LUKE 9:18-24 WHO JESUS IS2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 9:18-24 Who Jesus Is

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016.

As we look at this passage here in Luke chapter 9, talking about who Jesus is, there's three points I'd like to highlight for you. And the first one we'll find in verses 18 through 20, and that is that Jesus is the promised Savior. Here's what it says in Luke chapter 9, verses 18 through 20. And it happened as he was alone praying that his disciples joined him. And he asked them saying, who do the crowds say that I am?

So they answered and said, John the Baptist. But some say Elijah, and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again. He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Peter answered and said, The Christ of God.

We're jumping into the scene. It's a little bit of time before the last days of Jesus's life, before the crucifixion and then resurrection. It's during the life and ministry of Jesus. And he's spending some time with his disciples. And here at this moment, he's alone praying as Jesus often would do. He would get alone to be with the father. And so he's there. He's spending time with the father and the disciples join with him. And he begins a conversation with them.

He says, who do the crowds say that I am? Now, as Jesus is having this discussion with his disciples, it would be appropriate to consider why did Jesus ask this question? If you know who Jesus is, you would recognize Jesus really didn't need to ask questions. He had answers because, of course, he is God and he knows what's going on. So why did he ask the disciples about what the crowds are saying about Jesus?

Well, it's easy to understand here. Jesus wanted his disciples to consider this. He didn't ask it to get the information. He asked it to start the conversation. He wants his disciples to think about who Jesus is. And this morning, as we look at this passage, he wants you to think about who Jesus is and what kind of role he has in your life. And so as he asked the disciples this, they begin to answer with,

some of the things that the crowds were sinning. In verse 19, again, it says, they see John the Baptist and some see Elijah and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again. So amongst the crowds, the multitudes, there was some bit of confusion and discussion about who Jesus might be. It seems like the consensus was that Jesus was John the Baptist.

which is kind of interesting if you know your new testament history because jesus and john the baptist were only six months apart they lived at the same time and they ministered at the same time but john was beheaded earlier in jesus's ministry so

Most of the crowd didn't know John. They didn't know Jesus. And so they thought, well, you know, maybe he went by John the Baptist before and now he goes by Jesus. Or maybe, you know, John the Baptist, his head got reattached and, you know, now he's Jesus and doing the miracles. And so there was some confusion. Maybe he's John the Baptist. Now others said maybe he's Elijah.

Now, that's going way back. Elijah was one of the famous Old Testament prophets. And so maybe he has resurrected. And now, you know, Elijah is back because the Old Testament does prophesy that Elijah will come back. So maybe it's that. Maybe it's an appearance of...

But then he also kind of summed up, you know, well, maybe one of any of the other old prophets. You know, there's a lot of good old prophets there in the Old Testament. And so it could be any one of those guys. And there was these discussions that would go on amongst the crowds. Dave Guzik says the general tendency was to underestimate Jesus. They would give him a measure of respect and honor, but fall short of honoring him for who he really is.

to honor him as Elijah, one of the old prophets. I mean, that would be an honorable thing, but it's far short of who Jesus actually is. And you know, this same thing continues on today. There's lots of discussion about who Jesus is. I won't go through all the details, but let me show you this chart, just kind of giving a little bit of a glimpse of different religions and what people say about who Jesus is and

And so if you look at Buddhism, Buddhism would say that Jesus is a man who was enlightened, similar to Buddha. And that is, you know, their opinion, their approach to who Jesus is. Christian science also says Jesus was a man or is a man, wise man, and especially to the divine Christ.

Hinduism has different views, but again, similar to Krishna. Islam believes that Jesus is a man, a true prophet, but superseded by Muhammad. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus is an angel, and Mormons believe that Jesus is a man who was originally one of the same spirits that they believe we all were. And so there's all this discussion, you know, dispute about who Jesus is, but

But what the Bible declares about Jesus is pretty clear. And that's where we have a Christianity that Jesus is God. He's fully God as well as fully man. He's the second person of the Trinity. That is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And he is God who became man.

to die upon the cross for us. And so that's what the Bible presents as who Jesus is. But you can see there's a lot of discussion, there's a lot of dispute, and there's much more that's even, you know, not listed here. People have their own ideas, their own, you know, perceptions about who Jesus is. And Jesus wants to make sure that we have a clear understanding of who he is. And that's why he's having the discussion with the disciples.

There continues to be this kind of confusion. What do the crowds think about Jesus? Now, what do you think about Jesus? That's really the important question. And that's what Jesus gets to in verse 20. So he says to his disciples, but who do you say that I am? And Peter answered and said, the Christ of God. So there's all these ideas. All right. Now, what do you guys think? What do you think about me? Who do you say that I am?

And it's a question that we all need to consider and we all need to answer. Peter got the right answer. In Matthew chapter 16, where we also have this account recorded, Jesus congratulates Peter on this answer. And he says, you know, the Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You haven't learned that from man. You got the right answer, Peter. And so what does Peter say? Peter says that Jesus is the Christ of God.

Now, as Peter refers to Jesus as the Christ, he's not distinguishing Jesus Christ from Jesus with some other last name. It's not a last name distinction like, you know, who do you think I am? Am I Jerry Simmons or am I Jerry Springer? He's not distinguishing between those kinds of things. The word Christ is not a name. It's a title.

It's Greek. It means anointed one. And it's the equivalent of what they had in the Old Testament. They called the Messiah. So Messiah and Christ are the same word. It's just Hebrew versus Greek. I like to just state it in a slightly different way. That is the promised Savior. When God talked about the Messiah in the Old Testament, it was this promise of a Savior that would come.

And as we look at the Christ in the New Testament, it's that promised Savior from the Old Testament that is being discussed.

From the very beginning, back in the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 3, God had been promising a Savior because mankind, through Adam and Eve, partook of sin and now have a fallen sinful nature and are deserving of judgment. God wanted to correct that and give an opportunity for forgiveness and for salvation. And so in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15 says,

God gives a promise here. He says, I'll put enmity between you, that is the serpent, and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Now, I'm not going to go into all the details here, but just to sum it up, this is a prophecy that a descendant of Eve would conquer Satan.

So that the Savior for mankind would come from mankind. That it would be someone who came from the lines of Adam and Eve. Throughout the Old Testament, as you go on from Genesis, God gave many, many, many more promises like this. He also told Abraham that one of Abraham's descendants would be the Savior, the promised Messiah.

He later on told David, one of your descendants, David, will be the promised Messiah. And then you go on into the prophecies of all the prophets. And God has been saying over and over and over again, he's made it quite clear. He's desperately concerned about humanity. He wants you to have eternity. He wants you to be forgiven. And so he has been declaring all along, I'm going to provide a savior, the Messiah, the Christ. And Peter here declares this.

You are that promised Savior. You are that Christ that the Lord has been promising since the very beginning. And so Jesus is the promised Savior. Now, Peter also goes on in Matthew chapter 16, verse 16. Again, that same account, just a different author. He gives a little bit fuller insight there. Peter says in Matthew chapter 16, verse 16, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.

And this is really important. This is a big statement. Not only is Jesus is the Christ, he's the Messiah, but he is the son of God. Now, this is a big deal because, well, you could consider that all of us are children of God in the sense that we're his creation. I am a son of God in the sense that I am a believer in Jesus Christ.

But Jesus is the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father. He is the Son of God in a unique way that's unique only to him, and nobody else has this type of relationship with the Father. In fact, the relationship that Jesus claims as he calls himself and declares himself to be the Son of God is that he claims to be equal to God.

to have the very nature of God so that we understand that Jesus is God who became man. Now, we're not just, you know, looking back and making this stuff up afterwards. This is what the Jews also understood Jesus to be declaring. Check out John chapter 5, verse 18. It tells us there that the Jews sought to kill Jesus.

Not only because he broke the Sabbath, but also because he said that God was his father, making himself equal with God. Equality with God was Jesus' claim from the beginning and throughout his ministry. He is not just the promised savior, but he is the son of God. He is God who became man to fulfill this prophecy of Salma Yishola.

So Jesus is the promised Savior. That's who he is. He's not just a man. He's not just a prophet. He's not just a teacher. He is the Messiah, the promised Savior, the Son of God. If Jesus was anything less, his death upon the cross would be meaningless. If he was a mostly good man, his death upon the cross would

Would be maybe inspirational. You know, you can look at that and go, wow, you know, what great courage and how he endured that. And that would be the end of it. It wouldn't be worth anything as far as your sins are concerned. If Jesus was just a very religious man, his death upon the cross would

Wouldn't be meaningless. Again, maybe you could get some inspiration from it or admire it from a distance, but it wouldn't change your sinful condition. If Jesus was a philosopher or a prophet or an angel, it wouldn't impact your spiritual condition. It wouldn't have any power to set you free from sin and to give you a new life. But the power of the salvation that Jesus offers comes from the fact that he is God who became man.

Who do you say that Jesus is? The Bible says he is the promised Savior, the Son of God, who became man to die upon the cross for us. Well, as we go on now into verse 21 and 22, we have point number two, and that is Jesus is the one who died and resurrected. He is the one who died and resurrected. Here's what it says in verse 21 and 22. And he strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one.

Saying, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day. Verse 21 is pretty interesting because here you have in the previous verses, Peter making this awesome statement. You are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus congratulates him. That's a revelation from the Father. I mean, that's pretty amazing. Good job, Peter. Now, keep it quiet.

This big revelation, this big truth, this big understanding. And he says, don't tell this to anybody. Now, why is that? Why would Jesus tell them to keep this quiet? This truth that's necessary for everyone to know. Why would he want them to keep it quiet? Well, Jesus was preserving the timeline. That he was going to reveal himself to the nation at the perfect time. And he was going to go to the cross at the perfect time. Good point.

The people of Jesus' day were not looking for a savior for their sins. They weren't looking for a savior to help them spiritually. They were looking for a political savior, someone who would deliver them from Roman rule. That's what the Jews were looking for. And so Jesus tells them, don't start spreading this. Don't start announcing yet that I'm the Messiah because they're going to try to make me a king. And they did try to do that several times in the ministry of Jesus.

But Jesus says, that's not what I came to do. That's not the kind of savior that I am. I came to provide a different kind of salvation. And it's a salvation that's going to cost Jesus greatly. And so he talks about that in verse 22. He says, the son of man must suffer many things.

You guys are looking for a kingdom. You're looking for, you know, political salvation. You're looking for this guy riding in on a white horse, and it's going to be amazing. But actually what I came to do was to suffer many things. Not only that, but I'm going to be rejected. The chief priests and the elders, I'm not going to be accepted as the savior by the religious leaders. They're going to reject me and turn me over to Roland. And he says, I'm going to be killed. Okay.

We know that Jesus was crucified. And Jesus declared all of this before him, several times before him. He tells them, I'm going to suffer. I'm going to be rejected. I'm going to be killed. This was not a surprise for Jesus. It was a surprise for the disciples. They didn't quite get it, but it wasn't a surprise for Jesus. This is what he came to do. And as events unfolded, it happened as Jesus said.

In the final hours of Jesus, he endured much suffering. As he spent those final hours with his disciples in the Last Supper, then went out for a prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. There he's betrayed by Judas, arrested there in the Garden of Gethsemane. And he begins then to go through a series of trials. Six trials altogether, three Jewish, three Roman trials.

In that time, he's also beaten and mocked twice, once by the Jews and once by the Romans. And then he's scourged, which if you're familiar with that, is a gruesome process of being whipped with the cat of nine tails.

He also, of course, had the crown of thorns, and that was a part of the beating and the mocking that went with the Romans. And then at 9 a.m., he was nailed to the cross, and that really began the crucifixion. As he hung there upon the cross for six hours, he died. The soldiers pierced his side to make sure that he was dead, and he was buried in the tomb of Joseph. Everything unfolded exactly the way that Jesus declared it would ahead of time.

Because that was the plan. That's what needed to happen. You'll notice in verse 22, it says, saying, the Son of Man must suffer. Jesus endured all these things. He endured all these things because that was the plan. He had to go through these things because there was no other way for salvation. You see, our sinful condition is so serious that only the death and the Son of God can solve it.

Animal sacrifices were never sufficient. Good works, that's not going to cut it. We can't deal with our sinful condition by just trying to make up for our bad actions or intentions. Being religious or sincere, that's not going to work.

And again, it's only resolved by the death of the Son of God. If it was the death of a man or an angel or any other type of created being, it wouldn't be sufficient for our sinful condition. The only thing that would satisfy the need that we have for a Savior, the need that we have that the relief from judgment would be given to us is if the Son of God came and lived a perfect and sinless life as a man.

and then died, although innocent, on higher bed. Jesus said the Son of Man must suffer these things. It's the only way to atone for sin. In the Garden of Gethsemane, while Jesus was praying right before the cross, he had great conflict. He prayed so furtively that his sweat was mingled with drops of blood. It was intense. And his prayer three times was, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.

If there's any other way, in other words, if there's another way for people to be saved, for people to be forgiven, for that sin condition to be dealt with, if there's any other way, let it pass from. But then Jesus drank of the cup. He went to the cross. He endured the cross. That was the plan because that's what was required. We have a sin condition so severe that only the death of Jesus Christ, God who became man,

Only the death of Jesus Christ is sufficient for us. But the good news is, by faith in him, we can have forgiveness. By believing in Jesus, he gives us the promise of new life and the future eternity with him. There's great promises that come with it. But we need to understand the cost. Jesus is the one who died for us. But we don't leave him there in the grave. He's also the one who resurrected us.

Jesus said at the end of verse 22, he must be raised the third day. This is the authentication that God provided for who Jesus is. Today, when we need to verify who someone is, we have a variety of methods, right? We can show your ID and by that you verify that you are the person you say you are.

If you're doing some online transactions, you might have to give your code on the back of your credit card to verify that you are who you say you are. Some places ask you for your mom's maiden name or some other type of information that only you are supposed to have. They might ask you to verify information or provide a fingerprint. There's lots of ways that you identify yourself and authenticate, I am who I say that I am. The resurrection of Jesus Christ...

is the way that his claim to be the Son of God, the Savior, is authenticated. Think about it from God's perspective. How could the Father prove that Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior? There's lots of people who have claimed to be the Savior. There's lots of people who have claimed to have the answers and to be the way, but there's only one who made that claim, which means God.

Who died and then rose again. It's the authentication that God has provided so that you can know Jesus really is who he claimed to be. He really is the promise. He really is the way, the truth and the likes. The way that God gave the children of Israel to authenticate prophets there in the Old Testament was authentic.

If their words come to pass 100% accuracy, then you know they're one of my prophets. But if they don't come to pass, then you know they're not one of my prophets. As we apply that to Jesus, we see Jesus declared his resurrection, his death, his suffering ahead of time. His claims are true. He really is the son of God. He really was crucified.

receiving the judgment and penalty that we deserve for our sin, but he received it on our behalf. And then he rose from the dead, giving us the promise of everlasting life that we will be resurrected just as he was. I like what Charles Spurgeon has to say about the resurrection. He said, this historical fact is attested by more witnesses than almost any other fact that stands on record in history, whether sacred or profane.

The great preacher in Charles Spurgeon, as he looks back at history, he says there's a lot of history. There's a lot of historical facts, but this one stands apart. It has more authentication than all other historical facts, whether they're religious history or secular history. The resurrection of Jesus Christ, it's not a myth. It's not, you know, legend that kind of developed later on.

It actually happened. It proved that Jesus is who he claimed to be. He is the promised Savior. And now as we go on into verse 23 and 24, we kind of see the results then. So since Jesus is the promised Savior and the one who died and resurrected, point number three, Jesus is the one you must follow day long. In light of who Jesus is and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, this is the only appropriate response for us today.

And that is to follow Jesus on a daily basis. Verse 23 and 24 say this. Then he said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Jesus now begins to broaden the conversation a bit. He's having this discussion with the disciples. Who do the crowd say that I am? They provide some answers. Now we're in disciples. Who do you say that I am? Peter answers. Oh, good job, Peter. Well done. Now he goes on to say some things to all the people around him. In verse 23, it says, Then he said to them all,

Now, Jesus, at any point in time, would have a lot of different kinds of people around him. That's why, as we saw at the beginning of the passage, he would often get alone to pray with the Father. He would have to kind of sneak away to have some alone time, and then his disciples would kind of find him and catch up with him. Oh, there you are. And so he would interact with them, but then later on, he would kind of sneak away and spend some time in prayer with the Father. He would always be looking for those opportunities and connecting with the Father.

But now as the 12 disciples have joined him, it's not just this. Sometimes we picture Jesus, you know, as he's going from place to place throughout Israel. And there's these 12 guys and, you know, it's just the 13 of them. It's a good baker's dozen and they go from place to place to place. But the reality was more like crowds would always be following him wherever he went. The 12 disciples that he selected were among the group of disciples that were following him.

And so he selected 12 out of the whole group. And so kind of if you could think about, you know, all of us here this morning and we selected 12, but those 12 were with Jesus, but also the rest of the people were with Jesus too. And they would go from place to place. Later on, well, actually earlier in Jesus's ministry, he sent out 70 disciples to go and preach the gospel to the surrounding areas. And so there would be these groups of people with him. In addition to that, there would often be multitudes and crowds.

So people who were not, you know, going with Jesus from place to place, people who are not necessarily believers in Jesus, but they were coming to see what's going on, to check it out, to hear the teaching, to watch the miracles. And so it says in verse 23, then he said to them all, he's kind of throwing out the net, making it quite broader, not just talking to the disciples now, he's always talking to whoever's listening, whether they be disciples or disciples.

part of a crowd or multitude, all includes you and I as we read these songs today. And so what does Jesus say to us? In verse 23, he says, If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. Do you desire to follow Jesus? That's the question. And Jesus really makes it open to anybody.

He says to all, if you desire to come after me, he doesn't say, forget it. I've seen you. I know what you're like. I don't want you on my team. He doesn't say that. He says, okay, that's great. You want to follow me? Let me tell you how. Let me tell you what you need to do. He doesn't disqualify you or try to discourage you. He says, great, yes, come follow me. But sometimes we get confused and we think following Jesus, that's just stupid.

open-ended you can you know be however you want to be you can do whatever you want to do and then as long as you say i believe in jesus then you know you're good but but jesus actually set parameters there's criteria you want to come follow me that's great you're welcome to but also understand there's some requirements to following jesus and he lays that down for us here he says let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me

So here's the criteria. Here's the requirements. If you want to follow Jesus, it's going to require that you deny yourself and that you die to yourself. These are kind of big things that Jesus is asking for. These are life changing things that Jesus is asking for. To deny yourself is the idea of setting aside your own desires, setting aside your own plans, your own purposes and dreams and goals,

You have a vision for your life. You have things that you want to do, things that you want to accomplish, places you want to go. You have those ideas set in your mind. And Jesus says, you know, first of all, you need to deny yourself. You need to be willing to let go everything that you have planned for your life. You need to be willing to let it go. Deny yourself and die to yourself. He says, take up your cross and fall in sin.

To take up the cross, it's maybe a little bit lost on us today because we don't see people crucified, you know, on our city streets regularly. But the Jewish people knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. When someone was sentenced to crucifixion...

the Romans would force them to carry the cross beam. The post would be in the ground where they were going to be crucified, but the cross beam that went across, they would carry that on their back and they would parade them through the streets. And the idea was, let everybody see the consequences for rebelling against Rome. And so they would walk through the streets to the place of their crucifixion on display as a lesson for everybody who was disobeying Rome.

That's what it meant to take up the cross. Jesus took up his cross, except for he couldn't carry it the whole way. He grabbed Simon the Cyrenian, and he carried it the rest of the way. And he looks to you and I, and he says, look, if you want to follow after me, then you need to do the same. You need to take up the cross and follow me. Now, he's not talking about a plank of wood you're supposed to carry. He's saying you need to die to yourself.

to join with me in going to the cross, to join with me. Pastor Chuck Smith says many things that can't be said any better. So I'm just going to read you this quote from him. He says, in the life of Jesus, the cross was a complete surrendering to the will of the Father. It is the same thing in our lives. It is the surrendering of ourselves to the will of the Father. When Jesus says, take up your cross and follow me, he's saying, you surrender your life to

Just like I'm surrendering my life. You surrender your life just like I'm surrendering my life. Now, as we think back to what I just read a few moments ago from the time when Jesus was in the garden and he's praying, Lord, if there's any other way, and three times he prayed that prayer, it was difficult for him to do the will of the Father because it was...

It was going to require some suffering. It was going to require great excruciating pain and a disconnect from the Father as he received the penalty for sin. But Jesus surrendered himself to the will of the Father and said, I will go to the cross for those people. And now he says, okay, you want to follow me? It's going to require that same kind of surrender. And so it may require some suffering. It may require laying down things that you want and that you desire, that you want to do, the things that you want for your life.

But that no matter what, you're willing to submit to the plan of the Father. He elaborates a little bit on this in verse 24. He says, He says, Now he's not talking about life and death here. He's talking about control of your life. If you try to save your life in the sense that, no.

I'm going to decide what I do and where I go and when I go and how I go. I'm going to make the decisions. I'm going to be the king of my life. If you try to save your life, he says, you're going to lose it. You can't follow Jesus and be king of your life. It's not possible. It doesn't work. The only way to follow Jesus is to lose your life. Now, again, he's not talking about suicide. He's not talking about taking your physical life. He's saying, give over control of your life. See?

So that Jesus is king of your lives. And you're not king anymore. You're servant. He's in charge. And he says, if you lose your life for his sake, you will save it. That is, listen, if you want to have a fulfilling and joyful and abundant life, it's not found by you trying to do that yourself. It's found by you surrendering to the plan of the Father. It's backwards from the way that we think. So, Master, do you know,

Can you imagine if I would present you this plane? All right, you can have an infinite savings account. All you got to do is give me all your money. If you believe that, see me after service. We would recognize it doesn't work that way. If I give you all my money, I'm not going to have an infinite savings account.

It doesn't work that way. But the ways of God are different than the ways of the animals. And that's what Jesus says. Look, you want to have this awesome life for yourself. And that's why you have these plans. That's why you have these dreams. That's why you have these goals. Because you have this envisioned life for yourself. It's like, all right, this is going to be awesome. But if you insist on maintaining control and doing things your way and living life your way, you will never reach that goal. You will never have that fulfilling life. You'll always be miserable.

But if you will lose your life, if you will say, Lord, I want all those things and I want to make all the decisions and I want to decide when and where and how, but I'm going to turn all that over to you. And I'm going to let you tell me where you want me to go, when you want me to go, how you want me to go. I'm going to surrender control of my life to you. Jesus says, guess what? That's when you'll find it. That's when you'll find fulfilling life, abundant life, joyful, meaningful life.

It's not found in you trying to accomplish what you want. It's found in you submitting to what God wants. If you save your life or try to save your life, you'll lose it. But if you lose your life for the sake of Jesus, there's lots of ways to lose your life. You can destroy your life in all kinds of ways. But if you'll turn your life over to Jesus, you'll save it. You'll have the life that God has intended for you. Following Jesus is the right thing to do after what he's done for you.

But there is a requirement. That's what Jesus says. The requirement is that you fully surrender your life to him. Everyone is welcome. All who desire may come, but you must come under Jesus's terms. The only terms he accepts is absolute surrender. There are times we try to negotiate, don't we? Well, I'll come as long as you don't send me there. As long as I don't have to give up this. And we have our conditions, but the conditions that Jesus requires are absolute surrender.

This is what it takes to follow Jesus. Now, Jesus went on later on in Luke chapter 14 to say something similar, and I'll share it with you just to reiterate and to help us make sure we understand it's clear. Here's what Jesus says in Luke chapter 14, verse 26. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, his whole life also, he cannot be my disciple. Now, the word hate in there freaks us out pretty quick, right? What do you mean? I gotta hate people to follow Jesus? Well,

What he's saying is, Jesus has to be first. In that sense, more than your father and mother, you love Jesus. And following Jesus is more important to you than your own family. Yes, even your own wife and children's.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, this is kind of getting crazy. But that's the kind of surrender that Jesus requires. And your own life also. So you surrender yourself and you surrender your family. You surrender everything that you are. And notice what Jesus says at the end of verse 26. He says, if you don't do that, you cannot be my disciple. This is pretty radical stuff, but this is the requirement that Jesus set. In verse 27, he says, whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

It's a requirement. There's no options here. You don't get to negotiate. This is the only way to follow Jesus, to be a disciple of Jesus. Now, again, in those days, the people were wanting an immediate savior from Roman rule. That's what they were looking for. And many people today want a similar kind of savior. And they try to get out of Jesus that kind of salvation. I want to have a good life.

I want to have blessings. I want to be protected from the enemy. I want to have comfort. I want to have riches. I want to have this and that. Some people are looking for a savior for our nation. We want that kind of savior. We need that kind of president. We need that kind of king. That's not the kind of salvation that Jesus came to provide. Imagine Noah trying to have that kind of salvation. God says, Noah, I want to save you. Here's what you got to do. Put your whole life on hold. Stop everything.

spend the next hundred years building an ark and noah says well could you give me some floaties because i'd like to hang out with these people for a while we got some partying to do um maybe i could just survive with floaties trying to negotiate jesus sir the lord says no no you got to get in the ark you got to stop everything change your life and be devoted only to this in the same way jesus says you gotta give up everything and you gotta follow me

You've got to give up everything. Give up, release control, absolute surrender, deny yourself, completely lay it all aside. But it's not just a void. You're replacing all of that with Jesus so that Jesus is the pursuit of your life. He is the passion of your life. He is the focus and the priority of your life. He says, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.

So that is now you're living your life, but not for your plans. You're living your life for his plans. You're seeking to accomplish goals, but not your goals. It's his goals. You're not pursuing your will. You're pursuing his will. That's what it means to follow Jesus. Many years ago, I was working at the Boys and Girls Club over on 3rd Street here in Corona. And there was a lot of, you know, different kinds of kids that would come around. But mostly, you know, it was kind of a pretty rough area. So it was kind of...

gang banger type kids that we were eating out of the house and I was the white guy you know teaching them helping them do their schoolwork and stuff and there was one time I was standing at the door I was a bunch of the older kids inside and we were good friends we always have a good time together but I saw a situation happening out of the corner and so I turned to the guys inside the boys and girls club I said hey guys let's go

Being very commanding and forceful. They got up and they started to follow me until they saw what I was leading them to. There was a car that was in trouble. There was a person pushing the car and they needed help. And I was going to take these guys to go help them push the car.

I went to push the car and I looked back and they stayed at the door. Like you push a car. They thought I was taking them into a fight. They'll go with me into a fight. Yeah, let's go. Let's rumble. Yeah, we can do it. They were ready to throw down. They wanted to do that. Help you push a car? Forget it. We won't even come out of the building. See, they would follow me to the land of their tenies. Google.

It doesn't work that way when you follow Jesus. He says, follow me, and he wants you to go into a fight, you go into a fight. If he says, follow me, and he wants you to go push a car, you go push a car. It's an absolute surrender of your will and your plans to his will and his plans. Listen, this is what it means to believe in Jesus. To believe in Jesus means I'm so convinced that Jesus is the promised Savior that I'm willing to lay down everything and follow him.

You must deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me. Notice there in verse 23, it adds a little word which changes things a bit for us too. He says, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow him. It's not a one-time thing. But it's a daily choice that we have to make. In that way, following Jesus is a lot like dieting.

Can you imagine how skinny I would be if I only had to diet for one day? And I'm set for life because, oh yeah, back in 1993, I went on a diet. Never had to deal with weight again. It was never a problem. I can eat whatever I want. It's awesome. And sometimes we try to approach following Jesus in that way. Well, yeah, I said the prayer back in 1993.

I did that. I went out in the field. I responded to an altar call. And I did that. I dedicated my life to God. Yeah, but what have you been doing since then? You see, like a diet. You know what? Stick with it on a daily basis. If it's not a lifestyle change, it's not going to last. It's not the real thing. And the same thing was with following Jesus. You have to decide daily to lay down your thoughts, your plans, your will, your everything, and to follow Jesus. You see, there's a lot of people who say, I love God.

A real question that needs to be asked is, do you follow Jesus daily? There's a lot of people who say I'm a Christian, but do you follow Jesus daily? Do you have this kind of relationship with God where daily you submit your life to his plans, to his will? Do you have that kind of relationship with God where you let him tell you what he wants for your life?

This is the kind of relationship that you need to have with God. This is what it means to follow Jesus, and it's what it means to believe in Jesus. Today we get to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We get to talk about who Jesus is in the present tense because he is alive. He has raised from the dead, and that means great things for you if you will both discern.

You also can have a relationship with the Father by faith in Jesus Christ and the hope of eternity by faith in Jesus. A forgiveness of sins by faith in Jesus because he's the promised Savior. He's the one who died and resurrected. That there is a requirement. There is a criteria that is set and you can't achieve, you can't receive the salvation any other way. Here's the requirement. You must follow Jesus. Take it.

And as we celebrate the resurrection today, I would ask you to consider to reflect on that. Is that the kind of life that you have? A life where you give yourself to the Lord every day and your whole life is surrendered to His will and His plans. Let's pray. Lord, as we celebrate your resurrection today and recognize that you are here in our midst, we can talk to you, we can have great conversations

relationship with you because you are alive. Lord, you've got great things in store for us. Great promises, incredible things that you want to do in our lives. And we're so thankful for your graciousness towards us. We don't deserve anything that you offered us. And yet you offer it to us. Lord, you do set requirements as well. And I pray for each of us, God.

that you would give us clarity in our hearts, that we wouldn't be deceived into thinking that we're okay. Coming to you in a way that's different than what you require. I pray, Lord, that you'd give each one of us clarity, that we would approach you in the way that you have declared is necessary, Lord, that we would surrender ourselves to you and submit our lives to your plans. Help us, Lord, to deny ourself, take up our cross.

May it be our lifestyle. Lord, that our whole life would be changed and devoted to you. And I pray, God, if that's not true for anyone, Lord, that you would allow it to be clear in their hearts. Help them, Lord, to see clearly your love for them, the great work that you accomplished on the cross on their behalf, Lord, and your desire for them to have everlasting life and abundant life between now and then. Lord, let that fall

on good soil. Let it take root. And I pray that each of us will live out this life in full surrender to you. In Jesus' name, we pray. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.