← ArchiveSunday, August 30, 2015DateAugust 30, 2015Speaker—TextJohn 15Passages in this sermonPsalms 515:13Isaiah 6:55:56Isaiah 65:56Luke 58:26Psalms 329:24John 814:52Luke 9:2316:15Romans 7:1818:29Romans 718:29Philippians 3:719:04Luke 5:3220:05Luke 18:1320:122 Corinthians 4:1724:25Matthew 526:04Matthew 726:51John 1527:16TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00thank you greg praise team band and choir thank you so much for leading us in glorious biblical worship amen amen thank you for the freedom in this place the freedom to worship him in spirit0:23and in truth you've brought your bibles turn with me to luke's gospel luke's gospel chapter 9 verse 23 it's going to be kind of our launch we have several verses that we're going to be covering today but luke's gospel chapter 9 verse 23 one verse multiple cross-references to set us up luke's gospel chapter 9 verse 23 if anyone wishes to come after me or to come to me let him deny himself0:51take up his cross daily and follow me father let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight today lord jesus father we ask that you do what you want to do do all you want to do in this place father do what you want to do in such a way that we confess our sins so that we can live holy and blameless and live that obedient committed life and father we thank you for your1:20glorious grace we thank you for your glorious mercy father we thank you that you reached down from the halls of heaven and gave us the gift of eternal life because of your glorious grace father you gave us what we did not deserve and that's that grace and mercy and thank you so much for that lord let us1:43never forget what you did at your at your cross taking the sins of the world the sins of every person in in this room you took it to the cross and what beautiful grace that is father do your work in this place we give you all the praise in all the glory in all the honor in jesus name we pray and the church2:10said amen while living under the god's beautiful grace and when we see our sin as god sees our sin we will come to the altar of the grace of god and in true spiritual confession that will lead us2:32to total commitment i've often wondered why our people and church people around the world are not as committed to the cause of christ and including looking in the mirror sometimes i i slack in that area in my total commitment so for you that think i might be preaching down to you i'm actually preaching to me as well because we all run into this area in our lives do we not where our commitment is lacking3:00in some areas and and when you see that christ went to the total cross he didn't halfway do it he didn't portionally do it he didn't do it a little bit he went boldly to the cross for our sins that wasn't a pretty sight it wasn't a pretty day for him but he gladly did that so that we can receive his mercy and his grace by taking the sins of the world when i started thinking about3:29this grace message series and looking at each letter of the word grace i came to the letter c today and i started thinking about well confession leads to a total commitment we can't be totally committed until we're totally confessed meaning we gotta be full in or not in at all somewhat sometimes we're halfway in either we're fully in or we're not in at all to be quite honest with you that's what the3:59word says in luke's gospel chapter 9 verse 23 if anyone wishes to come up come to me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me so as a matter of setting up our message today i want us to think back with me when i preached the worship cycle to you last fall when i started talking about the different areas of corporate worship and private worship i came to that realization that there was4:28one key point in that worship cycle oh yes adoring god for who he is and giving praise and thanksgiving is always loud and exciting and thanksgiving is a yeah he's expressing our love and our thanks for god for what he's done in our lives adoring god for who he is that's adoration and and then we get to that word confession confession confession happens when we see our sin like god sees our sin when we understand those4:52uh-oh moments when we come to the realization that we have sin in our lives that also helps us understand that's the reason why we're not as committed to the cause of christ in my own personal life that way i want us to go back to create in psalms 51 verse 10 and following listen what the word says creating me a clean heart oh god and renew a steadfast spirit within me restore the joy of thy salvation5:19and sustain me to with a willing spirit then i will teach transgressors thy ways and sinners will be converted to thee oh lord open my lips that my mouth may declare thy praises church listen to me restore the joy create in me confess your sin create in me a clean heart oh god renew rejuvenate replenish the joy of thy salvation restore the joy of thy salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit5:48it also took me back over to isaiah chapter 6 that beautiful passage in isaiah chapter 6 verses 5 and 7 when the prophet isaiah said i've seen the lord high and lofty i've seen him high and lofty and then he says holy holy holy the lord of hosts and the whole earth is full of his glory then he comes to verse 5 he says these words woe is me for i am a man of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen6:13the king the lord of hosts for mine eyes have seen him the lord of hosts then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal with his hand which he'd taken from the altar with tongs and he touched my mouth with it and said behold this has touched your lips and your iniquity is taken away and your say it with me sin is forgiven church let me tell you something before god ever spoke to isaiah he6:37confessed that sin that takes me over to luke's gospel chapter 5 the first 11 verses where he's calling out the disciples and where luke luke's gospel says where simon peter the fisherman you know simon barjona the guy that had constantly foot and mouth disease simon barjona he says let out into the deep water simon and let down your nets for a catch and you remember what he said he said lord we fished7:04all night long and have caught nothing but at your bidding or at your word i will let down the nets and when they had done this the bible says in verse 8 and when they'd done this they enclosed a great quantity of fish now i don't know anything about fishing i know that some of you enjoy it immensely you love to go fishing i think that that's why public's was invented because if you want good fish go to public's then7:30you don't have to clean it and scrape it out of somebody oh it's the thrill of the kill it's the catch it's what i enjoy doing sitting out there in 100 degree weather in that boat eating a bologna and cheese sandwich when you can actually go into an air-conditioned facility and buy fish what intelligence do you have amen but some of you enjoy fishing you love that and simon the fisherman the professional fisherman he7:54said lord we fish all night long and have caught nothing but at your bidding i will let down the nets and the bible says they enclosed a great quantity of fish now brad i have no idea what the great quantity no one can tell us what that number means but it simply means there was more because the bible tells us that they filled their boats and their boats began to sink now follow me here8:17they began to see and he brought the boat to land and jesus and the bible tells us in verse 8 of luke chapter 5 when he brought his boat to land he fell down at jesus feet saying depart from me for i'm a sinful man o lord for amazement it sees him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken same idea as isaiah woe is me for i am a man when i see the lord high and lofty when we8:46we see the sin that god sees we will do nothing but confess our sin amen when we see our sin like god sees our sin we'll come to true confession confession does not create the relationship necessarily with god it simply nourishes that relationship if a believer if you're a true9:11believer a mission of one's sin alters not not your position before him but it it helps us enhance our peace with the god of grace each and every time psalms 32 verse 9 happy is is the person whose sin is forgiven whose wrongs are pardoned isaiah and luke and simon peter both have what i call that uh-oh moment some of us in this room need to have that uh-oh moment you know what the uh-oh moment is9:41it's when you've been caught with your hands in the cookie jar when you have been caught when you have been found out of your sins we need to have those uh-oh moments occasionally in our own spiritual journey so that we can be on track with our commitment to the lord jesus christ now folks let me tell you something an uh-oh moment is not always a bad thing in a person's life it's not a person a bad thing in my10:09life i shared with you and i'll share this illustration once again that uh-oh moment is when we have that time where you're driving your car and you know the speed limit and you happen your foot gets a little heavier and your engine goes a little bit faster and so therefore your car goes a little bit quicker down the highway and then all of a sudden you realize that you're over that speed limit or maybe you're10:35just out there or maybe you're on your bluetooth and you're talking and you you can't remember that your speed limit sign was this number and you're well over that number and you're driving along and then that guy in that car with those lights comes flying up behind you you know that uh-oh moment uh-oh that sinking feeling when you have been caught in the act of speeding i'll tell you a story about me11:01going to tuscaloosa to preach one day i was on my way to preach and i had a preaching assignment there in tuscaloosa and i was on my way down interstate uh 20 and i was moving along pretty quickly because as some as i do sometimes i left a little bit later than i should i'd forgotten that it takes a certain amount of time to get there and so i was running a little bit close on time and brad i i was moving along fairly quickly and there's a spot in that interstate where it widens where there's a large11:30tree stand uh in the middle of the interstate median there it's right there at advance where the mercedes-benz plant is and i was booking it along and i'm not going to confess completely all my sin to you today i was well over the speed limit and i was moving along fairly quickly that day and i i was driving along and all of a sudden i saw him over there taking that coffee and donut break sitting in the median in that tree stand and i said well maybe just maybe his radar detecting device was12:01not on maybe it didn't beep him and uh he sent his coffee down and come after me but oh no no no it did and oh yes yes that uh-oh moment happened as he pulled out you could see the dirt and the smoke barreling out from behind his car he was not happy that i messed up his brake that day and as he flies i kept moving on maybe just maybe i just continued in my sin so to speak12:29about that time the same type of automobile that i was driving at the time goes flying by me our colors were similar his was black mine was navy blue and he goes flying by me about that time that state trooper goes flying by me i said wow that's called grace right there amen12:53god sent that gentleman at a high speed or much higher speed than myself and the state trooper must not have caught mine but he caught his i just went right on by him and thanked the lord that i didn't give that 200 away that day amen that was that uh-oh moment that's exactly what isaiah is saying when i say13:16woe is me when simon peter knew who jesus was he had already been with him in capernaum he knew exactly who he was he had already seen the miracles from jesus and he already knew who he was and so he says okay god i i'm the professional fisherman i paraphrase i am the professional13:40fisherman but nevertheless at your word i love what one translation says at your bidding i will let down the nets and they enclosed a great quantity of fish and their nets began to break he even calls his partners james and john's the sons of zebedee who were partners with him in the zebedee fishing company he said get your boats out here these fish are about to get away and when they brought their boats to14:07land he fell down in confession now the beauty part of that was he confessed and god sent him on mission he fell down and said depart from me for i'm a sinful man and then when jesus reached down and he grabbed him up and he said simon bar jonah from henceforth in verse 11 from henceforth from now on out you will be catching literal greek translation men alive you see the confession had to happen before14:33the commitment took place so confession happens when we see our sin like god sees our sin our beginning of this series that when we looked at the word g although the letter g it's all grace is all begins with god in john chapter 8 we looked at the lady who had been caught in the adulterous affair five times she'd been caught she was dead to rights this was an open and shut case but the religious14:58community drug her into the council into the court in front of jesus and she said look what this woman has done and jesus doodling in the sand that day he looks down and said he who's without sin let him cast the first stone then he looks at her and pardons her says lady go and sin no more church let me tell you something she had an uh-oh moment because she was dead to rights wrong but god granted her grace and god15:25granted her mercy you see god's grace is when he stoops down he gives us a second opportunity god's grace introduces love into the heart of the law god's grace throws ropes and not rocks but folks let me tell you something when we come to that confessional moment there are always consequences to that confessional moment we will have to pay the penalty for our sins confession is the foundation upon which true15:52redemption takes place confession clears our blurred vision it corrects our life folks we need a course correction sometimes that's what grace is all about so he can give us that course correction this passage that we're studying today luke chapter 9 verse 23 it's a gem it's a diamond of truth for us to consider16:15today it's clear it's brilliant and it contains the heart of jesus invitation to any christ follower any person who is living in sin any person who has sin in any christ father that wants to recommit their life to him it is a gem what is most striking about this particular verse of scripture it's calling disciple making to demands of radical self-denial laying your cross aside laying yourself aside even to the point of16:44death while living a complete and obedient life to his commands sometimes we want to rationalize our lifestyle sometimes we want to say i i want to give my life to christ but i want to do it on my terms that is not what the scripture that is totally contrary to what scripture teaches us and folks i would be derelict in my duty not to speak truth to you in love today17:12when i lamented for weeks over this particular gathering for us in the word today i came to this particular passage of scripture that grace confession leads us to a great commitment i want to give you three truths today and we will be through number one a true commitment to the grace christ gives involves self-denial we got to give up ourselves you say well wait a minute does that mean17:41every one of us in this room are going to go into vocational ministry yes wait a minute i i i'm in business or wait a minute i work at the plant or wait a minute i'm in school no that is your ministry that is your mission field you're vocationally paid to do that yes but you are called to call people to the saving knowledge of jesus christ we are on mission it says in luke's gospel chapter 9 verse 23 if anyone18:10wishes to come to me let him deny himself a self-denial atmosphere a self-denial attitude look with me to luke's i mean romans chapter 7 notice with me in verse 18 romans chapter 7 verse 18 for i know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh for the wishing is present in me but the doing of good18:36is not church let me tell you something if we're going to truly be truly committed to the cause of christ we got to say lord it's not my will but your will be done lord it's not my way but your ways be done lord i surrender totally to your lordship notice what he says to the church at philippi turn with me really quickly philippians chapter 3 verse 7 and 8 voice is a beautiful passage listen to what he writes19:04to the church at philippi verse 7 but whatever thing where it gains to me those things i have counted lost for the sake of christ more than that i count all things to be lost in the view as a surpassing value of knowing christ jesus my lord for whom i have suffered the loss of things and count them but rubbish in order that i may gain christ church let me tell you something when we surrender to the lordship of19:32christ we got to deny ourselves completely self-denial taking up the cross is one thing but we must first come to that true commitment of his grace and deny our self a true christ follower is to disown one's natural and depraved sinful self we give up that repentance is the heart of the19:58gospel message church jesus came to call sinners to repentance in luke chapter 5 verse 32 preach the necessity of repentance in luke chapter 18 verses 13 and 14 and command his followers to do the very same thing in luke's gospel chapter 24 repentance comes when the spirit of god uses the word of god to awakening sinful people to their lost condition by convicting them of their sinful nature and their20:25sinful lives folks let me tell you something if anyone wishes jesus says to come after me you must first deny your self i was interviewed recently by a group of college students for a class that they're involved in in a baptist college out of state they called me on a conference call and they said what do you think the number one need in christian church today in north america i said oh that's an easy answer i can20:52answer it in 30 seconds here it is quit doing church and start being the church amen many of us in southern baptist life of the tribe that we all aspire to if you're here as a southern baptist we aspire because we've learned how to do church man we can plug and play can't we we know how to do this thing called church but some of us want to do it on our own merit sinners like you and i we are in no position21:22no position to set any conditions by which we come to christ we take him on his terms not ours true commitment to grace that christ involves involves self-denial second principle for you to consider today a true commitment to christ a true commitment to the grace christ freely gives involves being willing21:52to take up his capital h-i-s cross daily his cross sometime in contemporary jargon one's cross has become a representative of some kind of difficulty that you might be going through some kind of unpleasantry that you might be going through some kind of difficult circumstance you might be going through no matter how trivial it might be you say well that's my cross to bury22:20or some say well that's my boss he's my cross to bear oh it's my car it's not running properly oh it's my mother-in-law please don't say that some say you know it's my kids my wayward teenager there's that's the cross i've got a bear let me tell you something others view taking up the cross is some identifying some mystical situation some sense of the crucifixion out there that would not be what the notion of the first century church people would say they realize that22:48the cross meant death that meant a horrendous act in their own personal life so when we flippantly and i've been accused of this and i've done it by myself i'm confessing this we've lived and said well that's just my cross to bear no no no no no no we want to look at the cross is something beautiful let me tell you something the cross is not beautiful23:17the cross represents what jesus christ did for us and that wasn't pretty but he gladly gave his life for us that ought to make us all stand up and shout hallelujah what a savior but sometimes we want to flippantly just kind of go through living the life we want to live identifying with this cruel rugged cross that christ daily did for us23:47the most graphic term possible jesus was calling for us to be willing to endure the hatred and hostility of the world you don't have to go far outside this country to realize that most people don't like christians it's beginning to think they don't like us inside this country as well church it's time for us to take up the cross of christ daily it's time for us to say as what24:17paul writes to the church at corinth in second corinthians chapter 4 verse 17 momentary light affliction affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory but far beyond all comparison folks let me tell you something there is no crown without the cross eternal life is so precious that those who seek it willingly give up everything to obtain god's will24:45for our lives so the first principle says a true commitment to the grace christ gives involves self-denial when you unpack luke's gospel chapter 23 it says deny yourself secondly take up his cross he freely gives us that beautiful opportunity to take up his cross daily and thirdly and i finish25:09a true commitment demands total obedience to christ and his mission total obedience regardless of where we work regardless of whether we're still employed or retired regardless of where we're in school or not regardless of the stage of life we're in it means that we should be totally surrendered to the25:39lordship of jesus christ the present tent of the verb follow indicates that it's a continued pattern a continual pattern of obedience characterized by a true disciple of jesus christ in the sermon on the mount let me give a plug in two weeks we began that study in two weeks we began to unpack matthew 5 we're going to look at the beatitudes that beautiful passage of scripture when you go back to26:04the part in the first part of chapter 5 this is a plug shameless plug is it me i want to share with you that he's saying he the disciples sat down and he began to teach them now watch this church he was teaching the disciples but the mass crowd got in on it hallelujah and it was recorded so that we could understand how beautiful that word blessed means when the word blessed is appearing in this passage it says26:29happy is a man i don't mean now i don't make me shout hallelujah goodness gracious i'm about ready to preach it right now but when we look at that particular passage look what it goes on to say in matthew chapter 7 an extension of the sermon on the mount not everyone who says to me lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter26:57church let me tell you in speaking and speaking to the disciples in the upper room he started this process the night before he drugged them down the the stairs through the mount of i'll by the mount of all is by the valley of kidron and he breaks off that branch in john chapter 15 and he beautifully shares that beautiful discourse in john chapter 15 notice what he says to them john chapter 15 i want27:23you to look at this real quick before we go john chapter 15 notice what he says in verse 10 verse 10 he says if you keep my commandments you will abide in my love just as i have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love these things i have spoken to you by my joy may be in you that your joy may be made full church let me tell you what he goes on to say in verse 14 you are my friends if you do what i command you no longer do i call you slaves but i call you friends church let me tell you something27:52true commitment demands a total obedience to the cross to the christ of the cross to jesus christ and his total commitment dr charles stanley one of the great bible teachers of our day he made a statement at a conference and i wrote this in my bible and i want to share it with you today28:18he said this and i didn't realize that he was speaking to us today for this but he made this statement god can never use us greatly until he has broken us much you wonder why god may not be using you maybe he has not broken you completely you say well that's not fun28:41well when you look at luke's gospel chapter 23 deny yourself take up his cross follow me there's going to be some times there's going to be some times that we must confess peter said uh-oh i saw the miraculous draft of fishes i saw the power that you bestowed lord29:11and i confess to you today and i confess to you today so that i can see the miraculous take place peter a few years later stood and 3000 came to faith in christ29:34folks let me tell you something we've not seen what god could do with bethel baptist church until we come to a true total grace confession so that we can understand and experience a total great commitment let's pray30:03a total great commitment let's pray30:24youMore sermons on John →
