[0:00] I greet you in the name of Jesus this morning. It is good to be here.! It has been good to be here. And you can turn to Matthew chapter 22.
[0:27] Matthew chapter 22. I want to read verse 37 to 40.
[0:39] And then we will go from there. But, you know, the Pharisees, they had a lawyer that asked Jesus a question tempting him and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
[1:06] Jesus said unto him, And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind.
[1:19] This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
[1:36] You know, Jesus answered that question that day. And after he answered it, they could not find any fault with him. That was why they asked that question.
[1:48] They thought they could find some fault in him. You know, today, I want to ask the question, Do we love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our minds?
[2:08] Or do we have a divided heart? What is meant by loving the Lord with all our hearts?
[2:21] You know, we sang a song. It was very, it's a very challenging song.
[2:33] It was very fitting. Number 397, Take my life and let it be. Consecrated, Lord, to thee.
[2:45] Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee.
[2:57] Take my voice and let me sing. Always only for my king. You know, and that's a phrase that goes through my mind a lot.
[3:13] Always only for my king. You know, the words we say, the songs we sing, The things we listen to. Does it bring glory to God?
[3:26] Is it always only for the king? Take my silver and my gold. Not a mite would I withhold. Take my moments and my days.
[3:38] Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my will and make it thine. It shall be no longer mine.
[3:49] Take my heart, it is thine own. It shall be thy royal throne. Take my love, my Lord, I pour. At thy feet its treasure store.
[4:03] Take myself and I will be ever only all for thee. Lord, I give my life to thee. Thine forevermore to be.
[4:16] You know, we sang this song this morning. Is that our heart? Is that really where we are at?
[4:34] Take my will and make it thine. We'll be talking about the will here in a little bit. Take my heart.
[4:45] Take my love. Have we given ourselves to him in that way? Or are we, is our heart divided?
[4:58] Is our heart 100% for our Lord Jesus? So Jesus said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
[5:14] How do we know if we love the Lord with all our heart? You know, we hear much about love in our society.
[5:25] But let me, let me talk about that little word love a little bit. You know, there's at least two different kinds of love.
[5:38] And the one is an emotional thing. It's a feeling. And, you know, I've heard people say that, you know, they want to get a divorce because I just don't love her anymore.
[5:56] You know, the emotional kind of love will not last. If it's built on emotions, if it's built on feelings, that kind of love will not last.
[6:09] But there is another kind of love. And that love is the love that we decide with our will, our mind. That we will love a person.
[6:23] We will love a thing. We will love our God. And that is the love that we're talking about here.
[6:34] Is that we decide with our will. Remember that song said, take my will. Take my will. Is our will surrendered to the Lord Jesus?
[6:47] Have we given him our will? You know, there's a verse that says that he works in us to will and to do his good pleasure.
[6:59] If we have surrendered our will to the Lord Jesus, then the Holy Ghost will work in us that we will desire to do his will.
[7:10] And we will desire to walk in his will. You know, and sometimes in the difficult times of life. That is what it takes to get us to a place that we are willing to follow and to be obedient.
[7:28] But that is what we're talking about here. That is what Jesus meant. He wasn't talking about some emotional feeling that you might have that you love God.
[7:42] No. But he was talking about a decision that we make with our will. That I will love God and I will walk with him. I will give myself to him.
[7:55] And I will walk with him the rest of my days. That is the love that we are talking about here today. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself.
[8:18] Well, God searches the heart. You know, there's various verses and in Proverbs especially talks about God searching the heart.
[8:28] And in Hebrews 4.12, he tries us. He searches us. The word of God. You know, let me just read that verse while I'm talking about it here.
[8:42] In Hebrews 4.12, he says, For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.
[9:04] You know, the word of God, it is quick, it is powerful, it is sharper, it will search the depth of your heart, and it will reveal what is there.
[9:18] It will divide asunder soul and spirit. It will divide asunder what's of emotions and what is of God. You know, I believe that many people, they go to church for an emotional experience.
[9:39] Well, it's okay if... It's okay to become emotional. It's okay to have a good feeling about church and worshiping God and all of that.
[9:54] But whether the feelings come or not, whether your emotions go up on a big high or not, it is our decision. It must be our decision that we will serve the Lord and we will love Him with all our heart and we will follow Him every day of our life.
[10:17] Matthew 24, Jesus warned. He said in verse 12 and 13, And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
[10:36] Iniquity. Iniquity abounds today. You know, we heard about the day when Jesus came and how it was a bad time and all of that.
[10:48] But I believe today is too. Today, the darkness is pressing in and iniquity abounds. And Jesus warns us.
[11:02] He prophesies here that the love of many will wax cold. And later in this same chapter, He says, you know, that if it were possible, the very elect would be deceived.
[11:18] So let us take warning and let us walk with our Savior and be sure that no matter what comes our way, it cannot, it will not separate us from the love of Christ if we will stay in that place.
[11:43] It says, Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
[11:54] We must have our mind made up that we will endure no matter what temptation comes, no matter what trial comes, no matter what emotions come.
[12:08] You know, you know, the things of this world, they play on your emotions and they tempt you and they try to draw you away because, you know, we all have that old self that likes those things, but it must be crucified.
[12:31] You know, let me just read those verses. They're very familiar. We quote them all the time, but in 1 John chapter 2, he says here, verse 15, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
[12:50] If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.
[13:08] And the world passes away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Notice what he says here about the things of this world.
[13:23] The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. These are things that they appeal. They have an emotional appeal.
[13:35] They come and they're all glittery and shiny and they look so wonderful and they try to draw us aside. Why?
[13:47] Because it's things that this old flesh likes. That's why. That's why we must crucify the flesh. That is why Jesus said that if any man will follow him, he must take up his cross daily and follow him.
[14:05] That old man must be on the cross and must be laid down. Romans says that we must mortify the deeds of the body. We must keep under those things of the old man.
[14:20] Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If we love those things in the world, then there's no way the love of the Father is in us.
[14:31] We cannot have both. We cannot have both. If we love the world and we follow those things, we know the love of the Father is not in us.
[14:46] A.W. Tozer said, religion lies in the will and so does righteousness.
[14:58] The only valid holiness is a willed holiness. The will is a master of the heart. I know it's through the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Ghost that we're made holy.
[15:16] But it will not happen if it's not our will. It will not happen if we do not submit our will to the will of God. Let me read this quote again.
[15:31] Religion lies in the will. You know, the Christian life is a voluntary thing. You're all here this morning, hopefully, because you decided voluntarily of your own will to come here.
[15:46] You all gave your heart and life to Jesus because you decided that you want to do that. The Christian life is voluntary.
[15:58] God has no slaves. Yes, I know there's, you know, we use that word and all of that. But no one is forced to be a Christian.
[16:12] Religion lies in the will and so does righteousness. The only valid holiness is a willed holiness.
[16:23] The will is the master of the heart. You know, the will, it sits on the throne of the heart and it's the master.
[16:35] And unless we submit our will to the will of the Lord Jesus, then he is not on the throne of our heart. The will dictates what you do.
[16:50] Is your will in submission to the Lord Jesus? Is your will submitted to him? Is your life, is your walk, does your walk line up with the word of God?
[17:11] Proverbs says that God ponders the path of our feet. He ponders the places you go. Why do you go?
[17:22] The places you do? Why do you, why do you follow after what you follow after? It is because of your heart and who controls your heart.
[17:38] James says, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.
[17:55] The Amplify, that's James 4, I think, verse 4. The Amplify says, that was the NIV, the Amplify says, having an illicit love affair with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God.
[18:19] You know, the places we go, the things we do, the music we listen to, does it glorify God? God? Is it ever only all for Him?
[18:32] Or is it something else? Worldly entertainment, does it have a place in our life? Does it have a place in our hearts?
[18:46] What does our heart follow after? Jesus said in Matthew 6, No man can serve two masters. We will love the one and hate the other.
[18:59] We must will to love God. Matthew 6, 33, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
[19:15] Now let's turn to Matthew 16. Matthew 16.
[19:27] Here, we have the account of Jesus. He asked the disciples, Who do men say that I am?
[19:39] And then He asked the question, But who say ye that I am? And Peter answered, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
[19:50] And He goes on, Now art Peter, And upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. But then, verse 21, Jesus begins to teach the disciples that He must be killed.
[20:09] He will be killed and then He will be raised again the third day. In verse 22, Then Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord, this shall not be unto Thee.
[20:25] You know, this did not make sense to Peter. Not at all. And a lot of things do not make sense to our own thinking and our carnal mind.
[20:38] that is why we need the renewed mind. That is why we need to depend upon the Spirit of God in every, in everything that comes our way in life.
[20:54] But here, so Peter rebuked Jesus, saying, Far, far be it from Thee. That, that shouldn't be, that shouldn't be You.
[21:04] That should, no, you should not die. Verse 23, But Jesus turned and said to Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offense unto me, for thou savest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
[21:28] You know, and here, just a few verses before this, Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus answered, and he said, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
[21:52] So what happened here? You know, let me just put this out to you. In verse 23, Jesus said, Get behind me, thou art an offense unto me.
[22:06] And let me just say, I believe that our carnal mind, each one of us, our carnal mind, and the things that we say, and the things that we, that, that come out of that, it is an offense to the kingdom of God.
[22:28] Only, only, what comes from the new man and from the spirit of God is acceptable in the sight of God.
[22:39] Jesus told Peter, You, thou art an offense unto me. And I believe it's, yes, it's the same way. When we, when we judge something according to, to the appearance, when we judge something according to, to our own thinking instead of the, the new mind and, and, and the Holy Ghost in us.
[23:04] When we do things in our own strength, when we do things in our own thinking, it is an offense to the spirit of God. 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.
[23:29] For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Deny himself, deny self, those desires of the self, of our old self.
[23:46] We must deny them. That old man must be on the cross and we must deny him. And how will we do that? It is as we live our life in submission to, to the, to the spirit of God.
[24:03] As we love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, that leaves nothing for self. But he is on the throne.
[24:15] He's on the throne of our heart and he dictates our life. Deny self, take up his cross and follow me.
[24:31] Whosoever will save his life will lose it. You know, when we, when we, when we draw back and we try to, to save ourselves, we try to save our reputation, we try to save, we will lose it.
[24:47] Why? Because we're not under the protection of the Holy Ghost when we draw out. What is a man profited if he will gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
[25:04] Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? You know, there's nothing we can give. He doesn't even answer the question because it's an obvious.
[25:16] There's nothing we can do to, to, to pay the penalty for our soul. 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.
[25:39] According to his works. You know, our works are very important.
[25:53] Why? Because they show what's in our heart. our words are very important and the works of our hands they are very important and the places our feet take us those are very important.
[26:11] Why? Because they show what is in our heart. They show who is on the throne of our heart. says we will be rewarded according to our works.
[26:31] Deny self. Deny that carnal mind. Deny that self-will, self-glory, exalting self. Deny the pleasures of this world.
[26:47] You know, there's a very there's a very sobering verse in Luke 13. Luke 13 verse 24.
[27:07] Verse 23 they ask him Lord are there few that be saved? And he said unto them strive to enter in at the straight gate.
[27:21] For many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able. Isn't that a very sobering thought?
[27:35] That there will be people that will strive to enter in at the straight gate but for some reason they will not be able.
[27:47] Why will they not be able? I believe that they had a divided heart. They did not love the Lord with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their mind, but they had a divided heart.
[28:04] They went to church on Sunday. They had an emotional experience and then they went back and lived their life led, directed by their own will.
[28:26] You know, I had to think of King Saul. He saved the best to sacrifice to God. You know, the best of our old man, the best of our flesh, is not good enough for God.
[28:43] No, we must take up our cross, lay down our old life, lay down our will, and surrender to His will to do the Father's will.
[29:00] Let's turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. verse 14.
[29:20] It will start in verse 14. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness, and what concord hath Christ with Belial?
[29:38] What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? You know, he asks some very obvious questions here. What communion hath light with darkness?
[29:53] What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? You know, we see many professing Christians partaking of unrighteousness, going places that defile, going places that feed the flesh, that bring an emotional high, and satisfy the old man?
[30:20] Verse 16. What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God.
[30:31] As God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
[30:44] Wherefore come out from among them, and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty, having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
[31:19] Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Remember, remember that quote that I read, that said that righteousness holiness is of our will, it is because we have willed to be holy.
[31:37] That's what he's saying here, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Are we submitting to him? Have we given our will to him?
[31:51] If we have not, if we do not will in our heart to live a holy life, we will not be holy.
[32:05] He admonishes us to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. Now, let's go back here, verse 16.
[32:17] We are the temple of God. Now, let me ask you, he says here, God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people.
[32:34] The places you go, the things that you do, the things that you say. You know, Jesus said, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
[32:48] do they befit God living in you?
[33:00] When you go, wherever you go, you take God with you. Does he go with you? Or does he stand back and say, no, I won't go there?
[33:10] No, I won't go there. No, I won't go there. God wants to dwell in us.
[33:24] He wants to be on the throne of your hearts. That is the only way he will be in you. That is the only way that he will go with you is if he can be on the throne.
[33:40] We are the temple of the living God. He dwells in us. He walks with us. You know, just think of how God functioned in the Old Testament.
[34:02] He was the God of Israel. He was their God. And when he was in their midst, they could not be defeated.
[34:13] They could not fail. But when they sinned, he would draw back and all kinds of things befell them, including going into captivity.
[34:27] God says, God says, he wants us to be his people.
[34:46] But if he will be this, then he also says, come out from among them and be separate. And he says, touch not the unclean thing.
[34:57] Don't touch those things that defile. Don't take those things into your mind that defile the mind. But cleanse yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.
[35:13] You know, you might say, well, I don't do those things. but do Do we allow things into our mind that defile? You know, those things come, but do we take them into captivity?
[35:31] You know, there's that verse right here in Corinthians. It says, taking every thought into captivity. Taking those thoughts into captivity.
[35:42] You know, James says that every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. You know, the temptation is not sin, but what you do with it is where the sin comes.
[35:59] If we allow it, if we give it place in our heart, it will bring forth sin. But God desires to be our father.
[36:14] and us to be his sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. You know, do we know him as God Almighty?
[36:30] Do we know him as the one that is in control of all things? And if we will yield ourselves to him and trust him in every area of life, he will be there.
[36:45] Yes. He will take care of us. it's chapter 7 verse 1 in the amplified it says cleanse from everything that contaminates and defiles body and spirit and bring our consecration to completeness in the reverential fear of God perfecting holiness in the fear of God bring our consecration to completeness in the reverential fear of God you know if we do not have this reverential fear of God then our heart will follow after other things
[37:54] Galatians says we are called unto liberty but use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh walk in the spirit and do not fulfill if we walk in the spirit we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh I just go there we're almost there anyway in Galatians 5 Galatians 5 verse 13 for brethren ye have been called unto liberty only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another you know I believe this we see this a lot that that you know people want to flaunt their liberty and and show the liberty that that they have in Christ but they use it for an occasion to the flesh but he says not to do that use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another verse 14 for all the law is fulfilled in one word even in this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself but if ye bite and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another verse 16 this I say then walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh for the flesh lust is against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would but if ye be led of the spirit ye are not under the law walk in the spirit you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh these are the things we've been talking about the flesh lusts against the spirit the spirit against the flesh and as Romans says we must we must mortify the deeds of the body says in Romans 8 13 for if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live we all want to live right amen so in closing let's just turn yet to 1st John chapter 5 you know there's a lot here in John he talks about love and God is love and we love him because he first loved us if we love one another
[40:55] God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us but let's that's in chapter 4 let's go to chapter 5 whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him so if we love God if we love God we will love the brethren if we will love our brothers and sisters by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments you know John is just so practical and he just lays it out he says this is how we will know if we love if we love the children of God is if we love
[41:56] God we keep his commandments if we keep the commandments of God then we love God and we will love the brotherhood this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous you know they're grievous to the old man so if you find that the commandments of God and living a holy life is grievous to you examine where you're at his commandments are not grievous for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith you know that new man that is born of God he overcomes the world why because that new man is the Lord Jesus in our heart and Jesus destroyed the works of the devil and so if the love of the world and the works of the devil are manifesting themselves in your life you need to switch to the new man you need to be born again and you need to give yourself to God if we're born of God we can overcome this world hallelujah whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world yes who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the son of
[43:44] God you know here in this time when we hear much about Jesus in the manger being born in Bethlehem and Jesus the baby Jesus and all of that but let us not forget for one moment that the baby Jesus was God himself come to earth God himself became a man you know you hear things and it's turned around it's like you know so the other day I heard say or a song that said we we we we made this baby king no a king was made a baby the king became a baby to come to earth to die for us yes whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world we can overcome all the all the darkness all the all the temptation all the wickedness if God is in us if we are the temple of
[45:12] God because we're born again and we're full of the Holy Ghost we can overcome we can overcome this world why because Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil yes and remember he told the disciples that he must die and be raised again the third day Jesus had to die he had to shed his blood though it made no sense to the carnal mind though it made no sense to the disciples even his very closest followers they couldn't understand it but this is how Jesus destroyed the devil it's by living a sinless life and shedding his blood for this dark world that whosoever believeth in him might be saved hallelujah hallelujah whosoever whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world that's the new man within us he will we can and we will overcome if we will crucify the old man and walk in the new amen may the lord bless