Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church · Sermon study sheet

Jesus - Willing to die for you

Bryan Schneider · July 1, 2023

Mark 10:28-34

sharonrpc.org/sermons/jesus-willing-to-die-for-you

Summary

Jesus promises that those who leave treasured relationships or possessions for him and the gospel receive a new covenant family, persecutions in this age, and eternal life in the age to come.
He does not preach health and wealth; he tells disciples to count the real cost of following him.
As Jesus goes before the disciples toward Jerusalem, his deliberate pace and resolve amaze and frighten them.
Jesus predicts in detail that he will be betrayed, condemned, handed to Gentiles, mocked, scourged, spat upon, killed, and raised on the third day.
His death is not an accident: the Son knows the Father's plan and willingly sacrifices himself because he loves the Father and his people.
The resurrection is essential to Christian hope and confirms that Christ's saving work, promises, and justification of his people are true.
Christ's determined love calls believers to trust, follow, obey, sacrifice, endure persecution, and value eternal fellowship with him above this life.

What three promises does Jesus give to those who leave all for him and the gospel?
How does Jesus' detailed prediction show that his death was willing rather than accidental?
What motivated Jesus to keep walking toward betrayal, shame, suffering, and death?
Why would Christian faith be futile if Christ had not risen?
Do my choices show that I actually believe Jesus is risen, reigning, and worthy of allegiance?
What possession, relationship, reputation, or comfort am I reluctant to sacrifice for Christ?
Do I desire eternal life chiefly as enjoyment of gifts or as unending fellowship with Jesus?

Cost of discipleship: The relationships, possessions, reputation, comfort, or safety a person may lose by faithfully following Jesus.
Son of Man: Jesus' title for himself as the promised royal figure who nevertheless goes willingly to suffering, death, and resurrection.
Foreknowledge: Jesus' full awareness of what awaited him in Jerusalem and of the Father's saving plan.
Sacrificial love: Love that knowingly accepts real loss and suffering for the good of another.
Resurrection: Jesus' bodily rising from death on the third day, the ground of the believer's living hope.
Justification: God's gracious acceptance of sinners as righteous because of Christ's obedience and satisfaction, received through faith.