Deny. Take Up. Follow.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me’” (Matthew 16:24).
Notice who He’s speaking to: not the crowd, but those already following. And notice the invitation: “If anyone desires.” Nobody is dragged. Yet “anyone” is as wide as it gets. In verse 23 Peter was told to get behind Jesus. Here Jesus says to come after Him. It’s the same expression. A disciple never sets the route. A disciple follows.
Deny himself. This isn’t self-hatred or simply giving up chocolate for Lent. It is dethroning self. Every one of us was born with a throne in our hearts, and Jesus says, “Get off. I belong there.” The perfect picture is Gethsemane: “Not as I will, but as You will.”
Take up his cross. To first-century ears, a man carrying a cross beam wasn’t coming back. It was a declaration of a dead man walking! Understand then, your cross isn’t the hardship that happens to you. It’s what you choose for His sake: forgiving the undeserving, speaking up for Jesus at the cost of a friendship, saying no to an easy indulgence. It is death to self. Luke adds in his Gospel that we do it daily.
Follow Me. It’s a present-tense command: keep on following. Not His principles or His programs, but Him.
And we do none of this to be saved. We carry a cross because we are His.
Watch the full sermon: Sermon video