Who Will You Follow? - Jan. 18th, 2026

Central Idea of the Text (CIT): Jesus disclosed that He was God’s Messiah whose mission required suffering, death, and resurrection, and He taught that all who would follow Him must embrace the same path of self-denial, cross-bearing, and faithful allegiance.


Purpose: I want my hearers to examine their allegiance to Jesus and choose to follow Him fully, even when that choice involves loss, sacrifice, or shame.

INTRODUCTION (Initiation)

Most people are comfortable talking about Jesus from a safe distance.

They’re willing to call Him a wise teacher. A powerful prophet. A good man. Some even say He was the greatest man who ever lived. And there’s a strange comfort in that kind of “faith,” because it doesn’t require much. It requires opinions. It requires vocabulary. It requires a nod of respect.

But it doesn’t require surrender.

It costs nothing to have an opinion about Christ. It costs everything to follow Him.

And that’s exactly why Luke 9:18–27 is so searching. Jesus will not allow His disciples—then or now—to settle for safe admiration. He presses the question until it becomes personal, and then He presses it further until it becomes costly.

Here is the life-issue that this passage brings to the surface:


Will you only speak about Jesus, or will you follow Him—on His terms?

Now, Luke begins this scene in a way that already tells you something. It doesn’t begin with a crowd. It begins with prayer.

TEXT EXPOSITION (Continuation / Progress)

I. THE QUESTION THAT OPINION CAN ANSWER (Luke 9:18–19)

Luke 9:18 says,

Luke 9:18 KJV

18 And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am?

Notice what you would miss if you rushed past it: Jesus is praying, and He is alone—yet the disciples are with Him. It’s a quiet moment, a private moment, a solemn moment. Luke wants you to feel the stillness before the storm.

And then Jesus asks a question.

He does not ask, “What do the Scriptures say?”
He does not ask, “What did the prophets promise?”
He begins with something closer to the surface: “Whom say the people that I am?”

The disciples answer in Luke 9:19:

Luke 9:19 KJV

19 They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again.

These answers are not insults. They are compliments. They reveal that the crowds sensed spiritual weight in Jesus. They knew He was not ordinary. They put Him in prophetic categories.

But they were still wrong.

Because all those answers do the same thing: they bring Jesus down to a level we can manage. If Jesus is only a prophet, then I can admire Him and still keep my life. If Jesus is only a teacher, then I can quote Him and still stay in charge. If Jesus is only a great religious figure, then I can put Him on a shelf with other great men and never bow my knee.

And that is the danger of “crowd Christianity.” It speaks respectfully of Jesus while refusing to submit to Jesus.

Now, at this point you might think the lesson is: “Don’t listen to the crowd.” And that’s true. But Jesus is not finished. He is going to take the question out of the crowd and bring it into the heart.

II. THE QUESTION THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT (Luke 9:20)

Luke 9:20 says,

Luke 9:20 KJV

20 He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God.

Do you hear the shift?

“But whom say ye that I am?”

In other words: It is not enough to know what others say. It is not enough to report what’s popular. It is not enough to hide behind public opinion.

Jesus forces the disciples to answer personally.

And Peter answers plainly: “The Christ of God.”

That is a true confession. It is the right answer. Jesus is the Christ—the Messiah—the Anointed One promised by God.

Now, if we were writing the scene the way our flesh wants it, we would stop right there. Confession made. Doctrine affirmed. Problem solved.

Tentative resolution:

“We’ve got it now. We’ve named Him correctly. We’re done.”

But Luke refuses to let you stop there. And Jesus refuses to let you stop there.

Because the next line is startling.

III. THE SILENCE THAT CREATES A PROBLEM (Luke 9:21)

Luke 9:21 says,

Luke 9:21 KJV

21 And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing;

If Peter’s confession is true—and it is—why silence?

Why would Jesus command them not to tell anyone?

If you’re listening carefully, you feel the tension rising. The disciples finally say the right thing, and Jesus says, “Don’t repeat it.”

Why?

And the answer is not complicated, but it is humbling: because you can confess the right title and still misunderstand the mission.

You can say, “Jesus is the Christ,” and still picture the wrong kind of Christ.

So Jesus does what a faithful Shepherd always does: He corrects the imagination of His sheep. He defines what He means by Messiah.

And He does it with words that would have landed like thunder.

IV. THE CHRIST DEFINED BY THE CROSS (Luke 9:22)

Luke 9:22 says,

Luke 9:22 KJV

22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.

Now we see why silence matters. If the disciples ran into the streets shouting “Messiah!” without understanding the cross, they would mislead the nation and misunderstand their Lord. The title “Christ” in Israel was loaded with expectations—earthly expectations, political expectations, triumphal expectations.

But Jesus says: the Son of man must suffer.

He must be rejected.

He must be slain.

And then—only then—He must be raised the third day.

That word “must” is vital. Jesus is not predicting a tragedy He can’t avoid. He is declaring a mission He came to fulfill. The cross is not an interruption. It is the assignment. It is the necessity.

And for the disciples, that would have been the great shock: the Christ of God is a suffering Christ.

Now, at this moment, many people want to keep Jesus in verse 20 but skip verse 22. They love the title “Christ.” They recoil at the suffering, the rejection, the death. They want the crown without the cross.

But Luke 9 will not permit that. If Jesus is the Christ, He is the Christ who must suffer, die, and rise again.

And once you accept that, something else becomes unavoidable.

If this is the Christ’s path… then what does it mean to follow Him?

TRANSITION (the turning point)

Jesus has defined His own mission by the cross. Now He defines discipleship the same way.

V. THE CALL THAT DESTROYS SAFE DISCIPLESHIP (Luke 9:23)

Luke 9:23 says,

Luke 9:23 KJV

23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

“And he said to them all.”

Not just Peter. Not just the Twelve. Not just the strong personalities. Not just the future leaders. “To them all.”

And what does He say?

“If any man will come after me…”

Here is discipleship in its plainest form. Not mystical. Not vague. Not theoretical.

Let him deny himself.
Let him take up his cross daily.
Let him follow me.

Three imperatives. One direction. One Lord.

1 “Let him deny himself.”
This is not merely giving up a few bad habits. It is the renouncing of self as the ruling authority. It is saying, “I am not the master here anymore.”

2 “And take up his cross daily.”
We have turned the “cross” into jewelry, decorations, and religious vocabulary. But in the world of Jesus, the cross was not a metaphor for inconvenience. It was an instrument of death.

So, no—your “cross” is not simply that you have a hard week. It is not merely that life is difficult. It is not “my cross to bear” in the sense of a generic irritation. (If I may say it plainly: your cross is not your neighbor’s loud lawnmower at 7 a.m.)

A cross is what you carry when you are on the way to die.

Jesus is calling His disciples to a daily willingness to suffer loss, shame, and even death for His sake. Daily obedience. Daily surrender. Daily willingness to be misunderstood, disliked, and opposed—if that is what faithfulness requires.

3 “And follow me.”
Not follow your feelings. Not follow your preferences. Not follow the crowd. Follow Christ.

Now, at this point, someone might say, “That’s too much.” And in a sense, it is. It is too much for flesh. It is impossible for the self-centered heart.

So Jesus does what He often does: He explains why. He gives the logic of discipleship.

And it is a paradox.

VI. THE PARADOX THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING (Luke 9:24)

Luke 9:24 says,

Luke 9:24 KJV

24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

Here is the strange arithmetic of the Kingdom:

Save your life—lose it.
Lose your life—for Christ’s sake—save it.

Jesus is not telling you to hate life as though life were evil. He is telling you that clinging to life as your god will destroy you, but surrendering your life to Christ will save you.

And notice the phrase that keeps this from becoming mere misery: “for my sake.”

This is not loss for loss’s sake. This is surrender in devotion to Christ. This is taking the cross because you trust the One who carried His cross for you.

Let me put it plainly:
The man who lives to protect himself will eventually ruin himself.
The man who lives to serve Christ will finally find himself.

And if your heart says, “That still sounds like a hard bargain,” Jesus presses it further with a question.

VII. THE QUESTION THAT REVALUES THE WHOLE WORLD (Luke 9:25)

Luke 9:25 says,

Luke 9:25 KJV

25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?

This is not a riddle. Jesus expects the answer.

What is a man advantaged?

If he gains the whole world—everything he ever wanted: wealth, power, pleasure, reputation, success—and loses himself?

What profit is there?

None.

The whole world cannot compensate for the loss of one soul.

Now, if we’re honest, many of us live as if the opposite is true. We live as if gaining a little world is worth losing a lot of soul. We trade prayer for productivity. We trade purity for pleasure. We trade faithfulness for comfort. We trade conviction for approval.

And Jesus says: you have mispriced everything.

The world is not worth your soul.

So the question becomes: why do we keep hesitating? Why do we keep hiding? Why do we keep shrinking back from full devotion?

Jesus answers that too. He names it: shame.

VIII. THE WARNING THAT EXPOSES OUR FEAR (Luke 9:26)

Luke 9:26 says,

Luke 9:26 KJV

26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.

This verse is solemn. This is not a soft word.

To be “ashamed” of Christ is to shrink back from identifying with Him. To be embarrassed by His gospel. To silence yourself when you should confess Him. To avoid Him when obedience becomes costly.

And notice: Jesus ties shame not only to His Person—“ashamed of me”—but also to His truth—“and of my words.”

In other words, someone can claim, “I love Jesus,” and still be ashamed of what Jesus said.

But Jesus warns that present shame leads to future shame:
“of him shall the Son of man be ashamed…”

And when will that happen?

“when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.”

Here is the future that redefines the present. The Christ who must suffer will also return in glory. The Son of man will come, not as a rejected victim, but as the glorious Judge attended by holy angels.

So Jesus presses the matter to its final seriousness: your allegiance to Him now will be revealed by your relationship to Him then.

Now, if Jesus stopped here, the passage would feel crushing. Costly discipleship. Warning of judgment. The demand of allegiance.

But Jesus does not stop there. He gives encouragement. He gives a promise meant to strengthen the heart for cross-bearing.

IX. THE PROMISE THAT PUTS GLORY NEAR (Luke 9:27)

Luke 9:27 says,

Luke 9:27 KJV

27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.

Whatever else this means, it means this: the Kingdom is real, and God will give His people glimpses that strengthen faith.

In the very next scene, Luke will tell us of the Transfiguration—a preview of glory for a few disciples. In other words, Jesus does not call men to cross-bearing with no hope. He calls them with the assurance that glory is coming, and sometimes God gives a foretaste to strengthen the heart.

The cross is not the end of the story.

The Kingdom is not a myth.

Christ’s glory is not far off.

So where have we traveled in this passage?

We began with public opinion.
We came to personal confession.
We were stunned by the suffering mission of the Christ.
And then we were confronted by the cost of following Him.

And now the conclusion comes into focus.

FINAL RESOLUTION (Proposition Disclosed)

Here is the truth Luke 9:18–27 brings us to—slowly, firmly, unmistakably:

Following Jesus as the Christ means surrendering your life to Him now in order to gain true life forever.

You cannot keep Jesus at the level of opinion.
You cannot confess Him correctly and then redefine His mission.
You cannot follow Him while remaining in charge.
And you cannot cling to the world and keep your soul.

If He is “The Christ of God,” then He is worthy of your whole life.

APPLICATION (explicit, action-centered)

1 Settle the confession in your heart.
Jesus asked, “But whom say ye that I am?” You must answer that. Not with borrowed words. Not with family tradition. Not with church culture. With a heart response: Jesus is the Christ of God. He is Lord.

2 Stop treating “cross-bearing” as a slogan and make it a practice.
Luke 9:23 does not call you to occasional heroics. It calls you to daily surrender. Ask yourself: What part of my life still says, “Not that, Lord”? Bring it to Christ. Deny yourself. Take up the cross. Follow Him.

3 Live with the value system of eternity.
Jesus asks, “For what is a man advantaged…?” Make that your measuring stick this week. Before you say yes to something, ask: Will this gain the world and cost my soul? Will this honor Christ or hide Christ?

4 Refuse shame.
If you have been silent about Christ, repent of that silence. If you have been embarrassed by Christ’s words, bow to His authority. If you have been tempted to blend in when faithfulness would make you stand out, remember this: the Son of man is coming “in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.”

CLOSING EXHORTATION

Some of you may be thinking, “This is too hard.” And if you mean, “I cannot do this in my own strength,” you are right.

But remember the order of the passage.

First, Jesus is confessed as the Christ of God.
Then, Jesus declares His saving work—suffering, death, resurrection.
Then, Jesus calls you to follow.

Which means: the One who calls you to the cross is the One who carried His cross for you. And the One who calls you to lose your life is the One who laid down His life to save sinners.

So don’t hear this passage as mere demand. Hear it as the voice of the Savior-King calling you into the only life that is truly life.

Lose your life for His sake—and you will find it.

And that brings us back to the question that began the whole scene:

“But whom say ye that I am?”

And now the next question is unavoidable:

Will you only speak about Him… or will you follow Him?