Luke 9, 23. And he said to them all. If any
man will come after me. I want to be one of those people,
don't you? But come after the Lord Jesus Christ. If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow
me. Deny yourself? Self's pretty
important. Deny yourself? Take up a cross
to crucify yourself on daily? Lose your life? These things
do not seem to be appealing or attractive options, do they?
Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Lose your
life. The only way these things will
happen is if someone sees the Lord. That's it. Saul has been knocked
off his high horse by the light from heaven. He said, who art
thou Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest. He found out who he was. And
he said, Lord, what will thou have me to do? Deny myself? Okay. Take up my cross? Okay. Follow thee? Okay. It's a sight of the Lord
Jesus Christ that makes someone deny themselves. Take up the
cross daily. and follow him. Turn with me
to Joshua chapter five. Joshua, the fifth chapter. I love this passage of scripture.
It's awe inspiring. Verse 13. And it came to pass
when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked
and behold, There stood a man over against him with his sword
drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him and
said unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? And he
said, Neither. I like that. Neither. But as the captain of the host
of the Lord, am I now come? Joshua fell on his face to the
earth and did worship and said unto him, what sayeth my Lord
unto his servants? Boy, his speech had changed,
hadn't it? Not whose side are you on, us or theirs, but what
do you have to say? And the captain of the Lord's
host said unto Joshua, loose thy shoe from off thy foot for
the place wherein thou standest is holy. And that's the same
voice that spoke to Moses from the bush. And Joshua did so. You know, seeing the Lord puts
self in proper perspective. Turn to Job 42. This is at the end. Job says in verse 1, Then Job
answered the LORD, after the LORD had spoken from the whirlwind,
and demonstrated to Job who he is and who Job was. Then Job
answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do everything
and that no thought can be withholding from thee. Who is he that hideth
counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Here
I beseech thee and I'll speak. I'll demand of thee and declare
thou unto me. I've heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor
myself and repent in dust and ashes. Look what a sign of the Lord
did for Isaiah. Turn to Isaiah chapter six. Now in the fifth chapter, five
times, Isaiah says, woe unto them. Woe unto them. And I thought that too. Woe to
those people that do these things or those things or think this
way or believe that way. Woe unto them. And then in chapter
six in verse one, He says, in the year that King Uzziah died,
and that's very significant. Uzziah was a good king. And Uzziah
decided he was going to operate as a priest and offer incense
on his own. He was a king, he wasn't a priest.
The priest said, don't do this, Uzziah, this appertaineth not
to thee. He said, I'm going to do it. And he brings in incense
as a priest and all of a sudden leprosy covers his body and he
runs out of the house a leper. And Isaiah had admired and loved
and esteemed King Uzziah. And he said, in the year King
Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. In his unapproachable holiness,
how no man can just waltz into his presence, there must be a
priest. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted
up. And his train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims, each one had six wings. With
twain, he covered his face. With twain, he covered his feet.
With twain, he did fly. He covered his face in shame. He covered his feet, ashamed
of his walk. But with the other two, they
flew ready to do his will and cried unto one and to another
saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried and the house was filled with
smoke. Then said I, woe is me. For I am undone, because I'm
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Now, the Lord says in verse 23,
if any man, Luke 9, 23, if any man will come after me, if you
have a will, if you have a desire to come after Christ. What a
blessing that is to you. You know, no man by nature has
this. The Lord said, you will not come to me that you might
have life. That's our will. But if you have
a will, if you have a desire, if in your heart of hearts, you
want to come after and follow the Lord Jesus Christ, that is
God working in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. What a blessing to want you.
I want to come after him. Don't you? That's what I, I want
to be somebody who comes after the Lord Jesus Christ. Now coming
after Christ is God's irresistible grace, causing you to find the
Lord Jesus Christ to be irresistible, and you have to have him, and
you have to come after him. Oh, what a blessed place that
is to be, to come after the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Lord said,
if any man will come after me, let him deny himself. Now coming after Christ reveals
the ugliness of self. Now I know something about what
I'm getting ready to talk about. Do you know who my greatest enemy
is? Self. My self. Self-righteousness,
self-interest, self-indulgent, self-seeking, self-willed, self-promoting,
self-centered, self-serving, self-vindicating, self-justifying,
self-pleasing, self-absorbed, self-love, self-conscious. I'm an expert on all these things.
Self. Self. All of these are in every
self. Self. I guess there's a selfishness
that's kind of innocent. I guess I never will forget one
time, this true. Walter Groover, bless his heart.
We were driving back from somewhere. He said, Betty, I want some quesadillas
when I get home. And she said, well, Walter, we
don't have enough tortillas left for everybody. He said, well,
just give him white bread. I want the quesadillas. And she
said, Walter, that's selfish. He said, that's not selfish.
I'm just thinking about myself. There I am. Self ish. You cannot serve the Lord and
serve self. Self that monster is to be denied,
renounced. refused and seen to be for what
it is evil and disowned. Your self. Now that's hard to
do. It's impossible to do. But if
you see the Lord Jesus Christ, it's exactly what you want to
do. You see yourself for who you are and you want to deny
self. That comes from a sight of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Look back to Matthew chapter
16 for a moment. Now this is after Peter had made
that confession of Christ. Thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. And the Lord said to him, blessed
art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood didn't reveal that
to thee, but my father, which is in heaven. And if you really
believe Jesus is the Christ, God's prophet, God's priest,
God's king, you really believe that, you've been born of God.
Who so believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Peter's
just made this noble confession. The Lord says upon this rock,
this confession of me, I'll build my church. Now, same conversation. Look in verse 21. From that time
forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must
suffer, or he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the
elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be
raised again the third day. Then Peter took him and began
to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord. And my marginal
reading says, Pity yourself, Lord. Be easier on yourself than
this. Be it far from thee, Lord. This
shall not be unto thee. But he turned and said unto Peter,
Get thee behind me, Satan. art an offense unto me. For thou savorest not the things
that be of God, but those that be of men. Then said Jesus unto
his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself. Peter said, save yourself. No,
deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow
me for whosoever will save his life shall lose it. and whosoever
shall lose his life for my sake shall find it. Now, if any man
will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
daily, the Lord says. Pick it up. That's something
you do. You pick this cross up daily
and carry it and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I don't know
much more, even much more aggravating when I hear somebody talk about
the cross. This is the cross I have to bear. some kind of affliction,
and this is the cross I have to bear. That doesn't have anything
to do with what the Lord was talking about. He wasn't talking
about some kind of physical affliction or some kind of trial or trouble.
He was talking about the confession of Himself that's involved in
taking up this cross. And He said, you take it up,
this confession of Me. this identification with the
cross. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1,
17 and 18, 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. And that
word preaching is the doctrine of the cross, the word of the
cross. What the cross has to say is
to them that perish, foolishness. There are people who will hear
this message and they'll say, this is foolishness. But unto
us which are saved, it's the power of God. Now, the doctrine
of the cross that I'm called upon to carry and identify with
and This is my gospel. This is what I believe. Whatever
it costs me, however mad people may get, the doctrine of the
cross gives the true character of man. Now, do you want to know
the truth about yourself? Somebody says, I want to find
myself. Well, I'm going to discover yourself to you. You want to
know the truth about yourself? You look at the cross, and that's
the only place you're going to get the truth about yourself.
The one time men are allowed to do what they want to do and
the restraint is taken away, they nail the Son of God to a
cross. And that is how bad you and I
are. The cross gives the true character
of man. Don't tell me about the goodness
or the moral ability or the free will of man. The cross exposes
man. It exposes me for what I really
am. And the doctrine of the cross
tells us the truth of the character of God. This is what is so glorious about
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the whole counsel of God.
Every attribute of God, all who God is, all He's pleased to make
known to us concerning Himself is seen in the cross. Think about
this. What wisdom, what glory! His
hatred of sin is seen in the cross. His holiness is seen in
the cross. His absolute justice is seen
in the cross. His grace is seen in the cross. His power is seen in the cross. To put away sin. His sovereignty
is seen in the cross. Two thieves, He saved one and
passed the other by. His wisdom is seen in the cross.
How He's made a way to be just and justify the ungodly. Oh,
the glory of the cross! I love what Charles Spurgeon
said. I've never heard a better statement
than this. He said, if we limited everything we said to say nothing
concerning the cross, it would be a widening rather than a narrowing
of our ministry. And I believe that, don't you?
The glory of the cross, it tells us who God It shows us how bad
sin is, and the cross tells us how a sinner is saved. Turn to
Galatians chapter 5, please. A couple of scriptures I want to
look at in the book of Galatians. Paul says in verse 11, And I,
brethren, if I yet preach circumcision. By the preaching of circumcision,
he means something other than the cross, something in the law.
Yes, you're saved by the cross, but you also need to be circumcised,
or you also need to do this. It's anything you need to do
added to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he
means by circumcision. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision,
why do I yet suffer persecution? You see, if I was preaching circumcision,
nobody would be persecuting me. People would find agreement with
what I'm saying. then is the offense of the cross
ceased. If I preach works in any way,
then is the offense of the cross ceased. Look in verse 12 of chapter
6. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they
constrain you to be circumcised. You need to be circumcised. You
need to keep the law. You need to. The only reason
they do this is lest they should suffer persecution for the cross
of Christ. For neither they themselves who
are circumcised keep the law. All that stuff about you need
to keep the law, they're hypocrites. They don't keep the law. They
boast about the things. What they want to do, they want
to feel good about themselves by getting, I've changed their
life. I've been an influence on them. I've changed their life.
I've really done something good. No, you haven't. And all it is,
is hypocrisy because you haven't done anything good. They don't
keep the law that they may glory in your flesh. This is what they
want to do. They want to glory in your flesh. But God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, by whom the world is
crucified unto me and I unto the world. And I think of Paul
making this statement, because I, you know, you're going to
glory in something. We all want to glory in something. Every
single one of us do. You're going to glory in something.
Now, Paul, as we talked about him this morning, I mean, look
at the way God used him. He used him to write the scriptures.
He was the man God used more than anybody else to expound
the gospel. He was used to found so many churches. He suffered
so much for the cause of Christ. I mean, you think of what a special
man Paul was. I mean, everywhere he went, he
got beat, stoned, thrown out of town. What a man Paul was. And yet, he says, I won't glory
in any of these things. I'm the chief of sinners. All
I will glory in is the cross. of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know, that's all I have confidence in. I can say that with just
as much conviction as Paul. The only thing I have confidence
in is who Christ is and what He did. That's everything in
my salvation, and I'm not looking anywhere else. This is the motto
of every believer. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we take up
that cross, that confession of Christ, what He accomplished
on the cross. What did he accomplish? When
he said, it is finished. Oh, what blessed, precious words. When he said it is finished,
my salvation was finished. Outside of my personal subjective
experience. He saved us. And he called us. Which came
first? The saving or the calling? He
saved us. And he called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which were given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. We pick up this cross that the
world finds so offensive. Turn to John chapter six. Verse 59, these things. said
he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Now, if you would
look back into that particular message, you would see that the
Lord taught, and you read this for yourself, you see that the
Lord taught that men are totally depraved. No man can come to
me except the father which has sent me drawing. John 6, 44. No man can, no man has the ability
to come to me. That's total depravity. He taught
election. He said, you've seen me and you
don't believe, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Divine
election. And him that cometh to me I'll
in no wise cast out. He taught effectual, successful
redemption. He said, this is the will of
him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me, all the
elect, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. He taught Irresistible grace. Every man that has heard and
learned of the Father cometh to me. He taught grace so clearly. You go back and read that chapter
yourself. And in verse 59, these things
said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Many
therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, this
is an hard saying, harsh, difficult. inhumane. Who can hear it? Who can listen to such things
as this? When Jesus knew it himself that his disciples murmuring
at it, he said unto them, does this offend you? What and if you shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where it was before? I love the way he
says that. He said, you're offended now? You're really going to be
offended when you see me ascended at the right hand of the Father,
saying these things. And you find out, you'll really
be offended then. Verse 63, it's the Spirit that
quickens. Flesh, prophets, nothing. The words that I speak to you,
these words that you say are hard sayings, they are spirit
and they are life. But there are some of you that
believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that
believed not and who should betray him. And he said, therefore said
I unto you that no man can come to me. He sticks it in again.
No man can come to me except it were given to him of my father. You don't believe me. You can't
believe me. You won't believe me unless it's
given to you of my father. And that's what it says in it.
No uncertain terms. From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto
the twelve, will you also go away? And Simon Peter answered
and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of
eternal life, and we believe and are sure that Thou art that
Christ, the Son of the living God. What's a cross for? Crucifixion. Paul said, I die daily. We're called upon to crucify
the flesh with the affections and lusts and deny it, it'll
buck against self-denial, but we're to pick up that cross every
day. That's why I said daily. This isn't a one-time thing.
You know, you crucify the flesh today, it's gonna be waking up
tomorrow in all of its power and wickedness, and it's to be
crucified once again. Pick up your cross daily and
follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the only way Christ can
be followed is by denying yourself. taking up your cross and following
Him. And you know when you follow
Him, you know what you're doing? You're looking to Him. It's so simple.
I mean that concept is so simple. You're looking to Him. If you
can't see Him, you're listening to His voice. My sheep, hear
my voice. Another, a stranger, they will
not follow. You hear the truth of God and
you follow. You hear the scripture and you
follow. You follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Now back to Luke 9. Verse 24. For whosoever will
save his life. Now there's a lot of difficulty
involved in denying yourself. and taking up your cross daily
and following the Lord Jesus Christ. It ain't easy in any
respect. It's not easy. But the Lord says,
if you decide to not do it and save yourself the trouble and
save your life, you'll lose it. We'll spend eternity in hell
is what that means. We'll go to hell. There's no
salvation apart from this. Now I'm not saved because I deny
myself and take up my cross and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm saved because Christ died for me. I'm saved because salvation
is by grace. I'm saved because he did a mighty
work of grace in my heart. And if he's done a mighty work
of grace in my heart, he's given me a view of him that makes me
hate myself and want to deny myself and deny myself and to
take up that cross and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he
says, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take
up his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever will save his
life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake. Now that's the key. For my sake. Is any self-denial too great? any sacrifice too much for His
sake. I want you to think about that. Let me tell you what God does
for His sake. Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you." He didn't forgive you because you asked to be forgiven. He
didn't forgive you because you were sorry. He didn't forgive
you because you promised you'd never do it again. He forgave
you for one reason, and it's all the reason He needs, for
Christ's sake. I can tell you why God would
forgive you, for Christ's sake. Let me tell you what he has done
for your sake. You know, Paul said the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
sake, he became poor. That you, through his poverty,
might be rich. For Christ's sake, we will lose
our lives and not count it a loss. Turn to Philippians 3. Looked at a few of these verses
this morning, but let's look at them again. Paul was talking about what he
used to be. Though I might also, verse 4,
have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinks that
he has whereof he might not trust in the flesh, I more circumcise
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of the Hebrews, touching the law of Pharisee, concerning
zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to
me, I thought these were the plus column, Those I counted
loss for Christ. They went from the plus column
to the negative column. Yea, doubtless, I count all things
but loss, but rubbish, but garbage for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of
all things and do count them but dung. That's strong language. When I hear people I've heard
people, well, I've lost this for Christ, I've lost that for
Christ. Oh, big deal. Big deal. You lost Dung. Is that something to cry over?
Is that something to be proud about? Paul said, I count all
things but Dung, that I may win Christ and be found in him. He lost false religion and he
gained Christ. He lost self-righteousness and
gained Christ's righteousness. He lost bondage and he gained
liberty and freedom. He lost false peace and he gained
true peace. He lost pretended glory and he
gained true glory. And back to our text in Luke
9. The Lord asked this question,
for what is a man advantaged if he gained the whole world? and lose himself or be cast away. Now, if you save your life and
in the process of doing it, you gain the whole world. You have
everything that this world deems good and desirable and you have
an easy life and a wonderful life and you make all kinds of
friends and everything's downhill and everything's wonderful. What
would profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his
soul? And what would a man give in
exchange for his soul? Verse 26, for whosoever shall
be ashamed of me and of my words. Now understand this, Jesus Christ
cannot be separated from his words. Whosoever will be ashamed
of me and my words, everything he says. Remember his marching orders
to the church, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I've commanded you. Whatever the Lord says, whosoever
shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the son of
man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory and his
father's and of the holy angels. And Jesus shall it ever be. a mortal man, ashamed of thee. Ashamed of thee whom angels praise,
whose glories shine through endless days. Ashamed of Jesus, sooner
far let evening blush to own a star. He sheds the beams of
light divine or this benighted soul of mine. Ashamed of Jesus,
that dear friend, on whom my hopes of heaven depend? No, when
I blush, let this be my shame, that I no more revere his name. Ashamed of Jesus? Yes, I may,
when I've no guilt to wash away, no tear to wipe, no good to crave,
no fears to quell, no soul to save. I can be ashamed of Jesus
then. Till then, nor is my boasting vain, till then I'll boast a
Savior slain. And oh, may this my glory be,
that Christ is not ashamed of me. Paul said in Romans 1 16,
I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. For it, the gospel, is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first,
and also to the Greek. For therein, in the gospel, is
the righteousness of God revealed. And I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm ashamed of myself. I'm ashamed of myself, but I
am not ashamed of the gospel. As a matter of fact, I'm proud
of it. I'm proud of the gospel, I believe. I glory in it. It's a gospel worthy of the glory
of God. We're not ashamed of our Lord,
nor are we ashamed of His words. It's a gospel worthy of the excellency
and glory of God. Now, Paul said this in 2 Timothy
1, verse 8. He said, Timothy, don't you be
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner,
but you be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according
to the power of God. May God enable us to deny ourselves,
to take up our cross, our identification with the gospel, follow the Lord
Jesus Christ, and lose our life for his sake. Let's pray.