The Discipline Of Disciple-making – Personal Discipleship Lesson 3 – Teaching Them To Follow Christ

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Lesson-3 Discipleship is Following Christ.docx

Biblical Exercises for Spiritual Health & Fitness in 2014 Series

Discipleship Lesson-3:

 Teaching Them How To Follow Christ

John 10:27

Transcript

Let’s open our Bibles to John 10:27. You see it right there, and the essence of what I would like you to think about with me this morning is first of all, the whole call that we have to make disciples. It’s the Great Commission, go into all the world and make disciples of Jesus Christ, which we’ve already seen many weeks back, is the evangelism component.

So, discipleship actually has two parts. It’s evangelism, you can’t disciple someone that’s not saved. And then there is this mentoring, or whatever you want to call it, discipleship in its truest sense is teaching someone to imitate us following Christ. So, we need to understand this morning, first of all, what it means to follow Christ.

This the essence of what I’m talking about this morning in this third session. Now, remember gradually we’re going to get into this setting this morning. I am trying to reproduce for you what it’s like to sit across the table from someone, either the breakfast or the lunch or the coffee table, at either Panera or Water Street or Starbucks or some other place, and to actually lead them through seven different components that the Scriptures, in fact, Jesus laid these all out and I’ll show you at a future time. They’re the same elements He led His disciples through in training them how to follow Him. But I like to disciple people through these seven areas. But what I thought is since there’s not enough room at Water Street, especially the downtown one for even this section, you know that we do it as a group.

And so, I cover in one Sunday morning far more than you could ever cover one-on-one, because the essence of a one-on-one relationship is not just telling them. You teach them by allowing them to understand, ask questions and say, wait a minute, you’re even using a word. I don’t even know what that means.

What are you talking about? How do you do that? When do you do that? How do you have time to do that? Where have you seen that? And it’s that interactive talking. So, this morning. This is our third time trying to do the Panera form of this, and it’s teaching them about following Christ, but the emphasis is on how.

So, this morning we’re going to start in John 10:27, for this reason, and this is the backdrop of all this. What I’m talking about this morning is not merely for the paid staff of any church. It’s not merely what missionaries do all over the world. It’s not merely what elders are called to do within the local church and what deacons are doing within the local church.

This is what Jesus said in the Great Commission. Look where I’m quoting from right there. This is what Jesus left all of us to do. All of us are supposed to be either actively involved in doing or actively helping others do the evangelism component. In other words, we’re praying for people going out, we’re sharing tracts, we’re sharing the Gospel.

We’re inviting people to places where they can hear the Gospel. That’s part one. So, the first part is them getting saved, but after they’re saved, this is what all of us are a part of. All of us, in one way or another, are to be engaged in teaching believers how to observe all things that Christ commanded us.

Now, what’s fascinating to even say this. Is it was less than a week ago that we were on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. And in Galilee, the Sea of Galilee is shaped like a harp, and right here there’s a mountain and it overlooks Bethsaida, and Chorazin, and Capernaum. And those three cities you can see from this mountaintop, this is the Sea of Galilee, Jordan River coming in, Jordan River going out.

By the way, did a friend of mine speak last week? My quiet, reserved friend. Was he here last week? You all are so quiet. You’re so quiet. I invited a friend of mine Daniel Wallace. Did any of you notice he was here? He is the original Christian Energizer Bunny. And he really toned it down. He texted me in Israel and he says, I’m going to try and not go overboard. I don’t want to be over the top for your dear people. Because, he said, I know they’re pretty quiet around Calvary. So, I’m happy that you got to experience Daniel Wallace. I’ve known him for, we’ve been going for decades to Gull Lake, but he showed up I think 10 years ago. And the first time my kids met him, all of our kids were in the car, all in their car seats, and in their seat belts and everything, and I went into the headquarters of Gull Lake and Daniel saw me go in, and he slipped right into the car, shut the door (it was running), and put it in gear and said, okay, kids, I’m taking you now. Their eyes were this big, and that’s just his personality. He’s just very enthusiastic.

But back to the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River coming in. This trio of cities are the places where Jesus did two thirds of all of His recorded miraculous work right there. It’s a very small area, and we were standing here on what the Bible calls the mountain. Jesus was here praying the night before He called His disciples, right there, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus was here praying when they were out in the middle of that lake, the Sea of Galilee sinking in the boat, and this is the spot that Jesus gave them the Great Commission. So, it was, it was breathtaking to stand there and actually with the group, we spent an hour there reading and pondering this, but Jesus up there told those 12 disciples as He was on the mountain with them, He says, I’m leaving you here to evangelize the world, but don’t leave them just off floating.

Once they get saved, they each need to be taught how to observe everything that I’ve commanded. And so, what we’ve looked at following Christ starts in John 10:27. This is Jesus explaining Christianity. Now if you’re already there in your Bibles, look at chapter 10 verse 27. This is Jesus. He starts back in the 22nd verse with this discourse.

We call this the application of His Good Shepherd discourse. And in verse 27, Jesus tells them, this is how you know you’re a Christian. This is how you have assurance that you’re a Christian, and this is what the Christian life is all about. All of that is in this little statement, and what Jesus does is He distills down what all of us are to be doing as we live here on Earth.

And He does it right there in those little two words that conclude what we’re going to read together this morning. These two words are how Jesus called His disciples. He was walking the shore of Galilee, the Sea of Galilee, and He saw four fishermen. He looked Him right in the eye and He said, follow Me. Two words.

He goes from there to Capernaum, walks to the tax booth, looks the tax collector in the eye, and says two words, follow Me. And then He spends three and a half years teaching them how to follow Him. This is the essence of salvation and of our Christian life. It’s following Him. So, that’s our text this morning.

Let’s all stand together and as you stand, you can look at your Bible or you can read along from the screen. This is John 10:27, the New King James. And I’ve put in ultra bold to catch the flow there, and have it jump out at you. But let’s read it together. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. Wow. Nothing there about joining, getting baptized, doing something. It’s a supernatural relationship with Jesus Christ. Where we don’t join an organization. Where we know the God of the universe personally. We don’t know very many people closely in life. Jesus said, I want to be one of those very few that you know very clearly. Personally. Me. And once you do, you follow Me. That’s the Christian life. So, you could all go home, but I have more to say. So, let’s bow for word of prayer.

Father in Heaven, I pray that we would open our hearts and our minds this morning to the truth of what it means to follow You, oh Christ. And that we might grow in our longing to do so more and more of each day of our life. And then to do what You left us to do. Teach others how to follow You like we are. And I pray that we would examine our lives, how we’re doing in the following department, and then we would also, honestly, standing before You each day, say, Lord, am I doing what You left me to do here? Am I teaching others how to follow You? I want to. Put them into my life and give me the grace and the confidence to do what You left me to do, to teach others how to follow You as I am following You. Oh Lord, that’s the heartbeat of what this local church and every local church is all about. Really, that’s what we’re here for. To be and to make disciples who follow in love and know You, and we pray that we’d grow in that today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

You may be seated, and as you’re seated, disciples are those who are taught how to follow. Now, students learn lessons. Students, get lessons from their teacher, but disciples learn and follow and imitate their master. See, that’s the difference between a teacher pupil relationship and a discipler and disciplee. We are disciples of Christ, and we become like Him. That’s what a disciple does. A student just learns a lesson. They don’t become like their teacher; they just learn something from them. But Christ says, I don’t want you to learn a lesson from Me. I want you to become like Me.

See the goal is Christ likeness and it comes by us following Him. So, disciples are taught how to follow Christ. That’s the whole essence of what the Lord wants us to do. We have to learn how to follow Him. In fact, the Book of Acts, if you’re in the Gospel by John, keep going to the book to the right and turn to chapter 9 and I’ll just show you a few references. In chapter 9, the Apostle Paul was commissioned to go get the followers of Christ, and this is what it says in Acts chapter 9 in verse 2, and asked for letters from the synagogue of Damascus, and if he found any who are of The Way. See, people who were followers of Christ were not just randomly walking through life.

You could tell who they were because they followed a way. It is very interesting that all Christians are to be following the same way. It’s the way of Christ. That’s what, remember the whole idea of the unity of the churches? We’re the one group in the whole world that all of us are going the same way, where followers of The Way, and so Paul was, Saul of Tarsus was, looking for followers of The Way and what he did is when he found people that were walking that way, he grabbed them and persecuted them and killed them because they were so clearly evident.

Now that’s something we’ve lost nowadays. In an effort to Christianize society, the distinctiveness of Christians has gotten blurred. We are going to a different place than the rest of the world is. They’re all going on the broad way that leads to destruction. They’re flowing down the river toward destruction.

We are going up river a different direction, and the problem is that that takes, remember the Lord says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. It takes great effort to say no and to deny ungodliness and to go against the flow. And so, what’s happened is that instead of teaching people how to follow the Lord, many believers aren’t even following Him themselves, and they’re just flowing the wrong way down the river.

So, disciples are taught how to follow, and the book of Acts in chapter 18, Paul calls it the way of the Lord, the way of God in chapter 19. It’s the way. But the way they learn to follow it, in fact, if you want to turn onward to 1 Corinthians 4, I’ll get to the essence of what following is.

Go to 1 Corinthians. So, it goes, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, chapter 4, and I have it up here for you because we learn and teach people how to follow by example. Now the, this is, and as I get to this next point, this is probably the part that most people have trouble, and that’s when I slow down at the coffee shop or at the lunch room, and I look them in the eye and I say, has anyone ever taught you how to follow Christ not in a lecture setting, but actually you watch them do it? And you know what most people say? Maybe, like I had godly parents, and I watched them, but nobody has actually ever, if you’re learning to play golf, you do your swing and they go, oh man, no, you’ve got to do this and turn your foot.

I’m a real, I used to be a caddy, so I’m an expert on golf. Or, if you’re batting, they watch where your elbow is and you’re in, all the lineup or if you’re playing basketball, every sport. You don’t learn about reading a book.

You learn about it, but you don’t. You learn it by being there and having someone that knows it better than you saying, no, you didn’t keep your eye on the ball, or whatever you did wrong. See, we know how this operates. But it’s amazing, we think that the church will operate just by people reading it in the Book, and this is the singular difference between first century change-the-world-Christianity, and what we’re coming to in Christendom in the 21st century. So, what does it say in the Bible? Here are the two verses, and I’m going to show you four, and I could show you dozens, but there isn’t enough time.

And by the way, this lesson this morning would in no way be possible to do in one session sitting with someone, but I’m just encapsulating it for you. Two verses. I’ll divide them in half here. 1 Corinthians 4 is the top one. Paul says, therefore I urge you. Now look at Paul’s discipleship message.

Have you ever thought of looking someone in the eye and saying, imitate me. Now this Greek word is very interesting. Mimetes. In fact, we have an English word from that mimic. Have you ever had a child, and you watch their parents correct them and they mimic them. In our minds, mimicking is not a positive word in the Bible, it is. In the Bible, it’s the supreme compliment that you imitate someone. And Paul says, if you want to follow Christ, I urge you, imitate me, because that’s the sum of my life that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.

I want to know Christ, and if you want to know Christ, imitate Me. And Paul says, I want you, he told the Thessalonians to imitate Me just as I have committed to a lifelong desire to imitate Christ. That’s first, I’m sorry, I’m not in Thessalonians yet, that’s onward in the Corinthian epistles 1 Corinthians 11:1.

And so, what Paul told the Corinthians is, I’m coming to your town. I’m going to live here for 18 months. I’m going to help you become followers of Jesus Christ. And the way I’m going to do that is I’m going to live Christ in front of you and I’m going to let you see me at work. Remember he worked in the leather worker shop.

I’m going to let you see me at church, in the small group, and I’m going to let you see me in everyday life. And I want you to imitate me in every way that I imitate Christ. Now, he didn’t say, do everything I do, wear everything I wear. Go where I go. He says, every part of my life that’s tied to Christ, you should examine that, find the tie to Christ and imitate that. Now, think for a moment how Paul did this, and there’s two elements here. One is the structure of the way Paul wrote his letters. It’s very interesting. Paul has a format that you can see clearly in many of his letters. He does it in all of his letters, but it’s very distinct in many of them.

For example, in Romans 1-11 is different than Romans 12-16. The whole tone changes. Ephesians chapter 1-3 is different than chapters 4-6. Basically, Paul presents first in most of his letters, he starts off with heavy duty doctrine, and then he goes into what the response or our duty is. Now in Greek, you can see this clearly because it’s the mood of, in the grammar of the sentences. This is called the indicative, the doctrine, the opening part. This is called the imperative, the commands or the duties. And what he says is, based on the truth of God’s Word, you need to respond this way.

He always says, it starts with the foundation is the doctrine, the indicative, the all of these chapters of who you are in Christ. But he says it doesn’t end there. Now, see, what’s amazing is in modern Christendom, it does. People feel they’re great Christians if they just know the doctrine, not if they do any of it.

They just know it. And that’s the danger of knowing too much because the Lord says to whom much is given, much will be required. It would be better to not know as much about the Lord then to know it all and not do it. And so that’s why a church like this with a heritage of 80 years of Bible teaching, 85 years of Bible teaching, is a strong wait, because the Lord says, I’m going to require of you all of this doctrine, and I’m going to see how much of it you responded to. So, Paul said, I’m coming to you and you’re mostly people that knew very little about God, and he says, I’m going to teach you, but I’m not just going to tell you facts. I’m going to show you for you to imitate me.

Now he goes on. And here we see in Ephesians 5, and in 1 Thessalonians he says the same thing. This is Ephesians 5, therefore be imitators of God. Now, remember what I showed you, Ephesians 1-3 was all of those predestined, conformed, chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, heavy duty doctrine, and he builds on that.

And starting in chapter 4, and now we’re in chapter 5, he says, because of all this truth, imitate God the way I am, and he goes on to say it to the Thessalonians and he commends them. He’s writing this after he was at their church. He says, you became in those, Paul was only there six weeks in Thessalonica, and he says you became followers of us and of the Lord.

In other words, in every way we follow the Lord, you did that, and how did they do it? Having received the Word. See, Paul always says, following Christ is tied to you imitating me, which is based on the Word of God. You can check whether I’m following the Lord by looking in the Word of God, and that’s why we have the Bereans.

Do you remember the Bereans? They’re the ones that Paul stopped on the way to Thessalonica and in Acts 17, isn’t that nice? You can correct as you go. In Acts 17:11, he says that they examine the Scriptures to see whether what Paul was saying for them to follow, whether it was in the Scriptures. And so, Paul says, following Christ is better caught than taught.

It’s easier to see it than to just hear about it, and the problem is the 21st Century church is heavy on the hearing and light on the doing. And that’s a dangerous thing because if you hear, you’re responsible. And so, we have to catch up in the doing department, in the examining.

So, what we’re doing now is looking at what does it mean to follow Christ. So, turn your Bibles to Colossians 2:6, and in Colossians 2:6, we see the connection. And it’s this. The same way, verse 6, that you receive Christ, you walk in Him. So, following Christ, there’s a vital connection between the way we were saved and the way we were saved is we, by faith, called out to Someone that we could not see, that we only heard about in the Scriptures.

And by faith, we reached out to Them and said, I believe what You said. And we connect with the very God of the universe, and we are radically, instantaneously, supernaturally changed. You know what the Lord says through Paul? That’s how the rest of life is. That’s why following Christ is the same way you got saved,

Colossians 2:6 says. The same way that we got saved, reading or hearing the Word of God and responding to it, is how we live the rest of our spiritual lives. That’s why following Christ is so tied to salvation, and I always spend a little time explaining salvation, and that’s why we go to Romans 10.

And if you want to turn to Romans 10, in Romans 10:13 and 17, talks about the complete connection. The tying together salvation is to God’s Word. 10:13 says, whoever calls the name of the Lord shall be saved. And by the way, that verse is right out of the book of Joel. So, it’s tied to the Word of God because it’s a quotation from the Old Testament.

And verse 17 says, faith comes by hearing the Word of God. And so following Christ you, you can’t disciple someone who is not a Christian. You understand that they can’t be discipled because they’re not a disciple, and a disciple is a follower of Christ. So, following Christ is completely tied to God’s Word, and God’s Word says only those who call on the name of the Lord can be a follower of Christ.

That’s why we are an evangelical church. You know what evangelical means? It means that we were born unsaved. And that we lived as unsaved people until we heard the Gospel and we heard the evangel, the Gospel. Euangelizomai, that’s the Word for Gospel, the Good News, and we responded to the message of the Gospel. Now, there are non-evangelical churches all around us, and non-evangelical churches say that you get saved and you don’t know when you get saved, and it just it happens sometime.

The Bible, that isn’t supported in the Scriptures. What the Scripture says is that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Whoever calls, look what it says. The ones who call on the name of the Lord are saved. So, that’s why we’re an evangelical church. In fact, Bonnie and I were sitting in a cab in Jerusalem a couple weeks ago and the cab driver was driving us along and he says, where are you from?

He spoke English. He was an Israeli. And I says, oh, we’re from America. He said, where in America? I said, Michigan. He said, Detroit or Chicago side. I thought, whoa, he knows the lay of the land. And I said the Chicago side. He says, uh-huh. And he said, why are you here? And I thought, when he talked, he went slower.

And I was trying, the meters going, like that. It was like a hundred and something and I wanted to get there, and I said, we’re evangelical Christians, and I teach the Bible. He pulled the car over to the side, the meter’s still running, and he turned around the seat, and looked at us and he said, I am a Jew, and I just came to Christ five years ago. He said, I’ve been praying to meet one like you, and I thought, let the meter run. What a blessing. That was a divine appointment. But again, he heard the Gospel. And he responded and the Lord opened his eyes. And by the way, he took us to his church in downtown Jerusalem.

I felt were in the book of James or Acts, and there were Muslims, African, like Somalis, Jews with their prayer shawls, all in one room. And they were all, from this side they all looked like terrorists, when they turned around, you could just see the joy of the Lord radiating from them, and they just hugged us and put their prayer shawls on us.

It was wonderful because their lives were completely changed by God’s Word. They were saved. So, following Christ has to have the saved component. Now, James 1:21 says, this following Christ is starting. It starts when God does something. See salvation is of the Lord. God is always the initiator of salvation.

It’s not me that one day says, okay, God, I’ve checked everything out. I would like to be saved. No, God started by convicting me and drawing me and working. And then He saves me by Him planting His Word inside of us. You see there are many people that can go for a period of time and look like a Christian, but they have never received and look what James 1:21 says.

Keep we’re in Romans and you keep going to the right past Hebrews to James 1:21. And what it says is, therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your soul. And that starts the life of following Christ, and this is the moment right here in this session where I look at the person, I say, when did it happen to you?

When did God implant His Word in your heart? When did you receive the Word of God that you believe the message of the Gospel? That you responded to Him? And some of them immediately know, and some of them have to say it was between here and here. And I say, that’s fine if it’s between here and here, but tell me what happened.

 Were you lost, and then did you come to a time when you were under the Word of God is affecting you, and then you got saved because this is the only pattern that God has. We’re all born that way. He comes to affect us through His Word, through people, and through reading, and through hearing. And then He saves us.

So, you, anybody that’s truly saved can identify this period of time when maybe something happened or maybe they had a Christian around them, or maybe they were listening to Billy Graham or somebody was reading The Late Great Planet Earth, I’ve heard all different stories. But it’s during that time that God, through His Spirit, begins putting His Word and planting it in our heart, which saves us.

And so, we say, you can’t follow Christ. And so, I talk through that and then I go to the next one, which is 1 Peter 1:22-25. Following Christ means a life of believing and obeying God’s Word. And if you look at, you’re in James, go to the next book, 1 Peter 1:22. It says this, you’ve purified your souls in obeying the truth.

See, the same way you receive Christ, you believe it leads to a life of obeying God’s Word. And so following Christ, which is what all of us are supposed to be doing and what we’re training others in life to do, means entering into a life of believing and obeying God’s Word. So, you’re spending time allowing God’s Word to change us.

Verse 23, we’re born again. I’m in 1 Peter 1:22- 25, not of corruptible seed, not of what humans say, but of the incorruptible seed, which is the Word of God, which is alive and abides forever. And so, this, verse 25 says, is the Word of the Gospel that was preached to you. So, following Christ means a life of believing and obeying God’s Word.

So, I pause with him, and I say, tell me some part of God’s Word that you believe is true. Oh, it’s fascinating what they come up with. It’s something they’ve read or whatever. And then I say to them, are you obeying that? It’s very dangerous to know more than you do. We have to answer to God someday for all we know.

And what He’s going to ask us is, did you do that? See what personal discipleship is about is helping people not have this huge reservoir of knowledge and this tiny pittance of doing. Don’t merely be hearers of the Word, knowing all these facts, but be doers of the Word. And this should be growing the doing side, the responding, the obeying side.

And we do it not because of fear. Usually, I take him to John 14:21 here, one of my favorite verses, that says he the hath My commandments and keeps them is one that loves Me. So, we know His truth, we know the facts, but we respond to them because of love. And so that’s what Peter’s getting at.

Then we go on to the life of following Christ is fed by God’s Word. Look at chapter 2. Now we’re in 1 Peter 2, and it says, lay aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and evil speaking. Look at verse 2, as newborn babies desire the pure milk of the Word. Now we’re going to switch from being at Panera to being in the auditorium.

So, now I’m looking at you. How many of you have ever heard a newborn baby cry? Hold your hand up. The rest of you must be deaf. Okay. I was on an airplane, and I think there were ten newborns that were wailing away, and Bonnie and I, and by the way, thankfully none of the crying babies were behind us, but the ones that were behind us on the airplane for nine hours were the ones that were hyperactive.

And I think the parents were training them about the walls of Jericho falling down because I would hear them say something, duh duh boom! And they kick our chairs in, simultaneously they’d kicked the back of Bonnie’s chair in my chair, and we’d jerk forward like that. And I thought, I wonder if that was an accident.

So, I settled back in my chair, and I heard, eh, bang! And I got, I started leaning forward after the “duh” part because I knew they were going to kick the chair. Thankfully they wore out after two hours and they stopped kicking the chair, but what does it say in 1 Peter 2:2? As newborn babies desire milk, have you ever been around a wailing, crying, fussing baby?

And everyone in the crowd is saying, will you do something? Give them a bottle. Why? Because we all know that 90% of the time, they just want to be fed, and what Peter’s saying, he’s drawing from life. Look what he’s saying. Just like newborn babies have this insatiable desire that you can give them all the rattles, and the toys, and the little stuffed animals that you want.

They only want one thing. They want to be fed. And you can see, well, as a father of eight, I witnessed the tension, and all that stuff. And all of a sudden, when they start being fed, their entire body just, it’s a beautiful sight to see them just, and then they drift off into sleep.

And then of course they’ll scream and yell and cry and want more very quickly after that. But what he’s saying is, this component is so vital. The life of following Christ is only fed by God’s Word. Now let’s go away from the coffee shop and get back into the room. Here at this point is when I look at the person I’m talking to, I say, okay, will you, would you read out loud that verse?

And so, they read it. They say, as newborn babies desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. And they’ll say, do you want me to read verse 3? I go, yeah, read verse 3, too. And they’ll go, if indeed you’ve tasted, the Lord is gracious. And then I say to them, do you know what this verse, do you know what that says? Do you understand what that’s saying? It’s saying that as a believer, if you’re truly a follower of Christ, you’re going to have the same type of incredible longing for God’s Word that a baby has for a bottle, or to be nursed. Then see, the, one of the more important things of disciple making is learning when to stop talking.

And to wait for an answer. And so, I look him right in the eye and I say, now, are you a morning person, or are you a springer, or a feeler? Are you one of these that kind of comes alive at nine o’clock at night and you’re just ready to conquer the world from nine until two or one? You’re just, those are your best hours.

That’s fine if you’re a night person or are you one of these people that you just can’t wait to get up while it’s still dark and look at the stars and see the mist and it’s cold outside and you just love the early morning stillness. Whichever you are, whether you’re A.M. or a P.M. person, do you, whichever you are, do you have an intense infant-like cry and unsatisfied until you get fed by God’s Word. In other words, and this is when you pause, you say last night, like Saturday night or this morning, like Sunday morning, did that happen to you? And now I’m not talking to them, I’m talking to you. Did that happen to you? Last night, did you have this incredible longing?

It’s been a full day, and you did all the stuff you did and either mowed or went to the art thing in Grand Rapids or did whatever you did, and you did all that. You’re a night person, and at the peak of your day you thought, I can’t wait to get alone with God. If you’re a night person, did that happen last night? If you’re a morning person. This morning you already know what time church starts, and you already know all of your obligations and duties and you know how long it takes to get ready, and you know how long it takes to eat, and you know how long everything takes. Did you factor in this morning time?

Did you experience verse 2, as a newborn baby, did you, this morning, have a hunger for the Word of God? And you pause and you look at them, and if you look at them long enough, they go, you’re asking me right now? I go, uhhuh, I am. They go, no. Am I supposed to? And they go, is that a bad sign? I go, it is. Now look at verse 1. What he says is, if we do not actively, aggressively lay aside, look at 1 Peter 2:1, all malice. What is malice? It’s where you’re going to get, even with someone, they hurt you, they cut you off, or they took your job, or they cheated you or harmed you or someone in your family and you down deep are going to get even with them.

Did you know that ruins your appetite for God’s Word? If there is malice, there’s not, that means you’re sick, you don’t have an appetite. All deceit and hypocrisy. What’s deceit? A deceitful person is someone that, that is saying whatever it takes to, they’ll say whatever it takes to get what they want to accomplished.

They deceitfully make you think you’re in agreement so they can get what they want. It’s actually a sign of a person with an agenda that’s self-centered and they’re very deceitful. Deceit robs us of hunger for God’s Word because it grieves the Spirit of God. And if we’re hypocritical, if we only are acting like Christians, but we really aren’t, if we’re only acting like we love the Lord, like Ananias and Sapphira, if we’re only acting like we’re sacrificing for Him, the Spirit of God is grieved, and we have no hunger.

Or if we’re envious. A lot of people are driven by envy. America is, advertising produces envy, and discontent, and greed, and covetousness, and all of those are tied together that I want something I don’t have and I’m willing to sacrifice anything to get it. And I will work three jobs, and I will do whatever it takes to get a house like they have or clothes like they have, or a physique like they have or whatever.

A car. And envy, that you have it and I want, it. And envy leads to covetousness. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get it that grieves the Spirit of God. And evil speaking, you know what the Bible says, our tongues are like a fire and our tongues can set situations on fire, they can inflame those situations.

In fact, the Word slander that’s used in Titus, it says that we’re not to slander. It’s used in other places, but specifically that word is diabolos. That’s a Word for Satan. That’s one of his names. Satan is a slanderer. And when Christians, verse 2, are evil speakers, when they say things to harm people that have harmed them or that they’re jealous of or envious of, and they evil speak of them, or they pass on secondhand truths, any of those things that are listed there in verse 1, malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking,

rob us of a hunger for God’s Word. So, I sit with them, and they say, I don’t have that hunger. I say, there’s one of two things. One is that you have one of those things. Or look at verse 3. If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. If you see the supreme value of knowing God, and there isn’t really any sin in your life, but if you see the supreme value of knowing God, and knowing Him only comes through His Word, but if you think something else is more important, and that’s where I go into if they tell me, no, I didn’t really read the Bible last night. I said what did you do if you’re an evening person?

What’d you do from nine until one? I was online. You were online doing what? Oh, everything. I was checking this and reading about everybody. I watched a little video clip, watched a little music clip, and played little games, and watched a couple movies, and communicated with everybody.

And I said, that’s how you fed your soul. And you had a choice in your prime time, you’re an evening person, you had time with God or time online with all of your media and entertainment, and you picked that instead of God? I said, so you think that’s more important than God? And they go, no, I don’t think that.

No, I said, but by your activities, that’s what you’re saying. And see that’s what this personal, that we show them. (I don’t know if I can go with this. What I would tell you is, oh, are you controlling that back there? Oh, it went back.) What I’m telling you is. We have to make a choice to either be fed by God’s Word as a newborn babe, if we don’t have that appetite, it’s either because verse 1, we have some sin, we’re sick and we’re infected by that. Or we’re saying whatever is taking up our time is more important than God.

So, now go from the coffee shop to this room. Let me ask you this. Don’t answer please out loud, okay? It’s embarrassing. Just think. This is rhetorical, but I’m talking to you. Did you meet with God last night, if you’re a night person? In your heart, answer yes or no. If you’re a morning person, did you factor in your launch this morning to come to church, and yesterday’s morning, and the morning before, and tomorrow morning? Did you factor in time to meet with the most important Person in the universe?

Now think about it. If you’re into tech stuff, and Jim, whatever his name, I don’t even know his name, the guy that’s head of Apple was in town, and he emailed you and said, I’d like to meet you. If you’re a technical person and like Apple, you would come. Or if the Sergey Bryn, or whatever his name is of Google was in town and you’re techie, or if you’re an athlete and your favorite athlete was in town and they happen to email you and say, I’d like to meet with you.

If you love that thing, you would be, you’d be telling everybody in the world. You know that so and so wants to meet with me. God says this is how I meet with you as you open your heart to Me, I meet with you through My Word. Did you, either last night or this morning, meet with the Lord? Read His Word, and from that Word pray, and from that Word worship, and from that Word seek, and adore, and meet with Him until you felt what verse 3 says, look down at verse 3. You tasted the Lord is gracious. That’s how I know, this morning, personally, if you were sitting at my house, I read Galatians and Ephesians. I read both, all 12 chapters. It was just a wonderful morning, and I was just looking at the indicative and imperative and the doctrine and the duty, and I was just enjoying it and reading it was really a blessing.

But you know how I knew I was done reading? Verse 3, I tasted that the Lord is gracious. I tasted Him. I heard His voice. I knew Him more this morning, a little bit more than I knew Him yesterday. It’s a growing relationship. Now, when is the last time that happened to you? Don’t respond. Just in your mind.

Think about when the last time is you tasted the Lord is gracious in His Word. If you can’t remember the time, then either verse 1 is true, you’re sick, you’re infected. Remember I told you two weeks ago that when we were in California, we were living on a shoestring and little Johnny was a newborn and he had this horrible wheezy croupy cough, and his face was fiery red. And I thought he was dying and Bonnie thought he was dying. We were doing everything. We had the steam in the shower and the nebulizer going, and we were patting him and coating him with everything. And we called the pediatrician’s office, and they gave us the doctor’s phone number.

Can you, that was 30 years ago for sure, and the doctor actually answered, and we told him about Johnny and all red and dying, and he said, is he still nursing? And Bonnie said, oh yeah. Yeah. He said, bring him in Monday. Remember, I learned. I saved $30. Don’t run to the doctor if he’s eating. That’s what I told Bonnie for thirty years.

I’ve said, if they’re eating, don’t take him. Save money. Now, I’m not dispensing medical advice. Take him to the doctor. I’m not a doctor, nor am I a medical practitioner, and I’m not dispensing any advice. I’m just telling you a story that ties to this book. If you don’t lay aside malice, and deceit, and hypocrisy, and envy, evil speaking, you’re sick, and you’re not eating, or if you do not know the Lord is gracious, then everything else, movies, games, music, fun, running around and playing is more important than God. Both of them are indicators of whether you’re following Christ. Because people who follow Christ hunger like a newborn baby for Him. So, it’s time for us to go. But before we go, I have a question for you. This morning, did the Lord poke you while you’re sitting here? When all of a sudden you realized I wasn’t at Panera, I was talking to you and the Bible’s talking to you. Did the Lord poke you about not reading the Bible last night, or not reading it this morning, and for however many mornings in the past? If so, you know what we’re supposed to do? From our heart, cry out to Him. Remember, no matter how many days, how many steps we’ve taken away from the Lord, do you know how many steps it is back to Him? Just one. All we have to do is reach out to Him and say, I repent. My media is more important than you. My music, my games are more important. I am, I’m inflicted with malice, or deceit, or hypocrisy, or envy, or evil speaking, or whatever, I repent of that.

I want to hunger and thirst after You. The Lord wants to come and meet and let you taste of Him more than you and I want to, it’s just a choice we make. So, let’s bow our heads, and I’m going to close in prayer. And what I do with someone at the table, I ask them that question and I ask them with them looking at me, but I don’t want you all looking at each other.

So, with heads bowed and eyes closed, how many of you this morning say I was convicted by the Spirit of God that either there’s a sin that’s taken away my appetite, or I think some things are more important than spending time with God and I am crying out to Him, and asking Him to change my appetite and to set me free from whatever it is, so that He is most, so that I hunger after Him more than after anything else. If the Lord convicted you and is working in your heart right now, hold your hand up. I’d like to see how many of you say, today, hold them up high. Good. Let’s put them down.

Father in Heaven, you see our hearts. You see our hands, but you see the heart. And I pray that we would make choices right now sitting here to choose to follow Christ through feeding on Your Word as hungrily as a newborn baby longs after You. And then, every day we will taste how gracious You are. Thank you for Your Word. Thank you for this moment. Seal these decisions in our heart, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, and all of God’s people said, amen. God bless you as you go.

Notes

As we open to John 10 this morning, we look at the very foundation of Christianity.

Whose birth do we celebrate as God with us, Immanuel? Jesus Christ the Lord.

Who lived the only perfect human life ever lived? Jesus Christ the Lord.

Who dies a substitutionary, atoning death on the Cross of Calvary? Jesus Christ the Lord.

We are to go through life as the Great Commission says, leading people to follow Who? Jesus Christ the Lord.

Matthew 28:20 (NKJV) teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Now as we look at John 10:27: who is the Good Shepherd who saves us, in order for us to follow Him forever? Jesus Christ the Lord.

Jesus made salvation eternal life and assurance of eternal security so SIMPLE. Please stand with me as we listen to Jesus, as He sums EVERYTHING up with these words in v. 27:

John 10:27 (NKJV) My sheep, hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

Pray

Salvation is so personal: we are His sheep; we can hear His voice; and the way we know we are His comes from following His voice. Think of a shepherd who speaks, and of sheep that turn their heads, listen and then start walking towards him. That is such a picture of true Christianity!

Note how open ended that verse is. When we got saved it was because of hearing, responding to, and starting to follow: Jesus Christ the Lord; and following Christ never ends, as the Book of Revelation reminds us: we are forever His Sheep, following Him (Rev. 7:17).

Following Jesus Now & Forever

Following Christ’s voice from His Word is how we were saved.

Continuing to follow His Voice heard through His Word is our source of daily assurance.

Jesus said that eternal life is all about following Him; and He summarized His entire plan for the disciples in just two words: “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19). Those two words were what He spoke to Peter, Andrew, James and John as they fished and to Matthew as he sat at the tax office (Luke 5:27); and those two words are what He still calls for, as He walks through this world.

Jesus called Himself the “Way”; and described salvation as the beginning of a life-long journey of following Him (John 14:6). This call to a life of following needs to at times be renewed as Jesus demonstrated after His resurrection, when Peter was restored to ministry as Jesus again said: “follow” Me (John 21:19).

Disciples Are Taught How to Follow

So Christ’s plan was to have close, personal “followers” who were also learners and doers of His Way. They listened and followed Him as they learned from Him how to do what He did. The book of Acts repeatedly describes the early believers as those who were “followers” of Christ Jesus, the Way. Open to Acts 9:

Acts 9:2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. NKJV

Acts 18:25-26 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. NKJV

Acts 19:9, 23 But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 23 And about that time there arose a great commotion about the Way. NKJV

Acts 22:4 “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, NKJV

Acts 24:14, 22 “But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets. 22 But when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the Way, he adjourned the proceedings and said, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will make a decision on your case.” NKJV

The Church at the beginning was simple, everyone was following Jesus, acting so much like Him they were described by unbelievers as little-Christ-imitators or “CHRIST-ians”. As the church gathered, they were taught that every facet of their lives were to be reflective of what they learned while following Jesus personally. Disciple makers:

We Teach How to Follow By Example

The Great Commission described a plan for having each person in Christ’s Church actually involved in a life-long learning process of following Jesus Christ.

In fact, believers are called little imitations or “mimics” of Jesus Christ. The Greek word in the Epistles that describes those who “follow” and are “followers” is mimetes (literally “mimics”).

Listen to the clear call we have all been given by Christ’s Apostles to follow or “mimic” Christ:

1 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore I urge you, imitate me. NKJV

1 Corinthians 11:1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. NKJV [That is the clearest description of what discipleship is all about!]

Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. NKJV

1 Thessalonians 1:6 And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, NKJV

1 Thessalonians 2:14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, NKJV

2 Thessalonians 3:7-9 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you; 9 not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. NKJV

Hebrews 6:12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. NKJV

Hebrews 13:7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. NKJV

3 John 11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God. NKJV

Today, God is looking for those who will not merely hear God’s Word, study God’s Word, memorize God’s Word, master the content of God’s Word-He wants those men and women, and boys and girls, who will follow Christ.

How do we start? After establishing that the person is saved, the very next truth for them to learn is the:

1. Following Christ is the Vital Connection Between Salvation & the Rest of Life

This connection was taught by Paul in Colossians 2:6. Note with them what Paul said:

Colossians 2:6 (NKJV) As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

The same way God saved us is how we are to follow Christ through life. We hear the Gospel from God’s Word, we believe the truth and respond in faith, and God transforms us. That is the pathway of salvation, and the pathway of each day of our life as believers. Taking God at His Word and seeing Him at work in us. That is simple, clear, and easily explained in Scripture.

2. Following Christ is Completely tied to God’s Word

Turn to the Romans Road, one of the simplest explanations of salvation, and look at the final stop in Romans 10:13 (see also v. 5,8,11).

Romans 10:13,17 (NKJV) For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We are saved by hearing, and responding to the truth of the Word of God. The Gospel flows only from God’s Word, and no where else. Only by believing the Gospel contained in God’s Word the Bible can a person be saved.

Only by believing the Gospel contained in God’s Word the Bible can a person be saved. That means:

3. Following Christ Starts By God Implanting His Word Inside Us

Move onward to James 1:21, from what may be the earliest book of the New Testament written by James who was the Pastor of the First Church of Jerusalem. Here is how he explained salvation to his congregation while Paul was still being trained.

James 1:21 (NKJV) Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Again we see that receiving God’s Word, believing God’s Word, and acting upon God’s Word are all tied to our salvation.

We hear truth from God.

We believe that truth from God.

We respond to that truth from God

God transforms us.

One of the greatest confirmations of our salvation is seeing this happen each day. That is exactly what we see the Apostles teaching as they planted and established churches in the First Century.

Now move onward to 1 Peter 1:22 to 2:3 and see how Peter describes this exact same process when he explains the relationship between salvation and our daily walk in Christ. Peter reminds us that both are tied to God’s Word.

4. Following Christ Means a Life of Believing & Obeying God’s Word

Peter is near the end of his life, and after walking with Jesus, serving as an Apostle for over 30 years this is his summary of salvation for all the rest of the ages of Christ’s Church.

1 Peter 1:22-2:3 (NKJV) Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but through the word of God which lives and abides forever, ²⁴ because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, 25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. 2:1-3 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Note how simply and clearly Peter also links God’s work of salvation in us, to His Word.

Salvation is regeneration by the Holy Spirit using God’s Word: (v. 22 purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit).

Salvation is the new birth of coming alive through the power of God’s Word (v. 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God).

Salvation is eternal because the Gospel in God’s Word is eternal: (v. 25 the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you).

Then Peter gives the essence of our new life in Christ.

5. The Life of Following Christ is Fed by God’s Word

1 Peter 2:1-3 (NKJV) Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Born again believers are only fed with God’s Word: (v. 2a as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word).

Born again believers can only grow by God’s Word: (v. 2b that you may grow thereby).

Born again believers can taste God’s grace in God’s Word: (v. 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious).

So Paul, James & Peter all agree about the connection of God’s Word to salvation, and the vital role that God’s Word has to our continued new walk. The final link comes from the greatest authority of them all:  our Jesus Christ. Please turn with me to Matthew 4:4.

Matthew 4:4 (NKJV) But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

Jesus says God’s Word is necessary for spiritual life as vitally as bread was for their survival. So we could apply Mt. 4:4 by saying that:

6. Following Christ is Hungering After His Word

Jesus compared God’s Word to food (“man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word of God”). Jesus said we are not really living if we only feed our physical bodies and not our spiritual dimension. Jesus said we need to eat every day; and our spiritual lives are to be as consistent a part of our daily plans as eating.

Jesus goes on to compare salvation to food. Those who eat of Him are saved. Look onward at John 6.  Jesus said He was the bread of God (Jn. 6:35), those who ate Him live forever.

Jesus says salvation is eating and drinking Him by faith through receiving His Word.

John 6:35 (NKJV) And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

Then He said that what we eat are His words. Look at this amazing passage.

John 6:63-68 (NKJV) It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

Now turn onward to John 8:31,37,43,51 (NKJV):

1. 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” [Three elements: believers are those who abide/remain in Christ’s words; believers know/experience the truth of Christ’s words; believers are set free through believing/acting upon the truth of Christ’s words.]
2. 37 “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. 43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. [Three elements: Christ’s word remains in true believers; true believers desire to hear Christ’s words; true believers stand on the truth of Christ’s words within them.]
3. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? 47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.” 51 Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.” [Three elements: believers know Christ’s words are true; believers hear/respond to Christ’s words; believers are eternally saved by clinging to Christ as truth.]

That is why the early church taught that hearing & believing God’s Word leads us to salvation, and to partaking of Christ. As only physical food enters our body and nourishes it, to sustain our lives: so our souls are only fed by God’s Word entering into our minds.

How did we believe on Christ? Through His Word.

How did we receive Christ? Through His Word.

How do we obey Christ? Through His Word.

How do we follow Christ? Through His Word.

How do we please Christ? Through His Word.

How do we know Christ better and better? Through His Word.

7. Following Christ is the Best Life Possible

That is the simple truth.

The place of God’s Word in your mind today dictates your spiritual health as Christ’s follower.

Everything needed for following Him is contained in God’s Word:

Christ’s food and drink to feed us;

Christ’s map to guide us in following Him through life;

Christ’s light to guide us down His pathway;

Christ’s sword to protect us;

Christ’s exercises to strengthen us; and

Christ’s revelation of God’s character to grow us.

John 7:37-38 we go through life overflowing with a life that is not our own, it is Christ’s life through His Spirit overflowing us and splashing onto all the events and people of our life.

John 7:37-38 (NKJV) On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

One of the most afflicted Old Testament saints was Jeremiah. He was called the weeping prophet for a purpose. Jeremiah’s testimony of how he made it through a lifetime of pain, sorrow, loneliness, and discouragement is our closing thought.

Jeremiah 15:16 (NKJV) Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.

Teaching Them How to Follow Christ

1. Following Christ is the Vital Connection Between Salvation & the Rest of Life (Colossians 2:6).
2. Following Christ is Completely tied to God’s Word (Romans 10:13,17)
3. Following Christ starts by God Implanting His Word Inside Us (James 1:21)
4. Following Christ Means a Life of Believing & Obeying God’s Word (1 Peter 1:22-2:3).
5. The Life of Following Christ is Fed by God’s Word (Matthew 4:4).
6. Following Christ is Hungering After His Word (John 6:35, 63-68; 8:31,37,43,51).
7. Following Christ is the Best Life Possible (John 7:37-38; Jeremiah 15:16 ).

Slides