"If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me." Luke 9:23
See the absolute necessity of daily self denial.
We ought every day . . . to crucify the flesh, to overcome the world, and to resist the devil. Now what do we know of all this? Surely this is a question which ought to be asked. A little formal church going, and a decent attendance at a place of worship, can never be the Christianity of which Christ speaks in this place. Where is our self denial? Where is our daily carrying of the cross? Where is our following of Christ? Without a religion of this kind we shall never be saved. A crucified Savior will never be content to have a self-pleasing, self-indulging, worldly-minded people.
No self denial--no real grace! No cross--no crown!
"If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me." Luke 9:23
by J.C. Ryle