The Components of Christianity, Part 7 (Have I Died to Self)

...opportunity we have to study your word. And so studying your word, Lord, we are able to understand the greatness of your glory. And today, as we look at you and focus in on what you have done for us, may we respond with obedience to your word that we might gloriously serve the Jesus that we love and the Jesus that we know, the God of the universe.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. This morning, we want to continue looking at what the Bible says concerning the message of salvation, because that message is the method of salvation.

And that method of salvation is the cross of Christ. It's always been the meaning of salvation. It's always been what exactly our Lord has spoken to when it comes to what it means to be a follower of him. We have come together this morning to celebrate communion, to celebrate the death of Christ. And the cross becomes a central focus of his mission and his ministry. So much so that when we die and go to heaven, we will worship the Lamb who has been slain for all eternity. He will always be known as the Lamb of God.

He will always be seen as one who has been slain. I'm afraid that in most people's lives we haven't come to grips with the reality of the cross. But Luke 9, verses 18-26 become a central passage for us to understand what it is Christ wants us to know about him, who he is, what he came to do, and our responsibility in light of who he is and what he came to do. And so we've spent some time here. We've spent at least 7, 8, 9 weeks here in just Luke 9, verses 18-26. We will spend one more week here. That's today.

And then in two weeks we will once again look back at this great portion of scripture to understand once again what it means to be crucified with Christ. This is the essence of Christianity. This is what Christianity is all about. This is who we are. Therefore we must understand what the Bible says.

And so we have asked this question. Because Jesus said, if any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me, Luke 9, verse 23. Because Christ has said that, what does it mean to be crucified with Christ? How is it I know that I have died to self? How is it I come to grips with the reality that I have been crucified with Christ? Do I know that? Can I know that? And how can I know that? That's what we've been talking about. And so we said, well, if that's the case, you have then counted the cost.

If you have been crucified with Christ, Luke 14, verses 26 and following say, you have counted the cost. You know that the cost is worth it. So you've given your life to Christ. You've repented of your sin. You've turned from your sin to follow the Lord Jesus Christ because you want to serve him as your king and as your master. Once you've counted the cost, once you've repented of your sin, then we said that the one who has been crucified with Christ is unashamed of the Christ. They are unashamed of his words.

They are unashamed of who he is. They are unashamed of those who follow him because they truly want to confess him before men. They want to serve him. They want to honor him. They want to follow him. And therefore, because they are unashamed of the Christ, number four, they conform not to the world. They are not shaped into the mold of the world. Instead, they want to follow their Lord. They want to serve him and they want to honor him. And therefore, they conform not to the world. Those are the four principles we have given to you over the last two weeks.

Lord willing, I will cover the remaining five with you this morning. And number five is this. If you've been crucified with Christ, you are indwelt by the Christ. You are indwelt by the Christ. Listen to what Paul said in Galatians chapter two. He said, verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Now, I want you to think about that for a moment. I want you to think of the mystery of Christ's indwelling. I want you to think of the majesty of Christ's indwelling.

I want you to think of the magnitude of Christ's indwelling. Because it is imperative to understand that we can understand if Christ is in us. In fact, over in second Corinthians chapter 13, Paul said these words.

He says, test yourselves to see if you're in the faith. Examine yourselves, or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you. Now, think about that. Jesus Christ is in you. Those who have been crucified with Christ no longer live, but Christ lives in them. That is the mystery. Not revealed in the Old Testament, but revealed in the New Testament. Look with me, if you would, to the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter one, verse number 25. Paul said, I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me.

For your benefit that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God. That is the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been made manifested to his saints. To whom God will to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Here's the mystery. Christ is going to be in you. Now, I don't know if you spend much time thinking about that, but let me go through a scenario with you.

The Jews understood that God is above them. They understood that. God above us was a teaching of the Old Testament. The Bible says very clearly in Psalm 103, verse number 19, the Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty rules over all.

God above us is a resounding theme throughout the scriptures. And if you talk to most people, they will tell you that God is above them. He is supremely, sovereignly. He is singularly the ruler of all. And the Bible makes it very clear that he has established his throne. It's in heaven and he rules over all. So most people would agree that God is above them. The Jews understood that God is above us. They also knew that God made us. Genesis chapter 1 says, verse 26, then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness.

And God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him, male and female. He created them. God created man in order to have a relationship with him. God created man that he might worship him, that he might serve him. And every Jew would come to realize that God not only is above us, but God made us. Because he is the ruler of all. He is the creator of all. He is the originator of all things. But they had a hard time understanding God with us. In the Bible, in Matthew chapter 1, quotes from Isaiah chapter 7, verse number 14, it says this, behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us.

Now if you're a Jew and you study the Old Testament, you understand that the Messiah is going to come. The Bible was very clear in the Old Testament that the Messiah would be God himself. And so therefore, God would be with us. The great prophecy of Isaiah 7, verse 14 was fulfilled when Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. God would dwell among men. And when you read the Gospel of John, you understand that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. So we understand that God is above us. We understand that God made us.

And we understand that God is with us. But in order for God to be with us, God gave us. His son. John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten son. So for God to be with us, God had to give us his son. And upon God giving us his son, now God can be in us. Colossians chapter 1, verse number 29. That's the mystery. God is above us. God made us. God will be with us. So God gave us. So God could be in us. Now that was completely conceived in the Old Testament. God dwelling in man.

It could be perceived and conceived that God would be among us. That God would be with us. But God actually in us is something that the Jews had a hard time coming to grips with. But folks, let me tell you something.

If God is in you, God is for you. God is for us. The Bible says in Romans 8, 31, what then shall we say to these things if God is for us who can be against us?

And the only way God is for us is if God is in us. And the only way God can be in us is because God gave us his son. And the reason God gave us is because God promised to be with us. And the reason God promised to be with us is because God made us in his image. And if God is in you and God is for you, to complete the cycle, God sends us into the world. As the Father has sent me, John 20, 21, so I have sent you. God sends us into the world so that the world would know that God wants to indwell their lives.

God wants to take command of their lives. And that is the riches of his glory. The riches of his glory are summed up in the residence of God in you. God dwells in man. God takes up residence in your heart. When you are crucified with Christ, when you die to self, God reigns supreme in your life. That's why Paul could say, examine yourselves. Do you see Christ in you? Because you can see him. That's why the Bible says that we are to give glory to God.

We are to reflect the radiance of his residence. That is, because he resides within us, we live our lives to his glory. So because he is beauty, because he is brightness, that's what it means to understand the glory of God. It's about the beauty of God himself, the brightness of his glory. Therefore, as his children, we reflect that radiant beauty because he resides within us. And therefore, our whole life is consumed with reflecting that beauty of God. He lives within us. He resides within people like you in me.

Paul would say these words in Galatians 1 verse number 15. But when he who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through his grace was pleased to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles. God revealed his son in me. He not only revealed him to me, he not only revealed him in me, he now is going to reveal him through me. You see, the Christian life, listen, is not me living for God. The Christian life is God living through me for his glory. Big difference.

God lives through me because God lives in me. See, that's what it means to be a Christian. God lives in my life. He is not the guest in my life. He is the host of my life. He calls all the shots because he rules in my heart and in my life. And the Bible says this, John 6, 56, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him.

This was Christ's message as he lived on this earth. If you consume me, if you're all about me, you will dwell in me and I will dwell in you. John 14, 17, even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but you know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. John 14, 23, Jesus answers that unto them, if any man love me, he will keep my words and my father will love him and will come unto him and make our abode with him. Romans 8, verse 9, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

If so be that the spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. Paul would go on to say in second Corinthians six, verse 16, for you are the temple of the living God and God has said, I would dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

Your body is the temple of the living God. Your body is the sanctuary. People say to me, you know, listen, let's go into the sanctuary. This building, this building is not a sanctuary. All this is, is a building with four walls, some pews, a clock in the back that nobody pays attention to, a cross in the front, an organ, a piano, some windows, some doors. All this is, is a building. This is not a sanctuary. Growing up, people used to say, you're going to the sanctuary. I used to say, no, I'm not.

I am the sanctuary. And so are you. Your body is the temple of the living God. Sometimes we forget about that. Sometimes we forget about the fact that our body really is a, a dwelling place of God. He dwells in us. Now, can you imagine being a Jew and trying to come to grips with the fact that, that, that God is so far removed from you that, that you can't even approach him? Can't even approach him because he's a consuming fire. And then to come and hear the gospel message that Christ actually wants to live in you, that God wants to make his abode with you, that God wants to rule in you so that he might rule through you so others will see him.

But that's the mystery of the gospel revealed in the new, concealed in the old, so that man would understand how to walk with God because God walks and lives in him. Have I been crucified with Christ? If so, I am indwelt by the Christ. He lives in me. So important. So, if I've been crucified with Christ, I have counted the cost. I repented of my sin. I'm unashamed of the Christ. I conform not to the world and I am indwelt by the Christ. 1 Thessalonians 6. The one who has been crucified with Christ forsakes all to follow him.

Forsakes all to follow him. Luke 14 verse number 33. Christ says, if you do not give up all your possessions, you cannot be my disciple.

In other words, Christ says, I'm looking for total submission. I'm looking for total surrender. I'm looking for all of you. I don't want to share you with anybody else. If I've given my life for you, if I've delivered myself up for you, then I want to have all of you, not part of you. And therefore you must forsake all and follow me. 13 times in the gospels, Christ says, follow me.

That's what you do. You follow him. That's what it means to be a Christian. Remember back in the book of Revelation, there is a verse of scripture, a passage of scripture that deals with 144,000 Jewish evangelists. We know from the book of Revelation that God chooses 12,000 from every tribe to be his witnesses. They come to saving faith because there are two witnesses, one like Moses, one like Elijah in Revelation 11. And those two witnesses are instrumental in leading 144,000 Jews to the Lord. And they become the spokespersons for God.

We know that there's an angel that flies around in mid heaven. So those are the three sources in which God presents the gospel in the tribulation period during the book of Revelation. You have two witnesses who lead 144,000 Jews to Christ. And you have an angel that flies around mid heaven preaching the gospel. That's in Revelation chapter 14. And so when you come to Revelation chapter 14, I'm sorry, Revelation 11, Revelation 14, you have these 144,000 standing on Mount Zion. And listen to what it says about these individuals.

It says in verse number four, these are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chased. Here we go. These are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes. Isn't that good? It doesn't say they follow Jesus wherever he goes. And it doesn't say they follow the Lord wherever he goes. It doesn't say they follow God. wherever he goes. It says they follow the lamb wherever he goes. Now we know the lamb is Jesus. We know the lamb is God. We know the lamb is the Lord, right?

But the reason the phrase the lamb is used is because the lamb was the one slain before the foundation of the world. The cross of Christ will be the supreme memory of eternity. It's all about the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. And what is it that keeps these 144,000 going through the tribulation preaching the gospel is because they follow the lamb wherever he goes. They know that they've given their life for God because he gave their life for them. And so they are unashamed of the Christ.

They would have counted the cost. They would have repented of their sin. They would be the ones who would conform not to the world. They would be the ones who would be indwelt by God. Therefore, they would follow him wherever he went. They would follow the lamb. They would give their lives away for the lamb because the lamb gave his life for them. They are followers of the lamb. They are followers of the Christ. And that's what it means to be a Christian. If you've counted the cost, you'll follow Christ because you want to serve him.

You want to give your life for him. That's what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse number 14. Paul said these words. He says, For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died, and he died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. Christ died so that you would no longer live for yourself, but you'd live for him. You follow him. That's not too easy sometimes, is it?

Following Christ. I love, that's why I love the book of Revelation and those 144,000 because they have to follow the lamb wherever he goes in the midst of a horrific trial upon this earth. Unlike the world's ever seen. But they remain steadfast. They remain faithful. They remain committed to the lamb. They follow him wherever he goes. And that should be you and me as well. But there are times where we're like Peter. Remember after the crucifixion, he went back to fishing and Christ came and recommissioned him and said, Peter, do you love me?

He said, yeah, I love you. Really? Yeah, I do. I like you a lot. He said, feed my sheep. And Christ would say, Peter, do you really love me? Yeah, I like you a lot. Tend to my lambs. And he says, Peter, do you really like me a lot? Because I don't think you do. And Peter said, oh Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. And you know, Peter knew that the Lord knew everything. I mean, the Lord told Peter, you're going to deny me three times for the cock crows, no, not me. And this Lord said, yep, you are.

And he did. And in Caiaphas's house, when Christ turned and looked at Peter, Peter knew that the Lord knew all things. So John 21, Peter says, yeah, Lord, you know everything. And Christ says, Peter, listen, you've been old.

You've been young. And when you are old, you're going to stretch forth your hands and you're going to die for me. I want you, Peter, to follow me. You know what Peter said? Peter said these words. What about John? Are you going to ask him to follow you too? Are you going to ask him to die for you too? Because you see, it's not good enough for us to follow alone, is it? It's not good enough for us to suffer alone, is it? Somebody else has got to be miserable with us. So is John going to be miserable too?

And Christ said to him, Peter, what difference does it make if he lives till I come again? Who cares, Peter? Who cares about what's going to happen to John? You shouldn't be caring about John. You follow me. Peter got the message. Read the book of Acts. Peter followed. He followed completely his God because he understood the magnitude of his ministry. He would follow God all the way to the end. And he did. Tradition tells us he was crucified upside down because he was not worthy to be crucified right side up like his Lord and Master was crucified.

He followed him. He followed the Lamb wherever he went. And that's what the Lord asks of you and me, to follow him. Have you been crucified with Christ? Forsake all to follow him. Next. Gets tougher. You ready? You're not ready. He didn't say you were ready, so I assume you're not ready. But here it goes anyway. If you've been crucified with Christ, you imitate the Lord. You imitate the Lord. Listen, if he lives within you, if he empowers you, that he might live through you, you imitate him. That's what it means to forsake all and follow him.

It's almost like an addendum to the previous point. You forsake all, you follow him. And in following him, you imitate him. You mimic him. And you can't, listen, listen carefully, you can't help but mimic him. Because he lives within you. See? Christ lives in you. Christ wants you to live for him. So he's not going to allow you to continue to live in sin and not live for him. He won't let that happen. And that's the greatness of the Gospel. That God lives in us to empower us to live for him. 1 John 2, 6.

He who says he abides in him ought himself to walk even as he himself has walked. You walk like Christ. What does that mean? Well, you read the book of Ephesians, it means that you walk worthily or walk worthy of your calling. That is, you walk equally. You walk as he himself walked. Your life and your lip match. That's what it means to walk worthily of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're to walk humbly, Ephesians 4, 3, because he himself was humble. The Bible says in Ephesians 4, 17, we are to walk no longer as the Gentiles walk, right?

So we walk separately. We walk differently than the world. We walk equally. We walk humbly. We walk separately or differently. We walk lovingly, Ephesians 5, verse number 1, we are to be imitators of God and walk in love. Ephesians 5, verse number 6, we are to walk in the light. So not only do we walk equally, and not only do we walk humbly, and not only do we walk differently, and not only do we walk lovingly, but we walk brightly. We shine for the sake of the Lord God because we walk in the light.

Ephesians 5, 15 says we are to walk not as unwise, but as wise. So we walk wisely. We walk in light of the wisdom of God. You read 3 John 4, we walk truthfully. You read Galatians 5, verse number 16, we walk dependently upon him. We walk in the spirit, not in the flesh. You imitate God. You live his life. Why? Because he lives his life through you. And so you imitate God. Have you been crucified with Christ? Have you died to self? Then your life becomes an imitation of the master. You want to mimic the Lord God himself.

Number eight. Number eight. If you've been five. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. We talked about the relinquished life. Remember that? That relinquished life is an extinguished life, and that is the only distinguished life you can live. But I have emptied myself. It's no longer I who live, Paul says. It's Christ who lives in me. I have emptied myself. And that's why the Bible says over in the book of Philippians chapter two, verse number five, have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

So if I forsake all to follow him, I'm going to imitate him. If I'm going to effectively imitate him, I must empty myself. He emptied himself. He set aside all of his rights that he might give his life away as a slave, as a servant in obedience to his father in heaven. And so if we had been crucified with Christ, we empty ourselves of our desires, our aspirations. We empty ourselves and allow Christ himself to fill us with his glory, his presence, his joy, his peace. The Bible speaks often about how a man thinks more highly of himself than he ought to think.

We do do that, my friends. We do think of ourselves as pretty good. And yet Christ himself would lay aside his attributes. He'd empty himself that he might be what his father wanted him to be. Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to empty yourself to be what your father wants you to be? That would be the contented life, by the way. Jesus lived a life of perfect contentment. It was because he emptied himself in obedience to his father. Jeremiah Burroughs said these words, there was never any man or woman who so contented as a self-denying man or woman.

No one ever denied himself as much as Jesus Christ did. He gave his cheeks to the smiters. He opened not his mouth. He was a lamb when he was led to the slaughter. He made no noise in the street. He denied himself above all and was willing to empty himself. And so he was the most contented that ever any was in the world. In the nearer we come to learning to deny ourselves as Christ did, the more contented shall we be. You live a life of discontentment. You live a life of uneasiness. You want to be able to rest in the peace of God and be content?

Empty yourself. Deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow him. It's a great hymn writer who said, Jesus, I and my cross have taken all to leave and follow thee. Destitute, despised, forsaken, thou from hence my all must be. Perish every fond ambition, all I've sought and hoped and known, yet how rich is my condition, God and heaven are still my own. How rich I am. See, that's what we go back to last week and that's why we spent so much time with Abraham last week to help you understand that God was his very great reward, Genesis 15.

Remember that? God is his reward. Well, we have God in us. He is our riches. He is our reward because he resides within us. And folks, that has to be enough for you. If that's not enough for you, then you have to ask yourself, have I died to self? Have I been crucified with Christ? Have I crucified my flesh? Have I crucified my ambitions? Have I died to the direction of my life that I might live God's life through me because he lives in me? So, if I have been crucified with Christ, if I have denied myself, one, I have counted the cost.

Two, I have repented of my sin. Three, I am unashamed of the Christ. Four, I conform not to the world. Five, I am indwelt by the Christ. Six, I forsake all to follow him. Seven, I imitate the Lord. Eight, I empty myself. And number nine, the one who has been crucified with Christ daily bears his cross for Christ. If any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. If you've been crucified with Christ, you daily bear his cross. You die to your reputation. You die to your rights.

You die to your riches. You die to your reason. You die to your religion. For one simple reason, you have a relationship with the living God. So, to daily bear your cross is well worth it because it's all for him. You love him so. We find it hard to die to our reputation because we want people to think well of us. We want people to like us. The apostle Paul said in Galatians 1.10, if you seek to find the favor of man, you will forfeit the pleasure of God. If you want man to be pleased with your life, then you will forfeit the pleasure of God on your life.

You must want to please him because you want to live for him. So, you die to your reputation. You die to your rights because you've died yourself. You understand as Christ himself, he was a slave. He was a servant. He came to give his life away. He came not to be served but to serve. We come to be served. We go to church to be served. We go home to our families to be served. We go to work, unfortunately, to serve. So, somebody will serve us. But the bottom line is we have died to our rights. And we forget that slaves have no rights.

We are slaves to the Son of God. We have been bought with a price. We have been bought out of the slave market of sin. People think of slaves as such a derogatory term. Let me tell you something, folks.

You're a slave whether you're a Christian or not. If you're not a Christian, you're a slave to Satan. If you're a Christian, you're a slave to Christ. Make a choice. I mean, it's one or the other, right? You are a servant of Satan. Why? Because he has dominion over you. You are in his domain. You are not a child of the living God. But when you recognize that Christ gave his life for you, he purchased you back out of the slave market of sin that you might now be in his kingdom. Now, you serve him.

Your body is no longer your own. It's his. He owns it because he resides in it. That's our Lord. That's our God. As Walter Chantry said, again, no man has ever sacrificed for his Lord without being richly repaid. If the cross is only contrasted with earthly pleasures lost, it may seem hard and threatening. But when the cross is weighed in the balances with the glorious treasures to be had through it, even the cross seems sweet. As Samuel Rutherford wrote, Christ's cross is the sweetest burden that ever I bore.

It is such a burden as wings are to a bird or sails to a ship to carry me forward to my harbor. Or as a self-denying apostle wrote, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Folks, listen.

Our Lord wants us not to live for him, but let him live through us. For that to happen, you must be crucified with Christ. C, you count the cost. R, you repent of your sin. U, are unashamed of the cross. C, you conform not to the world. I, you're indwelt by the Christ. F, you forsake all to follow him. I, you imitate him. E, you empty yourself. And D, you daily bear your cross for Christ. It's not that difficult to remember, but the acrostic crucified isn't. So you can examine your life. You can look at your life every single day.

Will you be perfect at doing those things? No, you will not be. Not this side of eternity. But is that your ambition? Is that your passion? Is that your purpose? Is that your drive? That's what you got to ask yourself. We are going to celebrate the Lord's table. He came to die so that we would no longer live for ourselves, but for him. He wants us to live for his glory, for his purpose, for his honor. If you've been crucified with Christ, that's your desire. That's what you want to do. Oh, there'll be difficulties all along the way.

That's why you daily bear your cross. You bear the reproach of Christ. There'll be hardships. There'll be pain. There'll be separation. There'll be conflict. There'll be adversity. There'll be persecution. Yes, all that is entailed in living for God. Yes, it's going to happen. And there'll be times you fail miserably. There'll be times where you'll wake up and say, this is not what I want to do. This is not where I want to go. I'm having a hard time today. But the great thing about it is, is that because God indwells you, he resides within your heart.

The Spirit of God will motivate you to live for his glory and honor. It'll motivate you to confess your sin. It'll motivate you to get right with the Lord God you serve. It won't allow you to continue to grow in hardness and coldness, because that's what the Spirit of God will not allow to happen in your life. Oh, he lives in you. And because he lives in you, oh, the majesty and the mystery and the magnitude of that residence reigns supreme in the heart of the believer. And those who have been crucified with Christ, they want to live for him.

And I pray that that's your desire this day. Let's pray together. Father God, we thank you for all that you do. Truly, you are so great and wonderful. Truly you, you are the King. And our prayer today, Lord, is that if there be one among us who has not submitted to your kingship in their lives, that today would be that day. They would know you as Lord and Savior, and they would follow you. And I pray, Lord, that as we spend some time now partaking of the Lord's table, we'd be reminded once again of the meaning and the message of salvation centered around the cross of Christ, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.