In Luke, chapter 9, Jesus spoke about His Second Coming and who would be called His elect. And in this study, we will be focused on verses 22 through 26. Of which Jesus said, “saying, the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9:22-26) So here we have some great clues as to what Jesus is looking for in true believers. There are no phony’s that are or ever will be saved, so the Lord God gave us what we needed here to know if we are on His side. So remember to take these verses to heart if you say that you area believer in Jesus. I say this since He is looking for people who don’t just go to church but are unafraid to tell others about Jesus in conversation. This is because their way of living is now in the Lord’s hands and that has given them the joy they need to carry on valiantly for Him, even our God, in this life. Now, we will break down what Jesus said in these verses, for this is vital for our salvation.
The first thing that Jesus said was to help us understand what He did for us. That “the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.” (Luke 9:22) This is the gospel, for Paul said, “moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) So as Christians we are unafraid to share the truth that Jesus died for our sins and then rose from the dead. That only through Him can we be saved. However, “whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9:26) Therefore, if you believe in Jesus, then you will not be ashamed of sharing the gospel truth about our Lord God to others. And as he said, if you lose your life for his sake, then you shall be saved. This means allowing Him to give you new life, which means to be born again of the Spirit. This is denying ourselves and following Jesus. These are those who are saved and are called God’s elect when Jesus finally returns.
Let us pray:
Lord, I pray that people will not be ashamed to tell others about You. Many times I have tried to ask people what they mean when they say they believe in You, however, the only thing I get back most of the time is that they are not interested. Their faith is private to them. And this does not make any sense to me, Lord, especially if these people are reading the Bible daily. Wouldn’t they know that You told us to not be ashamed to tell people about You? Sharing our faith is having fellowship with others, and it is a good thing. When people are telling others why they live for You and telling them why they believe in You, this encourages people in the faith. Only when people are not willing to talk to people who are sharing their faith, this only discourages them. Wow! I can’t believe how cold people have become when it comes to talking about their faith. It is like they don’t believe that You called us to open our mouths and share the gospel. I wonder if they don’t do this because they think it will start an argument with someone, but having this mentality is so wrong. People like this so often go in and out of church without talking to many people. They go in and out each week, but don’t understand what it means to go to church. We don’t go there for ourselves, but to be nourished by You in Your Word and also to be encouraged in the faith through our fellowship with others. I just wish people would see the importance of sharing their faith with others. I believe in You. I love You. Amen.
