Jesus Denied His Own Will Always

So we heard that Jesus manifested his glory. Here's a verse in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. It's quite an amazing verse when you think of it. Why did God call us through the gospel? You know there are different answers to that.

Some people say to go to heaven, to escape hell, forgiveness of sins. But here it says 2 Thessalonians 2.14 it was for this he called you. Please take it personally.

It was for this that he called you and make that you personal that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's the verse worth meditating on for quite some time. To think that I can gain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not the glory that he manifested by turning water into wine. But the other glory which is mentioned in John 1.14 that the glory of God was manifested in Jesus full of grace and truth. So that's the balance, grace and truth that was in Christ.

And God has called each of us to gain that. That's not a gift. Forgiveness of sins is a gift because we can never pay for it.

Gaining something when you see the word gain, that's not a gift. It's something you work and achieve and get. So there's a price to be paid.

Not for forgiveness of sins, that price is already paid. So there are Christians in the world who are quite happy with forgiveness of sins and that's all they want. That's all they live for.

I'm not here to judge them. But my guess is that they'll be terribly disappointed when Christ comes back and they discover what they missed in their one life on earth. And they never get that chance to live the life again.

And that is to gain the glory of Jesus Christ here on this earth. Anyway, that's the thing that gripped me. Now, how did Jesus manifest this? There's a very simple secret of Jesus' life in John chapter 6, which I call the autobiography of Jesus' life.

You know what autobiography is? Autobiography means you write your own life story. If somebody else writes your life story, that's called a biography. If you write it yourself, it's called an autobiography.

So here is the autobiography of Jesus' life, which he wrote himself. In one sentence, he tells us why he came down from heaven. Now, if you were to ask the average Christian, maybe some of you here, why did Jesus come down heaven? What would your answer be? Think of it.

If somebody asked you, why did Jesus come down from heaven? Some would say, to save me, to take me to heaven, to save me from hell, to forgive my sins, to die on the cross. Yeah, all that may be right. But Jesus summed up everything in one sentence.

These are his own words. I came from heaven, John 6, 38, for one purpose, only one. It was not to die for the sins of the world.

It was not to take people to heaven. It was never to do my own will. Listen to this.

I have come from down from heaven. These are his own words. You can't make it better than this.

Don't try and change it. I came from heaven to do one thing, never to do my own will, but always the will of him who sent me. That is how he manifested his glory.

Even in the turning the water into wine, which he did first time, first miracle that he did. He never went there with the intention to do that miracle, not at all. He didn't know the wine would run short.

He lived like us. His knowledge was limited. But because this was, Father, what do you want me to do? You want me to do something? And his mother comes and says, do something.

He says, no, it's none of my business. It's none of my business because the Father's not told me anything. Or the other instance we heard where he told his disciples, he told his brothers, okay, you go to Jerusalem, I'm not coming.

And five minutes later, he goes. And when his disciples see him in Jerusalem, he says, oh yeah, you didn't want to walk with us, right? You said some silly thing like the Father hasn't told you. People will misunderstand us sometimes.

But the Father hadn't told him. Five minutes later when the Father told him, I think of these police cruisers, you know, people are, these policemen driving in these cars and walkie-talkie, that radio is always on. And the message is not always for them.

It could be for one of the other police cruisers. But it has to be on all the time because suddenly one may be for them. That's how it was with Jesus.

When he heard, he moved. Until he heard, he said, no, I'm not going. Five minutes later, the message comes, you go.

And he goes. So I came from heaven never to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And we are called to follow in that footsteps.

And the closer you are to Christ, the more you will say in your life, I never want to do what pleases me, but what pleases my Father. You know, it says that about Jesus in, I think it's Romans 15, verse three. Have you meditated on this statement? Christ never pleased himself.

Now you can read that verse and go on, or you can meditate on it and say, what does it mean for me to follow Jesus, never to do my own will? You know, we can hear so many profound things in the church and get overwhelmed. But some of these things that Jesus says are so simple. In some situation where I'm tempted to either please myself or the Lord says, no, don't do that.

Okay, I won't please myself. I will not say what I want to say, even though I feel like saying it. It's so important for husbands and wives and their relationships.

You may feel like saying something, but you got to wait. Does God want you to say it? So many fights arise because somebody says something, just one word. And so often is in a home, one careless word can create so many problems.

He never pleased himself. I came from heaven never to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And I want to tell you, my brothers and sisters, that is what it means to take up the cross every day.

To take up the cross means I never do my own will. That means what pleases me, what I feel like saying, what I feel like doing. If only we will pause a little and say, Lord, do you want me to say that? We'll be protected from saying so many foolish, stupid things and losing our testimony and losing our reputation.

It's like that when, for example, a lot of brothers are sitting together and everybody's saying whatever comes into their mind. Do you think any of them are thinking, does Jesus want me to say this? No, no, no, no. This is what I feel like saying.

So I'll say it. Aha. When will you ever follow Jesus? If you had paused and said, no, let me think, does the Lord want me to say it? You would not have ruined your testimony.

You can't do anything about the past except ask God to forgive us. But in the future, I recommend, before you feel like saying something and everybody else, maybe in the office or a home or even in the church, and you also want to add your word, think a little. Because that is how we make progress.

And if you don't do that, we're not taking up the cross. Then I cannot follow Jesus. Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, he makes this amazing statement, which has challenged me for so many years.

Have you noticed this? That Paul said he was becoming more like Christ, not once a year, but every day. Imagine a man becoming more Christ-like every day. I mean, if we become a little more Christ-like once in a year, that'd be great.

But Paul says, 2 Corinthians 4, 16, we do not get discouraged. Great word. We do not lose heart.

That even though the outer man is decaying, that means there's a lot of problems in the outer man. Health is wearing out and there's a lot of persecution he faced. But the inner man is being renewed every single day.

I don't think there's another verse in the New Testament that tells me that Paul made progress every single day of his life. Every day was a little more Christ-like. It's like running the marathon race.

The Christian life is like a marathon race. We run the race looking unto Jesus, how he denied himself. He never did his own will.

He never said what he wanted to say. He'd think, does the Father want me to say it? Otherwise, he wouldn't say it. And walking in those footsteps, Paul made progress every single day.

It's amazing. That is how he gained the glory of Christ more and more. And that's how we and I can gain.

So how did he do that? Earlier on, he says in verse 10, always, always means 24-7, carrying in our body the dying of Jesus. Here is a verse which is almost never preached in other churches because nobody knows what it means. What does it mean to carry in my body the dying of Jesus? It's exactly what we've been hearing all along.

I die to my own will. How often? Always. Always means 24-7.

We won't get there overnight, but if you work towards it, you can come to the place where you feel like saying something and you don't say it because the Spirit of God within says, no, keep your mouth shut, even though others may be expressing their opinions and you don't do it. And it could be in some other situation also, where everybody wants to do some particular thing in your office or somewhere else, and you don't feel like going along with that. And you say no.

Always carrying in our body the dying of Jesus. And if I do that, here is a promise from God. The life of Jesus will be manifested in my body.

That's what we want, right? Not my own improved life. For many people, their Christianity is improving their own life. My life is pretty bad.

Let me try and improve it. I mean, the world is full of self-improvement programs. God's not trying to improve our life at all.

He's trying to give us another life. And if I want that other life, I must learn this habit of thinking. Does the Lord want me to do that? I don't want to do my own will.

I don't want to say what I want to say. I want to hear what God wants me to say. I want to do what God wants me to do.

I want to respond to this situation in the way the Lord wants me to respond, not the way my clever mind wants to respond or how worldly people respond. That is the dying of Jesus. I die to the way I want to do it.

And then the promises, if I consistently do that, the life of Jesus will be manifested more and more in me. I'll just turn to one more passage in James in chapter four. This is the real meaning of humility.

It says in verse six, he gives greater grace. God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. And my definition of pride has changed through the years.

And, you know, pride is somebody who thinks he's very important. But I've come to see pride is, for me anyway, that I want to do my own will. I want to say what I want to say.

I want to give my opinion on this. I don't want to wait to say, does the Lord want me to say it? Even in a husband wife conversation, a lot of conflicts arise between husband and wife just because they don't stop to think, does the Lord want me to say this? Or does he just want me to forget it? What a lot of strife would have not occurred in our homes, even in our dealing with children. Jesus, in 30 years, developed the sensitivity to hear the voice of his father.

And I want to encourage all of you to develop that. That is the meaning of humility. God gives his grace to the humble means the one who's willing to say, Lord, I don't know what to do, what to say, but I wait on you.

I want you to help me. You remember that Old Testament story in 2 Chronicles 20 of a king who had a great army coming against him, Jehoshaphat. And he stood before the Lord and said, Lord, I don't have any power in this situation.

I don't have any wisdom, but I want you to tell me what to do. And the Lord gave him a great victory. That is the secret.

If that becomes a habit in our life, I believe we'll make tremendous progress.