To Do Well, Not to Do Well, That is the Question

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

Luke 9 · chapter mention

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

Luke 9 · chapter mention

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.