Now if you'll take your Bibles
and turn back with me to Matthew chapter 16. I want to talk to
you this morning about this life or that life. This life or that life. I want
to talk to you about the natural and the spiritual. The natural
and the spiritual life as it was and life as it is. The life that we've lived and
the life that we've received from Him by faith and through
regeneration. I read this to you in 1 John
5 a while ago. We know that the Son of God has
come and has given to us an understanding that we may know Him that's true,
that we're in Him that is true. Even in His Son, Jesus Christ,
this is the true God and eternal life. Life. He just keeps referring to this
thing of salvation and faith as life. God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. He that
hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. There is in the scriptures a
distinction made between our existence in this world from
the time of our birth and the life we live having been born
again by the Spirit of the living God. There is a distinction made
in these two lives. And you find it wherever the
gospel is set forth by these men, they set this forth. There
is a distinction. There is a line drawn. There
is a difference made. They hold the one up and they
say this is this and this is this. This is what our Lord is
doing in this chapter with these men. There is a distinction made in this thing of eternal life. Now there's a distinction made
between the moral behavior of believers and that of this world.
And we're taught that in the Word of God. In 1 Corinthians
chapter 6, Paul lists here many examples of how this world lives. Now he's not talking here about
this religious world. Here he's talking about the heathen
world because he's writing to heathens. He's writing to these
Gentile believers. But here in 1 Corinthians, he
lists this list here in chapter 6. And gives these examples of
what it is he's talking about. And here's how he lists them.
Immorality, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, abusers of themselves
with mankind, effeminate, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers,
extortioners, and so on. In 1 Corinthians 6.11, Listen
to this. And such were some of you. Such
were some of you. But you've been washed. But you've been sanctified. But
ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and
by the Spirit of our God. In Ephesians chapter 4, Paul
speaks of the Gentiles who spent their former days walking, he
said, in the vanity of their minds. He said, we don't walk
that way anymore. But that's how you walk, in the
vanity of their minds, having their understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that's in them because of the blindness of their hearts. And
then again, he lists the immorality of their daily lives as examples
of their fallen state before God. He lists these things. And
the list is always the same. I won't bother to bore you with
all the different ways that he does it. He does this in Galatians.
He does it in Ephesians. He does it in Colossians. He
does it in Philippians. He does it all the way through.
All the way through. He tells us and draws a line
of distinction between the moral behavior of believers versus
what they used to be. He said there's a change, a clear
change, a radical change, a turning, a turning about. And he lists
this. But he says here in verse 20
of Ephesians chapter 4, this is not how you learn Christ.
You didn't learn about Christ in the vanity of your minds and
from the traditions of your father. if so be that you've heard him
and have been taught by him as the truth is in him, that you
put off concerning the former behavior, the old man which is
corrupt according to his deceitful love, and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind, and that you put on the new man which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness. There's a distinction
in the moral behavior of all those who are born of God. Is
that clear? I've tried to give you two really
good references here in the Word of God. I don't think anybody
in here doubts that. There's no saved man who lives
his life exactly like he did before he was saved or else he's
not saved. That's clear. There's a distinction
made here. All right. Secondly, and this
is what I hope to kind of zero in on here in Matthew chapter
16 this morning. There is a distinction in the
way a believer lives his remaining days on the earth and how others
live theirs. Well, you say it's the same thing.
No. No, it's not. No, it's not. Let's go back here
and look at our text here in Matthew chapter 16, verse 24. Then said Jesus unto his disciples,
If any man will come after me, that is, follow me in faith,
walk with me, cling to me, see himself united to me, find his
hope in me. If any man follow me, if he come
after me, watch this now, let him deny
himself Deny what? Yes. Yes. You name it. You name it. Let him deny himself. Take up his cross and follow
me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it. And whosoever will lose his life
for my sake will find it. Now let me give you a few things
here and see if the Lord will speak to our hearts and encourage
us with this word of exhortation here in Matthew. Now the first
thing that I think you need to do here, there are some tremendous
things. I was reading Don's book on Matthew and there are some
tremendous things and he names them set forth here. in this
chapter, just tremendous things. He's talking about his second
coming. He's talking about a man's coming to faith and being brought
into the kingdom of God. He's talking about Satan's rule
and reign over this natural world, over this fallen world, and his
power over Satan. He's talking about that blessed
revelation of faith that the Father sends. No man's going
to come to Christ unless he's drawn of the Father, is what
the Scripture says. And that's what our Lord told Peter. He
said, flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you, Peter, but
my Father. My Father. So there's some tremendous
things here. But this text here is about coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now if you think back on the
beginning of this chapter as I read it to you a while ago,
in these first several verses, The Lord talks to His disciples
about the leaven. He's talking to them about the
doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Why would He say that? Because
they still held some honor toward these men. They still wanted
peace with these men. They still sought some kind of
reconciliation between themselves and these men. They wanted some
common ground here. Some common ground. Is that a
bad thing? It can be. It can be. I want
to see men reconciled to God. I don't care if they're religious
or not. I want to see them reconciled to God. But there's a point that
I can't go beyond. And this is the point that Christ
is stressing to them. You'll cross the line if you're
not careful. You beware their doctrine. Beware their doctrine. And the living was their ignorance
and error concerning the righteousness of God that Christ was here both
to accomplish and manifest to chosen sinners. And they wanted
to take these disciples away from that and push them back
to this righteousness that they believed you could obtain by
keeping the law. And this is ever the ignorance
and error of false religion. It's an ignorance of the righteousness
of God as it has to do with His character. His essence, God is
righteous. He is righteous. He's not going
to be anything else. He's not going to compromise
that for any man. And it's also talking about that
righteousness that He demands from you. He demands from you
what He is, a perfection of righteousness. But we can't produce it. We can't
produce it. But he's also telling us about
the righteousness of God in Christ who can produce it. And we're
fighting him on all three sides. We don't want anything to do
with any of them. And that's ever the error of religion. It's
an ignorance of what God demands and an ignorance of what God
demands from us. And it's an ignorance of what
God has provided us in Christ. And it prompted the Lord to ask
this question. He's dealing with him. I asked
him this question. He said, who do men say that
I am? These men, these Pharisees, these
Sadducees, these men out here. You're out here buying meat at
the market. You're out here getting food and supplies and bringing
them back here to me. What are they saying over there?
What's the gossip? Whom do men say that I, the son
of man, am? And, boy, come out a bunch of
answers out of that. But mostly they thought he was
Elijah. Elijah. This prophet in that
last day was supposed to come in the spirit and attitude of
Elijah. They thought Elijah himself was going to appear. And they
thought perhaps this was him. Some say thou art Elijah. Others,
Jeremiah, one of the prophets. Certainly a teacher sent from
God. Even Nicodemus said that. And then he turned to them and
he said, yeah, but who do you say that I am? That's what men
say. Now, what do you see? They saw
in me a teacher. They saw in me a prophet of God.
They saw in me somebody to teach men, somebody to reform men,
somebody to set before men the truth. What do you see? What
do you see? Peter said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Last man in that group you'd
expect to know that, Peter. And he said, Blessed art thou, Simon son of
Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but
my father. And I say unto thee that thou
art Peter. The word is Petros. You know
what Petros means? Piece of a rock. That's what
it means. A little rock. A chip off the
rock. Just a piece of rock. And upon
this rock, that's a different word there. That word is Petra. That means massive rock. Huge rock. He said, I'll build my church
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now, as we've
been going through the book of Ephesians, I've been asked some
questions concerning the Catholics, and I don't know. I wasn't raised
in a Catholic church. I was raised in a Nazarene church,
full of error. So I got online and just read
the fundamental doctrines and beliefs of the Catholics. And
the Catholic church, this was the first thing they had up,
believes that Peter himself is here intended as the rock upon
which God will build his church. And that God, having singled
Peter out, he blessed him with supernatural blessings and set
him above all the other apostles. And then they also took it by
that, that there was going to be a succession of Peter's living
apostles on this earth, which is where the potpourri comes
from, or the man they call the Pope. They're all in succession
from Peter. That's what they believe. And indeed, Peter is a piece
of the rock, and of that rock upon which he himself stood.
And as an apostle of Christ, now here's how Satan works. He's
going to take this man, and there's some truth to what they're saying. There is some truth to it. Because
in Ephesians chapter 2, it said we're built on the foundation
of the apostles and prophets. Peter was an apostle. So there
is a sense in which we are built upon Peter, but he's not the
rock that he's talking about here. He's just a piece of that
rock. Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone,
and Christ alone is that rock. I'm going to give you a couple
of scriptures here that I hope will set you straight if that's
an error to you. But I'm going to give you a couple
of scriptures here, and they're both by this man Peter. I'm saying
this, that Peter understood when the Lord told him what he told
him, he understood what he said. He understood that Christ was
that rock. Now he understood it more fully
after the Lord appeared to him after the resurrection, but he
understood what the Lord said. And in Acts chapter 4, Peter
is here addressing now the Lord's ascended, gone back into glory,
the Holy Spirit's been poured out on the church, his understanding's
been clear as a bell now, and he knows what he's preaching.
And he stands before the hierarchy of the Jews who are forbidding
him to preach and forbidding him to do anything in the name
of this Jesus. He was an imposter to them. They
cast him out. They despised him, rejected him.
And Peter's standing before them and he's going to address them
and listen to what he says. He said, this is the stone. Huh? Here's the rock. Here's the rock. This is the stone which was said
it not of your builders, which is become the head of the corner.
You looked at him, you saw him, you heard him, and you laid him
aside. But God took him and made him
the head of the corner. He's the head of the corner.
Neither is there salvation in any other, for there's none other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
Now turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 2. Now that's what Peter said. This man, he said, Thou art Peter,
and upon this rock will I build my church. Peter understood what
that meant. And when he stood before these
Jews, he preached it. Now watch this. And I'm telling
you this, that this is the issue between God and men, this king
that he set on his hill. He said, this is my king, this
is my rock, my church is going to stand here. Now surrender
to Him. Surrender to Him. Surrender to Him. Follow Him. In Him is everything good. In
Him is everything that God has purposed to give to all those
that believe. Now listen to this here in 1
Peter 2. Let's go all the way back up to verse 1. Wherefore,
now if you'll look just a few verses up above that, you'll
see what he's referring to there. He's talking about being born
again. Born again by the Word of God, that Word which is preached
unto you. Wherefore, laying aside all malice
and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and evil speaking,
As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may
grow thereby, if so be you've tasted that the Lord is gracious."
Now listen, to whom coming? Ain't that what the Lord's talking
about over in Matthew chapter 16? Man coming after Him. To whom coming? As unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
And ye also, as living stones, little rocks, are built up a
spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the Scripture, that is, it was already talked about in the
Old Testament, already declared to you. Behold, I lay in Zion,
I lay in my church, a chief cornerstone, elect, precious. He that believeth
on him shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense,
even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient. whereunto
also they were appointed. But gee, he said, verse 9, are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
peculiar people. Now listen close. that you should
show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people,
but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained mercy." I'm telling you this, that this
book knows nothing about an insurance policy that you can have by accepting
Jesus as your personal savior. It knows nothing about that.
It never speaks of that. It doesn't even hint at anything
like that. This book knows nothing about
a worldly reformer whose only intention is to get you to live
a better life on this earth. He said if you pamper this life,
if you try to save this life, you'll lose the life that I'm
talking about. There's two lives here and these lives are contrary,
the one to the other. There's a line of distinction
made here. This book knows nothing about
a teacher coming into this world to reform it. What this book
does declare is that the Christ of God, the Lord of the dead
and the living, the Savior of His people, this eternal, sovereign,
omnipotent Christ is all. He's all. Savior of lost sinners. Now listen to how God the Holy
Spirit describes him. Describes this man through whom
God will speak in these last days. You can find this in Hebrews
chapter 1. I'm just going to kind of go
through here and just give you how he describes. Before he ever
gets into what he's going to say, he begins to describe this
one through whom he's going to speak. Now He spoke to our fathers
in all kinds of different ways, in dreams and visions and pre-incarnate
pictures of Christ who came like He did in the smoke that they
saw, and the angels sending up the smoke, and all kinds of pre-incarnate
appearances of Christ in the Old Testament. He spoke to our
fathers through the prophets. But in this last days, He's got
nothing to say to you outside of Christ. That's it. And He
came and He appeared and He walked among men and He was a servant
and He accomplished this redemption. He accomplished all these things
and died and God declared that He accepted everything that He
did as our representative when He raised Him from the dead.
Now that's where it's at. It's not in religion. It's in
this man. That's what Christ is telling
His disciples. Whom do men say that I am? I'm
the issue. Not bread. I'm the issue. You may suffer in this life.
Peter didn't want to suffer. The Lord began to tell him, I've
got to go to Jerusalem, and I'm going to suffer many things,
and I'm going to die. Peter said, oh, no. Why did he
say that? Because he saw his own life in
ruin. That's right. Well, he sacrificed
everything to follow this man. He looked down on by his own
brothers and sisters because of this man. These Jews have
become his enemies because of this man. And now he's going
to die? What's going to ruin my life? He probably will. Probably
will. Oh, I'll tell you this. What this book declares is the
Christ of God. And listen to how he describes
him here in Hebrews chapter 1. He said, this is my son. Boy,
that ought to be enough right there, shouldn't it? This is
the Son of God. Those Hebrews picked up rocks. Now, they didn't stone people
with pebbles. They had rocks like this, a little smaller than
a coconut. And they buried you. They just
kept throwing them until you was buried, until they couldn't
even see you anymore. They picked up rocks to stone
him. Why? Because he said, I'm the Son
of God. Huh? Now, that's who God says
He's going to speak through in these last days. This is my Son. This is my Son, says the Father
to all who can hear Him. This is He whom I've appointed,
listen, heir of the world. Heir of the world, this is my
Son by whom I created all things. He's the brightness of my glory
and the express image of my person. And He is of my appointment,
one who holds all things together by the word of His power, brings
all things to pass by the word of His power. And He is He that
by Himself purged our sins, all the sins of God's elect, and
having defeated all His enemies, sat down at the right hand of
God, expecting till they be made His footstool. And He said, Because
of these things I have given Him a name above every name.
I have exalted Him above the angels, above men, above all
things. I have given Him the preeminence,
and I have set Him here for the salvation of your souls. Now
you hear him. You hear him. That's who he is. Peter said, thou art the Christ.
He didn't fully understand what he said, did he? Uh-uh. And we
don't either. But it didn't take him long to
learn. And boy, when he did, I tell you, Peter stood up and
every time that man stood up in a book of Acts, he took him
to the rock. Here's the rock. This is the
rock. You stand on the rock or the
rock will crush you. Shame on you if the rock falls
on you. You better fall on him. You better
just rest in him. I'm going to tell you something.
Either this is so or we're all idolaters. Let that sink in. Either this
is so or we're all idolaters and liars against God. This is God's book. This is God's
Word. Now it either means what it says
or it don't. If it don't mean what it says, why do we read
it? Why do we keep it? Let's just burn them and get
rid of them. If all it's going to do is cause
confusion, if all it's going to do, and it has no bearing
because it's not really the Word of God, Either it's so, or we're all
idolaters. You see what I'm saying? That's
what our Lord... He's bringing these men back
to this issue between God and men. He's bringing Him back to
God's... The fullness of God's purpose
of grace is in this man. Now what think ye of Christ?
That's what He's saying. Whom do men say that I am? Who
do you say I am? Huh? Oh... A man or woman who comes to see
Him by the revelation of God is a man truly blessed of God. And this man, as he sees the
glory of Christ, becomes acutely aware that all that he called
life is just death and darkness. Now, you can't see His glory
and still find glory in this life. You can't do it. You can't
see Him as the Father's only begotten Son as the focal point
of everything that God purposed to do in this world and then
see this world and love this world. You can't do it. You can't
fall down at His feet and beg for His mercy and find mercy
in Him and then go back and walk according to the dictates of
the God of this world. There is a line of distinction
here. There is a life given, imparted to men through the gospel
And it's those who have been regenerated by God and been given
eyes to see and ears to hear, they see this glory. Yet they
couldn't help but see Him. He gives them eyes and here it
is. It fills the universe. It fills time. It fills eternity. Christ is all. And everything
else is death. Just death. It's this glorious enthroned
Christ that appears to us. And as He appears in the Gospel,
we begin to see things as they are. Huh? And as we do, we see the beauty
and the pleasures and the relationships of this world for what they are under the curse of God. What am I saying? I'm saying
that it's the glory of God in Christ that sanctifies the life. That's how it's known. How do
I know if I have eternal life? Because when you have eternal
life, it sanctifies the life you live. It dictates it. It takes it over. It runs the
show. Now, I'm just not talking here
about a moral reform. Certainly, that's included. But
I'm talking about a life surrendered to Christ. A life that denies
itself. He that cometh after me said,
let him deny himself. Deny himself what? Everything.
Everything. It denies itself. It's a life
that does not consider what it does by if it prolongs
this life a little bit. or pleases or makes you comfortable. That's not even in the consideration.
I want to be comfortable, but not when it comes to these things.
If I got to give something up, let me give up the comfort. I
don't want to give this up. I don't want to suffer, do you?
I don't know anybody that wants to suffer. But if it comes to
this stuff, I hope and pray that this is the truth. I'd rather
suffer than part with this. You see what I'm saying here?
Peter heard the Lord talk about going to Jerusalem and suffering
and dying, and he said, oh no, let's don't do this. Let's don't
do this. And this is how Satan works.
This is how his deceit works. He twists things out of shape.
He hides the truth. He hides what's being said. And
he does it through the ideas and false preaching of men who
try to apply the spiritual to the natural. This life into which
we've been born, this world in which we live, it's cursed of
God. He's going to burn it up. The only reason this world is
being, you can read about it over in 2 Peter, it's being kept
in store, reserved under fire. It's firewood. It's kindling.
And God's keeping it. Why? Because He's fulfilling
a purpose here. When it's over, this world's
gone. Gone. Satan is the god of this world.
He's the prince of the power of the air. He is that spirit,
Paul said, that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
That's the course of this world, and we are by our father Adam
children of wrath even as others. This wrath abides on us. Matthew
16 is not setting a condition before us to obtain by works.
He's declaring to us the truth of regeneration and conversion.
This is how it is. That's how it is. Do we see all
these things all at once? Oh, no. No, no. Peter didn't
see them. He grabbed the Lord by the hand
and said, Oh, no, no, no, no. Begin to rebuke the Lord two
minutes after his confession. And so do we. But as this faith begins to grow,
as this faith begins to to be substantiated and grounded in
Christ. And that faith begins to see.
The more it sees of the glory of Christ, the less it sees of
this world. The more it considers of Christ,
the less it considers the outcome of this world. If I make my decision Decisions on where do I go to
worship? What should I believe? What should I not believe? Where should I live? How to make a living? How much
to give? how to treat others, decisions.
If I make my decisions based on how these things affect my
life here on this earth, if I do that, I'm going to lose this
life. In fact, I am losing this life if I do these things. If I can't go to church where
I know the gospel is being preached in order to keep peace at home,
I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. If I compromise
where I go to hear the gospel to please my wife, or please
my children, or please my father, I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. If I can't go worship God in order to try to keep peace
in my family, I'm in trouble. If anything has to do with this
living out my days in the light of God's accomplished redemption
and glory in Christ, and it has its bearing on this world and
this life, then I'm losing this life that He's setting forth
before me in the Scriptures. Because everything to do with
this life is seated in glory. It's not here. This whole thing
down here is nothing in the world but a mirage. That's all it is.
It's just here for a second and vanishes. It's gone. It's gone. Oh, I tell you, anything that
has to do with living out my days in this life, if it's the
comfort of it or the pampering of it or the peace of it or the
friendship of it, I'm in trouble. Because James said that the friendship
of this world is enmity with God. How do I make my decision? We're
going to make them. You're going to get up tomorrow
morning and you're going to begin your week making decisions. How
do I make these decisions? It better be based on this. That's
what it better be. or you don't know him. You can't
know him and his glory. This is the central focal point
of eternity. And I'm over here making decisions
on my wife who's going to die in a few years or I'm going to
die before she does. Either way it doesn't make any
difference. I'm over here trying to make
eternal decisions based on a relationship that's going to disappear in
a few years. or all my friends and family
that can't stand to hear the truth. But in order to keep peace
in the family, I'll just go here. You better not. You better not. James said, the friendship of
this world, whether it's brother, sister, mother, father, I don't
care who it is, the friendship of this world is enmity with
God. If any man loveth father, mother,
sister, brother more than me, he's not worthy of me, Christ
said. And it's an utter impossibility
to see the glory of God in Christ and not see the corruption and
curse of this world. You just haven't seen it yet.
When you do, you'll turn it loose. You'll turn it loose. You know, I was down in Louisiana
years ago. And there's a little seafood
restaurant down there. My wife and I was in there one
evening eating. And there was this cutest little
boy, I don't know how old he was, I'm just guessing about
four years old or so. Might not even been that old,
probably about two years old. And they got these little half
ears of corn in a stick and they boiled them in this spiced butter.
And this little boy had that ear of corn and he was working
it over. I mean he had chewed on this
thing till there was nothing left but the cob and he was still
getting that juice out of that cob. And it was cold and it was
getting time to go, and they were trying to get his coat on
him, but he wouldn't turn loose of this ear of corn. Just, boy,
he hung on that ear of corn, both hands, and they tried to
get away from him. He'd scream at the top of his lungs. Everybody
in the restaurant looked, you know, and then they'd quiet down.
They tried to reason with him. They tried to talk with him.
They tried everything, and this little boy just had that ear
of corn, and by now, he's red in the face and sobbing, and
he ain't turning loose of this ear of corn. He'd rather be beat
to death, turning loose of that corn. So finally, the owner of
the restaurant comes over and he said, I think I can help you
if you don't mind. And I said, we've tried everything.
Go ahead. He pulled out a Hershey bar. That little kid dropped
that corn on the table and reached for that Hershey bar. That's
what I'm trying to prove. When does a man consider these
things as nothing? When does he see this? When he
sees something better. When he sees something better.
And Christ is something better. You go through that book of Hebrews
where he makes these declarations up front about his son, and he
just keeps telling you he's better than the angels, he's better
than the old priesthood, he's better than the law, he's better
than all of these things, all of the kings put together. He's
better, he's better, he's better. It's a better covenant. He's
the surety of a better covenant. He's a better sacrifice. By one
sacrifice, he'd put away sin forever. When are we going to turn loose?
When we see something better. That's what I'm trying to preach
here. Something better. This Christ. This Christ of God. Father, I thank you for the Word.
How clear it is. How instructive it is. How it distinguishes. How it
draws the line. How it separates. Father, if you will this morning,
be pleased to open some eyes, open some hearts. Cause us to
see these things, cause us to see these little pitiful lives
that we live on this earth. How pitiful they are apart from
this glorious person and work of Christ. But how glorious they
are and how we ought to live them out all the rest of the
days of our lives in the light of this redemptive glory. Let
us give ourselves to it, for Christ's sake. Amen.