RISK IS RIGHT 1
Mark 8:34-38
Risk defined is an action that exposes you to the possibility of loss or injury! Risk in the name of Jesus is right! Risk in the pursuit of God is right! Not risks in pursuit of exhilaration, or just for fun. We’re talking about risks in life based on faith in God! We should risk, “by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 4:11). Illus. - Piper Quote
We are to learn from the faithful followers of God in the O.T. Romans 15:4, so what do they teach us about risk?
1. “MAY THE LORD DO WHAT SEEMS GOOD TO HIM”
a. 2 Samuel 10:9-14 – Joab was surrounded. He is the commander of God’s army.
b. The Amalekites had hired the Syrians to help them defeat Israel.
c. Notice in verse 11 they pledge to help each other!
d. 2 Samuel 10:12 – What does this mean? It means that Joab didn’t have any direct
revelation from God on what to do. He based his decision on sanctified wisdom. Faith.
e. God blessed Joab for his faith, He was right to risk!
2. “IF I PERISH, I PERISH”
a. Esther 4:15-16 – Esther knew the penalty for approaching the King without an invitation.
b. Haman, one of Ahasuerus’s chief princes, hated Mordecai and all the Jewish refugees,
persuaded the king to decree that they be exterminated. The king did not realize that his
own queen was a Jew!
c. Her only request of her family was that they pray for her!
d. Esther didn’t know what the outcome of her act would be. She had no special revelation
from God. She made her decision on wisdom, love for her people and trust in God.
e. God blessed Esther for her faith! She turned the plot against the Jews and saved the
nation! Haman was hanged on the gallows he built for the hanging of Mordecai!
3. “WE WILL NOT SERVE YOUR GODS”
a. Daniel 3:16-18 - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not bow down to
Nebuchadnezzar’s idol. Even after he threatens them with the fiery furnace!
b. These three didn’t have a special revelation from God, they didn’t know what would
happen! But even if they perished in the flame, they would die serving God!
4. THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN LIFE!
a. Luke 21:16-19 – “Some” of you will die, BUT not a hair of your head will perish???
b. Romans 8:35–39 – The reason these things will not separate us from the love of Christ
is not that they don’t happen to people whom Christ loves. They do.
c. Romans 8:37 - We are more than conquerors IN our afflictions, not by avoiding them.
d. Illus. – Bonhoeffer Quote
e. He meant that you will have everything you need to do his will and be eternally and
supremely happy in him.
Conclusion:
a. The strength to risk losing face for the sake of Christ is the faith that God’s love will lift
up your face in the end and vindicate your cause!
b. The strength to risk losing money for the cause of the gospel is the faith that we have a
treasure in the heavens that cannot fail.
c. The strength to risk losing life in this world is faith in the promise that he who loses his life
in this world will save it for the age to come! – Mark 8:34-35
THIS SERMON SERIES IS BASED ON CHAPTER 5 OF JOHN PIPER'S BOOK "DON'T WASTE YOUR LIFE";
GO GET THE BOOK, IT WILL BLESS YOUR LIFE!!!
