Journey Through Matthew: Who Owns Your Heart?
Journey Through Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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· 4 viewsMany people will sell their soul to the devil for the temporary pleasures of this world. What is worse is they will deceive themselves into thinking they are Christians because of things like church attendance and good deeds, while all the time they are refusing to give all to Christ.
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning and welcome back!
Happy Sunday Morning!
This morning we are going to continue with our Journey Through Matthew, finishing up chapter 16.
And this passage is probably one of my favorite in all of the New Testament because it really gets to the heart of Christianity.
And for reference, in a few minutes I will be reading from and what we are going to be talking about is our heart and our soul.
I titled the Message, Who Own’s Your Heart?
And the reason behind that is because whoever owns your heart owns your soul, your dedication.
They are the one you will serve with all your might.
And of course in the church we want the answer to that question to be God.
And I think that many of us would probably answer that way, so long as we are in the church house.
But what you say in here doesn’t matter nearly as much as what you do out there.
Because we can say all sorts of things while we are around “church people,” but what about when we are around other people?
What about when we are all by ourselves?
When nobody is looking?
What is in our minds?
What consumes our thoughts?
What drives our actions?
Those are the things that really answer the question about who owns our hearts.
And that is what we are really going to be getting into this morning.
Jesus has already had a time with the Pharisees and Sadducees once again demanding a sign.
And once again Jesus having to rebuke them.
And then we saw last Sunday night Jesus’ instructions to his disciples about his true nature and how it is vitally important that our understanding of Jesus’ nature being something implanted in us by God and not humans.
And we also learned about the importance of being aware of the Holy Spirit’s teaching and direction, not getting distracted and pulled aside by the yeast of the world.
That tries so hard to work its way into the pure dough of God’s Word.
All of that leading up to Jesus’ teaching to his disciples, and to us this morning.
So, if you have found in your Bibles, I’d invite you to stand as you are able, as we look at Who Owns Your Heart?
Matthew writes . . . .
Scripture Focus
Scripture Focus
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Get Behind Me Satan (Vs 21-23)
Get Behind Me Satan (Vs 21-23)
So, here we find Jesus and his disciples now fully engaged in what is to come.
Jesus has helped them establish their firm belief in Him as the Messiah, the Son of God.
And he did so, knowing what was about to come.
Matthew tells us again that …
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Matthew 16:21
So, it was very, very important that the disciples had a firm understanding and a firm belief regarding just who Jesus is.
Because, like we talked about last week, if they did not believe IN THEIR HEART, the truth about Jesus, then everything from this point forward would have ended them as disciples.
Jesus knew what was in his future and he knew what the disciples were going to face, in the immediate future and even in their distant future.
And they had to be prepared for it.
And all the things they had endured up to this point, as disciples, and just as people in general was in preparation for the next thing.
Because as life goes on, it seems as the things we endure get harder and harder.
And to be honest, if we don’t have a firm foundation, it is really hard to make it.
It’s hard enough to make it, but without any foundation, it is impossible.
And Jesus is trying to show the disciples (and us) that our foundation should be on the Rock, which is Him.
Because remember if our foundation is on Christ, then nothing can overcome us.
As hard as it gets, if God is with us, then we can make it through whatever it is.
And what Jesus is telling them here is that things are going to get pretty bad.
When they get to Jerusalem, Jesus will be arrested.
Jesus will be tortured and beaten.
Jesus will be hung on a cross.
Jesus will be murdered.
The disciples will be scared.
The disciples will run away.
Peter, will deny Christ.
But hope is not lost, because on the third day Jesus will be raised to life.
And that defeats all enemies of God.
And if our hope is in Christ, the same holds true for us.
We will all go into the grave one day, but in Christ, we will be raised again.
Raised to eternal life.
However, Peter didn’t quite like what he was hearing, so he is going to straighten the Lord out.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
And we have to think about where Peter is coming from and his perspective on things.
Jesus has just praised Peter and made him feel pretty good about himself.
And in Peter’s mind he is showing his dedication to the Lord and declaring that he (Peter) will protect Jesus to the end.
Which Jesus knows better, but also Jesus sees Satan at work, trying to tempt him into not fulfilling what the Father had called him to do.
It would have been real easy to gather up a bunch of swords and fight because Jesus had a great following.
It would have been real easy to go and hide away somewhere in Egypt.
It would have been real easy to call down legions of angels and wipe out every Pharisee and Sadducee there was.
But this was not God’s plan.
This was not what had to come to pass.
And Jesus being in tune with things calls Satan out . . .
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
And even though Jesus was speaking to Peter.
He was actually speaking through Peter to the spirit that was influencing Peter.
And we need to learn to do the same thing.
Ever wonder why people who are generally good sometimes do weird or sinful things?
Well, its because we are humans in the flesh and we are subject to the influence of the enemy.
Now, Satan cannot force us to do anything, but he can sure tempt us to.
And we had better be on our guard against it.
And if we happen to be on the receiving end of the attack, we should learn to look past the person and see the devil that is behind the actions.
And when we can, we can appropriately call out the devil and know what’s going on.
2/3 of defeating your enemy is knowing your enemies tactics and recognizing them.
Then you can employ the weapons of warfare.
Denying Self (Vs 24-28)
Denying Self (Vs 24-28)
But here’s the thing, that’s only done when we are in tune with God.
And we can only be in tune with God when we are under submission to the Holy Spirit in our lives.
And Jesus tells us how we get there.
Matthew writes in verse 24 . . .
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
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And I actually prefer Luke’s account a bit better because it really gets to the heart of what Jesus is talking about here.
Luke actually writes . . .
23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
And notice the key difference here is the word “daily,” which is very important.
So many people and so many times we get into this mindset that following Jesus is a one time decision or a one time thing we do on the altar.
We come, pray, ask forgiveness and then that’s all there is too it.
Which the reality actually is that this could be no further from the truth.
When we decide to give ourselves to Christ, that means that we are deciding to not only trust Jesus to forgive us of our sins and grant us entry into heaven;
But also it means that we are deciding to allow Jesus to be in control of our lives.
He is our Savior, but He is also supposed to be our Lord or our Master.
Accepting Jesus is supposed to be a transformational event that starts us along the path of complete and total transformation, inside and out.
But the problem for so many is that they want the instant relief of salvation but do not want the lifelong walk of Christianity.
Which is why we see so many people wavering back and forth, tossed to and fro as Paul puts it.
And the reality is, the Christian walk is not easy, especially with all the tugs and pulls of the world around us.
Which is exactly why it must be a daily walk and a daily decision to follow Jesus Christ.
And each and every day we have to make decisions.
Matthew actually writes that . . .
25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
And Jesus is not talking about our physical lives, but rather our Spiritual lives, our Eternal life.
And what he is saying is that if we spend all our time and all our energy chasing after the world and the things of the world, enhancing or saving our own lives here, then we will end up wandering away forfeiting our enteral life.
However, if we pus the things of the world aside and focus on Christ and the direction Christ is taking us, sure we will endure hardships but our eternity will be secure.
It is secure because we are focused on God and God’s will, which in turn keeps us on the right path.
See, when God is directing things the path is straight and narrow and we stay on it.
When we are directing things the path is wide and windy and we are constantly running off into the ditch.
It is all about the daily decision as to whether we are going to follow Jesus today or not.
And it is a decision we make every day, many times a day.
Jesus goes on to explain . . .
26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
Matthew 16:
What good are the things of the world?
What purpose do they serve in eternity?
None, whatsoever.
And finally, Jesus warns them all and us about coming judgement . . .
27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Matthew 16:
Altar Call
Altar Call
Which is actually another thing that many people do not realize.
They don’t realize that the end is coming.
That Jesus is coming.
That Judgement is coming.
That rewards and punishment is coming.
And we put it out of our mind because we are solely focused on the Second Coming of Jesus.
And we should be focused on that, but there is an end that has come for many much quicker.
What if Jesus doesn’t come back in the next 10, 20, 30 years?
Will you still be alive?
Maybe, but maybe not.
The point is all our end is coming one way or another, are we prepared?
Have we put our faith in Jesus?
Are we following Jesus?
Are we willing to take up our cross daily and follow him?
Are we willing to lay down our lives, our wants, our desires for His will?
Are we willing to live the Christian life or do we just say the words?
Words are cheap, but actions speak louder than words.
What is the Holy Spirit telling you this morning?
What actions does He want you to take?
Are you willing to do it?
The altars are available, will you use them today?