Chapter 66 and 67
DEATH OF SELF
Matthew 16:24-26
Before we begin our study let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We come before You in the Name of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Holy Father, please open our eyes, ears and heart so we can truly understand Your Word. Cause us to live the rest of our lives in reverence and obedience unto You and Your will for our lives. Please Lord God live Your life in and through us so that our sinful nature and self gratification would be put to death and the fruit of the Holy Spirit, will come forth from within us.
Amen
INTRODUCTION
We begin our study by reading from,
Matthew 16:21-23
[21] 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. [22] Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” [23] But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Let us now read the teaching Jesus gave to His disciples then and now to us,
Matthew 16:24-27
[24] Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. [25] For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. [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? [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.”
To expand the above teaching we will,
1. Briefly review the perfect example of Jesus Christ.
2. Review two Old Testament examples that illustrate Jesus’ teaching.
3. Review the spiritual reality about the loosing and gaining of one’s eternal life.
4. Review the teaching or instruction for us.
The first key verse in Jesus’ teaching is recorded in,
Matthew 16:24
[24] Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
To see what Jesus meant, we go to,
THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF JESUS CHRIST
As we read the New Testament, we come to realize that,
JESUS DID NOTHING OF HIMSELF
To see this let us read what Jesus once said as it was recorded in,
John 5:19
[19] Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.”
In other words,
JESUS NEVER SOUGHT AFTER HIS OWN WILL BUT ONLY THE WILL OF GOD THE FATHER
In fact, Jesus made it clear this was the whole reason why He came to earth. He said this after He explained to the people He was the true Bread from Heaven. To see this, let us read the following excerpt from what Jesus said as recorded in,
John 6:38
[38] For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
We also discovered that,
JESUS ONLY SPOKE WHAT THE FATHER TOLD HIM TO SPEAK
To see this let us read what Jesus once said to those who rejected Him as the promised Messiah. The passage of interest is in,
John 12:48-50
[48] “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. [49] For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. [50] And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
Last but not least as we read earlier,
JESUS CAME TO LAY DOWN HIS PHYSICAL/EARTHLY LIFE FOR US
Jesus revealed this to us when He compared Himself to the good shepherd. In this analogy Jesus teaches us it is the good shepherd who truly cares for the flock of sheep who are under his care. To read what Jesus said about laying down His life for His sheep, we go to,
John 10:17-18
[17] “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. [18] No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
The second key verse in Jesus’ teaching is,
Matthew 16:25
[25] For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
The question arises as to; “What did Jesus mean by this saying?” To find out we will briefly review,
TWO OLD TESTAMENT EXAMPLES
To illustrate what it means to gain or save one’s life and then only to lose it, our Old Testament example is,
KING SAUL
We begin by first reviewing God’s call for Saul to be the first king over the nation of Israel. To do this, we will read that it was God who told the prophet Samuel to anoint Saul as commander over the Israelites. This is recorded in,
1 Samuel 9:15-17
[15] Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came, saying, [16] “Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him commander over My people Israel, that he may save My people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to Me.” [17] So when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, “There he is, the man of whom I spoke to you. This one shall reign over My people.”
Let us read what Samuel did to anoint Saul as king of Israel.
1 Samuel 10:1
[1] Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him and said: “Is it not because the Lord has anointed you commander over His inheritance?
After pouring the oil upon Saul’s head, God, through the prophet Samuel, told Saul He will confirm his kingship with various signs. In addition, God said the Holy Spirit would come upon him.
Let us now read what Saul was commanded to do after he experienced all the signs God had promised to give him. To do this we go to,
1 Samuel 10:7-9
[7] And let it be, when these signs come to you, that you do as the occasion demands; for God is with you. [8] You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and surely I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, till I come to you and show you what you should do.” [9] So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day.
Let us notice the following verses,
8 … Saul was to go to Gilgal and wait seven days for Samuel to come to offer the burnt offerings and peace offerings to God.
With this background, let us now see how,
By taking matters into his own hands, Saul tried to gain his life
Throughout the early years of Saul’s reign over Israel he experienced great success in all he did. Unfortunately, after approximately two years into Saul’s kingship, the Philistines, Israel’s enemy, gathered together to fight against Saul and the Israelite army. To read what happened we go to,
1 Samuel 13:5-8
[5] Then the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. And they came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth Aven. [6] When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger (for the people were distressed), then the people hid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in holes, and in pits. [7] And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.
As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. [8] Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.
Let us notice the following verses,
6–7a … Upon seeing the huge Philistine army, the men of Israel were frightened. Consequently, they hid themselves and started to run away.
7b … Saul remained in Gilgal and the men following him were terrified of the Philistines. As you can imagine, the whole situation was filled with confusion and hysteria.
8 … As instructed, Saul waited seven days for Samuel to arrive and offer the required sacrifices to God. Unfortunately, Samuel did not arrive early enough for Saul and his army.
To read how Saul responded to this situation we go to,
1 Samuel 13:9-10
[9] So Saul said, “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering. [10] Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.
Upon seeing what was happening, Saul took matters into his own hands and offered to God the burnt offering. Let us not forget that in the Old Testament days only those chosen by God were permitted to offer Him sacrifices. In this particular instance only Samuel was permitted to offer God the required sacrifices. Upon completion of Saul’s burnt offering Samuel arrived at Gilgal.
Let us now read what Saul said to Samuel in,
1 Samuel 13:11-12
[11] And Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, [12] then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.”
Saul tried to justify himself as to why he took matters into his own hands and offered up the sacrifice to God. Considering the circumstances, Saul’s action seems like a very reasonable thing to do. It seems even more reasonable when we recognize that he was the king.
To read Samuel’s response we go to,
1 Samuel 13:13-14
[13] And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.[14] But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
Unfortunately, no matter how reasonable Saul’s decision seems to be, the fact remains that Saul did not follow God’s command. The consequence was that the kingdom would be taken away from him.
In addition to taking matters into his own hands,
Through self gratification, Saul tried gain/enhance his own life
Unfortunately, King Saul did not learn from the incident at Gilgal. We also read how King Saul walked in pride and self gratification. For example let us read what occurred when God sent Samuel to instruct Saul how He (God) was going to use Saul to punish the nation of Amalek. To read this we go to,
1 Samuel 15:2 – 6
[2] Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. [3] Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” [4] So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. [5] And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley. [6] Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
Let us notice the following verses,
3 … God specifically told Saul to destroy all that Amalek had. This included all the people and the flocks.
6 … Because the Kenites showed kindness to the Israelites, Saul extended mercy to them and saved them from the impending slaughter.
Let us now read about Saul’s attack upon Amalekites,
1 Samuel 15:7–9
[7] And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. [8] He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. [9] But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
Notice, King Saul attacked the Amalekites and destroyed all the people. However, he did not destroy their king, Agag. He also saved for himself the best animals from their flocks. It is noted that at this time in history, numerous good healthy flocks were signs of wealth and prosperity.
Given the above examples of King Saul’s disobedience to God’s will and commands, let us now review two consequences of his actions.
The first consequence was that,
Saul lost his life as king of Israel
After the incident with the nation of Amalek, God reiterated this consequence. To read what He said, we go to,
1 Samuel 15:10-11
[10] Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, [11] “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night.
After hearing from God, Samuel went to confront Saul. To read Saul’s response, we go to,
1 Samuel 15:24-25
[24] Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. [25] Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”
Saul admitted he was more concerned about pleasing the people under his command than he was for following the commands of the Lord. In addition, Saul asked Samuel to forgive him and go with him to worship the Lord. It is interesting that: Saul asked Samuel and not God to forgive him.
Let us read Samuel’s response as recorded in,
1 Samuel 15:26-29
[26] But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” [27] And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. [28] So Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. [29] And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”
Let us notice the following verses,
26 … Samuel told Saul that because he rejected the Word of the Lord, He rejected him as king of His people Israel. In addition, Samuel told Saul he would not go with him to worship God.
27 … When Samuel went to leave Saul, Saul tried to stop Samuel by grabbing a hold of Samuel’s robe and it tore.
28-29 … Samuel used the torn robe to reiterate God’s decision about tearing away the kingdom from Saul. In fact, Samuel also declared that this was God’s final decision and will not change His mind.
Let us now read Saul’s response in,
1 Samuel 15:30-31
[30] Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.” [31] So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.
Let us notice the following verses,
30a … Even after all this Saul was still very much concerned about his image and reputation before the people.
30b … Saul identified the Lord as Samuel’s God.
31 … Out of respect and pity for Saul, Samuel went with Saul to go and worship God.
The second consequence was that,
Saul also lost his life with the Holy Spirit
To see this let us read from,
1 Samuel 16:14
But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him.
The Old Testament example to illustrate the spiritual principle of losing our life and then gaining it is,
ABRAM (LATER RENAMED ABRAHAM)
The Bible tells us that after living in Haran for approximately five years1, Abram’s father, passed away. It was at this time God told Abram to leave Haran and go to the land of Canaan. To see this let us read from,
Genesis 12:1-4
[1] Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. [2] I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. [3] I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” [4] So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Let us notice the following verses,
1 … For Abram to leave Haran meant he had to leave his relatives, friends and the life he had in Haran.
2 … God promised to make Abram’s name great.
4 … Abraham obeyed God. Lot, Abram’s nephew, also went with Abram.
Within the Bible we find many instances when Abraham, to obey God’s command and direction, sacrificed his own desires and self interests.
The New Testament provides us with a good summary of Abraham’s faith in God and his love and devotion to Him. To read what it says let us go to,
Hebrews 11:8-10
[8] By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. ]9] By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; [10] for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Let us notice the following verse,
10 … All the while Abraham lived upon this earth he looked forward to the time he would live in the city whose builder and maker was God. In other words, Abraham’s eyes and heart were focused upon heavenly things.
Because of Abraham’s faithfulness, God gave to Abraham every blessing He promised him. For this study let us review just two of the many blessings Abraham received.
For the first blessing, let us recall God told Abraham He would make,
Abraham’s name to be great
To see that God fulfilled this promise let us reflect upon the observation that there are very few religious people, past and present, who do not know of Abraham. I cannot think of any major religion, Christian, Judaism, Islam, etc. who are not familiar with the name Abraham.
The second blessing was God’s promise to Abraham that,
All the families of the earth would be blessed through him
As we read the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-34 we quickly discover that the savior of mankind, Jesus Christ, came to earth through the physical lineage of Abraham. Thus, in Jesus Christ, God fulfilled His promise to Abraham that through him, all families of the earth would be blessed. To refresh our memory, we go to,
Galatians 3:26-29
[26] For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. [27] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Earlier we read that Abraham looked forward to the city whose builder and maker was God. This now brings us to the spiritual reality of Jesus’ teaching about losing and gaining of one’s life. Specifically, the spiritual reality is,
ETERNAL LIFE WITH GOD
To see this, let us read the illustration Jesus gave about the destination of the rich man and the poor man, Lazarus. To do this we go to,
Luke 16:19-21
[19] “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. [20] But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, [21] desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
Basically the rich man only cared about himself and the good life he had. By not reaching out to help relieve Lazarus with his physical needs revealed that the rich man’s only interest was absorbed by his own luxurious lifestyle.
Let us now continue by reading from,
Luke 16:22-26
[22] So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. [23] And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. [24] “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ [25] But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. [26] And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.”
Let us notice the following verses,
22a … Lazarus died and taken to be with Abraham. [Note: This occurred after Abraham died approximately 1,850 years earlier1.] This illustrates that even after our spirit and soul leaves our physical body upon earth, we are still alive.
22b – 23a … The rich man also died. However, he was taken to Hades (Hell) to be tormented.
23b – 25 … The rich man, being tormented by the flames, cried out to Abraham for some drops of water. Again, we read another illustration of the gaining and loosing of one’s life.
26 … Here get a view of what happens after we pass away. Basically, there is one of two places we will wind up. We will either, as the rich man did, find ourselves in Hades. Or, as Lazarus did, we will find ourselves with God’s people like Abraham and now Jesus in the place prepared for the true believers in Jesus Christ. Notice, there are only one of two outcomes.
Let us now read Lazarus’s cry to Abraham in,
Luke 16:27-31
[27] “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, [28] for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ [29] Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ [30] And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ [31] But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”
Let us notice the following verses,
27 - 28 … The rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers of what might be awaiting them.
29 - 31 … Major, major point: If a person will not heed Moses and the prophets imply the reading or hearing the Scriptures, they will not even heed a person who came back from the dead.
We now go to,
THE TEACHING OR INSTRUCTION FOR US
We begin by rereading,
Matthew 16:24
[24] Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
The question is: “How can I do this?” The answer is in Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia.
Galatians 2:20-21
[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. [21] I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Let us notice the following verses,
20a … When we become a born again Christian we become a new person. More specifically, our old self composed of our body, our soul and our spirit is changed into a new person. This new person is now composed of our body, our soul, our spirit and the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit. Hence, our old self no longer exists. With this in mind let us reread Galatians 2:20a. Before we read please note that I have added clarifying phrases in Italics.
Galatians 2:20a
[20a] I (my old self) have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer (only) I who live, but Christ (that is the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit also) lives in me;
To amplify this truth a bit further, let us read from,
2 Corinthians 5:17
[17] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Let us now return to Galatians Chapter 2 verse,
20b … Thus, if we want to live in obedience to God’s will and direction for our lives we, as the Apostle Paul did, are to yield ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit.
In other words, we are to place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ that He, through the Holy Spirit, will live His life in and through us. Thus, it will be God the Holy Spirit and not our old self who will move us to follow and submit to God’s will for our lives. Remember, our old self, has been crucified with Christ. This is how we pick up our cross and follow Jesus Christ. As the Scripture states,
Galatians 2:20b
[20b]” … 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.”
Let us now return to Galatians Chapter 2 and reread,
Galatians 2:21
[21] I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Since we have received God’s Grace we do not want to set it aside and try to follow God’s will and commands (the law) with our own natural strength or power, which is our old self. If we could accomplish this, then Jesus’ death upon the cross and the Holy Spirit coming to live within us was pointless.
Before we close this study it must be pointed out that there may be times when we have not yielded ourselves to the control of the Holy Spirit. It is during these times when our sinful nature may lead us into sin or to disobey God’s direction for us. Does this mean that all is lost? No! To see this let us prayerfully consider the following instruction from,
1 John 1:8-9
[8] If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
CLOSING
Let us close this chapter by reading the following from,
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
[23] Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [24] He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
Shall We Pray?