Pastor's Pulpit

Praise the Lord for another good Sunday. Several visitors with us Sunday morning. The following message was preached in the morning service:

Will You Follow Jesus?

Matt. 4:18-20

We sing the song in our hymn books, " I have decided to follow Jesus. " So often we sing songs without considering the meaning of the words. Notice the words, " I have decided to follow Jesus, No turning back, no turning back. " Are you following Jesus today?
In our text, the Lord Jesus found men who had been catching fish. Peter and Andrew - this was their occupation, their trade. The Bible says in vs. 18, ..." for they were fishers."
Now the Lord calls them to fish for men. Jesus said in vs. 19, " Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. " There response is in vs. 20, They immediately follow Him, there was no hesitation on their part, they left all and followed Him. Jesus said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men and He did. I ask you the question again, Will you follow Jesus? What does it mean to follow Him? In the song we sing, I have decided to follow Jesus:

I. There is a decision to be saved.

I have decided to follow Jesus. It is the Lord Jesus Who transforms our lives. We were not concerned about fishing for men before we were saved. Our lives were wrapped up in our own desires, our goals, other things. We were concerned about ourselves.
I came to Christ when I was 18 years old. My life was wrapped up in what pleased me. There was no concern for God or eternity. I was lost, a sinner, and that is what everyone is, a sinner. ( Romans 3:23 )
When I got saved, I wanted others to be saved. I wanted my brothers, my sister, my dad, and I wanted to be sure my mother was saved. I started witnessing to my friends. I began to be concerned about whether people I knew were saved or not. Why? Because God had made a change in my heart, and he was making me a fisher of men. When we begin to follow Jesus, He makes us fishers of men. Dr. Clarence Sexton said, " If we are not fishers of men, it is obvious that we are not following Him. " If we were, what concerns Him will concern us. The Lord is concerned for lost people. The Lord said, " Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. " But you can't follow Him unless you know Him. We must belong to Him. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour? Are you saved? You say, I don't believe anyone can know that. Well, lets see what the Bible says about that. Look at I John 5: 10-13, God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son, hath not life. What kind of life? Eternal life according to vs. 11. Read vs. 13 again, I have a definite know so salvation, not a hope so, or maybe salvation. He says, " that ye may know.." that ye have, not will have or may have, but present tense, Now I have! So if I am going to follow Jesus, I must know Him. I must belong to Him. We follow Christ and He gives us joy. ( John 15:11 )
I made a conscious decision to follow Jesus, I am saved by His marvelous grace.

II. There is decision to be Separated unto Him.

The 2nd verse of the song, Though none go with me, still I will follow...
We have been given a Great commission by our Lord. We are to go into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature. We don't have to worry about whether people will invite us in, we must go. Today the world is so indifferent to the gospel, but some will listen and some will be saved.
It is our responsibility as Christians to tell them about Jesus Christ. Christ is our example, ( I Peter 2:21, 23 ) He is our perfect example in suffering, ( vs. 21 ) When He suffered on the cross, He said, " Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. " When He was reviled, He reviled not. He did no sin, ( vs. 23 ) The Bible says we should walk in His footsteps, Jesus is our example in living the Christian life. He was shamefully abused, they spit in His face, they beat Him, they scourged Him, they mocked Him, He did it all for you and me. He is our example in suffering. Are you willing to suffer for Him? He was mistreated and forsaken by even His friends. In John 6, as Jesus saw the multitudes walk away, He turned to His disciples and said, " Will ye also go away? " They left Him because they could not endure His teaching. Some deserted Him because of the fear of man. Proverbs says, " The fear of man bringeth a snare. " Some will not be saved, because they are afraid of what others will say about it. If you are going to follow Jesus, you must be willing to separate yourself from those who appear to be your friends, but in reality they aren't. Some will not follow Jesus because they are wrapped up in the world. Pleasure and sin have blinded them. In II Tim. 4:10, Paul said Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. There will be many who will not follow Jesus, because they loved things, people, even their own selves more than they loved the Lord.

III. There must be a decision to surrender all to Him.

The last verse of the song says, The world behind me, the cross before me, No turning back, no turning back. Jesus gave His life a ransom for us. ( Mark 10:45 ) He gave His all for us. He bought us with His precious blood. ( I Cor. 6:19-20 ) Vs. 20 says, we are bought with a price, so we should glorify God with our body and spirit which are God's. Since we belong to Him, we should surrender all to Him. We should follow Him, where He leads us, whether it is temptations sore, through sacrifices, through trials, Notice our text, vs 20, they gave up their fishing boats, nets, all immediately, they didn't hang on to them and wait and see if the ministry that Jesus had for them would work out. They burned their bridges behind them. They left all to follow Jesus. Total commitment. Where is the commitment today? We wonder why we are not reaching our generation for Christ. What have you and I given up for the Lord? What have we suffered , or endured for the Gospel? How much have you sacrificed for the Lord? Be honest, have we really given up anything? Have we suffered, have we surrendered all?
I believe if we truly surrender all to Him, we will be like Jesus. We will copy His life of consecration. We will pray, we will give, we will serve others. We will copy His life of compassion. Jesus wept over the hurting, over the lost. When was the last time you wept over a lost soul? When was the last time you spent a night in prayer for others? We need to get out of our comfort zone, and pay the price to follow Jesus. The song says, The world behind me and the cross before me... That cross means death, we must die to self. Are you following Jesus? There must be a decision to be saved, a decision to be separated unto Him, and there must be a decision to surrender all to Him. Will you follow Jesus, with no turning back, no turning back?

God bless,
Pastor Taylor