"Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." Jesus speaking Mark 8:34

Part 4

Whoever wants to be a disciple of Jesus must lovingly and willingly “deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me”, Jesus speaking in Mark 8:35.

Once saved we will set about the work that God had prepared beforehand (Eph 2:10). In our own strength we cannot do the things that God wants and so as our Comforter and Guide Jesus has sent His Holy Spirit to indwell us, and then we can say, with Paul, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil 4:13). God will then lead us on a journey from glory (saved) to glory (more like Jesus).

In believing on Jesus we must believe all that He taught (Matt 28:20). A lot of Jesus’ teachings are contained in the Sermon on the Mount, for example:-

• Love our enemies
• Bless those who curse you
• Do good to those who hate you
• Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you
• Resist not evil

Elsewhere we are taught to:-

• Not pick up the sword (use violence) ( Matt 26:52)
• To submit to the governing authorities (do not rebel) (Romans 13:1)
• Live as sojourners or pilgrims on this earth as our home is heaven (1 Peter 2:11, Phil 3:20)
• Trust God (Romans 15:12, 1 Tim 4:10)

This raises a question:-

Do we need to love our enemies to be saved?

Do we need to do good to those who hate us to be saved?

Do we need to submit to the government to be saved?

The answers are of course no. To be saved we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. However once we are saved what would our answers be to the same questions? We do need to love our enemies etc and to do this God has given us His Holy Spirit.

If you see brethren who are not obeying Jesus’ teachings then they need to be taken aside and taught the word of God more fully. For example if a gang member gets saved we would not expect them to continue carrying a knife or gun for protection but to trust God instead. If he is truly regenerate he will lay the gun down willingly and follow his loving Saviour.

But what if he doesn’t? Well certainly he will be at least in rebellion towards God but at worst he could be in danger of losing his salvation by following himself rather than his Saviour. He may be on the road to establishing a gospel for himself that does not accord with the scriptures; he may be on the road to following another Jesus. Hebrews 6:1-6 contains a stark warning.

So having been saved by faith let us continue our salvation in trust. Yes we will all sin but we have an Advocate who is just and faithful to forgive us our sins if we confess our sins to Him (1 John 2:1, 1:9).