Saint Or Sinner

May God bless your understanding while reading this tract!

 The Bible tells us to deny ourselves, read Luke 9:23, And he said to [them] all, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Now here isImage149.gif (7530 bytes) a Command of the one who was sent to save us!   What happens when a fireman in the process of saving us out of a burning fire, tells us to do something, like "stay low to the ground and follow me" If we spurn his instructions will he be able to save us? Or will we perish in the fire? If we are willing to follow the advice of mere men, how much more should we follow the advice of the Son of God! Jesus is attempting to save us from a much bigger fire than any we shall encounter here on earth. And I must add, one that will never go out!

Now listen to His instruction, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me. First of all if we want to "come after Him" we must deny ourselves! What did Jesus mean when He said we must "deny ourselves." A preacher of old once said; "Denying ourselves and taking up our cross isn't a little side issue - it is absolutely necessary to becoming or continuing to be a disciple of Jesus. If we don't practice self-denial, we aren't His disciples. It's useless to try to follow the One who was crucified without taking up our own cross daily. Unless we deny ourselves, it will be impossible not to deny the Lord. But so many who have written about self-denial (some of them large volumes) don't seem to have an understanding of the subject. Either they couldn't explain it to others, or they didn't know how far to take it, or they didn't sense the absolute necessity of it. Others speak of it in such a dark, mystical way, that the average man can't understand what it's supposed to mean."

Here are some of the aspects of denying ourselves:
  • This doctrine of "denying ourselves and picking up our cross" is the very heart of Christianity, without this being true in our lives we are but hypocrites! This very attitude was the central theme in the life of Jesus, and He has instructed us to follow Him in this example.  What stands in our way of obeying Our Savior, in this important command?  Three things.

The World, this doctrine of self-denial is the very opposite of the spirit that is in the world. The world says, "get all the traffic will bear." The Lord said, "do unto others as you would have them do to you." Worldly-minded professors HATE this doctrine. They want the dignity of being called a good person, a Christian, but do not want anything to do with the very thing that makes others admire the Christian, his or her love for others, that is daily demonstrated by there self-denial!

The Flesh, our "old man" our "flesh" our "old nature" (many ways of describing the self life, that we all had before we were born again.) The flesh wants to rule again, the very last thing the flesh wants us to do is deny IT!  We must not yield to the flesh, Romans 6:13 Neither yield ye your members [as] instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God. Romans 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

The Devil, he hates the very thought of it. Satan appeals to the selfish nature. He knows that when we follow Jesus down the path of self-denial that he has lost his power over us, the "strings" have been cut! Others will see that the Christianity we possess is real and we, by living this way, demonstrate every day of our lives that we believe the reward in Heaven is truly worth more to us than all this world has to offer. Yes, the Devil doesn't like us to deny ourselves, for when we deny ourselves we are denying the devil, also.

Look at what Titus said; Titus 1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny [him], being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. Hypocrisy is the result. And the world recognizes hypocrisy! Have you been born again? Have you been raised to newness of life? Or are you still living the "self" life, denying the Lord daily?

Remember that we must will deny someone. We will either deny the Lord or ourselves! Who will you deny? Will you ask, "How can I live consistently, a life where self is denied, instead of the Lord of glory? The answer to this question is simple, you can't! But Jesus can do it for you, if you will but allow Him to. Some may ask "How"? Let me tell you how this greatest of all miracles was accomplished in my life.

  1. First of all I came to a place of hating my life, I could see that what the Lord asked, I rarely did. I began making excuses to the lord "next time Lord I'll do it." I began seeing a pattern in my life, I seemed to always please myself and never the Lord! I came to a place of true misery. You see I read my Bible and therefore knew better. When I read my Bible it condemned me, for my life didn't line up with the examples of the other believers lives, left to us view in God's word.
  2. I came to a place of despair, one night as I laid my head on my pillow I asked the Lord to put me in HELL, I saw that Hell was where I belonged. I began to see myself as one of the most wicked persons that had ever lived! (This too is the grace of God. If we never see our sin as God sees it, we will never truly repent with that repentance caused by a Godly sorrow.) When I awoke the next morning I wasn't in hell, but still alive and in my bed! I didn't know it, but for the first time in my life I had repented with a repentance that I would never repent of.
  3. Having begun this new life in Christ, I wanted to finish my course, with the new and pure conscience, that God had given me. I had tried to please God before, but never did. The one thing I had learned, is that my best efforts would always end in failure.  And so I stopped trying to live the Christian life, and left the job of my salvation, and the way I walked, to the living God. (This is the way faith talks!)

Remember; Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

The flight upward

Let us look at the progression of steps the sinner will follow as he starts out to respond to God.

  1. As a rule, the first thing he learns is that the way he has been living his life is wrong, he has been in sin.  He may learn this from the Bible, an evangelist, or from the example of the unselfish life of a Christian he has come to know.
  2. From now on he knows he is a sinner, God is not happy with the way he is living his life.
  3. As a result of this knowledge, he might try to reform. This is where the fun begins, now for the first time in his / her life the discovery of bondage is learned, when you try to do right, sin raises it's ugly head. When you try the hardest to do right, wrong results, even faster. The harder you try, the greater the failure!
  4. As the feeling of wretchedness sets in, you realize the need of help from the outside, you need someone to save you from this body of death.  Now and only now will you be ready to look up.  No one needs a savior until they realize that they are indeed "lost." Let me make an observation here, many times people try to "Talk" someone into "accepting the Lord" before they are convicted of sin. We are proud critters, and we think we are just about as nice and as "good" as anybody is.  But when the Holy Spirit does His job of conviction we are ready for a savior!
  5. Now we learn that God will forgive our sin, all of our sin, if we repent.
  • What is repentance?
  1. Turning from sin in shame and disgust, with a resolve never to sin again.
  2. A change of mind (heart) not remorse, regret or a feeling of being sorry.
  3. Repentance is a hatred for sin, all sin.

  • What repentance is not:

a) It is not simply being sorry. The drunkard, after waking up the next morning in the gutter, smelly, cold and hungry is very sorry about his plight. He is sorry about being broke and hungry, but before the sun is very high in the sky, he is trying to figure out how he will gather enough money to buy wine and get drunk all over again!

b) Sorrow is a part of repentance, but the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 7:10 that a Godly sorrow will lead us into a repentance that we will not repent of! But the sorrow of the world worketh death. The sorrow of our plight does not lead to repentance. Our sorrow should be about our treatment of a Holy God who paid a precious price for our redemption!

  1. Now God bestows a clean, new, pure conscience on the believer, he knows his sin is forgiven. The results are JOY! A peace that he can't understand but enjoys.

We have arrived!

 Now the new believer starts to live by God's word the Bible, and to follow Jesus. Things are going swell now. Selfishness looks like a terrible thing to him now. He has a desire to learn even more of the Lamb of God. Everything seems at peace. . . But. .

The flight downward

In order to walk upright before God and man, we need to fight the good fight of faith, daily! When we first start walking with Jesus, we are like little children. Whatever the Lord asks we do without questioning, remember the three forces that are constantly working against us, The world, the flesh and the Devil. They never sleep. The Devil isn't happy about losing his influence with us, and so he goes to work, (overtime) at the same time old habits start to call, and as if this weren't enough the world steps in now to pay a call.   Our victory is always given to us and maintained by the Holy Ghost!  We must be led daily (All day long) by our Lord. If we take over, we will fail; next we stop walking by faith and enter the world of unbelief. Then when our conscience is no longer pure, we soon give up.  As we "give up"  we no longer see any reason to deny ourselves, especially in the little things, and then  we stop denying ourselves in anything, and plunge head long into sin!

Another way of falling from our walk of victory with God.  

Observe just how important the reason behind our repentance is!

  1. If the motive for our repentance was to gain our own happiness. Our repentance won't last, Christians often encounter persecutions, and so if the motive was to gain happiness, our repentance will be repented of!
  2. If the motive for our repentance was to gain our own happiness.. The world, or the Devil will offer something, that will be tempting, the power of the temptation, is in direct proportion to the desire we have for the thing being offered. If we are not lookin to Jesus, and walking by faith. we will give in to selfishness.
  3. On the other hand, if the motive for our repentance was sorrow for our treatment of a Holy God, for the way we have been trampling the commandments of the Lord, we will weather the storms of the world, the flesh and the Devil! When temptations come we will have strength in our God. Our love to God is too great for any temptation of this life, you see, God allows us to look into the next life. When this happens nothing in this life is worth what our God has allowed us to see on the other side!

Remember, the command of Jesus is this; If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Let me remind you of this one fact, when God commands us to do something, He will move heaven and earth to help us accomplish the thing He has asked us to do!

The Victory!

Allow me to share the main scripture that has always given me hope of what my God will do, Ezekiel 36:25 - 27. When we understand the depth of this promise given to us by the one who never lies, and never disappoints, Our victory is assured! God will always give us victory in this life of self-denial.

Ezekiel 36:25 - 27 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. What a promise! God will cleanse us from all of our filthiness! That word filthiness means sin! But that’s not all, God will remove all of the idols in our life! Then God will remove our heart of stone. The Bible uses the word "heart" to refer to man’s will, the place we make our decisions (the decision to obey or disobey God). A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. Notice here that God refers to a stony heart, this means a stubborn, rebellious will (heart). We won’t stop being rebellious and stubborn on our own, so the God of love removes this rebellious (heart) from us and replaces it with a moldable (heart) And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do [them]. And now after heart surgery, we are ready to receive the most precious gift anyone could possibly receive! God’s Spirit. (And I will put My spirit within you.) But God knows that this is still not enough. Look at the next part of this promise. And cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do [them]. Now God has committed Himself to cause us to obey Him! What more need we ask of Him. This is the faith part, will you believe God? Will you take Him at His word? Will you place your faith in Him, now, today? Please take note of the fact that God is the one who does all of these things!

After reading this little tract, it is easy to see the difference between the Saint and sinner. It is the same difference as between two people, one of which always practices self-denial, and the other who practices selfishness! Compare this with the statement Jesus made when asked which is the greatest commandment. Matthew 22:37- 40 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Can you see, to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind, You must be delivered from all selfishness?

Today we have a gospel that always works, but it is not being preached, what is being preached, is a counterfeit gospel, it is all take, with no self-denial. It is usually proffered with an appeal made to your selfishness (You will be happier, you won't end up in hell, so on and so forth.) This gospel never works!

 Dear friend, if you have any questions about any of the scriptures listed above, or need further help, please contact us.     Our E-mail address is chwright@earthlink.net

 Romans 6:4

Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

God expects us to walk in newness of life,   not to continue in sin!

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God never meant for us to think of grace as a license to sin!

But rather as a license to be FREE FROM SIN AND SELFISHNESS!