Luke 9:23-27
"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God," Luke 9:23-27.
These five verses are extremely offensive to an independent and prideful person. The offense is magnified when the person does not have a biblical view of themselves. What does it mean to have a biblical view or yourself? This simply means you view yourself according to Scripture, not according to your own opinion or the opinion of others. How does God view us? God is Holy, and His judgments are righteous judgments. He has given us His unchanging eternal word. It is the perfect standard or rule, and it does not show partiality. We must first view ourselves how God views us according to His word. "What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one," Romans 3:9-12. This means everyone, even you.
We usually view ourselves in comparison with others. We immediately find someone we view as worse than us to compare ourselves with. Remember, we have been given a standard to view ourselves with. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23. "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away," Isaiah 64:6. In this verse, "filthy rags" refer to menstruation, the menstrual flux, soiled, filthy. These rags would be stained with the blood from a woman's period. I understand that we may not want to talk about these things, but this is how our own righteousness looks in the eyes of God. These rags would be good for nothing, so they would be thrown away and burned. Our own righteousness are good for nothing. Scripture paints an accurate picture of ourselves. Here is an important question; if we love ourselves, what do we love? We cannot love ourselves and love Jesus Christ. Paul really made this simple in Philippians 3:1-10.
Our self is deceptive. We can be easily deceived by our own hearts (Jeremiah 17:9). Yet this world tells us to follow our hearts. In our natural lost state this is what we do. As a lost person we only do that which benefits us, and we desire that which will please us. We have a natural love for the things of this world. This natural love for the world is so strong that we have to be told not to love the things of this world (I John 2:15-17). We have to crucify our flesh daily. This is why it is so important that we have a biblical view of ourselves. I will ask the question again, if we love ourselves, what do we love? If we love ourselves we love sin and hate He who is holy, but if we love He who is holy we must hate he who is sinful; which is ourselves. This is hard teaching because we live in a world where we are told to love ourselves.
"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me," Luke 9:23. Jesus Christ is speaking to all who are there. In order for anyone to follow Christ, he must deny himself. "Let him deny" in this verse is the Greek word "aparneomai" and means to deny oneself, i.e. to disown and renounce self, to disregard all personal interests and enjoyments. This definition is magnified because it is in the aorist imperative passive tense. You disown your natural, depraved, selfish self and subject everything to Christ. You say no to self and yes to Christ. We are not talking about asceticism where you actually harm your body; such as putting pieces of glass and bone in your undergarments, cutting your self, etc., but rather you are saying no to your fleshly desire for sin and are submitting yourself to Christ's authority.
We deny our sinful passions and take up our cross daily and follow Christ. Self-preservation comes natural. It is not natural to be drawn to a cross. The cross is a symbol of suffering, trials, punishment, and to expose oneself to reproach and even death for the love of Christ. We do this daily which means we do this while we are yet living. We take up our cross and we follow Christ. "Follow" means to be or become the disciple of anyone as to faith and practice, to follow his teaching. This is a command to do something in the future and involves continuous or repeated action. We live our lives as a living sacrifice for Christ. We never get over the love that Christ has for us. We are given commands of do's and don'ts, but the only reason we submit to these commands is because we love Him who first loved us.
What do these Scriptures say about those who love themselves and who do not take up their cross and follow Christ, though they say they are Christians (Luke 14:25-33)? "So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple," Luke 14:33. These are hated words for the prideful heart who loves self, and sin. These are hard words for the redeemed, but our joy is not in self, but in Jesus Christ. The true disciple of Christ will see these things in his life. "Afflictions, trials, and persecutions of one sort or another, are to be expected every day by the people of God, and to be continually submitted to, and borne with cheerfulness." John Gill.
The cost is high to be a disciple of Christ, but it is eternally worth it. Most of American Christianity is not biblical Christianity. American Christianity is get all you can get out of this life; biblical Christianity is give all of your life daily to Christ. Has Jesus Christ saved your soul? Does your life proclaim a life that has been forgiven of all your sins and as a result you are living for Jesus? If not, I beg you to look to Christ alone for salvation from your sins and the wrath of God. "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," Romans 10:13. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out," John 6:37.
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Soli Deo Gloria.
