You could just imagine how the
Apostle Peter felt when the Lord spoke these words to him, and
that's recorded in Matthew 16 and verse 23. You remember when
Peter, as the Lord began to show them how he must go to Jerusalem
and be killed, and raised again the third day, and of course
we know the disciples had their minds, even with what they already
knew. And of course we know, for example,
they knew that Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, was and is the Messiah,
the Son of God, the God-man. They understood something of
the Messiah, but I don't, you know, and we talked about this
the week before last, how I don't know how to apply this to their
actual lives. You know, were they regenerated
and converted or were they not? It really doesn't matter. That's
not an issue of the gospel, except I always caution people to never
try to use the disciples as a crutch for your own ignorance. because
that's deadly. So in other words, a person,
and I've had people do this over the years, they say, well, you
know, if I deny the finished work of Christ, you know, well,
I can lean on the disciples and their ignorance. You can't do
that. That's a limb that you're crawling
out on that's not gonna hold. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation, so however it applies. And again, understand
as we go through the histories here, Matthew, Mark, and Luke,
and even John to a point, but not as much, we're not told every
detail. When you read the history books,
you don't derive your doctrine from the histories. You derive
your doctrine from the teaching epistles, for example, even the
Psalms. in the Old Testament and other
passages. But my point is this, the disciples still had their
minds, even though they knew Christ, Jesus of Nazareth was
the Messiah, they still had their minds on an earthly kingdom.
And he'd come, you know, the unbelieving Jews today, they're
looking for the Messiah to come, as we all often say, in the clouds
on a white horse, bearing a sword. He's going to conquer all their
enemies. Back then it was Rome. He's going to conquer Rome. He's
going to set up his kingdom in the physical city of Jerusalem.
And they're going to rule and reign the whole world with him.
That's the essence of what is called Zionism today. But that's
not going to happen. He told his disciples, my kingdom
is not of this world. My kingdom is within you. His
kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. You remember in his trial, he
told Pilate that. And so they didn't understand
the details of that kingdom and how it was going to be set up.
And even when he ascended into heaven, you know, right before
he ascended, they ask him that question, when are you going to set up
your kingdom in Jerusalem? Well, he's not. And his kingdom,
we're going to learn here, you know, when seeing the coming
in his kingdom, what they're going to see was his death, his
burial, his resurrection, and his ascension. And they were
going to see what happened at Pentecost. That's the coming
of his kingdom in the new covenant. And so we'll look at that. They
still had their minds on these earthly things. So when he told
them he's got to go to Jerusalem and be killed and raised again
the third day, which was all in line with their Old Testament
scriptures, they in the flesh sorrowed over that. And you remember
what Peter did? He said, not so Lord. You're
not going to be killed. And so what did Christ tell him?
Look at verse 23 of Matthew 16. He turned and said unto Peter,
get thee behind me. Satan, thou art an offense to me. You're
trying to place a stumbling block in my way. That's what that means.
Because his whole purpose in being born into this world and
uniting himself with sinless human nature was to die on the
cross and be buried and raised again the third day. He says,
you savor not the things that be of God, but those that be
of men. You're speaking out of fleshly desires. That's what
he's telling Peter. And not the glory of God. But
you could just imagine how Peter felt when he said that. How would
you feel? Dejected, you know. But look
at verse 24, this is the beginning of our lesson. Now again, Peter
knew and believed in the person of Christ, but he didn't yet
understand the work of the Son of God came to accomplish, the
salvation of his people by his death, his obedience unto death. And so here's what Christ tells
him in verse 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. Now that's what the Christian
life involves. It's not a bed of roses. It's
not a health and wealth gospel. It's taking up your cross following
Christ. It's the opposite of what the
disciples really thought. Here we're going to go into Jerusalem,
we're going to rule and reign, we're going to be exalted. No,
you're going to suffer. Now that suffering comes in many
different forms. Every one of these disciples
except John were martyred, killed, bloody, bloody deaths because
of their testimony of Christ in the gospel. How many of God's
true people have been martyred for the faith? In the book of
Revelation, we talk about that. How the great harlot, Babylon,
persecuted and killed many of God's children because of their
testimony of the gospel. More blood of the saints has
been shed by false religion, even that which comes in the
name of Christianity, but denies it than any other entity. That's
right, false religion. You think about the history of
the church. Now I know, now listen, I'm not saying everybody who
was martyred was a believer. Because even unbelievers can
be martyred for what they believe, even believing a lie. I heard
a man say this one time in seminary. He said, nobody is martyred for
a lie. Well, that's a lie. And I always
remember this because the thing that pops into my mind when people
say things like that is during the Vietnam War, I was watching
the news. Walter Cronkite, boy, don't you miss him? Walter Cronkite,
he was Every night they would have a segment on the Vietnam
War, and one night they had these Buddhist monks, three of them,
who were protesting the war, and you know how they protested
it? They poured gasoline on themselves and lit themselves on fire, dying
for that cause. And you remember in 1 Corinthians
13, he says, though I give my body to be burned and have not
love, that is the love of God in Christ, the truth, it means
nothing. So don't think that everybody
who is martyred is a believer. But many believers were martyred
for the faith. But every believer, every believer,
in some way, to some degree, will suffer for Christ's sake.
Every believer. Now, that suffering, you know,
for example, in our day, we've been so blessed, haven't we? And an offshoot of that, we've
been so spoiled that we have a constitution and laws that
prevent false religion and false government from arresting us
and putting us in jail because of what we believe. But that
was not the case in every generation. Look at the first century believers.
Many of them were jailed. Many of them lost their jobs,
their means of support, and were put out to starve over the gospel. And we've been so blessed. And
again, I am so. We've been spoiled too. We just
think, you know, everything's just hunky dory. We live in a
Christian, we don't live in a Christian nation. America never has been
a Christian nation. It wasn't founded on Christianity.
There were some biblical principles integrated into the Bill of Rights
and Constitution, but not Christianity. So understand that. We are at
war with the flesh, the devil, and the world. And I always go
back to this. And I'm not trying to oversimplify
this matter. Because of what we preach, which
is the righteousness of God in Christ, justification by God's
grace alone in Christ alone, based upon his righteousness
alone, which exposes the evil deeds of the best people in false
religion, the world hates us. Now, thank God that we live in
a time when that hatred cannot be expressed legally in our arrest
and our being killed and all of that. But they still hate
us. And we suffer. We suffer from
the world, suffer from loved ones. Think about our families. And that comes with the territory. We don't like it. I wish all
my family, my earthly family were believers, but they're not.
And I don't like it, but that's part of this suffering. That's
part of the cross that we're taking up. Christ died for his
people. And he says, if any man will
come after me, if you're gonna believe in and follow him, you're
gonna deny yourself. Now, and take up your cross and
follow me. And it's only by the grace of
God that we can do that. We won't do that on our own.
We'll try to integrate all kinds of people, speaking peace where
there is no peace. But by the grace of God, we've
got to stand firm with our Savior, with our Lord. And that's the
opposite of what the disciples thought. Oh, whoa, we're going
to Jerusalem. We're gonna rule the world. We're gonna be lifted high. And
Christ says, no, you're gonna be brought down. Look at verse
25. He says, for whosoever will save
his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake
shall find it. What he's talking about is to
save your life, what that means is that you're so connected to
the world, and the love of the world, and the things of the
world, and worldly relationships, that you deny the Savior. That's saving your life. And
he says if that's the case, you'll lose it. Because the things of
this world, listen, the things of this world are fleeting. And
as you grow older, you realize more and more how fleeting it
is. It's not gonna last. So if you save your life by being
connected to the world in any way so as to deny Christ, what
are you doing? You're putting your whole eternal
well-being in the hands of something that's perishing, dying. All the world and all flesh is
grass, fadeth away. But the word of the Lord is forever
and ever and ever. Christ is our eternal life and
our eternal glory. We have a righteousness that
cannot be corrupted or contaminated or removed. And that's his righteousness
imputed. And we have spiritual life that
can never be taken away. And this word lasts forever and
ever. And everything else will perish.
And I know people talk about, you know, seeing mama in heaven,
seeing your dog in heaven, or what would Scott Price, when
he preached last week, he was talking about if people even
want to see their pets, you know. Your pets are gone. They're dust. They don't have
souls. I remember one time I was up
in Waynesville, North Carolina. We were eating at a breakfast
bar. And, of course, we had bacon
and ham and sausage and all that. And one of the men just brought
up and said, I wonder if animals are in heaven. And I said, well,
if they are, we're doing something very, very sinful here eating
them. Because if you're not supposed to eat anything that has a soul,
he said, well, that makes good sense. People, we who know Christ,
we have to be spiritually smart. And I'm not talking, you don't
have to have an Einstein IQ to understand that. What is eternal
and spiritual and what's temporary? You don't have to be an Einstein
to figure that out if you know Christ. And so this is what he's talking
about. Not only is he going to exalt us here on earth in an
earthly way, in an earthly position, which will fade away, he's gonna
bring us down, he's gonna humble us. And how does that humility
work? That's God-given humility that
causes us to submit to Christ and his word, his righteousness,
submitting to him. You know, Christ, he humbled
himself, the Bible says, The gospel command of humility and
self-denial, Christ denied himself, he was made a little lower than
the angels, the scripture says. In Philippians chapter two, it
says that Christ, that he made himself of no reputation, took
upon himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. and in His capacity as the Son
of God and the second person of the Trinity, created this
world. And the very breath that we breathe, He gave to us. And
He allowed men to whom He gave the breath to, to kill Him. Think about that. And why did
He do it? To save you. And are you worth
it? Am I worth it? Well, there's
only one worthiness we have, and that's Christ crucified and
risen from the dead. And that's to the praise of the
glory of God's grace. But when it comes to our self-worth,
we have none. And also this denying himself.
This doesn't mean, when he talks about whosoever will lose his
life for my sake shall find. This doesn't mean that we take
vows of celibacy or vows of poverty. like some religions do, as if
that's our holiness. Absolutely, read the book of
Ecclesiastes. You know, the Bible tells us
that we are free to enjoy the things of this world, not the
evil things now, but the good things of this world, the blessings,
the temporal blessings that God gives us in a proper way. And what is the proper way? Realizing
that it's all of God. And it's to be used for the glory
of God and the good of his people. That's what Ecclesiastes tells
us. So when he says deny yourself,
he's not saying go out here and take a vow of poverty or celibacy
or something like that. All you're doing there is just
missing out on some of the good things of life. But understand
this, whatever God gives us that we can enjoy in a proper way
is to the praise of his glory. And he could just as easily take
it away, couldn't he? And that's what the book of Job
is about. Job was a rich man, many goods, many children. God
took them all away. And he later gave them back in
a different way. But what did Job come to conclude?
He said, I've heard of you by the hearing of thee, and now
mine eye seeth you, and I repent, and sackcloth, and I brought
him down. Oh, that we might be humbled
before God. There's a lot of people who look
humble before men, but who are not humbled before God. Isn't
that right? Because you're not humble before
God until you see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. See him as the Lord your righteousness. So understand that. One of the
things I've got, you know I've got a lot of projects in the
works. One of these days I might finish
one or two of them. But one of them is just a little
pamphlet on Christian living. And like I said, I don't mean
to oversimplify, but you've heard me say this. The three words
that describe the Christian life in general, number one is standing. We have a righteous standing
before God that cannot be changed. We stand in Christ, washed in
his blood, clothed in his righteousness, and that'll never change. And
we need to go through life realizing that. That's what faith is all
about. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. I have a righteousness that,
as I said, cannot be contaminated. It's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. And then secondly, state. Our state in this world. Now our state in this world began
as lost in our sins, spiritually dead in trespasses and sins.
unbelief, darkness, total depravity. But that state changed. And when
did it change? When the Lord brought us under
the gospel and in the power of the Spirit, gave us life, a new
heart, gave us the gift of faith in Christ and the gift of repentance.
And now we live our lives as believers in Christ, clinging
to Him, resting in Him, following Him. But there's another word. that describes the reality of
the Christian life here on earth, and that's the word struggle.
And that's a big word because it means a lot. It's our warfare
with the flesh, with ourselves, our warfare with the devil, our
warfare with the world. And it's a struggle. And it's
a struggle that would overcome us and defeat us, except Christ
has won the victory all the way through. Remember he told his
disciples, he said, in the world you'll have what? Ease and plenty. In the world you'll have tribulation.
And what's tribulation mean? Trouble. Are you troubled? You know, I'm at peace about
a lot of things, but I'm troubled by a lot of things too. At the
same time, getting up in the morning, I have to ease my way
out of bed because my back's hurting. Trouble. But that's a minor thing compared
to other troubles that we could have. Trouble in the family,
trouble with jobs, in the world you'll have trouble. But he said,
but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world. Understand
that. Well, this self-denial, now let
me say this. I've got this in your lesson.
This self-denial is not a condition we must meet in order to attain
or maintain salvation. It's an evidence of the grace
of God in our lives. That's what this self-denial
is, this humility. Look at verse 26. He said, for
what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and
lose his own soul? How many of you have heard that?
That verse. What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? You remember over in the book
of Luke chapter 12? I've got that cited in your lesson,
I didn't write it all out. But Luke chapter 12 and verse
13, it says, I think it's verse, yeah, I think I got the right,
yeah. He says, and one of the company said to him, Master,
speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. Their
father had died and he wanted half of the inheritance. And he said unto him, man, who
made me a judge or a divider over you? How could he do that? Christ had no legal authority
to separate anybody's inheritance. And he says in verse 15, he said
unto them, take heed and beware of covetousness. And you know
what covetousness is, that's greed. That's an unhealthy, unrighteous
desire for things. And he says, for a man's life
consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
And he spoke a parable unto them, saying, the ground of a certain
rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself,
saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where
to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do.
I will pull down my barns and build bigger barns, build greater.
And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods, and I will
say to myself, so thou hast much goods laid up for many years,
take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. You know, a lot
of people have that attitude. They won't say it that way. That's
what they think, isn't it? Verse 20, but God said in him,
thou fool. This night thy soul shall be
required of thee, then who shall things be which thou hast provided? You laid them up to enjoy them
in your old age, and tonight you're gonna die. So he saith, layeth up treasure
for himself is not rich toward God. You realize that what we're
doing right now is the most important thing on earth? Worshiping God. Being together in Christ, standing
together with one heart and one mind, showing forth our love
for God and for Christ and his way of salvation. Nothing better
than that. We'll go back to Matthew 16. What will you give in exchange
for your soul? We read a lot of stories about
people selling their soul to the devil. Well, a lot of people do and
don't even realize it. It's a deception. Well, look
at verse 27. For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his
Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according
to his works. Now, what does that mean? Does
that mean that God is going to reward us, give us different
degrees of rewards in heaven for our works? No, doesn't mean
that at all. It says according to our work.
This is not judgment based on our works. But what is it? Well, we won't turn there. If
you look at 2 Corinthians chapter five and verse 10 and 11, he
talks about the judgment of our works. Now the works of a believer
are judged, declared, revealed to be good works. In what sense? Well, number one, all our sins
were washed away by the blood of Christ so that our sins cannot
be counted against us. We're clear of all that would
come against us. And then secondly, our work done
for the glory of God, though themselves are not meritorious
and are not part of our righteousness in which we stand before God,
They're foreordained by God. Ephesians 2.10, we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. They're the ordination
of God, foreordination. They are presented to God through
Christ our mediator, acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ our
Lord, and made accepted with God in Christ, accepted in the
beloved, And they are important as evidences of our standing
before God in Christ. And so they're declared good.
They don't secure our place in glory, nor do they lead us into
the presence of God upon our death. They follow us, the scripture
says in Revelation, as evidence. But do you know all the works
of all unbelievers will be declared and judged to be bad? to be evil,
even that which man did religiously and morally. Why? Because they don't glorify God.
They glorify the man or the woman. They're done in unbelief. They're
fruit unto death. A person trying to work their
way into God's favor and God's glory and God's heaven is an
unbeliever who is in opposition to Christ. That's the evil deeds
that will be declared at judgment. That's what he's saying here.
So he's not talking about degrees of rewards for believers based
on their works. He's talking about not the judgment
of our persons by our works. He's talking about the judgment
of our works. in light of our standing with
Christ. We're either in Christ or we're out of Christ. And so
in verse 28 he says, Verily I say unto you, there be some standing
here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of
Man coming into his kingdom. Now there's a lot of different
views on this and I'll give you mine. What he's talking about,
the coming of the kingdom, is the accomplishment and establishment
of the kingdom in his death on the cross followed by his burial
and his resurrection and then his ascension. The actual accomplishment
of it in time. And then followed up with that
by Pentecost when the Spirit poured down his power upon the
preachers at Pentecost so that what, 3,000 were saved? That's
the inauguration of the new covenant. Now many people say, well that's
his second coming. But there wasn't anybody standing
here before they died who saw the second coming. So I believe
it's talking about the establishment of the kingdom in time through
his cross death, his resurrection, his ascension. and the pouring
out of the spirit at Pentecost. That's my view. If you disagree
with that, that's up to you. You take that wrong position
if you want. But you know what I mean, I'm
just teasing. But I believe that's what he's
talking about. Okay.