Cross-Bearing

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Matthew 10:38

And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me.

I. WHAT IS IS PECULIAR CROSS? "He that taketh not his cross."

1. It may be the giving up of certain pleasures.

2. The endurance of reproach or poverty.

3. The suffering of losses and persecutions for Christ's sake.

4. The consecrating all to Jesus.

5. The endurance of my heavenly Father's will.

II. WHAT AM I TO DO WITH IT?

1. I an: deliberately to take it up.

2. I am boldly to face it. It is only a wooden cross after all.

3. I am patiently to endure it, for I have only to carry it a little way.

4. I am cheerfully to resign myself to it, for my Lord appoints it.

5. I am obediently to follow Christ with it.What an honour and a comfort to be treading in His steps! This is the essential point. It is not enough to bear a cross, we must bear it after Jesus. I ought to be thankful that I have only to bear it, and that it does not bear me. It is a royal burden, a sanctified burden, a sanctifying burden, a burden which gives communion with Christ.

III. WHAT SHOULD ENCOURGE ME?

1. Necessity: I cannot be a disciple without cross-bearing.

2. Society: better men than I have carried it.

3. Love: Jesus bore a far heavier cross than mine.

4. Faith: grace will be given equal to the weight of the cross.

5. Hope: good to my. self will result from my bearing this load.

6. Zeal: Jesus will be honoured by my patient endurance.

7. Experience: I shall yet find pleasure in it, for it will produce in me much blessing. The cross is a fruitful tree.

8. Expectation: glory will be the reward of it.Let not the ungodly fancy that theirs is a better lot: the Psalmist says, "many sorrows shall be to the wicked." Let not the righteous dread the cross, for it will not crush them: it may be painted with iron colours by our fears, but it is not made of that heavy metal; we can bear it, and we will bear it right joyously.

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