BIBLE WAY MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH
DR. W.G (WILL) JACKSON, II, SENIOR PASTOR
BIBLE STUDY- October 16, 2024
“What Does It Mean To Bear Our Cross and Follow Jesus?!”
Luke 14:27 NKJV
27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
Luke 9:23-25 NKJV
23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angel.
Galatians 5:24 NKJV
24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Galatians 2:20 NKJV
20 I have been crucified with Christ; 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 for me.
Colossians 3:5-10 NKJV
5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,
7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,
10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
Bearing the Cross
What does it mean to bear our cross and follow Jesus? It means we have to die. We must die to ourselves and live to Christ. We must lose our own life and walk forward in His. We must turn from going our own way and go the way He wants us to go instead. If we are truly believers, this is something that should work itself out more and more in our lives over time.
R. C. Sproul, in his online article “Willing to Die”, offers the following helpful comments: “The cross was a means of execution; thus, Jesus calls us to die.” True discipleship puts our lives at risk–a foreign reality to Western believers, admittedly. Still, our values, goals, loves, and activities can and must paint the picture of a people who enduringly serve God’s kingdom, not the present world order.
John Calvin says that self-denial is extensive, calling us ‘to give up our natural inclinations, and part with all the affections of the flesh, and thus give our consent to be reduced to nothing, provided that God lives and reigns in us.’”
There is a real and true theological sense in which the believer's death to self happens positionally at salvation. When we trust in Christ we are crucified with Him.
It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us! And the life we now live in the flesh we must live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us.
So this death to self is a moment of salvation thing. And it is an every-day-after-that thing as well. Jesus says in Luke 9:23 that we must take up our cross daily.
We who belong to Christ Jesus crucified our sinful flesh when we came to Him for salvation, and because of this reality we must also continue to crucify our sinful passions and desires each and every day.
PRAYER
Lord, please grant me the grace I need to take up my cross daily…moment by moment…decision by decision…thought by thought. Help me remember that Jesus loves me and laid down His life for me. Help me live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I want to wake up every day reminding myself that He died for me and that I have been crucified with Him.
In Jesus' name, I pray,
Amen
