Thank you for choosing this episode from New
Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Toledo.
Hope you enjoy and reach new heights in Jesus.
We're going to dig into, for some of us, what
would be a relatively familiar short passage
of Scripture, at least one verse that's somewhat
fairly often quoted. But we're not going to treat
it that way because as I looked at this and prepared
for this message today, the Lord asked me to
look at it almost under a spiritual microscope,
if you will, and we're going to do that. So we're
going to see some things, even if you have studied
this passage of Scripture before, you're going
to see some things, I think, that I hope that
the Spirit will show you that... that you've
never seen before, and I did. And so whether
you do or not, that's already been done. So I've
already done that. So you can trust me when I
say I grew and maybe even was saved again by
this text. All right, so before we go into this
text, there's a little bit of business that we
have to take care of. All right, so as I am speaking
today, I'm going to use a few illustrations.
And you're familiar with this trend in the world
today to put on the video game box and the movies.
There's a rating on everything, right? So this
is that little short passage of scripture where
we have a little rating. We talk about those
things in advance. So I'm going to talk to you
about money during the sermon today. And I want
to say to you just very simply right now, I am
not talking to you about money to get you to
do anything in particular with your money. That
has nothing to do with me. What you choose to
do with your money is... really up to do with
God and you. But when we talk about money, I
am talking about money from the Christian perspective,
from the godly perspective, from what I think
Jesus would say about money. And that means that
tithing is a foregone conclusion. The first 10
% of all your increase, of all your increase,
that is to say of all your increase, goes to
God, the first 10%. Beyond that is considered
an offering. Up until that is considered a tithe.
It's a partial tithe or a whole tithe. Then after
that is considered an offering. And New Testament
standard for giving is actually sacrificial giving.
So really, it goes above and beyond the tithe
and the offering. It should be giving until it
hurts. And God said this. Jesus said this. The
Bible says this. Give by whatever standard or
measure you give. That's how it will be measured
back to you. So if you have a stingy heart about
giving, then you're going to have stingy giving
back to you. And if you have an overflowing,
abundant, merciful heart about giving, then you're
going to have overflowing, abundant mercy. I
give them back to you. And that's the standard
when I'm talking about money. That's the biblical
standard that we're going to be talking about
today. Second thing today is I'm going to talk
about violence. I'm going to use a couple of
illustrations from violence that are actually
in the Bible text. So we're going to clear up
a couple of things in case I don't clearly say
them at that time. And that is that as Christians,
it should be our desire in Christ to never hurt
anyone. Never cause anyone any physical pain
whatsoever. Never cause anyone any emotional
or psychological pain whatsoever. In fact, so
much so that we, like Jesus, we should have the
same mind, Philippians 2 says, like what was
in Jesus. So he didn't consider equality with
God something to be grasped, but rather sacrificed
himself, gave himself over to death, even death
on a cross, so that what? So that others would
not have that experience. Paul says, why do you
go to court against those who defraud you? Would
you not rather be defrauded? In other words,
why would you hurt somebody? Would you not rather
let them hurt you? Right? Basically. So we should
never, ever want to do harm to anyone. That being
said, that being said that we should never want
to do harm to anyone, there may be a time at
which you are required to defend yourself. And
when I'm talking to people and I just say, if
someone comes against you with lethal force,
then you use lethal force to defend yourself
if necessary. So as Christians, we are also not
commanded by Scripture, even though I know there's
where it says turn the other cheek and so on.
We're not commanded by Scripture to be anybody's
doormat. But if they're trying to use lethal
force on you and you cannot use lethal force
on them, that should be your preference. And
we don't kill people who are stealing from us,
for example. We don't want to hurt anybody if
we possibly can avoid it. That is the Christian
position on violence. And that would include
not hurting yourself. So you should not hurt
yourself. You should not cut yourself. You should
not physically harm yourself in any way, shape,
or form. That means that you should not overeat.
You should not undersleep. You should not underhydrate.
You should not drink alcohol or consume drugs
that damage your body, etc. You should not want
to harm yourself. In this scripture, we're going
to talk about The self a little bit. And so when
I say the self, I'm going to break it down for
you. There is the old self, there is the new
self, and there is the whole self. I'm not guaranteeing
I'll break it down for you at that time, but
I'm going to try to be as clear about it as I
possibly can. But old self, new self, whole self,
none of those should you want to cause harm to.
You should not want to hurt yourself in any way.
And that's a foregone conclusion of Scripture.
And Paul says, does a man, I mean, if a man is
against his wife, for example, he's against himself,
does a man really want to be against himself?
No. Should never. No one should ever want to
be against himself. A person who wants to commit
suicide or wants to cut themselves or something
like that has a psychological disorder of some
kind, a sure failing, and they need help. It's
often involved with spiritual warfare. It's often
involved with mental damage and scarring and
like that. And I have been there. I have been
at the point where I wanted to commit suicide.
So I'm not speaking without knowledge. What I'm
saying is no one should ever want to harm themselves
if they are healthy in Christ. So we're going
to talk about money. We're going to talk about
violence. And I wanted to clear up those things
in case I don't when the time comes. And then
I want to say I think everybody wants to do well.
Is there anybody here who wants to just be a
bum and a wastrel for the rest of their life
and you don't really want to do anything of value?
I think we all want to do well, don't we? I mean,
like when a teacher scolds you about a test,
they say something nasty, or when your boss says
something nasty, it's not like you were intentionally
trying not to do well, right? Even if you lie
to try to get ahead, you're still trying to do
well, right? You're more consumed by the doing
well than controlling your choices of how to
get there. Some people are waiting for their
ship to come in. Some people are down at the
docks trying to flag the ship to come in. And
some people are trying to build the ship. But
everybody has a desire. to do well inherently.
If you don't have that, that's where you fall
into those problems like self -destructing financially,
self -destructing physically, causing harm to
yourself, things like that, because now you've
lost your ability to realize that you, like anybody
else, ought to have a drive to do well. I think
everybody should want to do well. The world wants
you to think that you can't do well, or they
want you to think that you need what they have
in order to do well. That's sort of part and
partial with the world. Neither one of those
things is true. Do you want to do well? I think
you do. And you can. And that's what we're going
to look at in Scripture today. The sermon is
entitled, To Do Well or Not to Do Well? That
is the question. Of course, I've played a little
bit on Hamlet. And you may or may not recognize
that line from Hamlet. Hamlet is to be or not
to be. It comes right after the line, Alas, poor
Horatio, I knew him well. It's in that same scene.
And he's got a skull, and he talks, and everybody
knows that one. But some people know to be or
not to be. And he's thinking about whether or
not to commit suicide. because the woman that
he loves supposedly has done so. And then it
turns out he tries to commit suicide, or I think
he's actually successful in committing suicide,
and then she wakes up, she wasn't actually dead,
and then she commits suicide. It's a horrible,
tragic ending, right? But it surrounds that idea
of to be or not to be, and I submit to you the
question is actually to... To do well or not
to do well, that is the question, and that's
what we're going to look at today. All right,
now I got all that housework out of the way,
and now we're going to go to Scripture. And would
you grab your Bibles and maybe take a breath
and hoot, holler, amen, yahtzee, cry out, uno,
there is only one God, something, as we go to
Luke chapter 9. Thank you. Thank you. Very good
today. I appreciate it. Those of you who are
left out, I apologize. You can jump right in
next week. Okay? And Luke chapter 9. Beginning
in verse 20 is where I'll be reading from. And
you will see that it is a really kind of neat
overview of the scripture, but then we're going
to drill down on one particular aspect of it,
okay? So 9, 20 says, and he, and that he is Jesus.
And he said to them, but who do you say that
I am? Years ago, I did this sermon series on
the questions that you really should ask, and
this was one of the questions. You really do
need to ask yourself, who do you say that Jesus
is? I think we, by now, have figured out, if
you haven't, I guess I'll bring this up simply.
Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and God in
the flesh. That's who he claimed to be. But the
question is, who do you say he is? If you're
not living for him, if you have not received
salvation through him and from him, then I'm
thinking maybe you haven't figured out that he
was who he said he was, and that's where you
should be asking yourself, who do I say he is?
What am I supposed to do about what he said and
who he was? So that's the question. Who do you
say that I am? And he was asking the disciples
this, and then God loved Peter. Peter, who was
one of Jesus' disciples and a close friend, if
you want to use that term for him, and traveled
with Jesus and so on. Peter answered and said,
The Christ of God. Now, that little phraseology
right there is steeped in doctrine. So the word
Christ comes from the Greek word Christos, which
means anointed one or Messiah. And so Peter,
as a disciple, was hearkening back. He was also
a Jewish man. He was hearkening back to the Old
Testament, which promised that a man was going
to come, someone was going to come from God.
And there were hints that he might be God in
the flesh, but they didn't really understand
that. And there were clear statements that he
was going to be a suffering Messiah, but they
didn't accept that. They didn't want to accept
that he would suffer. In any case, that there
would be this anointed one or Messiah of God
who would come and that that one would bring
salvation to all people, Jews and Gentiles alike.
Most of us are Gentiles. And so Jesus, Peter
is saying Jesus is that guy. the Christ or the
Messiah or the anointed one of God. You are the
one that God promised he would send. His statement
means nothing less than that. And to them, that
meant he was supposed to provide salvation for
all people. It also meant, if they read their
scriptures, that he would suffer, that he would
die, and all of those kinds of things. And that
he would come back to life, and so on. 21. But
he, the he is Jesus, warned them and instructed
them not to tell this to anyone. So the disciples,
remember what a disciple is? A disciple is a
person who learns from the master and tells others
what the master has said. So Jesus had not told
them that he was the Messiah or the anointed
one. He asked them, who do you say that I am?
So they were saying that he was the anointed
one or the Messiah. Then he says, now don't go
and tell anyone that that is true. So it wasn't
time, if you will, for the world to know it.
And we're going to dig into why he says that.
And really, I think it's answered in the conclusion.
But he says, don't tell anyone what you just
said about me. But he warned them and instructed
them not to tell this to anyone, saying, the
Son of Man must suffer many things. Now that
phrase, the Son of Man, they would have recognized
that as an Old Testament phrase from the book
of Daniel. And it was a phrase that specifically
referred to the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed
One. So when he says the Son of Man must suffer
many things, he is telling Peter in a sort of
Hebrew code, yeah, you nailed it, that's right,
but your idea of what that means and what a lot
of people's idea of what that means is actually
wrong. Here's what's actually right. So he's
saying, yeah, you got it, you nailed it, but
don't tell anyone because they don't get it.
They don't understand what it means. And I'm
going to share with you now what it means. And
so he says, the son of man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders and chief priests
and scribes and be killed and be raised up on
the third day. Okay, so break it down real quick.
So in there is the elders. That's the older group,
if you will, the leaders of the... synagogues
and the people who really should know better.
They really should recognize the Messiah. The
chief priests, that's the priests who were leading
the priests. They were the high up, higher up
priests. They know the scripture like nobody
does. So they really should recognize the Messiah.
And he says, and the scribes. And those are the
people who rewrote the word and they rewrote
it letter by letter, word perfect, and then afterwards
performed something, and I forget what the number
is, but like a thousand tests on every book that
they rewrote to make sure that it was word perfect.
And if it was off in the smallest mark, if there
was a space between two letters that was off,
if anything at all was off, they would bury it
rather than use it after spending months rewriting
it painstakingly by hand. These guys knew the
scripture. The word of the scripture, the written
part of the scripture, better than anybody. So
now we've got elders, chief priests, and scribes
on the list. And those really should be people
who would recognize the Messiah. And it says,
he will be rejected by all of them and be killed
and be raised up on the third day. 23 says, and
he was saying to them all, if anyone wishes to
come after me, Let him deny himself and take
up his cross daily and follow me. And that's
the verse that a lot of people quote, a lot of
Christians quote, because it is almost a more
clear statement of the gospel than John 3 .16,
for example. John 3 .16 tells us the motivation
for the gospel, right? But this tells us the
gospel. This is how you get saved. This is what
you do, right? As a Christian, this is the definition
of who we are. If you want to come after Jesus,
deny yourself. Take up your cross daily and follow
me. And this is where we're going to come back
to in the first point. We're going to break this
down. Almost done with the text. Verse 24. For
whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it.
But whoever loses his life for my sake, he is
the one who will save it. So there's some quick
math here. A little tricky in the wording. Pay
close attention. For whoever, that's any person,
and it's because, right? If anyone wishes to
come after me, let him deny himself, take up
his cross daily, and follow after me, because
whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it.
So essentially he's saying if your efforts are
about saving your life, then you will lose your
life. You will not gain your life. You will not
gain control of your life. You will not have
your life in any way that you want it. But whoever
loses his life for my sake, in other words, if
you would actually be killed or give up your
life, then... He is the one who will save it.
So that one for sure will go into the kingdom
of God, will go to heaven and so on. For or because,
what is a man profited? What do you get? How
much gain do you really have? If he gains the
whole world, in other words, if you became super
rich or had lots of companies or 37 kids or grandkids
or whatever, he gains the whole world and loses
or forfeits his self. Okay, so now we're talking
about self again. In fact, this is really the
first, but now remember back in 23, he says,
deny himself. So we deny ourselves, and he says,
if you don't deny yourself, you seek after the
world, essentially, and what if you gain the
world, but lost yourself? So see the contrast
between denying yourself and gaining yourself.
Just the same as he said, he who wishes to save
his life will lose it, and whoever loses his
life for my sake, we'll save it. See the contrast.
I'll break it down in a minute. He says, for
whoever, because whoever is ashamed of me and
my words. So to be ashamed of something is to
think small of it. In other words, if you are
unwilling to talk about it, if you're unwilling
to live it out, if you're unwilling to recognize
it, whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of
him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes
in his glory. and the glory of the Father, and
of the holy angels. When Jesus comes again to
put it all right, and finish it all off, and
it's all settled, all done, if you're ashamed
of Jesus now, this is what he says, if you're
ashamed of me and my teachings now, then I will
be ashamed of you in that day. So again, that's
teaching us something very significant. There's
a counterpoint. Don't be ashamed now, otherwise
he'll be ashamed then. Be ashamed now, he'll
be ashamed then. But I say to you truthfully,
this is the last verse we're going to read. Oh,
no, we're talking 26. Okay, so we're done with
the text. Okay, so three things I want you to
see in here, and this will go by quickly. So
the first one is the longest and the sharpest
and the most poignant, and you really need to
pay the most close attention, but all three of
them could speak to your life. They really did
mine, all right? So the first one is, Jesus says,
deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow
after me. And that is essentially the gospel,
right? This has serious ramifications. Let's
break it down. deny yourself. Okay, so I'm here
to tell you that my name is Dan. I am Pastor
Dan to a lot of people. I have multiple jobs.
I have a wife, just one, thank God. I have five
children, two of which are grown, one of which
is almost grown, one of which is hot on his heels,
and one of which is not grown at all. And I have
five grandchildren, of which just one is still
in diapers. and all of them are equally exciting
and energetic and often frustrating. I could
talk to you about my skills, my abilities, my
personality traits. I could talk to you about
my spiritual gift, whatever. But I do not think
that I can encapsulate for you what myself is.
Now, nobody knows myself more than me, except
God. None of you know myself. None of you saw
me this last... Friday afternoon, after three
nights of diminished sleep and beating myself
up over whether I'm a half -decent pastor or
not, whether I can actually preach the gospel
or not, whether I can actually lead anybody any
closer to God by servanthood, whether or not
I can lead my family, whether or not I make a
good husband or a good father. None of you saw
me about ready to chuck my Bible? I saw me and
I remember what was happening in those moments.
I'm talking about two days ago and I can hardly
believe that was me. Now, you understand what
I'm saying? Self is very complicated. Self is
very challenging. Self is not simple to put a
tag on or a button. Like I said to start out
with, no one should want to ever hurt themselves.
Let's be realistic. If we went around the room
and raised our hand and said, how many of you
have ever wanted to hurt yourself? Like, I want
to make an intentional decision to maybe cut
yourself or jump your motorcycle over a track
that's over 100 miles per hour like I did around
100 miles per hour. Whoever did things that they
knew was just really damaging, really dangerous,
and you did it on purpose because you weren't
worried about whether or not you were going to
hurt yourself. You were comfortable with potentially
being hurt. And it'd probably be every one of
us, wouldn't it? probably almost all of us, there
might be some young people here that say, no,
I haven't quite gotten there yet, and I hope
you never do. But most of us would say that we've
had moments in time. But now, if you live in
the life that we're living here, and you're kind
of happy, you're kind of, okay, I know where
I'm supposed to be, and you've got problems,
but you're overcoming your problems, you're dealing
with your struggles, you've got issues, but they're
not running you down like a steamroller or whatever,
right? Then you probably don't want to hurt yourself.
At least I hope you don't. I hope there's nobody
here that does. But the point is, self is very
complicated, isn't it? When I look back on those
times in which I wanted to hurt myself, that
doesn't even seem like that's me. So I don't
think it's difficult for us to say there's the
self that I was then in that moment in time,
there's the self that I am now, right? I don't
think that's too hard. I did that, yeah, that
was me, but it really wasn't me now, because
things have changed. So we see that self is very
complicated. And Jesus says, deny yourself. Well,
if I'm going to deny myself, first of all, I've
got to ask myself, what does deny mean? To deny
something is to reject it, to put it away from
you. It has nothing to do with it anymore. Oh
my goodness, I'm going to have nothing to do
with the me that I don't even know. So here's
me and all this hot mess that I am, and I'm going
to put all that away from myself. But then what
will I be? If I put all myself away from myself,
what will I be? It's difficult, right? In fact,
without Jesus, without... the hope that is in
Christ, it's impossible. It's literally impossible
to do this, to deny yourself unless Jesus does
a miracle to you. And Jesus called it what? Being
born again. It's that moment at which we trust
in Christ and he makes us new. Oh, wait, now
I'm beginning to get the concept of I have a
new self. Well, clearly I'm not supposed to deny
the new self that I am in Christ, right? That's
the self that is supposed to be growing, following
Jesus, becoming more like him, being strong in
Christ. I need to build that self up. But there
still a self remains as long as we're in the
flesh. I'm not talking about the flesh, the body.
When he says deny yourself, he does not mean
just your body. I'm talking about a self that
remains that's not the new born again self that
needs to be denied, needs to be separated, cut
off. Before you think to yourself that, well,
you know, after Jesus, things kind of changed,
became... This topic of Jesus is not all that
serious. There's just a couple of quick verses
that I want to read to you that Jesus also spoke
that sort of illustrates Matthew 5 as the first
place. So this is in the Sermon on the Mount,
which is sort of a big summation teaching by
Jesus. Matthew 5, beginning in verse 29, says
this, And if your right eye makes you stumble,
tear it out and throw it from you. For it's better
for you that one of the parts of your body perish
than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
And if your right hand makes you stumble, cut
it off, and throw it from you. For it is better
for you that one of the parts of your body perish
than for your whole body to go into hell. That's
pretty radical. Now, is he literally talking
about ripping your eye out of your skull? What
is he saying? He's saying if there is something
in your life, whatever it might be, even if it
should be so precious as to be your hand or your
eye, If there's something in your life, no matter
how precious it seems to you, that it goes beyond
that ability for you to fathom it, to even think
that it might be possible for you to cut it off
and get rid of it. If that's what's stopping
you from embracing me, from embracing the kingdom
of God, from being the person that God wants
you to be, cut it off. Because it's better you
lose it than go to hell. Jesus doesn't want to
see anybody go to hell. So he teaches kind of
radically like that. He says over in Matthew
18 then, following the same line, and it's the
same author, so we know this is two separate
instances of Jesus' teaching. Matthew 18, in
8 and 9, he says, And if your hand or your foot
causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it
away from you. It's better for you to enter life.
There's a big word right there, life. crippled
or lame than having two hands or two feet to
be cast into the eternal fire and if your eye
caused you to stumble pluck it out and throw
it from you it's better for you to enter life
with one eye than having two eyes to be cast
into the fiery hell now you see why i talked
about violence to start with No one should want
to harm themselves in any way, shape, or form.
And Jesus is not suggesting that you should do
that. But what's absolutely clear is that nothing,
nothing, nothing at all should be allowed to
stand in between you and this other self. This
self that God wants to give you, wants to have
in you. Nothing should be able to stand in the
way. And then 947 of the book of Mark. Book of
Mark 947. Now this is Mark writing, so it could
be one of those other instances. Again, but from
a different perspective. And if your eye causes
you to stumble, cast it out. It's better for
you to enter, listen to this phrase, the kingdom
of God with one eye than having two eyes to be
cast into hell where their worm does not die
and the fire is not quenched for everyone will
be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt
becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty
again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace
with one another. I did a preschool lesson about
a year and a half ago on a Tuesday night about
being salty, and we drew these outlines on tablecloth
material and put it up on the wall. And I wrote,
I want to be salty, and Ariana signed it on there.
And every now and then, we refer back to that
lesson. Now, I know that it's taken a different
meaning in 2019. People use it a different way.
But to be salty in this context means to be a
representative for God. And what God is saying
in there through Jesus is if you become unsalty,
if you no longer are the salt of the earth that
God has made you to be, then that's the self
that's you that I don't even recognize. And if
I've already given you another self so that you
can put away the unsalty self, if I've given
you another self so that that self can be rejected
by you, and this self can be built up by you,
I'm looking for this self. And when you're acting
in this self, I don't even recognize you. And
what can I do, by the way? I already died to
give you this self. So what more can I do? You
see? Jesus said, deny yourself. Now, some folks
have taken this to the extreme. They have punished
their physical bodies, trying to get control
of themselves. They have chopped off their literal
hand, whatever. They have pushed dying, caused
themselves to be martyred. But Jesus disallows
that. Did you hear it when he disallowed that
in the text? He said, deny yourself and take
up your cross. Insert the word. What's the next
word? Daily. Right? This is a state of being
that Jesus now commands us to exist in until
he returns or we should perish and then go to
heaven. Right? So you don't get to deny yourself
to the point of killing yourself. And someone
might argue that that is true, right? Deny yourself
to the point of killing yourself. But you instead
deny yourself and continue to live, right? You
deny yourself and continue to live, taking up
your cross. Well, what does it mean to take up
your cross? Well, we know what it means. Jesus
knew what it meant, and all the Jewish people,
all the people who lived in that day knew what
it meant. To take up your cross is a picture
of crucifixion. Death on the cross was the worst
form of suffering. By the time your cross was
up, you were suffering in the most extreme way.
You carried your cross to wherever you were going
to be crucified at, and you were suffering in
the most extreme way. And so he is saying, deny
yourself, reject that self of you that will not,
I don't want to get ahead of myself, reject that
other self of you, the one that I am doing away
with, and instead embrace the self of you that
I want to build up, the born -again self, the
new self, the self that I'm giving you, and Take
up your cross means suffer every day as necessary
to ensure that that happens. Now, some people
have made the mistake of thinking that that means
self -mutilation or some stupid thing like that,
but it doesn't. He is talking in spiritual terms.
Jesus was talking in spiritual terms almost all
the time. Now, where he said it would be better
to cut off your hand than to allow your hand
to not let you come into the kingdom of God,
the truth is... If that could be a thing, if
your hand could literally keep you from coming
into the kingdom of God, you would be better
to cut off your hand than allow it to keep you
from coming into the kingdom of God. So that's
a literal thing. But your hand can't do that.
Your hand is just one small part of yourself.
It's your brain that does that. It's your soul,
your spirit that does that. Deny yourself, take
up your cross daily, and then follow him. So
the following of Jesus is what? Let's be really
practical. What do you do to follow Jesus? You
do what Jesus told you to do. Right? You follow
his example. What he modeled, the lifestyle he
modeled for us. We do what we saw him do. So
we do what we heard him do, or heard him say
to do, and we do what he told us to do. Right?
So you deny yourself, take up your cross daily,
and follow after him. Let me say it this way.
Jesus said, cut off your hand if necessary. Here's
what I want to say to you. If you're steering
the car of your life, and your old self is in
the back seat and reaches for the wheel, give
him an elbow in the face. We've all seen action
adventure movies, right? If you're steering the
car of your life and your old self is in the
back seat and reaches for the wheel, give him
an elbow in the face. Do what you have to do
to be the one in charge of your car in Christ.
So when Jesus says, serve, you serve. When Jesus
says, go and tell the nations, you go and tell
the nations. But you say, but I don't know, I
want to play Xbox. I don't know, I want to spend
time with my friends. I don't know, I want to
cook or I want to eat or I want to play or I
want to work more or whatever. Immediately, as
soon as that thing, whatever that thing is, whatever
that excuse is comes in, guess what you can do?
This is amazingly simple. Guess what you can
do? You can identify that as self. You have a
thought. You say, no, I don't want to go tell
people about Jesus. That makes me feel awkward.
So, what do you do? Three -step action plan.
Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow
him. He made it painfully simple. Now, we've
confused it because of the nature of it, because
it's radical, because it sounds like dangerous
or whatever like that, right? The truth is, it's
an action plan that you can enact. So when you
start to get angry because someone has hurt you,
you can say, okay, I'm starting to get angry.
Should I be angry at them? Do they really mean
to hurt me? Should I be angry at them? Well,
the Bible says, put away from you all anger.
But I have a reason to be angry. I think I should
be angry. I want to be angry. I'll get this done
if I'm angry. They'll listen to me more if I'm
angry, et cetera. But the Bible says, put away
from you all anger, malice, et cetera, right?
So I should put that away, but I don't want to
put it away. Guess what that is? It's self. It
certainly is not the self that God is building,
right? So it's the old self. And what do you
do? Deny it. Deny the old self. Reject it. Put
it away from you. Say, okay, I hear you, self.
You want me to be mad right now. I hear you,
self. You want me to be bored right now. I hear
you, self. You want me to be sad right now. But
guess what? I don't want to be mad, bored, or
sad right now. I want to be walking in Christ,
rejoicing in my end destination and the fact
that I have an abundant life in Christ. I want
to do that. Because I want to do that, I reject
you, self. I will not go that way, self. I will
instead take up my cross today as I am supposed
to do every day and I will follow. Jesus. This
is what people do. They say, I will deny myself.
I will take up my cross and I will follow Jesus.
And then, you know what they do? They don't.
This is Christianity across the world today.
Not 100%. I get that. I don't know what the percentages
are. But this is why many theologians that are
out there right now are saying that there may
be as many as 90%. So as I look at this room
right now, if the statistics that they're saying
is true, then 9 out of 10 of you, including me,
So 9 out of 10 of this entire room are not actually
saved. That scares the crap out of me because
that does not give me good odds. I know exactly
what to do about it. I'm going to deny myself.
I'm going to take up my cross daily. And I'm
going to follow Him. And if I do, deny myself.
When my self says, well, you don't have to do
that. When my self says, well, you're not a good
pastor anyway. You may as well quit. I say, no,
self. That's just not true. I don't care if I'm
a good pastor or not. I'm not doing this to be
a good pastor. I'm doing it so that God gets
the glory. So that God, who told me what to do,
gets my obedience. So I'm going to do it. Right?
And then self says, yeah, but you'll never lead
anybody closer to God. And I say, Well, if that's
really true, if God told me to do it, and if
it's really true, then I'll just put up with
that as a result. You understand? Now, have you
been in those arguments before? Did you know
enough to deny self and shut him down? Did you
give him an elbow in the face, put him in the
back seat? Did you kill him and stuff him in
the trunk? It's the only way he'll ever get quiet.
So, people who struggle with money, for example,
I warned you. People who struggle with money,
okay? This is what they do. They repeatedly misspend
their money. Ben Franklin, in his book that he
wrote, he wrote a series of books beginning in
1732, and he wrote one every year called Paul
Richard's Almanac. He used to say, beware the
little things, or the little expenditures, I
think was the word he used, beware the little
expenditures, because by small holes, boats sink.
And so this is what they do. This creeps in,
that creeps in. You spend a little money here,
you spend a little money there, whatever. He
also said a fat kitchen makes a poor estate.
So you live well, and what do you got? Nothing.
Right? You let little things creep in. And so
we do that. And then we go, oh, man, I shouldn't
have done that. Shoot. I shouldn't have spent
that money. Doggone it. I did it again. I got
a bill to pay off now. It's going to be years
before I get rid of this thousands of dollars
or whatever. Now I can't. I can't buy it. I'm
having a hard time paying my rent or my groceries
because I did that or whatever. That's what we
do. And then, somehow or other, we rescue ourselves.
God rescues us. Our family, our loved ones rescue
us. Whatever. And then, about a month later,
we do it again. We do the exact same thing again.
We go, but I should be allowed to buy that. No,
I think I can handle that. When we bought our
house up in Michigan, which is our second house,
we owned a house that had a $65 ,000, $75 ,000
balance. We still had to pay off on the loan.
We were paying $800 a month on it every month.
And the loan officer convinced us, as a young
couple, one working full -time, one not working,
that we could afford to buy a house that would
have a mortgage payment of $1 ,250 on it. Which
meant we had a mortgage payment per month of
over $2 ,000 a month. So that's $24 ,000 a year,
which was fully half. I can do the math. It was
fully half of what Sherry was making at the time.
Nobody can afford to do that. But she convinced
us, and we wanted to believe it. She played to
ourself. We wanted to believe that we could do
it. And so we bought what we could not afford.
Afterwards, we went, oh, that was stupid. We've
done that before. And then we went on to buy
other things that we couldn't afford. So that
after Sherry lost her job, Michigan went back,
$29 ,000 worth of consumer debt, two houses going
into foreclosure. The $29 ,000 became $89 ,000,
one house sold right before it was supposed to
go into foreclosure, the other one rented, and
we moved into an apartment. Where we occasionally
went, oh, we can afford that. Listen to me. If
you have to say to yourself, we can afford that,
you can't afford it. You're trying to convince
yourself. Right? And that's what people do. And
money is just an example. But there's lots of
other things, right? I can eat another piece
of cake today. I won't be fatter tomorrow. You
won't. It doesn't act like that. You don't eat
one extra piece of cake today and gain weight
tomorrow. You eat one extra piece of cake today
and then you eat another extra piece of cake
tomorrow because it was good and nothing happened.
Because you didn't deny yourself. Right? Your
relationship. You say one mean thing to another
person. Nothing happens. Or maybe, even worse,
they do what you wanted them to do. And you go,
oh, that worked. Try that again later. Because
by a mighty ship, small holes will sink it. Right?
The point is, what you should be doing is denying
yourself taking up your cross and following after
him. And what you're actually doing is playing
with yourself. Right? That's what we're doing.
So he crawls up and he goes, so I'm riding there.
It's like as if Ariana was in the back seat.
And she said, Dad, can I drive? I'm like, no,
honey, you can't drive. I'm sorry. I'm the driver.
I'm licensed. Dad, come on, let me drive. No,
honey, you can't drive. Dad, I'm taking my seatbelt
off. I'm going to drive. No, honey, you're not
going to drive. Okay, fine, honey, you can drive
for just a little bit. That's what we're doing.
Self is not going away. Take up your cross daily.
Self is not going away. Self is always going
to be there. He's always going to be crawling
up out of the trunk looking like a dead zombie
that you beat half to death. He's always going
to be there crawling up out of the back seat
looking like a toddler who wants to steer the
direction of your life. Right? Self is not going
away. Take up your cross daily means it's not
going away. And so then that's called suffering.
And we suffer. I get it. We suffer. I'm not asking
you to suffer. That's not my job. But I will
tell you that in this context, at least, God
is asking me to suffer. Because that guy himself,
he's that same dark guy, that same liar, that
same thief, that same manipulator, that same
drinker. He's that same guy. He's still back
there in the trunk. And some, most days, I feel
like I got him locked in the trunk. Some days,
I feel like he's that zombie crawling up trying
to grab hold of the wheel. And I'm here to say
to you that... If he's coming up out of the trunk,
you better get violent. So here's what people
who are getting control of their money do. Again,
an illustration. They don't spend it. It's like,
I'm not going to do nothing with it. I won't
touch the money. This works great if you're in
a marriage and the other person is not a spender.
Except, guess what? It's hard on not spenders
to spend. Right? So in most relationships, there's
somebody who's more a spender and somebody who's
less a spender in the marriage relationships.
And so when the not spender, has to spend all
the money. You know what they call that? Suffering.
So in order to ease your own suffering, you put
all the suffering on other people. I'm just not
going to do it. I'm just not going to go to church.
I'm not going to hear the teaching. Or I'm not
going to give. Or I'm not going to serve. I'm
just not going to do it. Let them do it. Let
them suffer. Let them carry the load. This is
what Christianity has been. because 20 % of the
people do 80 % of the work, and the reason 20
% of the people do 80 % of the work is because
the other 80 % of the people are putting the
suffering off on the 20 % of the people. Do you
think they want to do that? No, because they
have a self, too. And their self is there, too.
And in the middle of it, people who are, as Sherry
said, trying to look perfect, okay? So, did I
burst anybody's bubble by describing my spiritual
warfare of Saturday afternoon of about 3 o 'clock?
I hope not. But it's a reality. And if you're
signing up with Jesus and thinking it's going
to be peaches and cream all the way to fairyland,
you will not get saved. Your soul will not be
saved and you will go to hell and burn for an
eternity if that's the heaven that you sign up
for. Because Jesus said, this is how you get
where you want to go. This is how you get what
you want. This is how you do well. Deny self.
Deny that self that would be the wrong self,
if you want to say that, if you need to. But
it's deny yourself, the self that you had, the
one that you were. Deny yourself. Take up your
cross daily and follow him. That's how you get
there because he's going there and he'll take
you there if you will follow him. And if you
will not, you will not get there. So if you follow
peaches and cream all the way to fairyland, you're
going to get there and then suddenly there's
going to be a click and the lights are all going
to go off and they're all going to come back
up and it's going to be fiery pits of nastiness
is what's going to happen. Because that is not
the heaven that Jesus placed. It's so much better
than that. But this life, well, here's the problem.
And we're moving on to the second point. And
they'll go faster. So hang on. This whole thing
sounds like a self -denial gospel. And that makes
it a very unpopular message in a you -don't -have
-to -deny -yourself world. So I have offended
some of you just with the kinds of things that
I have said today. There's been that self that's
in you that's going, I don't like it. You say
it like that. I don't like to hear it. Don't
talk about hell so flippantly. When I am in Christ,
I can talk about hell like it's nowhere and it's
nothing because it's nowhere and nothing I'm
going to ever be or see. Hell is nothing. When
I'm in Christ, I can talk about going there as
a joke because I ain't going there. And ain't
nobody going there that listens to the gospel
that Jesus preached, that believes in Jesus,
that follows Jesus. Nobody's going there. So
if you're going there, that's your own stupidity.
But I know you want to do well. So maybe you
want to rethink whether you should deny yourself,
take up your cross daily, and follow after Him.
Okay, so it sounds like a self -denial gospel.
But wait. It's exactly the opposite. It's not
a self -denial gospel. Is it? Deny yourself isn't
about denying yourself, is it? It's not about
that at all. Because born again in Christ, you
get a new self. And that's the self you take
care of. Ben Franklin also wrote in Poor Richard's
Almanac, a penny saved is a penny earned. Is
there anybody here who understands the old adage,
a penny saved is a penny earned? And could explain
it to the rest of us? What does a penny saved
is a penny earned mean? We say it all the time,
don't we? Go ahead. What does it mean? You put
money out like that, right? And you don't spend
it, right? Yeah. When you do need it, and it's
really something that is necessary to have in
your life, it's there. And that is a process
of denying yourself, so it's earned. You actually
have to earn that. There you go. It's a work
that's done so that it'll be there so it can
actually be used, right? I think he also said
something like, what did he say? Wait, I think
in my head, wait, I got this one written down.
It says, the honest man takes pains and then
enjoys pleasures. The knave, that means the fool
or the unwise man, takes pleasures and then suffers
pains. You get it? A penny saved is a penny earned.
The question is, do you want a penny or not?
If you never save a penny, you'll never have
a penny. Not for any length of time. You follow?
So that's what this is about. Denying the old
self is about... Okay, let's say it this way.
Beating back the zombie that's crawling up out
of the trunk to take control of your car is about
not crashing your car. Do you want to crash your
car? Not having to look back anymore and say,
oh my goodness, I did it again. It means you're
going to have to get brutal. No mercy. No mercy
to the self that once was me. And all... Compassion
and growth and love to the self that now is me.
I want to be following Jesus. I don't want to
be who I used to be and get violent if necessary.
So, oh wait, I guess it's a self -choice gospel,
isn't it? You're going to choose who you're going
to be. Oh, that very thing that the world promises
but can never deliver. You can choose who you
want to be. Is exactly what Jesus offers. Oh,
now isn't that coincidental that the world teaches
a message that sounds so much like the gospel.
And so many people are following it, believing
they can be whatever they want to be if they'll
just buy this, do that, follow this person, subscribe,
click here. And they never get there. Because
the world is spouting a message just like Jesus.
And then even there's those religions, false
religions, right? That actually spout a self
-denial way of living. So if you'll follow these
ten steps, these four -fold laws, if you'll do
this and deny yourself, beat your flesh, fast
seven days a week, you know, whatever. If you'll
do all of these things, then you can have what
you want in the end. So they've twisted the gospel.
And then when you talk about... The first one,
when they talk about the world, they say, well,
you're Jesus. He's a self -denial Jesus. You
have to deny yourself. Well, yes, you have to
deny yourself. You're old self. You're no good
self, right? And embrace your new self, your
born -again self. And then they're always to
say, well, those Christians, man, they got it
easy. Your religion is too easy because everything
is fair game now. You can do anything you want.
And that's what Paul said, right? All things
are available to me. I can do anything I want.
But not all things are profitable to me. I submit
to you that all the things that are not profitable
to me that I want to be now are the things that
the old self sees as profitable. Beat him back
into the trunk. Sounds like a self -denial gospel,
but it's actually the opposite. Third point.
Jesus wasn't denying himself when he went to
the cross. Okay, so you know the story, maybe,
and if you don't, I'm going to tell it to you,
of the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before
Jesus was crucified. He went into the garden
and he begged God. He said, God, please, if there's
some other way, please, I don't want to be crucified.
And he prayed so hard and he pled so hard that
he sweat and then some of his sweat glands burst
and he sweat blood, which is a thing called hermaphrodosis.
Doctors know that it really does happen for people
under immense duress. It happens sometimes in
torture and things like that. So then it opens
up your pores. So then when he was whipped the
next day, he was whipped and it hurt him worse
than it would normally hurt another person. And
his cord were ripped wide open and his bone and
sinew showed through the skin of his back. So
you can imagine him praying, Lord, if there be
some other way, let's do it any other way. You
can imagine him praying that because he knew
exactly what it was going to entail. And people
say, when he says, but Father, your will, not
my will be done, that he was denying himself.
He was denying himself and submitting himself
to God's will. But wait a minute. What did Jesus
say about what he did in life? He said, I only
do what I see the Father doing. Jesus' will was
the Father's will. When Jesus says, your will,
not my will, be done. He's not denying himself.
He doesn't need to deny himself because there's
only one self and it's fully aligned. He doesn't
have two selves like you or I do. When Jesus
goes to the cross and dies, he's denying. Ourself.
For if he died for us, by substitution, we all
died. And now we live, 2 Corinthians 5 says,
not for ourselves, but for Jesus who lives in
us. Our second self. Our new self. Our born again
self. That's nothing less than God. himself,
in ourself. And so when that old you, when that
part of you that's not been fully turned over
to God yet, says, oh, don't, you know, just spend
it. Don't use it for God's glory. Don't give
it. Or, oh, just waste your time with this or
that or the other thing rather than going to
find a way to serve or tell somebody about Jesus.
Oh, don't bother mentioning the name of Jesus.
It's clear they won't want to hear it. When you
hear those things and your old self is saying
that, That's nothing less than your old self
fighting its oldest enemy, who is God himself
in you. Now you tell me, if God is in you and
your old self is in you, who's going to win?
God. And if God is going to win, then why are
you still listening to your old self? Why are
you still doing the things that your old self
wants you to do? Why do you even engage in those
conversations? Why don't you just say, shut up
old self, get back in the trunk. And just do
what it is you're supposed to do. I'll tell you
why. Because there are a lot of other voices
too. Other old selves. Voices that are directed
at your ears to speak not to you, not to the
Jesus in you, not to the Holy Spirit in you,
not to the new self, but to the old self. To
elicit from you the old self. To bring the old
self back up. That's why it says focus on all
things pure. Because when you focus on all things
pure, those things boost up the Jesus self in
you and help you to deny the old self. So you
want to do well. I want to do well. The question
is to do well or not. Let me say that again.
So you want to do well? I want to do well. The
question is to do well or not. And the answer
is Which self are you going to choose? If you
choose the new self, if you embrace the one who
was born again in you, and you learn, and how
do you learn? You learn mostly, primarily through
Scripture. There's one verse I want to read by
way of conclusion, and then we'll be through.
It's from James, the book of James. And it's
in chapter 1. And when I read this, in light
of this sermon, I want to say to you that something
that I thought this verse meant, it doesn't even
mean. And I'm going to show it to you right now.
I've been operating falsely quite a while. Kind
of working against myself. I'll read from 23.
You've heard this before, maybe some of you.
Some of you haven't. It's okay. If anyone is
a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like
a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror.
For once he has looked at himself and gone away,
he has immediately forgotten what kind of person
he was. Now I've quoted this verse probably,
I don't know, 25 times in the last 20 years or
so. And this is how I quoted it. He is like a
man who looked in a mirror and walked away and
forgot what he looked like. Anybody ever quote
it that way? Or think it said that? But is that
what it says? It is not. It actually says, let
me read it again, pay close attention to the
ending. For once he has looked at himself and
gone away, he has immediately forgotten what
kind of person he was. Has anybody here ever
looked in a mirror? Do you see in a mirror what
kind of person you are? Do you see whether you
helped a lady with her groceries or whether you
gave? No, you don't see in a mirror what kind
of person you are. See, a person who learns from
the Word of God what it says and then doesn't
do what it says is like this. A man who goes
and looks in the mirror, right? You check, oh,
my fly's zipped. My hair's straight. Tie's not
on crooked. Usually I have to fix all three of
those things in the mirror. That's how I know
personal experience. And then you walk away and
go, I have no idea what kind of man I am. Because
the mirror doesn't show you what kind of man
you are. It just shows you what you look like.
So when you go to the Bible, when you come to
the sermon, does the sermon show you what you
look like? Does the Word show you what you look
like on the outside? Anywhere in this book will
tell you what kind of hat you're wearing today?
No. But it will tell you what kind of person
you are. And Jesus will tell you what kind of
person you are. And if you've not begun to deny
yourself and take up your cross daily and follow
after Him, I'll tell you what kind of person
you are. You're not a Christian. You're not a
follower of Christ. You're not on your way to
heaven. We read the verses. You heard it. Just
exactly how extreme, how important is it that
you deny yourself, take up your cross daily and
follow after Him? So much so that if it was your
arm keeping you out, you'd cut your hand off.
If it was your eye keeping you out, you'd pluck
your eye out. Fortunately, it's none of those
things. It's your choice of which self you're
following. Of which self you're embracing. Of
which self you're growing. Of which self you
want to be. So choose. Who do you say he is?
And then deny yourself. And take up your cross
daily. And follow after him. And yes, it will
be suffering. But the good news is, at the end
of the road, after all is done and said, the
sighing, the sorrow of the highway of holiness
comes to an end. And there, even if there should
be a reason to cry, God himself will wipe your
tears. There is heaven. And in the meantime,
there is abundant life and power. But it ain't
in that zombie old self that keeps trying to
crawl out of the trunk. It's in the new self
that's you afire with the glory of God. When
I got up today, my last illustration, when I
got up today for the inspirational moment time,
we didn't put up a slide that said the inspirational
moment. And I didn't say, as I often say, this
is that time at which if you have something you
want to share, I didn't announce it. I didn't
ask you to speak on behalf of God. But there's
only roughly two people in this room who might
not have known what that time was for. And Sherry
spoke up. And she spoke about transparency and
honesty in Christ. She was planning on doing
that. The question is, Why didn't anybody else
speak up? Because our self was too busy this
week to study our Bibles? Because our self was
too complicated this week to think about what
God might be doing in our lives? Because our
self was too concerned about our self and not
concerned about somebody else in the room who
might be dying and going to hell? Because our
self... Just wanted that time to pass so we could
get on to the next worship song so we could sing
nice and bold and loud for Jesus. Oh, but wait,
our self didn't really want to sing in many cases.
Don't embrace yourself. If you go after that
self, in the end you will lose your life. Go
after the self that Jesus gives as a free gift
to those who have their sins cleansed and the
Holy Spirit comes and takes up residence and
you will live with Him. Thank you for listening,
and I hope you're reaching new heights in Jesus
today. This has been an episode of New Heights
Fellowship Baptist Church in East Toledo. We're
located at 255 Hefner in Toledo, Ohio, 43605.
If you need more information about the church,
our ministries, or the other ministries of Pastor
Daniel Stevenson, please go to churchtoledo .com.
We're also on Facebook at New Heights Toledo,
and we'd love to hear from you. If you'd like
to give to the ministry, you can do so via the
website or by texting G -I -V -E to 419 -419
-0095. That's the word give, and the phone number
is 419 -419 -0095. You'll be able to set up your
debit or credit card for an individual or recurring
donation. We appreciate all that you do and all
the support that we get as we try to help Toledoans
find Jesus Christ and reach new heights in Jesus.
God bless you today.