Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: There are a number of kingdom paradoxes, I call them. We receive by giving and we get vengeance on enemies by blessing them. Those are kingdom paradoxes. And this is one of them also: this whole idea that if you want to live, you have to die.

Guest (Male): In John chapter 12, Jesus said that unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single seed. But if it does, it becomes many seeds. Hello and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard.

Today, you'll be reminded that the same principle holds true for us. To live the joyful, abundant Christian life, we have to die to the life we once knew. And then, through the living water of salvation and the tender warmth of the Son of God, we experience growth that leads to the best life we could ever imagine.

Online you'll find us at pastorpaul.net where you can listen to Destined for Victory on demand. That's pastorpaul.net. Subscribe to the podcast at Spotify or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. Now, with today's Destined for Victory message, "Dying to Get Right," here is Pastor Paul Sheppard.

Paul Sheppard: John chapter 12, and I'd like for you to look with me at verses 24 through 26. 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."

We continue to look at this very important principle from scripture that when it comes to spiritual things, death must precede life. There are a number of kingdom paradoxes, I call them. We receive by giving and we get vengeance on enemies by blessing them. Those are kingdom paradoxes. And this is one of them also: this whole idea that if you want to live, you have to die.

And Jesus made it plain, first as he spoke of his own death on the cross, that, "I am laying down my life because unless I lay down my life, I will not be able to bring many sons to glory." But the Son of God has to become the Son of Man and die on behalf of the sons of men so that the sons of men can become sons of God. And so he died that we might live.

And then he went on in John 12 and said this principle doesn't just apply to me, but it applies to you also. And he said to his disciples and to all of us that if you're going to serve the Lord, you've got to practice this principle of death before life. You've got to hate your own self-will so that you can come to love the will of God. You've got to hate the self-life so that you can love the God-kind of life and the things that he has intended for you to do and to be.

And so we've explored the principle in the opening message and then in the second message, looked specifically at the application of learning to forgive those who have wronged us. That in terms of dying in order to live, one of the things that we must do as followers of Christ is understand that unforgiveness is not an option.

If you're going to love God and serve God, you don't have the option. It's not like he says, "Would you like salvation while holding your enemies? Or would you like salvation and release your enemies?" There's no such option. The Bible is very clear. If you want to enjoy the forgiveness of your heavenly Father, you are called to forgive those who have trespassed against you.

And so we dedicated the second message to the fact that we must learn to practice forgiveness and to release unforgiveness as that surrender, that sacrifice we make to the Lord. You've got to give your enemies and your abusers and those who have wronged you over to God as an irrevocable offering. "Lord, I give them to you because your word is clear: Romans 12, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord."

And what we discovered was when we forgive those who have trespassed against us, they're not getting away with anything. The word forgive means to send. You're sending them to God, you're sending what they did to you to God. You're saying, "Lord, I tell you what, you're the righteous judge, you deal with them." And forgiveness is a gift that God gives us because since we give him the problem of our abusers and our trespassers, we're now free to move on and experience what he has for us.

So forgiveness is really a wonderful blessing. Now to be sure, you'll have to cry, you'll have to grieve, you'll have to go through some things. And that's why Jesus calls this principle death. You have to die to your desire to get folk back. Not yours, but people I know who love to get people back. No, no, God, I don't want you to take care of this, I have them.

And when you have that attitude, Jesus says you have to die to it. Because I want you to move on with your life, and as long as you're holding your enemies, you can't move on with your life. You give them too much power when you hold them in unforgiveness. They hold you, they keep you stuck in the place of the offense. And so when God calls us to forgive, he's not being mean, he's blessing us with the ability to move on.

Now, I want you to look with me at another application of this death-before-life principle. And I want to look at how this principle applies to our need to grapple with sin, deceit, and dysfunction in our lives. I want you to look at the fact that if you're really going to get where God's taking you, you'll have to grapple with the fact that we are all far removed from where God wants us to be.

And the question then becomes, well, how do I get from here to there? And one of the steps of obedience of dying to self is dealing with the unforgiveness in our hearts. Another is dealing with other forms of sin, deceit, and dysfunction in our lives. And I want to look with me at a case study from scripture in the Old Testament: a man named Jacob. A man named Jacob who will help us as we look at his life, see our own lives as well.

You know the Bible, the reason why there's 66 books and not just one book that says, "God loves you, Jesus died for you, get saved," is because God gave us the example of the Old Testament patriarchs, not just to give us good history, but to teach us. The Bible says things written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

And so Jacob's story and everybody else's story is there not just so that you can understand redemptive history—that's one of the reasons—but the other reason is so that we can learn from their lives. And so God left all their junk in there. And I'm so glad he did. I'm glad the Bible is not a book of good folk, of nice people. Because we wouldn't be able to relate.

So the Bible is full of people who are just like you and me, who have all kinds of sin, all kinds of deceit, all kinds of dysfunction, all kinds of mess in our minds, in our hearts, in our psyches, in our behavior, in our family life. This is a book of jacked-up folk. And the reason God put them all in here is so that he could show us, "If I can get them straight, then you are not mission impossible for me."

And so I'm glad about it. I'm encouraged about it. As I read the scriptures to say, "Yes, Lord, I know you can get us where you want us to go because you've shown us your power as you deal with other people." And so let's look at Jacob. Now Jacob's story is so important in redemptive history that nearly one-fourth of Genesis is devoted to his biography.

I mean, this guy is a pivotal character in redemptive history and he is splattered all throughout the book of Genesis. And I want you to note that his story begins in Genesis 25. And there you find the death of Abraham. And then you find a little later on, about midway through the chapter, the account of Jacob and Esau.

And it talks about the fact that Isaac, who was Abraham's son, and his wife Rebekah got pregnant. And the Lord answered Isaac's prayer; it resulted in a pregnancy. And the babies, verse 22 tells you, jostled within her womb. So what was going on inside this woman wasn't just, "Oh, the baby's kicking." No, these two babies were not kicking, they were fighting. Hadn't yet gotten out, but they're already in there starting something.

And so much so that she said, "Why is this happening to me?" And she inquired of the Lord and the Lord gave the word, "There are two nations in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger." Which of course is a contradiction in the normal pattern.

Normally the older is prominent, received the father's inheritance, received the inheritance of the firstborn, and the younger would serve the older upon the death of the father. The older son would effectively become the new patriarch of the family and lead the family enterprise. And so here was a word that was very strange to receive, that the older will actually serve the younger.

Well, it goes on to say when the time came for Rebekah to give birth, she had two twin boys. And they knew that there was going to be trouble because after Esau came out, red and hairy, the Bible says as he was coming out, his brother began coming out and the first thing they saw was he had Esau's ankle in his hand. He was holding onto him coming out. You knew there were going to be problems in this family. Came out grasping his heel and he was named Jacob.

Guest (Male): Don't go away, the rest of today's Destined for Victory message featuring Pastor Paul Sheppard is coming right up. You know Jesus said that the truth is the only thing in this world that can set us free. That's our mission at Destined for Victory: to share timeless truth for a victorious life so that everyone who hears these messages might come to faith in Christ.

You can join us in this mission by sending a generous gift today. Your support at this time is critical to keeping the ministry of Destined for Victory going on this media outlet. Visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. That's pastorpaul.net. Or call 855-339-5500. Well, he was a hustler and a con artist until God got through to him. And by the time God got through with him, he was nothing like the man he had been before. Let's get to know him now in the second half of today's Destined for Victory message, "Dying to Get Right."

Right away, Jacob: supplanter, trickster, deceiver, con artist, shaky businessman. You know these people always doing a deal, always have a deal. Not you, but people I know. Always have a deal, always have a hustle. Always got a little something on the side. And already they can see the nature of this boy. He's tricky from the beginning.

That's one of the reasons he's a good case study for us as we look at the principle of death before life. Because if you're going to experience God's life and his transforming power, you've got to be in touch with who you are and where you are in life. And there's no need of calling yourself a prince with God when you are tricky. They didn't name him Israel; later on, God's going to name him Israel. But they named him according to the fact that he has the character, he has the nature of a person who is deceptive.

Now that reminds you of the fact that all of us are born in sin and shapen in iniquity. And we need to come to terms with that. No one can get the help from God that he has ordained until you first acknowledge that you need the help. Which is why some people don't come to faith in Christ, because they are so deceived that they'd rather believe they're right than to acknowledge that they're wrong and ask God to help them get right.

I want to say to you, before we even begin to look at some of the details of the man's life, that if you want to get where God's taking you, there's no future in fronting. Do not play games with yourself. Do not call yourself right when you're wrong. Do not justify what cannot be justified. Don't explain yourself away. Don't say, "Well, see, you have to understand me." No, we don't have to understand you. You have to understand you. You have to understand that until you get right with God, you'll never live the life he has designed for you to live.

And so Jesus put it this way: "Those who are not sick don't need a physician." In other words, he explained, "I've come to people who are sick and know they're sick, so when they see a doctor, they have hope." And he was explaining the reason why he was offensive to some folk. Because some people, when they see a physician, they run away; they'd rather believe they're well.

They'd rather pretend that everything's okay, just like some people don't want to go to the doctor. They have definite symptoms, but they don't want to go to the doctor because they're afraid of what the doctor will say. So what you do is you have symptoms, you know what those symptoms may indicate, but you say, "I don't want to get it confirmed."

Well, the question becomes, and all your loved ones tell you, "How are you going to get well until you let someone diagnose your illness?" You can't pretend like you're not sick and everything's going to be okay. And so there comes that time where you simply acknowledge the reality. And here his family acknowledges the reality even in the naming of the boy. He is tricky. That's my tricky kid right there.

And what that simply tells you is you and I have to be in touch with ourselves. We don't plan to stay in sin, stay in dysfunction, stay with all of the stuff that's going on inside of us, and God doesn't plan for you to stay there either. But you have to start there. We were born in sin, we were shapen in iniquity. None righteous, no, not one. Not one.

Don't tell me about how conscientious a person you are. Don't tell me that the greatest harm you've ever done, you've done to yourself. You ever heard people talking like that? "I treat people right. The greatest harm I've ever done, I've done to myself." And they're trying to paint a picture of self-righteousness.

Well, when you get through submitting your resume and you compare it to the righteousness of God, the Bible says it's filthy. It's filthy. It doesn't matter what clubs you've been a part of, what foundations you established, and how you care for the little orphans somewhere. All of us are sinners in need of salvation and that's why Jesus came.

And so you have to start out acknowledging who you are and where you are. And stop comparing yourself with other people. "I'm not as bad as they are." The fact of the matter is when you're self-righteous, you're in really bad shape. Because a murderer can get to the cross pretty quick, especially when you're sitting in jail; got a lot of time.

Listen, we've been there. We started the jail ministry, going in there and ministering to folk and years ago, before the men ever took it over and now we have a great prison ministry, I went in with the first crew. And I said, "Come on in here, y'all learn how to preach in jail because these folk aren't going anywhere. Got a captive audience, man."

And went in there and found out that when you're sitting in there with all that time, when they heard it was time for church, the church brothers were here, they were pouring out of those cells, grabbing their Bibles and what have you. Some want to get good time, get out in a hurry, but they sat under that word first. And I tell you, the bad preachers can preach in there because these people are receptive. "Where am I going? What am I going to do? Tell me something, I know I messed up."

And so we all need to understand that we start by acknowledging, "Lord, I need you. I need you; I can't make it on my own." Man, that old-time song had it right: "Father, I stretch my hand to thee, no other help I know. If thou withdraw thyself from me, oh, whither shall I go?" That's where you start. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's the starting point to recognize he's righteous and I'm unrighteous. He's holy and I'm filthy.

See, modern psychology will say, "No, no, never acknowledge that about yourself." In fact, that's what's wrong with religion; it brings people down. All they do, read some of these kooky books. They'll tell you religion is dangerous because it causes you to create self-doubt and self-hatred. And really what's wrong with the world is people are doubting themselves and hating themselves and they manifest it in hating other people.

Wrong answer! All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And you were a sinner long before somebody told you you were a sinner. I didn't make you feel bad; you did a whole bunch of junk before you ever showed up. Don't put your stuff on me. Some preacher is the one who brought you down. No, no, no. Time you get to the preacher is because you know you messed up.

And so that's where we start. We start at this place of acknowledgment. This young boy, brand-new baby, is already manifesting the nature of sin. Already grappling with his brother, already trying to jockey and position himself, already trying to live the self-life. And so we must begin by acknowledging our sin before a holy God.

Then it goes on to tell you that the boys grew up and Esau became a skillful hunter and was out in the open country one day. And he came in from hunting famished, we're told in verse 30. His brother Jacob is home cooking some stew. And he comes in and tells him, "I'm famished, man, I feel like I'm about to die. Please give me some of that stew." Jacob replied, verse 31, "First sell me your birthright."

Now that's tricky. Here's your brother, he claims he's about to die, just came in from the open country. Now we had the advantage of hindsight. We know that he was just dehydrated and that what he needed was some water and to get out of the sun and to go somewhere—maybe he had a little sunstroke or something—he just needed to get himself hydrated and get himself straight.

And then with that taken care of, he could have then gotten something to eat. And even if his brother didn't want to give him stew, he was in a position once he got out of the immediate danger of the sun and the dehydration, we know that he'd have been able to find his mama, find somebody, if he didn't have the strength to cook his own meal.

But what he does is he looks to this opportunity for immediate gratification in the form of Jacob's stew. Asks for that, focuses on that, centers on that. Doesn't look for other alternatives, doesn't pan out and see the bigger picture. "I just want what I want now." And so Jacob knew the principle of supply and demand when there wasn't even a business school yet.

See, and no one had taught him that principle from a business standpoint. He just knew it from the standpoint of a tricky business person. He knew to jack the price up because of the demand. And so he says, "Sure, I'll give you some stew, but I want your birthright." And tricky folk have a way of making this look like a good deal. Some of y'all, I can tell by your face, that except God be with you, you have that same gift. You can sell sand in the desert and make it look like a good deal.

Guest (Male): As I'm sure you know, there's far more to the story than that, and we'll pick it up right here next time in our continuing message, "Dying to Get Right." Today's message is part of our teaching series, "Dying to Live." Look for it online at pastorpaul.net.

Well, the Christian life is a victorious life and it's not a happy coincidence; it's your birthright already purchased by Jesus Christ at the highest price in history. And yet so many believers live in defeat, selling their birthright for things worth far less. In his booklet, More Than Conquerors, Pastor Paul Sheppard uses the unlikely story of Gideon to outline the path from defeat to victory.

If you want to understand how to take on a victor's identity and tear down the idols competing for your heart, you'll want to reserve your copy of this outstanding resource today. That's More Than Conquerors, yours this month for your generous donation to Destined for Victory. You can give by phone by calling 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. Or by visiting pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. And you can always mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538.

Paul Sheppard: The enemy has mastered the ability to create an intersection between our felt needs, our desires, our passions—whatever it is—and some illegitimate solution that is not the will of God. But it takes a person who says, "No, I'm going to believe God to meet the immediate crisis of this moment. I'm not going to sell out my future for a moment of satisfaction."

Guest (Male): And that's next time in our continuing message, "Dying to Get Right." But until then, though, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.