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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Luke 9:23 - 9:27
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The cross-bearing of the disciples:
v. 23. And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
v. 24. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it.
v. 25. For what is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose himself, or be cast away?
v. 26. For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when He shall come in His own glory and in His Father's and of the holy angels.
v. 27. But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God.
Christian discipleship is not all receiving and rejoicing, it involves also work and sacrifice. He that believes on Christ and wants to follow Him must deny his natural self, must give up his own natural wishes, desires, and inclinations, and must patiently take upon himself all the sufferings and hardships which his confession of Christ will bring upon him. That is the Christian's cross, not a physical one like Christ's, but none the less real and burdensome. The Lord explains the necessity. He that wants to save His life, the life in this world with its pleasures, he will lose the true life for all eternity; for the only real life is that in communion with Christ. But he that denies his old sinful self for the sake of Christ, crucifies his flesh with all lusts and desires, he will find and save his soul, he will possess it as an eternal gain, he will have eternal life as his reward of grace. For what gain has a person if he bring the whole world into his possession, but in doing so destroys himself and brings damnation upon himself? The entire world with all its glories and riches cannot outweigh the value of a single soul. Knowing this, the true disciples of Christ will deny themselves and also the world. Every man's heart is attached to the treasures, the joys, the delights of this world. And therefore denial of self includes denial of the world. Whosoever here in this world has served the world, has been a slave of the lusts of the world, will receive the judgment of damnation on the last day. Of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He returns in all His glory with all His holy angels. But those that in this life served Christ faithfully, and proved their faith by denial of self and of the world, will enter into that glory which God has prepared for them that love Him. But to His apostles Jesus solemnly says that there are some of them that will not taste of death, will not be taken away by death before they have seen the kingdom of God. The day when God poured out His wrath upon Jerusalem is the dawn of the coming of Christ in glory. And some of the apostles, like John, lived to see the destruction of Jerusalem, and thus became witnesses of the truth of Christ's words and of the inexorable punishment which comes upon those that deny Him.