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TRULY SAVED (4): A CHANGE IN PILOTS

(Luke 9:23-27)

Intro Truly saved. That is the theme of this passage. It asks and answers 3
great questions Who is Jesus? (18-20); What Did He Do? (21-22); and
What Must I Do? There is no salvation if we deny the deity of Christ. Thats
the cost to God the Father He gave His Son. There is no salvation if Jesus
did not die for our sins thats the cost to Him. Now, what about the cost to
me? What Must I Do? Warning! Its not easy. You say, I thought we do
nothing! We come to Christ by faith. Believe in Him. And thats right, but to
believe in Him is to disbelieve in self, and that is so tough most people wont.

I. What Must I Do?
Lu 9:23, And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Jesus lists 3 things deny
self, take up ones cross and follow Him. Well look at the first today.

A. Deny Self
Deny himself is in the Gr aorist tense. That means its a once-for-all action.
Truly saved people have renounced self in favor of Jesus. They have said,
So long, Self. I choose J esus and meant it! We still slip into selfishness.
But at some point we gave our heart unreservedly to Him. Many of us think
we did, but when we walked that aisle or prayed that prayer, we were actually
holding something back. We thought we could just make whatever move we
thought would save us and then go on with life as usual. We wanted Jesus, but
we wanted something else worse, so we gave Him everything except that little
idol hiding in the corner. We have been trying to have Jesus and that. Our
self-denial was really self-deception -- but God was not deceived!

Mortimer Adler was a philosopher who believed in God, but refused to come
to Christ. He feared the cost. I was on the edge of becoming a Xn several
times, but didnt do it. . . . I f one converts by a clear conscious act of will,
one had better be prepared to live a truly Christian life. So you ask yourself,
are you prepared to give up all your vices and the weaknesses of the flesh?
He understood self-denial, but refused at that point. Ken Myers interviewed
Adler at age 79 in 1980: "I asked him why he had never embraced the Xn
faith himself. He explained that . . . there were moral not intellectual
obstacles."

Adler understood the cost of following Jesus, and he did not want
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to pay the price. Happily, at age 83, he accepted Jesus as and discovered the
truth of v. 24, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

But what does it mean to deny self? Lets consider 5 areas we hold back this
morning. They are not comprehensive; your hold back may be in some other
area. But lets ask, Am I truly saved? Or have I held back, consciously or
unconsciously in one of these areas or some other area?

1. Prestige (reputation)

Reputation keeps many from Christ. Their status, personal or social, might be
affected if it became known they were followers of Jesus. They desire the
benefits of a relationship with Jesus. But only if they can keep it quiet. They
would be on the outs should anyone think they had gotten serious about
Christ. But Jesus warned against such secret agent believers in Matt 10:33,
but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is
in heaven. You cant be saved and secret! You must be all in or it aint real!

Sound harsh? Would we think it harsh at all for a girl to say, I f you deny me
before your friends, I will deny you the privilege of marrying me. Shes just
saying, I must be most important of all, or I am not important at all! Shes
just wisely sorting out, Do you love Me? Do you merely want Me?

So are we holding back because we fear how wed tell the ladies at the
bridge club or the kids at school or the guys at the office or the golf club? Are
we worried that we wont be cool, will lose our in status, will be thought a
religious fanatic? Then we value prestige over Christ and dont deserve Him!
Were like the woman sitting in a life raft dressed to the nines, sparkling with
jewels. In the background a plane is about to sink. She and her huz have
survived a crash. But what she treasures is unveiled when she asks, Alfie, are
we still in first class? Shes fixated on status more than survival.

You can go to the Circus Maximus in Rome and you will find an amazing
carving. It's a carving of the figure with the body of a man in the head of a
jackass. The figure includes a man bowing down to this figure on the cross.
Underneath are the words, "Alexei Menos Alexei Menos worships his god.
Who would worship the crucified jackass? That was the world's view. That
was a tough sell. Following Christ will lead to some people to mock. So what?

What if Noah had been concerned with reputation? Where would we be? Wed
be nowhere. Nobody would be anywhere. God says, Noah, do you believe in
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me? I believe in you, Lord. You confess Me as your Lord? Yes, sir.
Youre truly saved, Noah? Thats right. Thanks to your grace, I am truly
saved. Means youll do anything I ask, right? Thats right, Lord. Im
yours. Good, I want you to build an ark. Imagine the rest of that
conversation. Whats an ark? Whats float? Whats water? How high? Two
of every animal? Youre kidding, right? For the next 120 years Noahs
reputation took a huge hit. Laughingstock of the community. Its tough to
follow Christ. It is. Lets admit it. But fast forward another year when Noah
and his family are the only ones left on a renewed earth. Friends, its not
important who gets the first laugh; its important who gets the last laugh.
Truly saved people have traded reputation now for reward later. Denying self!

2. Plans

Some people want Jesus, but they dont want God mucking up their plans!
Their worst nightmare is if they accept Christ, He will send them to India or
Africa or some other unbearable place. Or make them a pastor. They want no
part of that. Their plans are more important to them than Christ and so, tho
they claim to follow Christ, they are not. Their plans are in the way.

When God called Abraham in Gen 12, he was upper class. God said, Abe, I
have great plans for you. But youve got to leave home. Abe says, To go
where? Ill tell you later? How would you like to hear that? For many,
that would be a stopper! But Gen 15:6 tells us, And he believed the LORD,
and he counted it to him as righteousness. Truly saved, by faith! But he had
to follow blindly until God got him to Canaan and made him one of the most
recognizable people in history. God doesnt always want us to know exactly
where we are going. He wants to know we love Him more than our plans!

When Jesus called Peter, he might have said, Great, J esus. Ive got some
plans for expanding my fishing company. Im sure you can use that in some
way. But Jesus said, I t has to be my plans, Peter. I nstead of fisherman,
youre going to be a fisher of men. How? Ill show you later. Follow
me. To be truly saved we must deny self, give our plans to Him.

3. Pleasure

Some of you are saying, I knew it. I knew it. Follow J esus? There goes all
my fun. And depending on what your fun is, Maybe!!! But Ill testify,
Christ is no killjoy. He brings joy -- the joy of living with right priorities. It is
worldly pleasures that keep people from Christ. They come in two flavors.
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Sinful pleasures. Many people find fun in drunkenness, carousing, partying,
licentiousness, sexual escapades, pornography, addictions, and other selfish,
irresponsible behavior. Perhaps some of us are like that. We cannot imagine
life without these. We know they are incompatible with Christ, but they are
not hurting anyone, and were not about to give them up. They make life
worth living. Theyre non-negotiable. Most people so inclined deny that they
are accountable to God or are betting on some last minute conversion.

There are also legit pleasures. Nothing wrong with them -- except wed never
give up for J esus. Theyve gone from refreshing interludes to insatiable,
controlling gods. Sporting events, recreational activities, hobbies, clubs,
social involvements, ambition, TV, video games, entertainment, acquisitions
all legit unless we are saying, as many do, those come first. When we put
these things above being with Gods people, getting involved in ministry,
obeying Gods plan for our lives, then we are not denying self, and we are
not truly saved however much we may think or hope so. A truly saved life
can have only one ruler, and it cant be pleasures, whether sinful or not.

Ill tell you one guy who got it right. Heb 11:23, By faith Moses, when he
was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that
the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the kings edict. (Moses
beauty was providence. Pharaohs daughter would never have rescued some
ugly, screeching, Hebrew baby. She took 1 look at cute, little ole roly poly
Moses and said, What a cutie. Im taking this one home. And she did.),
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By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused (, same word
translated deny in Lu 9:23. Moses denied self in refusing) to be called the
son of Pharaohs daughter,
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choosing rather to be mistreated with the people
of God than to enjoy the fleeting (, face-to-face with time, bound
by time, short-lived) pleasures of sin. (Now, here comes the real challenge)
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He considered the reproach (disgrace, insults, mocking) of Christ greater
wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

This is powerful. Moses could have rationalized. He could have thought,
Man, I can serve the Lord a lot better here in the palace with all these
evil people around with influence and prestige. Im much better here. But
he didnt. How did Moses refuse all that glory? First, he saw sin has pleasure.
He didnt deny reality. He wouldve had every sensual pleasure known to man
at the snap of his fingers. Anything keeping us from Christ, he had in spades.
Great castle, rich food, lots of wine, girls everywhere, education, recreation,
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position, TV (woops, not yet) but anything he wanted. And he didnt have to
lift a finger. Moses saw the pleasure of sin, big time.

But where most people see only now, Moses kept looking. Wise man. He saw
beyond! And when he looked further, heres what he saw. First, he saw the
pleasures were fleeting. Lasted only as long as you didnt get bored, weak,
sick or dead! Fleeting. Time-bound. Second and critical he compared.
Put mocked for God on 1 side of the scale. Put the treasures of Egypt wine,
women, song and power on the other side. And he saw mocked for Gods
sake (worst case on that side), weighed more than all the treasure of Egypt!
Wow! He didnt decide that based on human experience, right? Human
experience would have said, Go for whats in front of you! He made that
decision by faith. Because? Because he was looking to the reward. Theres
the secret. With eyes of faith he quit looking at now and started looking at
then. He quit being time-bound and became eternity-driven. He paid a
high price for 100 years! But think of him now! Any Egyptian pleasure
would have been long gone by now? But this morning, Moses has been
enjoying the treasure of heaven for more than 3400 years -- and counting.
Do you think he made the wise decision? To live for then?

4. Possessions

How about treasured things that keep people from Jesus? The rich young ruler
in Luke 18 claimed hed kept all Gods law from his youth. But Jesus says in
Lu 18:22, One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.
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But
when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
Jesus didnt argue. Just said, Youre perfect? Great. So give away everything
you own. Jesus loved him, but he, went away sad. Couldnt do it. Couldnt
keep the first commandment: You shall have no other gods before me. Jesus
wasnt being mean. He was just showing the man that he was violating Gods
character at the very first point. Even as he walked away he was violating the
first commandment. It broke Jesus heart. He had another god before the true
God. His god was money. He was at strike 3 before he ever got started.

In England when someone dies, probate results are published in the papers.
Stuart Briscoes dad was reading the paper one morning. He said, Well, Mrs.
Jones died. His wife replied, Oh, really. How much did she leave? Her
husband quickly answer, Everything. She left everything. And so will we
all. Job said, Naked I came from my mothers womb, and naked shall I
return (Job 1:21). Paul added, for we brought nothing into the world, and
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we cannot take anything out of the world (I Tim 6:7). The loop closes when
we die. Nothing will matter then except, Do you know Christ? The god of
things will gone! Are you sure you want to worship there? Youre going to
leave it all behind. What would that rich young ruler say if he could address
us this morning? Ill tell you: Sell it all and get J esus! You cant hang
onto all your things and with one hand and Jesus with the other. To deny self
is to give Him every idol, every possession every treasure. Over to Him what
He returns. Itll be enough.

5. Pride

The #1 thing that keeps us from Christ refusal to believe we need Him.
Pride. Thinking our good works will do. To deny self isnt just to jettison sin;
it is to jettison good as well! You say, Wait a minute, Dave. Are you telling
me Ive got to deny the good things in my life? Well, Im not, but God
certainly is. No one in heaven will be bragging about what they did to get
there. No one. No one there will be saying, Whew that was close. One
more bad thing an Id have been toast. Or, Good thing I gave to the
Building Fund. That put me over the top. Wont happen. God says in Eph
2:9, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Good works are great
after weve chosen Christ; useless before.

Pauls idol was his goodness. He was better than anyone he knew and better
than anyone you know. But he says in Phil 3:4, I myself have reason for
confidence in the flesh also (good works). If anyone else thinks he has reason
for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
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circumcised on the eighth day, of
the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the
law, a Pharisee;
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as to zeal, a persecutor of the church as to righteousness
under the law, blameless.
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But whatever gain I had (whatever I was putting in
the plus side on the ledger of life, and it was a lot), I counted as loss for the
sake of Christ (I had to move it all from plus to minus, from asset to debit).
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Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all
things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ
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and be
found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,
but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that
depends on faith. Do you get the picture, Beloved. Faith and works simply
dont mix. Works cancels out faith. It has to get on the debit side of the ledger.

Three guys are out fishing when an angel appears. The first guy recovers from
shock and says, Could you help with the back pain Ive had for years? The
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angel touches him and instant relief. The second guy has Coke-bottle glasses
and asks for help with his eyesight. The angel tosses the glasses into the lake
and instantly his vision clears. The angel now turns toward the 3
rd
guy who
throws his hands up in fear. Dont touch me. Im on disability. Beloved,
thats just like us when we want to plead our decrepit good works for
salvation. It cant happen. Our disability is not a virtue; it is crippling before
God. He demands perfection. But what God demands, God supplies. You can
have His righteousness, right now, but you must deny self to get Him.

Conc To deny self is to take your hands off the wheel. A student is flying a
plane. Hes doing his best, but minor navigation errors put him off course. He
labors to put it right, but he is totally lost. He is doomed to failure. What can
he do? He must give way to the pilot. He must take his hands off the wheel.
He must remove himself from all the bad he did. He must deny all of his bad
and all of his good and say to the instructor and say, Its all yours. Im in
your hands. And that is what it means to deny self and put yourself into the
hands of the greatest Savior the world has ever known. Jesus is saying, If
anyone would come after me, let him deny himself deny his good, deny his
bad deny everything at all about himself and trust only in Me. Lets pray.