Heaven to Gain
Notes
Transcript
Preliminary -
Preliminary -
Invite to Matthew 16.
Thanks
Matthew 16:21.
At Sunday school they were teaching how God created everything, including human beings. Little Johnny, a child in the kindergarten class, seemed especially intent when they told him how Eve was created out of one of Adam’s ribs. Later in the week his mother noticed him lying down as though he were ill, and said, “Johnny, what’s the matter?”
Johnny said, “I don’t feel well, I think I’m having a wife.”
Sometimes what we think isn’t real or even make sense - our anxieties and fears have a way of making things make sense that aren’t even real -
In our passage this morning Jesus shares with us the logical way to live
Read: Matthew 16:24-28
24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
Introduction:
Introduction:
We sometimes sing the little chorus - “I have decided to follow Jesus” without much thought - oh I think we are sincere and as meaningful as we can be - but Bro. Darrell Stettler shared at OYC some of the history of the song
About 150 years ago, there was a great revival in Wales. As a result of this, many missionaries came to north-east India to spread the Gospel. To a an area comprised of hundreds of tribes who were primitive and aggressive head-hunters
Into these hostile and aggressive communities, came a group of missionaries spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Naturally, they were not welcomed.
One missionary succeeded in converting a man, his wife, and two children. This man’s faith proved contagious and many villagers began to accept Christianity.
Angry, the village chief summoned all the villagers. He then called the family who had first converted to renounce their faith in public or face execution. Moved by the Holy Spirit, the man said:
“I have decided to follow Jesus.”
Enraged at the refusal of the man, the chief ordered his archers to arrow down the two children. As both boys lay dying on the floor, the chief asked, “Will you deny your faith? You have lost both your children. You will lose your wife too.”
But the man replied:
“Though no one joins me, still I will follow.”
The chief was beside himself with fury and ordered his wife to be arrowed down. In a moment she joined her two children in death. Now he asked for the last time, “I will give you one more opportunity to deny your faith and live.” In the face of death the man said the final memorable lines:
“The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back.”
He was shot dead like the rest of his family. But with their deaths, a miracle took place. The chief who had ordered the killings was moved by the faith of the man. He wondered, “Why should this man, his wife and two children die for a Man who lived in a far-away land on another continent some 2,000 years ago? There must be some remarkable power behind the family’s faith, and I too want to taste that faith.”
In a spontaneous confession of faith, he declared, “I too belong to Jesus Christ!” When the crowd heard this from the mouth of their chief, the whole village accepted Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
The song is based on the last words of the dying Indian martyr.
Jesus has just talked about the passion prediction - how he was going to the cross (Mt. 16:21-23)
Now he gives the way of discipleship. It demands a willingness to deny themselves absolutely, a death to self, but it promises and assures us of the reward of such a decision.
Two points I see Jesus trying to make in this passage:
1. Death to self - a Characteristic of Christianity (Matthew 16:24)
1. Death to self - a Characteristic of Christianity (Matthew 16:24)
Did you know follow me was the first and last thing Jesus says to Peter - It is the beginning and end of everything in our walk with Christ.
This verse is prefaced with an “if” a condition - a choice - a voluntary action - If we are going to follow Christ - there is something that has to be done.
Deny self - this doesn’t mean denial of our needs of food, water, clothing or shelter (although one may fast in a devotional way these things)
There is a great difference between denying yourself things and denying yourself. - Adrian Rogers
It means to denounce or disowning oneself to disregard our wants and desires - say no to yourself, to pay no attention to, to refuse to accept - In an idiomatic way you might say, “to refuse to pay attention to what one’s own desires are saying” or even to say to one’s heart, “keep quiet”
The modern idea is “the heart wants what the heart wants” - that is true but if we are going to follow Christ - if we are going to gain eternal life- we have to deny ourselves when faced with wants and desires that don’t agree with what Christ has in mind for us. We say “NO” to our want and desire and “YES” to HIS!!!
Death to Self - Taking up the cross -
Those who heard Jesus at this time would have understood that those condemned to execution by the cross where often forced to carry that cross or at least part of the cross to the spot of death. That is what the idea of taking up our cross means - a total denial of self - because we are now Christs - a death to self because we will lose ourselves and find it in HIM!!!
God will not superimpose the Mighty, dynamic Holy Spirit over your old self life!!!
You deny Christ when you fail to deny yourself for Christ. Anonymous
Death to self is not just a prerequisite of discipleship or relationship to Jesus - it is a continuing characteristic.
Luke 9:23 “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.”
300 Quotations for Preachers Lovers of the Kingdom, Not the Cross
Jesus always has many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross.
THOMAS À KEMPIS*
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 958 Epigram on Cross-Bearing
There are no crownwearers in Heaven that were not crossbearers here below.
—Spurgeon
Not just a denial, not just a death to self - but a following of Christ
To follow means to be on the same path, to come behind, to obey, to accompany - it has a behavioral significance - to behave in agreement with or in accordance with.
Salvation is God’s gift to us because Jesus died for us on the cross. Discipleship is our gift to Him as we take up our cross, die to self, and follow the Lord in everything.
Following
28 Following Jesus simply means learning from him how to arrange my life around activities that enable me to live in the fruit of the Spirit.
John OrtbergnThe Life You’ve Always Wanted (2002)
Not only is death to self a characteristic of Christianity but there is also a ...
2. Deal-breaking Reality Check (Mt. 16:25-26)
2. Deal-breaking Reality Check (Mt. 16:25-26)
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
More conditional statements of reality - or reasons for taking your cross
If we attempt to save our life - by living out what we want - if we live for self, to please our appetites and desires, what we want to do, our ambitions, plans and wishes. If we do things “MY WAY” we will lose it all
People will go to great and sometimes foolish lengths to find their inner self.
You maybe heard about the lady who said, “I finally got a hold of my inner self and she’s just a confused as I am!”
If we give it all to God - we gain it all - we win everything - blessings beyond compare and imagination
It’s a double paradox - “Self-preservation leads to self-destruction and self-denial leads to self-fulfillment”
The Gaither’s wrote that beautiful song:
1. I had won all I could win, there was no place I hadn't been
But my heart was so needy and so poor
Then, I heard Him gently say, "Lose it all and find my way."
So, I gave it up, and found it all and more
Chorus:
I lost it all, to find everything, I died a pauper, to become a king
When I learned how to lose, I found out how to win
Oh, I lost it all to find everything
2. I was frantic to survive, I was racing to arrive
And I walked on, any standing in my way
Then, I watched my schemes all die and realized that I
Could find new life, because the old had died that day
Is anything worth more than your soul? - To gain the world but to lose your soul -
Consequential reflection of Compensation (Mt 16:27)
There is the current compensation 2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
The more we follow Jesus and look to Him the more we should resemble Him.
The eschatological compensation
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
Not just Jesus’ example do we follow but the incentive of the judgment
He comes with glory - the glory of the Father -
He comes with his angels -
The same one we serve if we deny, die, and follow Him - will return to receive us to HIMSELF and to reward.
George a young 21 year old Wesleyan Methodist minister’s son was working for the Mutual Insurance Company of New York. Fred Allen a well known host of a coast-to-coast radio talent show learned that George liked to sing and had him come to the station for an audition. A few weeks later the young man sang “Go Down Moses” to a nationwide audience. He lost the contest to a yodeler, but still had a taste of fame.
Shortly after George sat down at his mother’s organ to practice for church. His eyes fell on a clipping his mom had left there. As he read the words they reasonated with his soul and a melody came to him and he began to play.
His mother came in from doing the dishes and George Beverly Shea began to play and sing
“I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause
I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame
I’d rather be true to His holy name
Chorus -
Than to be the king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin’s dread sway
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
Call to Action:
Call to Action:
Today we are faced with the same choices and decisions - am I going to live for myself - am I going to do what I want to do or am I going to give that all up to Follow Christ and find true self and true reality, and true reward, and true contentment and happiness?
Stand and sing this with me if you mean to follow Christ
I have made my choice forever,
“Twixt this world and God’s dear Son
Naught can change my mind, no, never,
He my heart has fully won,
Take this world, with all its pleasures,
Take them, take them, great and small
Give me Christ, my precious Savior,
He is sweeter than them all
Chorus -
Sweeter, sweeter than them all,
Sweeter, sweeter than them all,
Give me Christ, my precious Savior
He is sweeter than them all