Following Jesus (part 2)
Matthew 16:21-27
January 22, 2012
Last time we met began to discuss this really insightful
And pivotal lesson that Jesus taught His disciples.
It all began with Jesus revealing His future plans for the church.
Christ was coming to build a church.
• A church designed by Him and for Him.
• A church that would be victorious even over the gates of hell.
• A church that is distinguished by those who confess Him to be the Christ, the Son of the living God.
But as Christ revealed then, the church was His plan,
But it wasn’t here yet.
So Jesus revealed the means by which the church would come .
(21) “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.”
And we talked about this last time,
These were not possible things that might happen,
But necessary things that had to happen.
If the church was ever to come into existence, then:
• Christ had to suffer and suffer publicly in Jerusalem.
• Christ had to die a death to atone for sin.
• Christ had to rise from the dead, conquering it forever.
These weren’t things that should happen,
These were things that “must” happen.
If they didn’t, then the church would never be
What Christ envisioned it to be.
And that makes sense to us now,
But it most certainly did not make sense to Peter.
#1 – A SELFISH INTERRUPTION (22)
Peter actually took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him.
(unbelievable audacity)
Namely because Peter wasn’t interested
In following Jesus to suffering and death.
#2 A STERN REBUKE (23)
Jesus actually called Peter; Satan.
In short, Peter was preaching Satan’s gospel.
• It was victory without a battle.
• It was achievement without dedication.
• It was reward without cost.
• It was deliverance without suffering.
And the problem is that Peter most likely wasn’t alone in his desires.
It is quite obvious that the rest of the disciples were right with Peter
And so Jesus addressed them all.
#3 A SIMPLE FACT (24-25)
And we talked about this a little last week,
But it is worth expounding on here this morning a little bit more.
This is what Jesus wanted the twelve to understand.
Following Jesus is not a life of ease and comfort.
Following Jesus is hard.
By definition, to follow someone means “to go where they go.”
And Jesus is going to Jerusalem to suffer and die.
That means that followers have a few musts as well.
1) “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself”
Again we are reminded as to who Christ is talking about.
“anyone” who wants to be with Jesus.
We have almost created in Christianity today
This sort of tiered version of belief.
Like we have all these tiers of Christians on various tiers of commitment.
• Some who believe, but don’t obey.
• Some who obey a little as long as it doesn’t mess up their plans.
• Some who actually rearrange their whole lives for Jesus.
And somehow we have actually begun to think that was normal and OK.
But that is not what Jesus said.
Jesus didn’t say that only a select few followers must “deny” themselves.
He said “anyone [who] wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself.”
People today think the person who leaves his father or mother
Or farm or business or job or whatever else
In order to go and serve Christ is sort of a fanatic.
Jesus said they are the norm.
Search through your brain for a second and tell me if you can find any believer in the Bible who was allowed to keep their old manner of life.
• Certainly none of the disciples,
• And none of the ministry assistants in Scripture (men like Luke, or
Barnabas, or John Mark)
• You won’t find men like Timothy or Titus doing the same old
things.
But even those to whom Paul wrote his letters, those churches.
Every one of those people
Was EXPECTED to change and leave their old manner of life.
Ephesians 4:17-24 “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”
Colossians 3:5-8 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.”
The point is that self denial is the norm for Christians.
Christ doesn’t let anyone keep his old life.
Everyone has to deny self.
There is actually another word for this in Scripture,
It is called “Repentance”
• John the Baptist declared it. (repent…kingdom.. at hand)
• Jesus preached it. (repent…kingdom…at hand)
• Peter demanded it at Pentecost. (repent and be baptized)
• Paul preached it in Athens. (God is now declaring…repent)
Repentance is what God wants.
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
God wants men to repent.
• Turn from their wickedness.
• Turn from their selfishness.
• Turn from their foolish pride and worldliness.
He wants men to turn around and go against the grain.
Stop doing what is in their own best interest, and do what God says.
“deny…self”
BUT WHY IS SELF-DENIAL SO IMPORTANT?
Because if you don’t deny yourself,
You will never do what is required next.
2) “and take up his cross”
If you look in this world you will see selfish men doing all sorts of things,
But you won’t find them carrying a cross.
And yet that is what Christ did.
AND LET ME ASK YOU, HOW DID HE DO IT?
The answer: He first denied Himself.
Philippians 2:5-8 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
And the simple point is that you can’t take up the cross
If you don’t first deny yourself.
Because taking up the cross is not easy.
John MacArthur wrote:
“Taking up one’s cross is not some mystical level of selfless “deeper spiritual life” that only the religious elite can hope to achieve. Nor is it the common trials and hardships that all persons experience sometime in life. A cross is not having an unsaved husband, nagging wife, or domineering mother-in-law. Nor is it having a physical handicap or suffering from an incurable disease. To take up one’s cross is simply to be willing to pay any price for Christ’s sake. It is the willingness to endure shame, embarrassment, reproach, rejection, persecution, and even martyrdom for His sake.”
(Matthew commentary, pg. 48-49)
To put it another way, to follow Jesus
You are agreeing to start on a death march.
Now it is true that not all who follow Jesus actually die a martyr’s death.
But all who follow Jesus must be willing to.
So Jesus said to take up the cross.
3) “and follow Me”
Jesus came to suffer.
Jesus came to die.
Jesus came to rise.
And friends this is the call of Jesus.
This is the expectation of Jesus.
This is what He told anyone who wants to follow what he must do.
• You may ask some church man what you have to do to be saved…
• You may ask some minister what you have to do to be saved…
But if you ask Jesus He will tell you that “if anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”
It is clear that you can’t live for you and Jesus at the same time.
It is the call of total and continual obedience to Jesus,
No matter what.
But if we still have trouble comprehending, Jesus goes on to say this:
(25) “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
That definitely reinforces what Jesus just said.
You get one life or the other, but not both.
If you choose to keep this life, then you forfeit eternal life.
If you choose to let this life go, then eternal life is yours.
And so let me remind you of something
That the early church was pretty clear on.
SUFFERING IS PART OF FOLLOWING JESUS
Somehow over the years it has come to be a popular belief
That God intends for your life to be all comfort, and blessing, and riches, and health, and prosperity.
Believe me when I tell you such convictions
Do not come from studying Scripture.
(Those thoughts come from an American society chasing the American dream)
For they were not the teachings of Jesus,
Nor where they the teachings of the apostles.
Jesus and the apostles were both extremely clear
As to what happens to those who follow Jesus.
Remember when Paul was on his second missionary journey?
He was stoned in Lystra by Jews from Iconium,
And then got up and went on his way.
Later he returned back through Lystra and Iconium, and do you remember the sermon?
Acts 14:21-22 “After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”
According to Paul you don’t enter the kingdom except through tribulations.
That is why he told Timothy:
2 Timothy 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
That is why he told the Philippians:
Philippians 1:29-30 “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.”
And that is why Peter said the same:
1 Peter 4:12 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;”
1 Peter 4:1-2 “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”
1 Peter 5:10 “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”
Folks hardship and suffering are part of Christianity.
HERE IS WHAT THAT MEANS
You cannot spend your life avoiding suffering
And following Jesus at the same time.
Continually choosing comfort will cause you to never follow Jesus.
Listen to what Paul told the Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 4:8-16 “You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.”
Paul spoke very sarcastically to the Corinthians because they were trying to live as “filled” men as “rich” men as “kings”
And all the while the apostles of Jesus were
“condemned” and “fools” and “weak” and “without honor”
The Corinthians were rich, while the apostles were “hungry and thirsty”
WHICH ONE DO YOU THINK WAS MISSING THE POINT OF FOLLOWING CHRIST?
That is why Paul said, “be imitators of me”
In other words stop and follow Jesus
And accept the hardship that comes with it.
The simple fact is to follow Jesus you must let go of your life.
Now that catches us up to where we were last week.
A Selfish Interruption, A Stern Rebuke, A Simple Fact
#4 A SERIOUS QUESTION
Matthew 16:26
Actually it is two.
But it is two questions that make the same point.
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
The first question is this:
HOW MUCH WOULD IT TAKE TO GET YOU TO FORFEIT YOUR SOUL?
• How much money would it take to get you to agree to go to hell?
• How much would you sell your soul for?
• Would you take $50?
• How about $5,000,000?
• How about $5 billion?
• How about a perfect man or woman?
• How about 100 perfect men or women?
• How about fame?
How much would it take to get you to sell your soul?
And you answer, “nothing”.
I’m not selling my soul.
WHY?
Because there is no “profit” in it.
It’s not a good trade to what will last forever for what won’t.
But then Jesus reverses the question.
“Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
HOW MUCH WOULD YOU GIVE TO SAVE IT?
• You wouldn’t sell it for $50, but would you give $50 to save it?
• You wouldn’t sell it for $500, but would you give $500 to save it?
• You wouldn’t sell it for $5 million, but would you give $5 million to save it?
• You wouldn’t sell it for a relationship, but would you give one to save it?
• You wouldn’t sell it for fame, but would you give up fame to save it?
Because here is the kicker.
You and I really only get to answer the second one.
(because it is not as though our soul is safe ahead of time)
Mankind is born in sin, depraved from birth,
Headed for eternal destruction.
Now, if man was born sinless, and righteous and perfect,
Then our only objective would be to keep men from selling their soul.
We would tell them to watch out for temptation,
And we would keep them from selling their soul.
But man has already lost it.
Our mission is not to prevent sales, but to promote salvations.
We are trying to convince man to save his soul.
And Jesus will do it, but it will cost you everything.
Because in order to follow Him, you must “deny” yourself.
And so we have a pretty serious question to answer.
Peter, would you leave your nets to follow Jesus? Yes.
How about you Andrew, would you leave your nets to follow Jesus? – Yes
How about you James, how about you John? – Yes
Matthew would you leave your tax booth to follow Jesus? – Yes
Philip would you leave your family? – Yes
Nathanael would you give up your reputation? – Yes
How about you Rich Young Ruler, would you leave your money to follow Jesus? – No
How about you Pilate, would you lose your position to follow Jesus? – No
How about you Pharisee, would you admit you are wrong to follow Jesus? – No
You see folks, it is an all or nothing decision.
Either deny self and live for Jesus, Or deny Jesus and live for self,
But you can’t have it both ways.
That is the serious question.
A Selfish Interruption, A Stern Rebuke, A Simple Fact, A Serious Question
#5 A SOBERING REALITY
Matthew 16:27
And here is why you must choose.
“For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.”
The point is someday what you did will become evident
And you will rewarded accordingly.
And please notice the standard of the reward.
“repay every man according to his deeds.”
Jesus is looking at what you do, not what you say.
Jesus is looking at what you do, not what you intend.
Did you follow or not?
You can talk about believing in Him until you are blue in the face.
You can talk about your ministry until you are blue in the face.
What He wants to know is did you follow Him?
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”
The point is, we are not dealing in hypotheticals here.
• Jesus is real.
• He really came, and He really died.
• He really rose, and He will really return, and He will rule.
And He really said that in order to be His follower,
You had to deny self, take up the cross, and follow Him.
SO WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE?
Will you forsake this life or not?
Will you embrace suffering as a part of following Jesus?
Will you take His cross and carry it?
Now I am fully aware that some will only see this sermon
As some sort of ploy to get people to sign up for mission trips.
I would certainly be Biblically grounded in doing so.
Contrary to popular belief, missions is not my deal, it is Christ’s deal.
He is the One who told us to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.
And honestly none of us has the right to say “No”
Just because it is not something we want to do.
But even beyond that, this really isn’t a missions sermon.
THIS IS A BASIC SALVATION SERMON.
Jesus isn’t saying you can’t go on mission if you won’t deny self.
Jesus is saying you can’t be saved if you won’t deny self.
The reality is you must begin your death march for Jesus.
Matthew 16:24-26 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
