Today's Sermon:

Noble Nonsense

I. Background- Vs. 38

II. Three Misunderstandings

III. The Essence of the Command

Lloyd-Jones, 279- "Our Lord here is unveiling and exposing this horrible thing that controls the natural man- self, that terrible legacy that has come down from the fall of man and which makes man glorify himself and set himself up as a god. He protects this self all along and in every way...It is self the whole time."

IV. Four Pictures of Self-Denial

Picture 1:

There can be no doubt of the unjust sufferings which Luther King had to endure. Dr Benjamin Mays listed them at his funeral: ‘If any man knew the meaning of suffering, King knew. House bombed; living day by day for thirteen years under constant threats of death; maliciously accused of being a Communist; falsely accused of being insincere …; stabbed by a member of his own race; slugged in a hotel lobby; jailed over twenty times; occasionally deeply hurt because friends betrayed him—and yet this man had no bitterness in his heart, no rancour in his soul, no revenge in his mind; and he went up and down the length and breadth of this world preaching non-violence and the redemptive power of love.-John Stott

Picture 2- Realm of Personal Demands- Vs. 40

Picture 3- Realm of National Demands- Vs. 41

Picture 4- Realm of Personal Possessions- Vs. 42

“The whole question for us is one of cross-bearing. You ask me, ‘Is it right for someone to strike my cheek?’ I reply, ‘Of course not!’ But the question is, Do you only want to be right? As Christians our standard of living can never be ‘right or wrong,’ but the Cross. The principle of the Cross is our principle of conduct. … ‘Right or wrong’ is the principle of the Gentiles and tax gatherers. My life is to be governed by the principle of the Cross and of the perfection of the Father.”-Watchman Nee