(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Good morning, church family.

Happy Lord's Day. As we get closer and closer to Christmas, may we stay thoughtful of its meaning to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus, and how he would bring true hope of salvation, how he would die for our sins, forgive us, and make us right with God the Father.

Hebrews 7, verse 25, it reads, "Therefore he is able also to save forever "those who draw near to God through him, "since he always lives to make intercession for them." Today, may we rejoice that we have a great high priest who is Jesus, who advocates for us, and who is our righteousness, and that eternal life is secure through him.

(soft piano music) Sing before the throne. ♪ Before the throne of God above ♪ ♪ I have a strong man, perfectly ♪ ♪ A great high priest whose name is love ♪ ♪ Whoever lives and bleeds for me ♪ ♪ My name is graven on his hands ♪ ♪ My name is written on his heart ♪ ♪ I know that while in heaven he stands ♪ ♪ No tongue can bid me dance depart ♪ ♪ No tongue can bid me dance depart ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ When Satan tempts me to despair ♪ ♪ It tells me of the guilt within ♪ ♪ But I look and see it there ♪ ♪ Who made an end to all my sin ♪ ♪ Because the sinless Savior died ♪ ♪ My sinful soul is counted free ♪ ♪ For God the justice satisfied ♪ ♪ To look on him and praise him ♪ ♪ To look on him and praise him ♪ Amen.

(soft piano music) Behold him there. ♪ Behold him there, the risen lamb ♪ ♪ My perfect smallest righteousness ♪ ♪ The great outchanger of all I am ♪ ♪ The king of glory and of grace ♪ ♪ One with himself I cannot die ♪ ♪ My soul is purchased by his blood ♪ ♪ My life is healed with Christ on high ♪ ♪ With Christ my Savior, with my God ♪ ♪ With Christ my Savior, with my God ♪ ♪ Because the sinless, because the sinless Savior died ♪ ♪ My sinful soul is counted free ♪ ♪ For God the justice satisfied ♪ ♪ To look on him and praise him ♪ ♪ To look on him and praise him ♪ (soft piano music) All right, good morning, everyone.

Some announcements for today. Well, a reminder, we have a big thing coming up soon. The three services that are gonna be happening in about three Sundays, yeah, three Sundays. We're gonna be starting three services. So make sure that you keep that in mind and stay tuned for any additional opportunities to serve or different announcements that might come up as a result of that.

So if you could pay attention in the future to things, that might be very helpful. It's not gonna be the same. Next week is our Christmas Eve service. We have these flyers. We wanna make sure these are all gone. So pick up as many as you'd like. We have a stack there and also in the cafe.

And it's the best time of the year to invite people because it's just an easy, natural thing as we're already celebrating something called Christmas. To share this, there's going to be an outreach table right after the service where you can bring them. There'll be some material there. Outreach members will be there to talk to them and pray with them if needed.

So please keep that in mind. Along with that service is going to be our Lottie Moon offering. So if you would like to give to that, please prepare for that. In two weeks' time, we're going to be having our New Year's Eve service as well as a ping pong tournament.

So sign up for that ping pong tournament if you would like. And then the New Year's Eve service is gonna be at 11 p.m. right here. So join us as we ring in the New Year together. And then just a reminder, coming up for the members on January 14th, there's a members meeting at 2 p.m.

Now for next week, for our Christmas service, we're not sure what the parking is going to be like. Take note that there'll be additional visitors parking, but we've also been granted this parking lot right here. So not this one right behind us, not the one right over the basketball wall, but the one next to that.

It's called Xylem. So there's gonna be an additional parking lot open for that. So if you need that, please do take advantage of it, okay? Our offering box is in the back there. You can zelle as well. I'll pray for us. Heavenly Father, we pray, God, for you to guide us and lead us into offering.

Father, that we would do our best to fight against temptation, to just repetitively, constantly, habitually do the same things, and yet our hearts aren't there. Father, would you remind us of why it is that we give? Would you remind us, Lord, that we give because you are good, and we want your purposes, your kingdom to come.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Let's all rise as we continue our service, but before we do, if we could spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us.

(coughing) (coughing) (coughing) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (upbeat music) ♪ I was an orphan ♪ ♪ I was an orphan lost at the fall ♪ ♪ Running away when I'd hear you call ♪ ♪ But Father, you worked your will ♪ ♪ I had no righteousness of my own ♪ ♪ I had no right to draw near your throne ♪ ♪ But Father, you loved me still ♪ ♪ And in love before you laid the world's foundation ♪ ♪ You predestined to adopt me as your own ♪ ♪ You have raised me up so high above my station ♪ ♪ I'm a child of God by grace, grace alone ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ You left your home ♪ ♪ You left your home to seek out the lost ♪ ♪ You knew the great and terrible cost ♪ ♪ But Jesus, your face was set ♪ ♪ I worked my fingers down to the bone ♪ ♪ Nothing I did could ever atone ♪ ♪ But Jesus, you paid my debt ♪ ♪ By your blood, I have redemption and salvation ♪ ♪ Lord, you died that I might rework you, my soul ♪ ♪ And you rose that I might be a new creation ♪ ♪ I am born again by grace, grace alone ♪ ♪ I was in darkness all of my life ♪ ♪ I never knew the day from the night ♪ ♪ Spirit, you made me see ♪ ♪ I knew the way of my own ♪ ♪ And full of rocks, a heart made of stone ♪ ♪ Spirit, you moved it ♪ ♪ And at your touch, and at your touch ♪ ♪ This weeping spirit was awakened ♪ ♪ All my dark came out and manifested ♪ ♪ Falling to a kingdom that did not prevail ♪ ♪ Heaven said, I stand by grace, grace alone ♪ ♪ So I'll stand and go by grace, grace alone ♪ ♪ I will not lose by grace, grace alone ♪ ♪ I will stand and stand by grace, grace alone ♪ ♪ I will reach the end by grace, grace alone ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ There is no song we could sing ♪ ♪ To honor the weight of your glory ♪ ♪ There are no words we could speak ♪ ♪ To capture the depth of your beauty ♪ ♪ Jesus, there's no one like you ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love you, ever adore you ♪ ♪ There's no one like you ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love you, ever adore you, Lord ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ There is no sin I could know ♪ ♪ The infinite stretch of your mercy ♪ ♪ How can we thank you enough ♪ ♪ For how you have loved us completely ♪ ♪ Jesus, there's no one like you ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love you, ever adore you ♪ ♪ There's no one like you ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love you, ever adore you ♪ ♪ There's no one like you ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love you, ever adore you ♪ ♪ There's no one like you ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love you, ever adore you, Lord ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ All we have ♪ ♪ All we need ♪ ♪ All we want is you ♪ ♪ All we have ♪ ♪ All we need ♪ ♪ All we want is you ♪ ♪ All we have ♪ ♪ All we need ♪ ♪ All we want is you ♪ ♪ Jesus, there's no one like you ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love you, ever adore you ♪ ♪ There's no one like you ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love you, ever adore you ♪ ♪ There's no one like you ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love you, ever adore you, Lord ♪ ♪ No one like you ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love you, ever adore you, Lord ♪ (soft piano music) - Amen, you may be seated.

(soft piano music) - Good morning, my name is Alex, and I'd like to share my testimony with you. As a child, I did not regularly attend church. In middle school, I followed a few classmates to their churches, mainly to make friends. I heard about God, sin, the cross, the resurrection, but my understanding of Christianity was spotty and superficial.

I rarely opened my Bible. I was just a churchgoer, a consumer of church culture. The things I learned led to no authentic belief or lasting change in character. I continued that way through my youth, as I hopped from church to church with each new group of friends. In high school and college, I started thinking more about the rationality of Christian faith and listened to talks from some prominent Christian apologists.

I understood on a rational level that if God did not exist, there could be no absolute truth or ultimate standard of morality. I knew that if life was to mean anything, God must exist. However, my problem was that I loved the pleasures of sin. Thus, I opted for the absurd but convenient lie that God does not exist and that life is without meaning or purpose.

After college, I stopped going to church and chose to believe that all things had come into existence by chance. In the words of Romans, "Even though that which is known about God had been made evident to me, I suppressed the truth and unrighteousness. I loved the darkness rather than the light because my deeds were evil." Thinking myself free of God, my mind descended into futility.

Ultimately, there was no right or wrong. When we die, we simply cease to exist. If life ever gets too difficult or painful, I can just end my life. In the meantime, I should live to maximize my experience of pleasure. Like the Israelites in the time of the judges, I acknowledged no king and did what was right in my own eyes.

In John 8.34, the Lord Jesus declared, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin." My life bore testimony to this truth. I squandered my young adulthood in slavery. A slave to all manner of uncleanness, immorality, lust, self-pity, and greed. Living to satisfy my selfish desires and numbing my conscience through substance abuse.

Loving money and chasing wealth through dishonest business practices. I was an uncaring son, an indifferent brother, a poor role model to my nephews, and an unloving companion to my wife-to-be. Aside from momentary escapes into drunkenness and other vices, I became deeply unhappy and lost, not knowing the points of living.

If God had left me to perish in that state, I would have fully deserved it. Being a mere worm before him, I had had the audacious effrontery to treat the Most High God with insolent contempt, profaning his name and making a shameful mockery of the precious gift of life he had granted me and entrusted me to steward.

How can I answer for the 34 years of life I lived in open rebellion against my Maker? It is a mystery to me why God determined to show me mercy. For me, God's mercy came with fury, like a whirlwind. In 2018, by his good providence, God smashed into pieces the idols in my life.

The business I had been working at tirelessly fell apart as I became embroiled in a lawsuit with my business partner. Meanwhile, my health was rapidly deteriorating from the substance abuse. At the same time, I could not control my selfishness, anger, and lust, which were destroying my relationships. In misery, I sought solace in books.

One of the authors I came across was a Christian whose writings began to open my eyes to the truth. He asserted, "God can't give us peace and happiness apart from himself because there is no such thing. The stamp of the saint is that he can waive his own rights from the Lord Jesus." Finally, he said, "For you will certainly carry out God's purposes however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John." I soon purchased the Bible and began to read it.

I also started listening to the preaching of God's Word. I don't know how I knew which preachers to listen to, but I attribute to the watchful superintendence of God that my searching led to the preaching of faithful pastors who revere God's Word. The immediate effect of these sermons was to bring me to the terrifying realization that I was going to hell.

Out of dread, I confessed my sins and repented, resolved to turn over a new leaf in life as a Christian. Over the next couple of years, I learned through many failed attempts to put away my sinful ways that I had not the power nor the will to give them up.

During those dark years, I experienced much despair and questioned my salvation many times, wondering if I would die in my sins because of my unwillingness to give them up. One day, I read John Owens on the mortification of sin. It helped me see that I could not hope to defeat sin if I only intended to live a half-life with God, just enough to keep me out of hell, but in all other ways pursuing my own ends.

To be saved and to live would mean first to die, to relinquish all claims to myself and give full allegiance to the King, to have Him enthroned in my heart and exercise dominion in my life, to freely and gladly live to do His will for the glory of His name.

I am learning that the power to live the Christian life lies not within me, but in God's grace, which perfects power and weakness, received with a believing heart in unceasing prayer, in the renewing of the mind and transforming of the heart by the Holy Spirit through His Word, and in the living by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Through many humbling failures, yet continuing to strive, learning not to trust in myself but in God who strengthens, God has granted me victory in my battles with sin, given me an abiding peace that daily guards my heart and mind, and put in my heart a growing love for Christ that treasures His surpassing worth, beauty, and majesty.

My prayer is that He would cause this love to continue to grow and abound toward Him and toward others. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

Thank you. Alex, do you understand that by going into the water you're uniting with Christ in His death? And coming up out of the water, you're uniting with Him in His resurrected life? I do. I baptize you now in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

All right. Thank you, Alex, so much. This is actually the very specific picture of the sermon that we're going to be going through today in Matthew 16 about what it means to find death and life in Christ. And so let me go ahead and read for us this passage, and we'll go into a passage that will kind of describe what Alex was talking about.

In Matthew 16, verse 24-27, "Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels and will then repay every man according to his deeds.'" Father, we thank You week to week as we see these baptisms, what we are witnessing.

It's not just something a church does. It's not something that a man chooses. Father, we're seeing a miracle at work in action, that You'd go into our hearts and open them to see our great need for You, and subsequently call us to die to our old lives and to live to Yours.

And Father, I pray that as we read Your Word, as we look at words perhaps that we've seen many times, that Your Spirit would again come into the heart of every believer to open again perhaps what has grown dim. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Well, contrary to what people think today, some people, when we think about what it is to follow Christ, it's not just a set of moral teaching.

And there's a very specific time in my life, especially because I am the college pastor here. If you didn't know who I was, you're like, "Where's Pastor Peter?" I'm Nathan. I'm the college pastor at this church. And I get to have that privilege of seeing college students come in every year.

And because of that, we have constant conversations and people coming from every which background talking about what it means to follow Jesus. And that's a very common one we receive, that it's to not sin and it's to be good as a person. But that's not what it is to follow Jesus.

It's not following an explicit set of morals. Following Jesus isn't just trying to be a better person. It's not just trying to be nicer to your mother or to be kinder to your coworkers or to be more patient with your children or to stop the vices or to stop living in certain ways.

It's more than that. I know this because Jesus tells us what it means to follow. Jesus tells us so that we are not then afforded the right or the luxury to define what it means to follow Jesus. He has already defined it. He sets the standards. He sets the rules.

He is the authority. All the stipulations come from Him and only Him. We don't get to hijack it and tell Him what it means to follow Him. There will come a time at the very end, that's what the end of this passage said, there will come a time at the very end where regardless of what it is that we think that we've accomplished, whether we think that we have followed Christ or not, there is only by one standard that will be judged.

No amount of wishful thinking is going to change the reality as we stand before this Holy God of what it meant to follow Him. Today we're going to be asking that one question, what does it mean to follow Jesus? I came across this more so because of the season.

Jesus is the reason for the season. We look around and we look at the Advent season and it's very easy to come back to traditions that we've set up. Even as a parent, looking through the eyes of my young children, that I'm telling them, it's not about the lights, it's not about the gifts, and yet I feel sometimes so helpless in stopping them from going down that path.

Regardless of whatever word it is that I kind of shape and say, it's about Jesus, I wonder, do they understand? Do they see? Do they know? And squarely at that place, I wonder what kind of testimony that I set. Not just a theological concept I might impart upon my children, but do I really believe this?

It's very, very important. We get lost in the vibes and we tell them, don't get lost in the gifts, the lights, the hot chocolate. We tell them, don't get lost in the vacation and in these things. And I find myself just giving it to them. What does it mean to follow Jesus?

It's the very same question that's being answered of what does it mean to be Christian? So we're going to be going into this passage, and because it's a passage, I'm certain most of us know. I didn't do very much preparation in terms of organization. We're just going to go straight through.

So you're going to see, we're just going to go word by word. So we're going to have four points today, and the first one is desire Jesus. Remember, our question is what does it look like to follow Jesus? What does it mean to follow Jesus? It's to desire Jesus, first point.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after me," and we stop right there. "If anyone wishes, if anyone desires, if anyone wants to," and we sing a song today that's very, very dangerous. Jesus, there's no one like you. I love you. I adore you. Because we have to ask ourselves, before we got lost in the music and in the drums and in the song and just the instrumentality of it all, of the fact that we're here away from our homes, from our jobs, that we're sitting here in a place that's structured for worship, that we sing these songs and yet do it so flippantly, that our words would be so empty.

Because Jesus asks not just the common crowd but his disciples, and he says this statement, "If anyone wishes to come after me," there's a great temptation to leapfrog this statement, to get into the what does he say next. Because we think it's an obvious thing as a Christian. Of course I desire you.

Of course I love you. Of course I want to follow you. I'm a Christian. And he, by this conditional statement, that if is circled. It's blaring towards us that we are not allowed to leapfrog it. It's actually possible for many of us to read this and think, "What has to be done?

What are the things that I have to do?" And like what were presented in Scripture at the core of things is that desire is meant to proceed at all. The commands are all about loving God. We follow why? Because we adore. We follow why? Because we love. Why do we follow?

Because we want. Why do we follow? Because we desire. We take a look at our lives and we see an absence of that kind of following and we say, "Okay, so what do I have to do?" Well, it's desire. If anyone wishes, if anyone desires, if anyone wants to what?

To follow me is what he says. If this is not set, then nothing that comes afterwards matters. None of the rest of this passage matters. The question needs to be answered, "Do I? Do I desire Christ? Do I want Christ? Do I want to follow him? Have I?" It's desire, this difference that needs to be wrestled with.

Because we love Jesus, we want our love for him to grow. It's because we love Jesus that we are not comfortable with lukewarm desire. Again, these were disciples, if you look there, that Jesus said to his disciples. These were people who were already following after him. He had to stop and define it for them.

He had to describe it. He had to bring to clarity what it means to follow him. Because not all supposed followers are what? Are followers. Because not all supposed followers actually desires. Actually loves. It's dangerous. We might want to follow Christ without a desire for Christ. Even for believers that we might have forgotten along the way the whole point of our faith.

We find ourselves getting lost in career. Lost in our growing families in the midst of sleepless nights and birthdays to be celebrated. Experiences to be had. We get lost in games and Netflix. Winter break season, I feel like people line up, "Netflix, what am I going to binge next?" We get lost in sports seasons.

In watching the stocks. Getting lost in the pleasures of the world. In comfort. In rest. Simply getting lost in getting to an end of a day where we could watch something, eat something. Even in Christianity, getting lost in the tenets of religion and talking points. All of which might matter but to lose yourself in it and you find yourself taking one step back.

Looking at the heart, examining yourself and see that Christ has vanished. Where is he? In all these things, only where our love for Christ is growing can we point to something that is of worth. That matters. That we would call religion that is true. All other places we have to be careful of growing the wrong things.

We have to ask ourselves, "Do I desire Jesus?" Because that will answer the conditional statement Christ has brought to us. Ask yourself, "Do I want to follow Jesus?" Don't say yes to this too quickly. Otherwise you will find yourself in a place where you are leapfrogging the very scenario, the very landscape in which we need to wrestle.

This is the place where deep examination is needed. "Is Jesus truly what I want?" If your answer to this is no, then that is our starting point. We cannot move on until we answer this. "Jesus is not all I want." There are many things that I want. There are many things competing for my heart's affections.

An acceptance of this reality. Of this battle. This is the starting point. To stop playing with the semantics of it all. To stop hiding behind sophisticated philosophy of theology. Or just saying, "I am able to say and point to things in my life that show something." And to come down to a childlike, simple question that is not difficult to answer.

"Do you love Jesus? Yes or no?" Circle one. Desire is what must be kindled. What is desire? Desire means to wish, to want, to long for. It's not a hard word to know. We all know it. We use it very flippantly. We use it for many things. And so it could be used in many ways.

In Matthew chapter 20 verse 20, "Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of him. And he said to her, 'What do you wish?'" Oh, can you imagine coming before Jesus and he asked you that question? Wow, what would you say?

He says, "What do you wish?" What do you want? That's not the same word. It's desire. What do you want? What is your heart's affections? "She said to him, 'Command that in your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and one on your left.'" Listen, that doesn't sound so bad.

It has something to do with the kingdom. It has something to do with Jesus. And it's not even about herself. It's about her sons. Man, ask any parent how your idolatries change when you go from not having kids to having kids. It just gets substituted. It just gets moved.

It just gets changed. She's being exposed here in her desires. Her greatest idolatries are being exposed here. That's what she wants. Look at the desire of the scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew 12. "Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, 'Teacher, we want'" It's the same word there.

"'We want to see a sign from you.'" That's their desire. In John 6, the bread multiplied to the 5,000. Their great desire was for the bread. Blind Bartimaeus, Jesus asked him, "What is it that you want?" And Bartimaeus responded, "I want to regain my sight." There are very many ways in which this could be expressed, all coming before Jesus with the wrong conclusions.

A proper one, perhaps, seen in Luke 19, verse 3, with Zacchaeus. "Zacchaeus was trying to see who Jesus was and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see him, for he was about to pass through that way." This desire must be for Jesus himself.

Not the things that simply point to him, but Jesus. And he asks, he places that statement, "If anyone wishes to follow after me, that resounds in us." Don't think that our desire is even supposedly for Christ, hasn't been compromised. This statement Jesus pulls at the head of such a powerful verse is the starting point to ask ourselves of our hearts' affections and desires.

It's at this point we're able to begin dealing with the problems of our hearts. This is the beginning point of repentance. If we jump over this, "If anyone desires to follow me," we jump over that and say, "Yes, yes, yes, so tell me what I need to do." If we jump that, we miss the very point God is trying to bring us into, to sanctify us.

It's the beginning point of true confession of our present state. It's the point of seeing where our hearts are half-hearted and heart-divided. It's a place where there's a true calling out for God, that when we meet him in that place, then we would actually cry out, "God, we need you, we want you, we adore you, we love you." In urgency, in desperation, this is desire.

"If anyone desires me," which brings us to our second point. "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny self." Okay, must deny self. If you were to propel yourself to the end of his sentence, you're going to see this call to come after me. He places two more things in between.

If you desire to follow Jesus, then follow Jesus. He says, "Deny yourself." And so it's important. The Lord Jesus himself said it. The Lord Jesus, who knows so much about us, who knows the heart of man. We live in a self-esteem culture today that more must be done for us.

That the problem is not internal, it's external. That the things that have happened to you, that we need to appreciate self more. We need to appreciate who we are. We need to value ourselves. We need to love ourselves. We need to take a deep down inside. Hug yourself. Love yourself.

And it's not just the culture, this is the definition of sin. That it's not me, it's the things outside. It's that person you placed into my life. It's that thing you put into my life. That there is good in me. There's always good, there's always an excuse in this.

It's the way I was raised. It was my parents. It was this bully. It was a teacher. It was a culture. And so it is that you search deep down inside and you'll find a way. Listen to your heart. Listen to yourself. This is sin at its core. Because self is the center.

Because self is the beginning or the middle of orbit. Obviously I'm not saying that there weren't external factors at play in your life. Obviously I'm not saying that sin doesn't exist outside of us in this broken world. But no matter how much rationale would dictate that we are a tiny speck.

That clearly in a world with 8 billion people we are but one. We're tiny. It's ridiculous to think that we're in the center. This sinfulness exudes in us and it is close to you and me this morning. And so Jesus says you must deny yourself. We go into a room entirely revolving around us.

We go to work, clock in with everything revolving around us. We get into a car yelling at traffic and people because we're at the center. We go into a store as customers. Into restaurants and even into this church. Me, me, me. We wake up thinking about me. Every time we complain it's about me.

It may manifest in different ways. But fallen flesh is so programmed to act as God in any given situation. Though we know theologically that we are able to express and articulate what it means that all attention and glory is meant to be given to God. Though we are but image bearers of God meant to point to his existence.

That sin would move us into the entirely opposite direction. It is not what comes out of our mouth, it is what comes out of our heart that tells the truth of our lives. Think about this. Think about why the first point is so central. If Jesus is entirely our desire.

If Jesus is entirely what we want. Undivided. Wholehearted. Then we no longer occupy that throne. He does. And so it is with this statement from Christ. If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself. The definition of deny is to refuse to give thought to or express concern for.

To disregard or pay no attention to. To say no to. So he, if the words of your shepherd is calling out to you today. To deny. That understand what he is saying. That we are called to refuse to give thought to ourselves. To disregard ourselves. Pay no attention to ourselves.

To say no to ourselves. Note the language. When someone must deny something it means that inside this person there is a longing. That is why we have to deny it. Otherwise that word denial does not mean so much. There is something I want but we are called to deny that.

Which is funny in a statement like this because he says if anyone desires me. Then deny the very thing that you desire. We have already established that. Our desire is to follow Christ. Then there must be a denial of self. This is understandable. We all understand that there are layers to desire.

Stare long enough at some chocolate cake that you have. And you will understand the complexities of desire. You are like I don't want that. Yes I do want it. I was going to say lyrics of a song but it was inappropriate. So I am not going to. But sometimes our mind says that we want something.

This idea of deny has to be fully grappled with. Perhaps we have forgotten this elementary principle. Maybe we have grown too comfortable. Simply giving to what we want. What we view to be our rights. Perhaps we have grown too comfortable by how everyone around us has been living their lives.

Just because something is permissible does not make it therefore beneficial. So this is how the Christian is to think and live. Not for the permissible but for the beneficial. There comes a point where the permissible things in our lives are not beneficial. Giving to that enough. Pointing to permissible, permissible, permissible.

It is okay for me to do. If we continue to point to those things in our lives long enough. What we perceive to be our rights. That I deserve this. That it is okay for me to enjoy this. That there is nothing wrong with this. And we forget that if anyone were to follow Christ we must learn to deny ourselves.

That the very things this world offers might be the very things we are cultivating. Fruit against Christ. We say these things are okay. It is not a bad thing. So we are cultivating harmful fruit. Toxic, lazy, entitled fruit. This is supposed to be common to the Christian. That from day to day living our desire is for Christ.

And that we take note that the fleshly desires are so near. There is not one of us that needs to be reminded or told or enlightened of that. The fleshly desires lie so close to us. We are not talking about asceticism here. We are not talking about just not doing bad things.

Trying to strip away things that are going to make everything well. We are talking about what we know, the reality of our flesh. And we begin to mimic what people without Christ look like. So we are exposed. We look exactly like our coworker except we just don't curse. We don't cheat on our taxes.

We go to church and we try to serve. Try to be kinder. That is not the difference between the Christian and the non-Christian. The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is love for Christ. Denying is very, very healthy for the Christian. I wonder how many of us in this room are doing intermittent fasting right now.

Or you will do it after the holidays. Intermittent fasting. Have you ever done it? You are like, oh, this is helpful. Denying yourself is helpful. Not snacking around the clock is helpful. Fasting in general is helpful. And we see the self-control that is built up by denying ourselves. Denying self is part of discipline.

Denying is a part of buffeting our bodies and making it our own because we know that which we actually want. Denying ourselves is cutting off the hand. It's gouging out the eye. Denying ourselves is moving forward to the point even of shedding blood in obedience, as it says in Hebrews.

Denying is what we do when we really want something in life. When we desire for something that is so great that denial becomes appropriated by us so that we can have a true heart's desire. But it's more than just being healthy. Jesus puts this very problematic word up front in this passage, which is the word -- I circled it for you before -- "if." You could flip that conditional statement around, in other words.

If you want to follow Christ, then you must deny yourself. But the other way is if you do not deny yourself, you cannot follow Christ. That's why he put "if." If you want to follow me, you must deny yourself. The Christian is identified by being drawn into Christ in all of his life.

Imperative to understand is that the Scriptures begin to describe us as the body of Christ, with Christ ahead. You can't pull the identities apart. We no longer have an identity that is apart from who Jesus is. We no longer have a will, desire, that is apart. That's how it's described.

Denial is not simply behavior modification. It's what we employ to ensure we go after what we truly desire. So what must we deny? That's the application point. There are so many ways it can go. You see where permissibility gets misinterpreted. Or in other words, as PPK put it a couple weeks ago, if we begin to confuse wants and needs, we can see places where denial must regularly take place.

And so there are big places. Very, very difficult places. Denial is because we want something. So we need to deny ourselves. That means, by nature of that word "deny," this is going to be very, very hard. It's going to be difficult. So we have to walk into difficult application.

And this application, I come humble before you. I tremble sometimes even just saying, flippantly, some of the hardships that we might all go through. And yet we know as Christians today, we can amen today, that we must deny fleshly things. Marriage. Marriage is a huge one. This is something some of us are unwilling to ever let go of.

You can say all you want about contentment in Christ alone. You can point a finger at me and say, "You're married, so you can say that." We all understand how hard it is, and so I say it very humbly. You know, we also believe the same thing. That nothing can get in between me and Christ.

I must deny. We cannot confuse permissible things with something I must have. We can't say that all things in this world are passing away. We can't say these are temporal pleasures, temporal things, and yet say that I have to have it. It's a painful place of conversation, sensitive places to traverse.

Having a certain lifestyle. Having children. Having a career that satisfies. If anything is kept out of reach from God, if there is refusal on our end to surrender, then our affection for Christ is threatened. The problem is not that we wrestle and struggle. The problem is when we say that we refuse to give it up.

Deny. If anyone wishes to follow me, deny. Deny. We think just the big places, deny. It's the little places too. I think most of the times, the little places of denial is where it begins. Because what is seemingly little actually makes up our will. It's how we treat the time at the end of our day, after a long day of work.

You deserve some rest, and then what happens? Your kid begins to cry. It's what we decide to do when we wake up. It's what we decide to watch. It's what we decide to listen to. It's what we decide to do with our vacation time, our holidays. It's who we decide to invest in.

It's who we decide to talk to. It's what we decide to eat. Deny. The little things add up. We think that as long as we're giving up the big things, we're winning. And little do we know that it's the little things that we deny and give up that ultimately strengthens us when we get to those positions of denying the big.

We have to say no. This has to be tangible. This is measurable. We have to say no. Remember the rich young ruler who proclaimed that he was doing everything to follow God and yet by his actions showed that he had no affection for the Lord. As a giant side point, remember that we are not saying that we're called to live like monks, that we are not allowed any of the good things that this present world affords.

We know that every good and perfect gift is from above, and yet we also understand our flesh that we will take any good gift God gives, and we will pervert it. And we will use it to sin. We know that. We have to be aware of that. And so we have responsibility to live rightly in that.

Again, we are reminded against living as civilians in a war and to take off not only sin, but even that which obstructs us in this race. Anyone with a half-hearted, divided heart cannot follow Jesus. If anyone desires, if anyone wishes, if anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself.

Brings us to our third point. If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross. That take up cross part is closing the loophole. The denial part is really easy. We're very, very good attorneys. We're very, very good lawyers. We're very good at looking at contracts and finding the escape clauses.

We're very good at perverting what the spirit was supposed to mean. And so if he had just said, "Deny yourself," we'd be like, "Oh, I am doing that." And we can just substitute that with our statements. Because I am denying this, I am denying that, when he meant denial of self.

And so he closes it by saying something that cannot be closed as a loophole. It's so explicit in its imagery. If you want to follow me, you have to take up your cross. Wow. What's the difference between denying yourself and taking up your cross? Is it subtle? Is there a little difference?

This is astronomical difference. He was trying to paint this picture. Here's a definition I found of the crucifix. "There were various methods of performing the execution. Usually the condemned man, after being whipped or scourged, dragged the crossbeam of his cross to the place of punishment where the upright shaft was already fixed in the ground, stripped of his clothing either then or earlier at his scourging.

He was bound fast with outstretched arms to the crossbeam and nailed firmly to it through the wrists. The crossbeam was then raised high above the upright shaft and made fast to it about 9 to 12 feet from the ground. Next, the feet were tightly bound or nailed to the upright shaft.

A ledge inserted about halfway up the upright shaft gave some support to the body. Evidence for a similar ledge for the feet is rare and late. Over the criminal's head was placed a notice stating his name and his crime. Death ultimately occurred through a combination of constrained blood circulation, organ failure, and asphyxiation as the body strained under its own weight.

It could be hastened by shattering the legs with an iron club, which prevented them from supporting the body's weight and made inhalation more difficult, accelerating both asphyxiation and shock." And we can be so thankful that Jesus took the cross so that we did not have to, and yet we are staring down a very concerning statement from Christ here.

We are not absolved of the crucifix. You have to take up your cross, he says. We have to figure out what that means, because there is a very great joy at the end of this rainbow. He did not absolve us of something that has to do with this cross.

Obviously, when you take up the account of Christ, there is so much more even than the brief description that I gave. When Jesus made this statement in Matthew 16, he is not just talking about superficial following of Jesus. It's more than just a superficial denying of self as a healthy and productive lifestyle.

It's not just an assuaging of guilt. It's not just so that I can be a better person. Jesus says that you must take up the cross, this vivid image of what the cross bearer had to endure, that this is what must occur in order to follow Christ. So Alex gave us a statement from John 1, I'll give you another.

"The choiceless believers who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin ought yet to make it their business all the days to mortify the indwelling power of sin." One of his most famous statements, "Be killing sin or it will be killing you." Everything about the Christian is mortification, it's crucifixion, it's extermination, it's death.

Just in case we've forgotten, the believer is not meant an easy existence. He has already told us it will feel like death. It will feel like death to live as a Christian here in this world. Thank God we live for another, that our hope and joy can be found presently because of another.

But right now, this is a dying world. We do not partake, we do not participate, we do not fellowship with a dying world. We die to it. Denial of self was not enough of a description, it was not enough of a command. We look at a world like denial and we do our best imitation of an attorney looking for every loophole.

Jesus closes it all and says, "Absolute death, torturous death, the crucifix." Crucifix lending meaning to this word that we have for it, excruciating. All out struggle, all out battle, war. It's so easy to justify. That's my fear, that we use each other as justifying, justifications for our lifestyles to live in comfort.

In Colossians 3, 5, he says, "Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry." Have we started out our races saying that I will die to myself only to find myself picking up my old life again?

Only to find myself mimicking what I used to look like, mimicking what the world looks like? Forgetting what it is to follow Christ here in this world. Over time, I'm finding that in myself. I'm finding it in the vestiges of my heart. I'm finding it in the deep, dark recesses in me.

I'm finding it in deeper qualities than I ever knew existed. That would make it very difficult for me to walk up these steps and sit behind a pulpit and say lofty things about God. Over time, I'm finding more and more of it. All the more the need to mortify, to exterminate, and to crucify.

Galatians 2.20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ." We don't go, "Oh God, thank you that Jesus was crucified so I did not have to be." I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. I have been crucified. I no longer live.

Christ lives in me. We look at ourselves. What do we need to deny? We look at ourselves. Where have our desires and affections and love and want of Christ been replaced by temporal, shadowy, ridiculous, honestly, things? We cannot coast. We cannot relax. We cannot quit. We have to endure.

We have to persevere. This has to be torturous. We need to die. That was the call if you want to follow Christ. We did not leave that life behind at the moment of salvation. It is our daily death to be sanctified. For his desires, for his wants, his wills, because we love him.

The cross was for criminals to atone for the sins they committed. And though Jesus took the cross for the believer, it is because sin still resides in our flesh that in sanctification we have to die. When there is sin, we have to treat sin with the severity that it deserves.

We can't coddle it. We cannot sweep it under the rug. We cannot put it aside. We cannot say, "We hope it gets better." We cannot pray to God and say, "Just zap it away." We need to fight. Complete eradication. Pray to God for the wisdom to first see it for what it is and then to know how to apply this into our lives.

In a taking up of our crosses, we don't flippantly abuse the fact that he paid for it. To not excuse sin. Let the words of Christ, as simple as it is this morning, "If you desire me." "If you desire to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross." Let those simple words examine your heart and see where the sin lays in the deep recesses of your heart that you have yet refused to surrender.

This is not a suggestion. This is the Christian. There is no other choice if we love Christ. It's the very reason Paul was able to say, "I count all things lost compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ." That's why. Our final point. And then it says, "Go after Jesus." I think it's a hilarious statement.

"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." What was the point of two and three? "If anyone wishes to come after me, then follow me." That's all that should be said. But Jesus, knowing the heart of man, says, "He must deny himself, take up his cross, follow me." See how we like to jump it?

That we get to redefine what it means to follow him. And he says, "You do not get to redefine it this morning." "I will tell you what it looks like to follow me." "Die." Then and only then does Jesus mention going after Christ. Because if we do not have a desire for Christ set, then all other things we do is simple religious motion.

The most applicable way is through his word and to treat the word as an intimate listening to the voice of our God. We have to pursue Christ. We have to be dead set on Christ. We want to follow Christ. Have you ever tried to follow someone? I follow the leader, I do that with my kids sometimes.

Sometimes they're really terrible at it, you know. Getting better. Have you ever tried to follow someone in a caravan? You know what happens when you're caravaning and there's stuck traffic? You're trying to follow. You don't have directions. Only the person in front of you has directions. And so you're trying to follow that car in front of you.

And so what happens if somebody cuts in between you? Anger? "Get out, what are you doing?" "Get out of the way, I'm trying to follow this car." And you start to panic. "Where's the car?" "Hey, everybody, keep your eye on the car." "Stop playing games." "Keep your eye on that car, we need to find it." And you start to speed up.

You try to find it, catch it. Any glimpse of it, your career. There is no other thought. Until you get behind that car, you are not comfortable. You are not at peace. And when you're there, you're like, "Oh, okay, whew." To follow Christ. Colossians chapter 3 verse 1, it says, "Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, "keep seeking the things above, "for Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

"Set your mind on the things above, "not on the things that are on earth." This is not just saying, like, keep your eyes on the things of heaven. This is not just saying, keep your eyes, things that are good in the heavenly realm. It says, defining it. Keep your eyes on Jesus Christ himself.

Like your caravan. Like you never want to miss a glimpse of him. That it will be, you will be lost without him. We must persevere in this. It is not going to be easy, but one day we will get to the destination, and we will party. We will get to our destination, and it will be a time of tremendous joy when we're at that banqueting table.

At the end of our passage, it says that he is going to come down with the angels, and we will sing hallelujah. It is going to come. In this moment, we have to persevere. We cannot give up. If we've grown distracted, we have to get back on. If we are his sheep, listen to the voice of your shepherd today.

He calls back out to you. He says, "Follow me." He says, "Renew yourself in me." He is telling you. He is commanding you. He is urging you. He is pleading with you. Deny yourself. Re-examine your life. Re-commit. Remember your love for Christ, and that there is no one more worthy, no one more worth it.

The rest of the passage, Matthew 16, 25, goes, "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds." If we're to look at this passage, and if we're not careful, we start to do this weird reversal effect where you're just looking at, "What do I need to do?

I need to lose my life." And it's just like just the fear of hell or something like that, or something that isn't the proper motivation. I think for the Christian, and I'm telling you that I read it wrong. I think for the Christian, the proper way to read this is when you read, "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father." Like that's the highlight.

That's the excitement. That's the motivator. Everything before that, without that, what does it mean? What are we doing? In order to receive Christ, you must lose your life. Today, if we're not denying, if we're not dying, if we go down that road long enough, if we continue to be comfortable just living in the places that we just think is okay, you say, "Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow," long enough, you'll find yourself at the end and maybe even find yourself to not be a Christian.

But for the Christian today, we hear his words. We hear his word from the Scriptures. This is not some man on a pulpit. This is Jesus' words himself. We hear it and the Christian says, "Yes." In the beginning of the sermon, maybe we had a lot of question marks, "What do I desire?

What do I desire?" I hope at the end, when we consider his words, all our hearts are the same. We want Christ. We have to stop placing condition on what this death and crucifixion looks like. We have to exert the attention and the fervor and urgency that this requires.

I'll conclude with Romans 6. This is the best passage. This had to do with baptism. "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?

Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.

For he who has died is freed from sin." Let's take a moment to pray together. Would you confess and examine your hearts and look at those places where you have refused to surrender and use this time to surrender and to say yes to the Lord Jesus who is commanding, urging us this morning to let go of our lives so that we might live.

Let us all rise as we sing our closing praise. When I survey, when I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and poor content on all my pride. Safe from His hand, His hands, His feet, sorrow and love blow me gold down.

Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, or thoughts compose so rich a crown? O my wonderful cross, O my wonderful cross, face me come and die, but that I may truly die. O my wonderful cross, O my wonderful cross, all who gather here and praise from you bless your name.

In the whole realm of nature mild, power and offering far too small, love so amazing, so divine, deep as my soul, my life, my all. O my wonderful cross, O my wonderful cross, face me come and die, but that I may truly die. O my wonderful cross, O my wonderful cross, all who gather here and praise from you bless your name.

O my wonderful cross, O my wonderful cross, O my wonderful cross, face me come and die, but that I may truly die. O my wonderful cross, O my wonderful cross, all who gather here and praise from you bless your name. Love so amazing, so divine, deep as my soul, my life, my all.

Father, I thank you this morning that because of the cross, or wherever it is, we are proclaimers of Christ, who have his blood justifying and covering over us. You have forgiven us for our unfaithfulness. You love us. As much as I would love my son, you would love so much more.

You care for us. And Father, so thank you for your word that would put us back on the right path into the arms of our Father. Would you teach us, Lord, to trust in you in all aspects of our lives. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all both now and forevermore.

Amen. God sent his Son. They called him Jesus. He came to love, heal and forgive. He lived and died to buy my heart. An empty grave is there to prove I've saved your land. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future and life is worth the living just because he lives.