Biblical Talks

This is a spotlight on the Scriptures: Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24 Jesus just got through explaining his death and resurrection, now Jesus is explaining the mission of those who would follow him, in other words, discipleship: If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Many people interpret this verse, “Let him deny himself of alcohol” Let him deny himself of having fun or “Let him deny himself some luxury down here.” What this verse says is “Let him deny himself!” deny him deny self.  Beloved you already know that the hardest person in the world to deny is yourself. People don’t naturally wake up one morning and say, I can’t wait to deny myself today.  We typically wake up every morning, saying don’t bother me today. Beloved in order to experience the lordship and provision of Christ on earth, we must be willing to say “No” to ourselves. To deny myself of candy is hard enough, but to deny myself is difficult indeed. To deny myself is to put self out of the picture and to put Christ in the place of self. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Please notice, the text take up his cross, and follow me.” We are not to take up Christ's Cross but our own cross. There is a cross for you and a cross for me—that is, if we are going to follow Him. This is a spotlight on the Scriptures: