Subject 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 16-2] The Faith of Self-denial (Matthew 16:21-27)
(Matthew 16:21-27)
“From
that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to
Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and
scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him
aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Far be it from You, Lord; this
shall not happen to You!’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind
Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the
things of God, but the things of men.’ Then Jesus said to His disciples,
‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up
his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose
it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what
profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own
soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of
Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He
will reward each according to his works.”
Based
on today’s Scripture passage, let us reflect together on the issue of
how the born-again righteous people must deny themselves. For some of
you, it’s now been a long time since you first received the remission of
sin; for others, it’s been a few years; and for some, it’s only
recently that you received the remission of sin. As we, the righteous,
follow the Lord after being remitted from all our sins and justified,
there are many times when we must deny ourselves in our everyday lives.
For those who were saved only recently, denying oneself is still
superficial, but for the saints who received the remission of sins a
considerable time ago, they increasingly realize how much they must deny
themselves in God’s Church.
The
Word says that one can never follow the Lord unless he denies himself.
This Word is indeed engraved in the hearts of the righteous and they
come to reflect on how they can deny themselves and follow the Lord.
Although there is so much for the righteous to deny themselves, it’s
also hard at the same time since self-denial is something that every
righteous person is grappling with. For the righteous who have received
the remission of sin, the Word of the Lord commanding them to deny
themselves is the Word of God that they must ruminate on most often.
Isn’t
it hard for you to deny yourself? Don’t you come across this problem
often? The Lord said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Jesus didn’t tell us to
just follow the Lord without any requirement, but He told us to first
deny ourselves. It’s extremely hard for us to deny ourselves. In
particular, we Christians must deny ourselves in everyday life because
the Lord demands this from us.
As
I follow the Lord, it’s such a struggle even for me to deny myself. My
brothers and sisters are also struggling a lot with this. Yet even so, I
still deny myself and follow the Lord, for I cannot follow Him unless I
deny myself. What the Lord said is not something that should end in
just words, as if it were some sort of schoolbook lesson or wise words
of admonition. Rather, it is the Word of God that we must actually apply
to our everyday lives. The Lord said this Word because we cannot follow
Him unless we actually deny ourselves. Even if one has received the
remission of sin, unless he denies himself he cannot follow the Lord.
Therefore, anyone who wants to follow the Lord must deny himself. When
the righteous deny themselves, they shouldn’t just deny only in good
times, but they must deny themselves equally in times of hardship as
well. To deny oneself even in extremely difficult times and to deny
oneself even when it’s hard to follow the Lord—this is the real
self-denial.
We
need to consider a few things when it comes to denying ourselves. First
of all, we must deny our weaknesses. The Lord of the righteous has
blotted out all their sins. He has absolutely eradicated all the sins of
the righteous and saved them all. However, even though the Lord has
saved the righteous we often find ourselves falling into the flesh and
disappointed at our inability to live according to the will of God. We
are too weak. In spite of the fact that the Lord has blotted out all our
sins, when we see ourselves unable to live virtuously, we get bound by
our weaknesses and end up losing the courage of the heart to follow the
Lord. As we find ourselves too weak and stumbling too often and as our
self-esteem is bruised, we realize that our shortcomings are not few,
but that we are completely insufficient. We then fall into weaknesses,
wondering, “How can someone like me follow the Lord? How can I ever
serve Him?” So even after receiving the remission of our sins, if we are
not careful it is still possible for us to feel as if we still remain
sinful. When you see just how weak you are, you may feel on your own
that the Lord has nothing to do with you. In other words, because you
and I see in our everyday lives just how utterly weak we are, we may
even doubt our salvation, questioning, “Have I really received the
remission of my sins?”
Some Righteous People Stumble over Their Thoughts So Often That They End up Feeling Guilty
Everyone
has certain points of weakness and yet despite this, some people
stumble over their thoughts too often so that they end up feeling
guilty. We all have certain vulnerabilities that make us surrender
ourselves unconditionally as soon as we face them. Those who are
vulnerable to money surrender to it at first encounter and those who are
vulnerable to the opposite sex stumble all over as soon as they meet an
attractive one—everyone has his own Achilles’ heel. That’s why whenever
we face it we all stumble. Since this happens often, every time we come
across our vulnerabilities, we fall into despair, wondering how we
could ever follow the Lord when we are so weak.
That’s
why we must deny our weaknesses, saying, “Even though I am weak, the
Lord has saved me. He has blotted out all my sins.” Only when we deny
our weaknesses can we follow the Lord trusting in Him. Even if we were
to commit many sins because of our weaknesses, is it possible for us to
have sin? No, that’s not possible since the Lord has blotted out all our
countless sins. He has saved us perfectly from our sins.
Salvation
is not something that’s been fulfilled by mankind, but it is something
that the Lord Himself has completed for us. Since the Lord Himself has
already fulfilled our salvation on His side, there is no reason why we
the righteous should be staring at just our own weaknesses. On the
contrary, the right thing for us to do is to deny ourselves and only
look toward the Lord, who has blotted out all our sins and saved us. If
we do not deny our weaknesses even as we believe in the gospel, then we
are bound to feel as if the Lord has drifted away from us. However, one
thing that we must all realize is that our Lord, who takes care of even
sparrows, would surely take care of us as well. Even a sparrow does not
fall to the ground unless allowed by the Lord. Wouldn’t He then take
care of us, His righteous people, who are in the likeness of His own
image? The Lord has not only blotted out our weaknesses, but He has also
blotted out all our sins and transgressions.
Our
salvation, attained through the remission of sins, was fulfilled by
Jesus through His baptism and blood and therefore has come entirely by
the grace of God. And it is when we believe in the baptism and blood of
Jesus that we reach our salvation of the remission of sin. All the
righteous people sitting here must grasp this clearly. Even though we
are now sitting here at peace, many of you will end up leaving the Lord
when too many of your weaknesses are exposed, unable to deny yourself.
That’s
why I am saying these things. Unless we deny ourselves, we cannot
follow the Lord until the end. As we the righteous carry on with our
lives of faith, whenever too many of our weaknesses are revealed and
whenever we discover too many of our insufficiencies, we must deny our
weaknesses and follow the Lord. Trust in Him and believe, “Even though I
am insufficient like this, the Lord has saved me out of His love.” Only
then can we avoid falling away from salvation until the end. That’s why
the Lord said, “No one can follow Me unless he denies himself.” This
applies to all those who want to follow the Lord, whether they are
pastors or laypeople, and whether they hold church offices or not. In
other words, all the born-again saints and even the entire human race
throughout the whole world must deny themselves if they want to follow
our Lord.
When
it comes to denying ourselves, we must also deny our own righteousness.
Jesus is telling us to deny our righteousness and to deny our
self-loving ego. Since we all have our own ego, we love ourselves, we
think we are right, and we are self-defensive, but this ego is something
that must be denied. We need to raise the level of our faith by another
notch. It’s not just a few times that you’ve been told to deny
yourself. The Church has spoken this everyday until your ears are sore.
Yet if you still can’t deny yourself and you find yourself struggling so
much that you are thinking about leaving the Church, then you must
recognize that the level of your faith still has not reached anywhere
beyond that of a baby that’s not even been weaned yet. We can follow the
Lord only if we deny ourselves and that’s why it’s so imperative for us
to deny ourselves at all costs.
Because
I myself am too weak, I sometimes even pray the following: “Lord, it
seems as though I can no longer follow You. I think I should give up my
life of faith. My heart is too tormented and suffering too much, Lord.”
But it’s because of myself that I struggle. If it were because of
something else rather than my own work, then I am bold as a lion, saying
to myself, “You want to take this on? Let’s give it a try.” When I have
done something well or I am right, I am confident of myself, but when I
fail at certain tasks and see my insufficient self, I think, “Oh, boy! I
should quit following the Lord. I just don’t think I can be of any
benefit to the Church.” It’s such a torturing struggle for me. In times
like this when I fail to deny myself, God says to me, “That’s just who
you are by nature. But even though you are so weak and insufficient, I
have saved you and it is I who is working through you. Do you think you
are doing My work by yourself? Did you blot out people’s sins? Is it you
who is leading the Church? No, I am leading the Church. Don’t be
deluded.”
The
Lord says, “If you want to come after Me, deny yourself, take up your
cross, and follow Me.” The Lord told us to deny ourselves and follow
Him. Even though I am insufficient, I admit my shortcomings to God
saying, “Lord, You are right. I am insufficient. I admit this before I
follow You.” I then assure myself and say, “Yet the Lord has saved me
perfectly. Because He has made me perfect, if I follow the Lord, then He
will carry out His work through me, even though I am insufficient.”
Our
saints also can follow the Lord only if they deny themselves. Realizing
this clearly, they must deny themselves as well. Do not say to
yourself, “I am so insufficient that I just can’t follow the Lord.”
Instead, deny your weaknesses and look toward the Lord saying, “Lord,
even though I am so insufficient, You have perfected me. All that I need
to do is just follow You. You have taken care of all my needs. Even
though I am insufficient, You have made me whole. Please hold me and
guide me. Please take care of everything.” Only then can you continue to
follow the Lord.
Once You Are Saved, Your Greatest Problem Is Being Bound by Yourself
When
we try to follow the Lord after being saved, the biggest obstacle is
none other than ourselves. The greatest problem is yourself and myself.
Do you agree that the biggest problem in your way to follow the Lord is
not anything else but yourself? To deny not only your own weaknesses and
insufficiencies but also your own righteousness, is to deny your
self-loving ego. For us to follow the Lord, first of all, we must not be
bound by our weaknesses. Rather, we must follow the Lord with the
following faith: “The Lord has raised me from the pit of my sins. He has
made me perfect. Even though I am insufficient, the Lord works through
me. It’s through me that He fulfills His will.” We must follow the Lord
trusting that He has accepted us. If the Lord has taken away all our
sins, then we are the ones who have been accepted by the Lord. No matter
how insufficient we are, if God has accepted us then we are His beloved
people who have been saved. Do you believe in this? Yet despite this,
don’t you still feel like giving up your life of faith often, all
because of your own weaknesses? Some people have given up their lives of
faith by themselves, unable to deny their weaknesses. It’s none other
than such people who end up leaving the church.
Do
you think that those who give up their lives of faith and leave the
church even after being saved do so because they feel they are too good
for the Church? No, that’s not the case. Ninety-nine percent of them
leave precisely because they feel they are too insufficient. In my
sermon yesterday on legalistic faith, I had told you that God already
knows all about our insufficiencies. It’s because the Lord knows our
insufficiencies that He said to us, “Deny yourself and follow Me,” lest
we leave Him over our own shortcomings. We all must understand this
clearly and live by faith.
The
Bible says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”
(Psalm 119:105). This passage must be our blood and flesh for us and
actually be applied to our everyday life. The Word is not just to be
memorized and understood, but it is to be experienced in our everyday
life. Only then can we come to truly realize what the Word means. Anyone
can memorize Bible passages. We have children in our Sunday school who
can easily memorize even the Word of the remission of sin. When the
Sunday school children recite, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me,” teachers
commend them for memorizing the passage and even reward them with a
small gift. In reality, however, it’s completely useless to just
memorize scriptural passages.
What
is more important than memorizing Bible passages is for you to know how
to deny yourself. You can follow the Lord only if you actually deny
yourself, not just limiting this only as knowledge. Do you realize this?
Do you deny yourself? Do our sisters deny themselves? All of us must
deny ourselves. It’s because you have denied yourself that you have been
able to follow the Lord to this day. I know very well that you could
have easily left the Lord, but every time you denied yourself and that
is why you were able to follow the Lord. Now, in the days to come we
must continue to deny ourselves and follow the Lord. Because we have
been saved we must follow the Lord no matter what, whether we die or
live. That’s why we must deny ourselves.
We Must Deny Our Carnal Thoughts, but This Entails Sacrifice
Leading
a life of faith is not so easy. It requires self-denial, something that
is very hard to practice. You have to grasp this properly. Do our
ministry workers understand this? We can follow the Lord only if we deny
ourselves. We can’t follow the Lord unless we deny ourselves. Do you
think that our ministry workers are somehow special just because of
their being gifted with talents? No, that’s not the case at all. For our
ministers and leaders in the church, they can follow the Lord only if
they deny themselves even more. No one can follow the Lord unless he
denies himself. That’s why the Lord said that anyone who wanted to
follow Him had to deny himself first.
There
is a song in Korea that goes, “Who said that love was beautiful?” Do
you also think along this line, wondering to yourself, “Who says that it
is beautiful to follow the Lord? What’s so wonderful about following
the Lord when this requires me to sacrifice and deny myself?” Far more
difficult than gaining the world and even overcoming the world, is to
fight against oneself and deny oneself and those who can achieve this
are truly great warriors. Self-denial is true beauty.
Self-denial
is absolutely indispensable to follow the Lord. While you don’t have to
deny yourself when it comes to other human affairs, self-denial is
absolutely necessary when it comes to following the Lord. As far as the
affairs of the world are concerned, you can fight to the end and
overcome your challenges if you have a diehard will, but following the
Lord is not something that you can achieve by your own strong will
alone. No matter how strong our determination is, it’s all useless. Only
when we deny ourselves are we able to follow the Lord.
Take
a look at Peter. Just how strong was his will? Peter had such a strong
will that when Jesus said, “I must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things
from the elders and chief priests, be killed, and be raised on the third
day,” he said to Jesus, “Far be it from You, Lord!” Although Peter
said, “Lord, I will follow You to my death. And please don’t do this,”
when the Lord was actually seized by the men sent by the elders and
chief priests, he fled from the scene. Peter even denied Jesus three
times that night. In reality, those who are strong-willed cannot follow
the Lord. It’s not the people with a strong will who follow the Lord,
but is those who know how to deny themselves. And these people are
actually the strongest.
It Is Not So Easy to Follow the Lord
Once
we realize how to deny ourselves, it’s so easy to follow the Lord.
However, for those who do not know how to deny themselves, it’s a living
hell to follow the Lord. You must all grasp this. When a sinner is
saved from his sins, he must first learn to deny himself as soon as
possible. Only then can he lead a happy life of faith, walk on the
pasture holding the Lord’s hand, and carry out His work together with
Him.
For
some of you, it wasn’t that long ago when you were first saved. But you
are not exempted from denying yourself. Everyone must deny himself.
Isn’t it true that we have so much of our own thoughts, our own
righteousness, and our own weaknesses arising in us? All these things
must be denied. We must hold onto the Lord and follow Him, saying, “If
this is the will of the Lord, then even though I think differently, I am
wrong and the Lord is right. My weaknesses are nothing. Even though I
am weak, the Lord has saved me. I believe in You, Lord!” To achieve
this, you must know how to deny yourself.
The Righteous Must Always Deny the Righteousness of Their Flesh
The
righteous must deny their righteousness. While leading our lives of
faith in the church, serving this gospel, serving the Lord, serving our
brothers and sisters, and serving other souls, we have seen many
born-again people leaving the Lord because of their own righteousness.
They say to us, “What I am thinking and saying is right so why don’t you
accept what I’m saying? Why do you work like this? How can you do
this?” But this is nothing more than their own righteousness. So they
end up leaving the church saying, “That is not my way of doing things; I
just can’t understand why they are doing this. How come the so-called
leaders are so pathetic? I can’t work with such people.” One’s own
righteousness must all be denied. The righteous who have too much of
their own righteousness must deny themselves.
How
right could we be even if we were right and how much merit could we
have if we had any merit at all? Could we ourselves be more right than
God who has saved us out of His love by bearing and blotting out all the
sins of the people of this world? No matter how right we may be, there
is nothing more right than the fact that God has saved mankind from sin.
Quarrelling over who is better among fellow human beings is like the
pot calling the kettle black. At most, one may be slightly better than
someone else in a certain area, but even this is nothing when compared
to God.
Yet
despite this, some righteous people mistakenly think that they are
better than their fellow brothers and sisters of faith even while
carrying their lives of faith together. They sometimes can’t tolerate
others saying, “I am just not compatible with them.” It’s because they
are too self-righteous, taking on a holier-than-thou attitude that they
can’t tolerate others. Since they are too self-righteous, they end up
tormenting others, and since they cannot tolerate others, they
themselves are also tormented—how shameful and wrong is this before God?
Self-righteousness must also be denied.
Some Righteous People Have Too Much Righteousness of Their Own Flesh That They End Up Leaving the Lord
Some
people leave the church thinking that they are better than everyone
else, saying, “I can’t be with such people. I’d rather be alone. Since
I’ve already received the remission of all my sins, I will just lead my
life of faith all by myself.” To repeat, there is nothing more foolish
than quarreling among ourselves over who is better than whom when we are
all righteous. Of course, if we had to compare ourselves against each
other, it’s true that some of us are better or worse at certain things,
but that is plausible only when the comparison is based on human
standard or a relative concept and not the absolute standard. Besides,
no matter how meritorious we may be, can we really be more right than
the Lord? No, of course not; the Lord is the most right. The fact that
the Lord shouldered all the sins of everyone in this world, was punished
for everyone, and has saved everyone from all sins—that alone is the
most righteous. Therefore, it’s foolish for you to be conceited and look
down on others over anything else.
That
is why the righteous must cast aside their righteousness and serve the
gospel. That is the right thing to do. It’s only proper for the
righteous to deny themselves and work together to serve the Lord. What
is truly right for you to do is to deny yourself, deny your own
righteousness, and follow the Lord instead.
Can Any of Your Carnal Thoughts Ever Be Right?
Do
you have any righteousness? When you look at yourself based on a human
standard, there is so much that’s right. However, for the righteous,
whatever they do or whether they eat or drink, they must do all for the
glory of God. That’s why each righteous person, no matter how much
righteousness he may have, must know how to boldly cast it aside when
it’s not beneficial to the gospel and refrain from any action that’s not
beneficial to the gospel.
We,
the righteous, must deny our own righteousness. Even the righteous make
mistakes and everyone has certain weaknesses. Yet in spite of this,
some people still say “I am different from everyone else. I can serve
the Lord better than anyone else.” But even if we were to serve the Lord
more properly, could we really serve Him to complete perfection? No,
that’s not humanly possible. We must realize that we also make the same
mistakes that have been made by our fellow righteous people and judged
by us. The wise are those who realize that another person’s mistakes are
their mistakes. In short, those who deny themselves are the wise.
By
any chance, is there anyone among you who is so conceited that he is
thinking about going on his own separate way from the Church, saying to
himself, “Since I love the Lord far more than these people, I will
separate myself from the church and serve Him by myself”? I have never
had such thoughts, not even once. Because I know very well that I am
insufficient by nature and because I admit this, it’s rather
preposterous for me to be conceited. However, when I look at our
workers, there are quite a few righteous people who are too conceited,
as if they were serving the gospel by themselves. Do the self-conceited
workers then truly serve the gospel? No, they don’t even serve the
gospel. Even though they may seem to serve the gospel in God’s church,
they actually trust in their own righteousness and don’t really care
about the gospel.
The
righteous must cast aside their righteousness. They must also deny
themselves. And they must be united with the gospel. To serve the gospel
faithfully, we must be united together. Rather than preaching the
gospel all by oneself, we must pool our strength together. That’s why
it’s so imperative for us to deny ourselves and front our own
righteousness. You, too, have your own righteousness, right? Don’t you
also want to go on your separate way to establish your own righteousness
sometimes? I’m sure that you all have such a desire from time to time.
But you must deny this. You must deny yourself. We must deny ourselves
if this is beneficial to the spreading of the gospel. If it’s for the
spreading of the gospel, what is there that we can’t do? If it’s
beneficial to the gospel, then we must be wiling to give up anything
from our own wishes to our own thoughts. If you really are a righteous
person, then whatever you do you must first think about what would be
beneficial to the spreading of the gospel and take the course of action
that would serve the gospel. If we have indeed become the saved saints
and God’s servants, then we must all think about what it is that we
should do to benefit the gospel more.
Regardless
of any circumstances, the righteous must deny themselves and their own
righteousness. When it comes to the church serving the gospel, whether
or not this fits your personality or particular quarks is completely
irrelevant. We must deny ourselves. And it’s because we have denied
ourselves to this day that we are now standing here at this place. If
you had not denied yourself, then you would all have left the church
long ago and there would be no one left here. However, because you have
denied your thoughts until now, you are here with me in this place. Only
if you continue to deny your thoughts in the days to come will you find
yourself still sitting here. If you had not denied yourselves, you
could not be seated here now. It’s because all the righteous who are
sitting here in the church have denied themselves that they can
faithfully carry out their tasks from each of their assigned places.
Just as the Lord said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny
himself,” anyone who wants to follow the Lord must deny himself first
and then follow Him.
We Must Deny Our Love of the Self
Everyone
loves himself the most. Above everything else in this entire world one
loves himself the most. So when we come across hardships while we are
following the Lord, we sometimes are tempted to think about only
ensuring our own welfare. This concern over only our own well-being
arises in us from time to time, leading us to think, “I should first
save my own neck.” This, too, must be denied since we cannot follow the
Lord if we love ourselves too much and take care of only our own
bodies.
Those
who have done very little to serve the Lord even think about giving up
their lives of faith to spare themselves, thinking, “I was told how
great it would be if I were saved, but now that I’ve done a little
calculation, I see that this is not true.” Of course, they, too, love
the Lord and cherish the gospel, but the problem is that they love
themselves even more. Since they think that they themselves would be
ruined if they were to serve and follow this gospel, they are tempted to
give up their lives of faith in order to ensure their own welfare.
The
greatest enemy that obstructs the righteous from following God is their
love for self. This applies to everyone equally. That’s why the Lord
demanded us to hate ourselves, saying that we can follow Him only if we
deny even our self-love. Those who have not been born again, on the
other hand, say that we should love ourselves, right? Of course, it’s
true that we should love ourselves. But if we really want to love
ourselves, then we should deny our flesh so that our souls would go to
Heaven. The problem for many people, however, is that they love their
flesh more than their souls, and so they don’t hesitate to forsake their
own spirits for their flesh.
Once
we are born again, we do need to hate our flesh when it comes to
something that’s related with the Lord’s work. In other words, when we
want to follow God, we ourselves must deny our self-love. Only when we
deny the love that we have for ourselves can we follow the Lord. Because
our carnal thoughts are constantly changing, unless we deny these
thoughts of the flesh, we cannot follow the Lord. After all, how could
we ever follow the Lord without even denying ourselves?
In
return for saving us, the Lord has demanded from us something that’s
tremendously difficult, for nothing could be harder than self-denial.
Given how the righteous must deny their thoughts, deny what they like,
and even deny their love for the self, we can see just how hard it is to
live as righteous people. The Lord has remitted away our sins and
promised to send us to Heaven in the future. Before we are welcomed to
Heaven, while carrying on with our lives of faith on this earth, we
still have to deny ourselves and suffer many things. If I were to preach
the gospel in the beginners’ class at this discipleship training camp
and also teach right away that one has to deny himself, then many of the
participants there would probably return home without even being saved.
That’s why the beginners’ class is taught separately from the advanced
class.
To
those who have come to meet the Lord for the first time, I try to stay
away from food that’s too hard or fatty and instead I lead them to
salvation by feeding them with bland food that they can digest. If they
knew from the very beginning just how hard it was to live for the Lord
once they were saved, who would want to be saved? You and I, on the
other hand, have already become righteous and received the remission of
our sins, so what can we do? Would you return your salvation? No, there
is now no other way for us but to follow the Lord.
When
we deny ourselves for the gospel, there is a reward for this making it
more than worthwhile to deny ourselves. When the righteous deny
themselves and follow the Lord, many worthwhile achievements are made.
In other words, countless souls that are more precious than everything
under the heavens are saved and grow in faith. The Kingdom of God is
expanded and we ourselves come to live by trusting in God. God Himself
takes care of and solves all our problems, helps us, blesses us, and
leads us all. So just how many amazing blessings has God given us then?
That’s why it’s all worthwhile for us to deny ourselves. If we would
just deny ourselves, God would surely bestow us with commensurate
rewards, therefore, it is more than worthwhile for us to deny
ourselves.
We
the righteous must be mindful of the following three requirements of
denial: we must deny our weaknesses, our own righteousness, and our own
love for the self. Once this is achieved, we will be more than able to
follow the Lord. If, however, you try to deny your self-love without
keeping God in your mind then you will have little success and you will
only follow the religious way of life that fits your tastes. We can deny
ourselves only if we are mindful of the work of the Lord. In fact, if
we were not mindful of the work of the Lord, then there wouldn’t be
anything that we have to deny either. It would be okay for us to just
live in our own way, saying, “Well, that’s just who I am, and so I’ll
just live in my own style.”
In
contrast, when we are mindful of the Lord’s work, we are compelled to
think, “I shouldn’t do this, otherwise the will of the Lord will not be
fulfilled. God will be disappointed in me if I do this.” In other words,
when we are mindful of the things of God and the work of the Lord, we
come to deny ourselves, telling ourselves, “I shouldn’t be like this.
Even though this is how I was born from the very beginning and who I am
by nature, when I think about the gospel, I shouldn’t be like this.”
It’s by thinking about the work of the Lord that we are able to deny
ourselves.
Our
Lord loves us all. We, too, love one another. However, to ensure that
the will of the Lord is fulfilled, sometimes we are unable to express
our love for each other and have to forsake our sympathy. That’s because
the will of the Lord is fulfilled only if we do this. If we were to let
our sympathy overtake us and end up tolerating what must clearly be
dealt strictly, then often this will obstruct the will of the Lord from
being fulfilled. Like this, because the will of our Lord must be
fulfilled, sometimes we must deny our sympathy as well.
In
other words, we must deny even our carnal love. This is very painful
for the righteous. After all, how can any righteous person not like
another righteous person? We have many unmarried brothers and sisters
here with us; let’s assume that a certain brother really likes one of
our sisters and is in love with her. Since this brother loves the
sister, he would want to do many things for her. However, if this is not
beneficial to the gospel, then he must even forsake his love. That is
denying oneself. None other than this is denying one’s love when it does
not accord with the will of the Lord.
The
Lord spoke about actual occurrences that arose in everyday life. If the
Word of God were not providing actual guidelines for our lives, but
only hypothetical notions then there would be nothing more to be learned
once we are saved. Just as denying ourselves is essential to reach our
salvation, denying ourselves is also necessary to lead our lives of
faith properly. A life of faith is all about following the Lord. Because
faith is all about following the Lord, we must forsake our love for
self and do whatever is necessary for one another in order to fulfill
the will of the Lord in the Church. We need not deny ourselves if our
individual work is concerned; but if the work of the Lord is concerned
then we must deny ourselves for His will. It’s not because you don’t
love yourself that you do so, but it’s to ensure the fulfillment of the
will of the Lord that you do this. Even as your heart is in pain and you
know this, it’s imperative that we realize this and understand it.
“Whoa,
that man is so heartless! How can he be so mean? He is so self-absorbed
and egotistical!” I know that this is how many of you think about the
other saints or the ministry workers in the church. There also are
certain troubling issues in your relationship with your fellow saints
that make you disappointed and angry at each other, unable to understand
one another. In times like this, you have to realize why God’s servants
did what they did to you.
I
am not different from anyone else as I serve the gospel; there are
times when I am mindful of God’s work and there are also times when I am
mindful of the work of man. My primary purpose in serving the Lord is
spreading the gospel. However, when our work is focused exclusively on
the spreading of the gospel, some individuals get very tired and weary. I
know very well that as we continue to push our work in this way, some
people would inevitably suffer in pain. But I believe that they, too,
will be rejoiced in the end to see the work of the Lord fulfilled, for
He dwells in their hearts as well. If it pleases the Lord, the Holy
Spirit inside them is rejoiced even if they themselves are in pain.
For
example, there are times when the Church makes pledge-offerings for
world mission. Whom does the church then ask for pledge-offerings? It’s
none other than the saints whom the church asks to pledge their
contribution. So when the plan of the pledge offering is announced, some
saints don’t like this since they have to offer to God what they had
stashed away for themselves. To make pledge-offerings, we have to give
up our prior plan to spend the money on something else. What hurts right
away then? It’s our flesh that’s in pain.
If You Are More Mindful of Man Than God, You Can Never Serve Him
Because
Peter loved Jesus too humanly, he came very close to making a
disastrous blunder. Jesus is a spiriting being. It would be a great
mistake to think of what He does only as a human affair. Like this, when
we consider the work of God, we must think spiritually rather than in
carnal terms. Whatever we do, we have to do everything for the work of
God. This requirement is underscored by the passage that says, “All
things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful” (1 Corinthians
10:23). This means that even though everything is allowed for us,
sometimes we have to deny our self-love for the sake of the gospel.
How,
then, can we seek the interest of the gospel? I believe with all my
heart that if you all care for the gospel, then God will use each and
every one of you as His precious instrument and bless you all. Yet
despite this, many righteous people do not have this faith in their
hearts and cannot deny themselves and that’s precisely why they are
suffering.
It’s
because we love ourselves that we are unable to serve the Lord and
follow Him. It’s because we love ourselves that we stumble so often. If,
however, we really offer our entire lives to God, asking Him, “Lord, I
want to live for You all my life. I want You to be responsible for my
everything,” then the Lord cannot help but be responsible for our lives.
Once we follow only the will of God entirely, saying to Him, “Lord, I
want You to take care of my family and everything else,” then from that
point on our work turns into God’s work.
You’ve
probably seen some people who lunge themselves completely to the work
of God, right? Such brothers and sisters, and such servants of God, are
the most fearless people. That’s because the Lord then has to be
responsible for them. On His part, He just can’t refuse to help them.
When the Lord sees such people, He says, “Since they are following Me
and trusting in Me, if they are ruined then I will be accused of not
having helped them. I feel responsible for them. I must help them.” My
fellow believers, I admonish you to let the Lord be responsible for you.
It’s wise for you to make Him feel responsible for your life.
The Righteous Must Deny Their Carnal Thoughts First before Desiring to Receive God’s Precious Blessings in Their Lives
Once
the righteous free themselves from their hearts’ desire to love
themselves, and instead look toward God and learn to deny themselves by
faith, from then on it’s quite easy for them to lead their lives of
faith. They can walk with the Lord and live with Him anywhere, in good
times and bad times, in blessings and hardships alike. We can all live
like this if only we would deny ourselves. That is why it’s such a
precious blessing to be able to deny ourselves. At the same it’s why
it’s so hard to do this because when we deny ourselves God’s precious
blessings are bestowed on us. It’s priceless precisely because it’s so
hard to achieve.
Nevertheless,
those who have received the remission of their sins and desire to
follow the Lord must all deny themselves. Only someone who denies
himself can follow the Lord. Anyone who does not deny himself will see
his life of faith over. Do you grasp this? If you want to end your life
of faith, then by all means don’t deny yourself.
If
our hearts indeed have the desire to follow the Lord, then the Holy
Spirit dwelling in our hearts will lead us to such desires even more. My
fellow believers, listen and obey the voice of the Holy Spirit. And
deny your heart’s desire to love yourself. Deny your weaknesses and your
own righteousness. Deny your love for self. The Lord will then lead
you. If we follow the Lord, He will surely solve all our problems and
take care of them.
If
we are together in the same boat with the Lord, then He will solve all
our problems, for our problems will become the Lord’s problems, and His
problems will become our problems. We will come to live in a blessed
place with the Lord, serve Him in His arms happily forever, be blessed
by Him, receive glory from Him, and attain precious blessings from Him,
not suffering. In other words, our lives will be made precious by God.
It’s not through our own strength that we find prosperity, but our
prosperity comes from God’s blessings. Even though sometimes we face
hardships because of the grace of God, it is because of His love that we
have put on this love and it is because of God that all our lives are
completed.
We
must deny ourselves. Do you, our sisters, understand this? Since you
all understand this so well, there is nothing more that I need to teach.
Yet because you are prone to forget your lessons in little time, I
still have to teach you again and again.
In
this year, let us all love ourselves a little less and deny our ego and
our own righteousness a bit more. Also in this year, let us deny our
weaknesses as well and believe that God has saved us despite our
weaknesses. Let us bring joy to the Lord’s heart embraced in His arms.
It is my sincerest hope and prayer that we would all indeed please the
Lord by denying ourselves. There is one reason why I have been able to
follow the Lord in my life so far, last year and this year alike, and it
is all because I have denied myself. It’s because of this single factor
that I have been able to follow the Lord. And my self-denial did not
come about through my own effort, but I could not help but deny myself
for the work of God. Because the work of God is so precious, He loves
people’s souls so much, has given them such amazing salvation, and
because He has made them so happy, I could not help but deny myself
since this work was so precious. I had no choice but to deny myself, and
so I denied myself half by my own volition and half by force; that is
how I have barely managed to live out my faith until now. God has helped
me to reach where I am now. And I want the Lord to continue to help me
in the days to come also.
Jesus
said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself.” What
did He say next? He said, “Take up his cross, and follow Me.” That’s
right. We each must take up our own cross—not just anyone else’s cross,
but each of our cross. Following the Lord even in your trials is to take
up your cross. How wonderful would it be if only good things were to
happen to us once we were saved? How wonderful would it be if nothing
bad ever happened to us but only good things or if we only had easy
tasks to do with the Lord taking away all other difficult tasks?
Wouldn’t it be great if we had no problem whatsoever?
Yet
we have both our problems and our hardships. Because the Word of the
Lord is the Truth, it is fulfilled exactly as it is. The Lord said to
us, “I will remember your sins no more; I will blot them out as white as
snow,” and He has indeed eradicated all our sins according to this
promise. So we have become sinless by believing in the Word with our
hearts, and since the Lord has commanded us to take up our cross and
follow Him, we must each have a cross and bear it. The Lord’s Word is
fulfilled exactly as it is, for it is the Truth. He has permitted all of
us who are following Him to face individual problems. All of us must
therefore take up each of our own cross.
I
believe without any doubt that our Lord has saved me for sure. So it’s
only a matter of fact for me to follow the Lord. But because I am still
facing difficult problems for both myself and my family, these things
can sometimes make me struggle. If I were to just follow the Lord
without any trials, then I would have dashed in full sprint. While
following the Lord, however, I have faced hardship not just for the sake
of the Lord, but also because of my own private problems and I detested
this so much. So I sometimes think to myself, “If it weren’t for this
problem, I would be serving the Lord so well!”
Why
then, do I face such problems? I wish I could ask the Lord why I must
endure such trials and why there must be so much hardship in my family,
at my work, and everything that’s related to me, when in fact I myself
yearn so much to serve Him and follow Him faithfully. Yet despite this,
the Lord says firmly, “Follow Me even in such trials.” This, my fellow
believers, is the Lord’s commandment.
When
the righteous follow the Lord not everything that happens is always
good. Even when we find ourselves in trials, it is the will of God for
us to still follow the Lord. If this is what God has set for us, then we
have no choice but to follow the Lord even in our trials. It’s
impossible to follow the Lord completely free from all of our
difficulties without any hardship. Trying to do so only means that we
don’t want to deny ourselves and would rather disobey the Word of the
Lord. Even though it’s hard, if it’s the will of God for us to take up
our cross and follow the Lord and if this is what the Lord has said to
us, then we must deny our thoughts. Although it would be nice if there
were no hardships for us, we must be determined to deny ourselves and
follow the Lord even amid our difficult trials. Following the Lord like
this is to live according to the will of God. Even when we are facing
hardships, we must still deny ourselves, deny our thoughts, and follow
the Lord. That is how we can live out our faith properly.
All
the born-again people are facing many difficulties. It’s not the case
that hardships are confined only to a few certain people. When looked at
individually, each and every one of us is facing one type of hardship
or another. We all have a cross for each to bear, do we not? Of course
we do. Do the unmarried people have no cross, just because they are
single now? No, everyone has a cross to bear.
If
there is anyone who doesn’t have a cross now, he too, will soon have
his own cross to bear. That’s because this is what the Word has said,
and therefore those without a cross will inevitably come to have it.
Even in such trials, however, we the righteous must never betray the
Lord, nor reject the gospel, far less drift away from the Church, but
follow the Lord always. If we really want to follow the Lord, we must
deny ourselves.
Some
of our fellow saints purchase expensive flowers and arrange them beside
the pulpit every week. If floral arrangements are created just because
someone likes this activity, then it’s a hobby for them. In contrast, if
floral arrangements are done to serve the Lord, even though they don’t
know how to do this well and have no interest in it at all, then it’s
not just a hobby, but it’s something that they are doing to serve the
Lord and follow Him. Whatever is done for the Lord even when it does not
fit one’s preference, none other than this is to follow the Lord.
I
got married after I met the Lord. In my private thoughts, I sometimes
feel that there are many things that I can’t do because I am a married
man, but I still feel very strongly that marriage is beneficial to the
spreading of the gospel. Since our sisters have many issues that they
find uncomfortable to discuss with me, they ask for my wife’s
fellowship. Whatever they can’t discuss with me, they are able to
discuss it with my wife. So I thought to myself, “Oh, so God has given
me my wife so that I would work together, rather than serving Him by
myself. I’m so glad that I got married.” As the Bible says that all
things work together for the good of those who love God, that is exactly
what has happened to me.
Following
the Lord even amid hardships is what it really means to follow the
Lord. If you are leading your life of faith in too much comfort only
according to your own desires, without any need to break your own
thoughts nor any need to deny yourself, then you should know that you
are not living out your faith properly now. The right thing for you to
do is to deny yourself, deny your self-love, deny your weaknesses, deny
your righteousness, and follow the Lord by faith, believing that it is
only proper for you to do so even in your difficult trials. We must
focus our energy on denying ourselves. So let us deny ourselves. Let us
keep training ourselves to deny ourselves even better. Exercise is
indispensable for us. Even self-denial must also be exercised regularly.
Starting from small things to big things, we have to train ourselves,
otherwise if we all of a sudden find it necessary to deny ourselves one
day, it will be very hard for us to do this.
If
you find it impossible to deny yourself, then remain quiet in the
church. You will then come to deny yourself. If you can’t submit
yourself to this Word on your own individual strength, then stay still
in the church. I feel somewhat sorry for saying this, but that is still
true. If you stay quiet in the church, saying, “Do whatever you want to
do to me,” then the Lord will speak to you, teach you, untie whatever
knots that are in your heart, give you the ability to deny yourself,
strengthen you, help you, and bless you. Our Lord will enable you to do
everything.
Above
all else, you must remember that the born-again must always deny
themselves. I admonish you to follow the Lord by faith, remembering that
self-denial is an indispensable part of your life of faith, and that it
is only by denying yourself that you can follow the Lord. The Lord will
then take care of everything else that remains. Even if we are unable,
the Lord is capable of doing everything. Are you happy, my fellow
believers? Are you happy even though you have so much to deny yourself?
It’s my sincerest hope and prayer that you are all indeed happy to
follow the Lord even in your trials. Let us then end our morning service
with the praise, “I Am Truly Happy.”
Let us always deny ourselves for the rest of our lives.
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