1. Lesson One of the Book of Daniel, Introduction to the Book of Daniel

 The Book of Luke, The Cross and Christianity - Lesson 117 

Let us read Luke 9:22-26 again. 

Jesus Christ is speaking here.  Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. ²³And 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. ²⁴For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. ²⁵For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? ²⁶For 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.

In the scripture passage prior to our scripture for today we have been told that Peter identified Jesus as the Christ, the Sent One of God. 

We learned from other Gospel accounts that the Lord Jesus Christ revealed that this revelation from Peter was not his but a revelation that the Father had given Peter. 

We also learned that the revelation that Jesus was the Christ was to be kept within the ranks of the twelve and not announced to men.

The Father’s plan relative to the death of His Son was to be according to the Father’s perfect timing and not according to the wishes of the people, for the people wished a king according to their making, for they wished to have a crossless king, a non suffering king, a victorious king.  

Nor were they looking to bear a cross themselves.

The Lord Jesus Christ had no intention of being taken in an emotional outpouring that would make a king according to the people’s desire. 

So he poured water on the passions of the people in order for Him to do the Father’s will for the Father’s will was to provide a Savior, a Savior who would die for the sins of the people.

So accordingly He was to be a suffering Savior and he also made it plain that his disciples were to suffer if they would follow him. 

He was to bear the cross but he also made it plain that anyone who follows him is also to bear a cross. 

That revelation of cross bearing is a most important revelation for it is that which must be preached if a preacher is to be faithful to Christ. 

Paul gloried in the cross that he was allowed to bear for Jesus Christ.

Gal: 6:14, But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

For a Christian who is faithful there is a cross to be borne for Jesus Christ and by this cross the world is made dead unto him and he unto the world. 

When you bear the cross of Christ the glitter of the world no longer attracts neither is the world any longer interested in you.

Let us read this passage in Luke 9:22-26, which follows the passage where Peter identified the Christ.  

Jesus Christ is speaking here.  Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. ²³And 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. ²⁴For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. ²⁵For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? ²⁶For 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.

This same message of suffering and cross bearing disciples is also revealed in Matthew 10:17‑39,   But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; ¹⁸And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.

………²¹And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. ²²And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

^{…………24}The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. ²⁵It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

^{…………31}Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. ³²Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. ³³But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. ³⁴Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. ³⁵For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. ³⁶And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. ³⁷He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. ³⁹He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

The above passages describes the cross that Christ expects his followers to bear. 

Scorn, suffering, hatred, contempt, ridicule, scourging, and even death for the cause of Christ.

Because Christ was rejected and suffered the cross, so will most of the twelve disciples and many others of that generation who believed in Christ and followed Him.

But Jesus Christ tells his disciples that their cross involves more than just external persecution.

A disciple’s suffering includes the death of his or her will replaced by the love of God’s will.

It includes the death of his or her interests and the love of God’s interests. 

In the words of Jesus, it requires denying self (Luke 9:23).

The word deny in this passage is from a Greek word which means to deny utterly, that is to disown, to abstain.   

To deny yourself is to say no to your will and to say yes to God’s will. 

I want to do this, you say!  I say no to this, I deny my own desires. 

I want to do that. I say no to that because I am told to deny myself. 

This is saying no to my will and saying yes to God’s will. 

Jesus Christ is asking nothing of us that he has not exceeded  to the nth degree.

Jesus Christ was our perfect example in the denying of self for look what he set aside in order to do the Father’s will.

He set aside His glory and prerogatives as God in order to come to earth and “bear His cross,” so the disciple of Christ must do likewise.

Jesus Christ was tempted of Satan in the dessert. 

Satan was saying, don’t deny yourself. 

You can have all the kingdoms of this earth and you do not have to die in such a cruel manner.

Satan said that same thing to Eve when he told her not to deny herself of the fruit of that beautiful tree in the midst of the garden.

The message of Satan is “Don’t deny yourself. 

Do your own thing.  Do what you please, not what others please. 

Satan’s kingdom is a kingdom of self gratification. 

Satan’s kingdom is enjoy yourself it’s later than you think which encompasses the temporal world but ignores God’s eternal world.

In Matthew 16:23 Peter rebuked Jesus Christ for saying he was going to suffer many things and be killed.

The answer to Peter makes it very clear that Jesus Christ was interested in Peter denying himself instead of trying to promote his understanding of what the Messiah should be doing.

For Peter in not denying himself takes on the Spirit of Satan for Jesus Christ says to him: Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

That is the key to those who do not deny themselves, for doing your own thing is doing Satan’s thing.

Denying yourself in order to serve Christ is the savoring of  things that be of God.

The message of this world is for men to savor the things that be of men but that is not the message of God who expects a denial of self on the part of his children with the end of that denial bringing great reward. 

God knows that the denial of self for a man with a fallen nature is the best thing for that man. 

For self gratification will always bring destruction.

Satan’s message requires no faith but God’s message requires faith.

This message of denial of self, defines a servant of God, a servant of Christ. 

A true servant denies his own will in favor of the will of the one whom he serves.

This is the message of Philippians 2:1‑8,  If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, ²Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. ³Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. ⁴Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. ⁵Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: ⁶Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: ⁷But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

The cross means that we must also “put to death” the old nature and its practices:

Romans 6:2‑8,  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? ³Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? ⁴Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ⁵For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: ⁶Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. ⁷For he that is dead is freed from sin. ⁸Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

1 John 3:16,  ⁶Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

The disciple’s cross is a cross that is taken up daily — it is a way of looking at life and of living it in the Way of Christ.

Romans 12:1‑2  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. ²And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Rom. 8:13,  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Galatians 2:20, ⁰I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

The taking up of the disciple’s cross, like the Lord’s taking up of His cross, is based upon a principle stated by our Lord: to seek to save one’s life is to lose it; to give up one’s life for Christ’s sake, is to save your life.

If you save your life for yourself that is as far as it will go but if you lose your life for Christ it will go as far as Christ goes.  

There are those who choose to save their lives and they do this by keeping their time to themselves, by keeping their talents for their own benefit, and keeping their possessions as if they can keep them for eternity.

But to do this is to lose them, for only what is truly given to Christ endures. 

What we give to him we keep forever. 

That which we refuse to give, we eventually lose forever.

Jesus illustrated this principle in John 12:24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

A seed that stays apart from the earth will not bring forth life but it will stay alone.  

A seed that keeps itself intact abides alone and will forever abide alone. 

But a seed that gives itself up will bring forth much fruit.

This tells us that that which comes forth is glorious compared to that which was sown, that seed that sacrificed itself for the much fruit that resulted.

The natural man is not interested in dying to self which means suffering and cross bearing, but the natural man instead is interested in a way of peace, prosperity, and glory.

But our Lord has revealed that the way to a crown is through the cross, both for Him and for those who would follow Him.

Do you want a crown?  The only way to a crown is by way of a cross.

The natural man simply rejects suffering and death as a way to find life, and thus the gospel will always be foolish to the unbeliever.

The message of the gospel is the message about a cross, a cross that men do not wish to hear or to accept, and yet it is the only gospel, the gospel which Paul and all of the apostles preached:

1 Corinthians 1:17‑25,  For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. ¹⁸For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. ²⁰Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. ²²For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: ²³But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; ²⁴But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. ²⁵Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

The cross is a message which cannot be “marketed” or “merchandised,” for it does not appeal to human nature.

In order for the gospel to be “merchandised,” that is packaged for mass consumption we must first change the gospel itself.

And many today are doing exactly this.

Rather to proclaim in simplicity, man’s sin, Christ’s righteousness, and salvation through the cross of Christ, we offer peace and prosperity, happiness and fulfillment, miracle healing so that we may minimize the foolishness of the cross.

But as this is done we make a gospel without power.

The world is full of those who pervert the gospel, the word of the cross, in order to make it more appealing, more marketable.

They offer men prosperity, popularity, and what they desire.

They offer men a crown in the place of a cross.

They offer life, but they lead men along the road to death, just as Satan deceived Adam and Eve.

There are Christians who attempt to avoid any cross in life.

They want their faith and their gospel to be intellectually respectable, when the Bible says it is foolishness.

They want obedience to God’s word to seem logical, sensible, and appealing, but the cross is an offense, whether it be the cross of Christ, for salvation, or the cross of the disciple.

Beware of any teaching that minimizes the cross, that merchandises the gospel, and that appeals to the fleshly nature of man.

This is not the way of the cross, nor is it the way of our Lord.

The message of the cross cannot and will not be received by men apart from the drawing of the Father through the Holy Spirit, which is exactly what the Bible teaches, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit is what our Lord promised:

John 6:44,  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

1 Corinthians 2:14,  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

John 16:8‑11,  And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹Of sin, because they believe not on me; ¹⁰Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; ¹¹Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

False teachers reject the cross, because they know it is not appealing to men.

They also do not wish to suffer the reproach of the cross themselves nor do they wish to deny themselves for the advancement of the cause of Christ.

Instead, they offer a different gospel, a crossless gospel:

Paul saw this is in his day when he wrote the Galatians.

From the Amplified Bible:  Galatians 6:12‑14,   Those who want to make a good impression and a fine show in the flesh would try to compel you to receive circumcision, simply so that they may escape being persecuted for allegiance to the cross of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). 

For even the circumcised [Jews] themselves do not [really] keep the Law, but they want to have you circumcised in order that they may glory in your flesh (your subjection to external rites). 

But far be it from me to glory {in anything or anyone} except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), though Whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world!

The Jews that Paul was talking about chose compromise in order to avoid identification with the cross of Christ. 

But Paul stood on the cross and gloried in the privilege it was to bear any cross for Christ for he was not interested in the praise of men but of God. 

That is what faith is all about.  Faith brings the wherewithal to bear any cross or to suffer any loss for the cause of Christ.

Those of us who are saved, who have professed Jesus to be God’s Salvation, must realize that there is a cross to bear if we would follow Him.

As the crowds rejected Jesus and clamored for Him to have a cross, so they may reject us.

This is a part of the cross which we must take up, daily. And when we share our faith with others, we must do so in simplicity, in clarity, in fear, and in faith, knowing that only the Father, through His Holy Spirit can cause men to recognize Jesus as God’s only Savior, cross and all.

For it is the cross of Calvary that is God’s only means of saving men.