back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 12.17.23
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and how he would bring true hope of salvation, 00:11:44.120 |
forgive us, and make us right with God the Father. 00:11:54.640 |
"since he always lives to make intercession for them." 00:11:57.720 |
Today, may we rejoice that we have a great high priest 00:14:58.460 |
♪ Because the sinless, because the sinless Savior died ♪ 00:15:41.340 |
Well, a reminder, we have a big thing coming up soon. 00:15:44.860 |
The three services that are gonna be happening 00:15:54.780 |
and stay tuned for any additional opportunities to serve 00:15:58.020 |
or different announcements that might come up 00:16:01.180 |
So if you could pay attention in the future to things, 00:16:19.540 |
And it's the best time of the year to invite people 00:16:25.540 |
as we're already celebrating something called Christmas. 00:16:28.780 |
To share this, there's going to be an outreach table 00:16:31.500 |
right after the service where you can bring them. 00:16:36.180 |
Outreach members will be there to talk to them 00:16:52.660 |
our New Year's Eve service as well as a ping pong tournament. 00:16:55.340 |
So sign up for that ping pong tournament if you would like. 00:17:02.180 |
So join us as we ring in the New Year together. 00:17:04.860 |
And then just a reminder, coming up for the members 00:17:08.900 |
on January 14th, there's a members meeting at 2 p.m. 00:17:13.060 |
Now for next week, for our Christmas service, 00:17:18.140 |
we're not sure what the parking is going to be like. 00:17:20.540 |
Take note that there'll be additional visitors parking, 00:17:23.740 |
but we've also been granted this parking lot right here. 00:17:33.780 |
So there's gonna be an additional parking lot 00:17:36.700 |
So if you need that, please do take advantage of it, okay? 00:17:49.380 |
for you to guide us and lead us into offering. 00:18:07.580 |
Father, would you remind us of why it is that we give? 00:18:11.700 |
because you are good, and we want your purposes, 00:19:09.660 |
but before we do, if we could spend a few moments 00:20:56.860 |
♪ And in love before you laid the world's foundation ♪ 00:21:08.220 |
♪ You have raised me up so high above my station ♪ 00:22:00.500 |
♪ By your blood, I have redemption and salvation ♪ 00:22:05.500 |
♪ Lord, you died that I might rework you, my soul ♪ 00:22:12.500 |
♪ And you rose that I might be a new creation ♪ 00:23:03.500 |
♪ Falling to a kingdom that did not prevail ♪ 00:23:09.500 |
♪ Heaven said, I stand by grace, grace alone ♪ 00:23:14.500 |
♪ So I'll stand and go by grace, grace alone ♪ 00:23:28.500 |
♪ I will stand and stand by grace, grace alone ♪ 00:23:33.500 |
♪ I will reach the end by grace, grace alone ♪ 00:28:24.500 |
As a child, I did not regularly attend church. 00:28:27.500 |
In middle school, I followed a few classmates 00:28:32.500 |
I heard about God, sin, the cross, the resurrection, 00:28:44.500 |
I was just a churchgoer, a consumer of church culture. 00:28:49.500 |
The things I learned led to no authentic belief 00:29:01.500 |
In high school and college, I started thinking more 00:29:05.500 |
and listened to talks from some prominent Christian apologists. 00:29:10.500 |
I understood on a rational level that if God did not exist, 00:29:23.500 |
However, my problem was that I loved the pleasures of sin. 00:29:28.500 |
Thus, I opted for the absurd but convenient lie 00:30:19.500 |
Like the Israelites in the time of the judges, 00:30:56.500 |
and numbing my conscience through substance abuse. 00:31:40.500 |
to treat the Most High God with insolent contempt, 00:31:45.500 |
and making a shameful mockery of the precious gift of life 00:31:48.500 |
he had granted me and entrusted me to steward. 00:32:14.500 |
God smashed into pieces the idols in my life. 00:32:18.500 |
The business I had been working at tirelessly fell apart 00:32:21.500 |
as I became embroiled in a lawsuit with my business partner. 00:32:25.500 |
Meanwhile, my health was rapidly deteriorating 00:32:30.500 |
At the same time, I could not control my selfishness, 00:32:42.500 |
One of the authors I came across was a Christian 00:32:45.500 |
whose writings began to open my eyes to the truth. 00:32:51.500 |
"God can't give us peace and happiness apart from himself 00:32:58.500 |
The stamp of the saint is that he can waive his own rights 00:33:06.500 |
"For you will certainly carry out God's purposes however you act, 00:33:17.500 |
I soon purchased the Bible and began to read it. 00:33:20.500 |
I also started listening to the preaching of God's Word. 00:33:24.500 |
I don't know how I knew which preachers to listen to, 00:33:27.500 |
but I attribute to the watchful superintendence of God 00:33:30.500 |
that my searching led to the preaching of faithful pastors 00:33:38.500 |
was to bring me to the terrifying realization 00:33:43.500 |
Out of dread, I confessed my sins and repented, 00:33:47.500 |
resolved to turn over a new leaf in life as a Christian. 00:33:52.500 |
I learned through many failed attempts to put away my sinful ways 00:33:56.500 |
that I had not the power nor the will to give them up. 00:34:00.500 |
During those dark years, I experienced much despair 00:34:14.500 |
One day, I read John Owens on the mortification of sin. 00:34:20.500 |
It helped me see that I could not hope to defeat sin 00:34:23.500 |
if I only intended to live a half-life with God, 00:34:33.500 |
To be saved and to live would mean first to die, 00:34:39.500 |
to relinquish all claims to myself and give full allegiance to the King, 00:34:44.500 |
to have Him enthroned in my heart and exercise dominion in my life, 00:34:50.500 |
to freely and gladly live to do His will for the glory of His name. 00:34:57.500 |
I am learning that the power to live the Christian life lies not within me, 00:35:02.500 |
but in God's grace, which perfects power and weakness, 00:35:06.500 |
received with a believing heart in unceasing prayer, 00:35:09.500 |
in the renewing of the mind and transforming of the heart 00:35:21.500 |
Through many humbling failures, yet continuing to strive, 00:35:26.500 |
learning not to trust in myself but in God who strengthens, 00:35:30.500 |
God has granted me victory in my battles with sin, 00:35:34.500 |
given me an abiding peace that daily guards my heart and mind, 00:35:41.500 |
and put in my heart a growing love for Christ 00:35:44.500 |
that treasures His surpassing worth, beauty, and majesty. 00:35:49.500 |
My prayer is that He would cause this love to continue to grow 00:35:56.500 |
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, 00:36:00.500 |
but I press on so that I may lay hold of that 00:36:03.500 |
for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 00:36:16.500 |
Alex, do you understand that by going into the water 00:36:34.500 |
you're uniting with Him in His resurrected life? 00:36:37.500 |
I baptize you now in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:37:01.500 |
This is actually the very specific picture of the sermon 00:37:07.500 |
that we're going to be going through today in Matthew 16 00:37:10.500 |
about what it means to find death and life in Christ. 00:37:14.500 |
And so let me go ahead and read for us this passage, 00:37:17.500 |
and we'll go into a passage that will kind of describe 00:37:31.500 |
"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, 00:37:34.500 |
he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. 00:37:38.500 |
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, 00:37:41.500 |
but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 00:37:44.500 |
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world 00:37:49.500 |
Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 00:37:53.500 |
For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels 00:37:57.500 |
and will then repay every man according to his deeds.'" 00:38:02.500 |
Father, we thank You week to week as we see these baptisms, 00:38:17.500 |
Father, we're seeing a miracle at work in action, 00:38:23.500 |
that You'd go into our hearts and open them to see our great need for You, 00:38:30.500 |
and subsequently call us to die to our old lives and to live to Yours. 00:38:37.500 |
And Father, I pray that as we read Your Word, 00:38:41.500 |
as we look at words perhaps that we've seen many times, 00:38:45.500 |
that Your Spirit would again come into the heart of every believer 00:38:58.500 |
Well, contrary to what people think today, some people, 00:39:03.500 |
when we think about what it is to follow Christ, 00:39:12.500 |
especially because I am the college pastor here. 00:39:14.500 |
If you didn't know who I was, you're like, "Where's Pastor Peter?" 00:39:16.500 |
I'm Nathan. I'm the college pastor at this church. 00:39:19.500 |
And I get to have that privilege of seeing college students come in every year. 00:39:24.500 |
And because of that, we have constant conversations 00:39:26.500 |
and people coming from every which background 00:39:34.500 |
that it's to not sin and it's to be good as a person. 00:39:45.500 |
It's not following an explicit set of morals. 00:39:50.500 |
Following Jesus isn't just trying to be a better person. 00:39:53.500 |
It's not just trying to be nicer to your mother 00:40:01.500 |
or to stop the vices or to stop living in certain ways. 00:40:10.500 |
I know this because Jesus tells us what it means to follow. 00:40:15.500 |
Jesus tells us so that we are not then afforded the right or the luxury 00:40:31.500 |
All the stipulations come from Him and only Him. 00:40:37.500 |
We don't get to hijack it and tell Him what it means to follow Him. 00:40:45.500 |
there will come a time at the very end where regardless of what it is 00:40:50.500 |
whether we think that we have followed Christ or not, 00:40:52.500 |
there is only by one standard that will be judged. 00:40:56.500 |
No amount of wishful thinking is going to change the reality 00:41:05.500 |
Today we're going to be asking that one question, 00:41:10.500 |
I came across this more so because of the season. 00:41:17.500 |
We look around and we look at the Advent season 00:41:19.500 |
and it's very easy to come back to traditions that we've set up. 00:41:23.500 |
Even as a parent, looking through the eyes of my young children, 00:41:27.500 |
that I'm telling them, it's not about the lights, 00:41:29.500 |
it's not about the gifts, and yet I feel sometimes so helpless 00:41:35.500 |
Regardless of whatever word it is that I kind of shape and say, 00:41:38.500 |
it's about Jesus, I wonder, do they understand? 00:41:45.500 |
And squarely at that place, I wonder what kind of testimony that I set. 00:41:50.500 |
Not just a theological concept I might impart upon my children, 00:42:03.500 |
don't get lost in the gifts, the lights, the hot chocolate. 00:42:07.500 |
We tell them, don't get lost in the vacation and in these things. 00:42:20.500 |
It's the very same question that's being answered 00:42:28.500 |
So we're going to be going into this passage, 00:42:31.500 |
and because it's a passage, I'm certain most of us know. 00:42:36.500 |
I didn't do very much preparation in terms of organization. 00:42:42.500 |
So you're going to see, we're just going to go word by word. 00:42:52.500 |
Remember, our question is what does it look like to follow Jesus? 00:43:01.500 |
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after me," 00:43:06.500 |
"If anyone wishes, if anyone desires, if anyone wants to," 00:43:11.500 |
and we sing a song today that's very, very dangerous. 00:43:28.500 |
Because we have to ask ourselves, before we got lost in the music 00:43:31.500 |
and in the drums and in the song and just the instrumentality of it all, 00:43:37.500 |
of the fact that we're here away from our homes, from our jobs, 00:43:41.500 |
that we're sitting here in a place that's structured for worship, 00:43:44.500 |
that we sing these songs and yet do it so flippantly, 00:43:50.500 |
Because Jesus asks not just the common crowd but his disciples, 00:43:55.500 |
and he says this statement, "If anyone wishes to come after me," 00:43:58.500 |
there's a great temptation to leapfrog this statement, 00:44:03.500 |
Because we think it's an obvious thing as a Christian. 00:44:10.500 |
And he, by this conditional statement, that if is circled. 00:44:14.500 |
It's blaring towards us that we are not allowed to leapfrog it. 00:44:19.500 |
It's actually possible for many of us to read this and think, 00:44:26.500 |
And like what were presented in Scripture at the core of things 00:44:51.500 |
We take a look at our lives and we see an absence of that kind of following 00:44:59.500 |
If anyone wishes, if anyone desires, if anyone wants to what? 00:45:06.500 |
If this is not set, then nothing that comes afterwards matters. 00:45:25.500 |
It's desire, this difference that needs to be wrestled with. 00:45:29.500 |
Because we love Jesus, we want our love for him to grow. 00:45:32.500 |
It's because we love Jesus that we are not comfortable with lukewarm desire. 00:45:37.500 |
Again, these were disciples, if you look there, that Jesus said to his disciples. 00:45:41.500 |
These were people who were already following after him. 00:45:49.500 |
He had to bring to clarity what it means to follow him. 00:45:59.500 |
Because not all supposed followers actually desires. 00:46:13.500 |
We might want to follow Christ without a desire for Christ. 00:46:17.500 |
Even for believers that we might have forgotten along the way the whole point of our faith. 00:46:25.500 |
Lost in our growing families in the midst of sleepless nights and birthdays to be celebrated. 00:46:36.500 |
Winter break season, I feel like people line up, "Netflix, what am I going to binge next?" 00:46:54.500 |
Simply getting lost in getting to an end of a day where we could watch something, eat something. 00:46:58.500 |
Even in Christianity, getting lost in the tenets of religion and talking points. 00:47:02.500 |
All of which might matter but to lose yourself in it and you find yourself taking one step back. 00:47:07.500 |
Looking at the heart, examining yourself and see that Christ has vanished. 00:47:18.500 |
In all these things, only where our love for Christ is growing can we point to something that is of worth. 00:47:28.500 |
All other places we have to be careful of growing the wrong things. 00:47:33.500 |
We have to ask ourselves, "Do I desire Jesus?" 00:47:38.500 |
Because that will answer the conditional statement Christ has brought to us. 00:47:46.500 |
Otherwise you will find yourself in a place where you are leapfrogging the very scenario, the very landscape in which we need to wrestle. 00:47:58.500 |
This is the place where deep examination is needed. 00:48:03.500 |
If your answer to this is no, then that is our starting point. 00:48:21.500 |
There are many things competing for my heart's affections. 00:48:29.500 |
To stop playing with the semantics of it all. 00:48:31.500 |
To stop hiding behind sophisticated philosophy of theology. 00:48:34.500 |
Or just saying, "I am able to say and point to things in my life that show something." 00:48:40.500 |
And to come down to a childlike, simple question that is not difficult to answer. 00:49:12.500 |
In Matthew chapter 20 verse 20, "Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of him. 00:49:21.500 |
Oh, can you imagine coming before Jesus and he asked you that question? 00:49:36.500 |
"She said to him, 'Command that in your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and one on your left.'" 00:49:51.500 |
Man, ask any parent how your idolatries change when you go from not having kids to having kids. 00:50:05.500 |
Her greatest idolatries are being exposed here. 00:50:11.500 |
Look at the desire of the scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew 12. 00:50:14.500 |
"Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, 'Teacher, we want'" 00:50:28.500 |
In John 6, the bread multiplied to the 5,000. 00:50:36.500 |
Blind Bartimaeus, Jesus asked him, "What is it that you want?" 00:50:39.500 |
And Bartimaeus responded, "I want to regain my sight." 00:50:45.500 |
There are very many ways in which this could be expressed, all coming before Jesus with the wrong conclusions. 00:50:50.500 |
A proper one, perhaps, seen in Luke 19, verse 3, with Zacchaeus. 00:50:54.500 |
"Zacchaeus was trying to see who Jesus was and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. 00:50:59.500 |
So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see him, for he was about to pass through that way." 00:51:09.500 |
Not the things that simply point to him, but Jesus. 00:51:12.500 |
And he asks, he places that statement, "If anyone wishes to follow after me, that resounds in us." 00:51:22.500 |
Don't think that our desire is even supposedly for Christ, hasn't been compromised. 00:51:30.500 |
This statement Jesus pulls at the head of such a powerful verse is the starting point to ask ourselves of our hearts' affections and desires. 00:51:40.500 |
It's at this point we're able to begin dealing with the problems of our hearts. 00:51:48.500 |
If we jump over this, "If anyone desires to follow me," we jump over that and say, "Yes, yes, yes, so tell me what I need to do." 00:51:55.500 |
If we jump that, we miss the very point God is trying to bring us into, to sanctify us. 00:52:02.500 |
It's the beginning point of true confession of our present state. 00:52:06.500 |
It's the point of seeing where our hearts are half-hearted and heart-divided. 00:52:10.500 |
It's a place where there's a true calling out for God, that when we meet him in that place, then we would actually cry out, 00:52:16.500 |
"God, we need you, we want you, we adore you, we love you." 00:52:25.500 |
"If anyone desires me," which brings us to our second point. 00:52:30.500 |
"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny self." 00:52:44.500 |
If you were to propel yourself to the end of his sentence, you're going to see this call to come after me. 00:52:56.500 |
If you desire to follow Jesus, then follow Jesus. 00:53:13.500 |
The Lord Jesus, who knows so much about us, who knows the heart of man. 00:53:18.500 |
We live in a self-esteem culture today that more must be done for us. 00:53:22.500 |
That the problem is not internal, it's external. 00:53:25.500 |
That the things that have happened to you, that we need to appreciate self more. 00:53:39.500 |
And it's not just the culture, this is the definition of sin. 00:53:50.500 |
There's always good, there's always an excuse in this. 00:54:02.500 |
And so it is that you search deep down inside and you'll find a way. 00:54:16.500 |
Because self is the beginning or the middle of orbit. 00:54:19.500 |
Obviously I'm not saying that there weren't external factors at play in your life. 00:54:23.500 |
Obviously I'm not saying that sin doesn't exist outside of us in this broken world. 00:54:28.500 |
But no matter how much rationale would dictate that we are a tiny speck. 00:54:32.500 |
That clearly in a world with 8 billion people we are but one. 00:54:37.500 |
It's ridiculous to think that we're in the center. 00:54:39.500 |
This sinfulness exudes in us and it is close to you and me this morning. 00:54:52.500 |
We go into a room entirely revolving around us. 00:54:56.500 |
We go to work, clock in with everything revolving around us. 00:54:59.500 |
We get into a car yelling at traffic and people because we're at the center. 00:55:18.500 |
But fallen flesh is so programmed to act as God in any given situation. 00:55:24.500 |
Though we know theologically that we are able to express and articulate what it means 00:55:29.500 |
that all attention and glory is meant to be given to God. 00:55:32.500 |
Though we are but image bearers of God meant to point to his existence. 00:55:35.500 |
That sin would move us into the entirely opposite direction. 00:55:39.500 |
It is not what comes out of our mouth, it is what comes out of our heart 00:55:47.500 |
Think about why the first point is so central. 00:56:02.500 |
And so it is with this statement from Christ. 00:56:04.500 |
If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself. 00:56:14.500 |
The definition of deny is to refuse to give thought to or express concern for. 00:56:23.500 |
So he, if the words of your shepherd is calling out to you today. 00:56:32.500 |
That we are called to refuse to give thought to ourselves. 00:56:43.500 |
When someone must deny something it means that inside this person there is a longing. 00:56:48.500 |
Otherwise that word denial does not mean so much. 00:56:52.500 |
There is something I want but we are called to deny that. 00:56:54.500 |
Which is funny in a statement like this because he says if anyone desires me. 00:57:15.500 |
We all understand that there are layers to desire. 00:57:17.500 |
Stare long enough at some chocolate cake that you have. 00:57:20.500 |
And you will understand the complexities of desire. 00:57:26.500 |
I was going to say lyrics of a song but it was inappropriate. 00:57:31.500 |
But sometimes our mind says that we want something. 00:57:37.500 |
This idea of deny has to be fully grappled with. 00:57:40.500 |
Perhaps we have forgotten this elementary principle. 00:57:50.500 |
Perhaps we have grown too comfortable by how everyone around us has been living their lives. 00:57:57.500 |
Just because something is permissible does not make it therefore beneficial. 00:58:00.500 |
So this is how the Christian is to think and live. 00:58:02.500 |
Not for the permissible but for the beneficial. 00:58:11.500 |
There comes a point where the permissible things in our lives are not beneficial. 00:58:17.500 |
Giving to that enough. Pointing to permissible, permissible, permissible. 00:58:22.500 |
If we continue to point to those things in our lives long enough. 00:58:33.500 |
And we forget that if anyone were to follow Christ we must learn to deny ourselves. 00:58:39.500 |
That the very things this world offers might be the very things we are cultivating. 00:59:01.500 |
This is supposed to be common to the Christian. 00:59:04.500 |
That from day to day living our desire is for Christ. 00:59:08.500 |
And that we take note that the fleshly desires are so near. 00:59:11.500 |
There is not one of us that needs to be reminded or told or enlightened of that. 00:59:22.500 |
We are not talking about just not doing bad things. 00:59:25.500 |
Trying to strip away things that are going to make everything well. 00:59:31.500 |
We are talking about what we know, the reality of our flesh. 00:59:35.500 |
And we begin to mimic what people without Christ look like. 00:59:43.500 |
We look exactly like our coworker except we just don't curse. 00:59:54.500 |
That is not the difference between the Christian and the non-Christian. 00:59:56.500 |
The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is love for Christ. 01:00:05.500 |
Denying is very, very healthy for the Christian. 01:00:10.500 |
I wonder how many of us in this room are doing intermittent fasting right now. 01:00:28.500 |
And we see the self-control that is built up by denying ourselves. 01:00:35.500 |
Denying is a part of buffeting our bodies and making it our own 01:00:48.500 |
Denying ourselves is moving forward to the point even of shedding blood in obedience, 01:00:54.500 |
Denying is what we do when we really want something in life. 01:00:57.500 |
When we desire for something that is so great that denial becomes appropriated by us 01:01:13.500 |
Jesus puts this very problematic word up front in this passage, 01:01:17.500 |
which is the word -- I circled it for you before -- "if." 01:01:24.500 |
You could flip that conditional statement around, in other words. 01:01:29.500 |
If you want to follow Christ, then you must deny yourself. 01:01:32.500 |
But the other way is if you do not deny yourself, you cannot follow Christ. 01:01:39.500 |
If you want to follow me, you must deny yourself. 01:01:47.500 |
The Christian is identified by being drawn into Christ in all of his life. 01:01:51.500 |
Imperative to understand is that the Scriptures begin to describe us 01:02:01.500 |
We no longer have an identity that is apart from who Jesus is. 01:02:04.500 |
We no longer have a will, desire, that is apart. 01:02:15.500 |
It's what we employ to ensure we go after what we truly desire. 01:02:28.500 |
You see where permissibility gets misinterpreted. 01:02:31.500 |
Or in other words, as PPK put it a couple weeks ago, 01:02:36.500 |
we can see places where denial must regularly take place. 01:02:49.500 |
That means, by nature of that word "deny," this is going to be very, very hard. 01:02:57.500 |
So we have to walk into difficult application. 01:03:01.500 |
And this application, I come humble before you. 01:03:06.500 |
I tremble sometimes even just saying, flippantly, 01:03:09.500 |
some of the hardships that we might all go through. 01:03:11.500 |
And yet we know as Christians today, we can amen today, 01:03:23.500 |
This is something some of us are unwilling to ever let go of. 01:03:29.500 |
You can say all you want about contentment in Christ alone. 01:03:31.500 |
You can point a finger at me and say, "You're married, so you can say that." 01:03:37.500 |
We all understand how hard it is, and so I say it very humbly. 01:03:46.500 |
That nothing can get in between me and Christ. 01:03:55.500 |
We cannot confuse permissible things with something I must have. 01:04:02.500 |
We can't say that all things in this world are passing away. 01:04:04.500 |
We can't say these are temporal pleasures, temporal things, 01:04:14.500 |
It's a painful place of conversation, sensitive places to traverse. 01:04:29.500 |
If anything is kept out of reach from God, if there is refusal on our end to surrender, 01:04:41.500 |
The problem is not that we wrestle and struggle. 01:04:44.500 |
The problem is when we say that we refuse to give it up. 01:05:03.500 |
I think most of the times, the little places of denial is where it begins. 01:05:07.500 |
Because what is seemingly little actually makes up our will. 01:05:11.500 |
It's how we treat the time at the end of our day, after a long day of work. 01:05:16.500 |
You deserve some rest, and then what happens? Your kid begins to cry. 01:05:26.500 |
It's what we decide to do with our vacation time, our holidays. 01:05:44.500 |
We think that as long as we're giving up the big things, we're winning. 01:05:47.500 |
And little do we know that it's the little things that we deny and give up 01:05:49.500 |
that ultimately strengthens us when we get to those positions of denying the big. 01:06:05.500 |
Remember the rich young ruler who proclaimed that he was doing everything to follow God 01:06:08.500 |
and yet by his actions showed that he had no affection for the Lord. 01:06:13.500 |
As a giant side point, remember that we are not saying that we're called to live like monks, 01:06:17.500 |
that we are not allowed any of the good things that this present world affords. 01:06:22.500 |
We know that every good and perfect gift is from above, 01:06:25.500 |
and yet we also understand our flesh that we will take any good gift God gives, 01:06:41.500 |
And so we have responsibility to live rightly in that. 01:06:45.500 |
Again, we are reminded against living as civilians in a war and to take off not only sin, 01:06:49.500 |
but even that which obstructs us in this race. 01:06:54.500 |
Anyone with a half-hearted, divided heart cannot follow Jesus. 01:06:58.500 |
If anyone desires, if anyone wishes, if anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself. 01:07:08.500 |
If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross. 01:07:13.500 |
That take up cross part is closing the loophole. 01:07:26.500 |
We're very good at looking at contracts and finding the escape clauses. 01:07:30.500 |
We're very good at perverting what the spirit was supposed to mean. 01:07:33.500 |
And so if he had just said, "Deny yourself," we'd be like, "Oh, I am doing that." 01:07:37.500 |
And we can just substitute that with our statements. 01:07:42.500 |
Because I am denying this, I am denying that, when he meant denial of self. 01:07:47.500 |
And so he closes it by saying something that cannot be closed as a loophole. 01:07:59.500 |
If you want to follow me, you have to take up your cross. 01:08:09.500 |
What's the difference between denying yourself and taking up your cross? 01:08:28.500 |
"There were various methods of performing the execution. 01:08:31.500 |
Usually the condemned man, after being whipped or scourged, 01:08:34.500 |
dragged the crossbeam of his cross to the place of punishment 01:08:37.500 |
where the upright shaft was already fixed in the ground, 01:08:40.500 |
stripped of his clothing either then or earlier at his scourging. 01:08:43.500 |
He was bound fast with outstretched arms to the crossbeam 01:08:48.500 |
The crossbeam was then raised high above the upright shaft 01:08:51.500 |
and made fast to it about 9 to 12 feet from the ground. 01:08:55.500 |
Next, the feet were tightly bound or nailed to the upright shaft. 01:08:59.500 |
A ledge inserted about halfway up the upright shaft gave some support to the body. 01:09:03.500 |
Evidence for a similar ledge for the feet is rare and late. 01:09:07.500 |
Over the criminal's head was placed a notice stating his name and his crime. 01:09:11.500 |
Death ultimately occurred through a combination of constrained blood circulation, 01:09:16.500 |
organ failure, and asphyxiation as the body strained under its own weight. 01:09:21.500 |
It could be hastened by shattering the legs with an iron club, 01:09:25.500 |
which prevented them from supporting the body's weight 01:09:27.500 |
and made inhalation more difficult, accelerating both asphyxiation and shock." 01:09:37.500 |
And we can be so thankful that Jesus took the cross so that we did not have to, 01:09:41.500 |
and yet we are staring down a very concerning statement from Christ here. 01:09:58.500 |
because there is a very great joy at the end of this rainbow. 01:10:03.500 |
He did not absolve us of something that has to do with this cross. 01:10:08.500 |
Obviously, when you take up the account of Christ, 01:10:10.500 |
there is so much more even than the brief description that I gave. 01:10:13.500 |
When Jesus made this statement in Matthew 16, 01:10:15.500 |
he is not just talking about superficial following of Jesus. 01:10:18.500 |
It's more than just a superficial denying of self as a healthy and productive lifestyle. 01:10:25.500 |
It's not just so that I can be a better person. 01:10:32.500 |
this vivid image of what the cross bearer had to endure, 01:10:35.500 |
that this is what must occur in order to follow Christ. 01:10:39.500 |
So Alex gave us a statement from John 1, I'll give you another. 01:10:42.500 |
"The choiceless believers who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin 01:10:46.500 |
ought yet to make it their business all the days to mortify the indwelling power of sin." 01:10:53.500 |
One of his most famous statements, "Be killing sin or it will be killing you." 01:10:58.500 |
Everything about the Christian is mortification, it's crucifixion, it's extermination, it's death. 01:11:09.500 |
Just in case we've forgotten, the believer is not meant an easy existence. 01:11:20.500 |
He has already told us it will feel like death. 01:11:26.500 |
It will feel like death to live as a Christian here in this world. 01:11:31.500 |
Thank God we live for another, that our hope and joy can be found presently because of another. 01:11:40.500 |
We do not partake, we do not participate, we do not fellowship with a dying world. 01:11:52.500 |
Denial of self was not enough of a description, it was not enough of a command. 01:11:56.500 |
We look at a world like denial and we do our best imitation of an attorney looking for every loophole. 01:12:02.500 |
Jesus closes it all and says, "Absolute death, torturous death, the crucifix." 01:12:07.500 |
Crucifix lending meaning to this word that we have for it, excruciating. 01:12:18.500 |
That's my fear, that we use each other as justifying, justifications for our lifestyles to live in comfort. 01:12:24.500 |
In Colossians 3, 5, he says, "Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry." 01:12:34.500 |
Have we started out our races saying that I will die to myself only to find myself picking up my old life again? 01:12:42.500 |
Only to find myself mimicking what I used to look like, mimicking what the world looks like? 01:12:47.500 |
Forgetting what it is to follow Christ here in this world. 01:12:59.500 |
I'm finding it in the deep, dark recesses in me. 01:13:02.500 |
I'm finding it in deeper qualities than I ever knew existed. 01:13:06.500 |
That would make it very difficult for me to walk up these steps and sit behind a pulpit and say lofty things about God. 01:13:26.500 |
All the more the need to mortify, to exterminate, and to crucify. 01:13:32.500 |
Galatians 2.20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ." 01:13:40.500 |
We don't go, "Oh God, thank you that Jesus was crucified so I did not have to be." 01:13:49.500 |
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. 01:13:56.500 |
I have been crucified. I no longer live. Christ lives in me. 01:14:01.500 |
We look at ourselves. What do we need to deny? 01:14:03.500 |
We look at ourselves. Where have our desires and affections and love and want of Christ been replaced by temporal, shadowy, ridiculous, honestly, things? 01:14:14.500 |
We cannot coast. We cannot relax. We cannot quit. 01:14:19.500 |
We have to endure. We have to persevere. This has to be torturous. We need to die. 01:14:25.500 |
That was the call if you want to follow Christ. 01:14:32.500 |
We did not leave that life behind at the moment of salvation. 01:14:41.500 |
For his desires, for his wants, his wills, because we love him. 01:14:45.500 |
The cross was for criminals to atone for the sins they committed. 01:14:48.500 |
And though Jesus took the cross for the believer, it is because sin still resides in our flesh that in sanctification we have to die. 01:14:56.500 |
When there is sin, we have to treat sin with the severity that it deserves. 01:15:03.500 |
We can't coddle it. We cannot sweep it under the rug. 01:15:07.500 |
We cannot put it aside. We cannot say, "We hope it gets better." 01:15:11.500 |
We cannot pray to God and say, "Just zap it away." 01:15:22.500 |
Pray to God for the wisdom to first see it for what it is and then to know how to apply this into our lives. 01:15:27.500 |
In a taking up of our crosses, we don't flippantly abuse the fact that he paid for it. 01:15:38.500 |
Let the words of Christ, as simple as it is this morning, "If you desire me." 01:15:43.500 |
"If you desire to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross." 01:15:46.500 |
Let those simple words examine your heart and see where the sin lays in the deep recesses of your heart that you have yet refused to surrender. 01:15:57.500 |
This is not a suggestion. This is the Christian. 01:16:15.500 |
It's the very reason Paul was able to say, "I count all things lost compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ." 01:16:34.500 |
"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." 01:16:44.500 |
"If anyone wishes to come after me, then follow me." 01:16:52.500 |
But Jesus, knowing the heart of man, says, "He must deny himself, take up his cross, follow me." 01:17:02.500 |
That we get to redefine what it means to follow him. 01:17:05.500 |
And he says, "You do not get to redefine it this morning." 01:17:09.500 |
"I will tell you what it looks like to follow me." 01:17:18.500 |
Then and only then does Jesus mention going after Christ. 01:17:22.500 |
Because if we do not have a desire for Christ set, then all other things we do is simple religious motion. 01:17:34.500 |
The most applicable way is through his word and to treat the word as an intimate listening to the voice of our God. 01:17:46.500 |
I follow the leader, I do that with my kids sometimes. 01:17:49.500 |
Sometimes they're really terrible at it, you know. 01:17:53.500 |
Have you ever tried to follow someone in a caravan? 01:17:57.500 |
You know what happens when you're caravaning and there's stuck traffic? 01:18:02.500 |
Only the person in front of you has directions. 01:18:04.500 |
And so you're trying to follow that car in front of you. 01:18:06.500 |
And so what happens if somebody cuts in between you? 01:18:12.500 |
"Get out of the way, I'm trying to follow this car." 01:18:19.500 |
"Keep your eye on that car, we need to find it." 01:18:29.500 |
Until you get behind that car, you are not comfortable. 01:18:33.500 |
And when you're there, you're like, "Oh, okay, whew." 01:18:41.500 |
"Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, 01:18:44.500 |
"for Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 01:19:06.500 |
Like you never want to miss a glimpse of him. 01:19:08.500 |
That it will be, you will be lost without him. 01:19:29.500 |
it says that he is going to come down with the angels, 01:20:17.500 |
goes, "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, 01:20:19.500 |
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 01:20:21.500 |
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world 01:20:25.500 |
Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 01:20:30.500 |
and will then repay every man according to his deeds." 01:20:48.500 |
or something that isn't the proper motivation. 01:21:00.500 |
the proper way to read this is when you read, 01:25:42.500 |
Let us all rise as we sing our closing praise. 01:30:49.500 |
Father, I thank you this morning that because of the cross, 01:30:57.500 |
who have his blood justifying and covering over us.