Death Before Life

Guest (Male): The only way to experience real life in Christ is what the old saints called surrender to the will of God. You’ve got to give up your personal pursuits so that the will of God can be expressed through your living. And let me tell you something, that until the fight is won by the Holy Spirit, you lose. See, this is one of those paradoxes. He who would love his life really needs to hate it. If you want to find life, you have to give it away. Learning to die on today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. You know, just as Christ died a physical death so that we might have life, we must follow Him by crucifying our flesh. We've been called to die to our own selfish ambitions and surrender to a selfless life of service in His name. Today, Pastor Paul kicks off his teaching series, Dying to Live, and I hope you'll stay tuned. But if your schedule won't allow that, be sure to visit our website, pastorpaul.net. That's where you can listen to recent messages on demand, including today's. That's pastorpaul.net. This Destined for Victory message is called Death Before Life, and it starts right now.
Paul Sheppard: John chapter 12, beginning with verse 24. Jesus is speaking and he says, "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am my servant also will be. My father will honor the one who serves me." My subject is dying to live. There's a lot of preaching about a lot of subjects these days in the church of Jesus Christ. Curiously, so much of it has to do with themes that make people feel great. But if you're going to be a preacher of the word, you have to preach the whole counsel. And what that means is you preach the things that do make us feel great. And there are many exceeding great and precious promises, lots of wonderful things. God is a good God and he does good things for his people. To be sure, there are a lot of things and a lot of themes in Scripture that make you thank God and bring a smile to your face. But also to be sure, there's some themes in the Scripture that make you say, "Mmm." And if you're going to be a preacher of the whole counsel of God, you can't just preach the happy passages. You can't just tell folk that they'll prosper and they'll be blessed and they'll be above and not beneath, and the head and not the tail and all of that. But you also have to preach the hard truths of Scripture. When I said yes to the Lord, I didn't want to be a preacher. I wanted to be a regular Christian. But when I said yes to the Lord about my calling, I knew then and had been well taught by my pastor and others that when you surrender to the calling, that means that you say what He tells you to say in His word. And you preach in season and out of season. You preach when the folk are saying, "Ooh, wasn't that good?" and you preach when they say, "Mmm." So this is one of those themes here in John 12, where Jesus talks about a kernel of wheat falling into the ground and dying as the necessary precursor to abundant manifestation of the nature of that kernel of wheat. He says a seed of wheat, if it stays above the ground and remains a seed, cannot produce its potential. It cannot realize its destiny. The only way it will realize its destiny is if it goes into the ground, he says, and dies. One manifestation has to die before the rest of it can come to life. Now, in this context in John 12, Jesus is talking first and foremost about himself because he is preparing to be betrayed into the hands of sinful men. He is preparing for that hour for which he came into the world. Jesus was born to die. He came into the world to die because the only way we could become children of God is if he gave his life a ransom for us. I hope you know you're not saved because you deserve to be. I hope you know you're not saved because you just have it like that. I hope you know you are saved only by the grace of God. That if you and I got what we deserved, we would be eternally condemned. There would be no hope of a relationship with God. When you poll Americans, most of them believe in heaven and most of them think they're going. But the reality is, without understanding the importance of the death of Jesus, all of us would be eternally lost. The Bible says we would be without hope. I mean, absolutely nothing to hold on to by way of hope. When we had no hope, Jesus died for us. And what he talks about here in this passage is his impending death. He's talking about the fact that I am the Son of God, but God's design is to have many sons. And the only way he can produce many sons out of this sinful humanity is for the Son of God to become a Son of Man and to die on behalf of the sons of men. So the Son of God became the Son of Man so that the Son of Man could give his life as a ransom and make us all sons of God. It's because of what Jesus did that you are saved. It's because of what Jesus did that you are forgiven. It's because of what Jesus did that you have eternal life. It's because of what Jesus did that you have abundant life. It's because of what Jesus did that you have exceeding great and precious promises that you can hold on to. It's because of what Jesus did that you can put your head to pillow every night and know that in the words of that prayer we used to pray as kids, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." The reason why I have a blessed assurance that if I die, I'm going into the presence of God is because of what Jesus did. I mean, what he did is so wonderful, we don't even have to wonder about it. The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, "And we know that if this earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have another building, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." How do you know that? I know it because of what Jesus did. I know it because his payment on the cross was sufficient. He covered the cost of my sin and I'm clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ because of what he did. Jesus is talking about that and we have that wonderful set of assurances from Scripture because he died. He's talking here about his impending death. He said a kernel of wheat has to go into the ground. It can stay a seed, it can stay a kernel forever and never produce anything. The only way it'll produce what it's intended to produce is if it goes into the ground and dies. Now, that's a wonderful truth all by itself. But then he goes on to say, look at verse 25, "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." Then he says, "Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am my servant also will be, and my Father will honor the one who serves me." What he goes on to say is, not only am I talking about myself, but since you are my followers, you're going to need to know this principle applies to you too, which is that in order for you to experience the life God has in mind for you, God has destined for you, in order for you to be the child of God that He wants you to be, there is a requirement that you die to the self-life. As long as I am in charge of my life, as long as I am the decision maker for my life, as long as I am living to please myself, to suit myself, Jesus says I will never experience the life He has for me. If I love my life, if I love being in charge, if I love calling the shots, He says I will never experience the life that God has for me. The only way to be the person you're destined to be in Christ is, He uses the word "hate your life." What does He mean by that? When you see Jesus speaking like that in those comparatives, He's speaking. Love your life meaning I love to be the one in charge. Hate my life means I despise the self-life because I'm so looking forward to life in Christ. That I come to not trust myself, I come to not trust the decisions I would make, I come to not trust my instincts, I come to not trust what I think. I hate that, and I've developed a love for the will of God. Now folks, this is old-fashioned preaching, but the only way to experience real life in Christ is what the old saints called surrender to the will of God. You got to give up your personal pursuits so that the will of God can be expressed through your living. And let me tell you something, that until the fight is won by the Holy Spirit, you lose. See, this is one of those paradoxes. He who would love his life really needs to hate it.
Guest (Male): Still ahead, the rest of today's Destined for Victory message with Pastor Paul Sheppard. Our mission at Destined for Victory is to serve you and all of our listeners by sharing timeless truth for a victorious life. And one of the reasons we're able to do it is because of your prayers and financial support. As we navigate the difficult summer months when giving typically declines, your generous gift to Destined for Victory will be so appreciated today. Call 855-339-5500 to make your gift over the phone, or give safely and securely at pastorpaul.net. Your donations do make a difference. The Bible teaches us a series of paradoxes. To be lifted up, we have to lower ourselves. We fight our enemies by praying for them and blessing them. Now let's listen to the second half of today's message, Death Before Life.
Paul Sheppard: When you are kingdom person, you don't live by worldly principles. The Bible teaches us kingdom principles that are paradoxes. The Bible says we get revenge on our enemies by treating them good. See what I mean? That's a paradox. Read it. Romans 12, down around verse 20, it says if you really, really want to get to your enemy, treat them good and you'll heap coals of fire on their head. And your flesh says, "No, no, that's not the way I want to get them." Your flesh says, "No, I have another plan. How about we do it my way, God? And you give me the power to put their lights out." See, that's the flesh. The flesh wants God to be a backup system. "Back me up. Here's what I want to do, Lord. Back me up." And He says, "No, I am Lord and Master. And so you've got to die to the self. I'm now rewriting the dictionary of your life. I'm rewriting your definitions. And one of my kingdom definitions is, you want to get revenge on your enemies, do good. Don't fight evil with evil, but overcome evil with good." So God says, "The way I overcome evil now is by doing good." And my flesh says, "I don't want to do good. I don't want to do it, God, that's not what I want to do." All right, thank you for sharing. Now do good. Have you learned yet you're not going to get God to change His word for you? That His word is forever settled in heaven? That it's a done deal, it's not open for negotiation? You can't peruse it and then do lunch with God and get Him to see your point of view. His word is settled in heaven. It's a done deal and everyone who would experience life must die to self. Now, I'm here to tell you that if you want to see God do wonderful things in your life and produce the fruit that He birthed you into the kingdom for you to produce, some of us have got to lose the fight. The flesh wants to be on the throne. The self-life, the me-life, the "I call my shots, I do it the way I feel like doing it, I set my own priorities" - that has to die. And so the key issue as you grow in Christ becomes how soon and how often will you renew the decision to give away so that God's will can be done in your life. Because I don't know if you realize it, but it's not like you can die once. "Well, I surrendered my life in 1985." Good, but since then you've had to renew over and over and over your decision to say, "not my will, but Thine be done." Now, if Jesus had to go to Gethsemane in the same time period that John 12 speaks of, in the moments leading up to His betrayal, Jesus had to go to Gethsemane where He said to His inner circle, He said to Peter, James, and John, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful unto death." He said, "Fellas, I feel like I'm about to die." Physically, He felt like the pressure of facing - see, Jesus wasn't just facing crucifixion. Now, that is bad enough to face. I mean, it was the most heinous way that they put to death a criminal. To crucify them. It was a slow, extremely painful, extremely agonizing death. So no one would look forward to that. And then in Jesus' case, all of the beatings that led up to that. So that alone would make you say, "Oh Lord, I don't want to face that." But then when you look at the fact that Jesus is also facing having the sins of all of mankind placed on him. The Bible says he became sin for us. Here's one who never knew sin. Here's one who is in the bosom of the Father, who is perfect in every way, who is light and in him is no darkness at all. And now he is facing a moment where he has all of the sins of mankind from Adam to the last person placed upon him. So the spiritual agony is something we can't even relate to. He wasn't just facing physical pain, he's facing the spiritual agony of suffering with the guilt that is really your guilt. The shame that is really your shame. And he's facing all of that and the Bible is clear when Jesus says to his disciples, "Fellas, I feel like I'm about to die." And it took the Father to strengthen him to get him even to the place where he could pray that thing through. And you hear him very honestly. I love that the Scripture gives us that because it lets us know we have a high priest who can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. When you go to God and say, "I don't want to do it," Jesus says, "I know what that feels like. I know what that feels like, and I showed you how to deal with it. You tell God how you feel. Lord, I don't want to." Here's what he said in the garden, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." Father, is there a Plan B? He's desperately searching for a way. He wants to be in the will of God. Now see, he's at a place where some of us have to check and make sure we're there, where we want to be in the will of God. And before I go on and make the point, let me just say, you want to examine yourself to see if you're really in the faith. Because there are a whole lot of folk these days who go to church who don't want to do the will of God. I didn't say it was you, but if the Holy Ghost said it was you, it's you. I just told the truth and whoever it applies to, take it. There are lots of folk who go to church, but they don't want to be in the will of God. They want God to sign off on their will. And you have to examine yourself to see if you're really in the faith. And one of the signs that you're in the faith is you have a desire to live in obedience to your Heavenly Father. You might have some hang-ups and some struggles and some things you have to wrestle through, but down in your heart, there is a desire to be an obedient child of God. And if you don't have that desire, I think you have every right to question the validity of your conversion experience. When a person doesn't want to do the will of God, just wants to go to heaven on a free ride, that's not what Jesus died for. He died for those who would repent. Repent means an about-face. "I've been living apart from God. My back's been to God. I've been doing my thing. Now I turn to God and say, 'You're holy, I'm not. I'm wrong. Lord, forgive me. Lord, save me.'" And so examine yourself to see if you be in the faith. But even if you're in the faith, you can relate to where Jesus is because you get to those defining moments, those crisis points in your life where your flesh says, "I don't - boy, I don't want to do that." And Jesus wanted to be in the will of God, but he's saying, "If it's possible for me to be in your will and to find a Plan B, let's go with the Plan B. If it's possible, let this cup of sorrow - spiritual, physical, emotional sorrow - let this cup pass from me." And then he didn't have to wait to get an answer. He said, "Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done." The reason why he prayed repeatedly was not because he was waiting for an answer. He knew in his spirit that this is the only way. It's the reason for which he came into the world. But he had to pray and wrestle until he wrestled it all the way through. At one point, you see him in the garden going back just to check on his friends while he's trying to wrestle this through and they all sleep. They're all asleep. There's some things you have to go through by yourself. I know you got covenant partners and prayer partners and all of that, but when it's all said and done, none of those folk can surrender for you. Do you know your friends can't surrender for you? You got to get on the altar for yourself. They can't even push you on the altar. They can encourage you to go, but you have to present yourself as a living sacrifice. Romans 12:1. Holy and acceptable unto God. That's your spiritual act of worship. Not how loud you sing. Your spiritual act of worship is surrender. And when an unsurrendered person comes before God singing loud, it doesn't translate into acceptable worship. Acceptable worship is, "I come to You, Lord, saying, 'Not my will, but Thine be done.'" And so the principle taught here in John 12 is an extremely important principle. It tells us that there is no life without there first being death. Death to what I want. Death to how I feel. Death to being on the throne of my own life. I have to die in order to live. I have to die in order to see the will of God come to pass in my life. Let's look at an example of somebody who, when he heard this, had real difficulty with this. In Mark chapter 10, you have the story of the rich young ruler. In Mark chapter 10, beginning at verse 17, "As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. 'Good teacher,' he asked, 'what must I do to inherit eternal life?'" Sometimes we try and negotiate with God. Let's be honest now, you try and negotiate with God. "I'll give you - all right, how about this, God?" No, you can't work a deal with God. I know some of us are movers and shakers and we're deal makers. You can't do that with God. He said sell everything you have and the man had to walk away sad.
Guest (Male): Well, the man you just heard about is the rich young ruler. His story comes your way tomorrow in our continuing message, Death Before Life. I hope you'll join us. Until then, remember, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.