04 Matthew 3:13-4:22 - The King's Demonstration of Kingdom Life

March 05, 2017

Christopher C. Freeman

Title: The King’s Demonstration of Kingdom Life Text: Matthew 3:13-4:22 FCF: We often get confused on what it means to be a follower of Christ Prop: Jesus continued and expanded on the message of John to repent, so we must repent and believe. Scripture Intro: [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Matthew chapter 3. I am exercising a Pastor’s prerogative. Last week I had mentioned that I would take a break from Matthew to preach this morning on repentance. Well today we will preach on repentance. Next week we will preach on repentance. In fact, for the next several weeks we will be preaching on repentance. But it will all come from the book of Matthew. It seems, as I continue to dig in the richness of this book, that this concept is near to the heart of Matthew. Because it was near to the heart of the gospel of Jesus. Today we will endeavor to almost get through 4 chapters of Matthew in 4 weeks. This may lead you to conclude that we are moving at a pace that is a bit faster than we originally anticipated. But I assure you that that is not the case. Matthew is structured in 7 cycles of narrative and discourse. That means that 7 times Matthew tells stories of healings and ministry being done and 7 times flowing from that story, Jesus speaks a sermon. We are quickly approaching now the greatest sermon that has ever been given. The Sermon on the mount and I have no idea how long it will take us to get through it. By way of review, we just learned about a man named John the Baptist, who was the Herald of the King. He was the voice in the wilderness. His message was to change your mind – to turn from your wickedness. To repent. Because God’s Kingdom – His system of running the world – was at hand. It was near. It was here. Today, we will see the Messiah. The King of Kings. The Lord of Lords. He will enter the scene and determine whether John’s message is false. I am in Matthew 3 and I’ll be starting in verse 13. I’ll be reading form the ESV but please follow along in whatever version you have. Sermon Intro: [Slide 2] My typical process for interpreting the text of scripture is to first pray, repenting of any known sin, and asking that God allow His Spirit to illuminate my heart as I read over the words in the text. I then set out to reading the text over and over again to try and gather exactly what the writer is trying to convey to the audience. I try to put myself in their shoes and see the words of the writer from their perspective. After I do this, I add grammatical considerations and then jot down what I think the text means. I usually finish the text that I think completes a layer of thought, and then I go about comparing what I thought the text meant, to what others thought the text meant. Usually study bibles help with this to make sure that you are not missing the point completely. Commentaries are invaluable, especially technical commentaries that dig into the history, grammar, culture, syntax etc. of the book. Every week there are layers I did not see. Layers that I was wrong on, and sometimes there are layers that I think other people are wrong on. But let me tell you, particularly on difficult passages, it is so encouraging to compare your understanding of the text to learned men who have been studying the bible for a long time. It communicates less to the smartness of the guy before you and more to the Divine nature of the Word of God and His Spirit’s ability to allow even me to understand. [Slide 3 (blank)] It was probably quite intimidating for John to know that the Messiah of God would be coming to support the message he preached or to tear it apart. It is difficult enough to stand before you and preach the Word, knowing full-well that if I tell you untruth – I will be judged more strictly. But to have Jesus Christ walk in this room today… Today we will see that Jesus will not only validate John’s message but expand upon it as He demonstrates for us what it means to live the gospel. He is baptized, spirit led, endures temptations and preaches and teaches the message of repentance in word and deed. Healing the hurting and declaring the Kingdom is near. What then is our response? It will have us repent and believe the gospel. It will have us follow our King. Transition: How does Jesus validate John’s message? By His baptism of course. Look with me. I.) Jesus validated John’s message of repentance by being baptized, so we must repent and believe (3:13-15) a. [Slide 4] 13 - The time is now ripe. Jesus is coming to John in the first step to beginning His ministry. b. 14 - But our question is the same as John’s. John tried to prevent Jesus, perhaps as you or I might have too. i. The logic isn’t complicated. 1. If John’s baptism is a symbol of repentance. 2. If John’s baptism is a symbol of the spiritual work of God in someone’s heart to reject their own worldview and adopt God’s worldview. 3. If John’s baptism is for those who have repented – then why is Christ partaking? 4. In fact, John’s logic is sound to its fullest conclusion, whereby he says to Jesus – I need to be baptized by you! 5. I am a sinner. You are not. I am wicked. You are not. John is saying – Baptize me in the Spirit and fire. Bring your baptism upon me. ii. [Slide 5] 15 - What was Jesus’ response? 1. Baptize me anyway. Jesus seems to admit that the logic is air tight. That He doesn’t need to be baptized. In fact, it is He who needs to do the baptizing. So why does he say to keep on with it? 2. It is fitting, it is right 3. To fulfill all righteousness. a. Fulfill means to accomplish b. Righteousness is not justice so much as it is rightness with God producing obedience. 4. What is Jesus talking about? a. Jesus is submitting to the teaching and instruction of John the Baptist. Validating his message. Affirming that it is true. By baptism, although it was not a symbol of His own repentance, it was a symbol of the truth in the way of repentance. b. Jesus was about to begin a ministry of preaching and teaching. Not only will his message be what John has been saying – it will also NOT be the message of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Their message was self-righteousness. Their message was effort and human power. Their message was outward piety. Jesus is baptized to show His approval of the way of repentance, humility, belief and dependence on God. c. Although He does not need baptism since he had no need for repentance – what he does provide for those who would come after Him, is the way of sanctification. In a few moments we will not only see Jesus submitting to the Spirit of God but tempted by Satan himself. The only thing missing from the equation for a successful spiritual walk with God is having a former nature that was depraved. So the life of Kingdom citizens is baptism, Submission to the Spirit and rejection of sin. The only difference in our walk with obedience to God, is repentance of depravity. 5. To put it as short as we can – Jesus’ baptism is to begin the process that John himself alludes to in the gospel according to John chapter 3. Where he says that he must decrease and Jesus must increase. John’s ministry is coming to a close and Jesus’ is beginning. The message will be the same – only with a minor correction, rather than repent and believe on the Messiah – Jesus will be saying Repent and believe on me. Transition: [Slide 6 (blank)] Jesus by being baptized by John began his life of illustration for all who would follow after Him. The first step in this life is repentance and the second is the sign of repentance in baptism. Jesus however, did not need to repent. The evidence for this comes next. II.) Jesus proved that He does not need to repent, but we must repent and believe (3:16-17) a. [Slide 7] 16 - When Jesus came up out of the water, the Triune God made it very plain that Jesus was God and was beginning His ministry i. Came up out – A huge plug for baptism by immersion here, but that isn’t really the scope of what we are doing today. ii. The heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended like a dove. 1. This is actually a fulfillment of Isaiah 42:1 – That God would place His Spirit on His coming chosen servant. 2. What we have here is the Triune God affirming that the GREAT DAY had come. That the ministry of His Messiah was to begin. 3. First we see the Spirit of God, which is not a dove nor did it look like a dove, but that it descended like a dove would descend. Probably slowly and gracefully. So the Spirit literally was placed on Him and rested on Him. He was anointed for ministry by God’s Spirit. iii. [Slide 8] 17 - The voice from heaven – obviously God the Father – says this is my son 1. Psalm 2 prophesies about God calling him a begotten Son. 2. Son does not mean by ancestry. God did not create Jesus when His Spirit came upon Mary. God did not literally have an offspring. 3. The Son of God is a phrase that literally means sharing the same characteristics of God. 4. Judas was called the son of destruction – not that his father’s name was destruction (but how could would that name be  ) but that his life bore the characteristics of destruction. He was a destroyer. 5. Just as Judas was a destroyer – Jesus was God among us. b. What God said about His Son proves that he never needed to repent. i. Also from Isaiah 42:1, we see that God would be delighted in His Son. ii. Here in Matthew we see the father saying that He is well pleased iii. For God to be pleased with a human is impossible let alone for him to be well-pleased with someone. This word means greatly delighted. iv. In other words there is nothing at fault with the One that stood before Him. What does that mean? Well to borrow from what we are learning on Sunday nights… let me put it this way. 1. There was no behavior; thought, feeling, action, or word that He had ever committed that was inconsistent with God’s Worldview. 2. There was no cultural practice He affirmed that was inconsistent with God’s worldview. 3. There was no value He held that was inconsistent with God’s worldview. 4. He had a worldview that was absolutely consistent with God’s worldview. v. Not only did He never sin folks – He was not depraved. There was no sin nature. He was completely, 100% consistent with the Father’s Worldview. His Kingdom. c. How does this draw us to repent and believe? Simply because we are not like Him, which I think is a easy yet difficult conclusion to come to. Easy in that it is easy to prove, difficult in that it is difficult to believe. Transition: [Slide 9 (blank)] The long and the short of it is that if this is not true of Christ – then we are damned. And I realize that is a strong word… That is why I used it. We are damned if Christ succumbed to sin. Which is what makes the next part of the story so gripping. Because Jesus is about to be tempted by the greatest of tempters. And if He falls – it has dire consequences. III.) Jesus demonstrated what repentance and belief is, so we must repent and believe (4:1-11) a. If we take Christ’s steps prior to beginning his ministry as a long illustration of how to live the life of obedience to God. A life of repentance, then what follows is how a normative Christian responds to the leading of supernatural and natural forces in a Christian’s life. b. [Slide 10] 1 - First we see the leading of the Holy Spirit. What is odd here, is that the Holy Spirit led Jesus to be tempted by Satan. i. This goes against the very principles that we teach. To flee temptation. Christ pursued it in accordance with the Spirit’s will. ii. Was it God’s will that Jesus be tempted. It was. But He was not the tempter. But it was His will. We will ask the question why in a moment, but another layer we must consider here is this. iii. So what is at stake here? If Jesus sins… what happens? 1. We tend to think selfishly, so the first thing that springs to mind is that we lose our savior. This is absolutely true. If Jesus sins, there is no hope for mankind. But it is far more dire than that. 2. If Christ sins – then He ceases to be God because God is the opposite of sin. Think about that for just a second. Jesus is part of The God Community. The triune God. 3 persons in 1 being. Question. What happens to a 3 legged stool when one leg is removed? It cannot stand. It falls. 3. If Jesus sins – the universe ends and that is not an over exaggeration. If Jesus gave in to the Devil’s temptations – God would fall. He would be destroyed. The universe in His hands would poof out of existence. In one moment – all things would be nothing. iv. Why would God risk such a cataclysmic event? Why would He risk His own existence for this? 1. Was it really a risk? a. Some say that because Jesus was God, it would have been out of character for Him to have sinned. In other words it was impossible for Him to sin. b. Others say that because Jesus was also Human, he had every opportunity, as Adam did, to be tempted and to fall from outside temptations. c. So who is right. Hard to say really. I personally bounce back and forth between these two positions. Perhaps it is silly for us to even ask such things. Perhaps not. But lets assume the worst. Lets assume that Christ could – being human – have succumbed to the temptations of Satan. 2. What was the purpose for the risk? Was it worth it? a. [Slide 11] 2 - Jesus demonstrates, at great risk, what it means to be obedient to God in the most difficult of human conditions. b. Not many of us can say that we have been without food for 40 days. Our modern science tells us that depending on your starting weight you can fast for this period and beyond. But on average you are looking at a 60 day maximum with plenty of water. The most interesting thing about starvation though, is the effects that it has on a human beyond the simple malnutrition of it. i. Jesus was led to the dessert, a place of blazing sun. Sun gives Vitamin D. However, as the body starves, it stops processing nutrients and vitamins like Potassium and vitamin D. With an abundance of Vitamin D coming in from the sun, and his body not processing it, Jesus no doubt had significantly high blood pressure. ii. He was no doubt quite dehydrated, dealing with dry and cracked skin. iii. Obviously with no fuel his body was no doubt fatigued. iv. And studies show that as a person starves they become more and more depressed. v. What you have then is a tired, aching, hypertension ridden, depressed man who is being tempted by Satan. vi. Not only did the Spirit lead him to the wilderness to be tempted, but to be tempted in the most vulnerable condition a human could be in. c. And yet, He demonstrates repentance, in that he ALWAYS confronts the false worldview of Satan and compares it to the truth which is the worldview of God. i. Jesus is in the dessert for 40 days and nights – calling back to the 40 years in the wilderness for the Israelites. The 40 days it rained on the earth. The 40 days and nights Moses spent on mount Sinai. ii. This coupled with Jesus’ quotations from the book of Deuteronomy – the law given again after the wilderness wonderings as they stood poised to conquer the promised land. iii. Jesus stands poised to conquer sin and death and secure passage to the promised Kingdom of heaven. To secure such a victory he will be the perfect Israel and keep the law of God. iv. Satan starts his temptations questioning what we just learned to be true at His baptism. Are you truly God among men? He is not doubtful, but he will provide what he thinks that would look like if it were true. Are you truly the Son of God? 1. [Slide 12] 3 - If you were – you would not find yourself in a position of hunger. a. SATAN VOICE: since you are God, and posses all power, you should get whatever you desire. Your desires should be met, even if it takes a miracle. After all, what is a miracle to the God of the Universe? b. We cannot understand what Satan’s true temptation is really, until we understand what Christ says back. c. [Slide 13] 4 - Jesus says that Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. A quote from Deut 8:3 d. Even though being fed is not a sin – God sent Him to this place for this time for this purpose. To ease His suffering in any way would be to live by his physical need and not by the will of God. e. Jesus’ point is that the desire of God does not determine the will of God. – Which to us is a foreign concept. If we want something and have the power to get it we get it. Jesus tells Satan that his view of God is wrong. That he does not function like men. Just as men are subservient to the word of God – So the desires of God are subservient to the will of God. f. [Slide 14] 5 - So Satan takes him to the highest point of the temple some 450 feet above the valley below. 2. If you were –it is not the will of God that you would be harmed. So cast yourself off of here a. He takes what Jesus said about the desire of God being subservient to the will of God and shares a passage of scripture. b. [Slide 15] 6 – This is a quote from Psalm 91. In this passage it is a promise that those who are devoted to God – to follow His will and obey Him – to those people God will not allow them to be harmed. c. SATAN VOICE: God’s words – his will – is that those who obey Him will not be harmed. If it is true that you obey Him perfectly, then prove it. Cast yourself down from here. If it is true you are submitted to Him – He won’t let you get hurt. d. Perhaps you are getting a more cautious view of the nature of Satan. e. [Slide 16] 7 - Jesus Quotes from Deuteronomy 6:16 where he says not to test the Lord your God. The quote is actually a referent to Exodus 17 where the people said – if God was among us He would provide for us by giving us water. Then God provided by Moses hitting the rock to give them water. f. In other words , Jesus is saying that Satan is wrong about what it means to be submissive and obedient to God. Submission and obedience does not rely on proof but on the Word of God alone. g. Just as the Israelites did not actually trust God, nor were they obedient to God by asking if He was truly among them because they thirsted. h. So also, proving that he was a perfect obedient submitter to God by testing God’s promise is evidence in fact that He does not trust or submit to God’s will. i. If He was God’s Son – He would trust God to keep Him safe, and need no proof. v. [Slide 17] 8 - Satan now concedes the point that He is the Son of God. But he offers Jesus something that Jesus would have to endure 3 years of living as a human and endure the wrath of God to get… rule of the world. 1. He takes Jesus to a high mountain – shows Jesus the Kingdoms of the world at their peak and tells Jesus to worship him and all of them will be His. 2. [Slide 18] 9 – SATAN VOICE: – Fine. You are the Son of God. But I know what The Father has promised you. You see what it is like to be one of them? Hungry, depressed, tired. You know what you have to do to free them? To bear the Full Scope of The Father’s wrath. His plan is unnecessary. It is overkill. Stop serving Him and serve me instead, and I will put you in the place that He would have – without all the pain and anguish He is making you go through. 3. [Slide 19] 10 - Jesus replies with a quote from Deuteronomy 6:13 telling him that the only being worthy of worship is Yahweh. 4. Jesus points out that Satan’s view of this world was not God’s view. God exalts the humble and puts down the proud. He gives significance through insignificance. 5. Jesus would need to be made sin and bear the wrath of God to be exalted above every other name and be given the Kingdom. 6. This was the only path because all others were lies. d. [Slide 20] 11 - Having demonstrated the inconsistency between Satan’s worldview and God’s– He walks in obedience to the Word of God and lives victoriously, to the extent that Satan gives up. e. Satan is an eternal being. He never gets tired. He never sleeps. So why did He give up? Perhaps God stopped him – or perhaps he knew to quit while he was behind. f. This provides us with a promise reiterated in James 4- that if we submit ourselves to God (Spirit leading and obedience) and resist the devil (repent of false worldviews) then he will flee from you. g. Then, as Satan alluded to, the angels of God ministered to the needs of Jesus. Because those that are loyal to God will not be harmed. h. So why risk it? Was it worth it? – It was for us Christian. To demonstrate repentance and belief. Dependence on the Spirit and Surrender to God’s Worldview as we actively reject false worldview’s from within ourselves or from outside ourselves. i. But not only that. Not only was he a good example for us… but He was actively providing something for us to depend on . He was providing a perfect life to trade for our imperfect one. j. [Slide 21] And in this victory, the lyrics of the hymn by Charitie Lees Smith ring true. “Because the sinless savior died, my sinful soul is counted free, for God the Just is satisfied, to look on Him and pardon me. “ Transition: [Slide 22 (blank)] The King has demonstrated for us thus far that although he had no need for repentance, he followed the path of repentance, rejecting false ideology and world view and depending on the Words of God to sustain Him through temptation. He did this so that we are able to depend on Him and follow Him. How can we follow someone who asks us to tread where they have not. Christ demonstrates His Kingdom life for us. And now, having demonstrated what it is to be a Kingdom citizen, He goes about preaching the message of kingdom entry. IV.) Jesus continued preaching the message of repentance, so we must repent and believe (4:12-22) a. Jesus’ 3 year ministry is typically divided into 3 separate years. 1 year of obscurity, 1 year of fame, and 1 year of rejection. i. [Slide 23] 12 - The year of obscurity is actually absent from every gospel besides John. So what we see here is a 1 year gap between his temptation and the next events Matthew records. That year is in the book of John chapters 1-4 if you’d care to read about it. ii. So we have some transitional phrases here that have some significance. 1. [Slide 24] 13 - He came back to Galilee from Jerusalem. A fact that we may not know if we did not read John 1-4 2. He moved from Nazareth to Capernaum for his home town. Which we may see why when we get to chapter 13. 3. This area was where Zebulun and Naphtali were given portions from the conquest. Zebulun’s land would be around where Nazareth and Cana were and was part of the area called Galilee. Naphtail would be the land to the west and north of the sea of Galilee – again still part of Galilee. 4. [Slide 25-26] 14 – 16 - Why is this important – because as Matthew loves to point out – this was prophesied. It is from Isaiah 9:1 –Which says that this land was under God’s judgment but it would produce a great light. The messiah. b. [Slide 27] 17 - Verse 17 identifies that after his move to Capernaum, Jesus started his 2nd year of ministry which is His official preaching, teaching, and healing ministry which we will talk about next week. i. But the message, you will notice, bears a striking resemblance to something we have already studied. Does it not? In fact it is the exact – word for word – message of John the Baptist. ii. The only addition we have to this is in Mark where Mark adds believe. iii. Repentance and belief are really two sides to the same coin. You cannot believe unless you first repent. And you cannot repent or believe without God’s initial drawing of your heart. c. Immediately after this is conveyed, Matthew presents yet another illustration of what he is talking about. i. It is officially a pattern now. John said repent and he demonstrated what it was not by the Pharisees and what it was by the nature of the baptism of the messiah. ii. Jesus followed in the path of repentance and demonstrated what repentance and belief looked like. iii. Now the message of Jesus was to repent and believe and we will see 4 men given that message and they demonstrate what it means to repent and believe. 1. [Slide 28-29] 18 20- Andrew and Peter – brothers a. Fishermen by trade. Jesus said follow me. What did He mean? b. These two men were disciples of John. Jesus had met them before and they came with him for a time, but had since returned to fishing. He calls them now for permanent messianic service. And they drop their nets and follow. c. To what end? That they would be fishers of men. d. They dropped their careers and followed Him. 2. [Slide 30] 21-22 - James and John – Brothers who were also fishermen. These men were called – and they came, leaving not just their careers… but their father too. 3. These 4 men left everything they knew to follow Christ. Suddenly their priorities reorganized. And although they are not as perfect a picture as Christ – it is another example of what it means to repent and believe. Transition: [Slide 31 (blank)(end)] But are we not still so confused by what it means to repent and believe? Let me attempt to illustrate this for you and in so doing, call you to repentance and belief. Conclusion: About a month ago I had the opportunity to watch one of America's most beloved sports, football. I can tell I am getting old because I left at the end of the 3rd quarter for home, thinking the Falcons would win.  Now I can't remember if it happened in the super bowl or not, but I have seen it before in a football game, and perhaps you have too. The quarterback of the offense steps up to the line of scrimmage and begins to look at the defense in front of him. They call it reading the play. Essentially the quarterback is trying to guess the defense’s play to see if the play they are about to run will work with their defense. All great quarterbacks do this well. Now the whole team has been practicing all week to design their game plan to be effective against their opponent. This game plan is based on their observation of how their opponent has played in the past. And yet, occasionally you will see a quarterback step up to the line, and panic will overtake him. He realizes that the defense before him is uniquely designed to absolutely blow their play to smithereens. Whatever defense this was, it was not what his team anticipated. Therefore their game plan, was no longer valid. Now the quarterback has to make a difficult decision. Does he continue anyway? Does he rack his brain trying to remember something in their game plan that will work? What if there is nothing? What does he do then? Anyone? Exactly he calls a timeout. And they spend the entire time out working with the coach who designs the plays to draw up a new plan that will work against the defense. The quarterback trusts and submits to his coach’s advice, goes out and executes the play. Now he could go out there and do something else if he wanted to... but in so doing he would show that he did not trust or submit to the coach’s leadership, nor would he have success against a defense that outmatched his old plan. Now even if you are not a sports fan, I think you will still understand the correlation here. We often misunderstand what it means to follow Christ. And even though this illustration will ultimately fail to show exactly what it means to follow Christ, perhaps it will help explain what we saw in God's Word today. Following Christ consists of ongoing repentance and ongoing faith. Repentance and faith, as we learned last week are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other. You cannot believe without repenting. So let me draw the correlation for you. Who we are naturally is like the quarterback who goes into that game with a game plan. We all have a plan for life. We base that plan on what we think is true about the world and even God. And like that quarterback, we step before the truth of the Word of God and we are utterly dismayed by what stands before us. Because the God that stands before us is not the god we want him to be. He doesn't fit our paradigm. And if we continue unchanged - we will be utterly decimated by Him. At this point we have a choice. We can ignore the truth and pretend it isn't true of God. This will lead to our destruction. We can try to create a new plan with our own wisdom and our own experience, which will also lead to our own destruction. Or we can call a timeout. We can repent. We can change our mind. We can confess that our plan is wrong, our worldview is wrong, our truth was only a well thought out lie. The coach who gives the alternate play is like Jesus Christ. He has the perfect game plan, the perfect worldview, he has truth itself. We take the plan He designs and we go out and we trust Him and we obey Him. We depend on Him and His plan and we surrender to His authority. And the wrath of God falls on Him, and not on us. We are not dismantled in the sense that we are destroyed to death - but our plan, our worldview, our perceptions of truth are laid waste. We are destroyed to life. How much sense then would it be for the quarterback to live in fear that the plan of his coach will fall apart? How much sense would it be for the quarterback having seen the new plan in action and seen its success to suddenly revert back to the old plan? How much sense would it be for the quarterback to continue to think that his way is best? It makes no sense. And yet there are Christians by name who cannot control their emotions, who live in unrepentant disobedience, who trust in the lies of this world and the comfortable doctrines of demons, and we say - as long as they prayed a prayer they are saved. Just as the quarterback must perpetually reject his old plan and adopt the new plan of the coach, so we must continually reject our depravity and depend on the all sufficient sacrifice of our savior (anti-legalism = Faith) and submit to His authority and commands (Anti-License = obedience = love). Sometimes in a message like this we wonder where the love of God is. We are talking about repentance and rejecting ourselves and the wrath of God an awful lot. But listen... it is in the wrath of God that His love shine brighter. You see just as the defense betrayed their play to the quarterback showing him that his plan wouldn't work and just as the coach provided the plan that would - So God the Father is the one who draws us to repentance (which is not our work) and Jesus Christ provides for us the life to be raised up in us (which is not our work). All that we have is our broken plan. And that is the love of God. That despite us offering nothing worth saving - He, for His glory, chose to demonstrate His love, in that while we were yet Depraved wretches before Him - HE BLED AND DIED TO TAKE AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD. So abandon your wicked way! Reject your broken plan. And Turn every thought, every emotion, every word, and every deed to depend on the One who was perfect for you and submit to His perfect plan. Repent and Believe until your last breath and you will have life. Those who die every day and lose their life for Christ will wake up alive forever. But those who live every day to the fullest and cling to fleeting things will wake up one day and die forever. Who will you be?