Turn again in God's word to Matthew chapter 16. And if we look particularly at verse 24, then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. That's what Jesus is calling us. If anyone wants to come after Jesus, if anyone wants to follow him, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow him. This morning I want us to consider what self-denial is, and then this evening to consider why. Why should we deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus? But it's important to take one step back and to consider the context. We read from verse 13, and in verses 13 to 16, Jesus is asking who people say that he is. He's asking about his identity. Who do people say my identity is? And then he goes on to the most important question that can be asked, not who do other people say that I am, but Jesus says, who do you? say that I am? That's the most important question that you could be asked. Who do you say that Jesus is? I know who Jesus is. I know what many other people say about Jesus, but who do you as an individual say Jesus is? It's the most important question. Do you believe, as Peter does, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? That Jesus is the only way of salvation, the Messiah sent from God? the son of God who can take away our sin. So that's the identity. Who is Jesus? But then in verse 21, Jesus takes them on one step to consider his work, not simply who he is, but what has he come to do? And he tells them that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things and to die on the cross and then to be raised on the third day. So you see, Jesus has been showing his identity, he's been showing what his work is, and only after talking about these two things does he move on in our verse in verse 24 to call them to follow him. And that's an important thing. The call of Christ on our lives to follow him comes after we have considered who he is and what he has done. We don't follow Christ in order to gain salvation, We follow Christ because he has opened up the way of salvation. And because of who he is, the Christ, the son of the living God. And because of the fact that he was willing to be killed and to be raised on the third day. Because of these things, he lays a claim to our lives. He has the right to call us to follow him. And his call is this, deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me. Following Jesus is not the grinds of faith. It's not the grinds of salvation, but it is the way that Jesus calls us to go. And this verse, verse 24, is not a verse simply for some special Christians, some special category of Christians. That self-denial and cross-bearing and following Jesus is what ministers do, or what missionaries do, or some special category of Christian, those who are particularly focused on living for Christ. No, this is the claim of Christ, the call of Christ, on every single person, every single one of you, that you're to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him. In fact, He shows us that in what he says. If anyone would come after me, if anyone wants to follow me, if anyone desires to be one of my disciples, he has it as open, as far open as it's possible to be. It's an invitation. Do you want to follow Jesus? It's open for you today to follow Jesus. But this is what Jesus means by that. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow after him. Let's consider, first of all, self-denial, what it is. Well, first, what it is not. There are many bad ideas of what self-denial is. And of course, with every virtue in the Bible, there can be something that resembles it in the natural world, a natural shadow, a pale imitation of the real thing. Maybe you've said before, I need to deny myself something. Let's say you're a student at school or at university, and there's a party that your friends are hosting, a party that you really want to go to. And yet you know that you've also got a big essay to get in next week, and it's going to take a lot of work to get that essay done. So what do you do? You deny yourself the pleasure or the fun of going to the party in order that you can work and focus on your essay. Or maybe you have a great desire to lose a few pounds, and so you want to go on a diet, and so you deny yourself the piece of cake that's offered to you. Or maybe you have an idea of going on a holiday to somewhere, or buying a new car, or some other thing you want to do with your money. And so there are purchases that you have to deny yourself. You have to go down a level of the biscuits and get the cheaper ones if you want biscuits, or deny yourself biscuits altogether to save your pennies in order to buy whatever it is you want to buy. That's a natural shadow of the real thing. It's a form of self-denial, but it's not actually self-denial at all. You're denying yourself something in order to give yourself something. You're denying yourself a smaller blessing, a temporary small blessing in order to get a bigger blessing later on. And that's not self-denial, because there's no real denying self. It's not done for God, it's not done for his glory, and it's not done by grace. It's simply you deciding that you want something different in your life. And there's a religious form of this counterfeit. It's called asceticism. Asceticism is when particular things that are good and proper in and of themselves are denied. And you see this in various religious sects and organizations. For example, in Roman Catholicism you see it, where priests take a vow of celibacy. It's not wrong to get married, In fact, the Bible does encourage it as a good thing. It's not wrong for ministers to get married. The Apostle Paul shows that quite clearly, that there were some of the apostles who were married. And he says, do I not have the right as well? So taking a vow of celibacy is going over and beyond what God's word tells us to do. And yet many priests and in other religions, they do that. in order to live an ascetic life, a life that is denying yourself, or so they say. Or perhaps there are some who take a value of poverty. They're going to live in poverty. Or there can be various things in which people do, such as Lent or Friday fish days and so on. It's an outward look of self-denial, and yet it does not flow from the gospel. Because in all these forms, these asceticism, there's always trying to merit something from God. At the lowest level, it's trying to merit salvation, isn't it? at the base, it's trying to merit from God, God's favor. We know we're not right with God. If I can only do something more, God will be pleased with me. That's the thinking, that's the mindset. And that's the way the Pharisees were in the Bible. If we can only fast more often, if we can only pray more frequently and more loudly, if we can only get people's attention as we put the alms in, well then God will be pleased with us. The Pharisees were the biggest religious hypocrites, but they were not self-denying. That is not self-denial, because they were doing it for themselves and not for God. That's what self-denial is not, but also I should say that self-denial is not something that comes later on in the Christian life. that you first become a Christian, you live as a Christian for a while, and then later on you say, well, I need to deny myself, take up my cross and follow Jesus. It's not what a mature Christian begins to do. Matthew Henry says that self-denial is the first lesson in Christ's school. It's the first lesson. This passage, this verse, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. These are the spiritual ABCs. in Jesus's school. This is what we need to learn, the rudimentary doctrine of his word. So what is self-denial? Well, self-denial is laying aside our selfishness, laying aside our determination to have things our way, and offering up our bodies, as Romans 12 says, as living sacrifices to God, holy and acceptable to him. And why? Because we are not our own. We were bought at a price, therefore glorify God with your bodies. That's what self-denial is. It's the realization we are not our own. Our bodies and our souls don't belong to us. Christ has purchased us and therefore we are his, whatever he wants from us. I have no right over myself, but I am following Jesus. Self-denial lays aside this natural selfishness. And friends, if Jesus Christ has died on the cross, and if he has done that for his people, he laid down his life for us, why would we not want to offer up our lives for him? If he laid down everything for us, why would we not want to offer up everything for him? Not to earn it. Not to merit salvation from him, but as a thank offering out of the love that we have because of what he has done, let us live for him. Not my will, but his will. But why is it that self-denial is so difficult? Well, it's so difficult because by nature, we, before we're converted, and even there are seeds of it after we're converted, where we want to be both the worshipper and God. We want to worship, but we want to worship ourselves. We want to be God of our own life. We are the idol and the idolater, all wrapped up in one. We live in a world that is me first. We live in a selfie world. There's nothing inherently wrong with taking a selfie, a photograph of yourself. But is it not the case that there's too much of that? Is it not the case that we really are absorbed in ourselves? We know it ourselves. What do you do when there's a group photo that you know you're in? What do you do first? You look for yourself. I'm sure we all do it. We all do. We all look for ourselves first because we think about ourselves first. And only after we find ourself and had a good look at ourselves do we then look at everyone else around us. We are absorbed in ourselves. And it's so natural. We find it hard to give up what we think are our rights. Of course, we could live in open sin. That is not self-denial because we're not prepared to deny sin. But even our virtues, we can do them for sinful reasons and for our own glory. So it's a very hard thing to deny ourselves. Let me give you a few suggestions of what we need to deny. And there's no limit to these. There are many words and phrases that begin with self. Self dash what? Self-confidence. Self-confidence in one, depending on how we mean it, can be a good thing. When someone lacks self-confidence, you feel for them. But in many ways, self-confidence is a bad thing. Because self-confidence is depending on ourself. It's confidence that I'm strong enough, or I have intelligence enough, or I'm able to manage this situation by myself. When in fact, we're told we're to cast ourselves upon the Lord. and upon his mercies, we need him. Self-confidence can display self-righteousness. Remember Paul in Philippians chapter three, he's talking about his self-righteous attitude before he was converted. He was the best of the best. He considered himself to be the best example of Judaism. He spoke the right language. He was in the right tribe. He was in the right religious party. The Pharisees, according to the law, being measured against the law, he considered himself to be blameless. That was Paul's level of self-confidence. He was self-righteous, righteous by himself. The same with the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee stands up, and he's confident in the things that he has done. and the reason he's not like these other people. That's a bad form of self-confidence, isn't it? It's self-reliance. My strength, my wisdom, my resources. But all these things are diametrically opposed to what God wants us to be. Think about prayer for a moment. When we come to God in prayer, we are saying, I am not sufficient. I cannot cope. I'm not strong enough. I'm not wise enough. I don't have the resources, but I'm coming to the one who does. That's what prayer is. But a self-reliant spirit shows itself in us when we fail to go in prayer. We face difficulties. We face challenges. And what's the first thing that we do? Well, I think for most of us, is it not the case we struggle to make prayer the first step? It does come in time, but so often we try to cope by ourselves first, and only if we can't cope do we go to prayer. See, this is all a bad form of self-confidence, and it's opposed to self-denial. Or think about self-determination. Another one of these phrases, a hyphenated phrase, We think of countries having the right for self-determination. Scotland, we're often told, should have the right to determine its own future, whether it wants to be in the union or not in the union. But we can have a form of self-determination also. We want to chart our own course. We want to decide for ourselves what we do and what we don't do. And we can cast off God's law and what God has to say. We're thinking about God's providence. We think we want to determine how we'll live our lives. And if God's providence goes against the direction we want to go in, we respond with what? We respond with murmuring, complaining, or maybe that thing that we've said since we were children, it's not fair. Maybe you won't say that, but is that ever how you feel in your heart? about God's providence, the things that God allows to happen in your life, your immediate, instant, natural reaction that comes from the heart is, that's not fair. Why has God let that happen? It's because we're struggling to deny ourselves and our self-determination. Remember Job. Job shows us the example of self-denial in this regard. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job suffered like no one else apart from Christ in the Bible. Job suffered the loss of so many things that were near and dear to him. And yet he says, God has the right to give and take away. And I will do not nothing. I will not murmur. I will not curse God. I will not say it's not fair, but rather I will bless the name of the Lord. Or think about another thing that self-denial calls us to lay aside, self-love. We are lovers of self by nature. We want what we think is best for ourselves. 2 Timothy 3 tells us, know that in the last days perilous times will come for men will be lovers of themselves. Philippians 2 verse 21, for all seek their own their own interests, and not those things which are of Christ Jesus. Think about it. What is the order of our priorities? The correct order is that it's God first, and then it's others next, and lastly, ourselves. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Think of him more highly than yourself. Count other people's interests more significant than yourselves. and then finally think of yourself. That's the order. Love God, love others, and then yourself. But so often we get it the wrong way around, don't we? We put ourselves first, me first, then others, those around us, those who are family members, and only last if there's something left over, God. We need to deny ourself this order. We need to deny ourselves self-love, self-pleasure, gratification, to fill our bellies. How often is it the case that our gods are our bellies? Or the pride of possessions, always wanting more and more, and it to be out of control, without contentment. Command those who are rich in this present age, Paul says, not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God. who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good that they may be rich in good works, willing to give, ready to give and willing to share. How hard it is to do those things, to give, to share, to be hospitable. How much we'd rather amass wealth for ourselves, more possessions because we feel more confident when we have more stuff. Or we have a greater pride in ourselves when we have more possessions. You see, it's so easy, isn't it, to be lovers of self, to want more for ourselves. It's very hard to give sacrificially. Or think about your time and your energy. Think about what you devote yourself to. So often it's me first, rather than others first, or particularly God first. Think about laziness, how laziness is a habit that shows that we're not denying ourself. We're lazy in spiritual duties, lazy to go to God in prayer, lazy to come to church. Although we know that it's what God wants us to do, although we know it's what's in our spiritual best interests, yet we're lazy. The physical part of us doesn't want to go. We live in a materialistic culture full of self-indulgence. Think about the adverts that are on TV. Are they not encouraging constantly this attitude that you are the center of the universe? They want you to have something that you're lacking. They want you to buy that thing that you don't have and you will not be satisfied and you will not be complete until you've got this one thing. And so everything around us is showing us that we are at the center of the universe. Self-denial must lay aside this self-love. Whatever it is, however we love ourselves, whether it's self-care, whether it's seeking pleasure, whether it's the pride of possessions, or our time and energy, whatever it is, the self-indulgence must be put aside. And of course we know that there are some things that must be put to death immediately. Things that are wicked. things that are evil. And we're to battle against these things. Jesus says, if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. That's the form of self-denial he's talking about. Where there is sin, we are to cut it off. But there are other things that are not in themselves sinful, things that are lawful, things that can be enjoyed, and yet they can consume us because they get out of control. Paul says, all things are lawful for me. But not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. I won't be controlled by anything. I won't be in bondage. So something like money can be a good gift when it's used rightly, but it can control. People can be bind. Have you ever seen someone who is more bind than in the pursuit of money? It absolutely consumes them. The way they live their life, Maybe they're a workaholic, and in one sense that looks like a good work ethic, but in reality they're a slave to wealth. The Lord Jesus Christ shows us how to be free, and all things may be lawful, but we ought not to be under the power of anything. Self-denial means putting aside self first, putting aside selfishness, putting aside us being at the center of the universe. And that involves cutting off sin, and it involves also controlling ourselves, lest we pursue something too much, something lawful, and yet it can consume us. J.C. Ryle said this, it costs something to be a true Christian. To be a mere nominal Christian, to go to church, is cheap and easy work. But to hear Christ's voice, to follow Christ, to believe in Christ, to confess Christ, requires much self-denial. And it's so true. To be someone that just comes into this building and sits on the seat is an easy thing to do, relatively speaking. But to be a true Christian, to follow Christ, involves much self-denial. And yet as we'll think more this evening, consider how much Christ has done for us. He who was rich for our sakes became poor. And I think for many of you here, there is that sense, whatever Christ demands of you, you will willingly give it to him because he has given his all for you. But not only do we have self-denial in this verse, we also have crossbearing. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross. We know what a cross is. We see it on the pages of our Bible, where Jesus himself was nailed to a cross and experienced the most excruciating pain. The cross was a place of shame. Jesus endured the cross, despising its shame. He did it in order to atone for the sins of his people. When Jesus calls us here, to take up our cross, he is not saying that we are to provide the way of our own salvation. He's not saying we provide atonement for ourself. Yes, in many places, indeed most of the places in the Bible, the word cross stands as a symbol for atonement, for the sacrifice, for the way of salvation. But here what is being emphasized is the fact that as Christians, there are things that we need to endure, things that are hard, things that are difficult. The world will hate us because they hated Christ. The cross, that which we are to bear, that which we are to carry as Christians is the reproach of Christ. That we're to suffer for righteousness sake. and that this idea is connected to the idea of dying. As we deny ourself, self is to die, that long, excruciating, agonizing death. It's not me first, but it's taking up the reproach of Christ and being willing to suffer for him. The criminal in the ancient world carried his own cross, as we saw Jesus do. He had a public walk to the execution site in which everyone watching him saw that he was a man condemned to death. And they could laugh at him, they could jeer at him, they could slander him. And so it is for us who are following after Jesus, we are bearing the reproach of Christ on our shoulders. And many will laugh at us and jeer at us and slander us because they hate Christ. Are you prepared to suffer for Jesus? Are you prepared to suffer for the sake of the one who suffered on the cross for you? I want us to notice here that the idea of taking up your cross, everyone has their own cross to bear, that's true. Everyone has their own set of circumstances, but illnesses are not crosses. Things that happen to anyone in the world, whether Christian or non-Christian, are not crosses. This is particularly the suffering that you face because you are a Christian. Yes, illnesses, the Bible has plenty to say about that. It has plenty to say about those circumstances and how we're to live as a Christian in those things. But the idea here of the cross that you take up is the reproach of Christ. That's what it is. You see, 1 Peter 4 talks about suffering as a murderer, or as a thief, or an evildoer, or as a busybody, all those things. But yet when we suffer as a Christian, we don't need to be ashamed. And there's a part of us, isn't there, which wants to preserve ourselves. Self-preservation is another one of those self phrases. But if we're denying ourself, we are prepared to suffer whatever Christ has for us. Think of our Covenanter forefathers. They were prepared to go to the scaffold. They were prepared to be shot on the spot. That was their cross to bear, to live for Christ in their day. What will we face? We may face mockery. We may face discrimination. For some of you, in your job, When you choose not to work on the Sabbath day, because that's what God says for you not to work on the Sabbath day, you may face discrimination for that. You may not get a promotion because of that. You may be in the boss's bad books for things like that. You may take a stand and you may suffer some form of discrimination because of it. And all the while, people may be laughing at you for taking so seriously the faith in the school, In the workplace, this is what happens for those who want to follow Jesus, denying themselves, taking up their cross, they can be ridiculed and undergo hardship. Not many of us here will face the form of persecution that the Covenanters faced, unless things dramatically change. But are we prepared to suffer the mild forms of persecution that come in this world? We may not suffer much, but of course it's true that we may not suffer much because we're not standing for much. That's a very real possibility. If we're not standing up for the faith, if we're not standing up for Christ in the workplace or in the school, we may not suffer much. There's that inbuilt, inbuilt defense system in us, isn't there? To try to avoid confrontation. I know that if I say this at this time, they will think badly of me, or they will say something against me, they'll argue with me, or they'll laugh at me. And so we be quiet, we retreat. How often do we feel the necessity of retreating and saying nothing? And yet if we stand up for something, well then we'll be bearing a cross, because then people will deal with us. They'll laugh at us, mock us, and hurt us. It's suffering for the sake of Christ. Remember Moses. By faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward. We'll come on more to look to that reward later on this evening. But think of that, the reproach of Christ, suffering for Christ, the badge of Christ, he considered that a greater reward than anything Egypt had to offer. Egypt was the world's superpower in that day. Egypt was a place of gold and silver and horses and chariots and food in abundance. And Moses turned his back on all of that in order to bear the reproach of Christ, to take up his cross and to follow Jesus. If we had time, we would look at Luke chapter nine, and we would see this exact same scenario, this exact set of teaching, that Jesus teaches there, but Luke records one word of difference because he records the word daily. Deny yourself and take up your cross daily and follow Jesus. This is something that we don't just do one-off. We don't just do it at the start. It's something that we do daily. Every day we're to take up our cross and be prepared to suffer for Christ. Every day, this is the way We are to live. Friends, this verse has a lot in it. But this verse maybe seems to us as not the way to make disciples. This verse seems to us as not the way to get people flocking in the doors. And in one sense, that's right. If we wanted to fill the church, we would come up with some nicer doctrines, some nicer ideas that would make people feel happier. In fact, I think if you were to go to other churches in this town, not every church, but some churches in this town, you would get the doctrine of self. Sermons that preach about self-confidence, self-determination. Sermons that encourage a selfie attitude. But although that may, at times, bring people in, the way Jesus made disciples was, in fact, trying to put people off. In a sense, if you want to follow me, if you want to be with me, well begin denying yourself. Then take up a cross, the instrument of execution, the reproach of Christ, and then and only then follow me. It is the start of the Christian life. It doesn't seem the way to make disciples. The world does not want self-denial. The world does not want hardship. It does not want to bear a cross. And yet, if Christ laid down everything for us, how can we deny him what he wants? Do you want to follow Jesus? Well, then deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow him. He'll give you the grace to do it. He won't demand anything from you that he will not first give you the grace in order to yield it to him. And we'll think more this evening about that why. Amen, let's pray.