Follow Me

Q: What does the Bible say about following Jesus?

The Bible teaches that following Jesus means responding to His call and becoming His disciple. Following Jesus is a profound biblical concept that entails not just a physical act of following Him, but a deeper commitment to live according to His teachings and example. In Matthew 9:9, Jesus calls Matthew, a tax collector, saying, 'Follow me.' This call signifies a transformative relationship where one leaves behind their former ways and embraces a life dedicated to Christ. The act of following Christ involves acknowledging Him as Lord and Savior, recognizing His authority, and committing to the life He calls us to lead—one filled with faith, obedience, and service to others as a reflection of His love.

Q: How do we know Jesus is God?

Jesus is recognized as God through scripture that affirms His divine nature and authority. The divinity of Jesus is a central doctrine of historic Reformed theology, supported by numerous scripture passages that affirm His nature as God. In John 1:1, it states, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' This establishes Jesus not only as a messenger but as God Himself. Additionally, Jesus' actions, such as forgiving sins (Mark 2:5) and asserting His unity with the Father (John 10:30), further authenticate His divine identity. The very name 'Jesus,' meaning 'Savior,' signifies His mission and divine role in redemption, reflecting the belief that He is the eternal Son of God who became incarnate.

Q: Why is preaching important for Christians?

Preaching is crucial for Christians as it is the means God uses to convey His message of salvation. Preaching holds a vital place in the church's life as appointed by God for the edification and salvation of believers. According to scripture, it 'pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe' (1 Corinthians 1:21). This highlights that the spoken word of God carries power and authority intended to reach the hearts of individuals, confronting them with their need for salvation and the grace found in Christ. Preaching serves to illuminate the gospel, instruct believers in truth, and call sinners to repentance, reinforcing the personal nature of God's interaction with individuals through His chosen instruments.

Q: How does God see us according to the Bible?

The Bible teaches that God sees all and knows each individual's heart and circumstances. Scripture emphasizes that God's perception transcends human understanding; He sees and knows everything about us. Psalm 139:1-4 illustrates this beautifully, stating, 'O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.' This insight suggests that God’s knowledge is both comprehensive and intimate. Not only does He see our actions and thoughts, but He also understands our deepest needs and struggles, prompting us to come before Him with honesty and humility. This truth can provide comfort and assurance, knowing that we are fully known and loved by God.

Q: What role does grace play in salvation?

Grace is fundamental to salvation, as it is by grace we are saved through faith, not by our works. In Reformed theology, grace is understood as the unmerited favor of God toward sinners, which is absolutely central to the doctrine of salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 states, 'For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.' This underscores that salvation is entirely a work of God, initiated and completed by Him, with our faith merely being the means through which we receive this gift. Understanding grace is transformative, reshaping how we see our relationship with God—not as a checklist of tasks to earn His favor, but as a gracious invitation to rest in Christ's finished work.

and be made complete. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. There to my heart was the blood
of my Lord. Glory to His name. We sing hymns because God told
us to. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing. Sing. God says that throughout
His Word. Sing unto the Lord. Let everything
that hath breath praise the Lord. If you can't sing, make a joyful
noise, mild words, something, young people, everybody. Sing
unto the Lord. Sing. That's why we do that.
Not because it's a tradition, but because God says so. Sing
unto the Lord. Make your children sing these
hymns. May God someday make them sing
from the heart. Sing unto the Lord. That's why
we do this. We do what God tells us to do.
Everything we do, we try to do in keeping with God's Word. Our
form of worship, the way we worship, is in keeping with God's Word.
Now we come to this thing called preaching, which the world calls
foolishness, which the world is pretty much doing away with. But Scripture says it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe, and
to those which are saved, being saved. The preaching of the gospel
is the power of God. Though just men, this is a mystery. This is an absolute mystery.
How that God uses this thing called preaching. But God doesn't
speak out loud anymore. God doesn't speak. As a matter
of fact, God never did to the people. He never did. He always spoke through the prophets,
didn't he? God never spoke out loud to the people. He always
spoke through the prophets. Oh, God has, in these last days,
spoken. He spoke out loud through his
sons. Everybody heard the sons speak,
didn't they? God says he gave some prophets,
some apostles, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, and
he speaks. It's a mystery, so may God be
pleased to speak if he doesn't. Matthew chapter 9, a very simple
message, one verse. But if God is pleased to use
it, God is pleased to speak, my, my. It could be life from
the dead, from dead. If I had an outline, those of
you who take notes, if I had an outline, it would be this.
The caller, the called, the call, and the answer. But I don't have
an outline. So that was it, if I had one. Matthew 9, one verse, look at
it. As Jesus passed forth from thence,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom. And
he saith unto him, follow me. And he arose and followed him. Now, this is the story of the
Lord of glory. Yeah, that's his name. It means something. It means
Savior. That's his earthly name. That's the name God told Mary
and Joseph to give him. It means something. It means
Savior, but this is, we see Jesus made a little lower than the
angel for the suffering of death, but this is none other than God manifested in the flesh. The
Lord of glory. This is the Lord of glory. the
story of him coming into this world to seek and to find his
elect. That's what this gospel is about. The good news, the stories recorded
by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are all about this one who came. Why he came? He came to do his
father's will. What was that? that of all which
God had given him, he would lose none of them. He came to seek.
See, they're already lost, and he came to find them. He said,
I am come to seek and to save that which was lost. And this is the story, this one
brief line of this Lord of glory finding one of his lost sheep. And the man doesn't know he's
lost, but the Lord finds him. calls him, and from this day
forward, this sheep is following him. May the Lord be pleased
to do that to someone today. Matthew 9. Now look at verse
8. It says, Now when the multitudes
saw his miracle, he had just healed a man of the palsy, and
he first forgave his sins, the greater miracle the more difficult
miracle. He forgave his sins, but he raised
this man from his bed. And when the multitude saw it,
they marveled and glorified God, which hath given such power unto
man. Did they glorify God? Did they really glorify God? Did they? If you don't honor
the Son, you don't honor the Father. Did these people glorify
the Lord Jesus Christ? Did they believe him? Did they
follow him? No. They marveled at power God had
given unto men. That's it. They were amazed by his power.
They were taken up with his healing power and so forth. And glory
to God. And men should glorify God. But
if you don't honor the Son as God, you don't honor the Father. Is
that significant? Is that relevant today? Oh, yes. There are whole denominations.
One calls itself Witnesses of Jehovah. Another calls itself
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And on and on we could
go, who pretend to honor God, Jehovah, the Lord, but they don't
believe that Jesus Christ is God. Ask them. Ask them. They don't believe
he's God any more than these people believed he was God. Matter
of fact, they got mad at him when he said he was God. Said, you're just a man. You
make yourself God. No, they had it all wrong. They
got it backwards. He was God. He made himself a
man. Not splitting hairs here, this
is the difference between life and death, salvation and damnation.
The difference between being merely religious in the name
of God and knowing God in Jesus Christ. No man has seen the Father
at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. He that
hath seen Christ hath seen God. He that hath not seen Christ
in all his glory, in all his deity, hath not seen God. Does it know God? The multitude
marveled. Once again, the multitude followed
him. Why? They weren't following him,
they were following the crowd. Does that sound familiar? They
were following the crowd. You know, if you've ever seen
this done, just go stand on the street corner and look up for
something. And somebody person somebody
else will come along and look at. Somebody else when for longer
be a whole crowd of people what what we're doing. What we're
doing nobody knows it is part of the crowd. You see a crowd
of people a multitude of people around something what do you
do. What's going on here. Like moths to a light or bugs
to a lot of people following the crowd. And that's what they did. Multitudes. It says they followed him. Chapter
8, verse 1. It came down from the mountain.
Great multitudes followed him. See that? Were they following
him? No, sir. No, they were not following him.
They were following the crowd. But now the Lord is going to
call a man, and he's going to follow him. See, many are called, many are called to children. When will a man, when will a
young person, when will a woman really fall in love with God,
with Christ, become a disciple, and Christ is her life? Well with man, this is impossible.
No preacher can do this. Parents can't do this for their
children. A husband, a wife. A husband can't do it for a wife
or vice versa. Nobody can. Nobody can. Only if God, by his powerful
voice, speaks. Speaks. Only God can bring a
prodigal to himself. Well, it says in chapter nine,
verse nine, it says that Jesus passed forth from thence. He
left the multitude. Once again, do you see what we're
getting at here? The Lord left the multitude.
The Lord doesn't save by numbers. The Lord doesn't Barnard used to say, we can't
gang up on God. We're not heard very much speaking
in a multitude of people. All these people gather together,
have this big rally, a thousand million man march or whatever
it is, a promise keeper. We'll all gang up and all of
us get together and raise our voices. Surely God will hear
us. No, not necessarily. The Lord saves people individually. The Lord deals with people individually. The Lord speaks personally. one-on-one
to people. That's how the Lord deals with
people. They may be in a crowd. As a matter of fact, most of
the time when he speaks to them, they are in a multitude. They're
in a crowd. But when he speaks to them, they
feel like they're the only one there. The Lord deals with individuals.
And though they're in a crowd like Zacchaeus, the Lord was
in a vast multitude of people around him, and the Lord walked
under a particular tree because there was a certain man
up the tree. And it says, the Lord stopped and looked up. That's
why he came. That's why he passed that way.
There's a vast crowd around him, a multitude, but the Lord spoke
and called one man out of his tree. The Lord was walking through
a vast multitude of throng, and they were thronging him. They
were brushing up against him and all that. They were handling
him and reaching out and touching him and all of that, like people
do a famous person. And the Lord was walking, and
he stopped. He said, Somebody touched me. And the disciples said, What
do you mean? What do you mean somebody touched you? Everybody
here is touching you. He said somebody touched me. One of my own. He was going to call on her to
confess him. He was in the midst of crowds
constantly. He said, come unto me. What do
you mean come unto me? Here we are. Come unto me. He came down from that mountain.
Multitudes followed Him. And it says, there came a leper. He came to Christ. He wasn't
following the crowd. He wasn't interested in the miracle.
He came to Christ. Now, the Lord passed forth from
the fence. Verse 9, look at it. Jesus passed
forth once again. Jesus. Who is this Jesus? Who
is this? Our brother Elm was a preacher
in Isaiah 63 in Houston. Who is this that comes? I'm sure
of it. The dyke garment. The deposit. This is glorious. Traveling in the greatness. Who
is this? I speak in righteousness. I need
to say it. Who is this? Who is this? Jesus. Jesus. His name means Savior. As we said, this is why he came. He said that down here in this
same chapter, he says, I am come to call sinners to repentance,
come to seek and to save that which is lost. Who is this? Well,
this is He, the eternal Son of God, who was with the Father,
Creator of the world. Yes, in the beginning was the
Word. The Word was with God. The Word
was God. All things were made by Him.
And without Him was not anything made which was made. The same
was in the beginning with God. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Who
is this? Jesus. He's the Covenant Head. Who is
this? This is the Covenant Head. Did you read the article, Covenant?
Sounds like so much doctrine, doesn't it? He's talking about
Christ, the doctrine of Christ, the covenant head, the covenant
head, the one God put in the head of this covenant, this purpose
that He made, the head of the covenant, the surety of the elect,
sent by the Father to save those given to Him by the Father, given
in a covenant before the world began. Who is this? Jesus? Well, this is the one
whom angels praise. Yeah, he let the angels of God
praise him. He let everything praise him. Bow down to him. This is whom
angels take their praise. Jesus. Who is this? This is he of whom the prophets
wrote. He of whom the prophets wrote,
everything testifies of Him. Who is this? Well, then the angels
announced, this is Emmanuel, this is God with us. Call His name Jesus, because
it means Savior. It says, Jesus passed on. Passed on. Sing this song. Passing
by this moment. Sounds like a simple He's passing by. Well, he passed
by. He passed by. Many people missed him. The vast
majority of the people missed him. They missed him. But it says here in verse 9,
he saw a man. Our Lord was passing by, and
it says, he saw a man. This is the Lord of glory who
has come to seek and to save his lost sheep. The great shepherd
of the sheep has come to seek and to save his lost sheep, and
he finds one. He finds one he came to call,
one he came to save. It says, he saw this man, the
Lord passing by, and he saw this man sitting at this table, this
tax collector, this publican, sitting at the receipt of customs,
sitting at his tax-collecting table. He saw the man. Does it
mean he just, well, there you are? No. It means so much more
than that. The Scripture says this in Psalm
11 verse 4, the Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord's throne
is in heaven, and His eyes behold, His eyelids try the sons of men. God sees everything. Now the
world, the wicked, unbeliever, all, they don't acknowledge that,
they don't think about that, they think they're hidden. God
seeth not. Scripture says that quite a bit.
People say, how does God see? He doesn't see it yet. They do
things in darkness. Most evil sin and so forth takes
place in darkness, under the cover of darkness. There is no
cover of darkness with God. Scripture says that darkness
and light are all alike to God. He seeth. His eyes behold. His
eye is triumphant. He sees it all. Nothing covered,
nothing hidden. All things are naked and open
before the eyes of Him with whom someday we're going to have to
do. Listen to this. All things are naked and open
before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. We don't want
to deal with God, don't want to face Him, but we're going
to have to. We're going to have to. His eyelids try. God sees all.
God knows all. That's the reason it's best to
come absolutely clean before God. Nothing's hidden anyway.
Might as well confess it. But now, when it says here that
God, that Christ saw this man, it means so much more than that. It means the same thing as when
Hagar called his name. You know the story of Hagar?
Look at it again. I did recently. It says Hagar
was running and hiding, but it says the Lord came seeking her
and found her and called her and spoke to her and met her
need and spoke peace to her heart and caused her to return back
to her home. Hagar. And she said, she called his
name, the name of the Lord, Thou God seest me. Looked on me. And Lord God looked on her with
mercy and grace. And that's what this He saw a
man. That's what happened here. This
is the Lord of Glory. This is God Almighty. This is
the Creator, the Judge of all the earth. He's come into this
world seeking to save his lost sheep. And here he comes. And
there he is, one of his lost sheep. He has him exactly where
he put him, on purpose, in order for him to encounter this man
and deal with this man one on one. And he saw it. He looked
on him. with mercy and love and grace. Oh my, the Lord of glory, saw
man. Name Matthew. There are no Matthews in here,
are there? No Matthews in here. It's a good
name. My wife, if we'd ever had a son,
she wanted to name him Matthew. She liked the name. I didn't
realize what it meant, really, until I looked it up. Matthew
means gift of Jehovah. Christ came and looked on one
given to him by the Father. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Gift of Jehovah, that's what
it means. Given. He said in John 6 to the
multitude, once again, he said, You've seen me and believe not. But all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me. I came down from heaven, he says,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone would
see it the Son and believe. He'll raise him up. This is the
will. All which he hath given me I would lose nothing. This
is God's will. Who'd Christ come to save? Everybody
that led him? Who did Christ come to save?
He tried to save everybody, every human being. He laid down his
life for... No, sir. He laid down his life for the
sheep. He came, he said, I know my sheep and am known of mine. Not until he reveals himself.
But he knows his sheep. And it says a good shepherd in
John 10. The whole chapter is about that. Christ said, I am
the shepherd. Turn there. Let's go ahead and
turn there. I am the shepherd. John, chapter 10. Don't take
my word for it, but this is what Christ said. John, chapter 10. Look at this. This great story. John, chapter 10. Look at verse
4. He says that the great shepherd,
when he put forth his own sheep, he goeth before them. That is,
he leads them. And the sheep follow him. They
know his voice. He said in verse eleven, I am
the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Verse fourteen, I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep,
and am known of mine. That's why he came to make himself
known to the sheep. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Verse 26, he said to some of
those, that crowd following him, you believe not because you're
not my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice. I know them. I foreknew them
before the world began. And they follow me. And I give
unto them eternal life. I give it. I do it all. I give
unto them eternal life. So by grace you say, it's a gift. given by the Father to Christ
to save, and all that he did he gives to them, and they'll
never perish. They're my sheep, he said, the
Father which gave them me. The Father gave him his sheep.
This Matthew is one given to him by the Father, by Jehovah. Matthew. Good naming. Holy naming. His parents said one day when
this baby boy was born, he's a pretty baby, isn't he? A sweet
baby. He's a special baby. All mothers think that about
their babies, especially about their sons. Well, Mama, he just might grow
up to be another Charles Manson. If not by the grace of God, he
will. Well, his mother, Matthew's mother, said, he's a good baby,
sweet baby. He's a special boy. You just
don't know, Mama. You just don't know. What do
we name him, Dad? How about Matthias, Mattathiah in
Hebrew? Gift of Jehovah. Good name. Because this man was given to
Christ by Jehovah in that covenant before the world began. But he's
lost until Christ finds him. And it says, he came and he looked
upon this man. He saw a man named Matthew sitting
at the receipt of customs. He saw this man named Matthew
sitting at the receipt of custom. He was sitting, he wasn't standing.
Once again, every word is significant. He was sitting, he was not standing,
he was not walking, he was not speaking, he was not searching,
he was not looking, he was not doing anything but sitting at
a money table, waiting on the money to roll in. You know what he was doing. filling
out his ledger, counting his money. When the Lord of Glory came by
and found this man, he found him sitting. And Psalm 1, verse 1 says this,
blessed is the man. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." The ungodly, that is, those without
God. Ungodly means without God. Ungodly. Don't want God, don't believe
God, don't need God, don't call on God, don't seek God, don't
do this. In the seat of the scorner, scorner means scoffer, mocker,
despiser. You've seen people sitting around.
What do they do? Anybody just sitting around all
the time is mouthing off. If you just sit around long enough,
you'll start, you've got nothing better to do than to talk. Right? Mouth off. Sitting in the seat
of the scornful. I don't believe in that stuff.
Do you believe that stuff? What do those old men do when they
sit down in front of the bank, on the benches? I don't know
if they do that. When I was a kid, they used to
do that. Benches all along the front of the bank. And men would
sit there, or in the park, they'd sit there. What are they doing?
Mouthing off. Talking. What are they talking
about? They're not talking about God. They're talking about people. Full of pride, sitting down,
scorning, scoffing, mocking, deriding, and so forth. Mouthing
off. That's what people do when they sit around. Listen to this. Listen to this. Psalm 10 verse
4 says, The wicked, that is the ungodly, the unbelievers, the
unthankful, those who don't give a flip for God Almighty, don't
give God a thought. The wicked. That's who God calls
wicked. through the pride of his countenance,
will not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts.
Verse eight says he sits in lurking places of the village
and so forth. He's sitting there. Sitting there. The seat of the
scornful, the seat of the mocker, sitting at the receipt of custom. At the receipt of custom as I
said this man was waiting on the money to roll in and it meant
that nine out of ten people on this planet. I was talking to. Someone yesterday
who was. Demanding the fact that it's
hard to find people willing to work hard. Work hard hard work
I mean. Hard work. Most people think
hard work is sitting in a.

Follow Me

What does the Bible say about following Jesus?

How do we know Jesus is God?

Why is preaching important for Christians?

How does God see us according to the Bible?

What role does grace play in salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Follow Me

What does the Bible say about following Jesus?

How do we know Jesus is God?

Why is preaching important for Christians?

How does God see us according to the Bible?

What role does grace play in salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

More from Paul Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Paul Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book