Shall we now turn to the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 16. Gospel according to Matthew chapter 16 and we shall read verse 24. Verse 24. Matthew chapter 16 verse 24. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. The title this evening is Christians, you are a living cross. Christians, you are a living cross. On May 10th, 1940, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister. When he met his cabinet on May 13th, he told them that, I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. He repeated. that phrase later in the day when he asked the House of Commons for a vote of confidence in his new all-party government. He made this speech to inspire the British people to keep fighting against a seemingly invincible enemy, the Nazi Germany. This speech was made so that Britain would stand up and fight and give everything they had to the cause of fighting evil and tyranny. And Britain has to stand up and fight. I have nothing to offer but blood. toy, tears, and sweat. These words were uttered in the context of war. In war, you don't expect the enemy to give you a buffet. Does not expect you to bring flowers and gift you with a luxury apartment to live in. When you are at war, you get blood. toil, tears, sweat, fear, injury, starvation, loneliness, imprisonment, disability, distress, pain, sorrow, and so many other sufferings. All this is because you're engaged with an enemy in a battle What has this got to do with Jesus and his people? What has blood, toil, tears, sweat got to do with the Church of Christ, the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, born again of the Holy Spirit? The truth is that we are at war. Whoever follows Christ becomes a soldier of Christ. Whoever becomes a member of Christ's body, he or she enrolls themselves into the army of Christ. Your fight begins from the day you are born of the Holy Spirit. Dear born again Christians, our war begins from the day Christ calls you and me to put our faith in Christ Jesus. You will be at war till your last breath. This war is fought against the archenemy of God and his son, Jesus Christ, and this enemy is Satan. Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Britain, was asking Britain to be ready to give their blood, their toil, their tears and sweat to fight against the evil, to fight against the tyranny of Hitler. How was Prime Minister Churchill asking Britain to respond against evil? He was asking them to respond in the same way that Hitler was trying to bring the world under his feet by violence, bullets and bombs. It was by eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. The Bible says in Psalm 34 verse 21, evil shall slay the wicked. Evil shall slay the wicked. But the battle that Jesus Christ, our commander-in-chief, teaches us to fight is quite different. Jesus Christ, the son of God, did not fight his battle with Satan with an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. He did not slay the wicked the way the wicked were trying to destroy him. Jesus showed his disciples how he must suffer many things of the elders and the cheap priests and scribes and be killed. and be raised again on the third day. See, there is no backfire involved there. There is no plan of destruction there, a direct hand-to-hand fight, no battle of that sort. When Jesus told this to the disciples, they did not hear the last part. and be raised again on the third day. They only heard that Jesus would have to suffer and be killed. And then the most outspoken man, Peter, the Bible says, in the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 16, verse 22, that Peter took him and began to rebuke him, that is, rebuke Jesus, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. That's not the way that's going to happen to you. No, this cannot happen to you. You are too powerful for them. You even cast out demons. Demons run away from you. How can the scribes and chief priests face you? You will easily thrash them. I am speaking out the mind of Peter as if to say, Because if you and I had lived with Jesus and seen the power that Jesus exhibited over nature and sickness and wickedness of the souls and against the demonic forces, we would say the same thing, what Peter said. Peter surely believed that suffering and death is for cowards and for weak people. Their understanding of the Messiah was that he is a tough warrior, a powerful man that conquers all nations and bring them under his reign. They had already seen the awesome power that Jesus has demonstrated. They believed that he would do the same against his enemies. They just could not imagine that Jesus would suffer and be killed under the hands of any authority, local or foreign, religious or secular. It is interesting to notice what Jesus said to Peter. He did not say, get behind me, Peter. He didn't say, get behind me, get off my way. I want to go to my destination. He said to Peter, we find it in verse 23, get thee behind me, Satan. Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me. For thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Jesus was telling him, Peter, you don't have the mind of God. You have a wicked mind, like we heard in the morning. You have the mind of Satan. You don't think the way God thinks. You don't know God. It is Satan speaking through you. Satan's ways are different from God's ways. Satan's warfare is different from the way God carries out his battle. Satan wins by maiming and murdering and violence and killing, destroying property and people, burning and lying and alluring and deceiving. This is not how God fights His war. He fights with truth. He fights with righteousness. He fights with holiness. He fights with love and peace and with self-control. He bears and abstains. He fights through patience. He fights through meekness. His weapons are not carnal. The apostles understood this after Jesus rose from the dead. Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3 onward, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. Apostle Paul, the man who believed in his strength and sowed to kill people, to put them in chain, to put them in prison, you know, and to torture them. He now learned that we walk, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not walk after the flesh. for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imagination and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. We are doing everything like what is done in the war, casting down, taking into captive and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. But we do it differently, for Christ did it differently. God's way is a way of the cross. Therefore, Jesus says to Peter and to all his disciples, If you are on chapter 16, look at verse 24. So Jesus says to them, then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? You are following Christ. You are born again of the Holy Spirit. You are a Christian. You have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord. Describe it in any way you want to, to say that you are the follower of Christ. Jesus says, if any man, any man will come after me, let him deny himself. Let him deny himself. The word deny is very thought-provoking. It is very deep. On the ordinary level, it means to tell someone that he has no connection or acquaintance with someone. Someone asks you, do you know him or her? You deny it. You affirm by saying, no, I don't know him, I don't know her, I have no acquaintance with him. You deny any relationship with that person. You disassociate yourself with that person. You cut off with that person. I have nothing to do with him or her. Jesus is saying, if you want to follow me, you must not have any relationship with yourself. You must not have any connection with your own self. It is like Jesus saying, if you want to follow me, you don't exist anymore. You are dead to yourself. You cut off yourself from your very self. And having understood what Jesus meant, Apostle Paul says, I am crucified with Christ. I am crucified. Nevertheless, I live. I, not I, but Christ lives in me. So how does Paul live? I now live by faith in the Son of God. I don't live according to my philosophy, my wants, my desires, my beliefs, my lust, the works of my flesh, but according to the belief of Jesus Christ, according to his faith. I live as he lived according to the will of his father. Paul no more has his own mind, but has the mind of Christ Jesus, which comes from the Word of God, which comes from the Spirit of the Risen Lord, which dwells in you and me. Before he was well acquainted with his old self, He was totally attached to himself. It was the I that mattered, I. He was attached to his carnal lust, to his pride, and so on. He was attached to working of his old self. What was the working of the old self? In Galatians chapter 5 verse 19, he lists the working of the old self. Galatians chapter 5 verse 19 onward, now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like. The list can go on. Once Christ came into his life, he separated himself from his old self. He began to deny his old self. I don't know you. I don't want you. You are dead. Soul, you are dead. You are crucified with Christ. I live again and this living is in Christ. It is a life of the Spirit. It is no more I the old, but I the new. And so he describes it this way, Galatians 5, verse 22, This life is a life of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Let him deny himself. Are we denying ourselves day in and day out? Are we denying the old man in us? And then Jesus says, and take up his cross. He will take up his cross. If any man will come up to me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. And this is so profound. When you follow Jesus Christ, you deny yourself, you separate yourself, you deny your own identity. This self of yours may be denied and rejected if you are following Christ Jesus. It must be denied, it must be rejected. This old self is wicked. sinful, rebellious, lustful, vengeful. Try to meditate on Psalm 10, which we did in the morning. There are many psalms which talk about wickedness. The whole proverb, one of the characters, the main character is wicked, wicked person. having rejected and crucified yourself, your old nasty self, you now put on Christ, the spirit and mind of Christ. But look, understand this, with taking on the new identity which is Christ, you have to take up your cross. You have to take up your cross. Your new identity actually is the cross. You live the life in the spirit, but it is the life of the cross. Jesus says, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Mark those words, let him deny himself. and must take up his cross and follow me. Jesus calls upon his followers to take this up willingly, consciously, deliberately, knowingly. One of the things that God does in his word is he never surprises you. But I told you when actually he has never told you. He never changes what he has already told you. He tells us all in advance so that His judgment, His justice is fair. He tells us everything. Jesus commands and demands that this is the way, the only option you have if you are following Him, if you are His disciples, if you want to follow Him. Prime Minister Mr. Churchill offered blood, toil, tears and sweat to fight against the tyranny and evil. Let us not forget that all men are evil, including Mr. Churchill and all the rulers and people of the world. Lesser evil fights against the greater evil. As the Bible says, evil shall slay the wicked. But Jesus, the fountain of purity, Jesus, the epitome of goodness and righteousness without any sin, makes his people pure, righteous, and just, and yet offers his people the cross. Mr. Winston Churchill, when he spoke to Britain about the sacrifice, he was obviously saying that we are good, we are clean, we are not evil. The other side, the Nazis, are evil. We are good. Yet the method, the means used, was the same as the Nazis. Although the means used to defeat the Nazis were same as the Nazis, yet Britain displayed the badge of righteousness. We all do that, isn't it? The lesser evil fight against the greater evil, thinking that we are good. However, although those that are following Jesus are made righteous from within, are made holy, yet the Lord Jesus Christ says, you must take up your cross and follow me. So what is a cross? You must take up your cross and follow me. What is a cross? Jesus was not telling the apostles that you should go about literally carrying a beam of wood That is a cross. Cross or the beam of wood was used as an instrument to punish or to crucify the guiltiest criminals. It was used where robbers and useless slaves, those that incited insurrections, those that were considered to be the enemies of the state, they were nailed. They were hanged on it. At times, for the pleasure and profit of the governors and emperors, they would crucify even men who lived in peace and were law-abiding citizens. So that was the cross. When Jesus said, take up your cross and follow me, Jesus was saying, when you follow me, You will be walking on this earth like a cross. The people of the world will look at you and treat you like a guilty criminal, like a robber, like a contemptible person, a person fit to be spat upon. like the insurrectionist, like a rebel, like an enemy of the state, like the enemy of God and man. You must have seen some evangelists going to Israel and preaching the gospel. One of the things that happens to them is they are spat upon. spat upon. You'll be considered as the enemy of God. Therefore, getting rid of you will be believed that they are doing a favor to God and to the country. This is what taking up your cross and following Jesus means. Jesus said that although you are cleansed from your sins, although you are made righteous and will be made the salt and the light of the world of the earth, you will be looked upon as a corruptor of the world. Although you will not fight the world in an evil manner to defeat evil, even then you will be looked down upon as the enemy of the world. Most Christians associate the cross with their personal suffering like sickness and disease and disabilities and poverty and social justice and so on. And this kind of problems are faced by all the people of the world. You don't have to be a Christian, a follower of Christ. However, to be made into a holy person, a righteous person, to be made into a person who walks in the spirit, a life of love, peace, joy, gentleness, forgiveness, goodness, meekness, and yet to be considered and punished as a thief, as a rebel, an enemy of the state, enemy of God and man, and contemptible, is madness. It is to turn the good upside down. It is satanic to make or to look at innocent people in this manner. I don't have to spell it out for you. If you have denied yourself and if you have taken up the cross to follow Christ, you surely must have heard words that people say to you. When the Lord Jesus Christ saved me and I declared openly that Jesus is my Lord, the Paris priest of the Roman Catholic Church told the people that I am an antichrist. As I walked on the streets on my little town, some would call me communist. This is not even rational. One of my brother-in-law is to call me CIA agent. This is what nations call us. In India, the nationalists call us enemies of the country. They say, get out of the country, traitors. You're foreigners. In some countries, followers of Christ are considered as low caste. Perhaps you have not experienced in this part of the world, but you will soon. Already they say you are a Bible basher and bigot and all kind of things. The cross becomes your identity, my identity. This is a mark of God that is etched on his children. For God, the cross etched on the foreheads of the saints is a reminder that these men and women, girls and boys belong to me. They are my children, bought by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The cross is a reminder that they are bought by his son and made righteous by him. But in the eyes of the world, The life and the way lived by the true followers of Christ becomes offensive, distressing and demeaning to their pride and ego. We saw on Friday the 23rd Pastor John Sherwood was arrested because one or two of the people passing by heard that homosexuality is sin. They were angry and called the police. Homosexuality is only one of the sins that was mentioned, besides mentioning many others. The Bible mentions all the rest of the sins. And the police officers said to the preacher that it was distressing and it was hurting those that practice such a thing. What about people who carry out abortions? When it is told to them that such a thing is wrong, they too feel distressed and it hurts them. What about people who fornicate? it will hurt them too and those who are constantly in adulterous relationship. Every sinner hates to be told that he or she is a sinner and that their deeds are evil. The Bible says in Romans chapter 13 that God has appointed rulers to serve God and be terror to the evil. It says that rulers, the lawmakers, are a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wickedness. Wickedness. Preachers are appointed by God to remind the people, in general, and the rulers, everyone, that they should give up evil and turn to God for forgiveness and be saved from their sins. It's a message of hope which no one else gives. They're appointed to tell the world that there is hope in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for them in order to save them. We humans have the habit to hear only that which we want to hear. If you want to rebel over those things which are said, we will take only half of that portion and forget the rest. But what is happening is just the opposite. What the rulers are supposed to do is just happening the opposite. The God-appointed rulers now, especially in the case of LGBTQ, condemn the preacher and support the evil deeds of the flesh. In the days to come, this is going to increase and those that follow Christ will be like Noah preaching to deaf ears. But perhaps it will be even worse. They will hear and they will condemn and they will stone and bring death upon the preachers like they did to Stephen. Not only that, but the followers of Christ who will, because of their love towards sinners, preach repentance and salvation, will be shut down and will be persecuted as evil and troublers of society. A question we must ask and not forget In the circumstances that we have been in, in our lives, even last year and this year, how did you behave during the time of lockdown and restriction? Did you choose the easy way? Did you blend with the majority? Did you look down upon those of the brethren who stood, who chose to honor the King of kings and the Lord of lords? Were you ashamed to put your trust, to put your life in the hands of Jesus? Look, Jesus goes on to say in verse 25, in the Gospel of Matthew, For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. And whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. It is so very important to understand the meaning of the cross. Take up your cross and follow me. This is the only way to follow Christ Jesus. This is the only way we can show that Jesus is in your heart and that he is your Lord. You don't ask for it. This identity, I mean, you don't ask for it because we don't know until we are born again what the cross means. This identity is given to those that are converted to Christ Jesus. It is given by God. It is a mark of God. You cannot run against it by saving your life, by preserving your life. If you do, you will lose your life. Jesus has said, if they have hated me, they will hate you. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you. Many a times, Christians can show that they have the mind of Peter. They say to themselves, this cannot happen to me. I will not suffer. I will not be treated like this. I refuse to be treated like this. I will be respected and honored by the world. What did the Lord Jesus Christ do? The Son of God did only good. He did only good. Yet he was nailed to the cross. They put him to shame. They treated him like a criminal. They believed that he was a traitor, a criminal, a rebel. All this Jesus suffered to give us life. Mordecai warned Esther, don't think keeping silent, being in that palace, and not revealing your identity, you will be saved, that you will preserve your life. No, he says. They will come to know who you are. They will destroy you. So why not live with the identity that Christ has given to us? It's a glorious identity. You are a cross. I'm a cross. And we share this identity with our Savior, Jesus Christ. He's not a failure. They killed Him. They tried to destroy Him. And yes, He died, but He rose again from the dead. And today, He's seated at the right hand of the Father. We are His people. He will come again to take us to Him. Jesus had to rebuke Peter and say to him, Get behind me, Satan. Let us not continue to be in the old mind and think the way our old self used to think. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Shall we pray?