WEBVTT 00:00:06.959 --> 00:00:12.720 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:25.920 Take your Bible, make your way to the Gospel of Matthew. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:30.239 McShane has led us to the cross of Christ. 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:35.679 And Matthew leads us to the words of Christ. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:39.600 If you're visiting with us or this is your first time, we want to welcome you. 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:42.640 We've been working our way through the Gospel of Matthew. 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:52.159 This morning we find ourselves in Matthew chapter 16, beginning in verse 24. 00:00:53.280 --> 00:01:03.439 As you turn there, I'd like to review a little bit so that we understand where we are in the context of the Lord Jesus Christ, what's going on, what he's saying. 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:12.879 Back in chapter 16, verse 13, Jesus took his disciples to the region of Caesarea Philippi, a region of idolatry. 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:18.480 And he asked them, who do the people say that I am, and who do you say that I am? 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:25.920 And we saw there Matthew's declaration of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, saying that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:31.200 In contrast to all that exists in this world, you are the one. 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:36.719 High point, a mountaintop experience for Peter. 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:45.920 And then the very next breath, he is functioning in Satan's place, trying to hold back Jesus from going to the cross. 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:57.519 Because Jesus had said in verse 21 to his disciples that he was on his way to Jerusalem to suffer, to be killed, and to be raised. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:00.959 And Peter thought, yeah, that doesn't work. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:05.120 Jesus corrected Peter. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:19.840 And then he speaks to his disciples in verse 24, and he says, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:26.400 For whoever would save his life will lose it. 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:32.400 But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:40.000 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:44.479 Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:54.719 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:03:04.800 Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:06.000 Amen. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:09.840 Mark's gospel tells us that there are crowds present. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:16.879 So Jesus is directing these statements directly to his disciples, and then by extension to crowds. 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:24.240 So this is applicable to you who are here already having faith in Christ. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:30.479 It's also applicable to you if you are here wondering who this Christ is. 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:36.000 Wondering if he's worth believing in and following. 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:49.680 Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:53.039 Notice that little pronoun. 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:54.800 His. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:03:57.759 Replace it with your. 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:06.080 If anyone would come after me and follow me, take up your cross and follow me. 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:11.120 As a means of execution, the cross was meant to bring shame. 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:15.599 Only the scum of society were crucified. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:19.759 A horrendously painful way to die. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:28.560 Crucifixion was a means of publicly humiliating the crucified in order to teach the watching world a lesson. 00:04:30.160 --> 00:05:07.439 The crucified one was generally stripped of his clothing to be exposed to the elements and bugs and birds, and that takes on great effect when you understand that before being hung on the cross, they were generally scourged or flogged with a whip made of leather pieces, at the ends of which were attached strips of metal or bone, so that when struck with the whip, strips of flesh were torn from the body until blood flowed, drawing bugs and all kinds of things. 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:16.399 Then the criminal was forced to carry the crossbeam of wood through crowds of people to the place of execution. 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:30.480 Typically, crucifixions were in public places along thoroughfares where people were traveling and walking and passing by in large numbers. 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:43.199 So that large numbers of people would be witnessing the event, and the condemned was tied or nailed to a crossbeam that was then lifted onto a vertical beam, fixed in the ground, out in the open for all to see. 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:51.120 A crucifixion forced the criminal into shameful submission. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:56.720 Exposed and powerless. 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:04.240 Hanging on a cross removed all rights. 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:08.560 It took away all control. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:15.360 It stripped a person of their worth and of their dignity. 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:20.480 There was a public statement that this is what happens. 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:24.399 This is what happens to someone who opposes Rome. 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:31.120 Think about that the next time you wear a cross around your neck. 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:36.319 Most first century Jews knew this lesson well. 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:44.879 In 4 BC, the Roman commander Publius Quintilius captured 2,000 Jewish rebels under the leadership of Judas the Galilean. 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:53.519 Quintilius crucified all 2,000 men along the thoroughfares of Judea. 00:06:54.560 --> 00:07:00.560 It's estimated that Rome crucified in the neighborhood of 30,000 people during the lifetime of Jesus alone. 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:18.240 Every Jewish person understood that crucifixion was painful, that it included unimaginable suffering, but they also understood that it meant complete and final submission to the might of Rome. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:22.639 It meant submission to a foreign dominion to the point of death. 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:28.240 Now, of course, in the case of crucifixion, submission in that situation was not willing submission. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:33.519 It was forced submission, compelled submission. 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:43.600 Jesus' disciples were familiar with the desire for Israeli freedom from Rome and the consequences then of rebelling against that authority. 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:59.199 Crosses and the lessons that they were designed to teach to those who might even begin to entertain ideas of rebellion were widely known. 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:02.959 But that didn't stop the disciples, did it? 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:10.480 In our study of Matthew's gospel, we've seen that Matthew has declared Jesus to be the Messiah, the Christ. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:21.040 And in his mind, in Peter's mind, that meant final and complete victory over the Roman world. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:32.000 Where others had died, where Judas the Galilean and his 2,000 followers had died, Jesus would live and reign as God's promised king, and the disciples would join him. 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:36.320 That's why they argued about which one was going to sit on his right hand in glory. 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:50.240 But God's plan, Jesus said in verse 21, was for Jesus to go to Jerusalem, to suffer many things, and to be killed. 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:59.440 That would have been a massive and disastrous blow to the disciples thinking. 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:10.879 If that were true, if that were true, then the death of the Messiah would have had severe implications for everyone who followed him. 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:22.240 At most, when Jesus says these words, we're thirty years away from Judas the Galilean. 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:26.960 And his 2,000 followers. 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:37.919 So if that's in their memories, and Jesus says, if you want to follow me, take up your cross. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:42.559 You begin to get a picture of what that meant for the disciples. 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:51.120 Now in verses 24 to 28, Jesus begins to teach his disciples what it means to believe that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:52.879 They thought they understood. 00:09:53.039 --> 00:09:55.039 They thought they knew who Jesus was. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:59.279 They thought they knew what that meant for them, but they were wrong. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:04.480 Here we find what it means to be a Christian. 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:18.000 I think the passage before us this morning would have been a shock to much of the ancient world, and it would be a shock to much of the modern thinking, even about what it means to be a Christ follower. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:27.840 Because here we find three commands from the Lord Jesus Himself detailing the essence of what it means to be a Christian. 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:35.120 Here is where Jesus corrects the disciples' thinking on what it means to believe in him, on what it means to be a disciple. 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:45.840 He's told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, let him take up his cross, and let him follow me. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:54.159 Jesus uses a play on words here, literally saying, if anyone would follow after me, let him take up his cross and follow. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:02.480 So Matthew gives us Jesus' own words on what it means to be a Christian. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:15.360 If anyone has a desire, has an interest, if they wish to become a Christian, a disciple of Jesus, Jesus himself details what it means. 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:24.799 And the very first thing he mentions is that a Christian must rebel against himself. 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:27.840 A Christian must rebel against himself. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:31.200 Job, my clicker's not advancing slides here. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:32.960 Would you move that forward for me? 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:36.159 A Christian rebels against himself. 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:39.039 This is the first of three commands in this text. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:42.799 We must deny ourselves to follow Jesus. 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:43.840 This is a strong word. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:45.360 It speaks of rejection. 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:57.120 Denying ourselves requires rejecting our drives, our desires, our nature, and choosing something outside of ourselves. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:08.159 In verse 21, Peter rebelled against the divine plan of Jesus suffering, against the divine intention of Jesus going to Jerusalem to die. 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:13.440 Jesus then rebukes Peter by telling him to get back in line. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:17.440 Peter, you're functioning like Satan when you choose your own desires. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:22.080 You need to set that aside, rebel against that, and choose what I know is best. 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:41.440 In contrast to our own desires, Jesus says to the disciples that anyone who comes after him must no longer rebel against God, as is our common nature, but instead to abandon our natural bent to follow God's road. 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:47.279 This is a rejection of who we are as sinful human beings. 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:54.559 Now, before believing in Jesus, we naturally rebel against God. 00:12:54.799 --> 00:13:03.120 But truly believing that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, as Peter said, means denying your right to autonomy. 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:15.840 Peter insisted that Jesus take Peter's way to the coronation as Israel's king. 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:23.120 Which would be the way of war and battle and victory and glory, not the way of suffering and death. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:31.679 But Jesus says to Peter and to the rest of the disciples, and to anyone interested, that anyone who follows him must take God's way. 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:37.679 If we are to accept God's way, we must rebel against our natural way of doing things. 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:42.320 We must rebel against our natural thinking, our natural desires, our natural motivations. 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:45.679 Like Peter? 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:47.039 We're just like Peter. 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:53.519 We have our own perceptions about what is right and wrong, about what is appropriate or inappropriate, what is good or bad. 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:55.360 We have our own thoughts about life. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:58.399 We have desires and plans just like Peter does. 00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:04.639 And Jesus calls us to rebel against all of those things that come from our sinful humanity. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:08.320 Now that can be really hard. 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:19.759 That can be really hard when we've lived for so long submitting to ourselves that it becomes difficult, even incomprehensible, to reject ourselves. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:22.159 But that's what Jesus says. 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:32.159 He says, Peter, if you want to follow me, James and John, if you want to follow me, Andrew, Bartholomew, and on down the line. 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:38.399 Any person who wants to be a Christian, let him deny himself and follow me. 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:49.600 There's a second command that Jesus says identifies a Christian, and that is that dying to self, a Christian submits to a foreign ruler. 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:55.440 The cross was not glamorized in the first century as it is today. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:15:03.519 It was a sobering, ugly, even embarrassing concept. 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:13.519 The disciples would have immediately known where Jesus was heading with this assertion that they must take up their cross and follow him. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:33.440 Because rebellion against Rome, claiming that there is a Messiah and following Him would ultimately lead to submitting to Roman dominion by carrying the condemning horizontal cross beam of the cross to your own place of crucifixion. 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:44.159 But here Jesus is commanding them to submit not to Rome, but to a foreign ruler that is not like Rome. 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:53.440 And to carry their cross to follow him. 00:15:54.720 --> 00:16:00.799 And the likely end of that kind of submission is death. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:05.120 That's what a cross does. 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:11.519 Now, this is not a call to suffer for Jesus. 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:17.039 We find that in other passages of Scripture like 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 12. 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:21.759 That reminds us that everybody who desires to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:25.039 Well, we find that in other passages of Scripture, but that's not here. 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:28.240 A cross is not primarily about suffering. 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:36.480 Taking up our cross and following Jesus is not a call to take all that we have and give it to the poor. 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:40.720 It's not a call to work for justice and equity for all people. 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:42.960 It's not even a call to love one another. 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:47.679 Taking up your cross is not about suffering the effects of the curse of sin. 00:16:48.080 --> 00:17:01.679 For example, it strips the cross of its effect, of its impact to say that, yeah, I have poor health, and that's my cross to bear. 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:07.519 Or losing your job is your cross to bear. 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:10.480 Not that those things aren't horrendous. 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:13.680 It's just that they don't compare. 00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:20.960 Having to live with an unsaved spouse is not your cross to bear. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:27.279 Those are all effects of a sin-cursed world, but they are not carrying your cross. 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:36.480 Carrying your cross is denying your right to act as you desire and submitting to another authority so that you die. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:41.279 This is about death. 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:59.599 Picture of the cross is not one of beating your drum and flaunting your rights and freedoms, but of marching directly to your execution, beaten and bloodied along the streets, jeered by the mob, carrying a placard declaring your crime for all to see. 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:04.400 Peter focused on himself. 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:12.400 Peter focused on himself by seeking to distract Jesus from the divine purpose of going to the cross. 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:21.759 And Jesus says to Peter, Peter, if you truly believe in me, you must die to your own ideals, to your own desires, to your own sinful perspectives. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:25.039 You must reject your own idea of what is right and good. 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:28.079 And as a result of your rebellion, you will die. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:29.599 Then follow me. 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:37.279 Now some think that Jesus is speaking about martyrdom here, giving up your life to follow Jesus. 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:42.799 But that's a little difficult because not all of the disciples were martyred. 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:53.920 And really, it cannot be about physically dying because we are to follow after the results of the cross. 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:00.240 This is a death. 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:03.119 Taking up your cross is a death. 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:06.000 It is a death to who you are innately. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:11.440 Not the death of the house that we live in, not the death of the body necessarily. 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:21.759 It's the death of our control, the death of our supremacy, the death of our dominion over life, the death of my right to say that this is what is the way to do or the way to go. 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:29.039 In the Roman world, taking up your cross meant Rome forced you to submit to their way, bringing death. 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:34.240 Let me put it in the most basic terms that I can. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:44.480 Jesus says that anyone who truly believes in him is no longer free to call the shots for their own life. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:53.200 That's what it means to take up your cross and follow Jesus. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:20:04.319 Now Jesus commands the people who believe that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, must cease rebelling against God and submit to his program, not their own. 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:08.960 That's dying to yourself in submission to Jesus. 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:13.359 The direction of one's rebellion is to completely change. 00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:26.319 Instead of rebelling against God, we are to rebel against our right to personal rights and freedoms, and that rebellion is going to bring about the death of self. 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:35.680 Which leads us to our third command from Jesus that a Christian continually follows behind Christ. 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:44.640 Believing in Jesus means denying or rejecting your own rule over your life. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:50.960 And that way you take up your cross, submitting to a new and different authority for your life. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:58.559 And so then Jesus says in his third command, follow me. 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:03.519 That may have been frightening news for the disciples. 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:06.640 They were ready for glory. 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:46.400 They knew what it was like when supposed messiahs were killed by Rome. 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:55.839 They knew what it was like to be a follower of a Messiah who stood against Rome and was killed. 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.599 Imagine what kind of thinking might have entered their stressed hearts and minds. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:10.799 On that day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, Jesus wasn't going to lead an army against Rome. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:16.160 Instead, God's plan was for the Messiah to die in an appearance of submission to Rome. 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:25.920 And just as he was relinquishing any human desires himself, remember, he cried out in the garden, Father, if it's your will, take this away from me. 00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:33.839 But not what I will, but what you will. 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:42.960 Even Jesus said, I'm dying to my own fleshly desires and submitting to yours. 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:53.519 So too, disciples were to reject any desires or plans or right to control their life and instead follow Jesus right into the lion's den. 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:54.480 You know what? 00:22:55.119 --> 00:23:16.400 We don't fully comprehend Palm Sunday until we comprehend the joy of that day and the celebration of Israel's king riding down into the city in the background of this wrestling over the truth that following Jesus means I must die. 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:20.799 So that Jesus might live in me. 00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:28.400 Palm Sunday isn't just about the celebration of Israel's king. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:32.720 Because this passage is in the background. 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:36.559 Jesus has told his disciples, this is where we're going. 00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:38.480 This is what's happening. 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:48.000 And no matter what the celebration is, no matter what the reaction of people is, you follow me knowing you're carrying your cross. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:57.440 That's a truly difficult truth for any of us to grasp. 00:23:57.519 --> 00:24:04.720 And I think it it really takes a lifetime of following Jesus to process through that. 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:17.039 But Jesus helps us process that by giving us three reasons that the cross-centered life is better than going your own way. 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:29.119 Three reasons that following Jesus by taking up your cross and denying yourself and following him is better than standing in God's way, trying to say, no, God, your way is not best. 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:34.799 The first reason that Jesus gives us is a paradox. 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:43.119 For the Christian who takes up his cross and follows Jesus, death actually brings life. 00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:54.799 Verse 25, for there's a reason, whoever would save his life will lose it. 00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:57.039 That's what happens when you take up a cross. 00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:04.480 Whoever saves his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:12.640 Again, this is not merely physical life that Jesus is speaking of, but one's genuine being it's who you truly are. 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:18.480 Jesus is speaking here of self-preservation. 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:23.759 And he's telling us that there are only two options in life. 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:37.200 One way is the path of guarding your own life, your own existence, your own desires, your own agendas, doing everything possible to sustain your control and your dominion over your little kingdom. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:49.599 And the other road is letting go of everything, of relinquishing control over everything and anything that matters to you. 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:56.000 One way protects self and serves self. 00:25:56.960 --> 00:26:02.079 The other way denies self by rebelling against self. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:04.960 I like the way that one commentator puts this. 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:08.319 He says that what Jesus is doing here is presenting a clear choice. 00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:15.519 A choice between self-preservation at all costs and the risky business of following Jesus? 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:22.480 You want a risk worth pursuing? 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:28.720 Take up your cross and follow Jesus. 00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:43.680 So the question is, do you wish, like Peter back in verse 16, do you wish to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? 00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:47.599 Do you wish to follow Him to be His disciple by taking up the cross? 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:50.640 Or do you wish to have life your own way? 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:53.279 You cannot have both. 00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:58.319 But the paradox is this. 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:08.799 When you come to Jesus, losing your own life, you gain real, authentic life. 00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:18.400 Life, true life, is gained by denying and crucifying self to follow Jesus. 00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:23.839 He's not merely talking about living an unselfish life to have a more satisfying life. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:25.440 That's not what he's talking about. 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:28.799 Jesus says that the losing of life must be for his sake. 00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:32.079 You deny yourself so that you can have Jesus. 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:36.480 We rebel against our own life. 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:42.880 We crucify it to have the life that comes from Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. 00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:52.720 So there's a positive benefit to denying and rejecting our command, our rule over our own life and submitting to Jesus. 00:27:53.440 --> 00:27:57.839 By denying ourselves, we really truly gain life. 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:03.920 There's a negative reason, too. 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:05.519 Verse 26. 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:09.519 Jesus gives an illustration. 00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:16.480 What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? 00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:22.880 Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:32.799 And this reason, Jesus tells us that a Christian's cross avoids the world's path to eternal bankruptcy. 00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:41.279 Let's say a person gains everything that this world has to offer. 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:49.920 I read this week that Elon Musk has now taken over the world's top place for the world's richest man, richest person. 00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:52.559 Can have anything you want. 00:28:55.599 --> 00:28:59.920 Just shells out$3 billion and now in control of Twitter. 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:06.079 You have all that the world has to offer at your fingertips. 00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:10.960 Life can be whatever you want life to be. 00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:20.880 You're successful in reaching your goal of being the world's wealthiest person, the world's most famous person, or the world's most dot dot, you fell in the blank. 00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:25.599 You have it all in terms of what the world has to offer. 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:30.640 By the way, that's what Satan offered to Jesus in Matthew chapter 4. 00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:31.920 Right? 00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:51.200 If you have all that the world has to offer and you have it at your fingertips, available to you, nothing to stand in your way, but in the end you lose your soul, that is, when all is said and done, there's nothing left for you but an eternity in hell, then what do you get out of it? 00:29:53.599 --> 00:30:14.400 If a person gains the whole world, but in death gives up his very being in torment, and if in the end, after a lifetime of fighting for selfish autonomy, you relinquish control over your life to Satan and his demons, losing all you gained in the process, was it worth it to gain the whole world? 00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:20.799 That's the ultimate loser. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:28.559 You win in life, but you lose eternally in death. 00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:31.119 Why? 00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:33.599 Jesus says it. 00:30:35.039 --> 00:30:39.359 There's absolutely nothing that you can exchange for your own soul. 00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:51.440 You can't give all of your wealth, you can't give your power, your status, your notoriety. 00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:58.000 You can't give anything to God to keep your soul, to save it. 00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:00.240 It doesn't work that way. 00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:03.599 There's no exchange rate for that. 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:07.119 There's no bartering system for a soul. 00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:11.599 You know, addictions are a good illustration of this. 00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:17.440 They're a small picture, really, of rebelling against Christ to gain the whole world. 00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:30.079 It doesn't matter what the object of addiction is, whether it's drugs or alcohol or food or tobacco or possessions or gambling or pornography, whatever it is. 00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:40.559 Addiction extends a promise of joy, of peace, of satisfaction, of pleasure. 00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:46.960 And in the end, it only delivers emptiness, death, and destruction. 00:31:48.640 --> 00:31:57.119 What began as a hopeful escape from the hassles of life becomes a form of bondage. 00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:02.240 So we're left with two options. 00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:09.440 We deny ourselves by crucifying our right to rule our life and follow Jesus. 00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:14.960 Or we live the world's way and we endure eternal bankruptcy. 00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:19.599 Where you cannot pay a debt for your sin. 00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:31.680 Because that's a hard, hard thing to say. 00:32:33.359 --> 00:32:35.359 But it's what Jesus says. 00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:39.920 Now that's a that's a downer, right? 00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:42.559 We don't want to end on a downer, and Jesus doesn't either. 00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:44.240 He gives us a third reason. 00:32:44.559 --> 00:32:50.400 The third reason that Jesus gives us that it's worth following him is that the Christian cross is worth the price. 00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:55.839 For the Son of Man is going to come, he says. 00:32:56.160 --> 00:32:56.799 How? 00:32:57.119 --> 00:33:00.960 With his angels, in the glory of his father. 00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:05.839 And then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:12.400 So now Jesus returns to Peter's thoughts of power and glory and rule and authority. 00:33:12.559 --> 00:33:17.759 And Jesus tells the disciples that yes, I am the Messiah, I am the King of Israel. 00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:22.400 There will indeed be a time when I rule over all that exists. 00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:25.279 Only it's going to be in the future. 00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:32.799 What the disciples are hoping will happen is going to happen just not immediately. 00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:43.920 And what is between then and the Messiah's reign is suffering and death. 00:33:47.279 --> 00:33:50.640 And when he comes again, Jesus will come as a judge. 00:33:51.759 --> 00:33:58.559 And he tells us in advance what his standard of judgment is going to be. 00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:11.360 Isn't it a little bit helpful when your employer, when your boss gives you a directive, and he tells you, this is what I expect? 00:34:12.719 --> 00:34:21.599 This is what I expect to be the outcome, or this is the standard to which I expect you to do your work instead of just being ambiguous and you don't know what to expect. 00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:24.960 Jesus tells us this is what to expect. 00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:30.880 I will repay each person according to what he's done. 00:34:31.760 --> 00:34:33.519 Now that sounds rough. 00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:41.920 I don't know about you, but I'm a sinful person, and thinking about being repaid for what I've done doesn't sound too great. 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:48.880 How in the world does that make it worth it to follow Jesus? 00:34:49.280 --> 00:34:59.199 Well, it's important to remember that Jesus is saying these words in the context of encouragement to follow him. 00:35:00.480 --> 00:35:07.199 He's encouraging us to follow him by denying ourselves, by taking up our cross and following him. 00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:10.880 So the repayment issue then is not about sin. 00:35:11.840 --> 00:35:22.559 It's not about whether you were kind or mean, whether you were generous or stingy, whether you helped the poor, or whether you gave your testimony in church. 00:35:22.719 --> 00:35:41.440 No, Jesus will come as a judge, and his judgment is going to be based on whether or not you rejected yourself and submitted to him as your new king, or whether you followed him and rebelling against yourself by pursuing him instead of your own way to gain the world. 00:35:43.519 --> 00:35:51.039 Jesus says, My judgment is going to be on whether or not you denied yourself and took up your cross and followed me. 00:35:51.679 --> 00:35:53.440 Let me put it more simply. 00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:59.039 Jesus will come again in power and great glory, and he will judge each and every person on this. 00:35:59.280 --> 00:36:00.719 Are you a Christian? 00:36:02.880 --> 00:36:04.960 According to what we've just walked through. 00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:14.800 We've noticed in Matthew's gospel that a disciple is a Christian, and being a Christian is being a disciple. 00:36:16.159 --> 00:36:22.239 Christian is a disciple who has rejected individual autonomy and submitted to Christ as king, and you follow him. 00:36:22.400 --> 00:36:24.320 That doesn't mean you do it perfectly. 00:36:24.559 --> 00:36:25.840 We grow in that, right? 00:36:26.559 --> 00:36:37.280 There's a progression over life of denying self, of crucifying self, of hanging our own desires on the cross and submitting ourselves to Christ's rule. 00:36:37.440 --> 00:36:39.679 It doesn't always go perfectly. 00:36:42.239 --> 00:36:48.159 But Jesus says, if you've done that by faith, if you've looked to me, then you're my disciple. 00:36:50.079 --> 00:36:56.000 So when Jesus comes as king and judge, it will be to reward or to repay two categories of people. 00:36:58.559 --> 00:37:09.360 Those two categories are those who forsake the world to believe in him and those who reject him to gain the world. 00:37:15.920 --> 00:37:30.400 Jesus, my friend, will ensure that relinquishing control over your life to follow Him is worth losing out on what the world has to offer. 00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:42.480 Put that into the recesses of your brain, into the depths of your soul. 00:37:43.599 --> 00:37:59.519 So that when life comes at you fast and hard, and you can't explain it and you can't understand it and you can't comprehend it, but you know I have denied this world to follow Jesus, you will know it will be worth it all. 00:38:01.599 --> 00:38:02.239 Why? 00:38:02.480 --> 00:38:05.119 Because Jesus says he's going to make it worth it. 00:38:05.920 --> 00:38:10.559 It's not in you, it's not in me, it's in the promise of Christ Jesus. 00:38:11.119 --> 00:38:13.440 The disciples were excited about the Messiah. 00:38:13.519 --> 00:38:16.320 They were ready to follow him to glory. 00:38:16.639 --> 00:38:20.960 But he told them that suffering and death comes before glory. 00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:28.960 And he tells them that if they genuinely want to be a part of what he's doing, they too must follow that same path. 00:38:29.199 --> 00:38:33.519 They must die to themselves and follow his will in life. 00:38:33.760 --> 00:38:38.159 Unfortunately, Scripture doesn't record the disciples' reaction to Jesus. 00:38:38.480 --> 00:38:41.760 I wish I knew what Peter was thinking at this point. 00:38:45.039 --> 00:38:50.400 I'm sure at least one of them was thinking, What? 00:38:51.119 --> 00:38:53.760 I'm not so sure that's a great deal, Jesus. 00:38:56.400 --> 00:38:58.960 That's precisely where Jesus is heading. 00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:06.400 Because this demand that Jesus makes only makes sense in light of a greater reward. 00:39:08.800 --> 00:39:15.519 It only makes sense if a more excellent life is gained by losing one's own life. 00:39:19.199 --> 00:39:22.320 And that's an astounding claim to make, isn't it? 00:39:23.280 --> 00:39:24.559 Think about that. 00:39:26.159 --> 00:39:36.400 If you were to say to your coworker, hey, if you die to yourself and follow me, I will make your life better. 00:39:38.960 --> 00:39:43.360 They might say to the boss, hey, can I change shifts? 00:39:47.360 --> 00:39:58.000 See, the only way that Jesus can genuinely and authentically make this claim, make this demand, and make this future promise is if what Peter said about him is actually true. 00:39:58.639 --> 00:40:05.039 This can only make sense if Jesus is actually the Christ, the Son of the living God. 00:40:07.599 --> 00:40:13.199 Otherwise, as was read for us earlier in 1 Corinthians 15, we're fools. 00:40:17.360 --> 00:40:27.440 No one in their right mind would follow Jesus to his cross, dying to themselves, following him for the rest of their lives, unless he is the real thing who can fulfill his promise. 00:40:31.119 --> 00:40:33.679 And that's what Jesus is about to demonstrate. 00:40:36.239 --> 00:40:41.920 He's about to demonstrate in chapter 17 the basis for his demands and his reasons. 00:40:42.559 --> 00:40:44.320 He's the king, he's God the Son. 00:40:44.400 --> 00:40:50.800 He says, Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. 00:40:50.880 --> 00:40:56.239 And in chapter 17, there's this transfiguration where Jesus is revealed in all of his glory before his disciples. 00:40:56.400 --> 00:41:01.199 He says, There are some of you who are going to get a taste of what this looks like. 00:41:02.639 --> 00:41:04.559 So I'm going to give you a preview. 00:41:08.159 --> 00:41:18.639 The glory and the freedom the disciples were looking for will come in the future, but there is real life to be had in the meantime and ultimately when Jesus returns. 00:41:20.079 --> 00:41:29.119 Being a Christian means rebelling against yourself and your own will in favor of God's will. 00:41:31.519 --> 00:41:40.880 And the death of self and continual following of your king leads to complete and eternal life. 00:41:43.440 --> 00:41:48.480 Now, if you want the rest of the story, you have to come back Friday night. 00:41:51.119 --> 00:42:00.480 Because we still have to answer this question well, how how is it that death is a good thing? 00:42:03.760 --> 00:42:07.760 So on Friday night, we're going to look at the day that life died. 00:42:09.599 --> 00:42:13.840 But if you really want the end of the story, you have to come back Friday night and next Sunday morning. 00:42:15.679 --> 00:42:23.440 Because after hearing about the day that life died, we're going to see the day that death meets its destroyer. 00:42:25.599 --> 00:42:28.719 And that is what ultimately gives us hope in this, right? 00:42:29.840 --> 00:42:41.440 Because if Jesus goes to Jerusalem and suffers many things and is killed, it's all pointless if the tomb still contains a body. 00:42:42.559 --> 00:42:48.880 And so we have hope as God's people that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. 00:42:49.440 --> 00:42:56.719 And he proved it, not simply by dying and being buried, but by rising again. 00:42:56.960 --> 00:42:57.519 Let's pray. 00:42:57.760 --> 00:43:02.480 Lord Jesus, we look to you this morning as all of our hope. 00:43:05.280 --> 00:43:09.280 Lord, maybe there's there's someone here this morning who does not yet have that hope. 00:43:09.360 --> 00:43:24.400 And I pray that you would make it clear to them who you are and reveal to them, open up their eyes to see and their ears to hear, to believe in you, to rest entirely in you for their rescue, for their life. 00:43:26.480 --> 00:43:38.480 Lord, may we be drawn to follow you each day more fully, each day more committed, each day more determined to trust you. 00:43:40.880 --> 00:43:47.199 Because we believe in your promise that you will make it worth it on the day that we see you again. 00:43:47.360 --> 00:43:48.239 In your name we pray. 00:43:48.320 --> 00:43:48.960 Amen. 00:43:49.360 --> 00:43:52.960 That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church. 00:43:53.119 --> 00:44:00.079 Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus. 00:44:00.320 --> 00:44:04.400 You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.