Doran Wesleyan Church Virtual Service: Deny Yourself, Luke 9:29

The speaker discusses the false philosophy of 'easy believism' and the importance of denying oneself and following Jesus.

Jesus never taught a pie-in-the-sky philosophy, but rather expected his followers to live a life of holiness and purity.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of taking up one's cross daily and following Jesus, which involves daily submission to God's will.

Jesus warned his followers of persecution and the importance of being watchful and aware of the world around them.

Music Music Music Music Music The Car Dealer salesman as well. We need to represent the product in a very positive and forefront way. And one of the things that Jesus did again and again was represent the product that he was in favor of and interested in sharing with those with Nooniedel. And he never taught a pie-in-the-sky philosophy. I've been looking around me today and watching in many, many different areas of the church world and the ways that churches are developing programs that will reach just about anyone and they don't expect any to make any demands they don't expect anything of them all they want them to do is come and be part of the fellowship it's what they call easy believism if you just believe you're going to get in doesn't matter what you do doesn't matter how you conduct yourself doesn't matter what your attitude is relative to spiritual matters if you just believe that's all that is required. That is a false philosophy. It originated in the pit and it's going to damn count the small videos of people because they are becoming convinced that anything goes to death. I never will advocate that philosophy. I never have in all the 45 years I've been preaching. Don't expect to start now. I believe there are requirements. I believe that there are demands. I believe that there are expectations that God imposes upon his people, and we must be willing to comply. So Jesus never taught a pie-in-the-sky philosophy. He never painted a distorted picture of what it meant to be a child of a king, what it meant to be washed in the blood, what it meant to live a life of holiness and purity before God. Furthermore, he never expected less than the law demanded, by the way, the law is still very much in effect today. If you don't think that the Ten Commandments are and should be a part of your life as a Christian, you're missing it entirely. Because God never eliminated the commandments. He elevated them. He put them in a new station and plane in society. He said that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and our strength and with of our neighbor as ourself. And in those two commandments, all the others are summed up. Significant and noteworthy indeed. There's a wonderful verse over in the Gospel of Luke that I use as a text tonight. It's Luke chapter 9, verse 23. You've heard me quote it X number of times over the years and it has great significance. Luke 9, 23. And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Let's break that down. If any man, whomever he might be, or whomever she might be, will come after me, that is, will become part of the kingdom of God, part of the cause of Christ, part of that great body of believers that someday soon is going to be caught out in the rapture. He said, if any man will come after me, he will do a number of things. First of all, he's going to deny himself. Now when you hear the word deprival, people back off. Because they don't feel the necessity of depriving themselves of anything. They want to have everything going for them. They want everything to just be letter perfect and no difficulties arise and no problem service and no anxiety. In fact, a lot of the philosophy being taught is just that. that, hey, if you're a Christian, you're never going to have another trouble in the world. I mean, your apartment is just going to be lined with money, and your home is just going to be the epitome of what you wanted all your life. You're going to have the perfect car. I mean, everything is just going to fall into place. And that kind of philosophy gets a lot of people's attention. Some of the major, major churches in the country today advocate that kind of philosophy. And it can be very dangerous and very harmful. there's a young fellow down in Texas who has a great church magnificent church who advocates the prosperity theology and if you're a Christian everything is coming your way everything is coming up roses don't believe it it's not true it absolutely is not true he said if any man will come after me he'll deny himself he will take up his cross daily by the way there are two aspects to carrying the cross. There is the crisis of consecration when we lay our all on the altar of God and we say, I'm sold out to Christ and I'm going to bear his cross. The cross that he gives me to carry, I'm going to carry. And the second aspect of that is a daily submission to the will of God. You're going to carry the cross and it can be a cross of affliction, it can be a cross of anxiety, it can be a cross of turmoil, It can be a cross of trouble. If you're going to bear the cross, you are going to have to daily submit to the will of God. The Apostle Paul said, I die daily. I've read that many, many times. I could never really get the true meaning of the word in my own mind. But what he's saying is, daily I must so completely surrender to God that whatever he requires, whatever he expects of me, I'm going to adhere to him. I die daily. And so he said, he'll take up his cross daily, and then he will follow me. And in following the Lord, you will conform to the image of Christ. You will become more like Jesus. You will live and move in the realm of the Spirit walk in the holiness of God faithfully adhering to the will of God And so there are demands that are made Jesus never misrepresented the product For instance, in the Word of God, He warned them of persecution. We're living in the day when persecution is becoming more and more evident. Oh, not so much in our country, but all across the world, people are being persecuted for their faith. They're being called upon to give their lives. I just wonder if we Americans who know only the very best and the very utmost of good things could face the martyrdom that many Christians are expected to face across the world. Even more in the persecution. Turn to Matthew chapter 10 and verse 17 and read with me in the Word of God. Matthew 10 and verse 17. and this is rich and significant because these are the words of our Lord and he's telling us what we can expect and what we can anticipate in the days that lay just ahead of us. Notice if you will verse 17 Matthew 10 But beware of men the idea to be on guard. Be watchful be conscious of what is happening and what is going on around you. Beware of men for they will deliver you up into the councils. The word councils there meant the Sanhedrin. Just as Jesus was taken before the council or the Sanhedrin, the law-making body of Israel, so in the latter days, in the days in which we live, many will be taken up and will be arrested, if you please, and delivered up to the councils. He said they will scourge you. And the word scourge means applaud. If you'll study the background of Jesus, and especially those events surrounding his crucifixion, he was flawed. That word scourge means to be flawed. It means to take a leather strap that has pieces of bone and metal in the ends of it and grip somebody so incessantly and so mercilessly that the end result is that every fiber of flesh on a person's back is literally ripped to shreds. Paul, oh, what a frightening prospect. He said they shall scourge you in their synagogues, or literally in their churches. He said that you should be brought before governors and kings for my namesake, for a testimony against them and against the Gentiles of the Gentile world. Notice the significance of that. Brought before governors and kings. Felix and Festus were great governors of the land in that day time in history. And many of the children of God were brought before them to testify and then to be literally martyred for the faith of God and of Christ. They were brought before kings such as the great king of Kirpa of whom he said, when Paul spoke to him, Paul said, almost I persuaded you. And then Kirpa agreed, he said, almost you persuaded me to become a Christian. But he didn't yield and didn't surrender. Notice that the scripture says, but in verse 19, but when they deliver you up, take no thought of how or what you shall speak, or it shall be given you in that same hour. What a great significance there are on those words. Have you ever had trouble giving a testimony? When you stumble and fumble over the words, and when you get done, you say, I wonder if the Bible is trying to convey. Sometimes I feel like that's when I'm preaching. I stumble over the words and I'm hoping that I convey it in a way that you've got what I'm trying to say. But he said, it will be given you what you shall say. So we don't need to be anxious or alarmed as to witness. Because he said, in that day I will give you the words to say. I love the idea there in that tremendous scripture. It shall be given unto you in that same hour what you shall speak. And then he said, Lord, it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. Oh, I'm glad that I love his Spirit who, between my lips and the ear of the hearer, speaks for him. He delivers the message. He gives us the words. And they convey a tremendous truth. And so these disciples who were facing possible persecution are given encouragement by the Lord. He said, everything is going to be alright because I know just what to say, how to say it, and when to say it, and I'll give you the words to say that will be beneficial and helpful to you. The second reference we have regards affliction that comes into the life of the believer. Turn to Matthew 24. Matthew 24, and beginning in verse 8. He says in the record, these afflictions will come and will follow. He's not trying to coach or make light of the seriousness of these events, but he's showing us what we could possibly face in the end of the age. Listen to these words. All these, verse 8, are the beginning of sorrows. The beginning of sorrows. In the original, the word sorrows means the horrors to come. The things that will occur in the end of the age. The beginning means like the birth pains that a mother experiences just prior to the delivery of a child. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they shall deliver you up to be afflicted. The word afflicted there means to be tortured. It's literally the word from which you will find in the scripture when they're trying to prepare the grain. To make a crop out of it and use it in a positive way. at the pressing of the graves or the brushing of the grave. He said it's like that when it comes to being a child of God. Then they shall deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you. And ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And all is all the world. I was amazed the other day when I picked up the newspaper and read how the threats have been issued out to kill the Pope. They're out together because he said something he shouldn't have said. And the whole Islamic world is up in arms about it. And many of them have outright come out and said, hey we gonna eliminate him we going to put him to death we going to kill him You remember Pope John Paul II when he was shot nearly assassinated by that Arabian That Arabian, by the way, had an Islamic philosophy back there. And so now the same threat is against Benedict, the possibilities of his death. They're going to have to keep a close watch on him because he came up against the Islamic world. He stood up against something that is wrong and false and detrimental. Ladies and gentlemen, if we're going to make a stand for what is right, we're going to stand up against what is wrong. I don't know how many of us can do that in the crisis situation. So he tells us here that these things will begin to occur and death will be the end result. Another of the articles I read was really eye-opening because a number of the Islamic clerics said that Pope Benedict ought to convert to Islam. They don't hesitate about saying it. But if we were to stand up and say they ought to convert to Christianity, they'd be up to slit our throat. Exactly right. They wouldn't take that sitting down, friends. But we've got to sit back. You know, don't be offensive. Sometimes you have to be offensive. if you understand. Amen. Listen to this. And ye shall be hated of all nations for thy name's sake. Our country, our United States that is known as the land of the free and the home of the brave is hated all across the world. Because what one time, at least we were a Christian, we've gotten so far away from it you all hardly can distinguish between what is a Christian and what isn't anymore. You used to be able to tell we can't tell anymore. Because we Christians dress just like the world. We look like the world. We are immortal like the world. We go and do whatever thing comes natural. We sit down and watch garbage on television and think nothing of it. I mean, we're just falling hook, lying, and sinker for everything that's coming down. And what we need to do is stand up for what's wrong. And if you do that, you're going to be hated. Amen. We hate it. Oh, hatred is imminent all across our great world. And then shall many be offended. The word offended there means fall back into sin. And they shall betray one another. That is, turn against one another. And shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise. Do you realize that in the Islamic religious philosophy, there is one who is supposedly coming in the very near future? He's called an imam. He is supposed to be the incarnation of Allah. that he is coming to reveal to the Islamic people that the end of the world is near, and he is going to claim jihad, which is a war against all Christian and Jewish people in the entire world. And they advocate that. This fellow, Abamejad, I call him Abamejad, that's not the way to pronounce his name, but that's what he is. I mean, he stood out there at the United Nations and gave his speech so piously and so disgustedly made a speech about what he believes. And he's nothing but a savage and a butcher. That's exactly right. And I make no apology for that. We need to realize these things. Amen. Amen. Go ahead and read it. And he tells them, hey, I was standing in the United Nations and an aura of loot surrounded me and I saw the image he made manifested himself and reveal himself? You talk about false progress and false messiahs and false Christ. They're all around us in our society. Or you take this fellow from Venezuela where we get at least half of our oil supply. He stood up and called Bush a devil. And there was no reaction to that, no negative reaction. Nobody stood up and said, hey, this isn't the place for that. this is the time or the place for it. They let him go ahead and do it. And you know what? There wouldn't be a United Nations if it wouldn't be for our country. We put it there. We pay for it all the time. No other nation in the world will pay what we pay just trying to keep that thing going. That's exactly right. And they got this fellow down there. What is his name? who talks out of both sides of his mouth? And someday soon he's going to be out of office. And do you know who is the possibility of the next president of the UN? Mr. Clinton. So I don't need to tell you any more about that. and many false prophets shall rise and what are they going to do? They're going to deceive many. They're going to lead people astray. They're going to turn them from what is right to what is wrong. And we're calling for a hook line and center. In verse 12 he said, And because of iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax tall. Have you ever seen a day when lawlessness is at a greater level than it is now? Do you remember the woman who went into the home and ripped up the stomach of a woman who depreded and took the penis out of her womb? Or the fellow who tied the woman to the back of his car, this didn't happen years ago, it happened just the other day, and dragged her for a couple miles down the road? Lawlessness is everywhere, doesn't it? You don't have to turn on the television any day of the week and right here in Louisville someone getting shot. Lawlessness prevails all around us. He said, because lawlessness and wickedness shall abound, shall multiply, the love of many shall wax full. Why do I try to keep you on your toes and encourage you to walk with God and to take close to the heart of Jesus? Because, friends, the devil can get in in a moment and destroy our faith and wrongness of the West And I don want that ever to happen to anyone who sits under the sound of my voice We living in a hard day And Jesus didn't paint the most rosy of pictures. He showed us what to expect, what to anticipate. He spoke of loneliness. Over in Matthew chapter 8, verses 19, it says that a certain stride came and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goes. No matter where. No matter what you expect of me. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have bowls or dens and the birds of the air have nests that the Son of Man hath not where to lay his hand. Think about it. The only respite he got was when he would go into the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus or into the home of Peter. but gently speaking he stepped out of a room somewhere he was lonely you would be amazed if the number of people I talked to were lonely they got all kinds of friends but they're lonely they got all that the world has to offer but they're lonely they can sit in a crowd and there's a loneliness that pervades their life and Jesus warned about that prospect. Aren't you glad that in the interim period, he said, I'm going to make a way where that loneliness can be dealt with. And I'm going to present to you a friend that's close to the ground. Hallelujah to the land. And then lastly, he spoke of denial. In that verse that we quoted in the very beginning of the message tonight, he said unto them all, if any man will come after me. Let him deny himself. Let him take of his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever will save his life, shall lose him. A contradiction in terms? No. Because we insist on preserving what we have and the things that are actually of no words at all. And he said the end result is a lost life. Hear it again. for whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. A contradiction? No. Because as we yield to God and surrender to God and give our all to God, He saves us from sin and imparts to us the holiness of God and gives us victory and power and enables us to overcome. There are two wonderful verses in John chapter 14 that I read today and they blessed my heart as I read them. John chapter 14 verse 18 he made some promises to the disciples I'm glad that even though he didn't distort the picture that he didn't leave us without encouragement and without a sense that he was going to be with us throughout the crises that occur in life. John 14 18 he said I will not leave you comfortless you like that? I will not leave you comfortless. That means and he was kind. In that very same verse he said, and I love the way he put it, I will come to you. And he revealed himself through the Holy Spirit. He said it is expedient that I go away because if I go not away, the Comforter will not come. But if I go away, I will send him. And to those perplexed, distressed, disturbed disciples Moses, who knew that he'd been resurrected, they made their way to the upper room, and on that tenth day, after being there in that place, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, came in all of his power, in all of his magnificence. He filled them. He filled them himself. And he gave them power over all the power of the enemy. And they marched out of that upper room for the testimony to the sanctifying power of God and the wholeness of the Spirit and they went everywhere bringing people into the kingdom because Jesus said I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you Hallelujah to the Lord and then he promised them his presence I love verse 19 he said let get a little while the world seeth me no more but ye see me because I live ye shall live also Oh, what a promise. The assurance that he's going to be there when the crisis comes. When the difficulties arise. When the problems serve us. Have you had any problems lately? Have you had any difficulties lately? I mean, that's the first thing people say. You talk to the point, I had this happen in life. Never anticipated it. Never expected it. But why it came in like a flood. And it literally did, didn't it? you could have seen some of the mess in the basement you've known exactly what they're talking about and that was only about an inch of water I don't know what it didn't like if they got up look and we don't know when those kinds of things are going to happen but isn't it marvelous to know that in the beginning of sorrows he said I'm going to be there I'm going to answer the cry of your heart I'm going to meet your need I'm going to let you alone I'm going to provide for you I'm going to make a way for you but it doesn't seem to be a way thank God for that so he never misrepresented the part he said you're going to have these problems and these difficulties but it's alright it's alright but I'm going to be with you and I'm going to reach and I'm going to satisfy the longings of your heart Amen.

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