The freedom of your choice has consequences. God has established the world and the universe on principles. Some of these principles are inviolable; you cannot break them without having consequences. You can’t have an illicit relationship or steal money from your office without having consequences.

For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. (Deuteronomy 30:16)

God is saying I have placed this choice before you. If you choose to follow me you will be blessed. If you choose not to follow me you will have to face the consequences. We have to make a choice this morning. How are we going to live today? Are you going to follow your instincts and understanding or would you choose to follow the Lord?

But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. (Deuteronomy 30:17)

If you violate the laws of God sooner or later you will face the consequences. When people do this for quick profit they violate the laws of God. Later, it undermines your entire life. For example, you may bribe someone to get something done. After some time, nothing happens without paying a bribe. Then we complain this country is corrupt, nothing happens without a bribe. But I am part of that corruption. Immature people don’t understand this. They think they can violate the laws of God and escape the consequences. Today, let’s make it clear. We have to deal with this reality. The Gospel confirms this.

And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” (Luke 9:22)

Why does the Lord Jesus say “the Son of Man MUST suffer”?

The Lord Jesus has made a choice to obey God. There are consequences to the choice He made. He will be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law and be killed.

Why did He make such a choice? The last part of His statement gives the reason; “on the third day be raised to life”. The Lord made a smart choice. For eternal benefit He accepts momentary pain. This is called the principle of delayed gratification. Those who delay gratification will ultimately achieve more in life.

The whole capitalist system is based on the principle of delayed gratification. Capitalism is a result of Christian Protestant thinking. In the Christian thinking of the 17th and 18th centuries, people were told you can’t spend what you have on yourself because that is not what God expects of you. So they didn’t indulge in themselves. You call it Puritanism; you live pure, frugal lives. As a result they earned more than they spent. Then they invested what they did not spend and they became richer. If you delay gratification for a higher purpose, your blessing becomes greater.

If you say not to sin, addiction today, you will be blessed tomorrow. If you say no to your own desires it’s a pain, it’s a struggle. But if you face that and say no, you will receive a blessing. The Lord is teaching us today, don’t live like animals. Animals don’t have delayed gratification. They don’t have a system of giving up something locally to get something globally. This principle is the heart of human grown. Lord Jesus says, I have chosen to obey God, walk in His ways and face pain. Because, blessings from doing that is far greater than the pain He will face.

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23)

What does carry the cross daily means? Make the choice daily. A disciple is one who has made this choice, disciplines himself according to the teachings of the Lord Jesus. Every day you make a choice; I will not give into myself or follow my desires, but I will surrender to the will of my Father coming through the Lord Jesus. If you make that choice daily, that choice assures us by faith, just like the Lord Jesus was resurrected, we too will have eternal blessings.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. (Luke 9:24)

How does one save his life by losing it or how does one lose his life by saving it? If you give into your own nature, your reward is a momentary satisfaction that disappears sooner or later. But if you deny yourself to say yes to God, the assurance is, there the blessing is greater.

The truth of the matter is internally we resist this. That is our sinful nature. We call it the fallen state, inside us there is something that goes against the good principles of life. When you are younger it is harder because energy drives are stronger. When the emotional, sexual drives take over the minds, people become momentarily mad. One moment of momentary madness leads to a lifetime of repairs. The sin in us takes over our minds and hearts and controls us.

There are things you know that you should make a decision on, but you are unable to do it. Your nature and your heart are not allowing you to do it. You are caught up and living in sin, so we hide from God. That is why you stop praying when you should be praying, you stop seeking God when you should seek Him. We are hiding from Him. That is why Adam and Eve hid from God ‐ because they had failed Him.

The good news is, the Lord Jesus says; “Come to me all you who are burdened and heavy laden. If you can’t make a decision to say yes to God, you can still come to the Lord Jesus. Give Him the truth of your heart; “yes, I should be making this decision but I can’t”. When you do that the Grace of God comes. The Holy Spirit can change the level of your understanding and shatter your addictions and enslavements. Then you can say no to your desires and yes to the will of God. That is why we say the Lord Jesus is the Savior. That is the good news of Christianity.

There is something called Grace in Christianity. Grace does not prevent you from living in a hell. If you choose to play games with Grace it is a disgrace. You will continue to live in hell. But if you bring the truth of your heart to the Lord and place it at His feet and say, “I know I must say yes, but I am unable to”. Then the moment of Grace will come into your life. We CAN live beyond ourselves.

There are those who make the choice but do not have the strength to fulfill it. We have noble ideas, but when it comes to the crunch our selfish nature takes over. Bring that truth to the feet of the Lord, I am willing to make that choice but I don’t have the courage or the strength. The strength you never had, the character you never had will flow into your life. This is the good news of Christianity. Give God a chance, sit before the Blessed Sacrament and let the Lord minister to you. Give Him the truth of your heart without playing games or pretending. Surrender your life to the Lord and invite Him to come and live inside you and make it possible in you.