Questions Christ is Asking You

Well, happy feast! I haven't been to this part of the country for quite a while. When I was young, I grew up in western Pennsylvania in the hills, and when we go to the feast in the Poconos, we travel through this area on the way there. So that was a long time ago. So it's sort of nice to be back and see the area. I told my wife she was going to enjoy the farms and the Pennsylvania Dutch country, and she keeps asking me, where is it? I said, well, it's here. We'll get to it sooner or later. A number of people have mentioned to me that they watch Beyond Today and how much they enjoy the program. And I always tell people, please pray for us, because we don't have the talent. Well, God either does something or he doesn't. That's all that program is. One thing you do learn about being on television is that no matter what you do, any little mistake you make, someone's going to tell you about it.

I thought I'd been through everything until this year at the General Conference of Elders. I was standing talking to a group of, I think it was four other ministers, and my wife standing there beside me. And Dr. Ward, the chairman of the council, walks up, looks at me and says, you know, Gary, for a guy on TV, your eyebrows are really bushy.

And my wife, being the dutiful woman she is, pulled out a pair of scissors and trimmed my eyebrows right there in front of everybody.

And what was weird about it is it didn't even feel that weird.

Just not quite two weeks ago, we celebrated the time when Jesus Christ is coming back to this earth. It is a time that's so horrible that if He doesn't come back then, nobody lives. The environment will have been deteriorated to the point because of war and disease and because of what humanity has done to itself under Satan's rule. It'll be on the brink of total destruction. The economies will have collapsed, health systems will have collapsed, and if Christ doesn't come back right then, humanity won't survive. And when He does come back, we know He's going to stand on the Mount of Olives and it's going to split in two, and He's going to establish God's kingdom on this earth. He's going to begin to change everything. Every educational system will change. Every economic system will change. Every form of government will change. Everything that we know, everything that everybody knows around this globe will change as He begins to set up God's government and God's kingdom on this earth. For many, many years at the Feast of Tabernacles, I've always heard Isaiah chapter 11 read. Let's go to Isaiah 11.

Just gives us a little insight into what's going to happen, how He's going to begin to change everything. Because Jesus Christ is on this earth, as His Father has sent Him to do, to establish His kingdom. We're going to hear about this numerous times during the next 11 days. We're going to keep it longer than normal.

To the next seven days, then the eighth day.

We know this passage very well, the first verse of chapter 11. There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. Of course, we know that Jesse was the father of David, what he's saying here, and the way the Hebrew language expresses things is that a descendant of David, and we know from his mother's side, Jesus was a descendant of David, he was a Jew, the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His light is in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, nor decide by the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, he will help them. This isn't just a judgment of, wow, I'm going to punish you because you're poor. The point is, I'm going to help them. There's going to be judgment on people who are downtrodden, who are hurt, who have been abused by governments, by other people, or by war. He says, I'm going to help fix this. And decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked, and righteousness shall be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his waist. He's going to bring perfect love. He's also going to bring perfect law. For some reason, many people seem to think that law and love are two different things that they're not. He brings perfect love, and he brings perfect law. And we know from the next few verses that nature is changed. Even the nature of animals is changed. It will be a time like no other, when the entire earth becomes like the garden of Eden, when literally children can play with lions and wolves and nobody gets hurt. He's going to set up a time, and it will take a long time for this to work out, human nature being human nature, even though Satan's gone. But it's going to take a long time for this to work out, but he's going to be creating an environment in which there's no crime. And a crime, an environment where everybody gets an equal chance. Everybody will have property, by the way. It's an economic system like nothing we've known. This isn't about democracy, dictatorship, communism. It's not about socialism. This is about something that the world has never known, that he's going to establish on this earth. It's not about capitalism. It's not even about the American way. And that's why I've said many times, when people ask me what political party I belong to, I tell them I'm a monarchist.

I'm waiting for my king to come. It tends to shut down political discussions. Except one time I told that to a woman at the Dollar General Store. She was checking me out and she said, amen, I'm with you.

We're waiting for our king. Let's skip down to verse 10. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people. For the Gentiles shall seek him, and his resting place will be glorious. He's going to be in Jerusalem. Jesus Christ is going to be on earth in Jerusalem. And all the peoples. The focus of the Old Testament, so much of it is on Israel, and the focus of the New Testament, so much of it is on the church. The focus of this time is on everybody, the world. As God sends Jesus Christ here. And we know from Revelation 20 that when He returns, the saints are resurrected. The Old Testament saints, the New Testament saints, the church, those who are alive in His coming, who have God's Holy Spirit, will also be changed. They will rise up to meet Him in the air, and they will come down with Him, and it says, we will reign with Him. We will reign with Him. In fact, in Revelation 1, it says, we'll be kings and priests. Kings and priests, and reign with Christ.

What does that mean?

Oh yeah, I'm going to reign with Christ. What does that mean? Oh, I'm going to be a king. I don't know about you, but I'm sorry. I look at us and it's like, there's not a lot of, like, kingly material here.

You laugh because you know it's true. What does that mean? We're going to reign with Jesus Christ. And yet, that's what it says, the destiny of the saints is to reign with Jesus Christ. How do you train for that? I mean, should we sort of study the English monarchy, and all pretend to be like the queen? What do you do? Oh, it's the rod of iron. Since Jesus has a rod of iron when he comes back, we're all going to get rods of iron and just beat people. Is that what it means? What does it mean? How do you train for it? I've literally had over the years people come to me and say, what kind of career should I get so I can train to be a king? Except for being a king. I know of no career that trains you to be a king. But we are in training, and your career isn't the answer. Well, all of us have to become managers. We all have to be in charge of people, and that will teach us how to be kings and priests. I've had women come and say, you know, I've spent my whole life as a housewife. I don't know how to prepare to be a priest or a queen. Well, yeah, you do. Because your career isn't the issue. It's not how much money you make. So what is it?

Back many, many years ago, some of you might remember this. Oh, it was in the 70s in the worldwide Church of God. We had a huge booklet, and it was entitled something like, Prepare to be a King. Had a crown on it. How many remember that? A few of you. Okay. It was a long time ago. And it was page after page after page of how to prepare to be a king, because Christ was coming back and He needed kings. And it was mainly about character development. I actually still have a copy at home because it was an interesting booklet. It was an attempt to try to explain what do we have to do? What do we do to prepare for what we're supposed to do? I've had other people, many people come up and say, well, I don't want to reign. I don't want to be in charge of anything. And my answer is, neither do I.

I'm really hoping I don't get put in charge of anything.

You know what I'd like to be? Jesus is butler.

You know, every time kings and people come before Him and He says, Gary, would you fetch them some iced tea? Yeah. I'll be honest, wouldn't that be sort of interesting?

What does it mean? What I want to do today is I'm going to go through a little bit of what Jesus Christ teaches about what it means to reign with Him. I mean, if we're going to reign with Him, if we're going to be His servants, He's going to tell us what that means. And as we go through, we're going to look at three questions He asks His disciples, and there are three questions He asks every one of us.

You know, to be with Him there, you're going to have to become His disciple now. To serve with Him when He returns, when the Feast of Tabernacles is a reality, when that happens, you and I have to now be His disciples to be there. And a disciple is not just a student. The Greek word that's translated disciple, it's a very interesting word. You're a learner, you're a student, but at its core it means you're an imitator of your teacher. You are so closely associated with your teacher. You act like your teacher. You know what your teacher teaches. You live by what your teacher teaches so much that people say, oh, you're a disciple of. Remember what they said to Peter? You're one of His disciples. You imitate Him.

If we are going to be there to fulfill what God has called us to be, from Abraham to the day Christ comes back, He's been calling people, preparing people to be there to reign with Christ. To do that, you and I have to become disciples. We have to become imitators of the person that we are going to serve.

So we'll go through three questions. Simple questions. This is an easy test. Three questions. The problem is it's an essay test. These aren't true and false answers. These three questions encompass your entire life. And they have to do with how we relate to the one we're going to serve. How do we relate to the one we're going to serve? That God is preparing us to serve His Son. That's what God's doing through His Spirit. So let's go to the first question. Matthew 16. Matthew 16. What we have here is a situation where Jesus had performed a miracle healing on the Sabbath. And many of the Jewish leaders were upset with Him because He'd perform this miracle on the Sabbath. They considered that to be breaking the Sabbath, I think probably to a certain degree they considered Him to be a threat to their authority and their power. So they accused Him of Sabbath breaking. So Matthew 16 verse 13. And when Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am? Who do people say I am? Because by this time, because of His miracles, because the power of His speaking, people would come up with all kinds of ideas of who He really was. So here's what the disciples said. Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, the others, Jeremiah, one of the prophets. So people were literally thinking that Jesus was one of the prophets resurrected. That must be Jeremiah resurrected from the dead, or even John the Baptist who had been killed by this point. He's been resurrected. And then He asked them a question. And He said to them, But who do you say I am? Who do you say I am? That's what Jesus is asking you. It's the same question He asked them. Who do you say I am? If we're not careful, what we do is we make Jesus Christ into a caricature. You know what a caricature is, right? I mean, it's when you take... artists do this, or writers will do this when they write something. They will take a person, and they will take some striking feature of them, and they'll exaggerate it. You know, you go to a carnival, or street fair, or flea market, and there's these people there, and they're very good. And they'll look at you, and you'll pay them whatever it is, and they'll draw a caricature of you. And if you have big ears, of course, when you look at the picture, your ears are half the size of your face.

Right? And everybody, all your friends and family, it looks just like you! Of course it doesn't, but you know. So if your nose is big, it's a big nose, or whatever. So it's an exaggeration of a point. So you get sort of what this person looks like, but it's not real. It's a caricature. It's not real. Here's a caricature, a written caricature of a person. Actually, I read the sentence one time, and I thought it was so good, because I've strived as a writer to write one perfect sentence, and I have not done it yet. So I had to take the sentence and just sort of play with it. And here's the caricature. Her eyes were like a wolf, zeroed in on helpless prey. Her face twitched. Smoke poured from her nostrils, and her hair was on fire. Mom was really angry.

It's a caricature, right? Although I remember as a child, I thought that was real. Do we know who Jesus Christ is?

We're supposed to serve Him for a thousand years. It says reign with Him, and God's preparing you to do that. You know, for many people, Jesus is what? The baby and the manger? Right? On Christmas side, that's all they seem as. That's a caricature. The truth is, He was a baby in a barn or whatever, wherever it was, but He wasn't, you know, that's not who He is. That's just part of the story about Him. Are we in danger of making Him a caricature? What I find interesting here, and this is a lesson for all of us, when Peter said, or when Jesus said, who do you say I am? Here's how Peter answered. Verse 16. Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now understand the meaning behind this. There is no New Testament. Peter has taken the entire Old Testament with all of its messianic prophecies, including Isaiah 11 that we just read, and he's looked at those, he understands those, and he says, you are the suffering servant. You are the Messiah. You aren't just another human being. You have come here from God, and to a certain degree would have probably understood you are God.

And notice what Jesus says. Jesus answered to send to Him, bless are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. On the Bible study that we're going to have on Friday night, we're going to cover, among other things, how Jesus came to reveal the Father so that we can have this direct access to God the Father. But what he says here, too, if you really know who Jesus Christ is, he's not a caricature, it's because the Father's revealed it to you. Who am I? It's a question he's asking every one of us. Every one of us. Let's go to John chapter 5. I just want to read a few statements that Jesus makes about Himself, because we could take this sentence, who am I, for this question, and we could spend the rest of the feast every day, every sermonette, every sermon, talking about this. John 5 verse 16.

Verse 16, For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him. You see, this is a thread through much of the New Testament, because he had done these things on the Sabbath.

Now my Father's been working until now, and I have been working. My Father's been working till now, and my Father has been working.

Understand what he's saying, because they did. My Father has been working long before this point, and I have been working long before this time with my Father. They understood exactly what he was saying. Therefore, the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but he also said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most surely I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself, lest what he sees the Father do. For whatever he does, the Son also does in like manner. I want you to think about that a minute. He just said, I'm a disciple. I've been working with the Father long before this, and they knew what that meant, because they said, you're saying you're equal with God. And that's exactly what he was saying, and he supports it now with what he says. He said, but let me tell you what I am doing right now as a human being. I'm a disciple. I see and I imitate. This is what you do, and this is what I'm supposed to do. We're supposed to see and imitate, because we have in Jesus Christ, the perfect teacher. And we're to see and imitate. How do we get prepared to rule? Well, we begin with answering the question. He asks you, who am I? He goes on. He says, well, the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself does. And he will show him greater works than these that you may marble. Whereas the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to those whom he will. He said, I can raise people from the dead and give life just as the Father does. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son. Now think about what that means. You know who decides who receives eternal life and who doesn't? Jesus Christ. Now, he judges what the Father judges. There's no... No, it's never like the Father never says to him, you know, that one should have been saved. Okay, that's not the point. The point is, they're in a state of unity. And he says, what I decide is because the Father's decided, and you'll see me do it. It's a remarkable statement here. He says, I'm the one who dies for everyone, so I'm the one who judges. Anyone thrown in the lake of fire is thrown in the lake of fire because Jesus Christ decides he goes there.

Because he makes those judgments. Then he says in verse 23, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. They really wanted to kill him after that.

Who am I? Who do you say I am? Or do we have a character of him? Do we see him coming back on a white horse to set up the kingdom so we all get rods of iron? Is that what that is? Is that what this is all about? What do we learn from the question, who am I?

To be a disciple of Jesus Christ, you must understand his eternal existence, his eternal relationship with the Father, his role in salvation, and your requirement to honor him. And to be his disciple. To imitate him. Tough question. Second question. John 21.

John 21.

Peter and the other disciples had been disciples for years. They had walked with Christ, they acted like him, people knew. I mean, you think about how strange that would be in our society. A teacher walking along with 12 other men. We would say they're a gang.

In that society, that was not strange. That's, you know, it's called the Middle East. There's Eastern, what we would say, Eastern ways of doing things that you see there, too. That a rabbi could have disciples. They would be, oh, you're the disciple of so-and-so. Yes. We know because the way you answer the questions. How you interpret the Scripture. We know that. You're so-and-so's disciple. They were disciples of Jesus Christ. They followed him. People would have known. Ask you a question, get an answer. Ah, you're a disciple of Jesus.

But Jesus had died. And he was resurrected. They thought he was going to set up the kingdom on earth, and he didn't. Right? The Messiah's supposed to set up the kingdom on earth. They figured out who he was. Now they've seen the resurrection. They know the truth. What do we do next?

Well, he had told him, but they still didn't get it. Look what it says in verse 1. After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. And in this way, he showed himself. Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin Nathaniel of Canaan Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. And Simon Peter said, I'm going fishing. I know what that is. I know what I'm supposed to do next. So I'm going fishing. And so they all decided they'd been fishermen. They're going to start up a new business. And it says they all went fishing with him. Get our boats out. Repair the sales row out here. We'll start a new business. Start making some money now that we're not following Jesus every place, and people are giving us food. And what do we do now? Well, discipleship must be over. And so there they are. And one of them looks in the shore, and they all look, and there's someone waving at them. And he says, take your nets and put it on the other side of the boat. And they do, and it's full of fish. And someone says, it's the Lord. Peter's so excited, he jumps in the water and swims all the way, beats the boat back.

He's there, and he eats together. And they're happy. And they're excited to be with him again. They still have no idea what discipleship really means. So he has to ask him another question.

Verse 15. So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than he's? I mean, do I love you more than Daniel? Of course I do. Okay, come on. He's a pain. And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he says, then you got to go feed my lambs. You got work to do, son. You think this discipleship has ended? It hasn't ended? You're supposed to go do what I did. He still doesn't get it. He says to him a second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? And he says to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He says, then, tend my sheep. There's lots of people you have to take care of. There's a gospel to be preached. There's things to be done. He says to him a third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? And he was aggrieved. Of course, this would have been hard for Peter because he had not too long ago stabbed Jesus in the back. You're his disciple. No, I'm not. Right? Now he doesn't even know what discipleship means. What does it mean when the master goes away? He says, you do. That's what it means. You do. You take everything I have taught you and you go do it. And you do it every day. Now we could talk about, you know, there's a play in words here in the Greek, but I don't want to go there. I want to talk about the question. He keeps asking him, and every answer is, you go do something. And after the third one, he says, let me tell you what it means to be my disciple. It means you're going to die for me. Well, I didn't know discipleship was that hard. Maybe lose a job over the Sabbath. Now you're going to die for me. That is what discipleship is. Verse 19. Thus he spoke, signifying what death he would glorify God. Of course, Peter would die. And this is what he says to him. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me. You know, you go back. That's the first thing Jesus said to his always disciples. Follow me. He didn't say, believe in me. He didn't say, yeah, just have some faith and go on with life and you're saved. He said, follow me. Discipleship is 100% everything follow. That's what it is. Do you love me?

He asked you, do you know who I am? Who do you say I am? He says. And then he asked every one of us, do you love me? I love you. Oh, what does it mean? You know, when I was baptized, this next passage was read to me, and then I was supposed to go study it, and I did. And it had a profound effect on me as I began to understand a little bit, a tiny little bit of what it means. Luke 14. Ever since that time, then once I became a minister, every baptism counseling I do, I have them study this passage. Luke 14.

We teach people the 10 commandments, the two great commandments, the law of God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul, and the love your neighbor as yourself, the foundation of all law. Verse 25, now great multitudes went with him following Jesus Christ, and he turned and said to them, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. He turned to these masses of people who were following him, they thought, and he said, listen, you don't really understand hate here, of course, and we know this in Greek specifically, it's a comparative verb. You know, I really, really like ice cream, but I love chocolate ice cream. I choose it every time. He says, compared to everyone else, do you love me more? Not more than just Nathaniel. Peter had the easy question. More than your mother, your father, your sister, your brothers, your wives, your husbands, your children. This is the question he's asking you. These are the questions we want to avoid because it's easier to answer, do you believe in the holy days? Yes. Well, of course we do. That's what disciples do. But what about this one? More than anybody or anything. This question still worries me today because I've wondered what things in my life have I put before my teacher. And I have to admit there's been things I put before my teacher. Fortunately, he hasn't forced me to give up too much. He has every right to do so. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me, he cannot be my disciple. You and I have never seen someone crucified. Everybody he talked to had seen people crucified. All the Romans were experts at it. They could put you on a pole and crucify you. They could put you on a tree and crucify you. They could make what? The traditional cross and crucify you. They could put you on a tree and crucify you. They used X's. They think now many scholars, they use X's more than anything else. You know why? If you crucify a man on an X by spreading his arms and legs out, just spread out the pressure, they live longer. Crucifixion isn't about death. It's about torture. They now know they built scaffolding. You know, we can do 15 people at a time. You just built the scaffolding and you hammer people all over it.

People knew what this was. I've never seen somebody drag that crossbar or a piece of their scaffolding or a pole through the street while they're being kicked at and laughed at and beat by Roman soldiers. They had. So the question he asked them has power.

The problem is, you and I are getting asked the same question. Do you love me?

Because you and I pick up that Christianity, right? The follower of Christ. We pick up our Christianity and we carry it, no matter what the cost.

How long did you carry it? You know, wouldn't it be nice to say, okay, I've carried my Christianity for 10 years. God, I'm going to put it down for a year. Do what I want, you know, have some good fun. And then I'll pick it back up. You know how long you carried your crossbar until they nailed you to it. There was no putting it down. There's no pretending and being sort of a half a Christian. And I'm going to be partly in the world and partly in the church. And I'm going to partly be a disciple. And I'll set my crossbar down and go off and get lunch and pick it up later. When we pick this up, it's until they nail it to us. These are the hard questions.

These are those who reign with Jesus Christ.

Because He's not a character. He's a person. He's real. He's the Son of God.

Verse 33, so likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has, you cannot be my disciple. Can't be my disciple.

Wow. Now, how many of you here have grown up in the Church of God culture since you were very young? Keep your hands up a minute. Look around. Now, you grew up in the Church of God culture. Okay. My first feast of tabernacles was 63. I was seven. I really liked the Methodist Church. I mean, I remember going to services. I remember Sunday school. I remember Christmas. I remember Easter. But boy, somehow, even at age seven, it was like, wow, this is different. I don't understand it, but it seemed real. It seemed real. So at 63, I don't care if you're 53 or 43 or 33 or 23 or 13. Okay. You said, okay, but what does he require of me? I mean, I've always kept the Sabbath. I never killed anybody. I don't steal. I mean, what does he require of me? Let's go to Mark 10. This is for everyone who's grown up in the Church of God.

Mark chapter 10.

And verse 17. I'm in Matthew. I thought, wow, that's good stuff, but it's not what I want.

Mark 10.

Verse 17. Now, as he was going out on the road, one came running and dealt before him and asked him, good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Good teacher, what must I do to be your disciple? I wish to have eternal life in God's kingdom. I want, when the Messiah sets up God's kingdom on this earth, I want to have eternal life. What must I do? So Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good but one that is God. Now, you know the commandments? Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not bear falls witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and your mother. And he answered and said to him, teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.

Some of you can say, all these things, in the letter of the law, you have never worshiped the statue, a Hindu statue. Right? You always kept the Sabbath. You never really got, you never stole anything. I mean, in the letter of the law, this man had done these things because he had been born into the religion of God. He'd been born into Judaism, which was at that point where God was working. Notice what Jesus says. He doesn't say, you hypocrite, of course you're a lawbreaker, because he was. But in this surface way, yes, he had kept the law.

And Jesus looking at him loved him.

That's an amazing statement. He looked at this man and said, you know, well, you are a man I could work with. Now, we're going to have to teach a little bit about humility and repentance here, but he loved him. And he said to him, one thing you lack, go your way, sell whatever you have, and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come up. You pick up your cross and follow me. He offered him discipleship. And if you've grown up in this church and you're still sitting here, and I don't care if you're 10 years old out there, if you're 10, listen to me. If you don't get anything, get this. God, through Jesus Christ, is offering you discipleship. And this young man was offered it. And it says in verse 22, but he was sad at this word and went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. He didn't understand the full price of it. The full price of discipleship is everything. You've grown up here in this way of life. How many of you? You know, there were some folks older than I am out there. They had their heads up. You're old.

What is the price? It's everything. If you're 23 years old and say, I've grown up in the church, I've never had my experience, where the lights come on, and I see the truth. I've known the truth all my life. I hear this all the time.

Okay, good. You're a step ahead. Now, here's what God's offering you, discipleship. And here's what he's requiring of you, everything. Oh, what's that mean? Well, I don't know. I don't know what he'll require of you. Should I go sell everything I have? No, that's what he'll require of him. I don't know what he'll require of you. Maybe it's your friends, your status, your social life, whatever you think it's important, how you spend your time. Maybe it's your technology he's going to require of you so that you spend your time differently. That may be your requirement if that's a problem you have.

Whatever it is, he requires it. If you wish to be his disciple, you give up everything. And this young man, having known it since he was a baby, was shocked when he found out what's being asked of you. That's what he's asking of you. Everything. Because what is he going to give you? Everything. He's going to give you everything.

Sometimes I feel saddened for young people in the church, and I think, well, wait a minute, I was a young person in the church. It wasn't any easier then.

In fact, in some ways, it was harder in terms of the way society treated us. Society's a whole lot more tolerant now.

But you know, he's offering you everything.

One of the things that helps us in this is, God says, okay, I will offer you everything. And we say, well, okay, do you really mean that? Well, Christ died for us. He offered everything.

Remember, he said to the Father, or he told his disciples, what I see him do, that's what I do. I'm showing you what it is to be a disciple here. I see him, I do it. Now, I do it, you do it. And he offered everything. So that you and I could be there, he gave everything. And that's what he requires of us. Everything. What do we learn from, do you love me? To be a true Christian, we have to dedicate our lives to being a disciple. A disciple will live by totally different loyalties and expectations and values and motivations and purposes. Oh, there's 10 sermons right there. You know, young people, to be the king in ancient Israel, you had to write by hand, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, by hand to be a king. You want to reign with Jesus Christ? I suggest you start by taking Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and writing them by hand. There you go. Write it out by hand. Don't type it out. Write it out. The third question, our last question, Matthew 24. And verse 45.

Here's another question, but it's interesting. He asked it and then answered it with a parable. This is part of the Olivet prophecy on the Day of Atonement. Usually we read part of the Olivet prophecy. You know, some message during the Day of Atonement is going to read part of the Olivet prophecy about how Christ returns. And when He returns, there'll be these famines and wars and rumors of wars and disease epidemics and wild animals and earthquakes and how terrible it's going to be and that Christ is going to come. But you know most of the Olivet prophecy, which is all of Matthew 24 and 25, most of the Olivet prophecy is about the church. The overwhelming amount of material in the Olivet prophecy is about the church. And He asked this very important question. Who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over his household to give them food in due season? Who gets to reign with me? There's the question. Who am I? Do you love me? And who gets to reign with me?

So then He gives a parable. Blessed is that servant. Well, actually, this isn't a parable. It's too straightforward to be a parable. It's usually not in a list of parables. It's usually not in the list because it's too straightforward. Blessed is the servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. So what's a parable because it's about a master, but it's too straightforward. It's teacher, master, saying to the disciples, who gets to rule with me?

Well, the servant, and we're all servants here because we're all servants of Jesus Christ, the servant is doing what the master taught him to do. The servant is doing what the master taught him to do.

And he says, you know what? When the master comes, who gets to rule with him? Who does he put in charge? Those who have done what the master taught them to do.

He finds them doing. Surely I say to you, he will make him ruler over all his goods. So there you go. Who is it? It's the one who's doing what the master taught him. The master taught them to do. Then he says, but if that evil servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants and eat and drink with the drunkards.

This is easy for us to do. We lose sight of the purpose of life. We were called by God, not just for salvation. We were called by God to be prepared to help Jesus Christ change the world. Now, if that can't inspire us, nothing can. We've been called to do that. Weak little small people, right?

Like I said, there's not a king among us. There's not a queen among us. We're being trained to be his servants to do what he wants, and carrying out the will of God, and establishing God's kingdom on this earth. And who gets that? Those who do what he does, who follow him.

But those who don't are the ones who say, ah, I know Christ's come back sometime. But you know, this job's real important. This career's real important. This person I want to marry, who really doesn't even believe in God, they're real important. All the things we think are important, we put them in there.

Because the Lord delays his coming. And we begin to beat the fellow servants. We treat each other with disdain. We don't love each other. We hurt each other. We're mean to each other. We accuse each other. And live lifestyles like the world. Eat and drink with the drunkards. We just live lifestyles like everybody else. And it's so easy in this country, because every one of us here, I don't care who the poorest person here, we're rich compared to most people in this world.

And so what happens? We live these lifestyles and we forget, what if he asked me to give it up? What are we holding back? That haunts me. What am I holding back? Well, God, surely you wouldn't ask me to do this.

Surely you wouldn't ask me to give up this. And his answer is, do you love me? Well, surely, I mean, yes, I would, when you come, I want to be there with you and be with Christ and get introduced to the Father. And I want to do all that. And he says, okay, if you want to be there, do what I teach you. And don't lose sight of where you're going.

And don't start treating everybody all the other brothers and sisters. Don't treat them wrong. Don't just be like the world and what you do and how you think. And then here's the scary part of what he says. And this is why this moves from a parable into reality. The master of that servant, this evil servant, will come on a day when he is not looking for him. And at an hour that he's not aware of, and he will cut him in two and apport him his portion with the hypocrites, and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

What's frightening about that statement there? Those are terms that are used throughout the Scripture, an explanation of like a fire. This is a warning to the servants, us. Who is going to reign with me, he says, those who do as I have taught. There's great mercy from God. He knows we're not perfect. He just sees us following his son.

But then there's this other part, where we're through self-righteousness and through compromise. We really not are his disciples, but we claim we are. We take on this, we are his disciples, but we really aren't. So what did we learn from this last question? Who is a faithful servant and wise servant, who is the master-made ruler over his household to give them food and do season? His answer is we must be doing. We must be faithful and obedient to God, because he was faithful and obedient to God. He shows us how to do it. We must live holy lives, and we actually have to love each other.

We have to.

When God calls someone to salvation in this day and age, and we'll talk about the great calling that happens on the last great day, the eighth day. But right now, those are called, aren't just called for salvation. In fact, most of the world is not even receiving an invitation to salvation right now. We are called to reign with him, to prepare for that. And when the Feast of Tabernacles is a reality, the Old Testament and New Testament saints, as well as any Christians who are alive then, that come out, that were protected during the tribulation, they will be changed into the eternal children of God. And they will reign with Christ on the earth during a thousand years as his servants. And they will all be those who were disciples beforehand. They imitated their master.

As you keep this Feast of Tabernacles, think about every sermon and sermon that you hear. Pray about every sermon and sermonette you hear. And do something else. Talk about every sermon and sermonette that you hear. Talk about it with each other. And think about it. And maybe somewhere along the line here, during this next eight days, you might be in a conversation with someone and you might say, how do you answer the question, who do you say I am?

What does that mean to you? How do you answer the question that Jesus Christ has said to all of us or asked of all of us, do you love me? And how do you answer the question, who is a faithful and wise servant who will reign with me? Because those are the questions Jesus Christ is asking every one of us.