DENYING ONESELF

KEY VERSES: 

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mat 16:24)… “deny himself” (Mark 8:34)… “deny himself” (Luke 9:33)… “if we deny him, he also will deny us.” (2 Tim 2:12) 

Peter answered and said unto him, “Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.” Jesus said unto him, “Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.” Peter said unto him, “Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.” Likewise, also said all the disciples. (Mat 26:33-35)

  In Mat 16:16, Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” To which Jesus responded “blessed art thou” (Mat 16:17). How would Peter be blessed? “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 16:19).
  Peter, because he knew Christ, would be “blessed” — blissed, well-off etc. Jesus wasn’t referring to “well-off” in earth because as we find out from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Peter was crucified, and not right side up as Jesus, but upside down. He did not want to trivialize Jesus’s Purpose. Peter took-up Jesus’s Cross and followed him to death (Mat 16:24). In between, Peter denied Jesus three times; for what Purpose? To save his own flesh from death.
  You see, Peter did not depend on Jesus. He said that he knew that He was God, and what had Jesus said about himself? “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31). Jesus said that he would die but live again. With that said, if Peter had truly known that Jesus IS God, then he would never have denied Jesus! It seems that Peter had some doubts that evaporated when Jesus suffered, died, and was resurrected. Peter had not theretofore denied himself.
  Dietrich Bonnhoeffer called that “cheap grace;” Peter believed, but he had not denied himself. At his own crucifixion, Peter did exactly what Jesus would have him do; deny himself, and take up the cross and follow Him (Mat 16:24). That verse is packed full of the Way to salvation. When Peter suffered for Jesus by spreading the Word, in the end, he took on Jesus’s Cross himself. Finally, he was not ashamed of Jesus!
  Jesus went on to say, “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it” (Mark 8:35). Peter eventually lost his life for Jesus and the gospel’s sake. With that accomplished, Peter is in Bliss, as Jesus promised. What and where is bliss? It’s living in the Presence of God in heaven. Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Mat 5:5). But did not Peter inherit the heaven? “Earth” (with small “e”) in this context would be matter.
  Peter, although he would die, and return to the dust from which he came, would be resurrected in material form. When the soul rejoins the body at the rapture, when the dead in Christ shall rise, the bodies will be glorified; bodies will be with the spirit just as in the Garden Paradise. I believe that is “regeneration;” that is being generated a second time, and is when Christians return to their designed state. This “regeneration” would commence when those “born again” (John 3:7) are glorified and taken to heaven, as is written:

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Cor 3:18).

  Let me re-write that; When we see ourselves, not as gods, but like Christ, we get His glory. Finally, those who are Christians (justified) are regenerated in the original image of Christ, who by the way, was there in the Garden (John 1). The English Standard Version says, “… with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image.” The meek will be transformed into the glorious. When? When they are snatched into the heaven with the coming of Jesus. That is called the “rapture.” Because Peter took up his cross and followed Jesus, Peter will be resurrected and be like Jesus.
  There is some ambiguity to regeneration. Calvinists consider “regeneration” as the moment when people first believe. That moment is “born again.” Regeneration is enduring suffering as Jesus did, until death, terminating in resurrection. I believe that regeneration is finished at the resurrection. Think about that; after Jesus was raised from the dead, he could not be touched until he had been in the presence of His Father. It seems that Jesus’s regeneration commenced at the transfiguration and was completed when He was with His Father in Heaven.
  With that said, the point of today’s verses, is that people must deny themselves and take up Jesus’s cross. That means, humiliation, suffering, and even death. As Jesus was resurrected after that was finished, we too shall be if we are Christians. What makes one a Christian? Not merely believing as Peter had, but taking up Jesus’s cross. How is that done? By denying himself. (Note that the brazen serpent on the pole was Jesus’s “cross” because His Purpose was the slay the Serpent; Gen 3:14).
  Was Peter able to save his life by denying that he followed Jesus? Did thrice denying keep him alive?
  Now let’s travel back to Adam. He was told that eating of the forbidden fruit would cause death. Eve ate, and did not appear to die, so Adam ate as well. He failed to understand death. It is not death of the flesh but isolation from God. What caused Adam’s spiritual death? As the Serpent rightly said, they would be as God (Gen 3:5). That was their perception of themselves. They did what they wanted to do in the face of the Serpent. They would be like the Devil. Paul (from above) wrote, “(All) with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.” Glorification is when Christians quit seeing themselves as the Serpent, but see themselves as Jesus. Not that they are not God, but are TO BE in the image of Him.
  When Adam and Eve ate, there was some introspection. They did not see themselves like God, but they saw themselves in their minds’ eyes as the Serpent. They were contrite and made aprons of fig leaves. That did not cover all their flesh, but merely their genitals. (Circumcision only ridded the Jews of the flesh of their genitals, but did noting to circumcise their hearts. Circumcision was basically a repetition of men trying to justify themselves by cutting-off only part of their flesh to compensate for their sin. Circumcision of the heart is God cutting off all the flesh.)
  Denying oneself, is denying that a person can save their own soul. For a few years, Peter saved his skin, but not his soul. When he took up his cross is when Jesus saved his soul because he was being more like Jesus. “Denying oneself” therefore is imperative to be saved. By denying Jesus, Peter lived a little longer, but by denying himself, he finally got the keys to heaven. Not the physical “keys” but the “password.” Just what is the password to heaven? “Jesus!” because nobody can save themselves but Jesus can. When Jesus said, “marvel not; ye must be born again,” He explained that by recounting the story of Moses with his brazen serpent on the pole.
  Some say that the brass serpent on the pole was a foreshadowing of Jesus. It was not “Jesus” who the serpent symbolized, but Jesus’s Purpose — to crucify the Serpent in his Tree. The serpent, looking bloody red in the sun, was Jesus’s Purpose. At about the same time that Jesus was crucified, Judas took care of his shame himself. He failed to depend on Jesus’s death to save him, but took it on himself to endeavor to do what only Jesus would be able to do. With Judas hanging from his tree and Jesus crucified on His Tree, God’s need for Flesh was finished.
  Humility is recognizing that we are not gods, and cannot save ourselves. Just as the Hebrews who walked among serpents were bitten and would die unless they looked up at what God can do, Peter had to trust Jesus for salvation. He could not deny Jesus and expect to live. He had to finally trust Jesus enough to sacrifice his own flesh just as Jesus did.
  “Cheap grace” is believing without trusting. Right now, I could save my own flesh by social-distancing, and that is the rational thing to do. However, the imperative thing to do, is depend on Jesus to save both my flesh and my soul. I suggest that is the same for you as well! Self-esteem is mankind’s problem; Christ-esteem is the solution to our problem.

(Picture credit: Damien Kempf on Twitter)