THE 4 ROYAL INVITATIONS OF THE LORD JESUS TO US

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In His earthly ministry, our Lord Jesus Christ had various concentric groups of followers: there were the crowds of 5000 whom He miraculously fed; the 70 disciples whom He sent out to preach and heal; the 12 apostles whom He personally chose and trained; and finally, the 3 closest disciples—Peter, James, and John—who were privileged to witness His most intimate and glorious moments. Among these groups is His inner circle—those who were closest to Him, those who knew His heart and His secrets, and those who understood Him with a profound intimacy that others did not know.

Mark 4:34 “But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.“

Mark 4:34 tells us that while the Lord often spoke to the multitudes in parables, He often expounded them to His disciples: “when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.” This is the incredible privilege of being in God’s inner circle: you get to know things, divine truths and revelations, that are hidden from the rest of the world, and you experience an intimate, personal relationship with God Himself. But why does God choose to reveal His deepest secrets to this inner circle? Because they are, in a spiritual sense, His best friends, those who love Him supremely, and He knows that they will cherish His precious revelations more than anything else in this world. And He knows that His inner circle will also share them with others according to His will.

This is precisely why God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, is inviting you today to be part of His divine inner circle – His Bride. He is inviting you to become a member of His royal family, to become a royalty. He earnestly desires for you to experience a deep, abiding, personal relationship with Him and to be a part of His cherished Bride. Although God, in His omniscience, knows everything from the beginning, including who will ultimately respond to His call, the choice to become His Bride, to enter this intimate fellowship, is ours to make. It requires unwavering commitment, steadfast faithfulness, and a continual, heartfelt willingness to draw ever closer to Him.

Our Lord Jesus extends four royal invitations to each one of us who would follow Him. Let’s explore these profound invitations and what it truly means to be a part of His beloved inner circle.

John 1:39 “He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.”

The very first royal invitation is simply to “Come and see.” When John the Baptist pointed out the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God, two of John’s disciples, Andrew and another (likely John the Apostle), began to follow the Lord Jesus. They asked Him, “Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?” The Lord Jesus replied with this gracious invitation: “Come and see.” And the scripture tells us, “They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour” (John 1:39). This initial, personal encounter was so powerful, so transformative, that John even remembers the exact hour it took place.

This divine invitation is a beautiful foreshadowing of what will happen to us, His Bride, if we truly choose to follow the Lord Jesus with all our hearts. One glorious day, He will indeed reveal to us where He is staying eternally, in the Father’s house with many mansions (John 14:2-3). But for now, in this earthly pilgrimage, He calls us to simply follow Him by faith. That first genuine encounter with the living Christ is always memorable, always life-changing, and it is invariably the blessed beginning of an incredible eternal journey with Him.

In John 1:38, when these two disciples first approached Him, the Lord Jesus turned and asked them a very pertinent question: “What seek ye?” Their response—“Rabbi, where dwellest thou?”—showed that they simply, earnestly wanted to be with the Lord. This unadulterated desire to be in the very presence of the Lord Jesus is a true, defining quality of a genuine disciple. The Lord Jesus chose them, and He chooses us, because they (and we) prioritize Him above everything else—even, at times, above our own loved ones, as per His own words in Luke 14:26.

Many of us, admittedly, have various competing priorities in this life. But as true followers of Christ, our number one, all-consuming priority should be to know Him. John and Andrew focused solely on being with the Lord Jesus. Their ultimate goal was to know Him intimately, just as the Apostle Paul later expressed with such passion in Philippians 3:8,10:

“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ… That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.”

Knowing the Lord Jesus is not just about head knowledge or theological understanding. It is about possessing Him in our hearts, experiencing His living presence daily, and growing ever closer to Him in intimate fellowship. The more we truly know Him, the more we are supernaturally transformed by His glorious presence into His very image.

John 1:43 “The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.”

The second royal invitation is to “Come, follow me.” The day after John and Andrew began to follow Him, the Lord Jesus found Philip and extended this direct, personal invitation to him: “The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.” (John 1:43). This is a precious reminder that even if we, in our spiritual blindness or preoccupation, do not initially go looking for the Lord Jesus, He will find us. He desires us, He seeks us, and He will lovingly search for us until we are found by His grace.

Some people follow the Lord Jesus primarily for earthly blessings, for physical miracles, or merely to ease their worldly problems and find temporal comfort. These things, in themselves, can be good and are often by-products of His grace, but they should never be the primary reason for following Him. The Lord Jesus knows the true intentions and motivations of our hearts, and in John 2:23-25, we read that He did not entrust Himself or His deeper truths to those who were only after what they could superficially gain from Him, those who “believed” merely because of the outward miracles they saw.

The true, God-honoring reason for following the Lord Jesus should always be to know Him—to love Him, to fellowship with Him, to become one with Him. When we come to church, when we read His Word, when we spend time in prayer, our ultimate goal should be to grow in our personal, intimate relationship with Him. We should not be like those who are only interested in the “benefits package” of Christianity, but rather possess a heart that genuinely, deeply longs for His holy presence above all else.

Luke 9:23 “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

The third royal invitation is to “deny yourself“ and take up your cross daily. This profound and challenging invitation was extended to the twelve disciples, and it is at this juncture that we truly begin to realize that following the Lord Jesus requires significant, ongoing sacrifice. To be in His inner circle, to walk in close fellowship with Him, we absolutely must be willing to deny ourselves.

Denying ourselves means sacrificially laying down our own carnal desires, our sinful habits, our worldly ambitions, and even our cherished personal dreams for the overriding sake of following Christ. It may mean letting go of deeply ingrained sinful habits, or even seemingly “good” things that subtly distract us from our high calling in Him. The world, with its ungodly value system, may see these sacrifices as foolish losses, but in eternal reality, possessing the God of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things, is worth every conceivable sacrifice and infinitely more.

On that great and solemn day when we stand before the Lord, our primary concerns will not be about how much money we accumulated, whether we finished our worldly schooling, or whether we achieved our earthly dreams and ambitions. Our only true concern then will be whether we faithfully fulfilled His perfect will for our lives.

Sadly, some ministers and believers today compete with one another as if ministry or the Christian life is some kind of carnal competition. But we are not called to garner followers for ourselves, to build personal platforms, or to seek human applause. We are called, simply and profoundly, to serve Christ with all our hearts and to make Him known to a lost and dying world. To truly follow the Lord Jesus is to willingly take up our cross daily and surrender our lives to Him completely, without reservation.

Matthew 16:24 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

The fourth royal invitation, intrinsically linked to the third, is to “come, take up your cross.” This deeper level of commitment and fellowship was particularly exemplified by Peter, James, and John, the three closest disciples who were privileged to be with the Lord Jesus during the most significant, intimate, and often trying moments of His earthly ministry. They were with Him when He resurrected Jairus’s daughter from the dead, when He was gloriously transfigured on the mountain, and when He agonized in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Taking up your cross means being willing to share in the Lord Jesus’ sufferings, to be identified with His rejection by the world, and to endure hardship for His name’s sake. Taking up your cross means you must be willing to stand, to lead and to suffer for Him.

Many people desire the power of God, the blessings of God, and the glory of God, but they do not want to share in His sufferings or bear His cross. Some follow the Lord Jesus superficially because they want to use His power for their own selfish benefit or to gain worldly recognition, but they are tragically unwilling to bear the cross of self-denial and world-renunciation.

In John 16:33, the Lord Jesus plainly told His disciples:

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.“

This is the unvarnished reality of truly following Christ in a fallen, hostile world. There will be trials, challenges, persecutions, and sufferings, but the Lord Jesus lovingly invites us to take up our cross and follow Him anyway, promising His unfailing presence in our lives and ultimate victory.

When we wholeheartedly accept this sacred invitation, we align ourselves with the true purpose of being in His inner circle. It is not about what we can gain from the Lord Jesus in a material or selfish sense; it is about being completely willing to lay down our lives for Him, just as He so lovingly and unselfishly laid down His perfect life for us.

God, through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is extending these four royal invitations to you today. He is lovingly inviting you to be part of His inner circle—to experience an ever-deeper, more intimate relationship with Him, to know Him in the fullness of His being, and to share in both His sufferings and His eternal glory. He wants you to experience the unparalleled privilege of knowing His divine secrets, of being His cherished best friend, and of walking ever so closely with Him through every circumstance of life.

To be part of God’s inner circle is to prioritize Him above all else, to follow Him with a genuine, undivided heart, to consistently deny yourself and your carnal desires, and to willingly take up your cross daily. It is indeed a journey of sacrifice, but it is also, paradoxically, a journey of immense joy, profound peace, and eternal fulfillment.

The Lord Jesus is inviting you today to “come and see,” to “come, follow me,” to “deny yourself,” and to “take up your cross.” Will you accept these royal invitations and earnestly desire to become part of His beloved inner circle? Will you choose, by His grace, to be His faithful Bride, prepared, watchful, and ready to share in His coming glory?

The choice is yours, and God, in His infinite patience and love, is waiting for you to take that next step of faith and commitment. Let us, therefore, wholeheartedly embrace these divine invitations and draw ever closer to Him, knowing that He has a beautiful, perfect, and eternal purpose for each of our lives. Amen.