said. I mean, Jesus said that in his mind, he viewed anyone that did God's will as his mother. And he had a good mom, you know, he wasn't attached to this earthly kingdom, even when it came to his relatives. You know, I mean, you, you, you look at his example in the different interactions that he has with his mom and with his family. His sustenance, his life wasn't based upon his family. And what we see nowadays is a Christianity that's so, they're so into this kingdom and, you know, going to family reunions and family this and family that and Jesus is saying, you know, cut that umbilical cord off and follow me. And so many people, it's their priorities that, you know, that he's trying to lay the axe to the root. He's saying, what's your priorities? Is your priority the kingdom of God, relationship with me, preaching the word, or is your priority Aunt Susie's sons graduating from high school or something? So we're going to go to the other side of the country to his graduation party, you know, and just always something going on. But notice this here, you know, in the first century, when somebody made the decision to follow Christ, it cost them everything. You know, when a Jew, when a Jew came to Christ, they lost everything. Nowadays in America, we don't see too much of that. And I think the reason is because a lot of people in America, even though it's a post-Christian nation anymore, a lot of people don't have a problem. If you say you're a Christian, even if you say you're born again, and that you're evangelical, they're not going to, you know, give you too much flack on that. But if you start to follow Jesus, like how it's being laid out here, then that's when the flack is going to come. You see, if you start, if you start following this way, where you cut the umbilical cord off, and I'm not saying you don't have a relationship with family. And I mean, I just got back last weekend from going, you know, to my parents, to my dad's for Thanksgiving. I'm not teaching you don't have a relationship with relatives at all. I'm just saying, that's not where my heart is. That's not where my priorities are. And there are several times a year where I get flack from my family, old friends, in-laws, because my priorities are different than their priorities. And a lot of people never get flack because they've never cut that umbilical cord. But the scripture says, you know, all that live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution. I think the reason we don't see much persecution in this country is because people aren't living this way, radically forsaking this world in their heart, you know, cutting themselves off from it. They're not following that way. So therefore, they're not seeing the persecution. Let's look here at Luke chapter nine. And this will kind of bring us into the next and the last one that we'll look at today. We looked at this a little bit earlier, but it's a parallel passage, but it kind of brings us into the next point. Jesus said unto him, Luke chapter nine, verse 60. Jesus said unto him, let the dead bury the dead. And notice the next part of the verse. It's interesting. But you go and preach the kingdom of God. Go and preach the kingdom of God. And that brings us to the next ingredient. Number 11, a revelation of what it means to be a kingdom Christian, a revelation of what it means to be a kingdom Christian. Jesus is telling someone, cut your umbilical cord off. You know, repent, turn from everything in this world and, and go and preach the kingdom of God. How many times have you heard? You know, it's said that way. It's usually not said that way nowadays, go and preach the kingdom. You know, what do you mean by that? You know, we're supposed to go preach the gospel, we have to preach that people have to turn from sin and be born again. But Jesus is saying, go preach the kingdom of God. And, you know, just ask yourself this, again, going through your mind, how many gospel tracts have you seen on the kingdom of God. But as we're going to see here, this was a ingredient in the presentation of Jesus's gospel. It was a key ingredient that he went out and he preached the kingdom of God. Let's look here at, at this real quick, John chapter three, because this, this element, along with forsaking all, you can kind of lump them in with repentance. And then we'll move into faith tonight. But look at John chapter three, very familiar passage. In verse 18, he that believes on him is not condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation. This is what condemns people, that light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be removed, reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are wrought in God. So this is the essence of the gospel. I'm coming along, I'm going this way, I see this light, and I either have to come to the light, or I can turn away from the light. And what it says is, this is what condemns people. This is why people end up in eternity, separated from God. They see the light, but they don't want to come to it, because their deeds are evil. And so they turn from it, and they go back to this kingdom, this world. And the message of the gospel is a message of another kingdom. You have two kingdoms, this kingdom that you've lived in your whole life, and then this other kingdom. And let's look at it. He says here, in Luke chapter 4, Luke chapter 4, so I'm in this kingdom, and I see all the pain, I see the hurt, the greed, the lust, the vanity of life. I see it all. And then somebody presents the gospel to me. And if all they present is a means by which I can be forgiven, then it's not complete. They have to present a kingdom. So I'm looking around, I'm seeing how horrible this world is, how horrible this kingdom is. And there's this desire in me for something more. And so Jesus comes, and he preaches another kingdom. Luke chapter 4, verse 43, and he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for thereunto am I sent. Now, I don't know about you, but when I saw this, it was years after I'd already been a Christian, and it just kind of blew me away. What do you mean you must preach the kingdom of God? He went out and said, I don't know, there's a kingdom, and explained it. He explained this other kingdom. It wasn't just you need to get saved, you need to be born again. He talked about this other place. And look at Luke chapter 9. This is how he, he not only preached the kingdom of God himself, he commissioned his own disciples to preach it. Luke chapter 9, verse 2, and he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. So he's sending his own disciples out. He's saying, okay, you guys, go preach the kingdom of God. So they're going to this country that was oppressed by Roman rule, that was, you know, a poor country at the time, all kinds of trials in that country at the time. And people at that time are seeing the vanity of life. They're seeing all the problems of this, this world. And the disciples came out and said, hey, forget all this. There's another kingdom. And they preached the kingdom of God. Look at Luke chapter 12. This is kind of a one of the best verses about this. This is how he preached the kingdom of God, if you will. Luke chapter 12, verse 21. It says, after getting, you know, after him talking about the rich young ruler, or the rich man storing up all his treasures, it says in verse 21, so is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God. And he said unto his disciples, therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, neither for your body, what you shall put on. For the life is more than meat, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feeds them. How much more are you better than than the fowls? And which of you, taking any thought, can add one stature to his cubit? If you then are not able to do this, which is least, why do you take thought of the rest? Consider the lilies and how they grow. They toil not, they spin not, and yet I say to you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. And if God so clothed the grass, which is today in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven, of how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith? And seek not what you shall eat and what you shall drink, and for all these things do the nations of the world seek after. So this is the essence of this kingdom down here, this world. What is the bulk of people consumed with? What they're going to eat, what they're going to drink, just working, working, working, the American dream, just making money, making money, I'm going to remodel my house, I'm going to buy another car, I'm going to go on a vacation, I'm going to buy a new iPod, I'm going to buy, you just always just, what I'm going to do now, what I'm going to buy, how I'm going to work, I'm going to make more money. And he's saying that's what everyone else is into. That's what the nations are into and the worry that goes along with that and the fear that goes along with that. And he says in verse 30, for all these things the nations of the world seek after. And he says your father knows that you have need of these things, so we need clothes and we need food, but verse 31 is the key. But rather seek first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you. So what does that mean? Like, seek first the kingdom of God. There's this other kingdom and if as I seek that first, God will take care of the fact that I am still here physically and I still need a place to live and I still need food. But I have to seek first this other kingdom. Look at verse 32, fear not little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that you have and give alms, provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in heavens that fail not, where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there were your heartbeat also. See what's preached a lot nowadays is, well, you can be rich, it's okay to be rich as long as it doesn't have your heart. What Jesus said was, where your treasure is, that is where your heart is. That is where your heart is. So where's your treasure? Well, if maybe I'm making a lot of money, but I'm giving it away, I'm helping people, I'm spending, my priorities are time, not priorities based upon making more money, but helping people, spending time with people. And so while I'm doing all this, I'm building up, I'm in essence, I'm building, I'm helping build the kingdom. You see, I'm helping people get to know Christ and they're now citizens of that kingdom. And that's where my treasure is. But if I'm spending my life down here, building my treasure down here, then what that means is, my heart is still down here. This is where my priorities are. This is where my desires are. And it's reflected in my purchases and the time that I spend and what I do. And this is an aspect of the presentation of the gospel. It isn't just saying a prayer, coming to Christ. It's a life that has seen the vanity of this world and wants something far better. And they're willing to let go of everything in this world in order to get it. Look at this verse. It's interesting. Luke chapter 18. So Jesus is constantly preaching this. His disciples are hearing it all the time. And Peter, constantly sticking his foot in his mouth. He kind of says in verse 28, Luke 18, 28, Peter says, Hey, we've left all and followed you. You're always talking about us forsaken all, you know, we've done that. And it says, and Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, there is no man that has left house or parents or brethren or wife or children for the kingdom sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time and in the world to come. Now notice something that's interesting here. For what sake did they leave these things? Was it for Jesus? No, it was for the kingdom's sake. So it's such an intricate aspect of this. That it, he doesn't say for my sake, he says for the kingdom's sake. So there are people that have had to leave parents, brethren, wife, children for the kingdom's sake. And then he, you know, he's saying, you'll be rewarded for that. But the reason in showing that verse is that Jesus preached such a hard gospel, forsake all, repent. And he preached it in the context of the reason you're turning from these things is because there's something far better. It's another kingdom. And this is, you know, hardly spoken about today. You know, especially in America, American Christians are so patriotic, you know, God bless the USA, you know, this is God's country. And we need to take it back for Jesus and get politicians in office, you know, and, and we need to go to war to defend God's country and get bogged down and, and so many issues. And the, the problem is the root problem is their eyes are not on the next kingdom, their eyes are on this kingdom. So they're into the issues of the day, the politics of the day, the wars, you know, Christians are all bogged down in global warming, and we need to not buy certain types of clothes, because certain people made them and we, we shouldn't eat, you know, certain types of foods, because they were made in this country, and they do this and that, and all the social issues that people are bogged down in, and, and it manifests one thing, their eyes are on this kingdom. This is where their priorities are. And it may be, you know, a hillbilly in the woods that, you know, has a rebel flag in his back of his truck, and he's going to go to Iraq to defend America. Or, you know, it may be, you know, some Christian who's into wealth, or it may be some, you know, Christian who's into, you know, like, helping the environment. I mean, there's so many different ways that Christians get sidetracked on issues of this kingdom. And Jesus wasn't into any of that. His kingdom was of another world. And he had no, you don't see anywhere in the New Testament where he's, he's bogged down in the issues of his day from a physical standpoint. Look at, look at John chapter 18. John chapter 18 and verse 36. It says, then Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I should not be delivered unto the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hence. So, you know, his kingdom is not here. And so that's why his priorities are different. And if we're going to follow him, it must be the same. So in closing, I want to look at one final, within this, this 11th point, I want to look at, you know, when I'm talking about kingdom, kingdom, kingdom, a lot of people, you know, what does that mean? And if, you know, it's important for us to ask ourselves, what is a kingdom? When we, when we use the word kingdom, and there's four different components that, that make up a kingdom. Number one, a kingdom must have a ruler. Number two, a kingdom must have subjects that are subject, are subjected to that ruler. Number three, a kingdom is made up of an area or a domain that that ruler rules over. And number four, a kingdom has laws. I mean, I'm sure there's more components, but just for sake of time, those are four basic components that make up a kingdom. And to take that now and spiritualize it and to bring it into what we've been talking about with the kingdom of God, it's, it's no different. Jesus is the ruler. Only those who subject themselves to Jesus will be citizens of his kingdom. The area or domain, you know, will be in eternity, you know, will be, will be heaven. And in his kingdom, only those who keep his laws will be citizens, you know, and so it's, that's why it's important to, to, to have this in our gospel presentation. Let's look at Matthew chapter 16. You see, everything in this kingdom says, if you want happiness, if you want peace, if you want joy, it's going to be found through me doing what I want to do, fulfilling the lust of my flesh, being greedy. And that's kind of the path that this kingdom is going on. Jesus' kingdom is totally opposite of this kingdom. And he says here in verse 25, Matthew 16, verse 25, for whoever desires to save his life will lose it. Whoever desires to lose his life for my sake shall find it. So in the kingdom that we're in right now, everybody's into saving their life, self-preservation, if you will, the economy's bad, what are we going to do? You know, how am I going to be able to afford, and just people are into self-preservation. What are we going to do if the country's attacked? You know, we need to defend ourselves and just everything is saving self. But in his, in his kingdom, it's, it's the opposite. He says, if you want to save your life, lose it. If you want to, if you want peace, deny yourself, you see. If you want joy, die to self. In this world, it's live, you know, life's short, you know, play hard. It's, it's totally in contrast. And this has to be presented in the gospel, that this is a message of another kingdom. The decision that you make to follow Christ isn't just something to relive, relive, relieve you of your guilt. And now you can be a member of this church. Your life here on earth is short, someday you're going to die. And if you don't want to be eternally separated from God, if you want to be a member of his kingdom, you have to subject yourself to, you know, his, his citizenship. And there's an interesting thing I want to read. There's a book right there. You can hand me that. This is, if you want to become a US citizen, this is a thing that they, you have to swear to become a US citizen. And as I read this, I want you to take this and put it in the context of the gospel and becoming a citizen of the kingdom of God. I think this is really eye opening and we'll close with this. I hereby declare on oath that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty of whom which I have herefore to been a subject or citizen, that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required to by law, that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law, that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law, and that I will take the obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. So help me God. So that's what you have to say to become a citizen. How much more do you think it is for his kingdom? You see that I'm cutting myself from all allegiances down here. Even if it's mom, dad, husband, wife, friends, the opinions of men, my ambitions, goals, everything. I don't want anything to do this world. I'm going to subject myself to this king. You see, he's the Lord Jesus Christ. But he's also, you know, a lot of people present him as savior. He's the savior. He's a savior. But he's also the Lord. And Lord means master, ruler. You know, it's not, he isn't someone that just comes and saves me. He's someone I have to subject myself to. He's now my king. And I want to be a citizen of his kingdom. And as we, you know, are going to have some time here in between now and the next meeting, I just ask that, you know, every one of us just examine, you know, are we slowly getting our eyes back onto this kingdom? You know, he said, he said, if you put your hand to the plow and look back, you're not fit for the kingdom. So I have my hand of the plow. I'm living for this next kingdom. And then I slowly begin to look back at this kingdom. And he says, remember Lot's wife, you know, Lot, Lot's wife left Sodom. She was outside of the city. Sodom was being judged. And all she did was look back and she got judged. And Jesus says, don't, don't forget about Lot's wife. And we need to take heed to that. Even if you're here, and you know, you've received the true gospel, you know, you're in Christ, you know, you're following Christ, you have your hand of the plow. And it's so easy that the world is constantly trying to pull us back to get our eyes off onto this world off of the real kingdom. And let's just examine that. And then tonight, we'll look at two more points, and then two more points tomorrow. So let's pray. Father, I just ask that you make these things real through your spirit to us that you would quicken your word, just open our eyes to eternity, and the reality of your coming kingdom. And just help us to cut that umbilical cord off and forsake all for you because you gave up everything to save us. In Jesus name.