JRNT 116
8/30/2026
The Gospel of uke (Part 65)
The Path of Self-Denial
Luke 9:23-27
Jesse Randolph

In 167 B.C. more than a century and a half before the birth of our Lord, a Macedonian king named Antiochus Epiphanes invaded the land of the Jews – Judea. A man named Josephus, wrote of his invasion many years later, in these terms he said, “The king came up to Jerusalem, and, pretending peace, he got possession of the city by treachery.  And, when he had pillaged the whole city, he slew some of the inhabitants, and some he carried captive, together with their wives and children.” Then he continues saying, “But the best men, and those of the noblest souls, did not regard him, but did pay a greater respect to the customs of their country than concern as to the punishment which he threatened on the disobedient; on which account they every day underwent great miseries and bitter torments.” Then come these words, “For they were whipped with rods, and their bodies were torn to pieces, and were crucified, while they were still alive.”

Fast forward a few decades to around 100 B.C., where the same historian – Josephus – gives an account of Alexander Jannaeus – another foreign king who ruled over Judea in the decades leading up to the birth of Christ.
Josephus writes this about Alexander Jannaeus, “The Jews fought against Alexander, and being beaten, were slain in great numbers in the several battles which they had; and when he had taken the city [of Jerusalem], and gotten the men into his power, he brought them to Jerusalem, and did one of the most barbarous actions in the world to them; for as he was feasting with his concubines, in the sight of all the city, he ordered about eight hundred of them to be crucified.”

Fast forward another 90-plus years to around 4 B.C. King Herod the Great who had long been king over Judea, had died in the spring of that year. According to Josephus, a historian, when that happened, a number of Jewish insurrectionists began trying to fill the power vacuum left by Herod’s death. As they attempted to throw the shackles of Rome off themselves once and for all. The Roman governor over Judea at this time who name, and I’m sure I’ll get this wrong was Publius Quinctilius Varus, he wasn’t having it. And so, this man, Varus, let’s call him that began brutally putting down each of these instances of Jewish rebellion. And, Josephus, again, records it, saying, “Upon this, Varus sent a part of his army into the country, to seek out those that had been the authors of the revolt; and when they were discovered, he punished some of them that were most guilty, and some he dismissed; now the number of those that were crucified on this account were two thousand.” So, we have three accounts of three foreign rulers, leading several decades before the birth of Jesus who each stamped out uprisings among these early pockets of Jews by crucifying them. 

Now, last week, when we wrapped up our time in Luke’s Gospel in Luke 9:22, we ended with Jesus having just had His disciples, through Peter, affirming that He is “The Christ of God.” We ended with Jesus warning His disciples and telling His disciples, not to tell anyone about His identity. And why? Well, He didn’t want His disciples, at that point at least, to go the way of their countrymen. To be like those men who ran into the buzzsaw of Antiochus Epiphanes, or Alexander Jannaeus or Publius Quinctilius Varus. It wasn’t time for them, it wasn’t time for the disciples, not yet, at least to face their own brutal and violent deaths. No. According to God’s timeline, it was His mission – it was Jesus’ mission as the Messiah, to go and suffer and to be rejected and to be killed. In fact, look at our last verse from last Sunday, Luke 9:22, where Jesus said to the Twelve, “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 up on the third day.” That’s where we left off last Sunday morning, where Jesus told the inner ring, the inner circle, the Twelve – in these clearest of terms, that He had come to this earth He had come to His people, to the Jews not to immediately begin ruling, not to immediately set up His kingdom but He had come, rather, to die. He’d come to be killed, and killed specifically, on a Roman cross.  That instrument of Roman torcher and murder which we’ve already seen in these three quotes I gave you which would have been familiar to the average 1st century Jew.

Now, though Jesus had silenced His disciples for the time being, directing them, back in verse 21 of chapter 9, “not to tell this to anyone.” Note that He wasn’t issuing some sort of permanent moratorium on them ever speaking up for Him, or sacrificing for Him or even, in many cases, being sacrificed for Him. Rather, as we’re going to see in our text for this morning, as we work our way through verses 23-27, though it would be Jesus who’d be the One who would ultimately be led to the cross of Calvary as the innocent and spotless Lamb.  Who would be called on and did die for the sins of the world He would also call on each of His followers, not only the Twelve, but to each of His followers going down through the church age. He would call on each of them to take up their cross and to walk a lifelong path of self-denial. One where the idol of self is perpetually being slain. One where the world and its ways are continually being turned away from and rejected. One where sin is daily being turned from. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his famous 1937 book, The Cost of Discipleship, wrote, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Indeed.

Now, last week, we ended again, with verse 22. And we’re going to pick it up in this new section in verses 23-27. We’ll take it as a whole and then work through it verse by verse. God’s Word reads, “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God.’” Again, the context here, is that Jesus has just told His disciples, as they’re gathered there at Caesarea Philippi, up north that He is going to be “killed.” He’s going to the cross. Now, in this text that we’ll be looking at today, He was telling them that they would be the ones who would carry a cross of their own. That is really the main idea of this passage. The central principle that Jesus is conveying here. That His followers, no matter their locale, and no matter the century in which they lived. They are to be cross-bearing self-deniers. Cross-bearing self-deniers. That’s what we should go away with from this place this morning, as we go back to our homes, go back to our families, go back to our jobs, go back to our schools this week.  We should be each asking ourselves, as we come face to face with this text. Am I a cross-bearing self-denier? 

If you’re taking notes this morning, I will have five points for you each corresponding to the five verses we’ll work through. And our first point is this:

THE CONSECRATION
Look at verse 23, it says, “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” Now, before I say what I’m about to say I do want to put it out there that I’m a firm Believer and a strong proponent of what is known as Lordship Salvation. Meaning, I don’t believe that every so-called “campfire conversion” results in an actual conversion. I don’t believe that every kid who went to VBS, or the Junior High Camp, or to High School Camp, and asked Jesus into their heart on the heels of an exciting and exhausting week of games and hype and heat and sugar is actually saved. I don’t believe that an empty profession of faith in Jesus, unaccompanied by corresponding life change can actually give anyone assurance that they will one day inherit the Kingdom of God. 

Instead, what I do believe, and this is because this is what the scriptures actually teach is that one who confesses Jesus to be their Savior, they will naturally live for Him as their Lord. Luke 6:46 picks up the idea when Jesus says, “Now why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

And I also believe that the one who confesses Jesus to be their Savior, and I believe this because the scripture teaches it, they are “under new management” they are “living a new life an entirely different manner of living. One which bears no resemblance to the life that they lived before, when they were dead in their sin. That is because II Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away’ behold, new things have come.”

And I do believe, because the Bible teaches it, and again, Jesus Himself said it that there are many in this world who will think they’re “good” with God because, after all, “they love Jesus.” But there will come a day, on judgment day, where they will stand before the Lord, and they will be turned away by the Lord, and they instead, will be sent to hell.  That is going to happen to those unfortunate individuals who claims to know Jesus and claim to love Jesus, but who actually didn’t know Him at all. They are going to hear these haunting words from the Lord, that come out of the pages of Matthew 7:21, where He says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”

I believe these truths about Lordship Salvation, and how vital it is to not merely claim Christ with your lips, but to surrender to Him with your life. Because they are taught plainly in God’s Word. Including in the passage we’ll be in today, where Jesus is laying out so powerfully what it means for His disciples – His followers, not merely to claim Him as the Savior of their souls, but to embrace Him and show that He is the Lord of their lives. Now, does affirming the Bible’s teaching on Lordship Salvation, does it mean that when we come to this text, we’re now supposed to question everything about our salvation – we who are actually saved? No. Jesus, as He was saying what He was saying to His disciples here, to His inner ring, to the Twelve. He wasn’t, in this account, sifting out the tares from the wheat. He wasn’t separating, in this instance, sheep from goats. Nor was He setting up Lordship Salvation proponents like me, to preach to dear people like you to get you to question everything about your salvation, if your faith is in Christ. This is not license for me, this text, to begin asking questions like:
“If you don’t have a perfect track record of denying yourself, well then, you’re probably not save.”
Or “If you’ve ever fumbled that cross, or dropped that cross that you’re called to carry, once in your life, then you’re probably not saved.”
Or “If you’ve ever been afraid to open you mouth and talk about your Lord at any point in your life, then you’re probably not saved.” 
I really do think that would be a gross misreading and misrepresentation of this text, in its context. In its context here, Jesus is not preaching an Evangelistic message. He’s not preaching a turn-or-burn message. He’s not preaching a ‘if anyone wants to get saved, deny himself” kind of message. 

No, the setting here is that He’s speaking to disciples. He’s speaking to the Twelve. And having told them that He’s going to Jerusalem to be killed He’s clarifying for them that He is not the type of Messiah that they might have thought Him to be. He’s not going to be the sword-wielding, conquering, Rome-toppling kind of Messiah that they thought He might be. Rather, He’d come as the Suffering Servant. He’s the Anointed One – He’s the Messiah, yes, the Anointed and commissioned One of God, who God had set apart. But His mission was to go to Jerusalem to die. And if His disciples wanted to follow His example. If His students wanted to be like their Teacher. Well, they will need to be prepared to die too. The question was, would they be faithful in following Him? Faithful to follow His teaching to follow His example, and even faithful to follow His example in suffering? Would they be faithful to heed His words? Not to become His followers, but because they already were His followers. That’s the backside of the tapestry here of verse 23 of Luke 9, when He said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

So, with that all as backdrop, let’s take this apart, piece by piece and start putting it back together. Luke begins here in verse 23, with these words, He says, “And He was saying to them all.” The all, again, being the Twelve, the disciples, the same men that we encountered last week, in verses 18-22, then we have the heart of Jesus’ words to this group of men, where He’s quoted here, the “red letters” begin right here: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” Now, note the very first few words there. “If anyone wishes to come after Me.” To faithfully follow Christ, involves, first and foremost, a desire to be His committed disciple. The one who “wishes [as it’s used here] to come after” Jesus, doesn’t wish to follow Him and be His committed disciple because that’s what Mom and Dad want you to do. He doesn’t wish to be the committed disciple, to go along with the crowd, or to please his high school leader. Or because he wants to date a Christian. Or, because Charlie Kirk was a Christian. Or, because Grampa So-and-So was a Christian. No, the one who “wishes to come after” Christ as it’s phrased here follows Jesus because they know there’s nothing in the world more worthy of following. And, better said, there’s no one in the world more worthy of following. They hunger and thirst for righteousness – says Jesus Himself would say in Matthew 5:6 and they find their souls satisfied in Christ alone. 

So, Jesus said to these men, the Twelve: “If anyone wishes to come after Me” and then, look at this next part: “Let him deny himself.” Note, that Jesus didn’t say, “Let him deprive himself.”  Unfortunately, the Lord’s words in this passage have been contorted and distorted by a number of different groups and in a number of different settings to say what they are not saying. As though Jesus was most concerned with His followers, cutting back on the sweets or eliminating eating out or not watching as much football or NASCAR or playing as much golf. Now, is “deprival” a normal part of Christian living? Sure, it is. We do deprive ourselves of certain things as we demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5:23, that we have “self-control.” We do remember Paul’s words in II Timothy 1:7, “God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and self-discipline.” So, we do deprive ourselves. We ought to deprive ourselves, as we show, not just ourselves but the watching world and praise to God that we are these Spirit-directed, self-controlled, faithful followers of Christ. But that’s not what Jesus is getting after here in this passage. He’s speaking to the Twelve here in verse 23, He’s not limiting Himself to saying that His followers are to deprive themselves. He’s not focused on how many candy bars they eat or how little social media take in or how much scrolling they’re cutting out of their lives. No. He said that “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself.” Not “deprive” “deny.” Though it might seem, on first glance, like there’s this major difference this wide chasm between the words: “deprive” and “deny” or that there’s not a difference, there’s actually a massive world of difference between the two terms. 

You know, by saying to the Twelve and to all future followers of His, “let him deny Himself.” Jesus here was communicating to His followers, that they need to be ready to give up their rights entirely to determine the course of their lives. He’s saying to His followers that they need to be willing to surrender and yield total control of their lives to Him. He’s saying to His followers that they need to truly count the cost of what it means to follow Him and truly give it all to Him. He’s saying to His followers that they must submit, yield all of their lives to His Lordship. Such a person, the one who seeks to follow after Christ, faithfully they must not only have a desire to be His disciple “if anyone wishes to come after Me.” They must not only yield total control of their life to Christ “let him deny himself.” But they’re to identify completely with Christ. Identify fully with Christ. Identify devotedly with Christ. As they demonstrate to the world, that there is absolutely no going back for them. 

Look again at the end of verse 23. The one who wishes to come after Jesus must, quote “Take up his cross daily and follow Me.” We’ve already seen, from the accounts I read to you at the very beginning from Josephus, that the cross was this familiar instrument of torture. So, when Jesus said to the Twelve here, that anyone who seeks to follow Him is to “take up his cross daily.” There was not one member of the Twelve who was in that circle, who was saying “cross?” “What is a cross?” “Lord, I’m kind of blanking here, what do You mean?” No. every man in that group, knew what a “cross” was. Each knew what the “cross” meant, well before they found their Master hanging on one. Each of these men, the Twelve – being first century men, familiar with the world in which they lived they would have known that when a man “took up his cross” and he was encircled by a group of Roman soldiers, and he was dragging it along to some suitable place outside the city gate or the city walls they knew that that man was now on this one-way trip and this was the last that anyone would ever see of him, that there was no turning back for him. 

Now, was Jesus telling His followers here, in verse 23, when He’s saying they must “take up their cross daily and follow Him” was He saying to them, that they are to take up an actual physical piece of wood and affix it to themselves. Around Easter every year, we see some poor fellow in the Philippines doing this. Was He saying that they need to attach nails and splinters and take a crown of thorns upon themselves? Is that the thrust of this? No. Rather, He’s using the language of the cross here. “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” He’s helping His followers to see with that language that they were to identify with Him in every respect in their living for Him in their dying to their old ways of living. Now, He wasn’t saying that each of His followers would die the exact same way that He would, on a cross, though some did face various forms of torture. Rather, what He’s really getting at, is what Paul would say later, in I Corinthians 15:31, where he’s saying that all must be prepared to “die daily.” 

That’s what Jesus was imparting to the men with these words. He has imparted to everyone else, people like you and me, all these centuries later, as we read these words. That we are to “die daily” as we bear our cross. Now, we all have different crosses to bear. We talk about an expression that’s overused, culturally. For some it’s poor health. For some it’s weak faith. For some it’s wayward children. For some it’s the loss of a spouse. For some it’s the non-provision of a spouse. For some it’s flagging confidence in the government, or in family, or friendships. We each do bear different crosses, but we each bear a cross. The point here really is that as we take up that cross, whatever that cross happens to be, we are each on a permanent path. It’s a one-way journey, there’s no turning back.

The true follower of Christ is not on some sort of “Jesus kick.” You know, they’re not going through the “Jesus phase” of their life or the “religious phase” of their life. There Christian identity isn’t some sort of fleeting fancy that they’ll get over one day, when they snap out of it. No. Like Paul, in Philippians 3:13, the one who is following Christ, truly has forgotten “what lies behind” as they “reach forward to what lies ahead”, as they “press on toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” They are like Peter, in John 6:68, who said to the Lord, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” He’s truly counted the cost of what it means to follow Christ.

In fact, if you would flip with me to the end of Luke 9 to this final account, Luke 9:57, where we see this account from Luke 9:57, “And as they were going along the road, someone said to Him, ‘I will follow You wherever You go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” He said to another, ‘Follow Me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.’ But He said to him, ‘Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the Kingdom of God.’ Another also said, ‘I will follow You, Lord, but first permit me to say farewell to those at home.’ But Jesus said to him, verse 62, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.’” The one who truly is following Jesus denying himself taking up his cross daily to follow Him. Is the one who puts his hand to the plow and doesn’t look back. He doesn’t do what Lot’s wife did. Remember that scene, as she’s fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah, and she looks back on the two wicked cities and turns into a pillar of salt. No. The true follower of Christ, he keeps his eyes fixed forward on Christ, on the cross, on eternity, on glory. As he does so, the follower of Christ recognizes that he is on this life-long path of cross-bearing self-denial. A daily path of cross-bearing self-denial. He recognizes that he is no longer his own but that his life belongs to Christ. He recognizes that he’s been bought with a price namely, the shed blood of Christ, which produces in him this zeal to glorify the Lord in every facet and component of this life. 

For instance, the one who is on that path of cross-bearing self-denial, they recognize their need to cultivate daily, a true spirit of humility. He’s continually seeking to put himself last and to put others first. He’s continually striving, Philippians 2:3, “with humility of mind,” to “regard others as more important than himself.” Continually striving, Philippians 2:4, to remember that he is not to be “merely looking out for [his] own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” He’s striving to cultivate, Philippians 2:5, this “way of thinking” because it is the way of thinking “which was also in Christ Jesus.”

In other words, the cross-bearing self-denier isn’t simply trying to cut things out of his life. It’s not just about deprival cookies and calories and late-night scrolling. No. He’s aiming much higher. He’s seeking, with the Lord’s help, to eradicate his self-centered desires. He’s seeking, with the Lord’s help, to put off all vestiges of his old, self-centered ways. He’s reflecting on and meditating on the words of Paul, in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” He recognizes that the feet of his Master, the Lord Jesus, they mark his own path. That the cross of Christ is not only his source of hope but the very pattern and templet for his life. 

So, again the “big idea” that’s being communicated to the disciples, the Twelve, in this passage, is this one in verse 23, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” 
And then, flowing out of that idea, are these three additional statements from the Lord, in verses 24-26. If you’re a notetaker, here’s our second point:

THE CONUNDRUM
Look at verse 24, it says, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” Now, again, immediate context here, is that Jesus has just informed the Twelve that He’s going to die. That He’s not long for this world. That His life is soon to be cut short. That He’s about to be “killed.” Again, the immediate context here is that He’s calling His disciples to emulate Him. To deny themselves as He would deny Himself. To take up their crosses – spiritually speaking, as He would take one – physically speaking. Well here, in verse 24, as the Lord continued to impart these words of wisdom and truth to these men, He summoned them again to follow Him and to emulate Him. To do so in the ultimate sense by being willing to lose their lives for Him. And to lose their lives, in order to save them. “For whoever wishes to save his life [He says] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”
Life and death. I mean, it doesn’t get any more serious or real than that. Right? With these words what Jesus is doing, is He’s ratcheting up even further, what it means to walk that life-long path of cross-bearing self-denial.

Now, right away you’ll note that the Lord uses the word “save” here in verse 24. Of course, in our 21st century Evangelical way of thinking we come across this word, “save”, and our minds go, right away, to individual, personal salvation. Right? That’s typically how we, in our modern Christian circles, think of that word – “save” or “saved.” “I got saved.” “He got saved.” “She got saved.” “Praise God, we’re saved by the blood of Christ.” Right? But that word “save” sozo in Greek, has a broader range of meaning than only the common way we think about it, as being rescued or delivered from our sins. That word “save” can also mean “preserve” or “protect.” In the context of this passage here in verse 24, I really think that’s what the Lord is referring to. I don’t think the Lord is using this “save his life” language to refer to someone who already is saved and now he’s trying to prevent himself from losing his salvation by being more devoted to Jesus Christ. I don’t think Jesus is going back on His own words, in places like John 10:27-28, where He says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish – ever; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” Nor do I think that Jesus here is preaching some sort of Evangelistic Gospel message where He’s calling the unsaved around Him, to give their life to Him, to be saved. Again, He’s speaking here, in context, to the Twelve, who at this point at least, had shown themselves to be faithful followers. Confused followers at times. Doubting followers at times. One who would betray Him later, we know that. But to this point, they’re showing themselves to be His faithful followers. 

So, the word that the Lord uses here, in that expression “save his life”, it can, more broadly mean “preserve” his life “protect” his life. And for that reason, I don’t think He’s referring here exclusively in salvific terms. I think He’s using the term more broadly. He’s saying to His disciples, to the Twelve “Don’t hold anything back from Me.” “Give it all to Me, as your Lord.” “Don’t seek to shelter or protect or preserve little pockets of your life, and keep them away from Me.” “Let it all go.” “Give it to Me.” That interpretation lines up better with the way that Jesus’ words in this scene are paralleled in other Gospel accounts. You can jot down: Luke 17:33, “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” Matthew 10:39, “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” Boiled down, what is Jesus conveying in each of those statements? Well, what He’s saying in a few different ways is, again, is that His disciples, His followers are called to live lives of cross-bearing self-denial. He’s saying to His followers, “Don’t make this life about this life.” “Rather, be willing to lose sight of yourself, and of this world.” “Be willing to deny yourself in every respect.” “Be willing to let go of long-held plans, and long-dreamed dreams.” “Be willing to forego how you thought your life would go.” “Be willing to divert your attention from focusing on this world instead, to the world that is to come.”

Jim Elliot, many of you know the name, was the famous missionary to Ecuador in the early 1950’s, who was killed by members of the Auca tribe, the people he was trying to reach with the Gospel. And Elliot said it so well, when he said, “He is no fool who loses what he cannot keep – to keep what he cannot lose.”  Amen. You can’t keep any part of this life. You can’t take it with you. You can’t keep the skin and the bones which are holding together your vital organs right now. You can’t keep your hair. You can’t keep your hairline. You can’t keep your teeth. You can’t keep your jawline. As you get older, you can’t keep your balance, and you can’t keep your thoughts from drifting away and escaping you. And you can’t keep your heart from beating one more stroke than the number of strokes God has appointed for it to beat. You can’t keep any of it. And just as sure as you can’t keep any of those things at the same time, you can’t lose your fixed and sure salvation, if you’ve put your faith in Jesus Christ. Remember the words of Paul in Romans 8:35, when he says, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction, or turmoil, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” Then, a few verses later, in verse 38, he says, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So, knowing those realities about the fleeting nature of this life, this 70- or 80-year pit stop on the way to glory Jesus here was saying that His followers, to the Twelve: Don’t focus your energies on this life. Don’t cling to this life. Don’t keep one foot in this life, as you look to the life to come. Don’t attach yourself to this life. Don’t get swallowed up with this life. Don’t lose yourself in this life. Instead, live for the life to come. Yearn for the life to come. Be like Paul, who said in Philippians 1:21, “for to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Invest in the life to come, Matthew 6:19, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.” Don’t lose out on gain, eternally. Don’t lose out on eternal rewards, because you have been clinging so tightly to this life. That’s the meaning of the first part of verse 24 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it.” Instead, be the one who holds very loosely to the things of this world to reap eternal rewards in glory “but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it” deserve it. 

You know, this whole section of Luke’s Gospel, as I’ve been studying it all week it reminds me of the lyrics to the hymn – “Jesus I My Cross Have Taken.” It was written in 1825, by a man named Henry Francis Lyte. 

“Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou, from hence, my all shall be!
Perish every fond ambition,
All I’ve sought, and hoped, and known;
Yet how rich is my condition,
God and heaven are still my own!

Let the world despise and leave me;
They have left my Savior, too;
Human hearts and looks deceive me;
Thou art not, like them, untrue;
And while thou shalt smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate, and friends may shun me;
Show thy face, and all is bright!

Go then, earthly fame and treasure!
Come, disaster, scorn, and pain!
In thy service, pain is pleasure;
With thy favor, loss is gain.”

Don’t hesitate to give all of your life to Jesus Christ. Give every pocket and corner of the life He’s given, to Him the One who died for you. The One who bled for you. The One who is preparing an eternal home for you. Resolve to let go of the things that the world. “Go then, earthly fame and treasure!” Resolve to kill every thought about getting too comfortable in this life. Fill your minds regularly, with glorious truths about God and Christ and salvation and the world to come. Don’t fear the opinions of others. Don’t fret over the comments you’re going to receive. If the world thinks you’re strange if your psychologist thinks you’re a nut if your neighbor who attends the liberal church in town, thinks you’re a weirdo so what, so be it. 

“Let the world despise and leave me;
They have left my Savior, too;
Human hearts and looks deceive me;
Thou art not, like them, untrue.”

I John 2:17, “The world is passing away” it says, “but the one who does the will of God abides forever.”

Speaking of the world, we’ll move onto verse 25, and this is our third point:

THE COST
Look at verse 25, “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?” Now, similar to what we just saw in verse 24, Jesus here is laying out another contrast, as He’s highlighting the folly of investing heavily in this brief and temporary and fleeting life this world,
I John 2:17, which is “passing away”, to the detriment of investing in things eternal. Jesus here is saying He’s warning about being so committed to striving after the things of the world, and to yearn so deeply after the things of the world that you’re “gaining” all, or so it seems but it’s actually a net loss. It profits you nothing. It profits you nothing if you take your eyes off the eternal prize if you’ve lost sight of your eternal glorious inheritance if you’ve neglected to store up your treasure in heaven. 

Jesus would actually expand on this very thought, in Luke 12. In fact, go ahead and turn with me to Luke 12, we’ll look at verse 13. This is what’s often called the Parable of the Rich Fool. Which is building on our text here in verse 25 of Luke 9. Luke 12:13, “And someone from the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’” So, this parable we’re about to read is actually couched in a true account of an actual financial dispute between members of an actual family. Verse 14, “But He said to him, ‘Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?’ “Sort of an interesting statement, because this is the God-Man who is literally the Judge over all the earth. But I digress. Verse 15, “Then He said to them, ‘Watch out and be on your guard against every form of greed, for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.’ And He told them a parable, saying, ‘The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops? Then he said, “This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool” Now, note that. This man is pictured, up to verse 19, as sort of cashing in his chips, and mailing it in. He’s living off the fat of the land and the way this reads, he’s awfully proud of himself. He is really blessed by how he views how much success he’s had but it doesn’t matter, his assessment no value, no meaning, it’s God’s. Look at verse 20 again. But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you prepared?’ So is the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Back to our text – Luke 9:25. Jesus is conveying the same principle of that parable in condensed form, when He says, “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?” If you’re in Christ the way that these twelve disciples were, eleven, when we exclude Judas. The question of your eternal destiny, heaven or hell, that’s already been answered. That question has already been settled. Your eternal destiny has already been re-routed. 

But there’s still this question. Having placed your faith in Christ. Having been made new in Christ. Having a citizenship, Philippians 3:20, which is in heaven. The question you must ask yourself, and check yourself on and I’m no different, I have to ask myself this question too. The question is: am I living like it? Am I living in light of my identity? Am I living like one who is headed for glory? Or am I living like one whose thoughts of heaven and eternity and glory are being clouded out by my love for the world? That’s the challenge that Jesus was throwing down to His disciples here to refuse to make this pilgrimage through their life, as being all about “gaining the whole world.” That is a good reminder for us, as we contemplate what God’s Word says about the world. The circumstances, the world in which we live. I Corinthians 1:20, “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” James 4:4, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity toward God?” I John 2:15, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” And then, we have these words in verse 25 of our passage – “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?”

If I could distil this down to a pithy statement of sorts, it’s better to be a beggar with an open Bible who drinks deeply from the truths of God’s Word. Who is abiding in Christ, who is growing in grace, who is walking in the Spirit, and he’s doing so from a shack, or a shelter, or even the gutter; than it is to be a wealthy lover of the world who claims to love Christ but who has no abiding relationship with the Lord. Who is spiritually stagnant, whose Bible is collecting dust, who, at best, can lift a few stale statements from scripture that he learned back in the third grade, in Awana. Who, when pressed, would probably have to admit that the comforts of this world and the comforts of this life have overtaken and dulled his vision of glory, and satiated his hunger to be with the Lord. 

God wasn’t impressed with the Tower of Babel. God wasn’t impressed with Pharoah’s riches in Egypt. God wasn’t impressed with Paul’s credentials as a “Pharisee of Pharisees.” God is not impressed with our resumes, or diplomas, or titles, or garages full of toys, or piles of treasure in this life. One day, when we stand before Him, we’re each going to have to give an account to Him for whatever He’s blessed us with whether that was little or much. He is going to ask each one of us, at the judgment seat of Christ, II Corinthians 5, “What did you do with it all?” “And not just with your wealth or your treasure.” “Not just with your power and your rank and your honors.”  “Not just with your enjoyments and achievements and satisfactions.” “But with your entire life?” 
In Job, we learn, naked we come into this world, and naked we go out. And one day, we’ll stand before the Lord, and He’ll ask: “Well, what do you have to show for it?” Verse 25, “What does it [profit a man], if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?” Reading on, we see these next words from Jesus to the Twelve, verse 26, where the Lord said, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”

If you’re a notetaker, the fourth point is:

THE CONSEQUENCE
I often think of this passage Luke 9:26, when I think of one of my major Evangelistic flubs as a new Believer. I remember I made a late-night grocery store run one night many years ago, in California, for my then pregnant wife, Jenna. I got to the store; I got whatever it was I was supposed to get. I came back to the truck I was driving at the time; and when I got back to my truck, it was probably past eleven or so at night. There was this sharp tapping on my window; one of those taps that causes your heart to jump out of your throat, especially at eleven o’clock at night; especially in California. Well, for some reason, I found it be wise to roll my window down, and there was this man standing outside my window; and apparently, he had noticed that the truck I was driving at the time had a hitch on it. And he was wondering if I might be willing to follow him back to his property to help him move a trailer from one side of his property to the other side of his property. And here I am, with a family and a wife who’s pregnant, carrying another one of our children. It’s past eleven, it’s southern California; and for some reason, I say, sure! Sounds like a great idea. So, I followed him back to his house, I did the favor he had asked me to help him with. We got his trailer moved, and the man expressed his gratitude. He asked if there was anything he could do for me, and I said “no.” And then, I will never forget this, this is the memory that burns in my mind; he stopped me, before I drove away, and said “Hey, why did you help me? Why did you say yes?” 
Now, this is why it’s an Evangelistic flub. This was the perfect opportunity for me to say, as a newer follower of Jesus, who is basking in the glow of this amazing love and forgiveness I’ve received from God the Father - through Jesus Christ; that I want to show my love to someone else, in light of the love that’s been shown me, by God – through Christ, and wouldn’t you love to hear about it tonight? Can I share with you for fifteen, twenty minutes about my Savior? That’s what I ought to have done. But instead, when he asked me that question, “Hey, why did you help me?” I ignored it. I pretended like I didn’t hear it, actually. I remember saying something it was either one of the two, either, “See you later!” “Or bye.” I don’t remember the exact words. 

I’ve thought a lot about that episode ever since. I’ve thought about it simply from the standpoint of a lost Evangelistic opportunity. I’ve thought of that man many times over the years. Can’t picture his face, but I’ve prayed for him. Hoping somebody would be bold to share the Gospel with him, as wasn’t that night. But when I’ve thought about that episode, I’ve actually, especially in my earlier years as a new Believer I’ve thought of this passage, Luke 9:26, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and the holy angels.” I have wondered, especially as a newer Believer, with less familiarity about what the Bible teaches as a whole. I’ve wondered if because I failed so miserably that night because I failed to open my mouth and share the hope of hopes with this man because I was embarrassed, because I felt a little ashamed. I’ve wondered if Christ will one day, reject me. I’ve wondered if I’m going to have that terrifying Matthew 7 type moment, where He says, “depart from Me, I never knew you.” “You failed that one night, in that parking lot, in Orange California, in 20-whatever it was, I never knew you.”

I don’t think that way anymore. And I don’t think that way, because we have to balance Jesus’ words here in Luke 9:26 against other statements He made, in God’s Word about His security of the Believer. John 6:37, “The one who comes to Me [says Jesus] I will never cast out.” John 10:28, He says to His followers, “I give eternal life to them [referring to His sheep], and they will never perish – ever; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

So, Jesus, here in Luke 9:26, He’s not threatening to expel actual children of God from the family of God from being disobedient one or two times or a handful of times, there’s no number put in here to His charge to go proclaim His name and to advance the Gospel. That would be inconsistent with the New Testament as a whole. It is also not even supported by the words themselves in verse 26. Note that Jesus didn’t say here that “the Son of Man will be done with.” or “the Son of Man will cast out.” Or “the Son of Man is going to forever reject.” those who are ashamed of Him in a moment of weakness. No. He said, “Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him.” He’s communicating to His disciples, in this scene, a very simple exhortative type of charge; He’s saying: “Don’t be ashamed of Me.” “Stop being ashamed of Me.” “Because when you are ashamed of Me, I will be ashamed of you.” That’s the farthest we can go with this. You know, to kind of bolster the point, Paul said to Timothy, in II Timothy 1:8, he said, “Do not be ashamed of the witness about our Lord.” 

Now, does anybody ever ask the question, when Paul said to Timothy – “Do not be ashamed of the witness about our Lord.”  Is that Paul questioning Timothy’s salvation? Is he saying to Timothy, “You know, Timothy, I’m not sure you’re a Believer now, because you got timid and scared one time.” No. He’s giving the charge to Timothy, his protégé,  “Don’t be timid” “Don’t wimp out” “Don’t back down” “Be bold and courageous” “Speak up for the Christ who saved you.” Tell others about Him. Don’t give Him a reason, when He comes again “in the glory of [His] the Father and of the holy angels” to be ashamed of you, because you were ashamed to go public with Him. 

Alright. We’ve considered four of these different aspects of walking down that path of self-denial. We’ve looked at THE CONSECRATION, THE CONUMDRUM, THE COST, and THE CONSEQUENCE. Now, with a few moments left, and yes, that’s by design; we get to this fifth one, verse 27, “But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God.”
Point number five is this:

THE CLIFFHANGER
This final verse, verse 27 begins with a word of contrast, it says, “But I say to you truthfully.” That’s this emphatic transition, like when Jesus says elsewhere, “You have heard it said but I say to you” or “Truly, truly, I say to you.” He’s doing something similar here. “But I say to you truthfully.” And then, comes this, He says: “There are some of those standing here.” And by that, He’s referring to faithful ones. Those who have denied themselves. Those who have taken up their cross daily to follow Him. Those who have consciously lost their life here on earth for His sake. Those who haven’t sought to gain the whole world. Those who haven’t been ashamed of Him and His Words. There are some of those types of people standing here. Then, here comes the line that’s been debated for centuries, “There are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God.”

What in the world? What’s that referring to? How could it be said that there were those standing right there in Jesus’ presence some 2,000 years ago. How could it be said that they wouldn’t “taste death until they see the Kingdom of God”? Doesn’t the kingdom come later? Like much later? Haven’t we already established in our study of Luke, up to this point, that even where we sit, in the year 2026? That the kingdom hasn’t even materialized? It has not come? So, how could it be that these disciples from 2,000 years ago, wouldn’t “taste death until they see the Kingdom of God”? 

Well, you’re going to have to wait until next week that’s why it’s a “cliffhanger.” But I’ll give you a little hint. There is a reason why Luke includes his account of Jesus’ Transfiguration right after those words. 
Let’s Pray.