Date Written: November 4, 2006
Date Preached: November 5, 2006
Where Preached: OZHBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: Living a Life of Service
Sermon Title: The Service of Self-Denial
Sermon Text: Rom 12:1-2; Mark 8:34-38
Introduction:
For the past several weeks I have been preaching to you about living the life that God has called you to live. We have seen how God has called us to live a life of integrity!
• As believers we are to submit in obedience to the call of Christ,
• We are to act on that obedience in DOING what God has called us to do,
• We are NOT to conform to the world but allow Christ to transform us to His image,
• We are to be willing to confess our sin daily and,
• We are to live our lives in humility before God…
We are called to live a life of evangelism as well. We are called by God’s Holy Spirit to GO, STAND and SPEAK the gospel message of Jesus Christ!
• In going we reveal the consistency of our walk in Christ…
• In standing, we reveal the courage of our walk in Christ, and…
• In speaking, we reveal the communication of our walk with Christ!
Today I want to begin a short series of sermons on another aspect of living the life Christ has called us to live, I want us to begin looking at living a life of SERVICE!
[READ ROMANS 12:1-2 here emphasizing v.1a]
And this morning I want to specifically share with you what I would call the SERVICE of self-denial and how it is a spiritual service that is essential for you to life that life Christ has called you to live!
We know that Jesus lived a life of total self-denial and humility before God. He calls us to be like Him and be conformed to His image… we are called to deny ourselves and to be humble before God!
In fact, we can look at the life of Jesus and see that He set the example and taught us what KIND of life we were to live, if we wanted to be His disciple!
[READ Mark 8:34-38 here emphasizing v.34 and denying oneself]
This morning I want us to look at 3 keys that we can learn about the service of self-denial for the believer…
1. Self Denial is KEY to Conquering our sin (Mark 8:34-35)
Now the Bible is very clear on the subject that humanity is sinful and that we are fallen and broken vessels. The Bible bears this out in many passages.
In the OT we find, “…All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way…” Isaiah 53:6 (NASB)
We can also find in the OT where King David confesses, “…I have gone astray like a lost sheep…” Ps 119:176 (NASB)
In the NT we can read, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Rom 3:23 (NASB)
In fact there are many other passages that reveal the total depravity of the human condition before God! It is because of the fall in the Garden that sin entered into this world.
And because sin entered into this world through Adam… sinners are WHO we are, it is our nature… we have a rebellious and sinful nature about us…
However, this is why Jesus came into the world… because we have a sin nature and there is NOTHING we can DO to cleanse ourselves of the sin in our lives. Jesus came to bring salvation to His creation and to conquer the power of sin over our lives… and without the sacrifice of Jesus’ death on the Cross, we would be helplessly and hopelessly lost…
To come to Christ we first must be drawn by Christ to Himself. In John 6:44 Jesus tells us that NO MAN comes to the Father except I draw him…
So I want to make this perfectly clear to ALL who are sitting in this place this morning… the sin in our lives can only be conquered by the shed blood of Jesus Christ – there is NOTHING we can do on our own to redeem our standing before God!
You must understand that you cannot come to God by making things right and ‘cleaning up your act’… if you try that you will NEVER reach God. God demands a sacrifice and Jesus paid the price for our sin.
But as God demands a sacrifice for the redemption of sin… Christ also demands a sacrifice of all those He calls into the Kingdom and for sin to be truly conquered and stay conquered in our day to day lives, we must deny ourselves…
Self-denial is the key to the conquering of our sin, you simply cannot rely on yourself… you have to DENY yourself! You have to come to the realization that you are TOTALLY powerless against sin and the death grip it has on your life… you have to accept the fact that all you can do is MESS up your life and make things worse…
I want us ALL to understand this morning that YOU CANNOT… but GOD CAN! Look at Mark 8:35 with me…
“…For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it…” (NASB)
• What Jesus is saying here is that if you try to hold onto control…
• If you try to cling to YOUR way of doing things…
• If you try to save yourself… YOU are going to LOSE, FAIL, PERISH!
But Jesus then says, if you are willing to DENY yourself or LOSE your life… in other words release ALL control and desire, let go of YOUR way of doing things, let go and stop trying to save yourself… LET GO and LET GOD... then you will be saved!
Self-denial is key to conquering our sin, but I can also see that…
2. Self-Denial is KEY to Confirming our salvation (Mark 8:34 read)
Now you must understand something here… God does NOT need our confirmation for His salvation to work… however, we need to reveal to the world around us what God has done for us in our lives… we need to reveal that by our words and by our actions…
When we live a life of self-denial… and then we TAKE up the cross Christ places before us… we confirm to the world around us though our actions and NOT just in our words that Christ has saved us and changed us in a great and mighty way!
Pastor, what is my “Cross”? Well that is a good question but I am afraid I cannot answer it for you… that is something you and God must work out…
But I can tell you this morning what our “Cross” is NOT…
Our cross, is NOT enduring a bad boss, or being ridiculed or mocked for being a believer… Jesus told ALL His disciples that they would face persecution and difficultly… so persecution is NOT our cross…
The “Cross” Christ is speaking about is also NOT a physical condition that we have to endure. As much as I love all of our members here, and I know that many of them are enduring some great tribulations through disease and sickness… that is NOT the Cross Christ was speaking about … You see James tells us to count it all joy WHEN trials and tribulations come our way…
Because of the sin in our world and the fact that sin brought about death and sickness into this world… Disease and sickness are trials we have to endure, but it is NOT our cross to bear
I cannot tell you specifically what your Cross to bear is, but what I can tell you is that it is always going to be a KINGDOM focused Cross, it is always going to be a Christ glorifying Cross, and it will never be a Cross that places the focus on YOU!
It is like John the Baptist said when he came face to face with Jesus… he said, “I must decrease so that He can increase…”
So if you have been saved, but you have NOT decreased so that Christ could increase in your life… then Scripture tells us that maybe all we have had was an emotional experience, because when you are TRULY saved… your life is radically changed and Christ becomes the center point of your life… not just window dressing!
Self-denial is key to conquering our sin and confirming our salvation but I can see one other key and it is…
3. Self-Denial is KEY to Confessing our Savior (Mark 8:38 read)
Another KEY to walking the walk and talking the talk and living the life of a born again believer in Christ Jesus is the fact that we are NOT ashamed to CONFESS His name to the world around us…
So often as a pastor I hear excuse after excuse as to why people cannot witness for Christ. I hear things like,
• Well, pastor its just NOT my gift, some have that gift, but I just don’t have it…
• Pastor, I am so shy, I can’t nervous talking to the bank teller when I deposit my check…
• Pastor, I don’t really think it is my job, the Bible speaks about us all having different jobs working toward one goal, but evangelism is NOT my job…
I could go on and on, but I want you to understand that Christ commissioned ALL believers… ALL DISCIPLES TO CONFESS HIM… to be witnesses for Him in this world… No believer is exempt from Christ’s call to confess Him to a lost world.
Matthew 28:19-20 says, “…go therefore and make disciples of all nations…[how can we make disciples unless we TELL them about Jesus Christ]…baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have COMMANDED you…[in other words, the ones we lead to Christ are to turn around and lead others to Christ as well]…
Acts 1:8 says, “…but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." (NASB)
Here Jesus makes it clear that we are to be WITNESSES for Him. Now I want to ask you a question this morning, what is a witness? The online Encarta English dictionary defines a witness as somebody who saw or heard something that happened and gives evidence about it
In other words, a witness is one who shares with those who do NOT know, what has happened. We have witnesses in trials and accidents… As believers it is not really that different. We are to share with those who do NOT know Christ… what Christ has done for us… we are to share with them what has happened to us because of Christ!
Conclusion:
So often our excuses that we use for NOT witnessing Christ to this world are merely coverups… we are trying to make an excuse when it is really NOT about being shy, or a spiritual gift or about whose job it is…
What it really boils down to for those who simply refuse to share Christ is that they have not fully and totally surrendered their heart and soul to Christ… they have yet to DENY themselves…
• Before you can take up your cross…
• Before you can FOLLOW Him in a loving Christian walk…
• YOU MUST FIRST DENY YOURSELF…
Deny yourself and come to the conclusion that you can do NOTHING to rid yourself of the sin in your life and Christ has promised that He would remove that sin and give you victory over it…
Deny yourself and reveal to the world around you that Christ has changed your life and that Christ is now in control…
Deny yourself and confess Christ to the world around you and allow Him to lead you and guide you in your words…
When we live the life that Christ desires us to live we ARE going to live a life of SELF-DENIAL… when we are living a life of service to our King… the service of Self-denial will be first and foremost on our hearts… it is as the Apostle Paul said,
“…Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship…”
Rom 12:1 (NASB)
Are you getting up each and every day and presenting yourself to God as a living sacrifice? Are you denying your self and seeking to be less and for Christ to be more?
Now whether you believe it or not, this IS your spiritual service to God and if you consistently and willfully refuse to submit in obedience to His call… then you do NOT have Him in your heart, that is what Scripture tells us…
As Bro Jerry comes, I call on all believers to come and if you have been holding back from God… Give it all to Him today!
If you have been trying to do things on YOUR OWN… surrender to His will today!
If you have been stubborn and refused to share Christ with the world around you… repent today and begin to share Christ with those He puts in your path…
