Glory of the Calvary Road Matthew 16:24-28 Part I

Some of you are familiar with author and speaker Eric Metaxas I Don't agree with my taxes on some things, but I do find him to be a fascinating individual

He has written large biographies on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and William Wilberforce and smaller ones on other

Christian men Mike Braun recently gave me one of his books titled eight is a atheism dead

He is a man who knows what it is like growing up in an unbelieving environment My taxes grew up in a

Greek Orthodox home and went to Yale After graduating he became a

Christian not too long after Recently, I heard him talk about his time at Yale Yale of course is one of the most prestigious schools in the world in America it is probably only second to Harvard and prestige

My taxes has often been asked what it was like to go there people are interested in asking this question because this is where the smart people go and People expect him to say that he had a great experience learning in that environment

But looking back he does not have a positive view of his time there What he said when asked about his experience and I am paraphrasing

Is that the school had no clear direction? Because they took God out of the picture

Proverbs 1 7 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge fools despise wisdom and instruction

Yale was an environment that focused on learning but missed the whole point of learning

The whole point of learning is to learn about God in his world Once you remove man's chief purpose in the world

Which is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever as the Westminster Catechism says from 19 or from?

1646 Once you remove this then you have to remove the main purpose of humans with something else

In a place like Yale what replaces living for God is living for self

The world becomes man -centered rather than God -centered What my taxes said is this was

Yale's focus? What the leadership of Yale told the students was to work really hard to get good grades

So that you can get a good job and be successful The goal was success, but how do you define success?

Colleges like Yale in the world Define success as getting good grades to get a good job to make lots of money and gain prestige in the world

What my taxes said is they were pretty much instructed to distract Oneself with work money and prestige and then you die death is coming

So you need to distract yourself Once you take God out of the picture you can no longer ask the deepest and most important questions about life

It is a life of shallowness What my taxes explains is that institutions like Yale have already decided that life is better without God So pretend like he's not even there and what they are doing is pursuing a lost cause

Trying to pursue a life of fulfillment through worldly Success, but what scripture explains is that this is the wide path

The way of the world that is opposed to God is the path that most people take

But this morning as we continue our sermon series through Matthew Jesus is going to call us to a different path

The path he calls people to is the path less travel This path is indeed the harder one

What we are going to see is that Jesus does not sugarcoat what it means to follow him

What we will see in this to Sunday sermon is that this difficult path is worth it for everyone who travels down it

So at this time I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew chapter 16

We look at it verses 24 through 28 and if you use in a red

Bible, it's on page 9 77 The sermon is titled the glory of the

Calvary Road and this sermon will take two Sundays to get through And I will begin by reading the text

Matthew 16 verses 24 through 28 Then Jesus told his disciples if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me

For whoever would save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

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 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 Here's our big idea.

Here's what this Sermon this text is calling you to do Travel down the path where true life is found

Travel down the path where true life is found and we'll see three focuses how

But before we jump in let me give you a little recap of where we were one Sunday ago Last week we looked at verses 21 through 23 where Jesus told his disciples that he was going to die and rise again

This confused the disciples because they bought into the view that the Messiah did not come into the world to suffer but only to reign

But Jesus told them that he was going to suffer Peter as the spokesperson for the disciples told him far be it from you

Lord. This shall never happen to you Then Jesus told Peter get behind me

Satan For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man

What we pulled from this is that we are to have a mission focused life just as Jesus did

Throughout his life. His eyes were always fixed on the cross

To have a mission focused life is to reject having our eyes fixed on this world We're to live for the world to come and not for the world that is passing away

Every one of us has been given a purpose by God and we are to fulfill the purpose

He has for us now this leads us once again to the text that we've already read

But now we will dig deep into and our focus this morning will be on one verse

Verse 24 there's much for us to see here So once again, this is what verse 24 says then

Jesus told his disciples anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me

Now as we read verse 24 We need to remember the previous passage as this passage builds off the previous one.

We always need to read everything within its context Peter's mind was on a life of ease while Jesus was describing his future as a future of suffering

Jesus told Peter and the other disciples that he was going to be brutally murdered on the cross

What the disciples should have understood is that life was about to get more difficult for them They are his disciples and if their master is going to die on the cross

Then what does this mean for them? The question is are they going to stay loyal to him in the midst of hostility or are they going to jump ship?

With this background Jesus says to his disciples in verse 24 if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me as Jesus says this there are more present than just his disciples in the parallel account in mark 834

Jesus called a crowd to him as he instructed what it truly means to follow him

What Jesus is saying is that following him is going to be difficult Jesus is making an invitation

This is why he says anyone This is an offer to anyone in the world

It doesn't matter what you look like it doesn't matter what nation you're from It doesn't matter how wealthy or poor you are it doesn't matter if you're famous or a nobody

The offer of following Jesus is to everyone in the world

The question is What will one do when he or she hears this offer from the

Jesus of Scripture? I say the Jesus of Scripture Because people can easily follow a

Jesus of their own making People say they like Jesus until they actually find out who he really is

There are lots of so -called Christians who despise the biblical Jesus they despise the one who says he did not come to bring peace but a sword for example and Jesus said that of course because Following him will bring division

Families will be divided Friends will be divided Nations will be divided the

Jesus the world loves is a softer one That fits a false definition of what is good and right so the question is will people follow the real

Jesus the Jesus of Scripture We have already seen in Matthew that he said most won't follow him in Matthew chapter 7 verses 13 and 14

Jesus said enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy That leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many

For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few

So Jesus makes the offer of following him to everyone, but he knows most will pass up this offer

He Tells the reason why most will not take this offer to follow him What Jesus says is that following him requires something from a person and what it requires is difficult

What Jesus says in verse 24 is that if one will follow him he or she must deny oneself and take up your cross

Jesus mentions the cross here and we need to remember what he just told his disciples in verse 21

What he told them is that he is going to die at the hands of the elders the chief priests and the scribes

In verse 24 he is telling them specifically how he is going to die He's going to be hung on a cross

This is the second time he has referenced the cross in Matthew the first time was in chapter 10 verse 38 and he would tell his disciples many more times

That he's going to die on the cross To be hung on a cross is a form of execution

Known as crucifixion What we must understand is that crucifixion was the most brutal form of execution arguably in the history of the world

Today when people die on death row they receive a lethal injection Before they know it they're gone

This is not so with executions in ancient times

The Romans wanted to humiliate criminals They wanted to display these criminals as an example to the rest of the population that if you violate the

Roman laws This will happen to you in Matthew chapter 27 verse 38

We read that Jesus was crucified next to two robbers These were violators of the

Roman law and now they were going to be crucified and they were next to Jesus Crucifixion forced a long drawn -out death as a man hung on the cross

The only way he would be able to breathe was by pushing himself up But the problem was they wouldn't

One pushed himself up he would feel the nails in his hands which would be excruciating

Eventually the person would be so exhausted that he would no longer be able to push himself up and he would die from Asphyxiation which means a

Severe lack of oxygen What Jesus is telling his disciples is that if anyone will follow me he must understand that it is the hard road

It is the Calvary Road Calvary is the name of the hill where Jesus was crucified

By communicating his future crucifixion what Jesus is saying is your experience

Will be like my experience There will be challenges as his follower in this life and Jesus would tell the disciples

If the world hates you Remember it hated me first That's in John to take up your cross

Is to experience hardship and to deny yourself is to say no to your sinful desires

To instead follow what God has for you, but these are the two phrases in this passage take up your cross deny yourself deny yourself is to say

No to your sinful self your sinful passions that we all have and to pursue righteousness

And to take up your cross Is to do difficult things to endure opposition

Because you're a follower of Jesus Jesus did not believe in false advertisement

He wants people to know that before becoming his follower.

You need to understand what you are signing up for. I Remember going to a informational meeting for cross -country in high school and he and our coach had a sign -up sheet and The sign -up sheet was there to indicate interest in Coming out for the team in the fall

So just because you signed your name didn't mean you were going to be on the team And so what the coach said was you're not signing your life away

But you know what when you follow Jesus You are signing your life away.

Do we understand this in the gospel of Luke Jesus expands on what it means

To ponder following him. He does this in Luke chapter 14 verses 25 through 33

Let's listen to his words here Jesus Says if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters

Yes, and even his own life He cannot be my disciple Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple

For which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost whether he has enough to complete it

Otherwise when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish all who see it begin to mock saying

This man began to build and was not able to finish Or what

King going out to encounter another king in war will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with 10 ,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20 ,000 and If not, well, the other is a great way off.

He sends a delegation and asked for terms of peace so therefore Any of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple

Jesus is putting it out there You need to know what you're signing up for and what you're signing up for is hard It means putting your selfish desires behind and Pursuing the hard road

Now let me ask you this question when you hear churches Past and present in America present the gospel

Do they do it the way Jesus does it? We're hearing the way that Jesus does it right here

He doesn't sugarcoat it the way

Jesus does it was not my upbringing When the gospel was presented to me, it was all about getting into heaven, which is true but it was communicated that there is a

There is only happiness in Foliges it was not communicated that it's hard It was pray a prayer

Live life how you want and then you'll go to heaven when you die in evangelism.

We don't want to win people to a false experience It is a glorious truth that to follow

Jesus is the most joyful thing you can do You experience this joy now and when this life is over there will be fullness of joy forevermore

But what every prospect of Christian and current Christian needs to understand is that there will be challenges as you follow

Jesus It is a life of full surrender You need to go wherever he takes you

All you need to do is look at the experience of biblical characters and the experience from those in church history to see the truth of Jesus statement here that following Jesus truly means taking up your cross and denying yourself and True Christians live this way

In the middle of the 20th century there was a pastor in Germany by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Bonhoeffer wrote a book titled the cost of discipleship the most famous line in this book is this

When Christ calls a man he bids them come and die We should listen to Bonhoeffer's words

Now Bonhoeffer would not be a guy. I would endorse on several fronts. He was a conservative somewhat

But we should all respect him Bonhoeffer lived in a very interesting time.

He lived in Germany during World War two. What a dark place to be The churches in Germany were so weak that they folded to Hitler instead of standing up against him

Honestly, this might sound familiar to what we have seen in America recently in 2020 the government overstepped their bounds given to them in Romans 13

The responsibility of the government is to promote good and punish evil but in some places

Governors were harder on churches than they were on businesses There was a clear point where every church should have started to hold services

Now I understand that some people needed to stay away because of high risk But for those not in this category how important it was to gather

Hebrews 10 verses 24 25 tells us to gather it is not a coincidence that the same churches that push social justice

Which is rooted in Marxism? Also did whatever the godless government government told them in fact some

People marched in Black Lives Matter parades whilst keeping their churches closed down Can you?

believe that In fact most well -known

Christian leaders in America didn't want to speak out against what was happening rather They wanted the world to have a positive view of them

They didn't want to receive attacks from the unbelieving world like churches that started to meet did

So instead of speaking out they went along with the world these churches and institutions

Did not want to confront the evil society For fear of what might happen to them

You might say Seth you're misrepresenting some people I know

With confidence that this is true of a number of people look at their actions

Marching in a Black Lives Matter parade But not opening your church.

Okay, one other conclusion. Can you draw? From that it's fear of man

It's carry what the world thinks not what God thinks the last thing

I want to do is slander anyone so I only say this based on the clear evidence you must understand and this folding to pressure was

Bonhoeffer's experience as People in Germany folded to Hitler Christians there did this they did nothing to stand up against evil evil

Hitler was abusing his authority concentration camps world

Conquering was his goal and Bonhoeffer knew that he needed to do something about it

Some might debate on whether or not he did it the right way But he should be universally respected for standing up against Hitler when others would not

Bonhoeffer plotted to assassinate Hitler And when the secret state police discovered his plot

Bonhoeffer was arrested and eventually executed His obedience to Christ as he stood against evil led him to an early death

He died at the young age of 39 in 1945 So Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a 20th century martyr.

He practiced what he preached He wrote a book titled the cost of discipleship and he experienced that cost when he was martyred by the

Nazis To follow Jesus means being courageous It means standing against opposition no matter what the cost is to you now you might be wondering

What are some ways? You will take up your cross For Bonhoeffer a bit martyrdom

But for you, what is it now? I don't want to sugarcoat this It is not out of the realm of possibility that some in this room could be martyred for your faith in Christ You might say no not in America Are we the land of the free are we the land where?

Christianity influenced this nation unlike any other nation in the world Those things are true, that's not the

America we live in anymore the way the world is trending in the way this country is trending is

Toward more hostility toward Christianity and we're already seeing this Christianity helped shaped

Western civilization and we have many people in this country who want to tear down Everything about our history.

They want to turn on Christianity when you get down to the bottom of it Animosity toward biblical

Christians has been there for years. But in the last two years, it is only increased This is especially true in cities where biblical churches are not seen as positive influences to society like they once were

Out here in Polk County. We have a small level of hostility. I Have received negative letters for whatever in in the paper

They weren't threats, but they did not approve of what I teach or what we're doing here What they don't approve of is our full commitment to Christ They're okay with us worshiping quietly just as long as we don't go after their idols

There's a pastor in Osceola Larry Mederick who has received far worse than I have

He has taken on the transgender issue in schools where young women are put at risk when a male poses as a female

His fight against this has led to people calling for his resignation and even a private

Facebook group being formed hoping for his demise So it is good for you to know that there is some opposition in Polk County it is here

Don't think that it's not But it is a minority The majority of the opposition to biblical

Christianity is in the darkest places and this is in the city where secularism reigns

Out here Christianity still has a strong influence, but in urban areas This is not the case and so many of the churches there will not take a stand

And if they did there would be a threat to shut them down to be honest with you

So many of the churches are trying to be pragmatic, how can we survive? In a place like this

Instead of saying you know what we're gonna stand up against evil. It's interesting John MacArthur's church is in a very heavily populated area

And they have received a ton of opposition But you know what Christ is building his church there at Grace Community Church in California this is one example of a

Church in a heavy populated area that is taking a stand and God is blessing it But so many other churches are trying to be pragmatic.

How can How can we survive in this climate? You know and they do that by let's march in black lives matter parades that's compromise

That's not denying yourself. That's not taking up across that's compromise now in other places around the world

There is a even more realistic chance of martyrdom For example in Nigeria there are militant

Muslims who desire to take over Christian land and kill anyone who stands in their way We don't have that level of threat here, but we should not think that something like that would never happen to us

I Know one Christian in particular who has experienced death threats for standing against the evil in American society

It does happen and there are some crazy people who would do it as well

Even though severe persecutions is possible most of what you will experience is pushback and tension with others because of your faith in Christ as You follow

Jesus you'll be made fun of You'll not be at the cool kids table Your workplace experience will be more difficult because you won't compromise

Some of you have already experienced this right Relationships with family and friends will be difficult

Remember Jesus said he would divide families and this might be your experience you want to talk about Christ You want to talk about the deep things of God, but nobody wants to talk about that with you

And others will be even hostile towards you because of your faith in Christ What you must also understand is that as you follow

Christ more closely you have a big bullseye on your back Satan is watching you and he doesn't like that.

You're following Jesus closely He wants you to be worldly and you know what if you're worldly You're useless

To Christ if you want to make yourself useful to Christ, then he's going to send a tax your way

I see our church this way. There's many years ago Ten twelve years ago there was not a lot of people here and some of you faithfully stayed around and And now the

Lord is building his church here and and Satan has to pay attention again to what's happening here and that should bring us great joy that God is working in this place and and he has to pay attention to the work that God is doing here

Denying yourself and taking up your cross that Jesus describes in verse 24 is not just outside of you.

So you have Satan you have the world Denying yourself is also inside of you

You have to fight against your own sinful flesh You have certain sins that you fight on a daily basis

But if you weren't a follower of Jesus you wouldn't fight you would give in to give in is easier than to fight

And the Apostle Peter wrote in 1st Peter 2 11 And we are to fight our sinful desires.

He wrote beloved I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh

Which wage war against your soul as a follower of Christ you are at war

You're at war with the world with Satan and with your own sinful desires in This text

Jesus wants everyone to understand this what he's telling his disciples and everyone who would follow him

Is that to follow him is like swimming upstream? Think about the St. Croix River.

It's like swimming north on the St. Croix River. That is flowing south

Not an easy thing to do and the reason you're swimming upstream is because you're not going where the world is going

You're not going with the flow in fact, you're going in their opposite direction and The direction you're taking is more difficult.

It is the more joyful path. Yes, but it is the more difficult path People travel down the wide path because it's easy.

It's comfortable. It feels good and everyone else is doing it But that's not the experience of one who denies oneself and take up one's cross your experience as a

Christian in enduring opposition enduring tax from the devil hating the desires of your own heart and Desiring to conform more and more to the will of God is a difficult experience and it's an opposite experience of those in the world

They don't experience that this hard road that Jesus describes is a daily experience

In a parallel passage in Luke chapter 9 verse 23, Jesus says let him deny himself and take up his cross daily

Daily in some sense Your life is more challenging every single day because you're a follower of Jesus and if it's not

It might be because you're not following Jesus. Isn't this supposed to be the good life?

It is but in this fallen world in This world ruled by Satan in this world world.

Will you still have your simple flesh? it's hard as You follow

Jesus you cannot take a day off from fighting your enemies in this world because your enemies inside and out

Will never take a day off. The hard part is now

It is true that there is joy in this life for the believer, but it is a company with hardship But once this life is over the hardship is gone and I will talk about what true life in Christ means more next week

But let me drop this in this morning One week ago one of my friends

Bob Scott. Um passed away Some of you knew Bob he has been to the church before Bob and his wife

Judy have been advocates in this area for Tony and Ida Lepouchy missionaries who we support in Albania It is because of Bob that Tony and Ida have so many connections with Christians and churches in this area including ours a

Few years back. I did not the rich friendship with Bob We would get together for coffee to talk about what the

Lord is doing in our lives And we would talk about what the Lord's doing in Albania and Bob used to always tell me everybody's terminal

He had leukemia for many years And he knew That all of our days are numbered.

And so when he looked at his life, he said, you know what? I just know that my days are closer, but All of our days are numbered because all of our days have an end

But the reason I bring up Bob here is because he is a great example of one who denied himself and took up his cross

He was once the superintendent of schools for the Osceola school district He was also a longtime teacher

After retirement, he and his wife Judy moved to a home on the shores of Lake Superior in Canada They wanted a nice quiet retirement

Now, I'm sure they were not wasting their life while they were there I know they were very involved in a local church up there, but Bob read a book titled

Waste your life. I know that I have expressed some frustrations with Piper who

John Piper wrote this book But this is a good book That he wrote and the point of the book is to make your life count for Christ while you are here

And that message persuaded Bob and Judy to sell their home on the shores of Lake Superior and move back to this area

They thought they could accomplish more for the Lord here than up in Canada and my howl that was true

Bob built connections with lots of people He had a great influence in this area for Christ's sake but Bob's influence stretched far beyond this area

He and his wife took several trips to Albania and they are one of the chief reasons There is a church in Tirana the capital city in Albania Tony would tell you that without Bob's encouragement and raising support the church that Tony recently planted there would not be there

Think about this legacy Think about this influence Lots of lives are tragedies people just throw their life away

And then there's other lives that are tolerable To continue with the alliteration here, you know, okay

Pretty good could have been better And then this lies there triumphs where you look at it and say man what a great life lived

Unto the Lord And you look at Bob's life. His life is a triumph and He I am sure has heard the words from the

Lord Jesus well done good and faithful servant His life is a legacy of wholehearted obedience to Christ in my prayer is that each of us

Would have this legacy of going down the path less traveled denying ourselves those sinful selfish desires and instead taking up your cross and following Jesus So we are to travel down the path where true life is found in the first focus how is through setting a pattern of daily obedience

So this is the first point of this two Sunday sermon and next week We will see points two and three and we will look at how the choices you make have eternal ramifications

Jesus tells us we'll see next week What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul

How sobering it'll be to look at that and but how important but so at this time let's bow our heads in prayer father in heaven

What a wonderful God you are Thank you Lord that you Speak through your word every single week as we take part in the preaching ministry here

So my prayer Lord is that Indeed I pray that everyone here listening would

Deny oneself and take up one's cross to follow you