If you would open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 16, I'd like to read to us verses 21 through 28 tonight. Matthew 16, 21 through 28. This is the Lord's Word. 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. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, God forbid it, Lord, this shall never happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan, you are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's. And 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? What will a man give in exchange for his soul? 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. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. This is the Lord's word. If you'll bow with me, friends, we'll ask the Lord for his help. Again, Lord, we thank you for this evening, and we thank you for the privilege it is for us to gather to sing your praises and to be reminded again of who you are and the call to discipleship. We pray that you would give wisdom to us. We pray, Lord, that you would be present with us by your spirit, that you will help both this servant and these, your people who are gathered in this place and over the internet. We ask, Father, that you would give your anointing, the anointing of your spirit, to give us hearts that are tender and soft, spirits that are tender to you, that are willing to listen and to examine ourselves. Father, what a great evil it would be if on that final day we found out and you said, depart from me, I never knew you. So Father, we ask that you would please work in our hearts to reform us and to cause us to repent and to be a people who indeed are disciples of the Lord Jesus. You ask all of this now in his name. Amen. Would you be a disciple or a follower of Jesus Christ? According to a 2019 census, I suppose there are nearly 141 million Protestants Christians, people identifying as Protestant Christians in the United States. But based on what we see in the church and what we see in individual lives, that number surely cannot be. After all, a tree is known by its fruit. And so we ought to only look at the condition of the church. I saw some crazy meme regarding the Christians in Afghanistan. And it went something like this. we are going to go and worship even if it should kill us. And it said that was an Afghani Christian. And then underneath it said, the American church says, we're going to go and worship unless there's a picnic, a ball game, or something more important that I have to do. It's kind of funny, but not so much. But this is the American church, the American Protestant church. Now, we're not talking about Roman Catholics. We're talking about Protestants. And we see this kind of attitude where people identify as being a Christian. But I question that because if we have that many Christians, nearly 50%, how do we explain our culture? How do we explain what's going on? We see people who will claim to be Christ, but they ignore the voice of the Lord. They care little about his holiness, who endorse godless doctrines and practices, and who neglect his worship, who cherish the things of the world, but hold the things of God with contempt. In fact, you try to talk to somebody about the things of the Lord, and they look at you with disdain. Like, what are you, a legalist? Some nut? What are you trying to push on me? So we find this in the Lord's church. In the early church, they washed the feet of the saints. They showed hospitality to strangers, even, gave without expecting a return, accepted the seizure of their property with joy, stood for truth, even to their own harm, gave in their lack, visited those in prison, went out for the sake of the call, many of whom never came home again. And they would even come to church after they were exhausted in the evenings, and they would try to stay awake while Paul preached long. But they would go because it was that important. We could say of these, as the writer of Hebrews says, men of whom the world was not worthy. My question is, what's happened? Whatever happened to discipleship, to following Jesus Christ? After all, that's what a disciple is. It's a student. It's a follower of who Jesus Christ is. I suspect it has something to do with the vast majority of the messages that have been preached in recent decades, the whole idea of the cheap grace. Graces like candy that we see thrown out at the Fourth of July parade here in Lander. They stand on those floats, right? And they drive by you, and then they pelt you with candy. It's just thrown there. You do nothing. It costs you nothing. It makes no demands of you. We have focused in churches on conversion experiences, the prayer, the sign the line, walk the aisle. You're in, and it doesn't matter that you live in sin or walk in darkness. We accept everyone. And aren't we glad that they have a checkbook because boy, that sure helps matters. So we have the church full of the mindset that they are saved, but they are people who live in sin and they have no heart for the Lord or the things that he loves. Could that really be called or considered a disciple? And yet I think our churches may be full of this. They have no heart for the Lord or the things that he loves. And they never questioned whether or not they have or ever really have been born again. And on the day of judgment, there will be many, I fear, surprised and sorry people who will stand before the Lord. And as we were praying, depart from me, I never knew you. And that is a scary verse. Worldliness is in the church, and it has hurt her witness and the Lord's work in this world. Because a non-demanding gospel was preached, and this is what the church is full of, people who want salvation without the Savior making any demands upon them. But this Christianity is really no Christianity at all, and it's not. I mean, it's true, we are saved by the grace of God alone through the merits of Christ alone. But saved unto what? so that we can indulge our flesh. You know how many times this reformed pastor has run into this mindset in reformed churches? People saying things like, it doesn't matter now, we're saved by Jesus, so you can live how you want. In what century was that considered orthodoxy? That's never been considered orthodoxy. That's a misunderstanding of the purpose of the gospel of grace. It's a misunderstanding of salvation. My friends, we have been bought for a purpose. These verses here that we're going to open up tonight are just the opposite, teach us just the opposite of what many of us have heard and the message that is in many corners of the church. They teach us just the opposite. They teach us true happiness. Only true happiness comes to those who deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Jesus Christ. It's a different message than what is heard in many churches. And I do wonder sometimes if we, maybe we've come to think of discipleship and following Jesus Christ as something that costs me nothing. And if it costs you nothing, then you've got to wonder if you've really understood the gospel to begin with at all. Listen to verse 24, and we'll be in 24 through 27 tonight. 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. True discipleship makes demands of us. Being a follower of Jesus Christ, it puts demands upon us. To look here at verses 21 through 23, Jesus has just informed his disciples that the Messiah must suffer. This suffering was to go to Jerusalem to suffer many things from the religious leaders of the day, to be killed, to be beaten, spit upon, and crucified, and raise the third day. This was not the idea that the folks had concerning the Messiah. Just notice Peter's words. Why does he say, God forbid it, Lord. Peter has the audacity to rebuke the Lord. He rebukes him. God forbid it, Lord, that this shall never happen to you. What is Peter thinking? Jesus has just said, I'm going to Jerusalem. I'm going to be crucified. I'm going to die there. Oh, no, you're not. Sorry, Lord, you've misunderstood your mission. That's not why you're here. And what does Jesus say to him? Get behind me, Satan. And then listen to what Jesus says. You're a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on God's interests. but man's. You're setting your mind on man's interests. This was the idea that folks had concerning the Messiah. The Messiah surely is not going to suffer this way. And yet Jesus points out that this is precisely the purpose of the Messiah. He has come and must suffer in order to deliver the church out from under the wrath and tyranny, the tyranny of Satan out from underneath the wrath and curse of God. by giving himself as an atoning sacrifice. His purpose was to come and fulfill God's interests. God had a plan to redeem his people. Christ was the one to fulfill this calling. And we're told, he made himself who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. In 2 Corinthians 8, 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich. The temptation for these early disciples, and for us, I believe, is to believe that Jesus Christ has come into this world to secure for the disciples a worldly happiness, that Christ has come without reference to sin, that he has come to be a political redeemer, to feed the masses, and to perform mass healings. And in many ways, we think of Jesus just this way. We think of Jesus this way. They neither understood their true need, nor did they understand Jesus's true mission. So many indeed approach Jesus Christ in this very way. We looked at the last few weeks, we've been looking at Simon the magician, and what was his issue? I want Jesus. I want baptism. This is a great bandwagon. This is going to serve me really well. That's not why Jesus Christ came. And yet in our churches today, this is why people come to Jesus. I'm having problems with my kid. I better get some religion so that I can straighten this kid out so that I'm not going to have problems. I'm having problems at work. What I need is some holy water sprinkled upon me so that God can make my business a success and it can grow. I'm looking to Jesus to bless my socks off so that I have a great life now. And it's these sorts of things. We've marketed Jesus. We sell Jesus. And this is why people come. to Jesus, come to church, or not. Right? They come for any number of reasons. Jesus becomes the Christian genie. And he has come to bring prosperity to my endeavors. And we don't see him or come to him in reference to our sin. And we don't view our lives in reference to him. Jesus The Christ, the son of the living God, must suffer for the sins of his people. Before glory comes across and before praise, there comes pain. Now, if they misunderstood the Messiah's mission, would they not also have misunderstood what it meant to be a disciple of his? I think they did. Well, follow Jesus, what? Are you kidding me? You see the miracles he does? You see the food he provides? And nobody can stand up to this man's logic. He's brilliant. Of course I'm gonna follow Jesus. But friends, is a slave greater than his master? You know the answer to that. A slave is not greater than his master. Will the head of the church wear a crown of thorns while the body sits on the throne of ease? Therefore, Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Would you be a disciple of Jesus Christ? That's the question. Have you taken this upon yourself? Do you desire to be his follower and to come after him? If that is you, then you must know this. Following Jesus. Is not without pain. Following Jesus makes demands upon our life. It does. It makes demands upon our lives. Jesus said in Luke 14 to the crowds that were following him there. Calculate the cost of following me. Consider the cost of what it means to follow me. The gospel is free, but it will cost us everything. The gospel is free, but it costs us everything. Steve Camp sang about that. I appreciated that song very much. The demands of discipleship, you must deny yourself. Many suppose that they can follow Jesus Christ without actually following him. It is the natural inclination of hearts to esteem the self. We see it in babies and in adults as well, from cradle to grave. A baby can have all his needs met. He's fed. His diaper's changed. There is nothing apparent that is wrong. And yet, nonetheless, he may pitch a fit. Why? Because mom and dad have not yet learned that the agenda here is that I rule this house. That's what a child does. But you see, there's a child who doesn't think better about expressing those things. They're without guile. They're just like, look, what's the debate about? I'm here. I rule. And you spend the rest of your life driving that out of them, saying, no, God is the one who's at the center of this life. This is the way of the unconverted person. They're self-absorbed, self-serving, with no regard for others as primary concern. Everything, even his good deeds, work to promote and advance his own ends. I'll praise and scratch your back if you do likewise for me." And so love becomes a very twisted thing. You see, I love you for what I can get out of you. And that's why I love you. That's how this thing worked. We saw this this morning, right? Isn't this a hazardous? I love this woman. Why? Because she did something for me, right? It's a twisted sort of love. And even even there, God's plan is not thwarted. One cannot be a follower of Christ and be a slave to self. Jesus said that the disciple must deny himself. to deny, to disown, to repudiate, to say no to your sinful flesh. An example of denial, obviously, is Peter. Peter was accused three times of knowing the Lord, and three times he denied knowing him, either by what was spoken of or even knowing Jesus. He did not act as if he had any, or rather, he acted as if he had no knowledge of Christ or that he had any care for him. To deny oneself is to pay it no heed, to pay the self no heed. When our flesh and our natural inclinations kick in to preserve or to promote ourselves, to seek our own ends, we answer to it, I do not know you. I do not care that this is what you want. You have no voice with me. Remember Joseph, after Potiphar's wife went after him, he denied himself. He says, no, how could I do this thing in my master's house? How could I do this thing? Because of God. And he would deny his flesh and say, it will have nothing to do with this, because that's not what a follower of Christ would do. Yet many never deny themselves, because they think Jesus has come to bless their natural desires. Discipleship is a demanding thing. But it is also so much more than this, even, because many think that they have denied themselves because they wear a martyr's robe. And that is that they deny themselves fun or worldly pleasures or enjoyment of a legitimate kind. They will not laugh or spend. They have an ascetic lifestyle. Some of my favorite history lessons were on the pillar saints, if you've ever heard of them. They were the saints who, they're going to ultimately die to their own flesh. The pillar saints were those who sat atop poles for the purpose of dying to their own flesh. Simon Stylitis, the elder, he sat on top of a pole for 37 years. Is that what it means to deny yourself? Well, find a pole. There's a nice one in the parking lot out here. I hope I don't find anyone sitting on it next Sunday. That'd be terribly awkward. Good advertisement for the church. So we find many Christians who aren't involved in the world, but they're also not engaged in love. You see, I can deny myself bodily needs. But is that what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? It's not. I can beat myself. Does that make me a disciple of Jesus Christ? It does not. That's twisted. Being a follower of Christ entails more than saying no to yourself. but entails also saying, yes, you must take up your cross as Jesus and follow him. The cross was the Roman way of capital punishment. The cross was the ultimate way of denying oneself. Those to die upon it would have to carry it. Remember what Jesus said, greater love has no one than this that one lay down his life for his friends. Jesus took up the cross for you. Would you be a follower of his? Then you must take up the cross and walk in his steps. Listen again to what Peter says in chapter two of his first epistle. For you have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps, who committed no sin nor was any deceit found in his mouth. And while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. And he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by his wounds you were healed. He has called us to suffer on his behalf. In Matthew 5, he says, blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Because of my union with Jesus Christ, I will deny myself my natural fleshly inclinations, and I will take up my cross. And because of Jesus Christ, the suffering servant, and his love for me, I will not promote my glory any longer, but will look toward the glory of Christ alone. I will not demand my own rights. but I will set aside my rights for the sake of my neighbor, as Paul instructs in 1 Corinthians 8. I will not demand others serve me, but instead I will wash their feet, John 13. I will not seek my comfort and ease, but will look to ease and comfort others. We see this in Acts 5 in Hebrews 13. As a husband, I will lay my life down for my wife, ensuring as far as I can her welfare and of that of all my children. And as a wife, you will not live for yourself, but you will look well to the way of your household, and you will do good and not evil to your husband all the days of your life. If you're in authority, you use that authority to bless those who are underneath you. And if you're under someone's authority, you seek to bless You seek to bless those in authority over you. You see how this works? You see what denying myself of taking up my cross, what this looks like? It's not just a, hey, I'm going to heaven. Now give me and serve me and wash me and look out for me. It's not that kind of way. You understand that if the church, if the church took this attitude that I am to take up my cross and follow Jesus Christ, do you know how different the church would look in the United States of America? We don't look that way. because we have a Savior who has come to bless our dreams and not a Savior who has come to call us to take up a cross and follow him. This is a follower of Jesus Christ. He denies and carries a cross. He loses his life in order to love his Savior by how he loves others. Beloved, would you be a follower of Jesus Christ? You are no longer your own. If you maintain your own way, You will not deny yourself and take up your cross, and you cannot be called a true disciple of Jesus Christ. And by the world's standards, this seems to be insanity, what we're saying. You only can go through life once. This is the prevailing mindset. So you better get all you can and put yourself forward. Remember the old advertising from the 70s, go for the gusto? That's the attitude. Go for the gusto. Go for the life now. Don't worry about anyone else. Put yourself forward. Even now in the church, Jesus's message sounds crazy because you can have your best life now, and Christianity is about making a better and more happy you. So many profess Jesus as Savior. So few know Jesus, which is evidenced by the lack of love and concern and pain, the lack of stepping up to the plate. But my friends, don't be deceived. It is not the one who seeks to preserve his life who keeps it. It is he who loves his life, loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal, said John in John 12. Understand there is a paradoxical nature to true discipleship. It sounds to the ear of flesh like Jesus is calling folks to self-destruction, when actually It is the opposite that he is calling you to. He is calling you to life, the true life. Listen to verses 25 and 26. 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? What will a man give in exchange for his soul? Discipleship is a paradoxical thing. There are those, after hearing that discipleship is demanding, decide, no thank you. That's not for me. I rather like life, and I don't want to upset the delicate balance I have achieved. I'm living now. Following Christ is a death sentence. I've got my career, my friends, my hobbies, my diversified portfolio. No thanks. We're good. Everything's copacetic. And you suppose in your heart, that the American dream, health, wealth, and prosperity is as good as it gets, and that this is our greatest good, our highest calling, and you live for these things thinking that you are living now. That's the great American deception, right? The great American deception is that if I live the American dream, then actually I've obtained life. Not necessarily so, is it? Don't be deceived by this. Jesus says, 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? This world and everything in it is temporal. The ease, the comfort, popularity, prestige, the goods, the opulence, all of it, it is temporal. And people chase after these things to the detriment of their own souls. And they want these things because in them they believe that they will find life. But in the end, they die. Period they die and all their goods all their popularity all the comfort they fought for now in this life They will lose it and they will end up standing before the Lord at judgment naked and ashamed As a psalmist says in Psalm 37 that he passes away and we sought for him, but he could not be found Cain sought for the good life didn't he and he murdered his brother and Pharaoh sought for the good life, and he hardened his heart against the Lord while he persecuted the Israelites. Ahab and Jezebel, I just need that one vineyard. I just need that. He sought for the good life, and they murdered an innocent man. And on top of that, they murdered all those prophets. Was it the good life that they obtained? Haman would seek for the good life, and he would seek for the genocide of the Jews. King Herod sought the good life by killing all the babies who might threaten his throne. Judah, or Judas rather, sought the good life and exchanged a few measly pieces of silver for the life of the Savior. And what did it bring them? It brought them death, eternal damnation. They sought to keep their lives, promote and secure for themselves a livelihood. But did it work for them? It didn't. This is the paradox. It doesn't seem that it should work this way, but this is what Jesus says. Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. In discipleship, this old-fashioned message of denying yourself and take up your cross and follow Jesus, this is where the individual finds life. This is where we find life. And it's not by doing our own thing. which the world promotes. I have to be true to myself, which is code for, thank you very much, but I'll do what I want. That's just gibberish. I have to be true to myself. That's gibberish. It means nothing except, I'm just going to do what I want, thanks. Jesus says that whoever loses his life for his sake will find it. If because of your service to Jesus you are ostracized, blackballed, persecuted, suffer financially, suffer injury to yourself out of obedience or love for Jesus, you will find life. Discipleship is hard, but contrary to what this world teaches or believes, that is the person who will find and secure life. Consider those who have gone before us. I gave you a list of people who lost life, who thought grabbing hold of it, they'd secure it, but they didn't. Think of Abraham, 75 years old. who leaves his homeland to obey the Lord. He find life? Yes, he found abundant life. Abraham, I'm your great reward, says the Lord to him. Noah, who built an ark out of wood, who would suffer persecution, did he find life? Oh, yeah. He and seven others in that ark found life. Moses, who experienced the wilderness and grief and heartache. Did he find life? He did. David. Did David find life serving the Lord? He most certainly did. What about the exiles, Daniel and his friends? Did they find life? How about Ruth or Abigail or Mary who says, let it be done to me? Did they find life? What about all those saints in Hebrews 11? sawn in half, living in caves and suffering persecution for following Jesus Christ. Always seeing the promise of God at a distance and never receiving it during their lifetime. And yet, did they receive it? They did eventually, didn't they? They found life. Look at their lives. Think about it. Think about the things the Lord called them to. They were going exactly opposite of what the world I think of Moses all the time. I think of Moses, who would rather endure persecution for Christ than the passing pleasures of sin. This man was a prince of Egypt. He had money dripping through his fingertips. He had probably women. He could have had it all. And he says, no. I'd rather have Jesus than all of that. They found life. But it wasn't in the way of this world. They were like merchants seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, they went and sold all that they had, and they bought it. Those who follow Jesus Christ, though hardships now, there is life to come. And to this end, Jesus speaks to encourage his disciples, saying, in verse 27, 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 Son of Man is going to return. Here the suffering servant, this lowly Messiah, will come back in glory. We have here the second coming of Christ. Again, not a secret rapture of which Daniel 7 in Jude and Enoch in the book of Jude is referenced. Paul and Peter, our Lord himself, all refer to this, his first coming, He came in humility relative to sin and sacrifice. His second coming, however, he comes in an exalted and glorious fashion, triumphant relative to the judgment of the wicked and the redemption of the righteous. He will come, and he will reward us. He will come and repay. those who have followed him in this life. He will repay every man and will then repay every man according to his deeds. We're gonna stop here for now, but next week we will pick up on this idea of the second coming of the Lord. If you would, please turn with me over to Revelation. I'd like to close by reading chapter 20, verses 11 through 15. This is what we look forward to. Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Friends, the Lord calls us to be disciples. And he says a day will come when he will deal out these things. The challenge to us is to examine ourselves, to question ourselves. Are we a disciple of Jesus Christ? Have I denied myself? Have I taken up the cross and have I followed? Do I put myself out? Do I demonstrate the love of Christ for those around me? Do I ever importune or I'm not sure that's the right word. Do I ever make things difficult? Do I go out of my way to minister to other people, to put my life down so that others might find life? These are the things the Lord calls us to, but you see our eyes then are on a very different thing. We're not looking and defining our reality by what the world says is life. Rather, we're defining our reality by what Jesus Christ said is life, and that is to follow him and to take up your cross. Let's pray. We thank you, Lord, again for this night, and we thank you for this message from your word. And we pray, oh Lord, that we would not be those who are duped into thinking that life is found by pursuing the American dream. I do ask, Father, that you would be with us to help us and that you would work in our hearts that we would meditate upon this word and ask ourselves, am I a disciple? Am I a follower? Would I expect Jesus to wear a crown of thorns while I sit on a bed of ease? We ask, oh Lord, that you would cause us to gratefully serve you, to gratefully lay our lives down and know, Lord, that you haven't come to bless our flesh. but you have come to bless us with life, true life, by dealing with our sin. Lord, work in us, we pray your will. And we ask that you would help us as a congregation, as individuals, as servants of yours, to walk in a way that is pleasing to you. I ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.