Kingdom Principle: Jesus, our Lord and Savior calls us to come and die in order that we might live. The call of Christ our King is to deny our self, pick up our cross, and follow him. This can only be done as we trust in his cross bearing work in and through us. Deny _________________ SelfLuke 9:23 (ESV) — 23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself…The self is never neutral. It is always seen in relation to its thoughts and impulses. And those thoughts and impulses are either corrupted by sin, or renewed in Christ.Romans 6:6 (ESV) — 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. The old (natural) man is ruled by his passions, unable to receive spiritual things and incapable of pleasing God. Colossians 3:5 (ESV) — 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you (what belongs to the old self): sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry…1 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV) — 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Romans 8:6–8 (ESV) — 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. “…let us not be deceived by man’s natural intelligence, which may shine in earthly matters, but is utterly darkened when it comes to heavenly wisdom… man is so perverted in every part of his nature that he is wholly blind and depraved. This is not because man’s natural faculties have been destroyed, but because they have been so corrupted that they can no longer be relied upon. His mind is blind and his heart is deceitful; his will is enslaved to evil desires. Whatever is of man’s own nature, apart from the grace of God, is unworthy and corrupt.” –John Calvin InstitutesPick Up ________________ CrossLuke 9:23 (ESV) — 23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.After a criminal’s condemnation, it was the custom for a victim to be scourged with the flagellum, a whip with leather thongs, which in our Lord’s case doubtless greatly weakened him and hastened eventual death. He was then made to carry the cross-beam (patibulum) like a slave to the scene of his torture and death, always outside the city, while a herald carried in front of him the ‘title’, the written accusation. It was this patibulum, not the whole cross, which Jesus was too weak to carry, and which was borne by Simon the Cyrenian. The condemned man was stripped naked, laid on the ground with the cross-beam under his shoulders, and his arms or his hands tied or nailed (Jn. 20:25) to it. This cross-bar was then lifted and secured to the upright post, so that the victim’s feet, which were then tied or nailed, were just clear of the ground, not high up as so often depicted. The main weight of the body was usually borne by a projecting peg (sedile), astride which the victim sat. There the condemned man was left to die of hunger and exhaustion. Jesus’ point in calling us to pick up our cross, is that the life of the Christian is never intended to be glorious, in this world. Follow ____________________ SaviorLuke 9:23 (ESV) — 23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
