Luke 9:22-23

The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 9, verses 22 and 23 for our text and study this morning, saying, the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and chief priest and scribes and be slain and be raised the third day. 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. May God bless to us the reading of his holy and sacred word this morning. Every so often you can see, or hear about those who are carrying these huge crosses down the streets of a city. You see it a lot in South America and Europe and around the, I should say, pagan day, a holy day of Easter, or it’s certainly not a biblical holiday. day, but the Roman Catholic Church promotes this kind of practice. And you see these people carrying these crosses or you hear about them. Supposedly, they are following Christ in this undertaking and obeying, evidently, the command here of our text, to bear their cross. One wonders what spiritual? of good it does to be carrying these large wooden crosses down the street. Jesus has just spoken, and we talked about it last week in verse 22, of his rejection by the religious leaders of the Jews. And this leads to the cross. It leads to his death as the means, of course, of redeeming. his own people. Now Jesus speaks about a cross which you as one of his disciples must bear. And I think it’s important that we see the connection between these two and we realize that it’s not a literal wooden cross that Christ has called us to bear. Knowing his disciples, had grand illusions about him as the Messiah setting up the kingdom of God on this earth. And they thought about a glorious earthly kingdom. The Lord, in our text here, counters such an idea, does he not? while his disciples are expecting to receive worldly riches and honor and position and maybe property and so forth like you would those who are favored in an earthly kingdom Jesus tells them something very different he tells them they’re going to have to suffer he speaks of his disciples following in his steps and having to bear the cross talking about bursting their bubble. But they had to be brought to reality as to what was going to happen. I want to speak this morning on the topic of the necessity of self-denial in the Christian life. It’s a far cry from just carrying a wooden cross down the streets. of a city. Let me begin by saying this this morning. You must be willing, you must willingly follow Christ to be his disciple. You’ll notice if any man will come after me. You must cheerfully and resolutely be determined to be Christ’s disciple. Any man will. You must make a deliberate choice. You must make a deliberate choice. to follow Christ. Your parents, your friends can’t do this for you. This is an individual responsibility. If any man be willing to come. And you must voluntarily choose to come after Christ after weighing the cost of doing so. And he’s telling us what that cost is here in our text. Now, Scripture says that God’s people are willing in the day of his power. They’re made willing. Psalm 110 and verse 3. There is a cost in suffering that we must pay if we’re going to follow Jesus Christ. And the Lord says many times to us in the Gospels, different places, count the cost. Before committing to be my disciple. Jesus said under one perspective disciple, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. This must be a decision to follow me. There’s no turning back with regard to it. Make sure you understand what the cost is. Make sure you understand what the cost is. Make sure what the commitment is before you do this. You can’t be like Lotts’ wife. You can’t be like one who is escaping the city of destruction at this time, and yet is longingly looking back because her heart is still with Sodom. We can’t have that when it comes to the world. There has to be determination if we’re going to follow Christ, we’re going to leave that behind. And if it means suffering, if it means difficulty in this life, it doesn’t matter. We’re following Christ. There’s an interesting story, on account, if you would, in Pilgrim’s Progress. Mr. Christian, when he gets to the interpreter’s house, he learns many lessons about the Christian life. He sees these different portrayals as he gets there. And the interpreter took him, Mr. Christian, to the door of a palace, and behold at the door, he saw a great company of men who desired to go in, but didn’t dare do so. Because there was a little man that sat not too far away from the door of the palace. And he sat at a table with an inkorn, ready to write down the name of anyone who was willing, to go into the palace. But also at the doorway, we were told, stood many men in armor to keep people from entering into the palace. And they were resolved to do whatever hurt or mischief they could to keep people from going into that palace. Now, as a Christian watched an amazement about this, he saw a man, very stout, of very stout countenance, come up to the man at the table, with the inkorn and he said to the man, set down my name. And then the man proceeded when this was done to draw his sword, put on his helmet, and rush toward the palace door. And he had to hack and cut his way through these other soldiers that were trying to prevent him from getting in. And he got wounded and he wounded them as he cut his way through. and he got to the door. Those who walked on the top of the palace cried out to him, come in, come in. Eternal glory thou shalt will. Friends, doesn’t this portray to us the resolute determination you need to come after Christ? You need, if you want to enter into heaven and follow Christ, there’s a determination and there are people who are going to to oppose such a determination. As Paul tells us, we must through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God, Acts 1422. My friends, it takes a high commitment then. It takes a determination. To come after Christ. We can’t treat this lightly. We can’t think this is just a simple matter. There’s a commitment. involved in this. Ask yourself, am I truly willing to be Christ’s disciple regardless of what it cost me? You must cheerfully resolutely be determined to be Christ’s disciple if any man will come after me. You must come after Christ to be his disciple. Come after me. Now, whenever Jesus Christ called his disciples, he inevitably commanded them, follow me. You see that, we’ve seen it already in the Gospels. In Luke in particular here. A disciple comes after Christ just as a sheep follows the shepherd. For the scripture tells us, my sheep hear my voice, and I know. them and they follow me. Jesus is portrayed to us in scripture as the captain of our salvation. What does soldiers do? They follow the captain into the battle. We follow our Savior. We must tread then in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Now what does this mean? We don’t have Christ here on earth. How do we follow Christ? We follow Christ. We follow Christ by living as he lived. Seeking to glorify God in all that we do, we will be like the master. Does Christ bear the cross? You will have to bear a cross too. And so there’s a very similar idea here in the phrase, follow me, that we find at the end of verse 23, to come after him is to follow him. This means companionship with Christ as well. Can two walk together except they be agreed? they be agreed. Amos 3.3. As a disciple, you must study to imitate your master. This means we must conform ourselves in every way we can to his example so that we can walk together with him. We must follow the Lord fully. Not half-heartedly. We can’t be like Peter. You remember after Christ. was arrested. He followed Christ at a distance. He was a little afraid to follow close up and be with Christ. So the Bible says he followed him at a distance. And there are people who professed to know the Lord. It seems like that’s what they want to do. They want to keep a distance from Christ. So that they’re not under perhaps the suffering that Christ or the hatred that Christ received. My friends, we must wholeheartedly, we must sincerely, and with all perseverance, follow Christ. Not at a distance, but by sight. There were those who followed Christ for a time. And we read in John chapter 6 that many of the disciples went back and walked no more with him. We can’t be like that. We have to be committed in this. Let me make this observation this morning. In our day, there’s a very popular teaching. And that is, you can be a Christian and Christ does not need to be on the throne of your life, to be your Lord. And you can basically live any way you want to live and still be classified as a Christian. It’s called the carnal Christian theory. You find many people who profess to know the Lord seem to believe in that kind of theory. As if you rule your life and Christ doesn’t rule your life. My friend, that’s not following after Christ. Supposedly discipleship that we’ve been talking about this morning isn’t necessary. You can just have maybe a decent attendance at a church service. Church somewhere. You can pray a prayer that’s maybe even written out for you to pray in which you profess Christ as your Savior. But how you live after that supposedly doesn’t really matter. My friends, this is a far cry from the Christianity we find in Scripture. I mean, is this what Jesus is talking about in verse 23? You live your life the way you want to? Or is he saying, if you’re going to follow after me, if I am your Savior, I’ve got to be your master. I’ve got to be your Lord. you’ve got to follow me. Christ must sit on the throne of your life and you must earnestly seek to follow his example even taking up the cross. So you must willingly follow Christ to be his example or to be his disciple. Secondly, you must deny yourself to be Christ’s disciple. Let him deny himself. You want to follow me? Here it is. Dign yourself. You find a universal rule here for every disciple. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself. Not some of you, if anyone will follow me. Without exception. Every disciple of Christ is required to deny himself in order to follow the Lord. My friends, it’s the same today as it was in Jesus’ day. Nothing has changed. The gospel isn’t new and different today than it was in his day. Every one of us as believers must comply with this command. The first and great lesson to be learned in the school of Christ is deny yourself. This should be obvious from the fact that the gate is straight that we enter in. The way we follow is narrow. You’re to follow Christ in this. Remember what we read in Philippians chapter 2, verses 7 and 8. We read about Christ that he made himself of no reputation. He took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the lightness of men. And being found in the fashion of a man, he humbled himself. and became obedient on the death, even the death of the cross. He denied himself in order to be the Savior. You know what Philippian says? Let this mind be in you that was in Christ. He’s your example. Now we live in a day of self-indulgence and excess. Self-denial is rarely practiced. It’s not very appealing to people. But basically, if I can put it this way as a sinful person, you are denied everything which would interfere with your submission and walk with Jesus Christ. Submission to and walk with Jesus Christ. This is not the same as the Roman Catholic Church, you know, when they beat themselves or flog them. That’s not what Jesus is talking about here. What does this mean in some practical terms? Well, let me put it this way. Let me give you some examples. examples. You may us deny your own wisdom. Now we are to use the natural reasoning that God has given us, but you must not trust in its ability to guide you in the way you are to live. You are to trust in the Lord with all your heart fully and completely. And what else? Not lean upon thine own. understanding. Proverbs 3.5. What does this tell us? It tells us that God’s word must be our guide and not our own natural wisdom. I’m amazed at how many people I talk to and they think, well, God would have me do this or God would have me do that. Have you ever read the scripture and actually found out what God would have you do? I think God would have me do that. Really? God’s word has to be our God. Not our own natural wisdom. Many who profess themselves to be wise, the Bible says, are fools. We don’t glory in our own wisdom. We’re sensible of our own ignorance. And we need to be taught of God the right way. I’m reminded of that story about Joshua and the leaders of Israel in Joshua Chapter 9. Joshua, remember, has been commanded to go in and conquer the land of Canaan, and he’s to put them all to death. He’s not to make any peace treaties with anyone in the land of Canaan. Now, the Givianites, who have lived in Canaan, were fearful of the Israelites. They saw the city of Jericho fall and the walls fall down, and everybody gets slaughtered. burned with fire and so forth, and they thinking, whoa, we’re next, we’re nearby. And they decided, let’s see, maybe we can trick them. And somehow we could get a peace treaty with them, and then we’ll be okay. And so they sent some men as ambassadors who pretended to be from a faraway country, who somehow or other had heard of Israel, and how God had taken care of them and they wanted to make a peace treaty with them. And you remember how they wore all the old worn-out clothes and shoes, and the worn-out wineskins they took with them and the bread that was real dry and moldy. And they said, we came from this way far away to come here to make this peace treaty with. Well, Joshua and the leaders, were fooled by the old clothing and the provisions and so forth of the Gibianites, and they made a peace treaty with them. Do you remember the ominous words we read in Joshua 914? And the man here, the Israelites, took of their vittles and asked not counsel of the Lord. That’s the key thing. They didn’t ask, they relied on their own wisdom. Well, it looks like these people are really far from… a distance away from us. But they were fooled. They were tricked. They didn’t ask counsel the Lord. They thought, well, yeah, okay. They didn’t ask God’s counsel, and he got into trouble. This is what we’re talking about. We cannot ask God’s counsel and get into trouble. Not seek what he would have us do. You must deny your own wisdom. You must deny your own righteousness. to follow Christ. Man has a tendency to think he can merit God’s favor and somehow or other that heaven can be gained by our own good works. I’m good enough to go to heaven. We have to deny any thoughts like that. That somehow or other we can procure God’s divine forgiveness and grace and somehow we can render ourselves worthy of the salvation of Christ. My friends, we have to confess what the scripture says. There is none righteous. There is none good. That all your righteousnesses are as filthy rags in the eyes of God. Scripture often talks about putting on a robe of righteousness. Well, would you put on this filthy dirty rag of clothing and say this is my righteousness you wouldn’t look too good, would you? And so we have to throw that aside. It’s worthless. Asked aside any of these so-called righteousnesses that we think we have. Anything that you would think would make you acceptable before God and confess that you need Christ’s perfect righteousness to be acceptable before God. Yours will never be good enough. Cast it aside. Do you remember in Philippians chapter 3? Paul talks about his formal life before he came to know Christ. And he talks about the fact he took great pride in being a Jew and his Jewish heritage and how he was from the tribe of Benjamin and how he was an offspring of Abraham and how that he was a good Pharisee and it’s touching the outward aspect of the law he tells us blameless why we were really careful about keeping the law of God considered himself worthy of eternal life. God surely is going to save me look at how good I lived look at how I behaved. But when Paul was brought to salvation on the Damascus road you recall and he wrote this he said I came to the point I realized all my righteousness was what done it’s like horse manure that’s what you say it’s it’s waste it’s not any good he said to be found in Christ not having my own righteousness but that which is of the law that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God, the righteousness that God gives by faith. That’s what counts. My friends, this morning, you have to have the same belief as Paul did. Deny your own righteousness that you have any merit before God at all. It’s all done. Third thing, I suggest you. You must deny all sinful desire. and habits. Christ saves you from your sins. He doesn’t save you in your sins. If we would be Christ, we must crucify the flesh with its affections and lust. Galatians 524. You must, through this spirit, mortify the deeds of the body. Romans 813. Or as Titus 2.12 says, We have to deny ungodliness and worldly lust. And so, as a Christian, denying yourself means we don’t indulge our sin. We put it to death. We, as the scriptures, mortify it. We deny those sinful lust which entice us. We keep our own bodies and bring them into subjections so that our members are not sitting against God. So we must deny all sinful desires and habits. You must deny reputation. Now certainly as we go through this life we should desire to have a good name in the world if it can be consistently had with faith in Christ. But as a follower of Christ you’re going to have to realize this. Expect your reputation to be maligned. You might say, well, I didn’t know if I was going to follow Christ that my reputation was going to be attacked. Well, that’s what part of denying yourself is. Yes, it’s going to be maligned. You can expect you’re going to be called all sorts of evil names for Christ’s sake. Frankly, if I can put it as bluntly as plausible, they’re going to lie about you. They’re going to smear you any way they can. You’ll be called a troublemaker. You read about Elijah in the book of First and Second Kings, yeah. And he’s, First Kings in particular. But he brings the drought as a judgment from God. And King Ahab’s furious with him. And then when he’s going to meet with the king, and they’re going to have the showdown of Mount Carmel in it, What does the king say to him? You’re a troublemaker. That’s the first thing he’s. You’re a troublemaker. You’re the troubler of Israel. Really? Wasn’t this God’s judgment against the nation for him disobeying him and turning away and worshipping bail and all these other gods? Maligned. My friends, you’re going to be classified as a divisive person, a loving, unkind, a heretic, a religious fanatic, the scum of the earth, as Paul talks about, the all-scurring of the earth. Maybe people make fun of you of you, Mr. or Mrs. Goody Two-shoes. There’s a sense in which we have to be like Moses. You remember the book of Hebrews, it tells us, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He had this cushy life. He had everything going for him. I mean he had the best education, the best food, the best clothing. He had the best future possible. But he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God who were slaves in Egypt than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for just a season. Esteeming the reproach that he had because he was a follower of Christ, greater than the riches of God. all the treasures of Egypt the writer of Hebrew tells us that the people of God in chapter 11 of Hebrews suffered cruel mockings, scourgings, imprisonments, as if they were criminals. Our Lord himself goes to the cross and is hung between two criminals as if he were a criminal himself. And we know he wasn’t. Remember how Jesus said the sermon of the Mount, people shall say all men are evil against you falsely for my name’s sake. If you follow me, this is what’s going to happen. You must deny your reputation. You must realize this is what is going to happen. You must deny your family and friends. However dear and near they are to you, there are times we must forsake them if we’re going to follow Christ. normally the family is one of the closest units you can possibly have but sometimes it happens that the greatest foes as Jesus tells us are the persons in your own household, your own relatives, your own family members. We read it this morning in our scripture reading your recall. Jesus says you’ve got to love me more than them. You’re going to, if you’re going to follow me. You have to deny yourself and that means loving me more than family, relatives, so forth. So that if there’s a conflict of interest, you follow me. Not that we can’t love our parents or we can’t love our relatives and so forth. Christ takes priority. More than me. You remember in Pilgrim’s progress, when he has this burden on his back and he’s leaving the city of destruction and he’s got to get this burden off he is really worried about it. It’s going to sink him lower than, lower than hell, you know, lower than the earth than he wants to be. He’s going to go to hell. And there are two guys that come out of the town, obstinate and pliable. What are they going to do? We got to talk this guy out of this. You know, he’s crazy. What’s going along with this guy? We’re going to bring him back to the city. and calm him down. He’s just too worked up about this so-called burden of sin that he has. And they try to talk him out of it. Friends and families always attempt to influence you in a negative way sometimes toward Christ, and you have to be able to realize that we have to deny all their solicitations, all their allurements, all their up ratings to turn away from Christ. Can’t let that. deter us. There are parents at times will say to their children who have come to know the Lord what is the matter with you and they’re upset that happens you you must deny yourself to be Christ’s disciple. Third my third point this morning and I have to wind this up here you must take up your cross daily to be Christ disciple deny yourself and take up the cross. and follow me you says you find every disciple of Christ has a cross you know she says your cross there’s a sense in which every one of us may have a different cross to bear something different than someone else is it’s personally assigned to you by god so each of you as a Christian as a special maybe trouble or affliction that you must suffer and bear in this life crosses are the common lot then of God’s children which the Lord in his infinite wisdom has assigned to us why has he done this well for the development of Christian graces and to conform us to Christ image remember how Paul spoke of God giving him a thorn in the flesh that was his cross that he had to bear one of them he also suffered men injuries and armed because he followed Christ as a missionary was stoned and so forth beaten but he was going to give him a form God has sovereignly chosen the type of cross that you will bear there’s some form of suffering that God puts us through because the cross is a suffering in order that ultimately it will benefit us spiritually you know what the scripture says in Philippians 129 for it is given unto you in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his namesake it’s given under you it’s part of God’s plan now sometimes we think I’d rather have that person’s crossed than the one I have to bear he’s got one it’s easier than mine my friends don’t you think God knows best what his children need what what one child needs over the other so he gives us what we need in order to develop the graces that he wants in us it’s good to embrace it it’s good not to murmur and complain about it so you find every disciple Christ has a cross and you find that every disciple must take up his cross take it up he says now this form of expression is taken it seems from the custom of those who were let out to be crucified they had to their own cross and carry it to where they would put it in the ground and crucified you remember Simon the Serenian because he had Christ’s cross laid upon him to carry it in a sense it’s an illustration here the principle of our text he bore a cross for Christ’s sake you don’t make up the cross you to bear you’re to pick up the one God has laid there before you don’t try to avoid carrying the cross but daily this is a daily commitment you see you pick it up and you carry it every day we have to make that decision in a sense to bear it for Christ’s sake you must manage your affliction in such a way that it doesn’t become a hindrance to you in your service to Christ you remember that the Holy Spirit testified everywhere Paul went that if he went to Jerusalem that he was going to have bonds and afflictions that await him and and everybody was trying to talk him out of going don’t go there don’t don’t get arrested don’t get put in jail don’t go through all this what did Paul say none of these things move me either count I my life dear under myself so that I might finish my course with joy, the ministry that I’ve got to do it. I’ve got to do it. So he picks it up and bears it. No matter how heavy the cross God has given you to bear, you have to continue serving the Lord. He’ll give you the grace to bear it. So we must quietly bear the cross, realizing there’s some good advantage that comes out. But you might say, but my cross is heavier than, someone else is yeah, maybe God’s developing different graces in you right now. Since God has purposed it for your good, then what we should do is we bear these crosses is seek what graces the Holy Spirit is going to produce someone. In other words, what good is going to come out of this? Since I have a cross to bear, what is God doing in my life? When it comes to learning to rejoice in our affliction, Paul says, I want to do it with joy. To rejoice in our afflictions and the glory in them, we must see that God has some good purpose coming out of them. That’s why we can do that. John Chap says where self is renounced, the cross is easily born. It’s getting over the first part, denying yourself. Then you’re able to pick up the cross and to bear it. the way that you should. Let me conclude this morning. People are sometimes seen bearing large wooden crosses down the streets of these large cities. It’s sort of like a big show that they put on. But that’s not what Jesus is talking about in our text. We must be willing to follow Christ, to deny ourselves, to take up our cross, to be Christ’s disciple. That’s what the scripture is teaching. And I hope, as we as the people of God, Look at this passage, we realize, let us do this with a good attitude and a right spirit, even though at times it seems overwhelming to us. This is what it takes to follow Christ. Let us close with words.