LUKE 9:23
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.
Wow!! Within these few words our Lord Jesus gave to us the gospel from top to bottom.
As we look at various instructional verses throughout the epistles, we see some part of this verse being expounded upon in one way or the other. (And why not. After all Jesus was the one who said this. In very few words He explained what must be done to follow Him. The Apostles were simply expounding on the information which they had received from Christ personally or through revelation of the Holy Spirit on this very subject [how to follow Jesus]).
I doubt there is hardly a minister who has not studied this scripture and perhaps even ministered on it at great lengths at one time or another. However, please allow me the liberty to say, “If said ministers are not taking into account the denial of self and the taking up of his Cross daily (said Cross being the Cross of Christ, upon which I am also crucified Gal. 2:20); then they are missing the instruction which this verse offers as concerning Sanctification. And indeed many Christians do not at all follow this direction given by Jesus; on a daily basis and thus do not walk nigh to the Lord.
Below are a few examples which I offer as a means to show how the Apostles actually called for Christians to do these same things which Jesus spoke of in this verse.
FOR INSTANCE
Galatians 5:1, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
The liberty spoken of here comes from; our daily taking up our cross (our cross is the same one Christ died on, Gal. 2:20).
By taking up the cross, we are taking up our faith in what was accomplished there, on our behalf. This is of course of utmost importance as we cannot enter into Gods Rest (Heb. 4:10) unless we are trusting in the fact that Christ has accomplished all that was necessary for our Redemption.
The yoke of bondage spoken of here comes obviously from not denying ourselves.
When we do not deny ourselves (our own self will, self strength, self abilities [in the ability of those things to contribute to ones salvation]), then we cannot possibly be trusting in Christ.
Galatians 5:2, Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3. For I testify again to every man who is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole Law.
This would come under denying oneself, and ones own abilities. Attempting to find salvation through doing something other than trusting Christ.
Galatians 5:4, Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the Law; you are fallen from Grace.
This shows in an even more serious way, that whosoever is trying to be justified by the Law (again this person is trying to gain justification by self works [Law], instead of trusting in the Cross of Christ) is not going to be doing what Christ said must be done in order for someone to come after Him.
To make matters worse, Apostle Paul states that such a person has fallen from Grace. This is entirely reasonable because one cannot have faith in Christ and at the same time faith in ones self. (This is why we are to deny ourselves).
Or how about Romans 6:14, For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the Law, but under Grace.
This has to do specifically with taking up our cross daily. We are under Grace because of what Christ has accomplished at Calvary. And because we take up the Cross daily, we are not under the Law, but under grace.
Let’s take a look at a verse which has to do with following after Him.
1 John 2:3, And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His Commandments.
The keeping of Commandments certainly does not bring Redemption, for only, “The Law of the Spirit of Life in Jesus Christ can Redeem us from the Law of Sin and Death, Rom. 8:2.”
The Cross and Blood which Jesus shed thereon giving His life, is the ONLY possible way to obtain salvation from God, so it is obvious I believe, that the keeping of His Commandments is part of following after Christ.
When John penned these Words through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it could not be possible that he was trying to convince disciples that they could obtain, or had obtained salvation by means of following Commandments. (for an interesting study on the inability of the Law to save, check out Rom. 9:30-32 and Rom. 10:3-4)
Romans 2:7, To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, Eternal Life.
The well doing spoken of here I believe would be on the part of an individual who is trusting in what Christ did at the Cross, and is now doing their best to follow Jesus example of doing good.
Hebrews 6:10, For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which you have showed toward His Name, in that you have Ministered to the Saints, and do Minister.
Your work and labor of love, are surely part of our following after Jesus (as was stated in Luke 9:23).
A case could be made, for this Labor of Love being part of denying oneself I would suppose, seeing that many times as we are working for the Lord we definitely do deny ourselves in order to do work for the Lord. However, I think that in this case, the writer was more addressing the following after Christ in the manner in which He loved and had compassion on people.
Romans 6:6, Knowing this, that our old man is Crucified with Him, that the body of sin might destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Our old man being Crucified with Him speaks of that which happened on the Cross. That henceforth we should not serve sin speaks of following after Him.
Romans 6:7, For he who is dead is freed from sin
Again is pointing to the Cross of Christ.
Romans 6:8, Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him:
Being dead with Christ is from what Christ accomplished on the Cross, while we shall also live with Him, may be speaking of our life in the coming Kingdom but as well I believe pertains to our remaining life in our mortal bodies on earth. This would certainly be speaking of our following after Him.
Romans 6:9, Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death has no more dominion over Him.
10, For in that He died, He died unto sin: but in that He lives, He Lives unto God.
These verses are not instructional but rather point to what Christ has accomplished and is accomplishing, even on a daily basis.
Verse 10 also points to the fact that Christ died for our sin.
11, Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This speaks of what Jesus Christ did in order to gain atonement on our behalf at the Cross, thereby the taking up of our Cross.
12, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof.
That you should obey it in the lusts thereof, without a doubt encourages the believer to follow after Christ and not after the Lusts of the Flesh. It’s important to understand that this is not what redeems a person, but rather what a redeemed person should do, which can only be done as the Christian trusts in Christ daily. Romans 8:2, tells us that, “The Spirit of Life in Jesus Christ,” has redeemed me from the Law of Sin and Death.
We must never become confused about where our redemption comes from. We could deny ourselves, and try to follow after Christ all day long, but without Faith in what Christ accomplished at Calvary with His own Blood, we will not receive redemption.
Of course it could be said that without denying ourselves, we cannot really trust in Christ. For we must deny such trust in ourselves in order to place that trust in Christ (one cannot trust in the flesh and in Christ).
TAKE UP YOUR CROSS
I think often times we feel it is more easy to try to follow after Christ and the things which He said we should do than to take up our Cross daily (in reality however, this is not true, because unless we are trusting in Christ and what he accomplished on the Cross [on a daily basis], we can not enter into Gods Rest. Entering into Gods Rest is what really makes living for the Lord easy).
Our flesh is constantly wanting to do things in an attempt to accomplish something concerning Righteousness, but it is simply not possible for anyone to do anything which will create even one tiny peace of Righteousness.
As we study our Bible it is interesting to note how much of the Apostles writings, especially, fall within the peripherals of Luke 9:23. I could go on and on bringing to point how the many different exhortations and encouragements throughout the New Testament fall into the three categories of this verse. But I’m not going to. I believe what Jesus said in Luke 9:23 is pretty self evident.
