Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: Being a Christian is not becoming famous and having everybody talk about how great you are. It's a place of rejection, a place where people will come against you.

Yes, and it's going to hurt you tremendously, but at the same time, my commitment, my dedication, my commitment to Jesus Christ, because everything here is temporal. We're all going to die, but what counts is eternity.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Thank you for joining us in our continuing Easter series, exploring Jesus' final interactions with his disciples. Raul will illuminate what it means to fully surrender your life to Christ.

You have the choice to accept or reject Jesus' salvation, and this single decision has a far-reaching ripple effect. Stay with us to see that following Jesus means setting aside your own agenda and walking a road of humble servanthood. Here is Raul Ries with today's teaching.

Raul Ries: If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Matthew, chapter 16. Matthew, chapter 16. It's been pretty amazing going story by story, and now we're coming to that place where the Lord wants to reveal to his own disciples the glory of his coming. How do you explain to someone about the glory of heaven since we've never been there?

At the same time, in chapter 16, the Lord has in a way been preparing his disciples as they've been following him. In chapter 16, in the first four verses, he got in a little argument with the Pharisees and the Sadducees because they were always looking for a sign from Christ. There are people that are always looking for a sign. "I will not believe unless I see a sign."

Then in verse 5 of chapter 16, the Lord himself with his own disciples as they went to the other side began to warn them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were the religious leaders and lawyers of that time.

He was literally telling them, "Be careful because they're liberal, and they're always trying to entrap the Word of God." They don't believe it, and they're always trying to entrap everything that I say.

Then in verse 13, as the Lord deals with them, he now moves from the area of the Galilee. He's going up toward Syria, and he comes to the area called Caesarea Philippi. What's there is a place where the people of the world at that particular time would all come to worship the different gods. The Greeks were the ones that worshipped the god Pan.

At the same time, Jesus brings his disciples there because he's not only proving them and testing them, because they're going up from this point on. They're on their way not only from Caesarea Philippi, but from Caesarea Philippi now they're on their way up to Mount Hermon, right behind Caesarea Philippi. It's a mountain that's probably about 19,000 feet up in the air.

What's incredible about that is it's a place where not all 12 of them were going up to, but it would be a time of separation and only three of them were able to go with Jesus: James, Peter, and John. Interesting. The other nine were not allowed to go up there. It seems that Jesus had an inner circle with Peter, James, and John.

Then at the same time, when you think of that inner circle, the Lord knew already that one of them was a betrayer. He was the one that kept the money and was stealing from the purse, and yet the Lord never called him on it. He wanted to see if there was real conviction, real repentance.

So we really need to be careful when it comes to our faith in Jesus Christ because it's not by being baptized in water when you're an infant that makes you a Christian, or doing all seven sacraments, or joining a church.

It's when the Holy Spirit begins to speak to you individually as a mother and father, and then speaks to your children, and every person comes to know Christ because they've seen a change of attitude and heart in your life, and you don't have to preach to people.

Because people see it where you play, where you work, where you shop, wherever you go. People know who you are without saying one word because the Holy Spirit is active in our lives. The Lord was preparing them and teaching them. So when they came to Caesarea Philippi, he separated them, got them together, and he says, "Okay, this is the place of worship."

"Now what I want you to understand," he says to them, "this is where everybody comes and worships Asherah, Baal, Molech, every kind of god you could imagine is worshipped here. Even the god Pan was worshipped here. But who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"

I could just picture my mind as they were kicking back, looking back at each other, and all of a sudden Peter said, "You know what? Excuse me, Lord. You are the Son of the living God." They hadn't even been baptized with the Holy Spirit yet.

It was one of those events that the Lord allowed Peter to be inspired by the Holy Spirit before it ever was given, to be inspired to make that public confession before them, and before these 12 men—or 11 men, including Peter—and the Lord standing there. Because the Lord already knew that Peter would lead the church, and he would become one of the leaders on the day of Pentecost.

He already knew that Peter was going to be killed and that he was going to write 1st and 2nd Peter. In 1st and 2nd Peter, he writes and he tells us that because he was not worthy to die like his Master, Peter was crucified upside down. Peter, the rock, the little stone.

This is where Jesus says to him, "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but Peter, you've had a supernatural revelation from God the Father. And Peter, upon this rock, I will build my church. Peter, you're going to be my little pebble stone, but you see this big, big mountain rock? I'm the Rock of your salvation. I'm going to build my church upon this rock."

It's so beautiful the way he sets up the whole outline here as we're leading into chapter 17. Because the moment Peter makes that true confession, what's the next thing that happens? The Lord says, "Okay, next." Again, look what he says. This is amazing.

He predicts his resurrection, which already I told you they're thinking, "He's going to set up the kingdom." Now he tells them in verses 21 through 23 that he is going to go and that he is going to die and he's going to rise again on the third day. But they don't want to really understand it. They're hoping they're going to rule.

Then the Lord says, "I'll tell you what. This is what needs to take place. If you truly, truly want to be a disciple in my kingdom and you want to rule with me, then the first principle that you need to understand..." Jesus said, notice to his disciples, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself." Wow.

Now he's talking personally. Now he's talking to 12 of them, that it's going to make a separation in each one of the disciples. "Okay you guys, I'm going to give you an opportunity. If you think you're really a disciple of Jesus Christ, then demonstrate it to me, first of all, by having the desire to follow me. First thing you need to do is deny yourself."

The word "to deny" in the Greek means to forget about oneself. What do people do today? All they think is about themselves: me, myself, and I. The big capital "I". It doesn't work that way in Christianity. Jesus said if you want to be great in the kingdom of God, you have to be the servant of all.

The way to become the servant of all is to deny myself of self-interest. John chapter 13, when they're on their way to the cross and they're in Jerusalem for the last week and they're going to be having supper in a few couple of hours, the first thing the Lord does when he comes into Jerusalem and then the upper room, what does he do?

He goes over and grabs a basin of water, grabs a towel, he comes over where they're reclining, sitting down on pillows, and he goes and begins to wash dirty feet. And that's the Lord, Jesus. He was the greatest.

Sometimes I don't understand leaders that they think they've arrived because they're on television or radio and God's blessed them financially when we're really nothing. I'm everything in Christ Jesus. He's the Master, He's the Lord, He's the King. The Lord here is demonstrating not only his humility but his kingship and his lordship.

He says, "If you guys are really serious about following me, the first thing you need to learn is denial of self. And secondly, you need to take up your cross." And the cross is the instrument of death, death and rejection. Being a Christian is not becoming famous and having everybody talk about how great you are.

It's a place of rejection, a place where people will come against you because you stand for righteousness, you stand for truth. You don't cheat in your income tax. You don't lie, you don't cheat. You don't go around cussing anymore. You don't fornicate, you don't commit adultery on your wife or your husband. You respect what God's Word says.

Yes, and it's going to hurt you, it's going to hurt you tremendously, but at the same time, my commitment, my dedication, my commitment to Jesus Christ, because everything here is temporal. We're all going to die, but what counts is eternity. And the situation is this, that Paul the Apostle in writing his actual last epistle, the book of Hebrews, says there's an appointed time for a man to die and then the judgment comes. Everybody's going to die, some sooner than others. And how are you going to face death when it comes? What are you going to be doing when you die? Nobody knows. That's why we have to walk straight.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. For Bible-rich resources to guide you as you walk in step with Christ, visit somebodylovesyou.com. You can also download our free app and conveniently access live-streamed Bible teaching, digital Bible studies, and much more. Let's return now to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: Jesus said the way to heaven is very straight, very narrow, and very few people enter through the one door. But the way to destruction, he said it is so wide that many, many people go there.

That's why here in his discipleship call, he said, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and then follow me." We don't follow Calvary Chapel. We don't follow the Baptist church, or Methodist church, or the Catholic church. We follow Jesus.

Jesus is the only way, the only truth, the only life. And then he doesn't stop there, but he goes to the next verse. He says, "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." What is he saying?

If you deny the Lord now and you want to live it up in this world today, at the end of your life you're going to lose it all. But if you lose it now temporally, you're going to gain it eternally. That's the point, and that's it right there. Eternally! This is nothing compared to eternity. Why? Two places: heaven or hell. You make the choice.

Then he said this, "What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world?" So you have a lot of money in the bank. You have a big old house. You have a big old corporation, a thousand employees. You got your own plane. You travel all over the world, but if you don't have Christ, zero to you. Nothing.

Because everything that is temporal, it's all going to burn. And the only thing that is going to last, listen, is what you do with Jesus Christ, period. That's it. Nothing else according to the Scriptures.

That's why he brings up the question here: "For what profit a man if he gains the whole world, but yet loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" Judas gave $20. He got $20 for his soul in betraying the Lord to go to hell. What's your price?

Basketball players, football players, baseball players—I mean, from all athletes to movie stars to all over people of the world, think of people that have a price to give their lives up for money or possessions or fame and deny the Lord. Is it worth it? No, it's not worth it.

Look what he says. This is pretty incredible. He says, "For what profit is to a man to gain the whole world and then he loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" So today you have to make up your mind who you're going to serve. You see, you've got a choice.

It's not something that is forced on you. Everybody that came here on your own, you can walk out the same way. Nobody is ever going to force you to receive Christ, to change your life, to do anything unless it's a work of the Holy Spirit. You can't do nothing about it.

As you open your ears and your eyes and you open your heart to the Word of God, then the Word of God is the authority. And the Holy Spirit takes the anointing of the Word of God in my life, and what does he do with it? He brings conviction to my life, and conviction brings me to repentance, and repentance brings me to conversion.

It brings me to Christianity, to a real believer in Jesus Christ because I have been changed. I'm giving my life to the Lord. How do I do that? Well, number one, I give myself to him. I come in full repentance. "Lord, I'm a sinner. I need your help."

I think about all my sins and I repent by confessing them to him. Then he takes his blood and he washes me from all of my sins, and he buries my sins as far as the east is the west, buries them in the deepest part of the ocean, never remembers them again.

Then he brings the Holy Spirit, he baptizes me. He writes my name in the Book of Life, and he gives me the guarantee and the assurance that if I was to die today at any moment, I would go to heaven. Wow. That's a good guarantee—that I'm no longer condemned. I'm no longer in hell.

Watch this, look what he says next: verse 27. "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his works." What is Jesus saying? He's telling them about eternity and he's also saying this: "Look you guys, there's a day of judgment coming for the non-believer and for the believer."

For the believer, our sins are taken care at the cross of Jesus Christ. But as we become Christians, then for the next 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90 years living the Christian life, we're doing what? We're giving to the Lord, we're praying, we're reading, we're witnessing, we're going to church, we're doing all these works in helping other people.

Did you know that in all these works, God keeps a record? Yeah, a record. Because in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 11 through 15, he says to the church after we are taken out of the way and we go at the rapture of the church and we're standing for the last seven years of world history at the Bema seat of Christ, which will be the actual judgment of the church for their works.

He's going to have a fire going out, and he's going to take gold, silver, wood, hay, and stubble—whatever value what you did in this world when you were living here—is going to get thrown in the fire. Nothing about sin. Your works!

And whatever comes out of the fire, that will be your reward. And he says there that there will be many people that will suffer the loss. Nothing comes out of the fire because their motive was not right and it burned up. But salvation is the free gift of God and they will be saved but never receive anything. No crowns. Pretty heavy.

We're not saved by works, but true faith brings true works. There's an attitude change. Our character's changed. It doesn't mean we're perfect. None of us are perfect. We all blow it.

Yet there's a day coming not only when we're going to be judged, but at the same time check this out what he says: "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to..." what? "...according to his works." That's you and that's me.

What we do with Christ, what we do as believers. That's why it's so beautiful when the book of Acts was being written and Peter got saved, and Peter became the actual elder of the church on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon them in chapter 2 and he spoke in tongues and it was 120 of them, including Mary the mother of Jesus.

What did Peter do? He stood up and he began as we go through the scripture there, and he comes and he says, "Listen, what happened here spiritually, this is what it says in the Bible in Joel chapter 2." He gives a scriptural exegesis of the experience that they had so there's no miscommunication and there's no false teaching.

He says this was written by the prophet Joel that this would happen. Then Peter stands up and gives one of the greatest exegesis sermons that he's ever preached in chapter 2 concerning the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter, the little stone.

That's why here in Matthew chapter 16, the Lord already foresees everything and what is he doing? He's disciplining, he's correcting, he's training his disciples for what's ahead. Because they're looking at glory.

By the way, what he's going to do now, as you'll see next time, he's going to take Peter, James, and John—not the others—and they're going to walk a whole week. They're going to walk up to Mount Hermon, six days away.

They're going to go up into this beautiful mountain, and for the first time and only time in the book of Matthew, they're going to see the glory of God without dying, just what he said. They're going to see Moses the lawgiver and Elijah the prophet, and Jesus standing there in his glorified body coming at the second coming and they're blown away.

Guest (Male): It is so good to be reminded that while humility and servitude may not come naturally to any of us, God can use our lives in mighty ways when we follow in Christ's footsteps. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries.

Today's lesson was titled The Cross Before Glory. If you'd like to get an unedited version, we'll be happy to send one to you for a donation of five dollars or more. Just call us at 800-634-9165.

To further spur you on along the path of surrender, we'd like to offer you this entire series titled Why the Cross Mattered and Still Does. It's available on CD and thumb drive. Raul's 13-lesson study underscores the richly merciful, completely unconditional love of God.

You'll gain confidence to fully submit your life to His will as you contemplate the goodness that fueled His Son's sacrifice. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Why the Cross Mattered and Still Does.

We'll send you this 13-part study on CD for $25, or if you prefer on USB for just $16. That's 800-634-9165. Or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765.

This ministry is fully listener-supported. Thank you so much for your partnership. Join us next time on Somebody Loves You Radio as we return to the pages of Scripture to quiet our hearts and minds before the Lord to learn the ways that we can follow Him with a fully surrendered heart.