The Faith Walk

Jonathan Evans: The goal is not to be less fleshy, you're still in the same body. The goal is to be more spiritual. So when you make no provisions, you live as one in the day and you walk by the spirit. You can't walk this way and that way at the same time. What does it mean to walk by the spirit? This is not pie in the sky. It means walk biblically.

It means you're not just a hearer of the word, you are a doer of the word while not making provisions for your flesh and living as one in the day. When you do that, you're denying the spasms and you're living the life that God has called you to live. Too many Christians are dancing in the cemetery not realizing there's not even any life there.

Guest (Male): Today, on The Faith Walk with Jonathan Evans. You ever wonder what you should do first to move the spiritual needle forward? Or do you ever ask yourself, how can I live the Christian life consistently every day? Well, let's find out through Jonathan's multi-part series, Discipleship for Every Day. But before we begin, if you want to know more about Jonathan and the Alternative, visit tonyevans.org. Now, here's Jonathan Evans.

Jonathan Evans: It's called repentance, where you apologize for yourself and you go to Jesus. Or this is my life? No, it's not. Second Corinthians 5:17 says those who are in Christ are a new creature. The old is gone and the new has come. So when he says deny yourself, let me say it a different way. He's saying deny your old self.

Don't go back to your old self that you were before you met me. I need you to deny your old self. Now what people may be thinking is if it's gone, if it's done away with, if I'm a new creature, why do I still have the old feelings and desires that I had before I met Christ? Well, because you're saved, you've been made alive in the spirit, but your salvation still resides in the same body.

So you still have the desires of the old self because of the house that the new self is residing in, which is why that body has to be done away with and be put to sleep and you get a new body in heaven. And so you're still having these old desires, even though you have a new spirit because it resides in the old self, like a new engine in an old car. And so you got to understand that.

So let me explain it this way. When I was in my backyard one time, I saw a snake. And I said "Ah!" and then I saw my wife and I was like, "Oh, I'm going to handle this. I got you. It ain't nothing." Perpetrating. I didn't know she was there. So, I nervously got a knife, went boom, chopped his head off. I know it's a little graphic, but that's what I did.

After I chopped his head off, his body was crumping. I was like, "How in the world is he still moving and dead?" Well, I found out that he was having a post-mortem reflex or what they call a cadaveric spasm. In other words, it happened so fast that his nerves from the old were still firing even though there's been a transition. It doesn't mean that there's life. It just means that there's a spasm from the old life even though there's no vitals or no consciousness.

There's no life there. So I didn't attribute life to it. It was just moving but it wasn't alive. And a lot of us are having post-mortem reflexes. You're having cadaveric spasms in the old life and you think there's life over there. There is no life over there. It's just the nerves that are still firing because that transition happened so fast when you met Christ.

And what you can't do is attribute life to a cadaveric spasm or a post-mortem reflex or you'll be dancing in the cemetery. There is no vital signs there. There is no consciousness there. So you're wasting your life trying to pick that back up. It's not alive. It's dead. It's just spasming. So he says deny what's dead, that's spasming and that still is having a reflex from the old self.

But do not attribute life to it. Don't spend energy there. Don't give to it because just because you feel it and those old nerves are firing doesn't mean it's alive. It's dead. It's just spasming. So he says deny yourself. He says don't dance in the cemetery. That's over. It's gone. Deny is an aorist imperative, which has to do with a decisive verb.

Meaning, it's not passive. Passive means you're still trying to decide what to do. He says when he says deny yourself, he says deny it decisively. As decisive as it was when I cut the head of the snake off, it's decisive as we have to deny the spasms from the old self. You can't do it passively. You're going to lose that war. You do it actively and decisively.

So I'm going to tell you how to do it because the Bible tells you how to deny yourself. In Romans 13:14, I love this verse, it says make no provisions for the flesh. If you're passive, you're trying to decide whether you're going to provide for the spasm that you still have. It says make no provisions for the flesh. Simply put, guys, that means don't call her. Ladies, it means don't meet up.

You're not as strong as you think you are. Maturity is in the recognition that I'm immature. That's what makes you mature. Immaturity is thinking that you're mature. Your weakness is in the fact that you think you're strong. That's what makes you weak. You keep going back to the spasm trying to wake it up when God is trying to give you a new life. You have to make no provisions for the flesh.

That means don't go to the bar just because your friends are hanging out there and you know you have an alcoholic problem. I'm just going to go hang out with my friends for a minute but I'm not going to... No, no, no. Cut that thing off. You struggle with pornography? Give somebody else the code to your computer and your cell phone.

You make no provision for it and they can unlock it when you need to do something constructive because you have to cut it off. You have to make no provision for the thing that's still spasming. And then Romans 13:13 says number two, it says live as one in the day. This is how you deny yourself. I'm cutting that thing off. We ain't meeting up. We ain't going there.

We ain't doing what we used to do. I feel the spasm and that lets me know to stay home. I'm not doing that anymore. It says live as one in the day. So it says make no provision, then live as one in the day, which means versus living as one at night. My mama used to tell me, boy you better be home by midnight because don't nothing good happen after midnight.

In other words, when something is out in the open, Proverbs 28 says the one who conceals their sin will not prosper. In other words, secrecy is the aider and abetter of your sin. Because you can live under the table and at night and it's not one as in the day, you're able to keep doing what you're doing because you think just because nobody else knows, God don't know.

When nobody knows so I can keep doing what I'm doing. He says no, bring it to the table. There's people on your side who you can tell it to, who you can talk to and you can be out as one in the day while severing things from your past. And when you do that and you live as one in the day and you're not aiding and abetting the sin, then he says in Galatians 5:16, walk by the spirit so that you don't carry out the desires of the flesh.

It does not say you will not have fleshly desires. The goal is not to be less fleshy, you're still in the same body. The goal is to be more spiritual. So when you make no provisions, you live as one in the day and you walk by the spirit, you can't walk this way and that way at the same time. What does it mean to walk by the spirit?

This is not pie in the sky. It means walk biblically. It means you're not just a hearer of the word, you are a doer of the word while not making provisions for your flesh and living as one in the day. When you do that, you're denying the spasms and you're living the life that God has called you to live. Too many Christians are dancing in the cemetery not realizing there's not even any life there.

He says aorist imperative, deny yourself. I mean cut it off. And then he says, take up your cross. Take up is another aorist imperative. It means decisive. That I deny myself decisively and I take up my cross decisively. We cannot be passive about denying the old spasms and we cannot be passive about taking up the new self.

See, to take up the cross means to take up the new self. But let me tell you how they did it in Rome. In Rome they would have their prisoners carry the cross. The reason why they would have their prisoners carry the cross is because that was a sign of submission and humiliation in public. Basically it was to say, look at them, they are now under the authority of that which they used to oppose.

Look at them, they are now submitted to the very thing they used to oppose. Look at them, we got them now. They used to think they had us but we got them now. They're now under the authority, they now are submitted to a whole life they used to oppose. So when Jesus says take up your cross, he's talking about take up your new identity in Christ and take it up decisively.

Because when you take up this new identity in Christ and you take it up decisively and you're no longer walking in promiscuity but you're walking in purity, you're no longer walking in a cutting tongue but you're walking in an edifying tongue, when you're no longer walking in dishonesty but you're walking in honesty and integrity, when you're no longer walking in homosexuality but you chose singleness for the sake of Christ, like when you start walking that way, people who are seeing you carry that cross are going to say, "Oh no, his or her life is now under the authority of that which they used to oppose."

It's an obvious lifestyle that says I'm taking up my new identity in Christ. And now everybody sees, even though it may feel humiliating at times, even though it may not feel good at times, everybody is seeing that this person is now in submission to the very thing in God they used to oppose in the past. And when you take up this cross, it don't mean it ain't heavy. I normally don't sweat but this time I'm carrying a cross.

And there's only two options in this life. You see, when a person carries the cross, it means that it's evident that Jesus is on the throne. Everybody gets to see when I'm carrying my cross, it's evident that King Jesus is on the throne of my life. He on the throne anyway but now we know he on the throne of your life. The problem is with most Christians, we choose the throne.

And because there's only two options, if you choose the throne that means you put him on the cross. It's one or the other because we'd rather maintain our lives, our will, our way, do the same things we used to do, and we don't want nobody telling us nothing. Remember, you're grown now. This your house now. This your money now. All the while grieving the spirit of God because that's not your seat.

Or you have a group which is most of us. We like to play the end against the middle. I'll take the cross if I can get a benefit. But if I don't see any benefit, let me just take the throne. And we're lukewarm. But Jesus, where you going? Hold on, hold on, hold on. I need a healing. I need help. My family's broken, my marriage is broken.

Why are you seen further away from me? I mean I'm not on the throne, I know I'm not on the cross. Why is it that you're over there? I need my prayers answered. I thought James 1:7 and 8 says let not a double-minded man think he will receive anything from the Lord. So we in the faith, we back here playing the end against the middle.

He said no, deny yourself and take the cross. Which puts him on the throne. And do it decisively. Because if you do it decisively and you're not playing the end against the middle, you'll have a greater experience of Christ as the disciple. The disciples were doing things the crowd couldn't do. The disciples had power and mysteries the crowds didn't have.

Our problem in America is a discipleship problem. It is not a churchgoers problem. Millions go to church, only few walk out as disciples. Most people are here wondering why they're not experiencing Jesus. He ain't no fool. Take up your cross and follow me. Deny, aorist imperative, decisive. Take up, aorist imperative, decisive. Follow, present imperative, which means continuous.

If you're decisive in denial and decisive with the cross, that means you will be a continuous follower of Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said in 1st Corinthians 15:31, I die daily. I deny daily. I take up my cross daily so that I can follow every day. We're following, not following... I mean I don't know what game that is. The reason why we go in and out and we like to stay in the middle is because we have an alternative wish.

For whoever, verse 25, wishes to save his life. Oh, that's the other wish. We wish to save our life, but then you lose it. To save something means it's already drowning, dying, or dead. So you're trying to save something that's already out. We go back to the spasm. I want to go back to that old relationship that had me living in sin.

I want to go back to the old way doing it my way, talking my own way, hating who I want to hate, doing what I want to do, I want to go back to being king. Wake up! All the while we're not getting to the life that Jesus has for us so we're losing our life doing CPR in the cemetery. And we're going and going and going.

Wake up, wake up, wake up! This is the life that I want, the life that I want for myself. I want this spasm not to be a spasm, I want it to be real. And if you've never done CPR before, it's exhausting. It's not going to get up. It's dead. And Christians spend years trying to get this thing to wake up. Meanwhile, not even noticing the purpose of God or just hovering around them and they just prefer the cemetery.

The people of Israel were in this position. Moses, take me back to Egypt. Lot's wife was in this position. I want to go back to Sodom and Gomorrah. Pillar of salt. The ten spies were in this position. Oh, they too big, we can't go forward. They died in the wilderness except for Joshua and Caleb who saw forward. The rich young ruler was in this position. He went back to his possessions and didn't follow Jesus.

And Jesus says in Luke 6:62, whoever puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God. So how long? How long? Is it discipleship or churchgoer? This is exhausting to fight for a life that's dead. Forever wishes to save his life, you're going to lose it because your life is here. But whoever loses his life for his sake, then you find it.

He knows how he wants to use you as a disciple. He knows what he created you for. He knows what you're supposed to be doing. He knows where you're supposed to be going. He knows who you're supposed to be meeting. He know all that. But he can't do it while you're doing CPR. For what will it profit a man if he sits on the throne but loses his soul?

Many of us are trying to be applauded on earth and don't even realize we're being booed in heaven. Investing for man and reaping no reward in heavenly places. You turn around and lose it all. Do you know how long you going to be on this throne? Not long. Do you know how long you'll be in eternity? For an eternity. I know I use the same word to define a... Trust me.

It feels easier on the throne and it's harder with the cross. But what one is for your eternity and one is forgotten as soon as you are no more. Because ladies and gentlemen, Jesus is coming back. And he's coming back in the glory of his father with his angels. And what is it going to be like when you're looking at God in the face and he sees you sitting in his seat?

Judging you for all of your deeds. I'd rather be over there carrying the cross. So, simple. I want to actually make a wish. My wish today is that the body of Christ will deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Jesus. So that when he comes in his glory, we all hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. Well done."

Guest (Male): That was Jonathan Evans. Before you go today, I want to remind you that we have a gift for you. It's a copy of Jonathan's book called Your Time is Now. In this book, you'll understand that God has a purpose for you, even if you think you're not ready to make a difference. Move beyond inaction and embrace the calling God has placed on your life.

The book Your Time is Now is our gift to you to thank you for your donation to help support the ministry of The Alternative. It's our way of showing appreciation for the continued support of listeners like you who make this program possible. Get all the details online at tonyevans.org. Again, that's tonyevans.org, or you can call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members help you.

That's 1-800-800-3222. Find your way out of distractions and into God's purpose for your life. Thank you for listening to today's program with Jonathan Evans. This program is produced as a part of The Urban Alternative, a ministry of Dr. Tony Evans.