An Incorruptible Crown

Perseverance Conquers All Impediments

R. C. Jette

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781666719703, 9781666719710
• eBook ISBN: 9781666719727
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion, Politics & State

With all the turmoil and unrest in our nation, it seems many have turned our eyes away from the prize we began this race to win. We have forgotten we are not running for a corruptible crown that will fade away. We have forgotten we chose to run this race because we desired to win the incorruptible crown.Our cross of self-denial has become too cumbersome and our race too arduous, too demanding. We have become more concerned with enjoying this life instead of running for the prize of the future. Because we are centered on the now and not the future, we have lost the desire to persevere. As we focus upon this life, we are daily enticed to meander onto the wide and broad path.This book is written to ignite the fire in us to persevere and focus on our eternal glory and not this life. We will be encouraged to keep running as we remember our light afflictions of this life are for a season, whereas winning our incorruptible crown is forever.

Chapter 1

The Cross of Self-Denial

23)And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24)For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. (Luke 9:23 – 24)

BEFORE WE START EXPLAINING the importance of perseverance and its necessity to conquer impediments crucial to receiving an incorruptible crown, we must comprehend what cross we are to carry daily.

Many claim to be carrying our cross because of this or that. We speak about it as if we are some sort of martyr to be praised for such an endeavor. We expect to be applauded for our effort by family, friends, co-workers, etc. We react like the Pharisee in Luke 18:10 – 14 all puffed up in our pride and self-righteousness and ignore our sinful nature. Whereas we need to be the publican who smites our breast at the reality of who and what we really are. We should be grateful for the honor to be his servant taking up our cross.

So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. (Luke 17:10)

No matter what we do for the Lord in obedience to his word, we have done no more than what is our duty to do. Taking up our cross daily is our moral obligation, our responsibility, what is required of us if we are followers of Jesus Christ. Thinking we deserve special honor for being in obedience puts us in the category of the prideful and sanctimonious Pharisee (Luke 18:9 – 14).

Since the creation of man, there have always been extremes. However, our time seems to be the epitome of excesses. Man no longer abides by moral standards that were upheld not too many years ago. Much extremism was kept in restraint, because unrestraint was unacceptable by most.

Today, mankind flaunts sin like a badge or some sort of banner to be proud of. I mean, look at the gay pride parades waving their banner applauding what the Word of God condemns (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13). Sin has been unleashed without restrictions. Corruption, wickedness, evil are so rampant that morality and religion seem to be non-existent at times.

Now, the sad reality in this looseness of restraint is those claiming to be God’s soldiers have joined the depravity. Look around and see some who sit in church on Sunday are living in adultery, fornication, homosexuality, gossip, lying, etc. Many have ceased from being doers of the word, and are content to be hearers only. We are deceived into believing we are following Christ, when we are in stride with the world following the devil.

Denying self and taking up our cross is believed by many to be self-imprisonment. Instead of taking up our cross, we listen to itching ear preachers claiming Jesus denied himself so we do not have to. He desires us to live an abundant life. He wants us to be happy. Denying self is not an abundant life, but one of confinement.

How has this wickedness occurred? Why are many who claim a relationship with Christ living such lives? What happened to holiness, righteousness, and godliness that is supposed to be named among us who name the name of Christ?

The answer is found in our scripture text in Luke. In those verses, Jesus gave the secret or the key to self-deliverance. Sin in our life is the result of self-indulgence. The world has no desire to restrain its fleshly appetites. It has no intention of denying self its lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life to follow Jesus. It has no desire to walk the straight and narrow way to life.

God’s soldiers are supposed to be his followers. However, the lives of many reveal we are not following Christ. Self-indulgence is never the result of pursuing a relationship with the Savior. The only way for us to follow Jesus is to deny self on a daily basis. If we are indulging our flesh (self) we are not following Jesus. If we are in disobedience to his word, we are not following Christ. We cannot claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ when we ignore the Word of God, follow our desires, and give into what our flesh wants and obey it.

God will have no other gods before him (Exodus 20:3). What does that mean? It suggests nothing or no one is to take priority before our worship, obedience, or service to God. If we live in sin of any kind, we have chosen self to be our god. If we love a person who takes precedence over obedience to God’s word, that person is our god. If we choose to defile the temple of the Holy Ghost through drug or alcohol abuse, that substance becomes our god.

If Jesus is our Lord and Savior, we have chosen to believe God’s word, have committed ourselves to follow him no matter the cost to our flesh. This requires a daily self-denial and a willingness to ignore what we want and choose his will. It will be a daily battle to keep the old man dead with Christ.

To take up our cross daily is to expect distressing situations each day because of our fidelity to Christ. Too many Christians are not preparing themselves for daily hardships and when things get tough, we are either the wayside of rejecting God’s word, the stony ground that cannot take the heat of persecution, or we allow the thorns to choke the word because of the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, or the lusts of other things (lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, or the pride of life).

If anything or anyone takes precedence over obedience to God and his word, we are not following Jesus and He is not our God. He showed us how to take up our cross of self-denial. His cross of self-denial has given us the opportunity to be his child. None of us will ever have to carry such a heavy cross. None of us will have to deny self and be separated from God in order to become man’s sin and receive God’s judgment for the sins of others.

17)For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18)While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17 – 18)

As long as God’s soldiers focus upon the temporal or the pleasures of this world, we will never take up our cross of self-denial. We will reject its heaviness, because it restrains, inhibits our flesh.

All that is in this world will one day be no more (2 Peter 3:10). With that reality, we should strive to be holy in conversation and godliness looking for and hasting the coming of the day of God (2 Peter 3:11 – 12).

We must stop living for this world which will burn up. We must grasp whatever impediments needed to persevere in this life are light compared to the glory awaiting us with Christ. Once we comprehend the impediments of this life are but a moment, we choose to focus on the eternal weight of glory. We choose to look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

Our focus veers from the temporal and fixes itself upon the eternal. We concentrate upon our incorruptible crown and eternity with Christ. When that occurs, our mindset is to take up our cross daily no matter how heavy or how painful upon our flesh.

Desiring that crown must be the craving of our life. If it is not, there will be no self-denial. In chapter six, I mention about the self-denial of athletes. Here, I am concerned with clarifying the cross required for God’s soldiers to carry. If we do not deny self and take up our cross daily, we will not receive our incorruptible crown. Only he that overcomes this life will inherit all things and God will be our God and we his child (Revelation 21:7).

Jesus claims if we are to come after him, we must deny self, take up our cross daily, and follow him. Only as we deny self can we obey God’s word and resist the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The cross of self-d...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The Cross of Self-Denial
• Chapter 2: Conquer Selfishness
• Chapter 3: Fire Uncovers Hidden Serpents
• Chapter 4: Deception of Hearing Only
• Chapter 5: Fear Subjugates Faith
• Chapter 6: Perseverance Conquers Weariness
• Chapter 7: Balance the Impediment
• Chapter 8: Follow the Directions
• Chapter 9: The War Within
• Chapter 10: A New Horizon
• Chapter 11: An Incorruptible Crown