May it please God to bless us
this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16 and verse 24. The 16th chapter in the Gospel
of Matthew, chapter 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." This statement occurs three times
in the word of God. It occurs in Matthew's gospel,
in Mark's gospel, and in Luke's gospel. So quite clearly, it
is a very important word for us to think upon And Jesus was
speaking directly to his disciples. And the statement was, if any
man. So clearly that is a very broad
statement. But the relevance for us today
is, if we are one of these, any man. If any man. The previous verses in this account
had been spoken by the word of God which directs us to the account
that Jesus spoke of himself and how few people believe what would
happen in 21st verse. From that time forth began Jesus
to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem. and suffer many things of the
elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be
raised again the third day." Well that was the truth of God
and as we read through the Gospels we will find that this was spoken
by Jesus and yet people just did not believe it. It is of
course now history and still people do not believe it. And
what a blessing it is for us today if we believe the truth
of God. You see, Peter didn't like to
hear such things. He couldn't believe that Jesus,
the one that he loved, was going to die and going to be killed. And therefore he said, Be it
far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. And the response
from the Lord was, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence
unto me, for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but
those that be of men. And there is, of course, a great
distinction between the things which be of God and those things
which be of men. There's a tremendous difference
if we think of the greatness of God and the power of God and
all that he's done, and all that he does, and compare that with
poor, small, puny man, what a vast difference there is. And so we
should recognise that such a truth is of God, and that we may savour
the things of God, and not those things that be of men. That means that we should not
follow the way of men, but we should follow the way of God. And so Jesus then comes and speaks
these words to his disciples, if any man, and he tells them,
if any man will come after me, that means if any man will be
a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see many people today
Many people have done throughout the ages. They have made an outward
statement that they want to follow God and they want to be a Christian. And many would say that they
were Christians and they were followers of God. But the truth
is, does their life and does our life follow the words that
Jesus speaks here when he speaks so clearly? If that is so, If
we desire to come after Jesus, if that is true in our lives,
if that is a real desire in our hearts, then the outworking of
it, then the performance of it, will prove to us the truth of
it. And therefore, we're told these
three things really. First of all, If that is so,
Jesus says then, let us deny ourselves. Secondly, let us take
up our cross. And thirdly, to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. You may think, well these are
quite simple and quite easy things to follow out. The reality is
they're not quite so easy. for the most part people do not
follow the mount but this is the word of God that he's laid
down before us and before we just take up these points individually
just to pass on to the following verses which are very informative
because the Lord says whosoever will save his life shall lose
it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. That means that if we are unprepared
to do these things and not follow the Lord and not take up our
cross and not to deny ourselves, then the result will be that
we will lose our life. The reality of our religion will
not be true, it will be false. Whosoever will save his life,
we'll lose it. But whoso will lose his life,
that means to submit ourselves to the will of God, to do his
will, to follow his great and glorious pattern, that life will
be found. We won't lose it. Then he goes
on to just tell us in very straight words, what is a man profited
if he shall gain the whole world the whole world, not just one
or two things, if he should gain the whole world, own the whole
world, and say the world is mine, and yet lose his own soul. Or
what should a man give in exchange for his soul? And the reality
is, of course, our lives on this earth are very small, just a
few years, and eternity is before us, time for us, will finish. Time for us will finish soon,
however old or young we are. We've been reminded this week,
of course, that time has finished for Julian. He was here last
Sunday morning, wasn't he? And no doubt none of us would
have thought that time for him would have finished in but a
few days. Well, so it was. And none of
us know, of course, whether will be here next Sunday morning,
or whether for us time will be no more. And the great blessing
is that we are found more concerned about gaining those spiritual
blessings than gaining natural blessings. And the Lord finally
concludes these few verses with this, 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. Verily I say unto
you, there'll be some standing here which will not taste of
death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." So
the great concern for all of us should be this morning that
we are amongst those who desire to follow the Lord. Then said Jesus, unto his disciples,
if any man will come after me, will we come after the Lord?
If that is true, if we desire to do so, it won't just be a
form of words. It'll be the effect of the Word
of God upon us, so that we are then doing that which the Lord
says, let him deny himself. You may say, well what does that
really mean? It means, very simply, putting
the things of God first. That's what it means, putting
the things of God first in our life. Not the things of the world,
not the things that we have to deal with, and of course we live
in the world, we have to earn our living, we have to meet with
people, Nothing wrong in any of those things, but the reality
is, do we deny ourselves things which do not benefit us, do not
profit us? Do we follow those things which
lead us away from God? Or do we follow those things
which lead us to God? There is therefore a great blessing
in denying ourselves. You only have to follow, really,
don't you, the pattern in the Word of God and think how people
there denied themselves. You only have to think of perhaps
Moses in his day, choosing rather to suffer with the people of
God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming
the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt. He had a right realisation. He was willing to deny himself. He could have lived in Pharaoh's
palace, couldn't he? He lived there for 40 years.
It had been a pretty comfortable existence, no doubt. Everything
provided for him. And now God had called him to
lead the Israelites out of Egypt. And of course Moses thought that
that was going to be imminent. He no doubt thought that was
going to occur. straight away. But you see, God had plans for
Moses. The plan for Moses was that he
should go and live in the backside of the desert for another 40
years, completely opposite to the comforts of Pharaoh's palace.
Yes, the backside of the desert wasn't a very pleasant place,
but the reality was that he was willing to deny himself deny
himself let him deny himself it's a very sanitary statement
isn't it as I've said it occurs three times in the Word of God
so we shouldn't ignore it and think it's not relevant to us
it's relevant to all of us because it indicates the health of our
spiritual life the health of our souls whether we are willing
to hear the Word of God and to obey the Word of God, and to
follow the Word of God. There are so many words of encouragement
in the Word of God with regards to taking up our yoke and following
Him. And in a previous chapter, the
11th chapter of Matthew, we come to the end of that chapter, the
Lord speaking, and in verse 28, He tells us this, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light." That surely really is a fulfillment of these words. It surely is denying ourselves
that we take up the yoke that the Lord has ordained for us
to be joined to the Lord Jesus Christ, and in that position,
to learn of Him. To learn of Him. Again, we can
think of Mary and Martha and Mary, and you know that Mary,
she sat at Jesus' feet, and Martha wasn't very happy about it, and
she asked the Lord Mary should come and help her in that which
she was doing. The Lord said, Mary has chosen
that good part that shall not be taken away from her. So to
be in a position where you and I can hear the words of Jesus. Now we won't hear the words of
Jesus speaking to us, you know, if we're taken up with all the
things of this world, so that we live away from God. We live are far off. Perhaps
we live in a sinful situation that we involve ourselves in,
or the vain things of this world which do not profit our soul. And yet these words are so very
encouraging, because clearly we do come into this path, if
we are the children of God, we find we labour And we're heavy
laden, there are burdens upon us. It may be different for each
one of us. The Lord knows what he puts upon
us. And we get bowed down with it. Sometimes we wish we could
get rid of these burdens. We wouldn't have to carry them.
We could shake them off. Well, says the Lord, take my
yoke upon you. Be joined to the Saviour. He
understands us. He knows what he's put upon us. When we join to the Saviour,
you know what happens? we share the burden. We don't
carry it all ourselves then. We yoke to the saviour and he
shares the burden. And therefore we are walking
in a right way and we are effectively denying ourselves. We're not carrying on just in
this world to please our own self. We recognise what Solomon
said when he wrote the book of the Ecclesiastes that man who
had been given all the ability to enjoy himself in everything
in the world he had all the money that he needed he could buy anything,
he could go anywhere, he could do anything and he concludes
with this great statement all is vanity of vanity and vexation
of spirit he recognised that all the things in this world
did not really bring true happiness And so the Lord says then, let
him deny himself. It is a condition. It's not something
which is optional. People today may think many things
are optional. Well, they're not, because we're
told here, if any man will come after me. We want to be with
the Lord. The condition one is that we
should deny ourselves. Deny ourselves from those things
which take us away from God, not those things which draw us
to God. We should deny ourselves those
things which perhaps are pleasing to the flesh but do not bring
us nearer to God. That's why the Lord writes such
words for our encouragement and for the strengthening of our
faith. Let him deny himself. And then he says, and take up
his cross. The Lord lays a path before us. In this world, if there's no
cross for us, that means there's no difficulties for us, there's
no crown. No cross, no crown. Very clear, isn't it? For us
to understand. Because if we do take up our
cross, that means we evidence that we are a believer. That
we evidence the Lord Jesus Christ does mean something to us. He's
not just a character in history, but the Lord Jesus Christ means
something to us. Taking up our cross, that means
aligning ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. That means testifying
that we are a disciple, that we are a servant of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We are therefore to take up our
cross. Again, it's not optional. If
we will come, unto the Lord, we are to take up our cross. We are to be adjoined, we are
to be aligned with the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not to be someone
who therefore just walks his own path and decides, well, that's
what I'm going to do. And I think that's a good way
now the Word of God lays down to us a very clear path. And that path is to come. committing
our way unto the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a path of confession. It's a path. We come to God confessing
who we are, what we are, how we've departed from God, how
we've turned our back upon God, how we've sinned against perhaps
light and knowledge, how we've disobeyed God, and we desire
to be in that path of nearness to our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. And therefore, we should not
then be ashamed of Jesus. You know, many people today,
they want to carry on in the world, they want to enjoy the
world, they don't want to therefore take up their cross, they don't
want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the Apostle Paul,
when he wrote to Timothy, and in the second epistle of Timothy,
he tells us in the eighth and ninth verses, Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,
but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, according to the
power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. Well, we are not to be ashamed
of the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, if we
are following our own pattern, we're going our own way, what
are we doing? We are not taking up our cross. We really are ashamed of the
Lord Jesus. Well, it's a very solemn place,
isn't it? We don't want Jesus to be ashamed
of us, do we? We stand before that great white
throne. We don't want Jesus to be ashamed
of us. and say, I never knew you, depart from me. We want to have the evidence
that the Lord has loved us, the Lord has died for us, the Lord
has forgiven us, the Lord has redeemed us. And surely if we
have any evidence of these things, it will produce in our hearts
this real desire to be united to Christ in this way, taking
up our cross. Yes, not worried what people
think, but clearly indicating that we love our Lord and Master. Because either Jesus is our Lord
and Master or He's not. We're either pleasing ourself
or we're pleasing God. And if we're pleasing God, it
means that we are bowing down before Him and that He is indeed
our Lord and Master. You see, the Apostle Paul said,
what things were gained for me, to me, those I counted loss for
Christ. If we are following Christ, it
means we have to give up some of the things which we have perhaps
enjoyed doing. And often we thought, well, I
can do that, there's no harm in it, I think it's a fairly
harmless occupation. Well, the reality is, does it
draw us nearer to Christ, or does it separate us from Christ? Are we denying ourselves? Are
we taking up our cross or are we not? You cannot serve God and mammon. We cannot serve God and the world. Naturally, we think we can. Naturally, we often try to. But
the truth is, as the Lord says, you cannot serve God and mammon. What that means really is we
cannot have a foot in both camps. We cannot have a foot in the
world and we cannot have a foot in the Church of God. You cannot
serve God and mammon. It means that we're either serving
God or we're serving the world. We cannot really serve both.
And in order to not be serving the world, it will mean taking
up our cross. Taking up our cross. And that's
the difficult bit. But what a blessing it is when
God gives us that grace so to do. When the apostle wrote to
the Galatians, he spoke very wonderfully and towards the end
of the fifth chapter we read these words in the 24th verse
of the fifth chapter of the epistle of Paul to the Galatians he says
and they that are Christ's that means is if you and I are Christ's
there will have been that have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lust and you know what this really means to crucify
the flesh means to put to death the flesh and crucifixion as
you may well know is the most painful death naturally the death
of crucifixion and so it is for us if we are indeed to take up
our cross it would be like this crucifying our flesh killing
off those things which we wanted to do, we want to do, and it
won't be easy. It'll be painful. In fact, it
will be very painful. That's why we have the illustration
of crucifixion. They that are Christ's have crucified
the flesh. It's the evidence that we are
Christ's if we have crucified the flesh. What a blessing therefore
if God gives us that grace to recognize that following the
things of the flesh are really sinful, and they won't benefit
our soul. In so doing, we won't grow in
grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We will only grow in knowledge
of the devil. And that won't do us any good,
will it, when we come down to the day of our death? to have
been a follower of the devil, to have listened to what he said,
to follow his devices. And let us not forget, the devil
is a very clever individual. He is a great deceiver, and his
aim is to deceive us. But let us not be deceived. Let
us turn away, therefore, from those things which are just pleasing
to our flesh, but don't bring any honor and glory to our God. What a mercy it is, therefore,
to recognize that we have one who is great and glorious. And the apostle goes on to tell
us in the sixth chapter of this same epistle to the Galatians,
he says in the 14th verse, he says, but God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world is crucified unto me and I unto the world." Well, the
Apostle knew the force of those words. He knew the truth of them
and therefore he was able to say them. That I shall glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That was the only
thing he wanted to glory in. Glory in the finished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonderful thing it is
to glory in that. May you and I glory in what Christ
has done for us in taking away, removing all our sins. It's only through His death upon
that cross at Calvary. It's only through all that He
endured and passed through. The agony that He faced, the
agony that He endured, it was all done. so that you and I might
be amongst those who are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. The cost was immense. Well, Paul said, God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. This
morning, do you and I glory in what Christ has done? Do we bless
God for that sin atoning death? Do we thank God that the Lord
Jesus Christ is willing to come into this sinful world to suffer
and to bleed and die so that you and I might possess the glorious
gift of eternal life? This is of great value. This
is a value that outstrips anything in the things of time. And so
we should be so thankful that the Apostle is able to declare
this and his life was taken up, was it not, with the things of
God. After that wonderful time when
he was converted on the Damascus Road, previously he'd been a
total enemy of God, an enemy of Christ. And yet, you see,
he thought he was doing things which were good, but in actual
fact they were totally the wrong way. But the Lord came and wonderfully
blessed the Apostle Paul so that he then preached Christ. What a change! What a change. He preached Christ. What a life
he lived by the grace of God. What he endured. What blessings
he was granted. What wonderful views he had of
the Saviour. What wonderful desires he was
blessed with to go and to be with Christ, which was far better,
he realised. It far exceeded all the things
of this world to go and to be with the Saviour, who had died
to take away his sins, or the value of that grace, the glory
of it. Wasn't it wonderful? And so he
says that he was willing, willing to do these things and to desire
to be crucified with Christ. And so the Lord then says, if
any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up
his cross And that's the second thing, and it is no option. And then lastly, it is to follow
the Lord Jesus Christ. People ignore that today. They
think it's irrelevant. They think it's just a word which
can be toyed with. But here is a very clear statement. If any man will come after me,
these three things those statements the Lord makes. If any man will
come after me, let him firstly deny himself, secondly take up
his cross, and thirdly follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And that
means to follow the example that the Lord Jesus Christ has left
on record in the Word of God for our instruction, for our
encouragement that we today may follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Well you know it's good sometimes
if we just pause in our life, examine ourselves, the Word of
God encourages us in that, He says examine yourselves to see
whether you are in the faith or not, to examine ourselves,
question ourselves, ask ourselves the questions, and this is one
of the questions, we should ask ourselves, have we followed the
law of Jesus Christ? Well, we're all here this morning.
This is the word of God. What's your answer to that this
morning? What's your answer to that this morning? You see, we
all have to be honest before God. It doesn't matter what people
think of us. It matters what God thinks of
us. It's not what our interpretation is of the Word of God, it's what
God's interpretation is of the Word of God. And God's interpretation
throughout Scripture is very plain, and it's very simple,
and the wonderful thing is that the way that the Lord sits before
us brings honour and glory to Him, not to ourselves, to Him. And our life is, without any
doubt, for the honour and glory of God. That's a great question,
isn't it? To look at ourselves, to examine
ourselves, whether our life is up to that position, up to that
standard. And follow me, follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, he went
about doing good, didn't he? Yes, he didn't please himself.
Every opportunity, He did good. He didn't try and justify himself. He justified his father. He justified the will of his
father. What a good thing for us today
if we don't try and justify ourselves, but if we desire to follow the
wonderful example of the Word of God. You know the Lord Jesus
in the 5th chapter of Matthew He gives us some lovely examples,
doesn't he? When he started preaching about those who were blessed. And often we don't think of these
things, but these are blessed and these are truly following
the Lord. Those who are poor in spirit
in themselves. Those who mourn because of their
sin. Those who are meek. Those who
have hunger and thirst after righteousness. Those who are
merciful. Those who are pure in heart,
seeking God's things, God's ways. Those who are peacemakers, not
troublemakers. These shall be called all the
children of God. And then, blessed are they which
are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Again, how true that is.
if you and I are following this pattern, denying ourselves, taking
up his cross, and following him, we can expect to be persecuted
for righteousness sake, for doing those things which are God-honoring.
And for they shall be called the children of God, and for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And he also says, blessed are
ye when men shall revile you, persecute you and shall say all
manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." We can be misjudged,
can't we? People can misjudge us in our
life and come to a wrong conclusion. Well, this is the Word of God. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad
great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you and of course so they also persecuted
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well it's a great blessing for
us today if the Lord enables us to come to this place and
acknowledge by his grace that we are a true follower of our
Lord and Master Jesus Christ. Well, let us look into our hearts. My friends, if not, we must ask
ourselves why not? Why are we not following the
Word of God? Why are we not walking out? Why are we not denying ourselves? Why are we not taking up our
cross and his cross rather and why are we not following him? The word of God is very true
and very clear and you know it's a great blessing to be an obedient
servant and all God's people are servants. It's a blessing
to be a servant to our God. So this morning may we recognize
the truth of these words and bless God for all that he's done
in dying for us upon that cross as a wonderful and glorious example,
and may we therefore be concerned to honour him in all that he
has done for us. Then said Jesus unto his disciples,
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up
his cross, and follow me. Amen.