The Necessity of the Cross, Part 2
Matthew 16:24-27
We come today to the end of Matthew 16. This chapter records a truly pivotal point in the account of our Lord’s earthly ministry. Simon Peter had declared the fundamental truth about the identity of Jesus, confessing, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). Jesus confirmed his confession, saying, “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 16:17). This led to Jesus declaring to Simon, “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” Matt. 16:18). Thus we saw in Matthew 16:18-20 the church’s foundation, builder, victory, and authority.
Matthew then tells us that Jesus gave His disciples the most shocking news: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” (Matt. 16:21). Jesus taught that the cross was a divine necessity. He “must” suffer, be killed, and rise again. It was the Father’s set purpose for Him.
Yet, due to their mistaken expectations, the disciples struggled to understand this truth. Peter even found the idea so intolerable that he dared to pull Jesus aside to rebuke Him. Like the devil, Peter offered Christ the crown without the cross, success without sacrifice, promises without pain. But Jesus rejected the devil’s way and man’s way, and He chose instead God’s way (Matt. 16:23)—the way of the cross. The cross was necessary because it was the will of the Father. It was necessary to save sinners. It was necessary to build His church. It was necessary to purify His bride. It was necessary for the fulfillment of the kingdom of heaven. It was necessary for the glory of God. Thus, Jesus was laser-focused on going to the cross.
And it was then that Jesus turned to His bewildered disciples and called them to do the same, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). If they wanted to follow Him, they also would need to go the way of the cross. The way of the cross was necessary for Jesus, and it is necessary for His disciples. And His disciples include not just the twelve. It is “anyone desires to come after” Jesus. “Not only is Jesus Himself determined to go forward in a path which leads to suffering and death, undeterred by Peter’s remonstrance, and not only must His twelve disciples be willing to follow in such a path, but this holds true of any and every one who wishes to be his follower at all.”[1]
What does it look like to come after Him—to follow Him? What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? That is what Jesus teaches us in this passage today. Jesus is not so much teaching us the conditions of salvation, but the consequences of salvation. He is telling us the cost that comes when you are a disciple of Jesus. We know that the whole New Testament declares that we are saved by God’s grace through believing in Jesus. Christ has paid in full the debt of our sins on the cross, and He is alive today to give forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who believe in Him. Salvation is the gift of God. Redemption is free to us because Christ paid for it with His own blood on the cross. In that sense, being a disciple of Jesus costs us nothing. We do not deserve it, and we cannot earn it. We simply receive it as a gift by the open hand of faith. But in another sense, being a disciple costs us everything. We receive it freely, but it comes with consequences.
Have you ever talked with unbelievers about Christ, explained the gospel message, and urged them to trust Christ to receive God’s gift of salvation—only to have them turn it down? And in their case, it wasn’t because they didn’t understand the truth of the gospel message. It wasn’t because they had some intellectual questions or doubts. It wasn’t because they experienced bad things from the church. No. For them, they didn’t believe in Christ because they knew where following Christ would lead, and they didn’t want to go there. They knew that if they believed in Jesus Christ—because Jesus is Lord, and He is Holy—He would lead them to give up things in their life that they wanted to keep, to change in ways they wouldn’t want to, or to suffer things they wished to avoid. And therefore, they considered the cost too great. Like the rich young ruler, they walked away from the treasure of Christ to hold onto the trinkets of this world.
In this morning’s passage, Jesus confronts us with the cost of being His disciple. Those who wish to follow Him must follow Him by way of the cross. Jesus teaches us of the necessity of the cross. The way of discipleship is the way of the cross. In Matthew 16:24 we will see three demands of discipleship, what it will cost to come after Jesus. Then in Matthew 16:25-27 we will see three reasons for discipleship, why it will be worth it to follow Jesus.
First, we see …
1. The Demands of Discipleship (Matt. 16:24)
Having rebuked Peter for trying to dissuade Him from the cross, in Matthew 16:24, Jesus turned and spoke to all the disciples, saying, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” The demands of discipleship are for “anyone” who “desires to come after Me.” The word “desires” means more than is wishful. It is determined and constant exercise of the will.[2] The following demands of discipleship are not optional for disciples. They are for all who are willing to come and follow Jesus.
The first demand is …
A. Deny Yourself
Jesus says, ““If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” (Matt. 16:24). The word “deny” is a very strong one. It means to completely renounce or utterly disown. It’s the same word that describes Peter denying that he even knew Jesus after His arrest (Matt. 26:34,75). When Jesus says that we must deny ourselves, He isn’t simply speaking of a minor act of denying ourselves something that we want—like a bowl of ice-cream after dinner.[3] Nor is He saying to merely deny some portion, fault, habit, desire, or outward practice.[4] He is speaking of nothing less than utterly to deny and renounce our very “selves”.
To deny yourself means that you are done with yourself. You are done with your ways and your wants. Your thoughts, your ambitions, and your feelings all take second place to Jesus. You have surrendered your will to Jesus. What matters now is not yourself, because you have denied yourself. What matters now is the One whom you follow.[5]
This demand from Jesus is completely opposite to the ideology that our modern culture promotes. The progressive philosophy is that the “self” is the highest possible authority—higher than science, logic, social benefit, and even God. People insist they can determine their own reality and if you hinder them, or even disagree, they condemn you for violating their “self”. Self-worship is the wellspring of the immorality, corruption, and decadence that plague our world.
In a world dominated by self-preservation, self-esteem, self-congratulation, and self-promotion, Jesus demands that we deny ourselves. The world says, “Affirm yourself”, but Jesus says, “Deny yourself”. You can either affirm yourself and deny Jesus, or you can affirm Jesus and deny yourself.[6]
The first demand of discipleship is to deny yourself. The second is …
B. Take Up Your Cross
Jesus said, “let him … take up his cross.” (Matt 16:24). When a person took up a cross in Jesus’ day, that meant only one thing. It meant that person was going to their death. Crucifixion was a common form of capital punishment in the Roman empire. Many Jews had seen hundreds of people crucified. The condemned were, in an act of public humiliation, made to carry their own cross to the place of execution. Many times, people verbally abused and assaulted the cross-bearers along the way. Jesus started out carrying His cross to Golgotha (John 19:17).
So what does Jesus mean when He says to take up your cross? To take up your cross is to go to your death. It means you are like a condemned man on his way to execution. You are willing to suffer every humiliation, insult, and abuse for the name of Jesus Christ. It would means we deny ourselves even to the point of death—just as Jesus did for us. Peter later writes about suffering for Christ, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.” (1 Pet. 2:21). To take up your cross means, as Paul wrote, “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). For he said, “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.” (Gal. 2:20).
Sometimes, when you hear people say, “This is my cross to bear,” they are talking about their health, their spouse, their children, or some kind burden they face. These things may be real challenges in a Christian’s life, but they are not crosses. One pastor writes, “Circumstances may be painful like a cross, and they may be a burden like a cross, but they themselves are not crosses, for a cross is something that is to be picked up willingly. A cross is something that requires us to deny our way of doing things and to choose God’s way of doing things. It is saying no to our stubborn will and surrendering to God’s sovereign will. Tough circumstances provide plenty of opportunities to pick up our cross, but the circumstance itself is not a cross, it’s only an opportunity to choose one.”[7]
Dr. P.P. Job (1945-2012) was known as the “Billy Graham of India.” He faced severe persecution for preaching Christ. Hindu militants in India failed in an attempt on Job’s life in 1999, but in June of that year they killed his 21-year old son, Michael, by running him down with a car near the medical school where he was studying to become a doctor. In his book, Why God, Why?, Dr. Job tells this story of taking up the cross:
About 150 years ago, there was a great revival in Wales, England. As a result of this, many missionaries came from England to northeast India to spread the Gospel. The region was known as Assam and comprised hundreds of tribes. The tribal communities were quite primitive and aggressive. The tribesmen were also called head-hunters because of a social custom which required the male members of the community to collect as many heads as possible. A man’s strength and ability to protect his wife was assessed by the number of heads he had collected. Therefore, a youth of marriageable age would try and collect as many heads as possible and hang them on the walls of his house. The more heads a man had, the more eligible he was considered. Into this hostile and aggressive community, came a group of Welsh missionaries spreading the message of love, peace, and hope of Jesus Christ. Naturally, they were not welcomed. One Welsh missionary finally succeeded in converting a man, his wife, and two children. This man’s faith proved contagious and many villagers began to accept Christianity. Angry, the village chief summoned all the villagers. He then called the family who had first converted to renounce their faith in public or face execution. Moved by the Holy Spirit, the man sung his reply, “I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back.”
Enraged at the refusal of the man, the chief ordered his archers to arrow down the two children. As both boys lay twitching on the floor, the chief asked, “Will you deny your faith? You have lost both your children. You will lose your wife too.”
But the man replied, again singing, “Though none go with me, still I will follow. No turning back.”
The chief was beside himself with fury and ordered his wife to be arrowed down. In a moment she joined her two children in death. Now he asked for the last time, “I will give you one more opportunity to deny your faith and live.”
In the face of death the man sung, “The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back. No turning back.”[8]
This is the demand of discipleship. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and …
C. Follow Jesus
To come after Jesus, to be His disciple means following Him. This means that we must imitate Him. We must go where He goes, and act as He acts, and walk as He walked. It means that we must obey His commands, and keep faithful to His instructions. If Jesus is your Lord, you do what He says.
Disciples of Jesus follow Jesus. And where is Jesus going? The way of the cross. The way of self-denial, suffering, and death. You cannot follow Jesus without going the way of the cross. Paul wrote, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (2 Tim. 3:12). Discipleship demands that you deny yourself and be willing even to die for the sake of obedience to Christ.
Obviously, that means that if the day comes that you must suffer or die for Christ, you need not think something went wrong but know that it is the way of following Christ. We need to remove from our thinking the idea that if we are obeying Christ, everything will go smoothly. Following Christ comes with cost.
At this point you might be thinking, “Wow! Those are some pretty strong demands of discipleship. If this is what it means to be a follower of Jesus, why would anyone want to?”
So next, Jesus tells us why being His disciple is worth denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following Him.
2. The Reasons for Discipleship (Matt. 16:25-27)
In the next three verses, Jesus gives us three reasons why you should accept these demands and follow Him on the way of the cross. You can recognize these reasons in the text because they all start with the word “for”. The first reason is …
A. Your life depends on it (Matt. 16:25)
Jesus says in Matthew 16:25, “For whoever desires to save his life will loose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” The contrast here is between your temporary life on this earth and your eternal life in the kingdom of heaven. If you try to save your life by living for yourself and for your own goals or desires, you will end up losing it in eternity. But if you lose your life for Jesus, if you deny yourself and follow Christ, you will find it in eternity.
The bible give us many examples of this spiritual principle. In Luke 16, Jesus tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man lived for Himself upon the earth. He “was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day” (Luke 16:19). Though he had an abundance, he was wicked and ignored the poor, sick beggar at his gate. And where did it land him? It landed him in torment in Hades (Luke 16:23). Contrast him with another rich man in Luke 19 named Zacchaeus (Luke 19:2). When Jesus came to his house, Zacchaeus was transformed by faith in Christ, saying, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” (Luke 19:8). He lost his life. And Jesus said about him, “Today salvation has come to this house … for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:9-10).
The rich young ruler came to Jesus, seeking eternal life. When Jesus told him that it would cost him his life and his riches to follow him, “he went away sorrowful” and refused to follow Jesus (Matt. 19:22). For all we know, he saved his life upon the earth, with earthly goods and treasures, but he lost it in eternity. Contrast this with Moses. Hebrews 11 says, “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.” (Heb. 11:24-26). Moses lost his life upon the earth, but he gained his life in eternity. In Matthew 17, at the transfiguration, we find that Moses is alive and with Jesus.
Why should you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus? First, because your life depends on it. Second, because …
B. Your soul is precious (Matt. 16:26)
“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:26).
These are rhetorical questions. They are left unanswered because the answers are so obvious. What good is it if you gain the whole world and yet forfeit your soul? The answer is, “No good at all!” You could gain everything, you could have more money, wealth and power than any other human being who has ever lived, and it means absolutely nothing if you lose your life or your soul in the process. And then, what can you give in exchange for your soul? Nothing! Nothing is as valuable as your soul.
Think about King Solomon as he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. He was extremely rich. He was very intelligent. Nothing ever got in the way of his pursuits. He pursued every pleasure (Ecc. 2:1-2), alcohol (Ecc. 2:3), material wealth (Ecc. 2:4-8a), entertainment (Ecc. 2:8b), and sexual pleasure (Ecc. 2:8c). He said, “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure” (Ecc. 2:10). And in the end, he concluded, “indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.” (Ecc. 2:11). This is what Jesus is saying. The whole world is not enough to exchange for your soul.
Why should you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus? First, because your life depends on it. Second, because your soul is precious. And third, because …
C. The reward is priceless (Matt. 16:27)
“For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.” (Matt. 16:27). When Christ returns, there will be a judgment. He will reward each person according to what he has done. You will be judged on how you lived your life, whether you lived for self or lived for God.
When Christ returns, the time of suffering for His followers will be over. All those who followed Christ in the way of the cross will now follow Him into glory. In this life, they carried their cross. In eternity, they wear a crown. Colossians 3 says,
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:1-4).
Yes, obedience to Christ may cost you everything, even your own life, but on the day of judgment, you will have no regrets. Throughout eternity, you’ll never regret having joyfully taken up your cross to follow Christ. Every ounce of suffering will be well worth it and more.
Jesus even gives Peter, James, and John a glimpse of that glory six days later in the transfiguration, letting them see clearly that all of His promises are true. I believe that’s what Jesus means when He says in Matthew 16:28, “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Jesus is real. He really came. He really died for sinners. He really rose again. He really is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He really will come again to judge the world. Every knee will bow before Him. And this same Jesus gives eternal life to all who believe in Him. The bible says we have all sinned and rebelled against our Maker, and consequently, we stand condemned before God. But Christ paid our sin debt in full at the cross. Will you repent and believe in Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose from the dead on the third day? God will credit Christ’s perfect righteousness to you. His death will atone for your sins. You will be forgiven, redeemed, adopted, and born-again as a child of God and heir of eternal life. That is a glorious invitation.
Come to Jesus for eternal life. You can receive it freely by faith. Come to Jesus because your life depends on it, your soul is most precious, and the reward is priceless. Come, realizing it will demand from you everything, even your own life. Yet with Christ, it is worth it all. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Rom. 8:18). “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,” (2 Cor. 4:17). Jesus said, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” (Matt. 5:12).
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[1] John A. Broadus, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, American Commentary on the New Testament (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1886), 365.
[2] Vincent and Vines Word Studies quoted on Precept Austin Matthew Commentary, https://www.preceptaustin.org/matthew-16-commentary#16:24
[3] Greg Allen, Come Along – and Don’t Forget Your Cross!, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2007/070807.htm
[4] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 643.
[5] Steve Brandon, You Must Take Up Your Cross, https://sermons.rvbc.cc/sermons/2004-016
[6] Ray Fowler, True Discipleship, https://www.rayfowler.org/sermons/matthew/true-discipleship/
[7] Josh Black, Salvation and Abundant Life Through Cross-Bearing, https://www.firstfreewichita.org/download/455
[8] Leon Stier, Hymns, https://emailmeditations.com/2014/08/23/499-the-story-behind-the-song-i-have-decided-to-follow-jesus/
