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Craig, well, it is a great privilege to be able to come and open up god's word with you. If you've got a Bible or if you've phone or something that's got the Bible on it, and you're able to turn to that passage, that would be great. So loop 9 18 to 27, and let me pray for us. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the power of your words.

It is no ordinary thing that we open up But we come to your word ready to hear you. So father, please speak to us and teach us. Help us to be ready to listen to you and to put into practice what we learn. In Jesus' name. Oh, man.

Well, some passages give us Christian essentials, don't they? The the kind of core truths, core things that we need to take hold of. And this passage is 1 of them. That's why I chose it. I was told I could pick whichever passage I wanted to preach on, which is, which is a bit of a daunting prospect because you've got the whole of the Bible.

You could pick anything, but I went for this because it's got some essentials. That Jesus tells us about Christianity, and it's so important that we get our information about what Christianity is from Jesus. Because we can have all sorts of wrong ideas about what Christianity is all about. Some will say Christianity is about The robes and the rituals, you'll know from my background, that was part of my history, that that ritual and robes and that kind of side of things was a a big part of my, of my understanding of what Christianity was about. But maybe for others, and maybe it's true for some here, you would go, well, Christianity, it it's it's not that, but it's not about dogma.

Sometimes people say it's not about the truth that it's about love. That's what Christianity's about. People will say. Or others will say, well, maybe Christianity is mainly about social action, loving your neighbor. That kind of thing.

And for others, maybe it's all about community. Well, in the end, the important thing is to come back to Jesus and say Jesus, what do you say about Christianity, about what it's all about? After all, it's the only polite thing to do, isn't it? If you were to, meet me or look at me and decide, you know, you're gonna make up all kinds of things about me, that would be a rude thing to do. You should come to me and say, what are you like?

What do what is your history? What is it about you? You know, you'd come to me so too with Christianity. If we've gotta come to Jesus and say, Jesus, what do you say Christianity's all about? And this passage is a good 1 to come to.

There are some essentials There are 3 of them that we're gonna look at. Now, the danger here is, if you've been a Christian many years, you might think oh, he's going on about the essentials, I can probably switch off here. Well, just because they're essentials doesn't mean that they aren't challenging for us. And even if you've been a Christian for a long time, they're still very challenging. So 3 things.

That we're gonna look at. 3 essentials. And the first is Jesus' identity. Now I'm gonna put the verses on the screen, but do look at them in your in your bible as well. Jesus's identity.

Jesus begins verse 18, Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, who do the crowds say I am? He's with his disciples, and this is the big question that he wants to ask them, the crowds. The crowds who've been following him, and it's understandable they've been following him, He's been doing some incredible things. If you just cast your eyes through the first chapters of Luke's gospel, you'll see some amazing things Jesus has done. And he's got quite a following, quite a crowd following, with him.

And so he's saying the big question he wants to know is who do they think I am? Not what have they spotted I'm doing? But but who do they think I am? And so, he he they answer him. Verse 19 there.

They replied, some say John, the Baptist, Others say Elijah, and still others that 1 of the prophets have long ago has come back to life. Now you'll notice they are all very positive things. They're incredible things to say. I mean, some are saying, well, maybe Jesus is John the Baptist. That is a slightly weird thing for them to say.

Because Jesus and John the Baptist met each other. They were alive at the same time and met each other. So for people to say, maybe he's John the Baptist, is slightly odd, isn't it? I mean, John, the Baptist is dead by this point. So maybe some are saying, oh, it's John, the Baptist come back to life.

Others are saying he's maybe elijah. And others that he's 1 of the prophets of long ago come back to life. Now, these are pretty amazing things. For people to say about Jesus. Very positive, but inadequate.

It's not enough. And so Jesus turns to his disciples and says, but what about you, verse 20? What about you? He asked? Who do you say I am?

Peter answers, god's Messiah. Now, this is a key moment in the gospel. Peter has made a breakthrough. He has pieced together what he has seen in Jesus' ministry, the incredible things Jesus has done. And he has come to the right conclusion.

He's the first person in the gospel to come to this conclusion. Others have been trying to work it out. But haven't managed it. Just a couple of chapters earlier. We'll look at 1 other person who tried to work it out.

And that's John the Baptist when he was alive. He was trying to work out who Jesus was. In fact, he sent some people to Jesus. It says, in chapter 7 verse 20, when the men came to Jesus, they asked they said, John the Baptist sent us to ask you, are you the 1 who is to come, or should we expect someone else? Interesting, John, the baptist saying of Jesus Jesus, are you really the 1?

Or should we expect someone else to come after you? Who is the 1? And Jesus replies. Verse 22 of chapter 7. So he replied to the messengers, go back and report to John what you have seen and heard.

Interesting. It says, go and go and tell them what you've seen. And what is it they've seen? The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf here, The debt are raised and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Now that is quite a list.

It's quite a list of miracles, isn't it? Incredible things. But Jesus by saying these things, by pointing them out is not just saying Well, look at these incredible things. Here's a great long list. What more do you need?

He has picked specific things, particular things. Because the list is very similar to a couple of verses in the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah written hundreds of years, before this, god has proclaimed judgment on his people, the Israelites. So in the book of Isaiah, there is a lot of judgment going on. But there are significant moments when the lord gives hope that 1 day there will be a dramatic restoration of his people.

It talks about when god's glory will be revealed. And it says, in Isaiah 35, then will the eyes of the blind be opened? And the ears of the deaf unstopped, then will the lame leap like a deer and mute tongue shout for joy? Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. Now that's a familiar list.

It isn't identical to what Jesus says, but it's very similar. And in Isaiah, when Isaiah talks about this, this transformation that will happen It is more and more tied to a person who will come. The Christ, the Messiah. And what we see in Luke is that for Peter, the penny has dropped. The 1 in front of him he is realizing.

Is more than anything the crowds had guessed. This is god's Messiah. The 1 who was to come who can deal with all the suffering and darkness who can transform people This man is the hope of the world. I wonder if you've grasped who Jesus is. It's quite possible for us to come to a similar conclusion to the crowd.

To come to a conclusion which is positive, but inadequate. So people come to the conclusion that Jesus was an incredible teacher or a a kind and compassionate man or a miracle worker or even a prophet. And yet, each of those conclusions while true still falls short of what the Bible points to Jesus being. When you piece together the evidence, what you see is This is the Christ. God's promised deliverer from the Old Testament.

And actually, when we look more closely, even at the Isaiah quote, what do we see? Just 1 verse before these ones? This is what it says in the lead up to that list of of amazing things. It says, say to those with fearful hearts be strong. Do not fear.

Your god will come. He will come with vengeance with divine retribution. He will come to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be open? That verse is pointing to Jesus being.

God. When you piece it together, who Jesus is. He is the Christ. He is god, come to us. Now it is true that simply doing miracles isn't conclusive proof that Jesus is god.

I was recently challenged on this. After all, someone challenged me on it saying, after all, there are other people in the Bible who do miracles. Elijah, Elijah, others who do miracles. And we don't come to the conclusion that they are god. And that's true.

But as you look at the miracles, and how they fulfill old testament passages. And you hear in the birth narrative in Luke's gospel that Jesus is gonna be called emmanuel, which means God with us. And as you see in the passage after this 1 in Luke 9, that 3 of Jesus' followers go with him, and Jesus' trans figure before them and radiates glory. You have to come to the conclusion that the miracles are pointing us in the direction of what everything else is pointing us in the direction of, that this man is god. With us.

The identity of Jesus is a Christian essential. Indeed, Christianity is all about Jesus. Maybe you're new to Christian things. And are exploring it. An important place to start is Jesus.

His identity. Make sure that's top of your list of things to look at. But maybe you've known for many years that Jesus is the Christ. Maybe you've been a Christian for longer. It does us good to step back and admire the view of who Jesus is.

To bow and worship before him again. I stayed, I said I had a gap year. Between school and university. I spent 6 months in Tanzania. And, the house that we lived in, had a beautiful view of Mount Kilimanjaro from the back garden.

It was an amazing view. And there were times when you just stood there and just looked at it. It was so stunning. Maybe you've been to a place, lived in a place, maybe where you get that kind of view, around where we are, probably the best view you get is when you suddenly see the the Tallworth Tower. It doesn't quite inspire such awe.

But maybe you've had a beautiful view of a place, and you just you've just stood and watched it. That's what we need to do at times with. Geez, just remember who he is, his glory, that this is god, come with us. And bail before him again. Now, after Peter has made this declaration, Jesus does something that you probably wouldn't expect.

It's in verse 21. It says Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. Now that might seem a bit odd. Surely, Jesus should want everyone to know this. Peter has grasped it.

Surely, Peter should go and tell the world. And at the end of the gospel, Jesus does instruct His followers to go and tell about him. But verse 21, he says, don't tell anyone. And says it's a strict warning. Now verse 22 follows on from verse 21.

I know that's not a Brilliant insight, but there shouldn't be a full stop at the end of verse 21. It should flow 1 into the other. In other words, it's saying Jesus strictly warn them not to tell this to anyone, and the reason is what follows. Peter, you've grasped something really significant Brilliant. Well done, but you're not fully there yet.

You've grasped something of Jesus's identity, but there's still pieces missing. And so we come to the next essential, which is Jesus must die. First 22. First 22. And he said, must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and teachers of the law.

He must be killed, and on the third day, be raised to life. Now this came as a complete shock to Peter and the other disciples in other accounts, in other gospels, you see that Peter rebukes Jesus tells Jesus off. Which is quite I mean, it's quite a ridiculous thing to do, isn't it? Once you've just realized this is the Christ, you then go and tell him off. I mean, that that's quite a move to make.

But that's how we felt. It was a complete shock. This is the first time in the gospel Jesus is predicting his death. He does it 6 times, and this is the first. And Jesus says there are 4 things that must happen to him.

He must suffer, be rejected, by by the religious leaders, be killed, and be raised. Now, you can understand why this wouldn't make sense for Peter. He's just realized, just concluded Jesus is god's Messiah. That he is god's deliverer. And the passage in Isaiah would suggest this should mean the bringing in of an incredible age of glory.

A time of such transformation that it describes the desert and parched land being glad, and the wilderness rejoicing and blossoming a time of everlasting joy and singing. And they've started to see this kind of transformation happening before their eyes. Blind receiving sight, the deaf hearing, and so on. Surely. Surely, this is the beginning of a whole new age, a time of joy.

Abundance, blessing, and Jesus says, I must suffer and die. And the word must is really important here. Jesus doesn't simply say that he will suffer, be rejected, killed, and raised. He isn't just predicting what will happen, but using the word must is saying something more. Something about his purpose, about his mission.

We, as a family, have a dog, he is a cockapoo, He's got loads of energy. And at some point this afternoon, we're gonna need to take him for a walk. And all the rain that we've had recently, it's nice day it'll be a lovely day, but he's probably gonna get muddy. It it's bound to happen. And probably those who take him for the walk, I mean, you know, you might well get muddy as well.

Now, okay. This is a slightly ridiculous illustration, but I could say to you, I'm gonna go for a walk this afternoon with my dog, and I'll I'll get muddy. That's 1 thing to say. But if I were to say I'm gonna go for a walk with my dog this afternoon, and I must get muddy. That would mean something very different, wouldn't it?

That sounds like there's intention behind this. Like, you must get muddy. There's necessity to it. They'd maybe even be planning behind it. We'll go somewhere really muddy.

There's there's there's more purpose to it, isn't there? Jesus isn't just saying I will die. He's saying, I must die. And until we've grasped why Jesus must die, We haven't really grasped who Jesus is and what he came to do. Why must Jesus die?

Well, the answer is to deliver us from our greatest problem, our sin, our wrongdoing, thinking, and speaking. That offend god. That's why he had to die. If sickness and suffering were our biggest problem, then maybe the healings would have been enough. If sadness and loneliness, were our biggest problem, then his presence, maybe would be enough.

If ignorance were our biggest problem, then his teaching would be enough. But our biggest problem is our sin. And therefore, the only thing that can deal with our sin is his death. As it says, elsewhere, for Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to god. That's such a helpful verse in it for remembering why Jesus died Christ, it says, suffered for sins.

That's why he died. The righteous for the unrighteous. Though he was perfect, he took the place of the unrighteous. To bring you to god. You and I can't come to god if we have our sin still on us.

It's like trying to go through airport security with scissors in your pocket. You are never gonna get through. You're never gonna get through to god with your sin still on you. And neither am I? If it remains undealt with, we can't come to god.

But because of Jesus, because he died in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, we can now come to god. And Jesus says, I must die. It is essential. But it's quite possible that we ignore the necessity of the cross. Even those who've been Christians many years.

We can do it subtly. We can, in some ways, be a bit like Peter. Peter had grasped that Jesus was the Christ, god's deliverer, the 1 who can transform the world, but hadn't grasped the necessity of the cross. So maybe we like the idea of the transformation Jesus can give. We like the idea of Jesus as the 1 who can restore all things.

We like the idea of him as the 1 who can change the world. And improve our lives. And so we come to him, and we can come sometime some people come to him saying, well, come on Jesus. Change my life, sort my life out, deal with my illness, on my marriage, on my job, sort the world out, the wars, the environment. And so coming to Jesus for transformation, but the cross confronts us and says there's a bigger problem, a bigger, a deeper need.

When Jesus says he must die. He's saying the first thing I need to deal with is your sin. Your wrongdoing and thinking and speaking. They are an offense to god your envy, your pride, your anger. And that's humbling, isn't it?

We come not demanding that the lord fix everything else, but first of all, humbly coming saying, I need you to deal with my sin. And it's true of all of us. The Bible tells us we're all sinners. We all need the cross. And this can be a sticking point for some who would say they don't think they're sinners.

They don't really think that we're that bad. And yet again, that word must in what Jesus says hits us. It challenges us. If we insist we're not that bad, then we're really saying Jesus, you were mistaken. You didn't really need to die.

But isn't it possible Jesus can see the danger we're in better than we can. And he did what was necessary. He said he must die We're gonna take communion later. We're gonna be celebrating the fact that Jesus had to die and did die. For sin.

Well, if that was a shock that Jesus must die, The next, the next must, the next essential would have been an even bigger shock. It's the next, the next must, and it is in verse 23. Then he said to them, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves Take up their cross daily and follow me. Here's the last essential for us. Jesus's followers.

Must die. Can you feel again that this is an incredible moment for Jesus and his followers? For the disciples. Peter has just declared. You're the Christ.

What a high? He's just realized who Jesus is. And then Jesus says, he must die. What? And then, Jesus says, if you're gonna follow me, you must die too.

Jesus is saying, come and join me. Come and join me in death. And Jesus says whoever wants to be my my disciple must do this. This isn't the instruction for the elite. For the super spiritual.

This isn't for those who want gold standard Christianity as if you could have lower levels that don't demand this, as if you could have bronze level Christians who who who do a bit, you know, they come to church a bit and, you know, they'll they'll they'll give a bit. And then you've got silver level Christians who sacrifice a bit more. They're there every week. Maybe they go on the day away. And and and they do they read their bibles every day.

And then you've got the gold standard Christian who sacrifices their themselves wholly for Jesus, maybe their missionaries abroad or or martyrs abroad. No. That's not the way this works. This is the instruction for anyone. Who wants to follow Jesus.

So let's look a little more closely at it. What does Jesus say? That you must deny yourself. Now those at the men's breakfast yesterday heard about this, a bit in Matthew Roberts' talk, of course, Jesus isn't saying just deny yourself luxuries. He's not saying just deny yourself chocolate.

No. This is a denial of the self. Matthew Roberts yesterday expressed it in saying, we all have mixed up messed up desires as sinners and we need to deny them our sinful desires. Or to put it another way to deny yourself means taking yourself off the throne of your life and putting Jesus there instead. As 1 commentary puts it, god needs to direct me.

I will not, and cannot direct myself. To be a Christian is to give up your right to direct your life. To give up your goals and desires and dreams and to say Jesus, you're in charge. You determine what is right and wrong. Good and bad.

You're the king of my life. The driver of my life. The director of my life is you, Jesus. My youngest son, and I went to see June 2 recently at the cinema. We went and got our tickets from, you know, the place where you get the popcorn.

And, actually, the guy behind the counter, he said to us twice. It's 3 hours long. And he said it like that. And in the context, he was saying it because he saw that we we weren't buying any food or drink. But the way he said it made it sound like I'm not sure you're gonna make it through to the end.

It is 3 hours long. As if maybe after the end of some showings, they've had to go in and help people who've not not taken in adequate provisions. Anyway, that's irrelevant. But in June 2, a big thing about th theme of the film is is who's gonna rule, isn't it? Who's gonna you've seen it is who's gonna rule this planet, arrakis.

And there are wars going on about who's gonna rule this planet. And as you go through, there's even then quested who's gonna be the emperor. And and actually so many films are about that, aren't they about about power and who's gonna control where and who's in charge? So you could look at Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, and you've got all that going on. And the question here is who's gonna rule you?

Who's gonna rule me, not in terms of the general election, which is gonna happen at some point, but but who is actually king of your life? And we live our lives assuming it should be me. I should be king. I should be on the throne, and yet Jesus says here deny yourself. Give up self rule.

Now some don't make this step. They've seen who Jesus is, and even seen their need of forgiveness, But the denying of self is something that they haven't done. I know of 1 person who for whom this was true, They were very involved in church life. But yet, they struggled whenever it was talked about needing to submit to god. Really hated that.

Couldn't couldn't cope with that. And sadly, they've drifted away from the faith. Because this isn't essential. It's for any who will follow Jesus. Jesus says deny yourself.

Take up their cross daily. And everyone knew what that meant. When Jesus said it. It isn't the way some people say it today. Like, some people talk about various things they're suffering as being their their that they bear, maybe a medical complaint, like their arthritis or some annoying relative or something who's, you know, they are my cross to bear.

No. That's not what Jesus means. Is it? Everyone knew what Jesus meant. The only people who were taking up a cross were those under a death sentence.

Cruz fiction was the worst of death sentences, a barbaric way for someone to die. It was not just a way, to kill someone, but a way thoroughly to degrade them and humiliate them. So do you hear Jesus is saying, take up your It was such a barbaric way for people to die that Romans wouldn't allow Roman citizens to be executed in this way. You see, this isn't a call to a noble heroic death, but a call to be utterly humiliated. And degraded before the world.

Jesus says do it daily. So Jesus wasn't expecting that this would necessarily be an actual physical death because you had to do it every day. Though for some, it could mean death. But it is to die to self and take up a position of humiliation before the world. People might hate you.

People will hate you. And reject you for following Jesus. Jesus says, die to yourself, die to the world. And then he says, and follow me. That's why we do the denying of self and taking up of the cross.

It's in order to follow Jesus, to be with him, him as king. And we'll only do this if we realize that being with and following Jesus is worth denying everything and taking up a cross for. Something Christianity is simply about denying yourself. It's just about going without. But that's not true.

CS Lewis, who wrote the Narnia books, also wrote an article called The Weight of Glory, in which he says, The new testament has a lot has lots to say about self denial, but not about self denial as an end in itself. And that's right. The Bible doesn't just say, I'll just deny yourself things. No. It's deny yourself things for something greater.

Deny yourself, take up your cross to follow Jesus. Because everything else we might live for. Everything else we might live for. Is not as good as Jesus. Those are the dreams we might live for, our desires, our hopes.

None of them will actually satisfy in the long term. None of them can give us life forever Only Jesus can. He is far more valuable than anything else we might lose. Jesus says, deny yourself take up your cross and follow me. And Jesus helps us reason this out.

He says verse 24 for whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Jesus says weigh it up. Do the maths. If you want to save your life now, you will lose it for eternity.

In other words, if we say, I won't deny myself, I'll keep hold of my life through control or through seeking the world's acceptance. Through staying king of my own life, I will lose it for eternity. Jesus says, is that worth it? Would it even be worth gaining the whole world, but losing yourself? Your life for eternity.

Well, we each need to answer that for ourselves. Save your life or lose it. And he lays it on the line for his first 26 whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the son of man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his in his glory and in the glory of the father and of the holy angels. If we're ashamed of Jesus and his teaching, and notice it isn't just the person of Jesus, but he's teaching too. If we're ashamed of him, won't put him first then he will be ashamed of us.

That would not be a good place to be. It is to be rejected by Jesus. Jesus speaks of a day when he will come in glory. We don't wanna be rejected by him on that day. The pattern for Jesus is suffering, rejection, death, then resurrection and glory.

That's the pattern. And he says that in some ways, that will if we're his disciples, be our pattern too, suffering now for glory yet to come. It's incredible that people promote the prosperity gospel. That some will say that g the the some will say come to Jesus and life will be easy that you'll be rich and trouble free. Jesus says his followers must die.

It makes sense to do it, but we need to know that's what's involved. So have we grasped these truths? These 3 Christian Essentials? They're far better than the mistaken views of Christianity we might have. Have you engaged with and responded to these 3 things?

Jesus's identity, who he is, the Christ. God himself. That Jesus must die. And you need his death for you. And that those who follow Jesus must die.

I'm gonna lead us in a prayer. That's prayer. Heavenly father, we thank you for these essentials. Thank you that Jesus is so clear. And we pray, please, that you would help us to respond to him, to who he is.

Father, thank you that we see he is the Christ, the hope of the world. Father, we thank you that he is god himself with us. Help us to respond to him to bow before him. We thank you that Jesus came to die, that he had to die. For our sin, and we thank you that he did so that we could be forgiven.

And father, thank you for the challenge, but it is a big challenge that we must die if we are to follow him. Father, I pray you would help everyone here to take to take that charge, to take that command, and to live it out. Father, please bring some maybe here today who have never submitted to Jesus. To do so today, to commit themselves to him, to die to self, take up their cross, and follow Jesus wherever he leads, And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.