Title: Victory through Suffering/Mark 8:31-35
Contents
From the age of 12, Jesus went up to Jerusalem every year to keep the Passover. However, when he entered Jerusalem to keep the last Passover, he rode in on a colt that he had never ridden before. People waved palm branches, praising Hosanna, the one who comes in the name of the Lord. When we were celebrating Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, the Pharisees and those who had negative thoughts about Jesus asked the disciples to be quiet. Then Jesus said, "If these people keep silent, the stones will cry out" (Luke 19:40). He said that it is natural to praise the entrance of Jesus and that all things in nature will also be praised.
It can be said that Jesus entering Jerusalem is a triumphant entry by carrying up the cross and resurrecting at the end. During this week, while praying with blood and sweat in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is sold by kissing his beloved Judas. He was tried by Pilate, and later died on a cross with his hands and feet nailed to a cross on Golgotha. Three days after his burial, he was resurrected with an empty tomb.
When Jesus said, "I will suffer now, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and rulers, and be put to death, and on the third day I will rise again" (Mark 8:33). How can you be dead? It can't be." At that time, Jesus rebuked him, saying, "You are thinking not of God's things, but of men. Go away, Satan." And he said, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it." . He taught us important truths of Christianity.
Christianity is the religion that saved us through the death of sinless Jesus on the cross for us when human beings were on the verge of destruction. This is called the religion of salvation. What sets Christianity apart from other religions is that it is a substitutionary religion that forgives our sins. I know that we need to renew our faith by realizing this important truth that Jesus suffered and died on the cross and then rose again on the third day to save us during the Holy Week.
Today, we are going to divide our thoughts into three under the title of 'Victory through Suffering'.
1. True life can only be obtained by paying the price of suffering.
When we heard that Jesus would suffer and be resurrected on the third day after He died on the cross, our teacher said that it was impossible in the Old Testament concept of the Messiah that Peter would save the Jews without suffering or death. He said, "Go away, Satan." There is no glory without suffering. It was not humanly possible to suffer, but God made the innocent Jesus shed on the cross and paid the price of suffering for us, so that we can be free from our sins and be saved. This is what you did during a difficult week.
Leviticus 17:11 says that blood is life. This is the truth of blood, the truth of redemption, that the blood of the sinless Jesus shed His blood on the cross for the sake of fallen human beings who had no choice but to die because of our sins, and that blood renews us and obtains salvation . The truth of the resurrection of the cross makes us realize that without blood we cannot forgive our sins. Therefore, when we confess the blood of Jesus Christ with faith, the blessing of resurrection comes, the blessing of life comes, and the blessing of the soul. Those who do not believe in the truth of Christ's resurrection do not know what the blessings will be afterward. They don't know what grace is.
When you go to the Pohang Works, red iron ore is piled up like a mountain, and this iron ore goes into a hot blast furnace and comes out as very good quality iron. The iron that enters the hotter furnace and exits becomes steel. In the same way that precious metal becomes valuable only when it enters and exits from a fire that is over a thousand degrees Celsius, we humans also receive new life only through suffering.
You have to pay the price of suffering you have to bear to get a new life and live a worthwhile life. This is the principle of life. It is the truth of salvation. You cannot be saved unless you avoid suffering and take up the cross. You cannot get new life. We must realize the great truth of Christianity that allows us to receive new life of resurrection through the cross of suffering. If you ignore the cross of suffering and just talk about blessings, you are not entering the right place of faith. Please believe in the truth that Jesus Christ died for us so that we can receive new life in the resurrection.
2. The victory of true life comes from self-denial.
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life through me and the gospel will save it."
It is said that if a grain of wheat falls to the ground and remains there, it will not bear fruit, but if it falls to the ground and dies, it will bear fruit tenfold.
Our church insists on a positive faith. Positive faith is not so vague. When I deny myself, on the contrary, I enter a positive place. What is denying me? To deny my covetousness, my lust, my lust. People who live according to their instincts will inevitably become like garbage. Denying the sinful element brings us closer to the Lord, step by step. That is self-denial. But today many people hate self-denial.
Moses was a man of great victory who denied himself. In Exodus 32:32, it says, "If you agree, now forgive their sins. If not, please blot out my name from the book you have written." Even if he erased his name from the book of life, Moses became a great victor when he had his own denial to save my people.
Please believe that today, when someone denies themselves and takes up the cross, there will be people who gain life and live a life of ultimate victory.
3. The way of true discipleship is that we receive the glory of resurrection when we take up the cross.
Jesus entered Jerusalem to take up the cross and gain the victory of resurrection.
Jesus Christ bore the sins of the world, shed His blood on the cross, and received the glory of resurrection. Neither Confucius nor Shakyamu shed a drop of blood for us. So is Muhammad. Because they are sinners just like us. Only Jesus, at the age of 33, redeemed us and rose from the dead by shed His blood on the cross in a sinless body. There is no resurrection without death on the cross. No Cross No Crown
Finally, I would like to tell you a story I heard from a Sunday School teacher when I was a child.
For the glory of my neighbor, my brother, the church, and God, when you deny yourself and take up the cross, you will receive the life of resurrection and realize that there is victory. I bless you in the name of the Lord that you will become witnesses.