Okay, Luke chapter 9. I'm going to try to bring a message
from verse 23 down through verse 27 of Luke 9. And I'm taking my title for the
message from verse 23. Verse 23. And the title is in
the form of a question. What is it to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ, or what is involved in being a true disciple, a believer
of Christ. Look at verse 23 of Luke 9. If any, and let's change that
word to man because it's been added, and I'll add a better
word, sinner. Salvation for sinners. He came
to seek and to save sinners. If any sinner will come after
Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow,
follow, follow Me." What is it to follow the Lord Jesus Christ? what is involved in being a true
disciple, a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this
is not talking about just being religious. Everybody is religious. I mean everybody. I have never
talked to one man on topside this earth that didn't have some
kind of hope. Even if he was irreligious, he
had some kind of hope. But I'm talking here about what
the Lord is describing as a true follower of Christ. Now I want
you to ask yourself this question. Am I following the Lord Jesus
Christ? Am I following the Lord Jesus
Christ? The second question, am I a disciple
or a believer in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Now let's
back up to verse 22. The blessed Redeemer had just
plainly declared that He must die as a sinner's substitute,
be raised from the dead, because He accomplished their salvation. Look at verse 22. Saying, the
Son of Man, the Son of Man, God cannot suffer, But the God-man
mediator did. The Son of Man, who is the Son
of God, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, God our Savior, must
suffer. There's no other way. Sin brings
nothing but suffering. The Lord Jesus Christ was made
the Lamb of God to suffer in our stead, and He said that I
must suffer many things. And He did. He's called a man
of sorrows, acquainted with grief, And then he says, be rejected
the religious crowd that day. You remember what they said?
When Pilate said, what about Jesus? What should we do with
Him? Remember what they said? Away with Him. Crucify Him. We have no king but Caesar. When
Pilate said, behold your king, they said, we have no king but
Caesar. Be rejected of the elders. And the priest, and the scribe,
all the religious somebodies of that day, they said, thumb
down. We don't want him. Away with
him. Crucify him. And the son of man must be not
only rejected, he must suffer many things, but he must die
for our sin. Sin requires death. The wages
of sin is death. And when our sin was laid upon
the Lord Jesus Christ, actually and literally, the sin of God
the elect were laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He was made
sin for us. What had to happen? Death. That's
the reason He died. Death. Because of sin. But sin
could not confine Him or keep Him. He was delivered for our
offenses and raised again because He justified us. He was raised
again the third day. He said, because I live, you
shall live also. He came to put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself. Now in Matthew 16, hold your
place here and find Matthew 16, 22. We read this last week, but
for the benefit of some who were not here last week. In Matthew
16, verse 22, when the Lord declared these things unto the disciples,
Matthew 16. From that time, verse 21, fourth,
Jesus, the Lord Jesus, began to show unto His disciples how
they must go to Jerusalem, must suffer many things of the elders
and chief priests and scribes, and be killed. be raised again
the third day. And Peter took him and began
to rebuke him." Now this is Peter. This is the apostle. "...rebuking
the Lord upon hearing that he must suffer and die. He began
to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall
not be." Now notice the Lord's response. Peter turned and said,
the Lord turned unto Peter and said, Get out of my way. Get
behind me. Satan, you're inspired by Satan. Thou art an offense to me, for
thou savors not the things that be of God, but those that be
of men. The Lord began to rebuke Peter
when Peter said, this shall not be. The Lord sharply rebuked
him. and said, My suffering, death,
resurrection, and glory are the very things of God that I came
to accomplish. Remember, he was delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Remember, our Lord said
on many occasions that He came to do the will of His Father.
Remember? He came to finish the redeeming
work that the Father gave Him to do, redeeming a people and
putting away their sin, and in doing so, bring all honor and
glory unto the Father. Now let's read that over in John
chapter 17. John chapter 17. You see, the
grand design of redemption, as I said on the radio this morning,
the grand design of redemption is the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. John 17. This is our Lord's priestly
prayer for His covenant people. Verse 1, Father, the hour has
come, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. as
thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, the only true God, Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent,
I like to leave that conjunction out, the only true God, Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent, and have glorified thee on the
earth, I finished the work you gave me to do." And then on Calvary's
tree, turn one page, John 19 verse 30, when Jesus therefore
had received the vinegar, He said, it is finished. What? What is finished? Well, redemption
is finished. Salvation is accomplished. He
bowed his head and gave up the spirit back to the Father. And then the Lord told His disciples
in verse 23, what it is to follow the Lord and to be a true disciple. The Lord told his disciples what
is involved in following the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember,
Peter had just confessed when the Lord said, whom do you say
that I am? Remember what he said? Thou art
the Christ of God. Now, one of the old preachers
of the past said of this verse, verse 23 and following, this
is the plainest definition of being what a true believer is. It involves at least three things
that's found here in these verses. Luke 9, 23, down through verse
27. Three things the Lord gives us
here, what is involved in following the Lord Jesus Christ and being
a true disciple. Here's the first thing. The importance
of coming to Christ by faith. Look what it says in verse 23.
If any sinner will come After me. Now, how do we come to Christ? We can't do that physically,
can we? How do we come to Christ? Well, we come to Christ without
moving a muscle. We come to Christ by faith. Now,
this is necessary. Hold your place there and find
Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 verse 6. If any sinner
will come after me, or has a desire put in his heart to come to Christ,
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 11 verse 6, But without
faith it is impossible to please Him, for He that cometh to God,
now notice that word cometh, cometh, that's present tense
isn't it? Cometh to God must believe that
He is, and that He is rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him, if any sinner will come after me, to whom coming? That
is, with a desire to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look back
to the text. Faith is portrayed in Scripture
as coming to Christ, alone for all of salvation. That's how we come to Him by
faith. By faith. To come to Him is to
believe on Him. Now turn to John 6. Our Lord
said in Matthew 11, the verse we all know very well, the Lord
said, all you that are laboring and heavy laden, He said, come
unto Me and I will give you rest. So how do we come to Christ?
We come to Him by faith. John chapter 6, look at verse
35. John 6, 35. The Lord said, I
am the bread of life, he that cometh. Notice again there, it's
a continual action. By faith, by faith, coming to
me shall never hunger, and he that believeth, believeth, believeth.
We never quit believing, we never quit coming. on me shall never
thirst, but I said unto you that you also have seen me and believed
not." Now look at verse 37, "...all that the Father giveth me shall
come to me, and him that cometh cometh to me, I will in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. And
this is the Father's will, which has sent Me. Of all which He
has given Me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that everyone
would see it, the Son." Now how do we see Him? By faith. in the
Word, by the Spirit, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise Him up at the last day." Now, if any
man has been given the gift of faith and has a desire to come
to Him, we know it's all of grace. Because look at John 6, verse
44. He said, No man has the ability in and
of himself. Can come to me except the Father
which sent me. Draw him, and I'll raise him
up at the last day. So if you truly in your heart
have a desire to come to Christ by faith, to look to Him, it
is only because God has given you that desire and God has granted
you that faith. Now, look back to the text again.
There's an important word in verse 23. If any sinner will. You see that word? Will come. After me, will. You see, God
so works in our heart that He makes us willing to come to Him. If any man will come, our will
is involved in coming to Christ. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of His power. Now, this is not teaching that
man's sinful and depraved will is free. Man's will is not free. Oh, he has a will, but it's in
bondage to his nature. If any man willingly comes to
Christ, it is because God has worked that desire and changed
his will to come to Him. The Lord by His power makes us
willing, And when He makes Himself irresistible unto us, and He
creates faith within us, He makes us new creatures in Christ, and
our desire now is not to love self, not to love darkness, but
to love Him. He is altogether lovely to you
who believe. He is precious and He is altogether
lovely. You see, this desire that He
places in our heart that causes us to willingly come to Him,
it's the work of His grace. It's not the product of the flesh.
You see, faith, as we know, is a gift of God, right? We willingly,
lovingly, freely embrace the Lord Jesus Christ with God-given
faith. We embrace Him with the arms
of faith. This coming to the Lord Jesus
Christ by God-given faith, that is a gift of God, is not an isolated
act. It's not a one-time response,
but rather a continual coming to Him. To whom coming? To whom
coming? It's a continual looking to Him.
It's a continual believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. You see,
faith is something that's alive because it's the gift of God,
is it not? Not the product of the flesh.
Now, in this coming to Christ, the Lord tells us in verse 23, It bears the fruit of these three
things in coming to Christ. He gives us three things in verse
23. That's the fruit of coming to
Christ. That's the gift of God. Let a
man, first of all, deny himself. Secondly, take up his cross daily. And then thirdly, he says to
follow to follow me, to follow me. Now, let him first of all
deny himself. Now what is this? Self-denial.
It's self-denial. It's a hard lesson and impossible
apart from the power of the gospel. But one of the first lessons
that God the Holy Spirit teaches us in the school of faith is
to have no confidence in the flesh. We are the true Israel
which worship God in the Spirit, that rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and we have no confidence in the flesh. We deny ourselves
in this respect, O wretched man that I am. Job said, I have heard
of thee, now my eyes see thee, wherefore I abhor, I hate myself. That is to renounce all self-dependence,
all self-righteousness, and cast all of our dependence upon Him. That is denying self. And that is impossible apart
from His grace. To deny yourself. It's a selling
out and a surrendering to the Lordship of Christ. It's giving
up self and bowing to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's one of the
reasons I read Philippians chapter 3. Paul said, I count all things
but loss. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him." That is denying Himself. And that's what
true repentance does and what true saving faith does. We have a very low and true opinion
about self, wretched man, and we have a very high opinion about
God. He is holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from sin. Now, the second fruit of coming
to Christ, willingly being brought to the Lord Jesus Christ. The
second thing he mentions here, is let him deny himself, first
of all. Secondly, let him take up his cross daily. Now what
does that mean? What does that mean, taking up
the cross daily? Our Lord said in Matthew 10,
38, He that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not
worthy of me. So what is taking up the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ daily, every day? What does this mean?
Well, let me tell you what it doesn't mean. It does not mean
that we drag a wooden cross up and down the road. Now this time
of year, Easter time, when everybody's thinking about the crucifixion
of Christ, almost every year you'll see somebody, or it'll
be in the newspaper anyway, about a group of people that have sponsored
somebody to walk up and down the road carrying a big, heavy,
wooden cross. And they think, well, we've got
to carry our cross. We've got to bear the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what that is? That's
tommyrot. That's foolishness. Don't be
involved in such nonsense. That's what it is. It's nonsense.
Nonsense. Our Lord said in Luke 14, 27
that it is very imperative that we bear the cross or take up the
cross of the Lord Jesus. Turn to Luke 14. Let's read that
together. Luke 14. Let's begin at verse
25. Luke 14, 25. And there went great
multitudes with Him, and He turned and He said unto them, Luke 14,
25. Are you with me? If any man come, any sinner come
to me, and hate not his father, mother, wife, children, brother,
sister, yea, his own life, let him deny himself, he cannot be
my disciple." Now, is he teaching us here that we should hate our
No, but in comparison to the way we love Him, our affection
toward others seem to be small, don't they? We could say in that
sense, in a comparative sense, that it's hatred. He cannot be
my disciple. Verse 27, Whosoever doth not
bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. So, I want to know what that
is. And I want to do it by His grace. Now again, this is not talking
about bearing some particular pain or some particular burden. This is talking about taking
a public stand for the gospel of the cross, for the Christ
of the cross. for the doctrine of the cross,
for the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
Paul said, remember, I'm determined to know nothing among you, but
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We preach not ourselves, but
the Lord Jesus Christ. God forbid us a glory save in
the cross of Christ. What he's talking about here
is what true saving faith does. We contend for the faith once
delivered unto the saints, contending publicly for the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the preaching of the gospel
to those who are perishing, the preaching of the cross to those
who are perishing, it is nonsense and foolishness, but unto us
which are saved, the cross of Christ is the power of God, the
wisdom of God, and the glory of God. Now it's summed up in
six statements I want to make to you, what it is to let a man
take up his cross daily. Daily. Six statements, quickly,
I'll give them to you. First of all is this, it's salvation
and redemption through his blood, is it not? Salvation through
his blood, redemption through his blood, we are redeemed with
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, preacher,
how can I put away my sin? You can't. The blood of bulls
and goats cannot put away sin. Your human sacrifice or human
merit will not. Your repentance, your faith will
not put away sin. Salvation and forgiveness and
redemption is through His blood, His sacrifice. Secondly, salvation
through His grace alone. justified freely by His grace
to the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
taking up the cross of Christ, taking a stand for the gospel
of God's grace, salvation through His blood, salvation by His grace. Thirdly, salvation received by
faith alone. Faith alone, the just shall live
by faith. Salvation, fourthly, in Christ
alone. Christ alone. He that hath the
Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. And then salvation, fifthly, by the mercy of God
alone. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy. He saved us. And the sixth thing, I told you
this would be quick. Did you get all six of those?
You can get this CD and go back and listen to it, or I'll have
this on the internet, Lord willing, in the morning on sermon audio,
if all the electronic devices don't fail. The sixth thing is
this, salvation is to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Salvation by His blood alone.
Salvation by grace alone, faith alone, in Christ alone, mercy
alone, to the glory of God alone. That is taking up the cross of
Christ daily and contending for salvation that is of the Lord. That is what saving faith does. That is truly coming to the Lord
Jesus Christ and taking a stand for the gospel. And the third
thing he mentions here is to follow me. You see that? You
see, coming to Him has these three things. That's the fruit
of coming to Him, denying self, taking up His cross daily, and
then following the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said that the
sheep of Christ do follow Him. Remember in John 10. He said,
My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. He is the Good Shepherd, the
Good Shepherd who gave His life. We can say with David, the Lord
is my Shepherd. David was following the Lord
Jesus Christ. They follow the Lord Jesus Christ,
you know why? Because He leads us. He leads
us. Where He leads me, I will follow.
They follow Him, and I emphasize that, He said, follow me, but
they follow Him because there's no other Savior, is there? There is no other salvation. There is no other righteousness. I like what Peter said, when
that crowd of 5,000 that the Lord fed said, these are hard
sayings, and turned and walked away. And the Lord said to the
12, will you also go away? And Peter said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. We believe and we're sure you're that Christ of God. He's a good shepherd, the great
shepherd, the chief shepherd. You see, we're following Him.
His way, we're following Him. Not the ways of man. The Lord's
people follow Him. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. He said to Matthew when He called
him, Matthew, follow Me. And we're following the Lord,
aren't we? We're looking to Him. He's the Good Shepherd, the Great
Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd of the sheep. Now, in verse 24
and verse 25, in Luke 9, we see another description of being
a true believer and what it is to be a disciple and to follow
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's total sell-out to Him. Whosoever
will, there's that will again. He makes us willing. Whosoever
will save, His life will lose it, but whosoever will lose his
life for my sake, for the gospel's sake, for Christ's sake, for
His glory, the same will save it. What is a man's advantage? He will gain the whole world
and lose his soul or lose himself and be cast away. So here we
see Total commitment to Christ. Total commitment to Christ. Now
hold your place there and find 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter
1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. Verse 11, whereunto I am appointed
a preacher, an apostle, a teacher of the Gentiles. For the rich
cause I also suffered these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed. I'm persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. Saving
faith has committed the whole of salvation unto the Lord Jesus
Christ. Total sell-out to Christ. Such
glorious salvation by the free and sovereign grace of God deserves
our total 100% commitment, concentration, devotion,
and dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ. God's people are sold
out to Him. They have no other hope. Believers
are totally sold out to Christ. As Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and persuaded He is able. Those who are blessed to
count all things lost for Christ are truly blessed of God. Those
who lose their life to and for the gospel sake, for Christ's
sake, as he says there in verse 24, are not losers at all. Are they? They gain all things
in Christ. We are more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. Thanks be to God who has given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who lose
their life to and for Christ are not losers, for they gain
all things in Him. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. Now verse 25, what advantage? What advantage is there? If someone would gain this whole
world, live totally for self, to self, and lose himself, lose
his soul. What advantage will fame and
fortune, self-righteousness, give and bring you at the judgment
seat of Christ? The answer is nothing but wrath,
the wrath of God. Those who will live only to self,
for self, and seek to save his life for self, for his righteousness,
self-righteous doing, will lose his soul in eternal Condemnation. Our Lord said this in Matthew
16. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world
and lose his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? What's your soul worth? When the Lord comes back in great
power and glory, what will all those banknotes be worth? What
will all those stocks and bonds be worth? It'll be worthless,
won't it? It'll just be toilet paper. That's
all it is. Our money will be just nothing
but toilet paper. Ten million worlds are worth
nothing in comparison to one soul. Here's the last thing. Remember now, we're talking about
true saving faith, the faith of God's elect. This is right
down where we live, right where the rubber meets the road. Three
things, coming to Christ, committing to the Lord Jesus Christ, total
sell-out, surrender, bowing to the Lordship of Christ, and then
the third thing that he mentions in verse 26 is confessing Christ. For whosoever shall be ashamed
of me and of my words, Of Him shall the Son of Man be ashamed,
when He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's, and
of the holy angels. I tell you the truth, there'll
be some standing here which shall not die, taste death, till they
see the fulfillment of the kingdom of God, and the establishment
of the gospel, through Jesus Christ in Him crucified." So
the third thing we see is confessing confessing Christ. Our Lord said
in Matthew 10, Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men,
him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before
men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven. Believers boldly and publicly
confess their faith in Christ. because they are not ashamed
of him. Now, baptism is not salvation,
but those who are saved by the grace of God delight to publicly
confess their faith in Christ by believer's baptism. We can
say with the Apostle Paul, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of
Christ, for it is a power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. Believers are not ashamed of
the Lord Jesus Christ, nor of His Word. And you cannot separate
the written Word from the living Word. The living Word is quick,
Powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. So what is it then to
confess the Lord Jesus Christ and to not be ashamed of Him? Well, the first thing is this,
to believe the Gospel in your heart and to confess that with
your mouth. Turn to Romans 10. And again,
this is something the Lord works in us. God who has begun a good
work in you, He will perfect it. Romans chapter 10. Verse 6, the righteousness which
is of faith speaketh on this wise, say not in thy heart. Romans
10, 6. Who shall ascend into heaven?
That is to bring Christ down from above. Or who shall descend
into the deep? That is to bring up Christ again
from the dead. But what saith it? The word is
nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the
word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth, Jesus to be Lord, O Lord Jesus, and shall believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou
shalt be saved, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. God, God, give us a new heart.
And with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. We publicly
confess that Christ is all of our salvation before God. And we confess that because that
is what God has wrought in our hearts. Secondly, to confess
Him is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in believer's baptism.
Confessing His death is all of our Salvation, His burial, and
His resurrection is our total hope of all of our salvation
before God. As I said a moment ago, water
baptism does not save. Not at all. But those who are
saved by the grace of God freely confess the Lord Jesus Christ
in believer's baptism. Our Lord said, He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. That's how we confess Christ.
Thirdly, to confess Him and not be ashamed of Christ is to identify
with His people and identify where the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ is declared and preached. The gospel. That's
the power of God. The gospel of Christ. That's
the power of God unto salvation. We believe in our heart. and
confess Him with our mouth, we delight to confess the Lord Jesus
Christ in believer's baptism, and then we confess Him by not
being ashamed of the gospel of Christ and identifying with His
people where the gospel of Christ is preached. Now, may God give
us grace. May God give us grace. I'm saying
all this is by the grace of God. We've talked about three things.
To come to Christ by faith. To whom coming? To whom coming?
Remember, it's not an isolated act. It's a continual, continual
state of being in the believer's heart. Secondly, it's committing
all of our salvation unto Him. I'm trusting nothing in my flesh. Nothing. I don't have anything
there to trust, do you? All my righteousnesses are filthy
rags in God's sight. There's nothing in the flesh
to trust. We commit everything to Christ. And then thirdly,
what is it to be a true disciple and a follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ? It's to confess Him. Confess
Him publicly and to not be ashamed of Christ. He's everything to
the believer in salvation.