What do I know with Isaac Carroll
What do I know with Isaac Carroll
Deny Self, Take Up Your Cross
When we set our minds on human concerns rather than God's purposes, we can become stumbling blocks rather than stepping stones in His divine plan. Peter's mistake mirrors our own tendency to create a Jesus who fits our preferences rather than following the Jesus who calls us to radical surrender.
"If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me." These words from Matthew 16:24 form the cornerstone of true discipleship. Denying yourself isn't a one-time decision but a daily choice to seek God's agenda over your own comfort and desires. Taking up your cross means embracing the instrument of your own self-execution—dying to selfishness, pride, and worldly ambition. And this isn't a part-time commitment; as we explore in this episode, there are no vacations or retirement from following.
Join me as we dig deeper into this pivotal passage, explore the concept of holiness that has "lost its meaning in this day and age," and unpack Jesus's mysterious prophecy about disciples who would not taste death before seeing the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. Your understanding of what it truly means to follow Jesus might never be the same.
May God bless you and lead you always.
Welcome to the podcast. I'm Isaac Carroll, and this is what Do I Know? All right, in today's Bible study we are going to be back in Matthew 16 and we're going to be picking up in verse 21. If you're ready, from that time, jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and to suffer many things from the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and to be killed and to be raised up on the third day. And yet Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying God forbid this Lord, this shall never happen to you. But he turned to Peter and said Get behind me, satan. You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your minds on God's purposes, but men's. Then Jesus said to his disciples If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me, for whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world but he forfeits his soul? Truly, I say to you there are some of those who are standing here who will not what we just read at the end of chapter 16. I don't know about you, but I truly love Peter and I just identify him so greatly with his character in these moments that he just blows it with Jesus. I mean, he obviously loves Jesus very much, but no matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to get out of his own way. Let's think about this for a second. Jesus is preparing his disciples for what's going to happen. Let's think about this for a second. Jesus is preparing his disciples for what's going to happen and at the same time I can only imagine he must be trying to prepare himself for the ordeal that he's facing to face.
Speaker 1:If the prayer time at the Garden of Gethsemane was any inclination of the stress that he was under, remember he sweated blood and he prayed to God that if it was possible for him to take that cup from him but not his will, but God's will At this very moment, he could have really used some encouragement. He could have used these brothers coming to him and supporting him in some way. But he doesn't get that. He gets Peter instead. Peter takes him aside as if he's the master and Jesus is the follower, and he scolds him and he rebukes him and says no, lord, this cannot happen to you. And he gets rebuked, and rightly so. Why? Because Peter has an agenda. Peter has what he wants and what he sees Christ doing, and that doesn't involve Christ dying because he was focused on what he believed Jesus would be doing.
Speaker 1:And I think, if we really took a step back, many of us can actually identify with Peter here. And I think our prayer times kind of reflect this. Because I mean, how often does our prayers reflect what we want out of God when we really should be praying God? What would you have me do? I often, and I can tell you this for sure I often pray God, lead me down the paths you would have me to walk and guide my steps. Now I pray this. But how often have I skipped little things like not calling a person who I haven't seen in Bible study for a few weeks because it's out of my comfort zone and I don't like bothering people. And I always use an excuse but it's all. It is an excuse because it's not what I want to do, but it's all. It is an excuse because it's not what I want to do.
Speaker 1:And this is the very reason why Jesus gives this famous teaching at the end of chapter 16. No-transcript. And Jesus says if anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. All right, let's break this down piece by piece. First, if anyone would follow me, right, we have to make a conscious choice to follow Christ. Not lead, not ask to meet him wherever he's going, but to follow him. He's the leader with a follower. That takes a conscious choice to do and we must make that choice every day. It can't be. I made it on this day and this is where I'm at now. It has to be. I made this choice every day that I got up, every second of the day as I go through life. I have to make this choice because we do live in this body and we do have our own self-interest. That's always at work in us and we have to deny that part of us as we seek God's leadership. Second ties into it deny self, self. I was just explaining that we have to be seeking God's plan, seeking God's interest, not our own. Denying self could be it's own study. It's so in depth. It has to be life altering. Third depth, and it has to be life altering. Third, take up your cross and follow me All right here.
Speaker 1:The cross is a very interesting word as it is used in the New Testament, and the Greek word that is used is storos. And storos is used primarily in the New Testament as instrument of execution or instrument of death, and we are being asked to shoulder this and follow after Jesus. Well, where did Jesus go? He was led to Golgotha while he buried. His cross was where he died, and what this means is that we are to take on the means of our own self-execution to die to self. And how long? Well, until we die. This is a lifelong endeavor. We don't just make this choice part-time, it's full-time, it's all the time you don't get a vacation and you don't get to retire. Just make this choice part-time, it's full-time, it's all the time you don't get a vacation and you don't get to retire. This is forever.
Speaker 1:And Jesus kind of clarifies this with the rest of this verse. Starting in verse 25, it says For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world Yet he forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul. Or what life is Jesus talking about losing? Well, it ain't just your death, because that's at the end of it. He's talking about the life you would choose to live, the one you would choose for yourself.
Speaker 1:I know many of you probably recognize this famous verse in Galatians, galatians 2.20. I know I have some friends and a pastor who call this their life verse, and it says I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, the life I now live in the body. I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and he gave himself up for me. This isn't what leads us to our death, but our actual death to self. If it was our physical death that Jesus was referring to, then why would he say? What would it profit a man if he gained the whole world yet forfeits his soul? We don't actually gain anything in death. So it would be like that we would gain something, have the ability to gain something, and if we're giving up that life in our pursuit of Jesus, then we profit everything.
Speaker 1:Now there comes the big question what does that look like? I've had these questions asked to me in Bible studies and trust me. I've asked a few of myself Does that mean that God doesn't want me to have a successful career? Does that mean God doesn't want me to be successful or have money? Should I not have a big house or a very nice car? What does that look like? Should I forsake all and go out and preach the gospel? Well, I would say this looks different for everybody.
Speaker 1:Obviously, god allows us to have a life. I mean, he profited Job in his life. He profited David in his life. We obviously have examples of what God gives. Look at Solomon. We just can't allow those blessings in our life to deter us or to lead us away from the one who blesses us. Our life interest and our goal in life has got to be Jesus, and what that looks like can only be determined in prayer, constant prayer, constant searching of the word of God and staying in communication with him. Otherwise, we're going to be, we're going to be deceived by ourself, because we all have an opinion on what we think God wants in our life. We all have an opinion on every aspect of our life. It's inevitable because we live it, and separating or discerning what God's will is in our life over our own is something that takes a lot of prayer and a lot of soul-searching and seeking God.
Speaker 1:Let me give you some scriptures and help us define a few of these things that we're talking about. I look for a version of the Bible that really summed up 1 John 2.6, and I found it in the Amplified Bible and it says this whoever says he lives in Christ, that is, whoever says he has accepted him as God and Savior, ought very well should look like the walk that Jesus walked. How about these verses in Hebrews 12? Let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorned its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. All right, move down to verse 14.
Speaker 1:Pursue peace with everyone as well as holiness and let me tell you this right here is key and pay attention, without which no one will see the Lord. Holiness is a word that has really lost its meaning in this day and age and that should really break our hearts, because this verse is very clear when it states that without holiness, none of us will see God. 1 Peter 1, starting in verse 16, says Be holy, for I am holy. Let's finish up in the last part of chapter 16. We come to the words where Jesus says there are some of some who are standing here who will not see death before the Son of man is coming in his kingdom.
Speaker 1:The reason why I wanted to end with this and not skip it. I've had people ask me what this means because they didn't understand it, and let me give you a couple of different ways. This was believed was fulfilled On Mount Transfiguration. When Jesus was transfigured into a being of light, these men saw Jesus. That is one way scholars believe that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy. The other is John in Revelations, who actually sees the entire thing happen and writes about it in the book of Revelations.
Speaker 1:That's why, at the end of John, when Peter asked Jesus well, what about this guy here? You know talking about John and Jesus says if I choose to leave him until I return, what is that to you? It was believed by some that John wouldn't die. But Jesus didn't say that he wouldn't die If he chose to let him stay there until he came. What was that to him? He was actually boiled alive and did not die until he saw the revelation of Christ. So that could be the exact fulfillment of this verse. I hope that helps. All right, guys, I'm going to end this one here and we'll pick up in our next Bible study in chapter 17. Until then, I love you guys. Have a great day. Goodbye.