The Gospel Of Mark | I Will Follow (November 18th, 2018) - Mike Armstrong

You can get your Bibles open.

Maybe you still have your finger in Mark's Gospel, chapter 14.

You're gonna be starting in verse uh 43 today and finishing out the rest of this chapter.

And hey, we're getting pretty close actually to the end of uh to the end of this.

Enjoyed this uh with you for sure, but make sure uh you've got a copy of God's word or you need to download one on your phone, whatever.

Um we have uh some copies at the back as well.

If you need one, uh you don't have one, grab it, go back to the ushers back there.

Kevin will hook you up.

And if you need uh need to keep it, by all means do that.

It's our gift to you.

Uh but hey, um, have you ever had um a day kind of go from like bad to worse?

You know, like sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's not very funny.

Well, um, I think that describes this guy here.

We have this video we can see.

He forgets to secure the boat.

Then he forgets to secure the boat.

Oh, that is painful to watch, isn't it?

I mean, in our own ways, I think we've probably all had days kind of like that.

Again, some funny and uh some certainly not much more serious.

And I think kind of on a more serious note, uh, from bad to worse is uh how you could easily describe where uh the North American church is headed uh as it uh when it comes to persecution.

You know, we've uh certainly uh lived in a country and in a time in history where you know we haven't experienced the kind of persecution that other nation or other nations or other points of history uh have, but uh that being said, it certainly still exists, right?

And we also know uh through what Jesus taught us, just back in in Mark chapter 13, uh, that it's just gonna get worse, right, as as time marches on, right, towards its uh finale for uh Christians, for uh the church, persecution is gonna come in heavier and heavier ways.

Mark 13 · chapter mention

Okay, so the question for us then, as we think about that, is you know, as that happens and develops, um will we follow Christ?

Right?

Pretty simple, pretty, pretty straight up.

I mean, this is a question for churches as a whole, for denominations and for you know movements, absolutely, but but also very much a question uh for you and I as individuals.

Will we follow him or will we uh fall away?

These are some of the things that we are going to uh talk about here today as Christ leads us into this uh through his word.

But before we do, uh why don't you join me as we pray?

God, we come before you today.

And uh, Lord, what we're talking about here is not fluffy, it's not light by any stretch of the imagination, Lord.

And um, while it's good for us to be able to, you know, kind of laugh a little bit at you know someone else's kind of bad day, Lord, we know that in a very serious note, um, we've got some bad days coming.

Lord, you have already made that clear.

We've already talked through that uh back in the last chapter, but uh God, as we're gonna see here, you endured that.

Um, you endured that to the end, uh, to the point where it got as extreme as possible in your death.

And then, uh, Lord, we are confronted as the disciples were.

Are we gonna, are we gonna follow you or are we gonna run away?

Lord, I pray that we would consider these things.

I pray that we would think about these things now, Lord.

I pray that we would take these things uh to heart.

Lord, I pray that you would forge strength.

I pray that you would you would create uh fortitude in us as we trust you, as we stand on the holy scriptures, Lord.

God, I pray that you would build our church strong.

Lord, I pray that you would do that.

I pray that you would do that for Christians and churches across this nation.

Lord, I pray that we uh would honor you as times will get uh much more difficult.

Lord, it's in the mighty name of Jesus Christ that we pray these things.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, hey, I I couldn't um help but find it sadly ironic uh last Sunday, uh which you remember uh it was Remembrance Day, you know, where we remember that the sacrifice of those who died for our freedom.

You know, I couldn't help but find it ironic that on a day to be thankful for our freedom, uh Calvary Baptist Church in Oshawa had protesters uh picketing out front during their services uh against those freedoms.

And all because of a story that had come out earlier uh earlier in the week in the press, uh, you know, about a former uh member uh who went to uh their uh her local news station because the church had chosen uh to stand where the scriptures do on same-sex marriages and relationships.

Now listen, let's understand.

Protesters, uh, they have the right and the freedom to do that, don't they?

Right?

As long as they do that peacefully, and that's exactly uh what took place there.

Uh but just as the church has the freedom and and the legal right to stand on what the scriptures say, even when they conflict with what you know societal norms and values are all about.

Okay, we have those freedoms for now.

Okay, but but it's not too hard to imagine where this is going for us.

Do you see it?

Can you tell?

Can you sense this?

Religious freedoms dwindling and and and and being kind of called out and being picked on and being restricted and taken away.

Right?

Animosity towards Christians who believe in the authority of the Bible, uh just intensifying and getting worse.

Are we ready for this?

Right?

Because this is happening, right?

It is.

Persecution, listen, we need to understand this.

Persecution isn't uh a someday thing, it's uh it's a now thing.

Right?

So as persecution gets worse, will I follow Christ?

Will you?

Will we?

Listen, we have to ask ourselves this question today, now.

This is not a question for our kids that they're gonna need to ask themselves someday.

It's not, it's not for just our grandkids someday.

Yeah, they're gonna have to worry about that, they're gonna have to think about it.

No, we need to.

We need to think about these things.

And listen, if we don't, we won't be ready.

So as persecution gets worse, will I follow Christ?

That's the question we're asking ourselves here.

Here's the first thing.

Or, or will I give into fear and flee from him?

Right?

That's one of the options.

Will we give into fear and flee from him?

Take a look at this here in verse 43 as we see uh this uh take place here in these verses.

Follow along as I read it.

It says, and immediately while he was still speaking, hey, remember he talked about how one would betray him.

We talked about that last week.

And while Jesus was still speaking, Judas came, right?

One of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, The one I will kiss is the man.

Seize him and lead him away under guard.

And when he came, he went up to him and at once said, Rabbi, which means teacher.

Right?

And he kissed him, and they laid hands on him and seized him.

But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

And Jesus said to them, the crowd, he said, Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to capture me?

Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me.

But let the scriptures be fulfilled.

It says, And they all left him and fled.

Now, verse 51, it says, And a young man followed him with nothing but a linen cloth about his body, and they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.

Now there's been a lot of discussion about the identity of some of the players here in these verses.

John chapter 18, verse 10 identifies uh the servant who gets his ear chopped off as a man named Malchus, and and Peter as the one who did the chopping.

John 18:10

Right?

Likely he was he was going for the kill shot, but he missed.

And uh he's a fisherman, right?

He doesn't know how to swing a sword, uh, but he misses and he gets his ear.

Okay, but but then but then who's this naked guy?

Right?

Like, what's what's that all about?

Like you read that and you're like, that seems a little bit out of left field.

Right?

I was reading one guy this week who called him the uh the first streaker in recorded history, which I kind of laugh too.

I don't think the guy was trying to joke about it, he was just straight up calling him that.

But actually, many have suggested over the years and over the centuries that uh that that guy was actually Mark himself.

Okay, but regardless, okay, regardless, all of it is is speculation.

Right?

That Mark chooses not to identify any of these people here seems to be an intentional decision that he makes as he writes this.

Uh, and and it's to get us to not look down on the specific people here who abandon Christ in his darkest hour.

It'd be really easy for us to do that and be like, those guys are lame.

Okay, but instead, it seems like it's to get us to consider whether or not we would behave likewise.

Right?

All the all the disciples, it says, for all of their bravado and their you know, tough guy words, and I think in a lot of ways, just genuine intentions about not selling out Jesus as he's starting to portray that, hey, this is gonna get pretty bad here.

It says that they they all caved to the to the fear of of being persecuted as as he was here.

It says that they all left him and fled.

Verse 50 says that.

Okay, so their mental fortitude, their, their, their spiritual courage was was stripped bare just as the naked man was physically.

Right?

And they they flee from him pitifully.

How do we think we would do in that situation?

I guess I guess at the end of the day, we don't really know, do we?

I think we probably all like to picture ourselves as those who would have stood by Jesus firm.

And you know, everyone else is scattering, and we're like, what's what's up with you guys?

Like just stand here with him.

We can go through this uh together.

And regardless of the persecution, we we see ourselves as I think I'd be you know full of valor and and full of bravery.

But I think we also know that the fear is powerful.

Right?

And it obviously was for these guys.

Okay, so what we what we should be doing here as we read this and kind of think through this is I think learn from the examples of the disciples here and and and not be too quick to kind of like posture as though you know we would have handled ourselves better, we would have been way better as persecution comes, but but instead, I think what we should really be thinking about is preparing ourselves now so that we would be ready to stand faithful with him, for him, then.

Right?

If you want proper, you know, spirit-filled, humble confidence that you'll stand firm in your faith as persecution gets worse, it just gets tougher and tougher, you know, better get to work immediately on what will help you be strong in that day.

Does that make sense?

I may be thinking, well, how like how do we do that?

Well, maybe one thing would be refocusing our our priorities, just our life values to align with the Lord's.

I think that makes sense, right?

Like if if if following Him with everything you've got isn't the priority of your life now, guess what?

It's not gonna be in that day when persecutions come.

You're not gonna like magically all of a sudden you know make the right decision there.

Not likely.

If you don't care about Jesus and you haven't really surrendered your life to him, how could you possibly think that you're gonna be standing with him as persecutions get worse?

We gotta refocus and and rethink our values and our priorities uh in life.

Just think about how you live your life now.

Think about you know how you spend your money.

Think about your your time.

Like, what do you love to do when you have free time?

You know, as a family, what you know, what am I modeling for my kids here?

Like, what is my life all about?

Does the do the values of my life and the priority through my money and my time and my gifts and all of those things, do they reflect the scriptures?

Do they reflect what Christ has called me to?

Because I I think we've really, some a lot of us, we need to do a real deep dive into this.

I think we really need to think about like all the time and the and the energy and the money that we put into like our kids' sports.

And you're like, man, you're not really going there, are you?

Yeah.

Like I know that that's uncomfortable for us, but listen, it's not just it's not just that.

It's maybe, you know, music lessons, or you know, maybe for you it's it's it's academics, and you're constantly driving your kids to this, and they spend all of their time, you know, getting better at this, and it's the extra tutors, and it and it's all of it.

And because you're pushing them towards success in the world's eyes, and you gotta have a great job, and you gotta, you know, build wealth around you, and maybe that's your drive too.

And I'm just I'm just working so hard now for retirement.

What do you value?

What are your priorities?

Listen, I know that makes you feel uncomfortable.

It makes me feel uncomfortable too.

But we're not gonna just like not say it because we don't want to hear it.

If you've been coming to our church long enough, you know that's kind of how we roll.

We try to go after those things and get our hearts to the place where they're truly surrendered before Christ.

Maybe some of us need to make some changes.

We need to start preparing ourselves now so that we can be faithful to the Lord then.

How about this?

I think in terms of per uh of preparing ourselves, I think we've got to really question whether or not we really really believe what we say we do.

I know there are a lot of people out there who would say that they hold to you know, to doctrine and to God's word.

And, you know, I understand theology and I can even explain a lot of that, and I would consider myself in this camp or that camp in terms of theology.

It's one thing to say that, it's one thing to kind of claim that we believe this and that.

It's another thing to hold to that, to lean into that when those values are being attacked.

You know what I'm saying?

Do we actually believe what we say we believe?

Saying it doesn't matter, it doesn't hold any water if we don't actually believe it.

So listen, we gotta wrestle that down.

Come to grips with where your doctrinal positions put you in the world's eyes.

Do you know that the world hates like everything that we believe?

They hate it.

They love the love stuff, but not biblical love, not sacrificial love, not forgiveness of sins love.

They love the fluffy version of, you know, feeling good kind of love.

The world is against where we stand.

Do you actually stand there?

We've got to rustle that down.

I think as we also kind of prepare ourselves now so we can be faithful to follow Christ then.

We gotta pray like it matters.

Why?

Because it does.

I don't know about you, but as I'm reading through this and I'm seeing the disciples who are who are his closest allies bail from him and scatter and run in the other direction.

I'm, you know, this week, as I'm reading through this and preparing this, I'm not thinking, you know, Lord, you know what?

I'm gonna stand, I'm gonna be better than them.

I'm praying, Lord, help me to stand in that day.

Oh Lord, please allow me to be faithful.

Help me to care about these things now so that I will care about those things later.

Help me to be a model to my wife and to my kids and to our church.

Lord, help me.

Not mechanical going through the motions prayer.

From the heart, God, we need you.

Give me courage, give me boldness to stand firm and to follow you when it is incredibly unpopular and it will cause me nothing but grief.

Can you see how if you're doing these types of things, you start to gain strength, which prepares you to follow him, to follow Jesus as the persecution just intensifies.

Instead of fleeing and deserting him because fears got hold of your hearts and caved in your will, your strength.

As persecution gets worse, will I follow Christ?

Or here's the second thing, or will I do the opposite and actually condemn him?

We see this starting in verse 53.

It says, and they led Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together.

And Peter, he doesn't run as far away as the rest of them, it says that he had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest.

He actually gets pretty close.

Right?

He was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire.

Now the chief priests and the whole council, so this is everyone's gathered together, right?

This is the Sainthedron, now the religious leaders, they were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none.

For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree.

And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another not made with hands.

Okay, technically this is this is untrue.

He didn't say that he would do it exactly, but rather that it would happen.

It said, Yet even about this, their testimony did not agree.

Okay, so what are they trying to do?

They're trying to put together a formal charge that's gonna hold up in court, uh, but it's not exactly working out.

Their con their testimony is contradictory.

Now, verse 60, and the high priest stood up in the midst of uh in the midst and asked Jesus, have you no answer to make?

What is it that these men testify against you?

But he remained silent and made no answer.

Okay, I love that.

Jesus isn't about to make this easy for them.

Right?

He's like, No, like you're gonna put me through this.

You better, you better do your homework, you better do some some work here.

Right?

Keep going.

He says, and again, the high priest asked him, so he just asked him straight up this time Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?

And Jesus said, Listen to this, I am.

And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven.

Okay, so this is the very first time publicly that Jesus states boldly, I am the Messiah.

I am He.

Okay, and look what happens here.

It says, and the high priest tore his garments and said, What further witnesses do we need?

You have heard his blasphemy, he calls it.

Ironically, it's not even close to blasphemy, it's the truth, but he's just, he's so blind, right?

It's the furthest thing from blasphemy, you just can't see it.

Now, verse 64 says, What is your decision?

And they all, here's the word, condemn.

Him as deserving death.

And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying, Prophesy.

They're mocking.

It says, and the guards received him with blows.

Now, as difficult as it is to stomach, you know, anyone charging Jesus with blasphemy and then persecuting him like this, and we know it's about to get even worse.

It's especially awful when you consider that these religious leaders were Jewish.

They were God's people.

Meaning they should have been the first to recognize Christ's deity and embrace him as the Messiah that the Old Testament had pointed to from the very beginning.

But what do they do?

The opposite of that.

And they condemn him.

It kind of makes you wonder how many professing Christians today will do the very same thing eventually.

Truthfully, I don't even think there's really any need to wonder.

It's already happening.

Right?

Christians and churches and in entire denominations compromising that, you know, those doctrines and that theology that doesn't that doesn't fit with our so-called tolerant culture.

Simply put, it's becoming much more difficult to be a Bible-believing Christ follower and not offend everybody.

And the louder their outrage gets towards us, the more, the more unpopular and uncomfortable it becomes for you and I to believe and then proclaim what God's word actually says.

But sadly, I would say personally, on a personal note, I know multiple people from my Bible college days, and some people that I went to youth group with and went to Christian school with and went to Bible college with all of it have gotten to the point where they've turned aside from sound doctrine and and now oppose and and condemn much of what the Bible teaches.

Do we understand this?

We're not just condemning a book.

We're condemning God.

There's no disconnect.

There's no disagreement between Jesus and the Bible.

Do we know that?

You can't really say, well, you know, I follow Jesus, but but the Bible, not so much.

It kind of seems out to out of date.

It doesn't seem to fit like today's day and age.

Right?

You can't do that, but a lot of people do.

Right?

And if you claim to, you know what you've done?

You've actually created a new kind of Jesus.

One that's more tolerable to your, honestly, it's your warped sensibilities.

You're trying to create a new Jesus that fits what you want instead of surrendering yourselves to the scripture and to who He is.

Right?

When you do that, you reject Christ, you reject historical Christianity.

Do you realize that's what cults do?

Church, make no mistake, the Lord allows this type of thing to happen at certain points along the way in human history to weed out the pretenders.

It forces people to choose one side or the other.

Which, as hard as that is, it actually makes the church stronger.

It really does.

All through the New Testament and all throughout church history, the church has always stood strongest and been most faithful.

Not when things are easy, right?

Not when things, it's smooth sailing and it's and it's luxury, and we're not challenged on these things, but we've always stood strongest and been most faithful in the midst of persecution, even heavy, heavy persecution.

So think about this for yourself.

Are there ways, even now, where maybe quietly or subtly your stance on the authority of the scriptures is slipping?

The historical, literal, grammatical approach to the text that the church has held since these guys wrote it?

Is your approach to that eroding?

Is your stance on the hot button issues of our day informing what you believe about the Bible and causing you to redefine who God is and and what he what he says?

Or does what the Bible teach inform what you believe about these hot button issues?

If it's the former, listen, you're already beginning to oppose Jesus Christ.

You're condemning him, which on a heart level isn't any different than what the Sanhedrin is doing right here in this text.

Listen, it I I get it, it's shocking to think of it that way, but I'm not exaggerating.

It's true.

Stand firm on the word of God.

That's all you've got to stand on.

If you're like, no, gonna stand on the culture and what's popular and what makes more people like me.

Guess what?

Those are shifting sands.

And you will sink.

Listen, trust God in this.

Lean on his word.

That's what will help you follow him as persecution intensifies.

As persecution gets worse, will I follow Christ?

Or, third thing, last thing, will I treat my failure as final and quit on him?

See this in verse 66?

It says, And as Peter was below in the courtyard, we know this story, don't we?

One of the servant girls of the high priest came and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, You also were with Nazarene Jesus.

Right?

And he went out into the gateway, which was actually, interestingly enough, further away from Jesus physically.

So he's walking away from Christ in a lot of different ways here.

And it says there that he went out as he went out into the gateway, the rooster crowed.

Maybe think, oh, I remember Jesus kind of said something about that, didn't he?

We talked about that last week, but keep going.

It says, and the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, This man is one of them.

But again he denied it.

And after a little while, the bystanders again, third time, said to Peter, Certainly you were one of them, for you were a Galilean.

But he began to, this is intense, invoke a curse on himself, and to swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak.

And immediately the rooster crowed a second time.

And Peter remembered.

He remembered how Jesus had said to him, Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.

And he broke down and wept.

Just imagine how sickening of a moment that would have been for Peter.

Right?

The full weight of his denial strikes his conscience there.

Right?

And he and he just shatters.

Right?

He weeps.

He's overwhelmed by this.

Listen, any way that you slice it, it's failure.

He blew it.

I don't mean that in a like we're trying to kick Peter while he's down and we're piling on.

And we don't mean that in a self-righteous way as though we're way better.

But I mean, just call a spade a spade.

It's failure.

Okay, but here's the thing.

We also know enough about Peter's story to know that this failure is as heavy and as heartbreaking as it was for him in this moment, it was just a moment.

Right?

It wasn't final.

God still had work to do in him yet, right?

He had still had things that he wanted to do through him as well.

And we know that Peter would go on to be like this massive pillar of the church.

And amazingly, think about this, amazingly, he actually becomes, he becomes a model of how to stand firm in the midst of brutal persecution.

That's where Peter's headed.

I was just thinking about um Acts chapter four uh earlier this week, and you might want to jot that down and read that on your own time.

I'm flipping there, but but the church is is just kind of getting started, and and and and Peter, right, the guy we're talking about right now, and John, God had just used them to heal this lame beggar, and the the authorities hear about it.

Like all the crowds, the people are like psyched.

Right?

They're so excited about what God's doing, but the authorities they don't like it.

And and so they they actually arrest Peter and they throw him and John in prison uh overnight because they're they're proclaiming the resurrection and repentance through Jesus Christ.

Right?

That's what they're doing.

And so on the next day, though, they they pull them out of custody and they they put them in front of the council here and and they and they start to grill them.

And and Peter, he just he stands up full of boldness, and and and these are some of the things he says.

He just starts talking about Christ or sharing the gospel.

And he even says this.

He's like, it's Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified.

Sounds a little different than him cowering before a servant girl.

But he's like, Yeah, you know why he did die, but but you're the guys who did it.

He's not holding back there.

He's so filled with the spirit, it says there.

He says, There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

That's his message now.

And they they it says when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, they perceived they were uneducated, common men.

They're just a bunch of regular Joe Blows, right?

It says that they were astonished and recognized that they had been with Jesus.

And so they threatened them some more, and like you got you gotta shut up about this.

You can't you can't be saying this.

This is amazing.

Right, Peter and John answered them.

He says, um, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge.

And he says this for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

He's like, Yeah, appreciate this suggestion, religious counsel.

We gotta proclaim it.

Awesome.

Right?

How incredible is that?

Thankfully, Peter did not treat this failure here as final and quit on the Lord.

He doesn't do it.

Yeah, it hurt him, it wounded him deeply, it would have hurt Jesus as well, but but he obviously learns from it, and the Lord uses it for his glory, and he uses it for Peter's good.

So, hey, if or when you maybe buckle under the weight of persecution.

Okay, that might happen.

Who's to say that we're gonna handle this perfectly?

Maybe you'll have a Peter-like moment.

So if or when that happens, remember this.

Remember these three things.

First of all, you have to remember this forgiveness is available.

Right?

That's like kind of the whole reason Jesus went to the cross.

Right?

Do we know that?

Forgiveness is available for you.

Even in your darkest day, even in your worst failure, in your even in your biggest screw up.

We've all committed them.

We're all gonna continue to in certain ways.

Remember, forgiveness is there for you.

God doesn't just kind of, oh yeah, I guess you did that, no big deal.

No, he actually forgives you.

He wipes that away.

That's been paid for in Jesus Christ on the cross.

Forgiveness, new life is found in him.

Forgiveness is available.

Just ask him.

That speaks to the grace of God.

How awesome is he.

If or when you buckle under the weight of persecution, remember this.

God's not done with you yet.

He's not.

You gotta remember the process of sanctification.

Yeah, we've been justified and positionally, that means we are saved.

Our inheritance is secure.

We are followers of Jesus Christ, but on kind of a street level, there's still work to do in our hearts, right?

We gotta grow.

We still, we, we trip up, we make mistakes.

Well, God's not done with you.

That's called sanctification.

That's why God gives you His Holy Spirit to begin to transform your heart from the inside out.

God's not done with you yet.

Yeah, you've made mistakes.

You've made maybe some big ones.

But the thing that's really struck me, I think, the hardest as we've worked our way through Mark's gospel here, and it's just, the Lord just keeps reminding me of it, is it's just to see God's God's willingness to work with such broken people.

You see that?

I mean, how many times, every Sunday that we've gathered through this series so far, we're like, yeah, the disciples screw it up again.

Right?

How blind are they?

Right?

The religious leaders, they're so arrogant, so self-righteous, and you sense yourself getting angry about it.

And the Lord saves some of them.

He saves some of us.

And he continues to work.

And we get a snapshot into their lives in Mark, and then you see later on Peter just standing with boldness.

Now, listen, understand this.

We're not talking about Peter like four decades down the road, he's standing up.

And he's like, no, he's like, you're the ones that crucified Christ.

Can't help but speak of what we've seen and heard.

We're talking like weeks and months later.

That's the power of God to transform.

That's what he can do.

Sanctification, it's a lifelong thing.

I get it.

It really is.

We got to be patient and all of that, but the Lord can do a lot in a little amount of time, too.

God's not done with you yet.

If or when you buckle under the weight of persecution, remember this.

Just learn from it and move on.

Honestly.

I love that.

I love Lamentations 3.

His mercies are new every morning.

How great is that?

It's a new day.

You wake up, his mercies are new for you in that day.

You don't have to lean into old mercies or something like that.

It's like fresh, brand new ones for you.

It's a fresh start every time you wake up.

So when we make mistakes, listen, you gotta learn from it and just get on with your life already.

In my talking with believers over the years, it's nothing's shocking anymore.

But honestly, what's hard to see is how many people just carry the weight of past failures with them.

It's this huge cinder block of death that they're just like trying to drag around, and I've failed, and and I've made mistakes, and I've done all of this, and I can't move on from it, and the immense shame that they continue to remind themselves of and they and they allow the enemy, Satan, to remind them of as well.

It's debilitating.

You gotta move on from it.

Give yourself a break.

How do we know that we should move on?

Because the God of the universe has.

He has forgiven you.

Ask for forgiveness and move on.

You're not doing yourself, you're not doing any other person, you're not doing the kingdom of God any good by continuing to drag that around with you.

Now, what we're not saying here is just kind of breeze over the mistakes and don't give it the attention that it deserves.

No, you need to learn from it as well.

Peter obviously did that, as did the rest of the disciples.

But I think it comes down to turning off that critical voice that so many of us have.

Are some of you just like naturally really critical people of yourself?

I know that I've I'm definitely wired that way.

I remember talking to a guy, like, I'm like, how do I kind of turn that off and stop like slamming myself constantly?

And he's like, just stop listening to it.

I was like, oh, like it, yeah, I guess it's really that easy, I guess.

Right?

And that was like just a turning point for me.

And and I understand that I'm not just giving myself a pass on problems that I need to face.

I'm I'm not treating sin as though it's not a big deal, but like I'm just gonna admit it.

I'm gonna like, what's the what's the feedback I need from this?

What's the what's the learning thing?

I need to make better decisions in in the future.

I need to humble myself and lean into the strength of God in this, but now I'm gonna move on.

I get it, we make mistakes.

It's over.

Listen, many, many, I believe, will quit and turn from Christ in the ultimate sense as persecution gets worse.

But listen, the true church prevails.

Christ makes us faithful.

Listen, hopefully it's more clear to you now than it was when you came in here today, that persecution isn't just a future thing for Christians.

It's a present thing.

As in it's happening in 2018 in Canada, in the GTA, right, as a church like Calvary Baptist can attest to.

But there have been a really incredible example and encouragement to me of standing firm in the scriptures and following Christ, regardless of how that plays out, and the backlash and the misunderstandings and the fallout and some of the consequences that come.

What an encouragement.

So the question is will we do likewise?