Do you remember when we started this series, we started with a sermon entitled, Destined For Victory. We talked about how we have been pre-predestinated by Christ. We are more than conquerors. We are with Him, we are in Him, and therefore, He has already given us the victory. We’ve already won the victory, we just have to learn to walk in that victory. That’s what we’ve been talking about, how to walk in the victorious Christian life, that we might not lose, that we would win.
And after that sermon on Destined For Victory, we talked about defining victory, and you’ve got to have a goal if you’re gonna hit it. What does it mean to win? What does it mean to win in your marriage? What does it mean to win with your children? What does it mean to win spiritually, financially, as a church? We talked about those things, and then if you remember last week, we talked about discipline for victory, and how we have to have daily disciplines if we’re gonna win in the Christian life. We talked about daily Bible reading and prayer and church attendance, and those are all basic things, but it’s good for us to hear those things from time to time, and to relearn them, to be reengaged.
Tonight, I want to talk to you about the subject of denying self for victory, and how in order to win, we’re going to have to learn this idea of denying self. The sermon tonight will be very basic. I’m sure it won’t be anything new for you, but it’s good for us to be instructed again, and to hear things, and to reaffirm things. I want you to look down in this chapter. This chapter, just by way of introduction, deals with some great Biblical truths.
If you look at verse four in Galatians 2, the Bible says, “And that because of false brethren, unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.”
You need to understand that in the Bible, the Bible teaches that within churches, false brethren will come in to cause problems. False brethren will come in to cause division. And here we’re told that false brethren came in to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, and he says this, “That they might bring us into bondage.” And you might ask, “Well what exactly is that referring to? What is he talking about?”
Notice verse number 16, same chapter. He says, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”
I don’t know how many more ways or times he’s got to say it, but I think he’s trying to tell us we’re not justified by works, we’re justified by faith. And that’s the bondage. Look, when people come into a church, and they start saying, “Well, it’s faith and works,” or, “If there’s truly faith, there will be works,” or, “You gotta repent of your sins,” which by the way, is just works, or, “You can lose your salvation,” which is works.
Again, all of that is just bringing people into bondage, and here Paul is trying to defend that, saying, “Hey, people came in unawares,” but he says, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of law, for by the works of law, no flesh shall be justified.”
Notice verse 21. I like verse 21. He says this, “I do not frustrate the grace of God,” because if there’s one thing … You know, whenever you talk about works, what’s always associated with it? Grace. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works. And here it is grace that allows us, it is grace that allows us to be able to be saved by works. And when people try to bring works into salvation, it frustrates grace.
Notice what he says, verse 21. ” I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness comes by the law,” notice what he says, “Then Christ is dead in vain.”
That’s what I often will try to tell people when they tell us, “Well, you gotta live a good life. It’s faith, but you also gotta live a good life.” Look, if living a good life could get me to heaven, then why would Jesus have to die? Why not just be a really good person, so that way He didn’t have to die? And that’s what Paul was saying. He says, “If righteousness comes by the law, if righteousness comes by the keeping of the law, if righteousness comes by me doing the commandments, then Christ is dead in vain.”
That’s what he’s dealing with in this chapter, but I want you to notice, there’s a very famous verse right before verse 21, verse 20, and it says this. “I am crucified with Christ,” ’cause see, Paul is talking about the victorious Christian life, and he’s talking about the fact that salvation is given to us not by works, and not by our own victory, but the victory that we find in Christ.
But then in verse 20, he begins to talk about not just how to be saved, but how to live as a saved individual. He says, “For I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
And in this verse, we’re gonna just spend the evening tonight, and we won’t be very long, and we’re just gonna dissect this verse and look at several things. If you don’t mind writing in your Bible, or if you don’t mind taking notes, I’d like you to write down a few statements, but I want you to notice the first part of this verse where he says, “I am crucified with Christ.” I am crucified with Christ.
If you’re writing down notes, I’d like you to write down this statement. We must limit self. If we are going to live the victorious Christian life, you and I must learn to limit self. Here, the apostle Paul is talking about self-denial, and he uses this wording, which is common wording found throughout scripture. He says, “I am crucified with Christ.” Keep your place there in Galatians 2, that’s our text for this evening.
Go with me to the book of Luke, Luke chapter number nine. You got Matthew, Mark, Luke … Luke chapter nine. Look at verse number 23. Put a ribbon or a bookmark or something in Luke, ’cause we’re gonna leave it, and we’re gonna come back to it. Luke chapter nine, I want you to notice verse number 23, and I want you to understand, when the Bible talks about self-denial, or when it’s talking about dying to self, or being crucified to self I should say, what that means is self-denial.
Today you’ve got false religions, and you’ve got, I believe it’s Catholics in the Philippines, that will literally crucify themselves and put themselves … Who’s ever seen that before? Well they’ll literally hang themselves on a cross. That’s not what Paul was talking about when he says, “I a crucified with Christ.” You say, “What does that mean to be crucified with Christ? What does it mean to die to self?” What it means is to deny self. Are you there in Luke 9? Look at verse 23. Notice what the Bible says.
“And he said to them all, if any man will come after me,” notice what he says, “Let him deny himself.” Let him deny himself. What does that mean? Let him tell himself no. “Let him deny himself, and,” notice the association, “take up his cross daily, and follow me.”
See, the dying to self means self-denial. I am crucified with Christ means that I’m going to deny myself, that I’m going to put myself figuratively on a cross, I’m gonna take up the cross, and I’m going to deny … He says, “Let him deny himself.”
What does that mean? What does the crucified life look like? What does the self-denial or self-dying life look like? And here’s what you need to understand. Basically, it means these things. Number one, dead people don’t choose their own direction. Notice verse 23. “And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily.” Notice what he says, “And follow me.”
Listen, if you want to be a follower of Jesus Christ, before you can begin to follow, you know what you need to do? You need to deny yourself. Before you can begin to follow, before you begin to go in that direction, you have to take up the cross daily and follow. See, dead people don’t choose their own direction. Keep your place there in Luke. We’re gonna come right back to it.
Go to the book of James with me. James chapter number one. If you start at the end of the New Testament, and you head back, you got the book of Revelation, Jude, third, second, first John, second, first Peter, James. Here’s a question I have for you. What direction does God want you to go, what direction is God prompting you to go that you are unwilling to go? What is it that you see from scripture, that you see in the Bible. I mean, He said, “Follow me.” He said, “Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” When I see those words follow me, you know what I think of? I think of, you know, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
You say, “Well, I don’t want to do that.” I know, nobody wants to do that. It’s not normal or natural for people to want to go out and be a soul-winner and knock on doors, but you know, you say, “What’s the difference between those who actually get themselves up on Saturday morning, or actually get themselves here on Sunday afternoon, or actually get themselves here on Thursday or whenever you go soul-winning, and they go out and they do it.” You say, “What is the difference between those who do that and those who don’t, and it comes down to this: Some have chosen to put their own desires, their own direction on a cross, and say, “I’m not going to do today what I want to do, I’m going to do today what God wants me to do.”
See, dead people don’t choose their own direction. When someone physically literally dies, you put them on a casket, you put them in a hearse, and guess what happens? Somebody drives them around. Somebody carries that body to a lot. You don’t have the dead person sitting back there saying, “No, I don’t want to be buried at this funeral … or at this cemetery. Take me down to a cemetery downtown.”
No, see, dead people do not get to choose their own direction, and in the Christian life, you and I must learn to die to self. We must learn to limit self. We must learn to deny self and say, “Okay Jesus, what do you want me to follow? What is it that you want me to do?” Maybe it’s soul-winning. Maybe it’s tithing. Maybe it’s submitting to your husband. Maybe it’s … whatever it might be that God is calling you to do, that you’re fighting Him on, you’re fighting Him because you are in control.
But the Christian life that limits itself, the one that crucifies himself, will take his own direction. And not only does it mean to take your own direction, but it also means that dead people don’t fulfill their own desires. Are you there in James 1? Look at verse number 13.
In James chapter one, in verse 13, notice what the Bible says. James 1:13, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man.” Notice verse 14. “But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.” Do you see that word enticed there? The word enticed means attract by offering pleasure or advantage.
The Bible says that when you fall into sin, when you … and we use those terms, and we shouldn’t. We say, “Oh, so and so fell into sin.” Nobody falls into sin, you and I walk into sin. You need to understand about the backslidden Christian, you know, oftentimes you will … And it’s not wrong for people to do this, it’s totally natural, but you will hear about someone, or you will see something, or you will become aware of something, and people will be shocked, like, “I can’t believe so and so. I can’t believe they got backslidden. This just came out of nowhere. This just came…”
But listen to me. No one who gets backslidden just gets backslidden overnight. It doesn’t just happen where like one day I was just on fire for God, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, soul-winning, reading the Bible, and then the next day I’m just totally backslidden. No, it doesn’t work that way. See, we begin to take steps. We begin to draw away from God, and as we are drawn away by our own lust, and as we are drawn away and enticed by our own desire, see you start actually watching people and looking at people and talking to people, and I don’t expect church people to do this, but it’s my job as a pastor. It’s my wife’s job as a pastor’s wife to be involved in people’s life.
And you know, we see them already. People say like, “Oh man, what happened to brother so and so?” It’s like, “Brother so and so’s been on his way out for a long time.” We used to talk about soul-winning, now we talk about money. We used to talk about the things of the Bible and the word of God, now we’re talking about careers, and we’re talking about houses, and we’re talking about … and you start seeing people, when they are drawn away.
It might be covetousness. It’s whatever. Drugs, alcohol, fornication, pornography, gossip, whatever it might be, you begin to get drawn away. But look, whatever it is, the sin that doth so easily beset you, whatever sin it is that draws you away from God, it’s because you were drawn away of your own lusts, because you were enticed, because the devil and the world, or your flesh, came up next to you and said, “Let me tempt you with something that you like. Let me tempt you with something that will attract you, that will provoke you, that will get your eyes in a certain direction, that will get your view in a certain direction.”
And listen to me, none of us, none of us are immune to that. The Bible says, “Take heed lest ye fall.” The Bible says … Look, by the grace of God, any of us could get backslidden, any of us could get out of church, any of us could have our marriages fail, any of us could have our children not live for God, and you need to understand, when that happens, it’s because you allowed something that attracted you, something that was giving you either pleasure or making you feel like you had an advantage, you allowed that to entice you away. You allowed that to draw you away on your own lust.
So what do you do then? How do you solve that how do you fight against that? Go back to Luke chapter nine. You see, every day, listen to me, every day, you and I, if you are going to be here, I thank the Lord that we have people in our church that have been with us literally since the beginning, day one. And there are some of you that have been with us, I mean literally some of you … I’m thinking about brother Ray Anderson. He’s literally been with us since day one, number one. This whole time. Praise the Lord for it.
And there’s others of you that have been with us for a long time. There’s many of you that have been with us since the house. Brother [Dell’s 00:15:18] been with us since the house, Miss [Bueller’s 00:15:19] been with us since the house. I don’t know who else. I’m gonna start missing people and somebody’s gonna get mad at me, so don’t get mad if I missed you. Who’s been with us since the house, raise your hand. Now I’m just curious.
Moses. Okay, Moses has been with us since the house. My family, it’s a given, you’ve been with us since the house. All right. Blanca, Miss Blanca’s been with us since the house. Miss [Crick 00:15:38] has been with us. A lot of people have been with us for a long time, and I praise the Lord for it.
I was talking to someone recently about church life, and they’re like, “How many people have been with you since you were in the house,” and I named off several names, and they’re like, “Wow. We don’t have almost anybody here that’s been with us since the beginning.” And that’s fine, praise the Lord. That’s not their fault, but here’s what I’m just gonna say. Your goal and my goal should be, your goal and my goal should be to be in this thing for the long haul. Your goal should be to finish your race. Your goal should be to finish your course. Your goal should be … This is what your goal should be, to not be drawn away of your own lusts. To not be enticed by your own desires, to be drawn away from what God has called you to do.
You say, “Well, how do I do that?” I’m glad you asked. Luke chapter nine, look at verse 23. “And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself,” notice these words, “And take up his cross daily, and follow me.”
Look, I know it’s not deep, but here’s what you need to understand. Every day, every day, every day, every day, every day, every day, every day. You and I need to wake up and say, “Today I’m dying to self.” Today, today.
And you can’t say, “Well, I’m gonna do it for the week.” No, no. You gotta get up on Sunday and say it. You gotta get up on Monday and say it. And you gotta get up on Tuesday and say it. And you gotta get up on Wednesday, and on Thursday, and on Friday, and every day. Dying to self is something that happens daily. He says, “And take up his cross,” here’s the key word, “Daily, and follow me.”
See, here’s what happens. People will die to self one day, and maybe two days, and maybe three days. And maybe three days, maybe three weeks, maybe three years, but it comes a time when they wake up some day and they say, “Today, I won’t die to self. Today, I will allow myself to be drawn away by my own lusts and enticed by my own flesh.” And it might just be a little move at first, but eventually, eventually it will lead to the life that all of us will look at and say, “What a failure. What happened? They were so on fire and they were doing so much for God, and I just never saw it happen.”
But it happens, because every day you and I must stand up and say, “We will not be directing. We will not allow our lust to direct us away from the things of God.”
Go to 1st Corinthians 15, look at verse 31. 1st Corinthians 15:31. If you kept your place in Galatians, if you’re going backwards you got 2nd Corinthians and 1st Corinthians. 1st Corinthians 15. Jesus said, “And take up his cross daily.” Notice what Paul said. Paul was mightily used of God.
1st Corinthians 15:31. 1st Corinthians 15:31 says this, 1st Corinthians 15:31. He says, “I protest by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Notice what Paul said. Here’s the key to success. The key to finishing the Christian life. Notice what he says. He says, “I die daily.” Paul says, “Every day I wake up and I tell myself. Every day I wake up and I die to self.”
You say, “What does that mean?” That means I deny my own lust, I deny my flesh. I don’t allow myself to be directed, and I don’t allow myself to fulfill my own desires. Every day you gotta get up and do that.
I think I’ve told you this story before, and I don’t know if this guy’s a good guy or a bad guy, all right? So I don’t know. I never met him, so don’t send me an email, but there’s this story about a famous preacher, Lester Roloff, and I know some people don’t like him. Some people do like him. Whatever, I don’t care. But here’s the point.
I heard this famous story about Lester Roloff, where every morning he would wake up, and the first thing he would do, first thing in the morning is go into the shower, and he would just turn the water to cold. I mean, it could be the middle of winter, and he just turned the water to cold, and he just forced himself to stand there as the cold water was just coming over his body. Every day he would do this ritual. He would get in the shower, turn the water cold, force himself to stand there as the cold water, and here’s what he would tell himself. He would say to his flesh, “Today, you are not in control.”
And you know, I’m not saying you’ve gotta do that, but maybe that’s what you gotta do. There has to be some sort of a mental, “Today I wake up and I will not, I will not allow my body to be in control. I will not allow my flesh to be in control. I will not allow my desires and my lust to be in control. Today I will live my flesh. Today I will deny myself.”
Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ.” He says, “I take up the cross daily.” Paul said, “I die daily.” Paul said, “Every day I make a choice. Every day I make a choice to say I am dead. Today I am dead.”
But it’s not enough to die to self. It’s not enough to limit self. Go back to Galatians chapter two. I want you to notice he says, “I am crucified with Christ.” You may have written the statement down, “We must limit self,” and that is true, but please understand this. The Christian life is not just a life of limiting self or denying self or dying to self. There’s more to it than just that.
Galatians 2:20, notice what he says. He says, “I am crucified with Christ.” But then he says this: “Nevertheless, I live,” he says, “Nevertheless, I live.” He’s not talking about physically taking your life. Didn’t Paul say, “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body as a living sacrifice?”
‘Cause let’s talk about literally taking your life, okay. We’re not talking about drinking Kool-Aid or … We have sent people to Guyana, but not to drink Kool-Aid and kill themselves, all right? He says, “I am crucified with Christ,” and then he says this: “Nevertheless, I live.” Here’s the key though. Catch this. “Yes not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
See, step one is we must limit self, but step two is this, we must live for Christ. I know that’s basic, but look, every day you need to decide and say, “Today I will not live for self, and today I will live for Christ. Today I will limit self, and today I will allow Christ to live in me.”
Go to 2nd Corinthians, chapter five. 2nd Corinthians 5. You’re there in Galatians, just find 2nd Corinthians real quickly. 2nd Corinthians chapter five, look at verse 15. Here’s what you need to understand, our life should be His life. 2nd Corinthians 5:15, notice what he says. 2nd Corinthians 5:15 says, the Bible says this, 2nd Corinthians 5:15. “And that He,” now the word He there is referring to Jesus. “And that He died for all, that they…” The they there is referring to us. “That they, which live,” notice what it says, “Should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him, which died for them, and rose again.”
Here’s the question I have for you. Every day you wake up, who do you live for? Is it for yourself? Is it to fulfill your own lust, your own desires, your own direction? Here’s the direction I’m setting for my life, and here’s what I want to do with my life. Or do you wake up every day and say, “Today I will die to self. Today I will deny self. Today I will limit self, and live, and live for Christ.” “And he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves.”
See, it’s not enough to limit self, we must also live for Christ. Our life should be His life. Look, and I know it sounds like … it sounds liberal, right? ‘Cause you want to say the whole like, “What would Jesus do?” And I get that, and it is liberal. Go to Romans 6. But here’s what I want you to understand. There is a truth to it, that when you and I live our lives as ambassadors for Christ, we should be asking ourselves, “I represent Christ. My life represents Christ, in this situation, when it comes to this decision, when it comes to this aspect of life. What would Christ have me to do?”
Because see, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” It is His life. And you say, “Well, why is that?” And look, you don’t have to give your life to Christ in order to be saved. And you need to be careful about using those terminologies. People often say about salvation, “Oh, He gave His life to Christ.” Giving your life to Christ does not save you. What saves you is that He gave His life for you. But after you’ve received Christ, you know what the reasonable thing to do is to give your life to Christ.
See, not for salvation, but out of gratitude. “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
Look at Romans chapter six in verse four. Romans 6:4, the Bible says this, “Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father,” notice this, “Even so, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
See, God did not save you, because people think like, “Oh, the Christian life is so boring. It’s just all these rules, and I can’t do this, and I can’t do that, and I’ve got to limit this.” But look, it’s not just enough to limit self, you must also live for Christ. You must also say, “Now, I have Christ living in me. What is it that Christ would have me to do?”
Go to Colossians chapter three. Colossians chapter three, look at verse four. Colossians chapter three, verse four. Notice what the Bible says. Colossians 3:4, and I know you’ve seen these verses before. Colossians 3:4. Colossians 3:4 says this, “When Christ,” I want you to notice these words. If you don’t mind writing in your Bible, you ought to underline them. “When Christ,” notice what it says, “Who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.”
Notice he says, “When Christ who is our life.” See, Christ should not be part of your life. Christ should not be given a portion of your life. Christ should not be something that you do, but you’ve got your own thing over here. The Bible says Christ who is our life. See, not only should He have our life, He should be our life. That’s why I believe that everything in the Christian life should revolve around Christ. I mean, everything that even we do socially. I don’t have any other social gatherings or a bowling league or whatever. And look, if you’re in a bowling league, I’m not against you. I don’t know that, all right?
There’s like four of you that are like, “Is he saying that for me?” I’m like, I don’t know that, okay? But here’s one that I’m saying. Christ should be our lives. You gotta raise your children to understand. Our lives are church, our lives are Christ, our lives are God. That’s why we read the Bible every day at home. Why? Because Christ is our life. It’s not just something we do on Sundays. It’s not just in a religious exercise that we do every once in a while. Our lives should be revolved around Him.
Every day, look every day, and I know it’s not complicated, but if you want to win in the Christian life, you need to learn every day to get up and say, “Today I am denying self. Today I’m dying to self. Today I will limit self, I will limit my desires, I will limit what it is that I want to do, and I will ask this question: What would Christ have me to do?
I said number one, we must limit or deny self. Number two, we must live for Christ. So here’s the question. Because people often will come to me with questions, and look, if you … You’re allowed to come to me with questions, I’m your pastor. Ask me any question you want.
But a lot of times, it’s real clear what the right answer is, when you simply ask. When you say, “Well what should I do in this situation?” And when you simply just respond with this question, “Well what do you think Christ would like you to do? What would Christ have you to do? Because it’s His life. You’re living through His life.”
“I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
Go back to Luke chapter number nine. Let me give you one more, and we’ll be done. Like I told you, I’m not going to be very long tonight, and it’s basic, but I think we need it. I think we need to just be refreshed on these things. I said number one, we must limit self. We must limit self. There are some things in your life, there may be some things the Holy Spirit is dealing with you, where you’re not allowing, where you’re not limiting yourself. You’re being enticed and drawn away by your own lusts.
Number two, we must live for Christ. Number three, here’s statement number three. We must lose to win. We must lose to win. It’s interesting to me how the Bible is always the complete opposite of the world, and just as a good rule of thumb, you gotta always ask yourself, if the world is telling you to do something, probably, I mean I can’t say this 100%, but probably God wants you to do the exact opposite.
Whatever the world calls success, just if you’re not sure … Sometimes I’ll do this, like if I’m not sure what I should do, I just ask myself … You know ’cause you tell people, “What would Christ have you to do?” And they’re like, “I don’t know.” Okay, ask yourself this: What would the world have you to do?
Some of those people come to me and they’re like, “You know, I’m considering homeschooling my children, but I have them in the school. What do you think I should do?” Well, what would Christ have you to do? “Well, I don’t know.” Okay, let me ask you this. What do you think the world wants you to do? “Well the world wants me to put them in the public fool system.” Okay, well then you have your answer.
You know, whatever the world says to do, you probably want to do the opposite of that. You know what the world tells … The world tells you to just, you know, walk all over people, dog eat dog. But it’s interesting because God always tells you the opposite of that. God says, if you want to win, you need to lose. God says, if you want to go up, you need to go down.
See, the world tells you, people say, “Well, I don’t know what to do.” Well, here’s your questions, right? Whenever you don’t know what to do, what would Christ have me to do? I don’t know. Okay, what would the world want you to do? Look, when your worldly family is happy about a certain decision, just realize there’s probably a problem there. That’s probably not what I’m supposed to be doing. And by the way, when your worldly family hates a decision, you’re probably doing the right thing.
Because look, whatever area it is, you know, “What do you think I should do for my children,” or “What should I do for my daughters? Do you think God wants my daughters to grow up, to be virgins, to get married, to guide the house, or do you think that my daughter’s just supposed to be a doctor, or she’s supposed to be a lawyer, or she’s supposed to be the next President of the United States?”
Okay, what do you think the world wants them to do? Okay, well then you have your answer, because the world says, “Don’t be a stay at home mom,” when the Bible says keepers at home, when the Bible says guide the home. So look, just ask, what do you think the world … You know, with your children, with your young men, ’cause I’ll tell you what the world wants the young men to be, he wants them to be a bunch of whore mongers, wants them to go off to college and fornicate and do drugs and drink alcohol. That’s what the world wants for your boys. So you got your answer. Whatever the world wants is probably the wrong thing.
Notice Luke 9 in verse 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.” Now notice verse 24. “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it.” That’s the opposite of what the world tells us, of what the flesh tells us. You know what the flesh tells you? You gotta save your life. But God says, “If you save your life, you’ll lose it.”
“But whosoever,” notice what He says, “Will lose his life, for my sake, the same shall save it.” What is it that He’s talking about in those verses? And here’s what you need to understand. When you live your life, and please understand this, when you live your life for self, when you live your life for self, when you live your life like the average American lives their life, to just fulfill my own desires, to do what I want with my time, with my resources, with my energy, with my talents, to just do what I want … please understand this. When you live your life for self, you will end your life a failure.
You will end your life empty. You will end your life unsatisfied. And if you just need a good example of that, just do me a favor in this week, read the book of Ecclesiastes, because you find a man there who says, “I gave myself to wealth. I gave myself to wine. I gave myself to women. I gave myself to anything…” He literally says in Ecclesiastes, “I did not withhold anything from myself and from my heart, I gave myself to anything.”
I mean, whenever the world would say great, that’s what he gave himself to. Education? He gave himself to it. Being successful in his career? He gave himself to it. Just anything that the world would say, “Do it, Solomon, do it,” he went for it, he did it, and he gets to the end of his life and you know what he says? Vanity of vanities. All is vanity under the sun.
That’s why these rock stars are all killing themselves, drinking themselves to death, literally drugging themselves to death, committing suicide. Why? Because it doesn’t bring happiness. When you live your life for self, you will end your life a failure.
But, when you live your life for Christ, when you live your life with self-denial, when you live your life assuming others better than yourself, when you live your life ministering to others and loving others and investing in others and giving to others, you know what happens to that life? That life ends their life a success, a winner.
That’s why He says, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” Notice verse 25. “For what is a man advantaged.” What’s the advantage? “For what is a man advantaged,” notice what it says, “If he gain the whole world and lose himself, or be a castaway.”
Usually we read this from another gospel where it says, “For what doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” And in that context, we’re talking about salvation, and that’s true. It doesn’t help you a bit to gain the whole world and die and go to hell. But what I like about the Luke 9 version of it, and I’m sure Jesus said it multiple times, is that in this version, He’s applying it to I believe people that are already saved.
Because He says, “For what is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose himself, or,” notice this word, “Or, be a castaway.” We’ve seen that word last week. I want you to notice the word castaway. Go to 1st Corinthians chapter nine. We’ll be done. We’ll be done right now. It’s 7:01.
1st Corinthians chapter nine, look at verse number 27. Remember in Luke 9:25 He said castaway? What’s that mean? Castaway means you lost. Castaway means you’re a loser. Castaway means you didn’t make it. Remember when we were talking about the discipline, the disciplined life? 1st Corinthians 9:27, notice what the Bible says. “But I keep under my body.” Now what does that mean? “But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection.” You know what that means? That means that Paul wakes up every day, like he already told you, he wakes up every day and he says, “I die daily. I deny myself. I bring my body into subjection. I wrestle my body down. I make my body do what it does not want to do. I make my body do what it does not desire to do.”
He says, “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself,” notice our word, “Should be a castaway.” He says, “I don’t want to lose.” He says, “I don’t want to be that guy.”
I don’t want to be that guy. Look, I’m talking about me, Pastor Jimenez … ’cause I’m about to say this and you’re gonna go, “Oh, you’re talking about someone…” No, I’m talking about me. I don’t want to be that guy who has sermons on the internet, and now I’m backslidden and not even in church, not even soul-winning.
I don’t want to be that guy who used to encourage other people and motivate other people and mobilize other people to go soul-winning, and I don’t even go soul-winning myself. I don’t want to be that guy. I don’t want to be that guy, lest I by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
So what is he talking about? He’s talking about losing in life. So how do you win? Look, you are destined for victory, that’s true. You do need to define victory in your own mind, and you do need to live a disciplined life, but part of that, part of that is living the life of self-denial, where you wake up every day … ’cause look, it doesn’t, with the things that God asks us to do are not natural.
I am convinced, and I may be wrong about this, but I am convinced that God will often ask us to do the things that do not come naturally so that we must depend on Him, and that sermon is coming, the dependent on the Holy Spirit aspect of the Christian life.
Here’s what I think. I believe most women are probably just natural born leaders, and most men are probably not. And then God looks at a man and says, “You lead,” and God looks at a woman and says, “You follow.” And you sit there and say, “But I’m better at leading than my husband is.” You know, a wife would say. “I’m smarter than my husband. I make better decisions than my husband. My husband’s an idiot. Look at him.”
But God would say, God would say, “Yes, and you must deny self and depend on me.” And a man would say, “Well, I don’t know how to lead, and I’m indecisive, and I don’t know how to make decisions, and I’m not sure what decision I should make, and I’m always just asking my wife.” And God would say, “Yes, but you must lead, which means you must deny yourself and be dependent on me.”
See, the only way you live the Christian life, the only way you live the Christian life is by limiting self, is by living for Christ, and it’s by choosing to lose in order to win.
Here’s a question I have for you. Will you be that guy? Are you that next guy? Are you that next castaway? Are you that guy that a year from now we’re gonna be talking about, “What happened to brother so and so? They were so on fire.” ‘Cause look, a year from now, it’s probably starting right now, that you’re just not getting up, and you’re not saying, “Well today, I think today, I think today I will live for self. I think today I will fulfill my own lust. I think today I will walk in the things that entice me.”
So how do I live the Christian life? How do I live in victory? Look, please, please, you’ve got to figure this out. You get up every day and say, “Today I’m dying to self. Today I’m limiting self. Today I’m denying self. Today I’m living for Christ. Today I’m allowing Christ to decide where I go, what I do, what I look like, or what I look like, what I look at, what I listen to. I let Him decide all of that. And I’m going to choose to lose, so that way I can win.”
Let’s bow our heads in order to pray. Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for your word, thank you for the Bible. Thank you for these stories and these scriptures. Lord, I just pray you’d help us. I know everything I said tonight was basic, I know that. But Lord, I pray that you would help us to develop a church family that would get up every day and say, “Today, I am not in charge. What would Christ have me to do? Today, my flesh is not in control. Christ will be in control. Today I will die to self, today I will limit self, today I will live for Christ, today I will choose to lose in order to win.”
Help us to live the life of self-denial. Help us to see the victory in self-denial. Thank you for salvation. Thank you for dying on the cross. Thank you for giving your life for us, and help us to give our lives to you. In the name of Christ we pray, Amen.