I'd like to encourage you to take your Bibles, if you have them with you, and turn to the book of Hebrews in the New Testament, chapter 12. If you do not have your Bible with you, I would encourage you to look to the screen behind me where we will have the Scripture verses there for you to follow along. I'd like for you to be aware that what I'm sharing is not my idea, but comes from God. I think all of us like to be in control. I don't necessarily mean that each of us are wired and desire to be in charge. I don't know that everybody is comfortable being the point man or woman, being out in front or in the lead. But I am aware there is something very real in our nature that dictates our desire to be in control. Most people that are nervous about flying, perhaps The greatest facet of their fear is they are not in control. I know that parents, as they watch their children grow up and get ready to leave the house or to venture out on their own, confront that age old struggle of letting go. We like to have our agenda intact. We like to have our priorities that we hold dear. honored. We like our possessions to be in place and under our control. We have that inside of our nature. And because humanly we deal with that, it unfortunately bleeds over into the spiritual realm. I read an author who said this, I refuse to be discouraged about anything. The author wrote that, I did not say it. I don't hold that. He said this, but it gives me a heavy heart to walk among Christians who have wandered for 40 long years in the wilderness. Not going back to sin, but not going on into the holy life. Wandering in an aimless circle. Sometimes a little warmer. Sometimes a little colder. Sometimes a little holier. And sometimes very unholy. But never going on. Habits have been acquired, he wrote, and are hard to break, and it makes it almost certain that they will live and die spiritual failures. To me, he said, this is a terrible thing. Spiritual failure. A terrible thing to ponder, yet it exists. Spiritual failure. Freed from the bondage of Egypt, yet content to wander around in the wilderness. Sometimes a little warmer. Sometimes a little colder. Sometimes a little holier. Sometimes very unholy. But content to stay in a wandering state. Freed from bondage, yet never going in. Never fully possessing all that God intends for you to have. As we get here to Hebrews 12, I want to share a thought with you this morning that I think is of utmost importance. We'll begin reading in verse 1. Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." Let's ask the Lord's help. Heavenly Father, Right now at this moment, we gather together for this purpose. As Your Word is open, I pray now that You would challenge and teach, help each of us. Down where we cannot work in our hearts, we ask Your blessing on this time. In Jesus' name, Amen. I desire to be in control. I want to dictate everything. It is bled over into my spiritual life. I am a lot like you are, perhaps, in that I spend far too much time aimlessly wandering, not going back into bondage, but never really pressing on to all that God has for me. As I look through Scripture and I have listened to people try to mentor me in ministry, I have heard them say this, three-fourths of ministry is just showing up. I actually think there's a lot to that. Three-fourths of ministry is just showing up. The faithful show up. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 4, let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful, simply be available in season and out of season, not necessarily brimming with optimism, not necessarily brimming with charisma, but faithful. Showing up is one part of faithfulness. It's a crucial part of faithfulness. Perhaps it's the hardest part. But Hebrews 12, one reveals another side that if we're going to be Christlike, if we're going to be all that God intends for us to be from the inside out. If we're going to honor God, we have to understand this facet. And as I have meditated on this first verse in Hebrews 12, I've been forced to visit the context of it. And as I read this, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us. The is a definitive article, the sin. I think to a degree we have confused the context of this passage of Scripture. We've allowed ourselves to believe that everybody has a besetting sin. Your besetting sin is perhaps not mine and mine is perhaps not yours. Maybe yours is envy. Maybe it's gluttony. Maybe it's lust. Maybe it's pride. But all of us have a besetting sin that causes us to stumble. But I don't think that does service to the context of Hebrews 11 and Hebrews 12. And I think it disavows the definitive article, the sin, the sin. If you look back to Hebrews 11, you would understand that it is talking about faith. If Hebrews 11 is a call to faith. then Hebrews 12 is perhaps declaring unto us that the sin that does so easily beset us is the sin of unbelief. If the sin of unbelief is what besets us, then there is a trickle-down effect to the rest of our spiritual existence. Take the children of Israel in the Old Testament, for example. God comes down and miraculously works on their behalf. Ten plagues He bestows on the Egyptians the final plague. The killing, the slaying of the firstborn, the children of Israel exit the exodus out of Egypt as they are leaving. The Egyptians have given them silver and gold and all kinds of material possessions. You know the story as they travel out, they get to the edge of the Red Sea. The dust is coming up of the Egyptian army bearing down on them. God allows Moses to part the sea. The children of Israel go through on dry land and they begin to wander and listen for God's direction. He desires that they go on into the Promised Land. And as they get to Kadesh Barnea, they stop. Moses says to them, in effect, we're about to enter into the land that has been the object of your hope since you've been brought up out of Egypt. And the children of Israel respond in this way. We have some reservations. We're a little bit afraid. We're a little bit trepidatious about what might be there. Moses, listen, let's send 12 spies in there to see what's going on. And if they come back and give us a good report, we will go. You know that the 12 spies go in and they see an incredible land. Great clusters that take two men to carry them. Literally, the honey dripping down onto the rocks. The herd so great that it is flowing with milk. So to speak. But they also see walled cities. The Anakims are there, they see giants. And they think that they're grasshoppers in the sight of these people. They come back to the great congregation that is gathered there and they give report back to Moses. Ten of the spies say this, the land is incredible. It is better than Egypt by far. It's amazing what we see in that place. But there are giants there and there are walled cities there. There are obstacles that are too great for us to overcome. It would take unbelievable effort to go in and possess that land. I know that we're in the wilderness. We're grateful that we're out of Egypt. It would be so wonderful to have that land. But listen, the wilderness is easier than possessing the land and it's better than being down in Egypt. Let's just stay here to, of course, say to them, don't don't don't don't hinder the brethren. Don't melt or discourage their hearts. We can do this with God as our help. We can go in and take the land. But you know the story for 40 years, they wander in the wilderness. Grateful to be out of Egypt, but woefully short of what God ever intended for them to have. And it is there that I see us. Mediocre. Status quo. Apathetic. Spending our years on this earth never fully comprehending or enjoying the abundant life that God intended for us to have because it takes deliberate efforts It takes exercise in the gym of the soul. It takes purposeful steps. It takes exerted labor for us to enjoy the abundant life that God has intended for us. We have to let go. We have to begin to trust God. We have to fully surrender to His leading. But if we're going to ever release our grip on this life, If we're ever going to truly let go, we have a great enemy that we must overcome. The enemy that we have to overcome is namely this, self-trust. I trust myself far too much to allow God to have control. What exactly do I mean by self-trust? Simply this, a belief in you. a belief in what you can do, a belief in what your friends tell you about you, and all the best that you may give yourself. One commentator said, self-trust is why we mill around the deep river of God like animals around a watering hole, afraid to go in because we fear the water may be too deep. Why is it that trusting in myself is so wrong? Why is it that living my years on this earth, doing what I can do and achieving my goals and taking control of what I want, why is it so wrong? Because when I follow and heed to my flesh, I am robbing God and I know this, in my flesh, the Bible says, dwelleth no good thing. Think of the moon. If the moon could talk, perhaps he would say, I shine on the earth and every time I'm around, the earth becomes beautiful. If I could talk back to the moon being the bubble buster that I am. I would say, now, hold on a second, Mr. Moon, you are aware that it is not you that shines, are you not? You're fully aware that you are simply reflecting the sun's light, so it's really the sun that shines. Self-trust, being a friend of the moon, would come alongside and say, you be quiet. Moon, you listen to me. You're letting your light shine and you're doing a good job. When you're not up, it's dark. And when you come up, it's truly glowing. You are doing a great job. The moon would never reach an end and say, listen, you're right. The glory belongs to the sun. The only reason I am what I am is because the sun shines and I reflect it out. Self-trust negates our glorifying God as we should. If I am going through this life and I am full of myself, and full of my self-interest and dictated by trusting in what I can do and what I believe to be true about me and what I hear to be true about me, I'm falling woefully short of what God intends and of the abundant life that I can have, because in my flesh dwelleth no good thing whatsoever. I can accomplish and affect nothing. I am merely reflecting the grace of God as it is shined on me. If I get back to our context here in Hebrews 12, I know two simple actions that are called for if I am going to overcome the enemy of self-trust. The first is this. Look unto Jesus. I must look unto Jesus. The term that is used there is to exclusively look at something, to study it intently while consciously looking away from all other distractions. The implication of imitation is involved here. I've got to overcome self-trust. I am going through this life, expending my energy, going through every day with what I can understand. I'm living according to my wisdom. I am living by my agenda and dictated by my priorities. And I am missing out. If I'm to overcome self-trust, I have to take these two practical steps. The first is this. I must begin to imitate Jesus Christ. What does imitating Jesus Christ look like? Paul was writing to the believers at Philippi under house arrest in Rome. Hoping to convince them to imitate Christ, he gave them four commands. He said this, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. He said, in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than himself. He said, look not every man on his own things. And He said, every man look also on the things of others. Did you note what the second command begins with? In lowliness of mind. In lowliness of mind. You want to be like Christ? Begin to think of yourself as lowly. If you want to be like Christ and overcome self-trust, you must begin to deliberately work towards being unselfish. As easy as that is to say, and as lightly as it falls on our ear, it is extremely challenging to fulfill. For the next verses say this, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Can you think for a moment? of what the Lord Jesus Christ did, it is wrapped up perhaps in those three words, He humbled Himself. We are intensely selfish people. If you don't think you are intensely selfish and that it is your nature to want what you want when you want it, take the litmus test of sitting in traffic. Why do you so despise traffic? You are being impeded on your way. I hate red lights. I have a weird fascination with the length of green and red lights. Yellow lights, same everywhere. Green lights, some are far too short and some red lights are ridiculously long. And the ones that affect me to the contrary are everywhere I need to go. I hate going up and down 74. It is a series of obstacles and impediments. It stops me from what I want to do. I do not like it. I don't like lines. I don't like waiting. I don't like other people on planet Earth with me, to be honest with you. I don't want your germs. I hate getting on an elevator. If I'm on the 10th floor and I want to go to the lobby, I do not want to pick you up on 8, and someone else on 6, and then someone else on 4. I need to go from 10 to 1. You stay off till I get off, and then we're OK. I don't want you to touch my food. I do not want you to ride on 485s and clean your windshield when I am behind you. Stop. Wait until no one is behind you to clean your windshield. You're just messing up the car behind you. I want stuff when I want it. Because I matter to me. And if I was honest, I matter to me more than you matter to me. I matter to me so much that God uses self-love as an analogy when he says to the husband, love your wives as you do your own self, because good grief, you love you. And we all do. If we're going to overcome self-trust, we've got to begin to release the selfishness. We've got to begin to imitate Jesus Christ and humble ourselves for the sake of others. If you want to release control, start deliberately taking steps to become unselfish. But not only that, He takes it a step further and He says this, consider Him. Not only look unto Jesus, verse 3 says, consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your mind. Consider him. Study him. Measure yourself against his example. Measure your experience against his experience. The next time you're feeling sorry for yourself, Consider Him. The next time you feel unfairly criticized, consider Him. The next time you are asked to adjust your agenda, consider Him. The next time you have to surrender something familiar or something good, consider Him. Well, what's the benefit to me? The mere fact that you've asked that question is indicative of your problem of self-trust. But there is a benefit to you The benefit to you if you will begin to consider Him and compare your experience against His is you will not grow wearied and you will not become tired as you endure this existence on earth. I must overcome the enemy of self-trust. If I am going to go on into what God has for me, it is wrapped up in one word. It is surrender. Everything, all to God, I give up. If I'm going to do it, the practical steps of looking unto Jesus and imitating Him are going to come into play. Humbleness of mind. Others before me loving you legitimately more than I love me. Deliberate steps towards unselfishness. And then I'm going to begin to compare my circumstances against his. My circumstances and experiences against his. If you steal something, if you alter my agenda, if you step on my toes, I'll consider him. and I won't be tired, and I won't be wearied because I will understand He endured great contradiction of sinners against Himself. So what do I do? If I'm going to overcome self-trust, I'm going to do so by surrendering. Surrendering is one of those words that we use in church. We even sing a song, I surrender all. But I don't know that we fully understand boots on the ground letting go, and allowing God to have control. What do I surrender? The first thing I think of is my possessions. They're His. I don't mean on merely an intellectual level. I mean on a practical level, they are His. Let me share this with you. Father, I want to know Thee, a written prayer said, But my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding. And I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all of those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that thou mayest enter and dwell there without arrival." What does it take to pray that prayer and mean it? He references an inward bleeding. This hurts me to surrender my possessions to you. But if I'm ever going to fully understand and comprehend the abundant life that you desire, if I'm not going to just be happy with being out of the bondage of Egypt, wandering here in the middle in the wilderness, not ever going on, if I'm ever going to go on in and possess all that you have for me, and it's great, it's miraculous, and it's good, I've got to surrender my possessions. They aren't mine, they're His. You say, well, listen, is it wrong to amass possessions? Is it wrong to have wealth? You cannot find in Scripture anywhere where it's wrong to have possessions or amass wealth. It is what possesses you. That's where the sin lies. It is what has stolen, what has controlled your love. Are you willing to legitimately surrender your possessions to his control? What is that besetting sin? That besetting sin is unbelief. I don't know that I trust God enough to let Him really have control, to really let go of my possessions. Second area I see is this, your identity. Stop wrapping up your ego, your self-worth around your role, around your title, around your position, the benefits, the perks, your own importance, your own power, your own security, and place it before God. Find your security. Find your identity. Find your contentment in Him. You say, what do you mean by identity? Surrender it. Surrender it and find utter contentment and identity as a child of God. I'm talking about the hard roles in life. I have watched ministry all of my life. I've been raised in the home of a pastor. I have now pastored for ten years. I say this and I want to mean it. I never want to marry the ministry. I want to have a family. I never want my identity in life to be Pastor Chris Edwards. If the Lord were ever to take me from the pastored, I want to be okay and happy living. I want my identity to be beyond my position. I am a father. that is a role that I cherish. But my identity ought not be father. It ought not be mother. I ought not find all my contentment in my role, in my position, in my place. I have to surrender that identity to God and I have to say, it's all yours. The setting sin of unbelief is not going to dictate me. I find my contentment. I find my identity in you. I do not need to succeed in the eyes of other people. I do not need to live up to their expectations. I do not need to maintain any level of living so that other people will appreciate and respect me. I find my identity and my contentment in you. And that's hard. That's not easy. Relationships fall into that. Sometimes we need to let it go. There are toxic people in our lives and we think to ourselves, if I let this go, I'll be all alone. What are you willing to control and live in the wilderness for? What are you willing to trust Him and surrender and move on into the life that He has intended you to live? I have to be willing to surrender my possessions. I have to be willing to surrender my identity. I have to be willing to surrender my agenda. James 4.13 says this, Go to now, ye that say, today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas, ye know not what shall be on the morrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil." Can you think of that? As plain as that is, all such rejoicing in your boastings of your agenda is evil. Here's what we're going to do. Tomorrow we're going to do this. Next month we're going to do that. Next year we're going to do this. We're going to go to this city. We're going to dwell for a year. We're going to buy. We're going to sell. We're going to gain. James says, as God directed him, stop talking like that. Surrender your agenda to God. But pastor, I am a planner. There is nothing wrong with planning. But you must be malleable. plungible, moldable, teachable, coachable. Your agenda bends to the direction of the Lord. God is known as the Great Rearranger. And He is not obligated to tell you of a coming change in plans. God is the Great Rearranger. And he's not obligated to tell you of a coming change in plans. And my flesh doesn't like that. Hold on, Lord. We knew if we could get to this phase in life, if we could pay off that debt, if we could reach this status, we had plans. Yes, but I'm the great rearranger. And I've never been obligated to tell you when I was going to change gears. I didn't expect surgery. I didn't expect illness. I didn't expect this financial problem. I didn't expect a layoff. I didn't expect any of this right. I am the great rearranger and I am not obligated to tell you of a coming change in plans. Your job is to surrender your agenda to me. I'm falling short of what I should be as a Christian because I trust myself too much. I'm in control. I'm thankful that I'm not in the bondage of sin anymore, but it is so awful hard to go on into that land, into that life that He desires, that abundant life that He desires for me to have. It takes deliberate effort to get there, but I trust myself so much I know what I'm trying to achieve. I know what I'm trying to do. And I know how I want to get there. I think very highly of myself. I am very protective of my endeavors, of my emotions, of my ideas. But if I will look unto Jesus and imitate Him in lowliness of mind, humble myself, Take deliberate steps towards unselfishness. If I will study Him and compare my experiences against His, if I have to alter my agenda, why not take a look at Jesus who left heaven and came to earth for a lowly sinner like me? If I have to deal with hardship, why not open the Gospels and take a look at the Lord Jesus Christ who was buffeted for me, who took stripes and was nailed to a cross on my behalf, why not consider Him who endured all of that? Why not humble myself and overcome the enemy of self-trust and then purposefully begin to surrender, though it may cause some inward bleeding? All of my toys are yours, God, so that there is no rival in my heart for You. My identity, my relationships, I trust You with. My agenda, I acknowledge You are the Great Rearranger. And I acknowledge that You are Sovereign God and do not have to make me aware of any coming change in plans. I surrender all of that to You. Doesn't that sound hard? I want to encourage you with this. Come unto Me, Jesus said, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." One of my great fears in surrendering is this. God's going to make it really hard. But He says, My yoke is easy My burden's light. I'm meek. I'm lowly in heart. Come unto Me. You're carrying so much. Come unto Me. You're bearing up under such a great weight. Come unto Me. You're carrying that burden. Let Me have it, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. Let Him have this stuff. Give it over to Him. You study that word out, casting all your care on Him. It is depicting a deliberate action of taking it off and handing it over. The most perfect visual analogy is wearing a heavy backpack on a hike, getting to a place where you are going to rest, and sliding it off your shoulders and setting it down. Give it to Him. Surrender to Him. That's hard. We're so content to wander in the wilderness. Sometimes we're a little warmer and it's awesome. Most of the time we're a little colder and we wonder what it's all about. Sometimes we're a little holier and we are impressive. Most of the time we're very unholy and we are beaten down by guilt. Sometimes we're really close and sometimes we're really far. We're not back in bondage, but we're not really going on. were so dependent on us. Overcome self-trust. Purposefully surrender. Perhaps you'll be helped by Peter Marshall, who was the late chaplain now of the U.S. Senate. He prayed this prayer, and I think it is helpful. Forgive us, O God, for the doubting suspicion with which we regard the heart of God. We have faith in checks and banks, in trains and airplanes, in cooks and in strangers who drive us in cabs. Forgive us for our stupidity that we have faith in people whom we do not know and are so reluctant to have faith in Thee who knowest us altogether. We are always striving to find a complicated way through life when Thou hast a plan And we refuse to walk in it. So many of our troubles we bring on ourselves. How silly we are. Amen. Would you bow your heads, please, and close your eyes just for a moment? Do you find it easier? To trust. The chef at your favorite restaurant. Then you do God. who is inherently good. Do you find it easier to trust a complete stranger with your life than you do the One who created you and formed you perfectly as you are? Self-trust is so tremendously dangerous. And it's in us. It's in our nature. We want to be in control. We want to be first. We don't like when things change. We don't like hardship. If we could map out our own path, it would be an easy one. But we can't. It's time to go on into what God wants. Inside out. Surrender from the inside out. Two practical things you have to do. You have to imitate Christ in lowliness of mind and humility. You have to consider Him. You have to study Him. You have to compare your experiences against His. When you have to adjust the calendar, consider Him. When somebody says something unfair and unjust, consider Him. If you don't, you're going to wear out. If you don't, you're going to quit. Start to let go. Do your possessions possess you? There's some real inward bleeding to let those things go, but we must. He doesn't intend to hurt us. He is the giver of all good things. Your identity. as wife, as husband, as mother, as father, as boss, as employee, as employer, as Christian, as servant, as teacher, as whatever it is. Are you willing to surrender that? That relationship? That identity? Are you willing to let Him have it? Your agenda? You love to be in control. I know it. So do I. He is the great rearranger. He does not have to tell us of a coming change in plans. Planning is great. Wise strategy is good. But ultimately, we have to let him have control. Whatever it may be this morning, as we have practically established, surrender from the inside out. It may be that God has challenged you. I don't know that. But if He has, your head is bound and your eyes are closed on purpose. It's you talking to God right now with nobody else. I would encourage you to use this invitation to talk to God. In a minute, hundreds of people are going to be going hundreds of directions and you're going to forget what He's taught you from His Word. Seize this moment now. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would take this invitation now as I believe you directed it to end right here. And Lord, I pray that we would surrender to you. We ask that truly from the inside, not just a mental understanding, we would begin to take deliberate steps towards unselfishness. We ask your blessing on this time now and ask that you work in our hearts in Jesus' name. Would you please stand? Just for a moment, your heads are bowed, your eyes are closed. We're going to play a verse of invitation. Talk to God.