If Any Man Will Come After Me

Q: What does the Bible say about taking up our cross?

The Bible teaches that taking up one's cross means willingly embracing the challenges of following Christ as a public confession of faith. In Mark 8:34, Jesus commands, 'Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.' This instruction is not about burdens imposed on us, but about a willing acceptance of the cross, which symbolizes our faith and confession of Christ's sacrifice. Taking up the cross means identifying with Christ, acknowledging His lordship, and being willing to endure persecution or trials that accompany discipleship. It signifies a shift from self-centeredness to complete devotion to the Savior, making our relationship with Him paramount.

Q: How do we know Jesus is God?

The Bible affirms Jesus' divinity through numerous passages that declare Him as God incarnate. References to Christ's divinity are abundantly clear in Scripture. For instance, John 1:1 tells us, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' This firmly establishes Jesus as divine and eternal, existing with the Father from the beginning. Additionally, Colossians 2:9 states, 'For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,' affirming that all of God's essence resides in Christ. Furthermore, in 1 Timothy 3:16, we read, 'God was manifest in the flesh.' This profound mystery reveals that Jesus, while fully man, is also fully God, fulfilling roles that no mere human can accomplish.

Q: Why is self-denial important for Christians?

Self-denial is essential for Christians as it facilitates a true relationship with Christ by putting aside our selfish desires. Self-denial is a central tenet of Christian discipleship, taught by Jesus in Mark 8:34. He calls His followers to deny themselves, which means to recognize and reject sinful selfishness and self-sufficiency. By denying our self-will and pride, we open our hearts to follow Christ genuinely. This act of self-denial allows us to see Him as our primary need and source of strength, rather than relying on our own abilities or goodness. Paul also affirms this in Philippians 3:3, where he states that true worship involves rejoicing in Christ and having no confidence in the flesh. Therefore, self-denial is not merely a command but a path towards a deeper, liberated relationship with Christ, enabling us to prioritize His will over our own.

Q: What does it mean to follow Christ?

Following Christ means looking to Him as our guide and source of strength, not merely imitating His actions. To follow Christ is to maintain a steadfast focus on Him, understanding that it involves more than imitation; it is about a relational dependence. Hebrews 12:1-2 encourages us to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Following Him requires us to fix our gaze solely on Him, instead of our own actions or those of others. It means deriving our life and identity from Him, acknowledging that our ability to walk in His ways comes from our relationship with Him rather than our efforts. This perspective shifts our focus from our performance to His sufficiency and grace, allowing us to trust in His work within us as we navigate the challenges ahead.

Great seeing everybody. Would you turn to Mark chapter eight? Still honored to be here with you. Mark chapter eight, verse 34. And when he had called the people unto him, with his disciples also. He said unto them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

If you're anything like me, and I suspect you are, because the scripture says there's no difference between one man and another, there's really no difference. So if you're anything like me, when you read a verse of scripture like that, you feel a little bit of heaviness. And you think, what do I need to do? This command to deny myself. to take up my cross, and to follow the Lord Jesus. Now, if I preach this right, and you hear right, it won't be that way.

You see, the Lord is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord, there is liberty. There is freedom. And I hope that this verse of scripture the Lord uses to enable us to enter in to the liberty and the freedom that is in Christ Jesus. Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow And if you and I do not obey this command, it will prove he's never done anything for us. Oh, for the wisdom that comes from above to understand what this passage means. To fail to desire to come after him. That's the word desire. If any man will, if any man desires to come after me, to not desire to come after him.

To fail to deny myself, to fail to take up my cross, this is not a cross laid on you, it's a cross you take up, big difference. To fail to follow him, if that would describe me, it would describe someone that has never been saved by the grace of God as yet. Now, the context of this passage of scripture, look in verse 27.

And Jesus went out and his disciples into the towns of Caesarea Philippi. And by the way, he asked his disciples saying unto them, whom do men say that I am? And they put him in some pretty high cotton. They answered John the Baptist, but some say Elias or others. One of the prophets now in reality. Nobody's like him, and he's not to be compared to anyone. He's utterly unique. There's none like him, but they thought they were complimenting him. They're saying good things about you.

Verse 29, he saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? Peter answered and saith unto him, thou art the Christ. If you look in Matthew 16's account of this, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And the Lord replied to Peter in Matthew's account, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't reveal this to thee. but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee, thou art Peter.

And upon this rock, this confession of me, I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now put yourself in Peter's place. I know what I'd be thinking. I'm the one who said that. Peter didn't say it. John didn't say it. That was me. He wouldn't have said that out loud. He wanted to act humble the way we do. But I have no doubt that his chest was puffed out a little bit about this. I made this great confession.

What happens next? Verse 30, and he charged them that they should tell no man of him. And he began to teach them, this is one of at least three times, He said, I'm going to die. And three days later, I'm going to be raised from the dead. Now, the disciples should have been at his tomb waiting for it to come out because he told them on no uncertain terms. That's what he was going to do. As a matter of fact, the Pharisees knew about it because they said this deceiver, when he was alive, said he'd raise up three days later.

So put a watch on the tomb. They knew about it. The disciples should have known about it, but they didn't. They didn't believe, I don't know what I do, I suppose. But he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days, rise again.

And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him. Lord, No, you don't want that to happen to you. He began to rebuke him. He didn't really understand that the reason the universe was created was for Christ to come and die on the cross. He didn't have that understanding at this time. All he could know, and look what the Lord says to him.

But when he turned about and looked on his disciples, He rebuked Peter saying, get thee behind me, Satan. Now he said this to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. Thou savors not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. Now, can you imagine if the Lord said that to you, how you'd feel?

Talking about deflating. I bet he went from up here to down there. And then the Lord said to him, verse 34, when he called the people unto him with his disciples. He's saying this to everybody. He said unto them, whosoever will come after me Let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Now, the most important word in this verse is me. The personal pronoun the Lord uses to refer to himself. whosoever will come after me. Jesus of Nazareth, the one born in Nazareth, the one when they crucified him, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews, the son of Mary, the son of David, the son of God, the carpenter, The uncreated second person of the blessed Trinity is the one speaking.

John chapter one, verse one in the beginning. That's when time began. The word already was. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God as a distinct person and the Word was God. The same was eternally was in the beginning with God and in verse 14 of that same chapter it says and the Word was made flesh. and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

1 Timothy 3.16 says, Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Jesus Christ is God. I love saying that. Jesus Christ is God. He's the creator. Colossians 2 verse 9 says, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. All that God is in his infinite being, all of his attributes dwell in all their fullness in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the one who's speaking.

I love it when Philip said, Lord, show us the Father. It didn't suffice. And he said, Philip, he used his name. Philip, have I been so long a time with you, and yet hast thou not known me? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. How could that be?

It is. He's the Lord. This is the one speaking. He's the Lord. He's Lord of creation, He created the universe. It was He who said, let there be light, and there was light. It was He in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That's Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He's Lord of providence.

Now providence is everything that happens in time. He is the first cause, listen to this, of everything. You can't take that too far. He is the first cause of everything. He's absolutely sovereign. He's completely sovereign over the free and uncoerced actions of men. You do what you want to do, but he has complete control even of the thoughts that go through your mind. This is who he is. He's Lord of salvation. That means that if you're saved, it's up to Him. It's not up to you. It's up to Him as to where you're going to spend your eternal destiny. He is Lord.

He's Jesus. Matthew 121, thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. He's the Christ, the Messiah. God's anointed prophet. And he's a prophet like no other prophet. Every other prophet said, thus saith the Lord. He said, I say it to you. He's a priest like no other priest. Every other priest brought in the blood of a slain animal. He comes in with his own blood. And he's not only the priest, he's the sacrifice and he's the altar.

Oh, what a king he is. He's the king of kings, the Lord of lords. He's the one whose will is always done. Now, this is who we're speaking of. You see why the word me is the most important word in this verse? It's who he is. And if you and I ever see who he is, We're gonna deny ourselves, gladly take up our cross and follow him. See, the key is knowing who he is, seeing who he is. If we see who he is, we'll obey that command.

Now, the next word I'd like for us to consider is whosoever. I like that word, whosoever. Whosoever will come after me. let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Romans chapter 10 verse 13 says, whosoever, this is a great word. Whosoever, are you a whosoever? Now you can answer that real simply. Are you a whosoever? Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Now whosoever is better than if it said Todd Divert. There may be other Todd Nyberts. I bet everybody in here, there's somebody else that has your name somewhere in the United States. It's better than if it said my name, because there might be another Todd Nybert that might not admit me.

But I'm a whosoever. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If any man will come to me, that's the way Matthew said it, I'm one of them too. If any man will come to me, John 3, 16 says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but might have eternal life. Whosoever. Just on the side of that precious verse, and indeed it is precious. does not teach that Jesus Christ came to save everybody. It doesn't say that. It does not imply that. But it does say what it says. Whosoever.

God so loveth the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever. Are you one of those? Whosoever. believeth on him should not perish but have eternal life. This is the commandment from Christ to me and to you if we fit in that demographic whosoever. Are you a whosoever?

Then this command is to you. Don't take it any other way. Now the next word I'd like to consider is whosoever will come after me. Let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Your will is your want to. It's what you want to do. It's what you desire to do. Whosoever will, let him take up his cross and follow after me. Now, somebody's thinking, does that mean man has a free will and free will's involved in salvation? It says will. Well, the will is involved.

But let me say real clearly, there's no such thing as free will. Your will is controlled by your nature. God, I hope I say this reverently and with fear and trembling, but God doesn't have a free will in the sense that his will is controlled by his nature. He can't freely decide to sin. He can't lie. He cannot act contrary to any of his attributes. In that sense, God doesn't have a free will. No man has a free will. Free will is an absurdity. There's no such thing. Our will is controlled by our nature. Do you remember when the Lord said to that group in John 539, you will not come to me, that you might have life? He said, you will not come to me. Your will is under the bondage of a sinful nature.

I hope everybody in here understands that about themselves. Romans 9 16 says, it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. But of God that showeth mercy. I sure am thankful because it was up to my will. I know what would happen to me. I'm so thankful it's His will. John 1, 12 and 13, as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them which believe on His name, which were born, not of blood, not of the will of man, not of the will of the flesh, but of God, birthed by God. Now free will is a denial of God's sovereign will. Free will is a denial that salvation is by grace. If I believe in free will, I do not believe in free grace. It's impossible to believe them both.

Now, this word though, if any man will come after me, is that your desire? Is that your want to? Do you want to come after him? Thy people, Psalm 110.3, thy people shall be willing. in the day of thy power. It's God that worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. Now the wise thing for me to do right now is Lord make me willing. Whatever that is, make me willing. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.

Now is it your desire to come after Christ? And I think this is interesting. This come after Christ means literally come behind him. Come behind him. I want to, whatever it means to come to him, I want to get to him. I want to stay behind him. I don't want to be anywhere else, but I want to be in him.

Oh, oh that I may win Christ and be found in him. You were reading that, that's what David wanted. One thing if I desire to the Lord, I want to be found in him. And in my experience, I want to stay behind him so that all God sees is Jesus Christ at all times. Is that your will? And it is if he has made you willing.

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself. Self is the enemy. Do you find that true with regard to you? Myself is my greatest enemy. Sinful self, selfish self, self-esteem, self-righteousness, self-confidence, self-centered, self-absorbed, self-willed, self-indulgent, self-seeking, self-promoting, self-deluded and self-deceived, self-glory, self-love, self-preservation, self-salvation. Self. Greatest problem I have Greatest problem you have.

Every one of those words I just repeated, I stung a little bit because I know they all describe me. Let me tell you when you do deny yourself. It's not when you try, just gotta put it down, I gotta put it down, I need to put down self, I need to just forget myself. We've all thought that way before. But let me tell you when you do deny self.

When you look to Christ only. That is when you deny yourself. When you look to Christ only. When you look to Christ alone, when you glory only in the cross, I love that passage of scripture in Philippians chapter three, verse three, we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit.

We're the true Jews. We worship God in the spirit. And that doesn't simply mean in a spiritual manner. It's about the Holy spirit. It's the new nature he's given you. You know, that's the only way you can worship. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. And we have no confidence in the flesh. I don't have any confidence in my flesh. And that's what this thing of self denial is. It's looking to Christ only. And I think of the thief when he said to the Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He is saying, myself won't help me out. Myself won't do anything for me. Remember me. Self's a sinking ship. Remember me when you come into your kingdom.

Whosoever will, that's their desire, come after me. Oh, if you know who he is, you'll want to come after him. You know, faith is knowing who he is. The most important issue there is, is who is Jesus Christ? Nothing can compare to the importance of that. Who is Jesus Christ? Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross.

Now, most people, when they read that, they think of, well, I've got a cross to bear. I've got hardships to endure. There's been a cross laid upon me, and I need to endure it patiently and really believe that God's in control of it and that he sent it my way for his glory and my good, and I want to bow beneath whatever he sends my way.

Now, I want to, too, and you want to, too, but that's not what that's talking about. He doesn't say a cross is laid on you. He said you willingly take up the cross. You do this because you want to. You willingly take up the cross. Now, by the cross, he's talking about the confession of the cross. The confession of what the cross means. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, you take up that cross, you will suffer persecution. You will be disliked. There's no question about that. But I'm to willingly, willfully take up His cross to follow Him.

Now, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1, 17 and 18, he said, Christ sent me not to baptize. And does that mean we're indifferent about baptisms? Of course not. I want everybody, beginning me, all of you, I want us to all confess Christ and believers baptism. This is not talking about that being an unimportant thing, but he's saying, I didn't come for results. I didn't come for numbers or how many were saved, how many were baptized. Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross, the doctrine of the cross, the word of the cross, this is what we're taking up. The preaching, the word, the doctrine of the cross.

Do you know that the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is the whole counsel of God? Do you believe that? The cross of Jesus Christ is the whole counsel of God. It's the reason God created the universe. for the cross. Christ is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. God created the universe to send His Son to die on Calvary's tree. Every attribute of God is glorified in the cross. It's a manifestation of who God is.

From the cross, I see God's absolute justice, even when sin's found in His Son. When He bore my sin and it became His sin, God was no respecter of persons. He punished his son because God is absolutely just. I see the love of God, how he would love sinners so much to give his son.

I see the power of God in making a way for me to stand before God just, having never sinned, perfect, righteous, because my sin became his sin, and his righteousness becomes my righteousness. Listen to this scripture. Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 21. For he hath made him sin. Who did that? God did. Me or you couldn't do that. God can. He took my sins and my sorrows and he made them his very own. For he hath made him to be sin. Who knew no sin? He never sinned. Why?

That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. What happened on the cross when that sun quit shining? Well, it's the full manifestation of the character of God. It's the way God saves sinners. It's the way God can be just, and yet justify me when I know in and of myself all I am is sin. And yet because of what Christ did for me, I stand before God having never sinned, with nothing to feel guilty about, perfectly righteous.

That's what he accomplished on Calvary Street. Now that's the cross we're taking up. We're taking up the confession of the cross. Now, why does he say take it up? Because if you don't, you don't have any understanding of it. If you have any understanding of it, this is your message. This is what you glory in, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think of what Paul spoke of when he spoke of the offense of the cross. The offense of the cross. The natural man is offended by the message of the cross.

Offends men's sense of pride because it says you got nothing to be proud about. It offends men's sense of self-righteousness because it says you don't have any righteousness. It offends men's sense of wisdom because it says you can't figure this out. It must be revealed to you. You can't figure it out. It offends men's ability because it says you don't have any ability.

It offends men's sense of personal rights because it says you don't have rights, you're a criminal. It offends men's love of self because we're called on to deny self. It offends men's sense of dignity because we're all one in Christ Jesus. We like up here and somebody down there know we're all one in Christ Jesus. There are no fleshly distinctions.

It offends men's sense of, it's too narrow. It's just too narrow. Well, the Lord did say this, straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it. And let me tell you how narrow this gate is. If you have anything other than Christ, you can't get through. If you have any good works, you're resting in some experience, some, some, some, something from back in the past, how you've handled sin. Oh, I can get it. You can't get in. You're too big to get through. The only way you can get through this narrow gate is if all you have is Jesus Christ. Paul said, I count all things but loss.

For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things, and do count it but done. You hear that, don't you? I count it but done. I don't want to be crude, but people say, well, I've sacrificed so much for Christ. Well, Paul said, all I've sacrificed is done.

And the last thing he says in our text, and we can call the people unto him with his disciples. Also he said unto them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Now, what do you think of when you think of following Christ? Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is imitating him, walking in his steps, trying to be like him. There's a famous book called The Imitation of Christ, written by Thomas A. Kempis. Well, I want to imitate him.

But can I honestly say I've ever done it? Even once? No. I failed in every attempt to imitate him. Failure. Somebody says, well, I think I've done a good job. Have you now? Congratulations, or should I say, my condolences. You have not done a good job in imitating him. So what does it mean to follow him if it's not imitating? Now, don't anybody misunderstand me? We want to be like the Lord, don't we? We do. But what does it mean to follow him? Following Christ It's not imitating him. It's not walking in his steps. It's looking to him. Now, if you're following somebody in a crowd, what do you do? You don't take your eyes off of them. If you look down, what will you do? You'll lose them. If you look over to the side, what will you do? you'll lose them. If you look behind you, what'll happen? You'll lose them.

When I cut my grass, I cut my grass on the diagonal. Crisscross and my nephew said, Uncle Todd, why do you do that? Well, I don't know, but I do. But when I cut my grass on the diagonal, I fix my eyes on a spot. And I don't look away from it. If I look away from it, it'll become crooked. It won't be straight. It'll go all over the place.

And when I look to Christ, I don't look down at my walk. I don't look down at my feet. All I'll be about is embarrassed. And I'll certainly not be looking at him if I'm looking at my walk. If you're looking to him, you're looking to him. You're not looking at your walk. If you're looking to him, you're not looking at how somebody else is doing. Comparing your life to them, seeing how you measure up with them. You don't look at anybody else. You don't look behind you for evidences.

Let's see if I've got some evidences that will prove to me I'm a believer. Let's see how's my life been. How much have I grown? How much victory do I have over sin? How much victory, how well have I done? If I look behind me, I lose it. Hebrews 12 1 and 2 says seeing were compassed about was so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race set before us looking unto Jesus. And do you know that particular word that's the only time that word is used in the New Testament? And here's what it means.

You set your gaze on him so that you don't see anything else. You're not looking at your feet. You're not looking at your brothers and sisters to see how they're doing. You're not looking behind you to see what evidences you can come up with that will prove to you you're saved. You look unto Jesus. I mentioned the thief. I want to close with these thoughts. If you could follow him into heaven, I know you can't, but if you would follow him into heaven and say, how did you get here? Him. Nothing else. Him. I think of That thief, when he went to that cross, he didn't know the Lord. He was cursing him, making fun of him, spewing out enmity toward him. And all of a sudden, something happened, and he quit his railing on Christ. And while his buddy continued to rail on him, he said, don't you fear God? And I don't have any doubt that he was referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you fear God?

How did he know? Because he knew who he was. If you know who he is, you know he is God. Don't you fear God seeing you're in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. How did he know he hadn't known him but a couple hours? Because he knew who he was. If you know who he is, you know he is sinless. The sinless one. He never did anything amiss.

And then, He looked at the Lord on the cross and he said, Lord. Now I'm sure people snickered when he did that. He thinks he's the Lord. He's got a crown of thorns. You can't even recognize his face. He seems so helpless and weak nailed to the cross. He calls him Lord.

Yes, he did. You know why? Because he knew who he was. He's the Lord. And he said, Lord, Remember me when you come into your kingdom. You're not gonna stay dead. He believed in the resurrection. Now, if you have asked him if he understood justification by faith, he'd probably said, I don't really know what you're talking about. But he knew who Jesus Christ was.

Lord, you're not gonna stay dead when you come back as a mighty reigning king in all your glory. Remember me. Today, nobody's ever been given this kind of assurance. Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. The issue is, who is Jesus Christ? As a matter of fact, that's the only issue. And if I ever see who he is, I'll deny myself. I'll see self as my biggest problem. I'll come after him. I'll take up my cross gladly and follow him. May the Lord enable every one of us to do just that. Amen. Pastor.

If Any Man Will Come After Me

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about taking up our cross?

How do we know Jesus is God?

Why is self-denial important for Christians?

What does it mean to follow Christ?

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If Any Man Will Come After Me

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about taking up our cross?

How do we know Jesus is God?

Why is self-denial important for Christians?

What does it mean to follow Christ?

Sermon Transcript

About Todd Nibert

Comments

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