The Gospel of Luke (35) Living as Disciples of Christ 08/13/2023

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Well, Pastor Jason will come now and read for us Romans 7. In Romans 6, the apostle began to set forth the teaching about the believer's sanctification, how we can defeat sin in our lives and live for Christ.

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Well, in Romans 7, it describes the Christian who has been given the desire to live a holy life, but recognizes that although he's a

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Christian, he still is not able to do so. Sin is always present, and it's very difficult and frustrating.

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He desires to fulfill the law of God in his life, but there's just no way he can.

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And what Paul is doing is setting it up for Romans 8, showing forth how God provides power for his people through the

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Holy Spirit to live lives of godliness, of holiness before him. And so Romans 7 is really preparatory for Romans 8.

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Romans 7. Or do you not know, brothers, for I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.

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For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

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Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law.

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And if she marries another, she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

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For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

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But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

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What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means. Yet if it had not been for the law,

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I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, you shall not covet.

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But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.

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For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.

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The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

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So the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Did that which is good then bring death to me?

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By no means. It was sin producing death in me through what is good in order that sin might be shown to be sin and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.

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For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.

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For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing

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I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good.

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So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh.

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For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good

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I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what

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I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when

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I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

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Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our

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Lord. So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh

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I serve the law of sin. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you for this instructive passage.

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And Lord, we see so clearly the struggle that each one of us has. We want to do what is right, but we do that which we hate.

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And I pray Lord that we would be like Paul in this passage, that we would not identify with our sin, but we would identify with Christ and our union with Christ.

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And so Lord, we pray that this would be very evident in our lives, that we would identify with our new nature.

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And Lord, we thank you for Christ. We thank you that he accomplished what we could never do, that he fulfilled the law.

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He kept the law. He kept your will. Lord, I pray that we would strive to keep the law as well, that we would strive to walk in your truth.

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And Lord God, as we now open up your word and continue to worship you through the preaching of the word, we just pray for Lars, Lord, that he would have clarity of mind and clarity of voice.

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We pray that as we hear these words, that we would be convicted and that we would be changed. We pray

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Lord that we would surrender to the truth of your word. We ask Lord for guidance and wisdom.

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And we thank you for this time in Jesus name, amen. Well, let's turn in our

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Bibles to Luke chapter nine. We have a very important passage before us that addresses the matter of living as disciples of Jesus Christ.

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Now here in Luke nine, we're reading of events that are at the conclusion of our

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Lord's Galilean ministry just before he left for Jerusalem where he would suffer rejection, be killed and be raised the third day.

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His departure and it's a major turning point in Luke's gospel is expressed in Luke 9 .51.

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He set his face to go to Jerusalem. The passage before us, however, the

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Holy Spirit makes known in the clearest possible terms that the way of salvation of all people is to live as disciples of Jesus Christ, to follow him.

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And later on, when we get into that travel narrative, again, from Luke 9 .51 to Luke 19, when they arrive in Jerusalem, it's really a setting, a forum in which discipleship is played out and illustrated in very clear and practical terms.

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But it's set forth here in Luke chapter nine in very clear, clear terms.

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The disciple of Jesus Christ follows Jesus in faith and faithfulness through life as he has gone on before us, we're following him.

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Now, when we first began to consider the details, the contents of this chapter, we drew our attention to a change of emphasis in Luke's narrative.

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Before Luke nine, of course, you have a number of accounts of our

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Lord Jesus performing miracles for needy people. These people came to Jesus because, of course, he alone was able to help them in their difficulty.

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Beginning with chapter nine, however, Luke begins to emphasize our Lord's relationship to his disciples.

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With particular attention to training and teaching his 12 apostles.

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Jesus continues to perform miracles. He continues to interact with others, but increasingly,

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Luke records these incidents as occasions in which our Lord trains and instructs his disciples.

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And as we read and consider these words, we learn what it is to be and to live as true disciples of Jesus Christ.

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Now, let's just take a few moments and rehearse for ourselves the first portion of Luke chapter nine to see the emphasis that is given to our

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Lord's apostles and disciples. First, we read that our Lord calls the 12, again, that's a formal appellation title given to the apostles, and he sends them out on a short -term mission, verses one through six.

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Verses 10 through 11, we have recorded the return of these disciples to Jesus, reporting to him what they had experienced and accomplished.

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This is immediately followed by Jesus's intention to take his disciples alone to meet with them, to teach them, but he was prevented from doing so because the crowds gathered about him.

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And then Luke records, of course, miraculously feeding the 5 ,000 in verses 12 through 17.

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But even though this miracle, one miracle is recorded in all four gospels, outside of the resurrection of Christ, it's the only miracle recorded in all four gospels.

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Luke's record of this miracle is really the role that the 12 apostles play in this miracle and the lessons they learn.

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It's through them that the bread is distributed to the groups of people who are sitting there on that field.

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Well, then in verses 18 through 20, our Lord inquires of his apostles who the crowds believe him to be.

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This is followed by Peter's confession on behalf of the 12 that Jesus is the promised Christ of God, the

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King of Israel. And this leads to our Lord's major announcement of his approaching rejection by the

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Jewish leaders, resulting in his suffering and death, but followed by his resurrection.

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And this is the first clear declaration of our Lord to his disciples of his destiny at Jerusalem.

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But then our Lord gave one of the clearest declarations of the nature and necessity of Christian discipleship.

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And this is set forth as the only way of salvation for those who claim to know him.

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And that's what we have before us today in verses 23 through 27. Our Lord Jesus was instructing his disciples in advance of what awaited not only for himself in Jerusalem, but also what awaited them as they followed him as his disciples.

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We wanna read the larger context of Luke 9, 18 through 27, and we'll then zero in on the words of verses 23 through 27, words of our

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Lord. And it happened as he was alone praying that his disciples joined him, and he asked them saying, who do the crowd say that I am?

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And so they answered and said, John the Baptist. But some say Elijah. Others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.

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He said to them, but who do you say that I am? And Peter answered and said, the

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Christ of God. And he strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one saying the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day.

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And of course, we address these verses last time that we were in Luke's gospel. And now we read the words of Jesus that followed.

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Then he said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

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For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

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For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost?

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For whoever is ashamed of me and my words of him, the son of man will be ashamed when he comes in his own glory and in his father's and of the holy angels.

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That's why we chose the hymn that we had just sung, Ashamed of Jesus. Then Jesus said, but I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.

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We'll address this more clearly next week, but it's pointing probably to his passion in Jerusalem, his resurrection,

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Pentecost, the pouring out of the spirit, the inauguration of the kingdom of God with Jesus as Lord.

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But now let's work through these verses and consider what's expressed. Jesus actually makes four statements.

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First, he made an appeal to anyone who desires to become his disciple, verse 23. Secondly, Jesus gave the most compelling reason for becoming his disciple, verse 24.

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Third, Jesus reasoned that to live with any other aim in life is both foolish and disastrous, verse 25.

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And then fourthly, Jesus gave a stern pronouncement against one who fails to become his disciple.

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I think this is one of the most direct and hard hitting passages we have in Luke's gospel.

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First, Jesus made an appeal to anyone who desires to become his disciple. After our

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Lord had given his 12 apostles his first announcement of his death and resurrection that would take place in Jerusalem, he spoke to all the people before him of their need to become his disciples.

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We read in verse 23, then he said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

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Now, Jesus's announcement of his suffering, rejection and death had been given by Jesus specifically to his 12 apostles and they alone, verses 18 through 22.

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But if we read carefully the opening words of verse 23, they reveal that his hearers increased greatly in number,

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Luke wrote, and then he said to them all. That pronoun is not a reference to his disciples and apostles, but to the crowds that were before him.

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Our Lord expanded his audience to include the multitude of people that were now before him.

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He set before them the way of salvation and that that way is to become and to live as his disciples.

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Now, Mark's gospel records more clearly the change from Jesus alone with his disciples to Jesus speaking before a crowd of people.

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There we read when he, Jesus, had called the people to himself with his disciples also, he said to them, whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

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One commentator rightly stated, in the present case, there's a break from what preceded because Jesus now addresses all.

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What follows is no longer private teaching for the disciples, but lays down the rules of discipleship for all who will contemplate following Jesus.

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Mark achieves this point by indicating that Jesus called together the crowd and that's how the

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ESV states that he called together the crowd, where Luke has avoided this change of scene.

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Another commentator stated similarly, to all includes also the multitude for whereas the announcement of the passion was intended for the 12 alone, the principles of the new life are to be heard by all.

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The shift from Jesus addressing his 12 apostles to the crowd is not as obvious in this gospel, in Luke, as in Mark's gospel, but it is set forth in Luke's words, then he said to them all, that pronoun all.

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Jesus gave forth a query to all present, if anyone desires to come after me. The expression to come after me describes what it is to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, to come after means to come behind Jesus, to follow him, to follow

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Jesus in order to be taught by him and to live according to his instruction, his precepts and to follow his lead in the path or the way that he travels.

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A disciple of Jesus is a devoted and committed follower of Jesus throughout life.

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The appeal and invitation Jesus made is to anyone who desires to follow him, that is who wants to become his disciple.

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Only the one who desires to do so may do so. He speaks to all, but it's not an invitation to all, it's an invitation to the one who desires to become his disciple.

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We know from the scriptures that the desire or will to follow Jesus does not naturally emerge from the heart of a sinner, it's just not there.

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And although Jesus makes an appeal to anyone who desires, we know it's only due to the grace of God operative in the mind and heart of a man or woman that he or she would possess such a desire.

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Apart from a work of God's grace in the heart, there is an innate disinterest, even antipathy to become a disciple of Jesus by all people everywhere.

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Paul wrote of God's grace in the heart of Titus toward the Lord's people, but thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.

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That desire came from the Lord, the Lord gave that desire for Titus. And in the same way, if you desire to come after Jesus, it's because God imparted to you the earnest interest and longing to do so.

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It wasn't there before. It wasn't there before. If it's there now, the Lord God is calling you.

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It's a very gracious invitation. And so God is imparting to you the earnest interest and longing to do so.

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However, although we know that it is the grace of God that enables his people to be willing in the day of his power, that should not diminish our effort to appeal to people's desires.

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And some do that who tend to be reformed, they're too passive. We are to appeal to the conscience of people to respond to the gracious invitations of our savior.

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Jesus said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, we might sincerely ask you, is that your desire?

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Has it become the compulsion of your soul to follow Jesus in faith and fellowship with him and his people?

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Can you say, yes, I desire, yes, I must come after Jesus, wholly and completely.

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If that desire, if that's the desire of your heart, then Jesus declared that there are three actions you are to take.

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First, and he said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself.

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That's the first. Ever since Adam fell into sin in the garden of Eden, man is determined to be his own master, his own

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Lord. He desires not to deny himself, but to assert himself. He thinks, expects, demands that others conform to his wishes and purposes, or at least leave him to do his own will in his own way.

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We're all born into this world with the thought and resolve, I purpose that my will be done. My desires, my interests, my concerns, my goals, that which

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I believe will secure my well -being and happiness are foremost on my heart. And this is the driving force and the guiding goal of my life.

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And that's true with every person born into this world as a sinner. However, Jesus declared that if you desire to be one of his disciples, you must repudiate and relinquish your right and insistence to do your own will.

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You're to cease to be the governor, the arbitrator of all your desires, decisions, and determinations.

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Jesus Christ alone is Lord, you're not, I'm not. The disciple of Jesus Christ has come to understand and embrace this way of life.

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More specifically, what is it to deny yourself? Well, several things. First, you deny the right to be served by others.

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The Lord Jesus in his incarnation denied himself the right and privilege of being served.

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He came not to be served, but rather to serve, even to the laying down of his life for others.

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He did not believe being served by others was something to be grasped, clung to, insisted upon, but he voluntarily denied himself of his life.

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And we are to have this same mind as Jesus Christ. It's specifically stated so by the apostle, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.

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Being born in the likeness of men, being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

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And so as Jesus came into the world, not to be served, but to serve, that is how his disciples are to think and to live.

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You're to deny yourself. What is it to deny yourself?

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Secondly, you deny your claims of personal merit, honor, or desire to acquire human recognition.

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You deny yourself these things. They are no longer important. In fact, you have shrunk from these things because you perceive to do so, to desire that, to acquire that would lessen the glory or the credit given to the

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Lord. As our Lord Jesus lives solely for the advancement of his father's name, so we as Christ's disciples live for the advancement of Jesus' name.

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Disciples of Jesus Christ desire that he, rather than we, get the credit for who we are and what we do.

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We live for the glory of God in Jesus Christ. Thirdly, what is it to deny yourself?

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Well, you deny yourself the belief and practice that you are Lord of your own life. I've already stated this.

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You have a responsibility to obey your master, Jesus Christ. His priorities will be embraced and his directives will be followed, even though they may conflict with your own desires and inclinations, because you deny yourself.

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And so, for example, your love of money is renounced as a driving force in your life because you know you can't serve both money, men, and the

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Lord. Your own lusts are denied and resisted, although they may plague you, probably plague you, for they cannot govern your life.

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Jesus Christ is your Lord. And even your human relationships are subordinated and governed by your relationship with Jesus Christ, for you cannot love father or mother, spouse or children, or even your own life more than you love him.

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The grace of God has infused these desires in your soul. You cannot, you choose not to set your desires, your will above that which you've come to see and embrace as the will of God and Jesus Christ.

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That's what it is, first of all, to be a disciple. If you desire to be a disciple, deny yourself.

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Well, aside from denying yourself, what is the second step you are to take if you desire to come after Jesus?

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Then he said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily.

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To take up your cross speaks, of course, of crucifixion, obviously. Crucifixion was a common form of execution in the first century.

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It was a torturous, extremely painful way to experience death, coupled with physical suffering.

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There was the public shame, which was associated with this form of death. All regarded the person who was sentenced to this form of death as having been cursed and forsaken by God.

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If God was for him, he wouldn't have allowed him to go through this suffering and this death.

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And to carry your cross on the way to the place of execution would be accompanied by public ridicule heaped upon you.

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Interestingly, Luke's account differs slightly from the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark, and that Luke added to the words of Jesus daily.

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Every day, the disciple of Jesus Christ is to take up his cross. Now, it should be noticed that there are two major ways in which this idea that you are to take up your cross is understood.

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First, there are those who teach that this is a command for you as his disciple to follow Jesus, even while you submit and endure that which may be very troubling, or that which may be a severe affliction in your life.

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You'll hear people say, that's the cross I have to bear. They would say that cross that you are to bear might be a chronic sickness, or debilitation, or perhaps an oppressive relationship from which you cannot escape.

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The other view is that when Jesus commanded that his disciple take up his cross daily, that it means that daily his disciple is to regard his past life as having ended.

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Let's take a few minutes to consider these two interpretations of the disciple taking up his cross.

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First, regarding the first view, that your cross is a trial or burden that you're to bear willingly in following Christ.

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Matthew Henry seemed to hold this view. These are his words. We must accustom ourselves to all insistences of self -denial and patience.

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This is the best preparative for martyrdom. We must live a life of self -denial, mortification, and contempt of the world.

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We must not indulge our ease and appetite, for then it will be hard to bear toil, weariness, and want for Christ.

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We are daily, he's bringing in the language of the verse, we are daily subject to affliction, and we must accommodate ourselves to it, and acquiesce in the will of God in it, and must learn to endure hardship.

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We frequently meet with crosses in the way, in the way of duty.

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And though we must not pull them upon our own heads, yet when they are laid for us, we must take them up, carry them after Christ, and make the best of them.

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So clearly, Matthew, Henry saw the cross that would take up daily, or the difficulties and hardships in life that we have to endure, nevertheless, they don't take us off following Christ.

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We persevere through them. Interestingly, John Calvin also gave forth this idea in his commentary on the passage, his comments on this, on the parallel statement in Matthew's gospel, read this way, on the words, and let him take up his cross.

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He lays down this injunction, because though there are common miseries to which the life of men is indiscriminately subjected, yet as God trains his people in a peculiar manner, in order that they may conform to the image of his son, we need not wonder that his rule is strictly addressed to them.

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It may be added that though God lays both on good and bad men the burden of the cross, yet unless they willingly bend their shoulders to it, they are not said to bear the cross.

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For a wild and refractory horse cannot be said to admit its rider, though it carries him. The patience of the saints, therefore, consists in bearing willingly the cross which has been laid on them.

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Luke adds the word daily. Let him take up his cross daily, which is very emphatic.

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For Christ's meaning is that there will be no end to our warfare till we leave the world. Let it be the uninterrupted exercise of the godly that when many afflictions have run their course, they may be prepared to endure fresh afflictions.

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And so he understands the statement of Jesus in the same way as Matthew Henry.

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And I found very interesting and informative Calvin's understanding of our crosses that he set forth extensively in his famous institutes of the

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Christian religion, which of course was his lifelong effort to explain the Christian faith in life. And so in setting forth the sum, really the bottom line of the

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Christian life, Calvin taught that it consisted largely of two categories.

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First, the denial of ourselves, and then secondly, bearing the cross. He treated these two matters in 21 pages of text, at least in my translation, my edition.

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And so under the subject of the denial of ourselves, he identified these related teachings, and each one of these 10 teachings, he of course gave about a page long explanation of them.

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Very well done. We're not our own masters, but belong to God. Self -denial through devotion to God.

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I won't read them, but this is how he delineates the idea of denying ourselves.

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In the next chapter, he gives the second category. He addressed bearing the cross, which was really, he said, a part of self -denial.

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And here he set forth 11 points of application. And it's the first one that will be drawn attention to,

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Christ's cross and ours. Secondly, the cross leads to perfect trust in God's power.

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Third, the cross permits us to experience God's faithfulness, gives us hope for the future.

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Four, the cross trains us to patience and obedience. Five, the cross has medicine.

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The cross is fatherly chastisement, suffering for righteousness sake. Suffering under the cross, the

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Christian finds consolation, comfort in God. The Christian, unlike the Stoic, gives expression to his pain and sorrow.

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10, real sorrow and real patience in conflict with each other. And last, 11, patience according to the philosophic and Christian understanding.

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Very thorough, very instructive, very encouraging, I found. But it was under the first of these three points, or first of these points, that Christ's cross and ours, that Calvin set forth his view that the cross that the

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Christian is to bear daily is the varied afflictions of life that we experience. But it behooves the godly mind to climb higher to the height to which

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Christ calls his disciples that each must bear his own cross. For whomever the

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Lord has adopted and deemed worthy of his fellowship ought to prepare themselves for a hard, toilsome, and unquiet life, crammed with very many and various kinds of evil.

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It is the heavenly Father's will thus to exercise them so as to put his own children to a definite test.

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Beginning with Christ, his firstborn, he follows this plan with all his children. For even though that son was beloved above the rest, in him the

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Father's mind was well pleased, yet we see that far from being treated indulgently or softly to speak the truth, while he dwelt on earth, he was not only tried by a perpetual cross, but his whole life was nothing but a sort of a perpetual cross.

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Amen. The apostle notes the reason that it behooved him, Christ, to learn obedience through what he suffered.

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Why should we exempt ourselves, therefore, from the condition to which Christ, our head, was to submit, especially since he submitted to it for our sake, to show us an example of patience in himself?

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And therefore, the apostle, teach us that God has destined all his children to the end that they may be conformed to Christ.

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Hence also in harsh and difficult conditions, regarded as adverse and evil, a great comfort comes to us.

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We share Christ's sufferings in order that, as he has passed from a labyrinth of all the evils into heavenly glory, we may in like manner be led through various tribulations to the same glory.

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So Paul himself elsewhere states, when we come to know the sharing of his sufferings, we at the same time grasp the power of his resurrection, and we become like him in his death.

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We are thus made ready to share his glorious resurrection. How much can it do to soften all the bitterness of the cross that the more we are afflicted with adversities, the more surely our fellowship with Christ is confirmed by communion with him, the very sufferings themselves, not only become blessed to us, but also help much in promoting our salvation.

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That's the first view, to take up your cross daily is to deal with whatever is really troubling you in life, and continue to follow

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Christ through it and regardless of it. But there's a second view, that your cross is to be understood simply really as the disciples daily recognition and submission to the truth that your former life has ended.

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This is held by some significant voices, the editors of the Reformation Study Bible, which we wonderfully hold up as a preferred study

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Bible. They set forth this understanding in their footnote of Luke 9, 23 through 25.

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It reads this way, on take up his cross. A cross is not merely a difficult circumstance to be endured.

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See, they're looking beyond that. Those who witnessed Roman crucifixion knew that to take up the cross meant to renounce selfish ambition and all right to control one's own destiny, it is death to a whole way of life.

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And so what they're saying is that to take up your cross daily is to, you know, every morning to once again put in your mind, this is who

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I am, this is what a disciple is and this is how I purpose to live daily. This view is also put forward by I.

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Howard Marshall in his highly respected commentary on the Greek text of the

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Gospel of Luke. Here are his words, it really summarizes verses 23 through 27. To all who would follow him, not merely the disciples who have already thrown in their lot with him,

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Jesus issues a summons to be willing to say no to themselves and their own ambitions and to follow him, even to the point of daily readiness for martyrdom.

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That's the point that he's emphasizing. This principle is given a grounding in verse 24, only through willingness to surrender one's life for Jesus will one really gain it for the person who tries to preserve his life for himself will ultimately lose it.

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This point is repeated in verse 25 in questioned form, such loss is loss indeed, which not even the gaining of all the world has to offer can offset.

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And then verse 26 makes it plain that saying and losing one's life is determined by one's attitude to Jesus now.

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For upon this attitude depends the attitude the son of man at the judgment. And verse 27 follows rather loosely, the thought of possible martyrdom has already been induced.

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Now comes a promise to the disciples that they will see the kingly rule of God before they die. And so they receive confirmation that it's better to follow

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Jesus than to obey the claims of self. We see therefore that this understanding of the disciple taking up his cross is not a call to endure the various trials the

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Christian faces daily, but it compels the disciple to acknowledge he's dead to his former life, dead to the ways and values of the world.

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And so in conclusion, regarding these two views, this command to take up the cross daily,

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I'm not ready to prefer either position over the other. Frankly, it seems to me that this phrase by Jesus can encompass both ideas quite well.

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Well, what then may we say that the Lord is commanding his disciples when he declared that a disciple is to take up his cross daily?

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Let's boil it down. First, you must be willing to endure shame and suffering in your life as his disciples.

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The disciple must not fail to follow Jesus regardless of the cost to him. Some cease to follow

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Jesus due to the shame they encounter. We're to be willing to have faith in Jesus Christ and live in obedience to him even when it results in experiencing shame for doing so.

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And it always does so in the fallen world in one degree or another. Others cease to follow

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Jesus due to the suffering they encounter by following him. We must be willing to endure all suffering in our lives of faithful following Jesus and faith and obedience.

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We're not to set aside the commandment of God simply because the results of obedience will be painful to us.

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Some people who profess to be Christian have failed here. They argue there are limits to which we are required to obey.

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Why, surely God does not expect me to suffer so terribly and therefore I'm free. Why, I'm even right to set aside the commandment of God.

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I know the Bible says that but I choose to do otherwise and I'm sure God is happy with me in this decision.

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He doesn't want me to suffer like I've been suffering. These people want a crown of glory that salvation would bring to them but they're not willing to wear the crown of thorns that precedes that glorious crown.

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The pain becomes too great, they turn away. And what the Lord is saying here is that every disciple that desires to save his life, in other words, inherent eternal life, must forfeit his life here if need be in following him.

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And then second, if you take up your cross daily, you must regard your own life as finished. That is, your life apart from him has gone.

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And of course, this is the meaning of your confession and biblical baptism. You're saying by your burial in the water that your former independent self -directed life is over.

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It's done, it's finished. And when you're brought forth from the water, you're declaring yourself to live anew as directed by your

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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Scriptures say we should only be baptizing disciples.

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All too often, baptism is conferred upon people who've got no business being baptized.

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You make disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And everyone we baptize, we of course understand, we attempt to discern that this is their heart, this is their intention and purpose.

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Otherwise, we would not baptize them. Well, then we read, thirdly, there's a third action that you're to take if you would be a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

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Not only are you to deny yourself and secondly, take up your cross daily, but thirdly, you're to follow

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Jesus. He said to them all, if anyone desired to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

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Disciple of Jesus must follow Jesus. What does it mean? Well, certainly it implies obedience.

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To follow Jesus implies obeying him in all respects. His teachings direct our lives.

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He is our Lord. Second, to follow Jesus implies that we really only travel where our

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Lord has himself already gone. We're following Jesus. He does not ask us to do anything that he has not done before us.

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When our Lord said these words, he'd soon leave Galilee, travel to Jerusalem where he would suffer and die and his disciples follow his leading and they do it live in the same way if the

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Lord calls them to do it and apparently all the apostles, perhaps except for John, suffered a martyr's death.

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Third, to follow Jesus implies he's leading us in our course of life. There's purpose and direction for the disciple of Jesus Christ.

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He has gone ahead of us and we're following the course he has blazed for us. This is the idea of the book of Hebrews.

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Christians are the people of God on a pilgrimage through this world, through life. Christians are strangers in this world who are following the

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Lord Jesus as we journey to our heavenly Canaan where we may receive our inheritance and abiding place in the heavenly

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Jerusalem, the city whose builder and maker is God, a city built without hands. And so as the

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Israelites followed the manifestation of God in the cloud and pillar of fire through the wilderness onto the promised land, so we follow our

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Lord Jesus through this life onto our heavenly Canaan as the shekinah glory led the children of Israel to their promised land.

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So our Lord Jesus leads us to the true promised land, even our heavenly Canaan. But as some fell in the wilderness because they refused to follow him, so those who cease or refuse to follow

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Jesus will not inherit the promise. God does not promise salvation for the temporary believer, but the one who overcomes, the one who perseveres by grace, obviously.

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But again, the idea is that he is the one who's gone ahead, has opened a way for us to follow.

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And there's no step we might take in our journey. He has not already taken before us. And then fourthly, to follow

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Jesus implies immediate and complete obedience. It implies immediate obedience.

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The Lord essentially says, begin to follow me now and continue to follow me no matter what comes. We're not to put off or procrastinate in our obedience.

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We're to follow him now. We're not to tarry. We're not to say as King Felix to Paul, go away for a time.

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And when I find time, I'll summon you. Put your Christianity on the shelf for a while.

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No, we say, speak, Lord, your servant is listening, ready to respond, if we're thinking rightly and acting rightly.

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And then of course, to follow Jesus implies complete obedience. We're not to be selective in our obedience.

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To be selective in obedience really is saying that you're the one controlling your life and you're picking and choosing what you wanna do rather than what the

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Lord would have you do. Partial obedience is no obedience. Those who live for themselves, for their own desires and interests above all others, who believe that God has not called them to suffer or endure suffering, but to escape it, need to be rebuked.

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They need to be sharply warned. They're not mindful of the things of God, but the things of man.

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We're to deny ourselves, that is, we're to put all our own fears and personal interests as subordinate to the will of God.

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We're to be willing to lose all for Christ, for in losing all for him, we gain all things that he freely gives us.

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Denial of self is essential to what it is to be a true Christian. There's a lot of nominal

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Christianity in the world, isn't there? Charles Spurgeon, I read this quote probably five years ago, 45 years ago, and it stuck.

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There must also be a willingness to obey the Lord in all his commandments. It is a shameful thing for a man to profess discipleship and yet refuse to learn his

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Lord's will upon certain points, or even dare to decline obedience when that will is known.

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How can a man be a disciple of Christ when he openly lives in disobedience to him? Then he wrote these words.

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I embolden them, I italicize them because they're important. If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows his

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Lord's will, but does not mean to attend to it, you're not to pamper his presumption, it's your duty to assure him he is not saved.

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If not the Lord said, he that taketh not of his cross and comes after me cannot be my disciple. Now mistakes as to what the

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Lord's will are to be tenderly corrected, but anything like willful disobedience is fatal.

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To tolerate it would be treason to him that sent us. Jesus must be received as king as well as priest, and where there's any hesitancy about this, the foundation of godliness is not yet laid.

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Of course, it's all due to grace. God puts it in our heart. We want this for ourselves. This is the evidence of the new birth.

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Well, secondly, and of course, that's the longest matter that we'll give attention to, but secondly,

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Jesus gave the most compelling reason for becoming his disciple, verse 24. Jesus said everyone ought to choose this course of life for his eternal salvation is what is at stake.

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Each of us should desire to come after Jesus, why? For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

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That's a pretty good motivator, isn't it? Our Lord informed his disciples of the nature and cost of discipleship to himself.

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The certainty of entering eternal life is the result of the life of a disciple.

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What a grand incentive for people to believe in him and to respond to their commitment to follow him. On the other hand, the consequences of failing or refusing to follow him are ominous, as the promise is glorious.

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For the one who refuses to follow Jesus will forfeit his soul.

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Clearly the Lord Jesus is saying there's no salvation apart from following him. That's how saving faith is seen, you follow

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Jesus. Now, we're not speaking here, of course, of the believer's justification through faith alone, that's a whole nother matter.

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Here we're speaking of the disciples life of faith and faithfulness, that's the difficult way onto eternal life that's set before us.

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And I always fall back on that illustration in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. All right, graceless became a

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Christian. You know, he came to faith in the city of destruction, but he had to get to the celestial city.

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And that's what we need to do as well, follow Christ. This is the life of saving faith in Jesus.

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It's evident in following Jesus as his disciple. And the scriptures do not promise eternal life to any but disciples of Christ.

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And certainly the Lord made this clear on this occasion. And we should attempt to make the same kind of converts today.

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The Great Commission is not merely to evangelize as it's commonly regarded these days, that is to get people to believe in Christ.

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We're not called to make believers. And be satisfied with that kind of convert, which might be quite spurious, but we're commissioned to make disciples.

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And this entails leading centers to repent of their sin, to become dedicated followers of Jesus.

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This is what true saving faith looks like. True Christians are those who follow Jesus as they are taught to obey all things whatever the

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Lord had taught his disciples. Again, the Great Commission. And we do a disservice to God and to those who see themselves as believers if we do not fully press upon them the claims of Christ.

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And so we desire Christians who are fully aware of the cost of their conversion. We desire disciples who are fully aware of the difficulty of their decision.

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We're gonna see that later in Gospel of Luke. Jesus had many followers who were impressed with him, but he would have them become fully committed and fully submitted to him.

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And these are the kind of people that we should have comprised church membership, just dedicated disciples of Jesus Christ.

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Now, it may seem unnecessary to emphasize this point, but we need to do so. Of course, when we speak of discipleship to Jesus, we're not speaking of an advanced or mature

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Christian. Often discipleship is presented in that way.

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Some think it's one thing to be a Christian. It's quite another to be a disciple. Oh, yeah, to be a disciple to say is to be a fully dedicated

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Christians. Christians strive to be disciples, but it's really not essential to be a disciple to have eternal life.

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That's not what the scriptures teach. The scriptures teach if you're not a disciple of Jesus, you're not a

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Christian. A believer, a true believer must be a submissive, obedient follower of the

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Lord. Faith in him must have its fruit toward him. Living the

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Christian life is impossible apart from the grace of God, isn't it? Jesus told

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Nicodemus, you can't even see the kingdom of God, let alone enter it unless you're born again. No one can live this kind of life we're describing today unless they'd been worked upon, brought upon by the grace of God, converting them and giving them a heart and desire to do so that they never possessed.

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This kind of life has no attraction to an unregenerate person. Well, we have to wrap things up here.

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I won't read those other comments. On page nine of your notes of Charles Spurgeon, but he talked about the superficial, shallow converts that so many seem to desire and value.

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Thirdly, Jesus reasoned that to live with any other aim in life is foolish and disastrous. Verse 25, what profit is it to a man if he gains a whole world and is himself destroyed or lost?

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That's a wasted life to live a life other than unto Jesus Christ. In him is life.

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And then fourthly, Jesus gave a stern pronouncement against one who fails to become his disciple.

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Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the son of man will be ashamed when he comes in his own glory and his father's and of the holy angels.

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Should anyone be ashamed of Jesus? Should we? Of course not.

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It's a sad thing that we often are. We don't speak to that soul as we should, could.

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But should we be ashamed of Jesus? There were some who professed to believe on him, but because of the

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Pharisees, they did not confess Jesus. Why? Because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

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That's really probably the source of our cowardness so often.

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We have a fear of man rather than a fear of God. We love the praise of man.

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They said they believed in him, but they would not confess him. J .C. Ryle wrote of this common spiritual malady who's infected the hearts, that has infected the hearts of many who claim to be

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Christian. We may learn from these verses the amazing power which the love of the world has over men.

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We read that among the chief rulers, many believed on Christ, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him lest they be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

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These unhappy men were evidently convinced that Jesus was the true Messiah. Reason and intellect and mind and conscience obliged him secretly to admit that no one could do miracles, which he did unless God was with them.

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And that the preacher of Nazareth really was the Christ of God, but they had not the courage to confess it.

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They dared not face the storm of ridicule, if not persecution, which confession would have entailed.

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And so like cowards, they held their peace and kept their convictions to themselves. And their case, sadly, it may be feared as a common one.

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There are thousands of people who know far more in religion than they act up to. They know they ought to come forward as decided

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Christians. They know they are not living up to their light, but the fear of man keeps them back.

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They're afraid of being laughed at, jeered at, despised by the world. They dread losing the good opinion of society, the favorable judgment of men and women like themselves.

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And they go on from year to year, secretly ill at ease and dissatisfied with themselves, knowing too much of religion to be happy in the world, clinging too much of the world to enjoy religion.

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That is true Christianity. But the important question to answer, of course, for each of us, will

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Jesus be ashamed of you on the day of judgment? Well, we thought the question shouldn't be asked people, have you accepted

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Jesus? The question is, has Jesus accepted you? And will he confess you before his father on the day of judgment?

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Jesus said, whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the son of man will be ashamed when he comes in his own glory and his fathers and the holy angels.

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The one who is ashamed of Jesus in this life, Jesus will be ashamed to own him on the day of judgment when all the world is gathered before him.

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Consider the multitudes on that great day. Many will claim to own

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Jesus, but he will be ashamed to own them. In other words, he'll not claim them as his own.

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I won't read that quote of Asahel Nettleton. He was one of the leaders of the second great awakening from about 1790 to 1830 or thereabouts here in America.

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By the way, our Bolton conference this coming October, Steve Lawson from Ligonier will be speaking about Asahel Nettleton and the second great awakening.

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And Jeremy Walker coming in from England will be talking about Nettleton's discipleship ministry and how he had such a wonderful evangelistic fruitful ministry in making disciples.

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But the question we wanna leave ourselves with today, will Jesus be ashamed of you?

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He won't if you come to him, follow him, deny yourself, take up your cross, regardless of what comes to you.

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Your purpose is God enables you to follow him. Wherever he leads you, whatever the consequences, you're gonna follow him because that's the way onto eternal life.

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That's the way of saving faith. It is seen in love and obedience and submission to Jesus Christ the

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Lord and him alone is life. Amen. May the

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Lord help us. Thank you father for your kindness and goodness to us and giving us your word our

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God and he's very clearly spoken words of you our Lord Jesus.

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Help us our God each to be truly committed disciples of you

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Lord Jesus. Forgive us wherein we have failed you. Forgive us Lord when we have perhaps failed to own you openly and publicly.

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Help us to confess you our God before others. Certainly we confess Jesus before you our father as our

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Lord and savior. We trust our salvation to him and him alone. Help us our

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God to be faithful and true disciples of Jesus Christ regardless of what may be coming down in this world upon those who align with him and we'll thank you and praise you when we stand in his presence and acknowledged by him on the day of judgment exonerated of our sin because of his atonement for us on his cross.

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We'll thank you and praise you then our God even as we thank you and praise you now through Jesus Christ.