M16: DENY SELF
MATTHEW 16:24-28
#m16sermons
INTRODUCTION
For the past few weeks, we have been digging into Matthew 16:
In 16:1-4, we saw that the proof of Who Jesus is comes by His death, burial, and resurrection.
In 16:5-12, Jesus taught us to check our heart to make sure we don’t have infectious hypocrisy.
In 16:13-20, we talked about Peter’s confession: “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
In 16:21-23, we see that Jesus predicted His death, but Peter argued with this and did not submit that this should happen to Jesus and caused problems.
Now we are at the end of this particular chapter, and we will dig into 16:24-28 which in my opinion is a continuation of the thought from last week. Last week we talked about how in a relationship with God, God does all of the initiating and acting and causing and it is not for us to have an “equal and opposite reaction” to anything that He does. We cannot and should not want to react to God with our own action or our own will. Peter did that and he was a stumbling block for Jesus and tried to dissuade Jesus from accepting that He would die. Our response to what God does and wills should be…
… submission and change.
… obedience and humbleness.
… following and not putting our will above God’s will.
The passage we are about to read digs deeper into what it means to be submissive to God and humble in the Word and obedient to the Spirit. Let’s read from the end of Matthew 16:
READ MATTHEW 16:24-28 (ESV)
“Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”’
TRANSITION / THE PASSAGE OVERALL
As I read the passage, several important phrases and parts of the verses come right to the forefront and as I was reading and praying about what to share.
Verse 24 has the key phrase: “
Verse 25 has the key thought: “whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Verse 26 asks the great question: “what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
Verse 27 has the reminder: “He will repay each person according to what he has done.”
Verse 28 looks forward to what is about to happen at the Transfiguration in chapter 17.
I could not help it, probably because I see the connection with the previous section, that we focus this morning on verse 24 which has the key phrase: “let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”
KEY WORDS: DENY SELF
The first and very deep concept that Jesus shows us in this verse is that following Him means we deny ourselves: “deny self.” It means we disown ourselves. That doesn’t even sound like it is possible. It also does not sound like fun. Here’s the absolute truth: We often get in the way of our life with God. Our “selves” are what lead us to trouble and hardship and mistakes and life being harder than it needs to be.
The Apostle Paul describes it this way in Romans 7:
READ ROMANS 7:15-21 (ESV)
“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.”
Did you catch what Paul is saying? Our “self” confounds us and we act in ways that we hate. Left to ourselves we end up going and doing and saying wrongly. Our default actions and desires fight against what is right and good and godly and moral on a regular basis. Sin dwells in us. Rebelliousness dwells in us. Nothing good dwells in us and even when we do good… temptation and sin and evil is right around the corner ready to slap us in the head.
The Apostle Paul describes it this way in Galatians 5:
READ GALATIANS 5:16-24 (ESV)
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Did you catch what Paul is saying? There are two ways of living life. One way is a way according to “the flesh” or “the self.” This way of living centers on what feels good, what is addictive, what is easy, what is harmful, in what our society and culture approves, and what chains our souls to something ultimately horrific. One way is a way according “to the Spirit.” This way of living centers on following God’s will to what is good and loving and consistent, and in what God approves, and what binds our souls to something ultimately holy.
Jesus Christ shares with us in Matthew 16:24 that in order to follow God as a believer and to follow and pattern our lives after Him as a disciple and to keep in step with the Holy Spirit… we must deny ourselves. That means we…
… acquiesce to God’s plan
… bow to God Almighty
… capitulate self to Him
… give deference to the Divine
… have humbleness in heart to the Holy
… make ourselves malleable to the Maker
… offer obedience to Jesus Christ
… push away our default heart
… prostrate to God All-Powerful
… resign to do God’s Will
… serve the Ultimate Servant
… surrender to the Savior
… yield to our Father in Heaven
Jesus shares with us that we must deny ourselves. To be honest, that is something you are going to have to decide if you are going to do yourself. No one can make you deny yourself and follow Jesus Christ. No one can force you to be a Christian. Being a follower of Jesus is the most important decision anyone ever makes and it involves denying self. It involves choosing a path of life within the bounds that God sets forth in the Bible, paid for by Jesus Christ, and fueled by the Holy Spirit.
TRANSITION
Jesus does not just stop there, but He gives us a word picture about what “denying self” looks like. He uses an example that shocked His disciples and probably made them uncomfortable. He uses an example that shows that He had crucifixion on His mind. In further describing “deny self,” Jesus says to “take up his cross.”
TAKE UP THE CROSS
RE-READ MATTHEW 16:24 (ESV)
“Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
The very deep concept that Jesus shows us in this verse is that following Him means we deny ourselves and disown ourselves which looks like carrying a heavy cross. A wooden cross was used by the Romans and other civilizations as a form of torturous death for the worst of the worst. A person was staked to beams of wood and suspended in the air to bleed out and to suffocate. It is the worst way to die. Literally our word “excruciating” comes from the same root as “crucifixion.” Crucifixion was a common way for the occupying Roman authority to strike fear into the hearts of the people and to give out severe punishment.
To “take the cross” meant that the person who was being executed would drag the heavy horizontal beam out from the prison area to the public site of the execution. Usually people gathered to make fun of the criminals and throw rocks.
What does this mean? This means denying self means the death of self. This means denying self is a hard-arduous process and is difficult and often painful. Our big ol sinful self is going to fight back against our small ol desire to be godly. Denying self is an ordeal. In Jesus’ day, a cross wasn’t just a symbol of pain and suffering; it was mainly a symbol of death. A cross meant death and to be sentenced to the cross meant certain death. Jesus meant something far deeper than this when He told His disciples to carry their cross. Jesus Christ tells those of us who would follow Him that we need to put to death our own plans and desires and then turn our lives over to Him and do His will every day. We follow Him. Decisions daily. Submit consistently. A lifestyle of obedience.
Jesus doesn’t simply call us to believe that He existed or even to believe that He can save us, but He calls on us to commit our whole lives to Him—to trust Him alone for our salvation, and then to follow Him as His disciples.
The Bible is full of the history of people who give up themselves and live for God. These people set aside what they want and they obey what God wants. Many passages of Scripture detail the lives who lose their lives in God and end up finding great promises and bountiful blessings:
* Noah obeyed God’s Will and built the ark for 120 years thereby saving his family (and the human race) from the flood.
* Abraham obeyed God’s call and left his home and family for God thereby entering into a covenant with God where not only was he blessed, but all nations were blessed through him.
* Moses gave up his home and shepherding ways for God to lead the People of Israel out of slavery and into freedom and set a whole nation on a pathway towards God.
* Gideon set aside the expectations of his family and followed God and led the People of Israel in faithfulness towards God.
* Ruth left her home, family, and country to love her mother-in-law and follow God and in doing so found love and a home of her own. Ruth followed her faith which restored her family.
* Hannah prayed and prayed and left her desires in God’s hands and in so doing dedicated her son Samuel who was a mighty prophet before God and His people.
* Elijah left safety and security behind and faced off against 850 false prophets all by himself and in so doing was able to bring revival to the people of God. His obedience brought faithfulness.
* Nehemiah left his position with the king and a life of safety to go home to constant attack and to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem which God laid on his heart. He helped to provide a safe place for the people of God.
* Esther exposed her very life to defend her people, exposed corruption in the government, and saved her whole nation in obedience to God.
* Daniel obeyed the dietary laws of God and committed himself to obey God in a totally anti-God culture and in so doing was blessed physically and in his work.
And those are just some of the examples from the Old Testament. There are other examples in the Old Testament and countless examples in the New Testament. There are even examples in history of people who are believers in Jesus Christ who lose their lives in God only to find faith, strength, and the ability to overcome.
TRANSITION
Perhaps an illustration will help bring some of these thoughts together.
ILLUSTRATION… jesussite.com/take-up-your-cross/ [adapted]
There once was a man who was carrying a cross. He was lugging it along in life just like everyone else. Everyone around him were believers in Jesus Christ and they were lugging their cross along. It was not easy. The end of the cross just drug and dug in the dirt. His arms hurt. His shoulder hurt. His back hurt. His legs hurt. Every day he took up his cross and carried it. Drag. Drag. Drag.
One day, the man put down his cross and looked up to heaven. He said to God, “Lord, this cross is way too heavy. Please cut it down a little. If you cut it down a little, it will be easier to carry.” God did not say anything. The man decided to grab a saw and cut off some of the end of the cross. The cross would no longer drag in the dirt. It was much easier to carry and was a little lighter. The cross was still not super easy to carry because the end of the cross now kind of wagged in the air behind him. Every step he took the end of the cross would move up and down. Every day he took up his cross and carried it. Wag. Wag. Wag.
Another day, the man put down his cross and looked up to heaven. He said to God, “Lord, this cross is too heavy. Please cut it down a little. If you cut it down a little, it will be easier for me to carry.” God did not say anything. The man decided to grab a saw and cut even more off the end of the cross. The cross would no longer drag in the dirt or wag in the air, but was quite easy to carry. His arms did not hurt. His shoulder did not hurt. His back did not hurt. His legs did not hurt. Everyone around him was dragging their cross, but not him. It was easy. No drag. No wag. He often looked up to Heaven and said, “Thank you Lord.”
The day came when everyone who was marching ahead of him started to bunch up. There was a huge obstacle in their way. Before them all was a huge trench in the ground. It stretched as far as he could see on either side and was so deep he could not see the bottom. Others ahead of him were laying down their cross over the trench, crossing over on the cross, and continuing on their journey.
The cross was enough.
The cross provided.
The cross was the bridge needed.
It was the man’s turn to cross and he laid the cross down over the trench. It only reached half way. He could not travel over the trench. Others were crossing over all around him. He had lightened his load. He had diminished the cross. He had made it easy. He could not make it.
APPLICATION
What does this mean for us?
We must deny our desires to have the latest and greatest when we cannot afford it. We must take up God’s purposes for money and wealth and make sure we are being a good steward of what He has given us. We must lose our desires for material things and in so doing will find a faithful God who provides.
We must deny our desires and reserve sex and living together and mingling our finances until marriage. We must take up God’s purposes for family and marriage. We must lose our desires for self and pleasure and follow Him if we want our families to have a Godly foundation.
We must deny our desires for unforgiveness with our child who rebels against us and makes life harder. We must take up God’s will with forgiveness and let go of anger and punishment. We must lose our desires for revenge and forgive.
We must deny our desires for greener pastures with a new spouse. Chances are you are the problem anyway and the next marriage will be exactly the same. We must deny our culture’s fascination with divorce and re-marriage and honor the covenant of marriage in the manner God intends. We must lose our selfishness in marriage and find in God a solid foundation for our relationships.
We must deny our desires to lie at work to make things better. We must take up God’s will to be people who correctly and lovingly handle the truth. We must lose our propensity to lie lie lie and think it is ok. We must lose lying and follow after God in the truth.
We must deny the habit of still feeling guilty over past sin. This is a lie from the Devil meant to keep us from growing in our faith. We must lose ourselves in the grace of God and allow His forgiveness to permeate our minds, hearts, emotions, and spirits. We must move forward faithfully in grace understanding that God has forgiven us and we are forgiving those around us.
We must deny our desires to watch TV shows, movies, youtube channels, and internet videos we know we should not. Sex, language, violence, and anti-God characters do affect us if we watch them over and over and over. We must take up God’s will to be transformed by the renewing of our minds and then we can follow His will.
We must deny addictions. Cheating, smoking, drinking, snorting, shooting up, popping pills, gambling, guilt, sex, video games, pornography and so many other things that can become addictions should not rule over us as believers. Those activities feed self. We must deny selfish addictions, get help, and move towards godliness in our daily lives.
We must deny our hatred of people different than us because of race, culture, or the color of their skin. We must take up God’s path of love, concern, and the great desire to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with all people no matter their background. We must lose our hatred of others and in so doing we will find that we love our neighbors better.
We must deny the sin of being self-concerned or self-conscious about what people think about our beliefs when it comes to Biblical beliefs about gender and homosexuality. We must deny politics dictating our morality and pick up the truth of God’s Word that sexual perversion comes in many forms and is a sin struggle that many people deal with. We must pursue them in love and offer the same Gospel of forgiveness because it applies to all people. We must lose our hatred of others and in so doing we will find that we love our neighbors better.
We must deny and lose sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. We are denying those acts of the sinful nature and we are choosing to pick up and carry love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
CONCLUSION
For the past few weeks, we have been digging into Matthew 16:
In 16:1-4, we saw that the proof of Who Jesus is comes by His death, burial, and resurrection.
We are challenged to believe the proof that Jesus died and rose again.
In 16:5-12, Jesus taught us to check our heart to make sure we don’t have infectious hypocrisy.
We are challenged to remove hypocrisy from us and live our faith genuinely.
In 16:13-20, we talked about Peter’s confession: “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
We are challenged to confess as Peter confessed and to believe in Jesus.
In 16:21-23, we see that Jesus predicted His death, but Peter argued.
We are challenged to submit to God’s will and not our own.
In 16:24-28, we see Jesus explain more fully about submitting to Him and we are challenged to “deny [ourselves] and take up [our] cross and follow [Him].” This is not easy, but does speak to our soul and the judgment that is to come.
INVITATION
PRAYER
