Who Rules Your Heart?
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Luke 16:13-18
One of the hardest things for a doctor to do is tell a patient the truth when the patient does not want to hear it.
The patient may want comfort.
The patient may want reassurance.
The patient may want to hear that everything is fine.
But if there is a serious problem, kindness does not hide the truth.
Kindness tells the truth before the problem destroys the person.
That is what Jesus is doing in this passage.
He is not being harsh because He lacks compassion.
He is speaking plainly because He knows what is really happening in the heart.
In Luke 16:1-13, Jesus taught His disciples about stewardship.
He told them that money must be used wisely because life is short and eternity is real.
Then He gave the clear conclusion in verse 13, “No servant can serve two masters.”
That statement exposed the Pharisees.
Verse 14 says, “And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.”
They did not listen humbly.
They did not examine their hearts.
They mocked the Lord.
Why? Because Jesus had touched the idol of their hearts.
They loved money.
They loved their reputation.
They loved being admired by men.
They loved the ability to twist religion so it protected what they wanted.
So Jesus answered them directly.
He exposed divided service.
He exposed self-righteous religion.
He upheld the authority of God’s Word.
He confronted their loose view of marriage.
The passage may seem like several disconnected statements at first.
But there is one clear thread running through it.
Jesus is showing that God must rule the heart, not money, not reputation, not religious pride, and not personal desire.
The question tonight is simple.
Who really rules your heart?
If we are going to follow His steps, we must let Christ rule every part of life.
I. Choose The Right Master
I. Choose The Right Master
Jesus begins by showing that the heart cannot be ruled by two competing authorities, so we must…
A. Reject Divided Service
A. Reject Divided Service
Luke 16:13 says, “No servant can serve two masters.”
Jesus does not say it is difficult.
He says it cannot be done.
A servant could not fully belong to two masters at the same time.
Sooner or later, the commands would conflict.
Sooner or later, loyalty would be tested.
Sooner or later, the servant would have to choose.
Jesus applies that truth directly to the heart.
“Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Mammon refers to wealth, possessions, and the earthly security people try to build apart from God.
Money itself is not evil.
Providing for your family is not evil.
Working hard is not evil.
But money becomes sinful when it becomes master.
Joshua 24:15 —we talked about this verse on Wednesday Evening…
15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
God does not call His people to partial surrender.
God calls His people to choose Him.
A.W. Tozer said, “The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One.”
The Christian who has Christ as his treasure can use money without worshiping money.
He can work without living for work.
This is where the passage presses us personally.
What do I obey when God’s Word and my desires disagree?
What do I protect when obedience to Christ would cost me something?
What do I fear losing more than I fear grieving God?
Those questions reveal the master of the heart.
A divided heart always becomes a defeated heart.
8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Christ calls us away from that divided life.
B. Embrace Devoted Love
B. Embrace Devoted Love
Jesus continues in Luke 16:13, “for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.”
Jesus moves from service to love.
That matters because service is always connected to affection.
What we love most will eventually rule us most.
Matthew 6:21 says,
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Your heart follows what you treasure.
That is why the Pharisees reacted so strongly.
They were not merely disagreeing with a financial principle.
They were defending what they loved.
Verse 14 says they were covetous.
They loved money.
They loved what money gave them.
They loved the respect that came with religious success.
So when Jesus said, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon,” they mocked Him.
A person often mocks what he does not want to obey.
He laughs it off because he does not want to face it.
He criticizes the messenger because he does not want to submit to the message.
The Pharisees did not need more information.
They needed surrendered hearts.
This is a serious warning for religious people.
It is possible to know Bible truth and still love the wrong master.
It is possible to appear respectable before others while secretly being ruled by something besides God.
If Christ is not ruling, something else is.
Romans 12:1 says,
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
The right response to Christ is not partial service.
The right response to Christ is full surrender.
The first step in following Christ is choosing the right Master.
But once Jesus exposes the master of the heart, He also exposes the motives behind religious appearance.
II. Examine The Hidden Heart
II. Examine The Hidden Heart
Jesus now moves from what rules the heart to what God sees in the heart.
A. Refuse Self-Justification
A. Refuse Self-Justification
Luke 16:15 says, “And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts.”
That is a searching statement.
The Pharisees knew how to justify themselves before people.
They knew how to explain themselves.
They knew how to appear righteous.
They knew how to make their actions look spiritual.
But Jesus says, “God knoweth your hearts.”
People see the outside.
God sees the inside.
People hear our words.
God knows our motives.
People may be impressed by what we do.
God knows why we do it.
7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
That means God sees the pride behind the service.
He sees the bitterness behind the smile.
He sees the greed behind the respectability.
He the selfishness behind the spiritual language.
The Pharisees were experts at looking righteous.
But they used religion to impress men rather than to submit to God.
No one ever fools God.
A sincere Christian does not merely want to look clean before others.
He wants to be clean before God.
D.L. Moody said, “Character is what you are in the dark.”
They had appearance.
They did not have surrender.
Before we condemn them too quickly, we need to let this passage search us.
Do I care more about what people think than what God knows?
Jesus says, “God knoweth your hearts.”
That is sobering.
But it is also merciful.
The God who knows the heart is able to cleanse the heart.
B. Reject Man’s Approval
B. Reject Man’s Approval
Luke 16:15 continues, “for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”
That’s a strong statement.
Jesus says there are things people admire that God hates.
The Pharisees valued what men esteemed.
They loved religious status.
They loved public praise.
They loved being viewed as important.
But God saw the pride beneath it.
5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: Though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
Pride is not a small thing to God.
Pride puts self where God belongs.
Pride wants the praise that belongs to God.
Pride uses religion to exalt man instead of glorifying the Lord.
The world often admires what God condemns.
The world admires self-promotion.
God honors humility.
The world admires wealth.
God honors faithfulness.
The world admires image.
God honors truth in the inward parts.
A man once bought an old house that looked beautiful from the road.
The paint was fresh.
The porch was clean.
The windows shined.
But when he walked inside and inspected it closely, he found rot in the beams and damage beneath the floor.
The outside had been painted, but the structure was weak.
That is what self-righteous religion does.
It paints the outside while the heart remains unrepaired.
Jesus is not interested in a painted exterior.
He came to change the heart.
That naturally leads to the authority that reveals and corrects the heart.
If we are going to follow Christ, we must submit to God’s truth instead of reshaping truth to fit ourselves.
III. Submit To Unchanging Truth
III. Submit To Unchanging Truth
Jesus now points them back to the Word they claimed to honor but refused to obey.
A. Receive The Kingdom Message
A. Receive The Kingdom Message
Luke 16:16 says, “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.”
Jesus is describing a major turning point.
The law and the prophets pointed forward.
John the Baptist came as the forerunner.
Now the kingdom of God was being preached openly because the King Himself had come.
Jesus was not rejecting the Old Testament.
He was fulfilling what the Old Testament promised.
39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
The Pharisees claimed to love the Scriptures, but they rejected the Christ of the Scriptures.
They had the Bible in their hands, but not submission in their hearts.
That is a dangerous place to be.
A person can respect the Bible outwardly while resisting its authority personally.
A person can hear preaching week after week and still refuse to bow to Christ.
The phrase “every man presseth into it” shows urgency.
Publicans, sinners, broken people, and needy souls were pressing in.
The very people the Pharisees despised were responding to the message they resisted.
That had happened throughout Luke.
The broken came to Jesus.
The needy came to Jesus.
The sinful came to Jesus.
The proud stood back and criticized Jesus.
That’s a warning.
Pride can keep a religious person farther from God than obvious sin keeps a broken sinner.
6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, Call ye upon him while he is near:
The right response to truth is not delay, it’s surrender.
When God’s Word exposes the heart, do not mock it.
Do not excuse it.
Bow before the King.
B. Rest In God’s Authority
B. Rest In God’s Authority
Luke 16:17 says, “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.”
A tittle was one of the smallest markings in Hebrew writing.
Jesus is emphasizing the permanence and authority of God’s Word.
The smallest part of God’s Word is more stable than the universe itself.
Culture changes.
Feelings change.
Opinions change.
Customs change.
But God’s Word does not change.
8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: But the word of our God shall stand for ever.
The Pharisees had learned how to work around God’s commands.
They had traditions that helped them excuse disobedience.
They could sound biblical while avoiding obedience.
Jesus says God’s Word still stands.
That is needed in every generation.
People still try to adjust the Bible around their desires.
They say, “Surely God understands.”
They say, “Times have changed.”
They say, “That is not practical anymore.”
But none of those statements change what God has said.
That means we do not stand over the Bible as judges.
We stand under the Bible as servants.
We do not bend Scripture to fit our lives.
We bring our lives to fit Scripture.
Jesus now gives one example of how the Pharisees were ignoring God’s standard while claiming to honor God’s law.
He turns to the subject of marriage and divorce.
IV. Honor God’s Holy Design
IV. Honor God’s Holy Design
Jesus now applies God’s unchanging truth to an area where the Pharisees had made room for selfish desire.
A. Respect The Marriage Covenant
A. Respect The Marriage Covenant
Luke 16:18 says, “Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery.”
At first, this verse may seem disconnected from the rest of the passage.
But Jesus is showing how the Pharisees handled God’s law when it touched their personal desires.
Some religious teachers had made divorce far easier than God intended.
They allowed men to put away their wives for shallow and selfish reasons.
They kept a religious appearance while violating the heart of God’s command.
Jesus brings them back to God’s design.
Marriage is not a disposable arrangement.
Marriage is a sacred covenant before God.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
God designed marriage as a covenant of leaving, cleaving, and becoming one flesh.
Jesus is not giving every possible detail about divorce and remarriage in this verse.
Other passages, such as Matthew 19 and 1 Corinthians 7, give additional teaching that must be handled carefully.
But here Jesus is confronting the casual, selfish, man-centered way the Pharisees treated marriage.
They had found ways to make sin look lawful.
Jesus cuts through that and says it is adultery.
That is strong, but it is also loving.
When people loosen God’s Word, people get wounded.
When marriage is treated lightly, spouses are hurt.
Children are hurt.
Homes are damaged.
God’s name is dishonored.
The people of God should honor what God honors.
Some people hear verses like these with pain because their past includes divorce.
The purpose of this sermon is not to crush the repentant.
The grace of God is real.
The forgiveness of God is sufficient.
The blood of Christ cleanses sin.
But grace does not make sin small.
Grace teaches us to honor God’s truth and walk forward in obedience.
B. Resist Selfish Exceptions
B. Resist Selfish Exceptions
Luke 16:18 continues, “and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.”
Jesus exposes how one person’s selfish decision can create a chain of sin and pain.
The Pharisees wanted technical loopholes.
Jesus brought the issue back to righteousness before God.
That is a pattern we must learn from.
Whenever the heart wants its own way, it starts looking for exceptions.
It asks, “How far can I go?”
It asks, “What can I get away with?”
It asks, “How can I make this sound right?”
But a surrendered heart asks a different question.
It asks, “What pleases God?”
10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
That should be the Christian’s desire.
Not what can I justify.
Not what can I explain.
Not what will people accept.
What is acceptable unto the Lord?
That question would change many decisions.
how we handle money.
how we guard our hearts.
how we treat marriage.
how we follow Christ.
God’s truth is not something to use when it supports us and avoid when it confronts us.
God’s truth rules over all of life.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Luke 16:13-18 brings us face to face with the rule of Christ.
Jesus begins with the heart’s master.
He exposes the danger of serving God and mammon.
Then He exposes the Pharisees’ self-justifying religion.
They looked right before men, but God knew their hearts.
Then He upholds the unchanging authority of God’s Word.
Then He applies that authority to marriage, showing that God’s standards cannot be bent around selfish desire.
The whole passage asks one searching question.
Who rules your heart?
If money rules, Christ does not.
If pride rules, Christ does not.
If reputation rules, Christ does not.
If personal desire rules, Christ does not.
The call tonight is not merely to admire Jesus.
The call is to surrender to Jesus.
There is an old account of a missionary named John G. Paton, who left Scotland to take the gospel to the New Hebrides.
Many warned him that he would die there.
One older man warned him about being eaten by cannibals.
Paton answered that whether his body was eaten by worms or cannibals, it would make little difference in the resurrection, but he must obey Christ.
That kind of statement sounds extreme to a comfortable heart.
But it reveals a surrendered heart.
Paton was not ruled by fear.
He was not ruled by comfort.
He was not ruled by public opinion.
He was ruled by Christ.
That is what this passage is calling us to.
Not every Christian will go to a mission field like Paton.
But every Christian must answer the same question.
Who is my Master?
Christ does not ask for a corner of the heart.
He claims the throne.
So tonight, let the Lord search you.
Is there a master competing with Christ?
Is there an affection pulling your heart away from Him?
Is there an area where you care more about appearance than reality?
Is there a place where you are trying to bend God’s Word around your will?
The answer is not to mock the truth like the Pharisees did.
The answer is to bow before Christ.
Ask Him to search your heart.
Ask Him to forgive what He exposes.
Ask Him to rule what you have withheld.
“No servant can serve two masters.”
May we say tonight, with honest and surrendered hearts, “Lord, I choose You.”
