Leaving Some Things Behind | Matthew 19:27

[00:00:00] We'll Truth Daily This Is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman Everybody welcome back to Daily Truths Remember there was a young rich ruler, a synagogue ruler

[00:00:13] who said, hey I want to follow you and Jesus said leave everything so all your stuff give it to the poor and come and follow me and he wasn't willing to do that then we pick up this statement by Peter in verse 27 of Matthew 19

[00:00:28] Then Peter said, reply, see we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have? Tell you think about it. Indeed they had left everything behind to follow Jesus. They left their careers,

[00:00:43] they left their hometowns, they left their friends, they left their family, some of them if they were married, they left their wives, they left everything behind, all their monetary wealth and all of that their jobs, they left everything behind to follow Jesus.

[00:00:59] Peter was right. Now here's the thing. Oh, in the course they say, well what do we have now as a result of that?

[00:01:07] And you know what they had? The presence of God, they're walking with the Son of God. They have the power of the Holy Spirit within them.

[00:01:17] I'm they're going to change the world. They're going to turn the world upside down. They have eternal life and they're going to get rewards in heaven for their obedience and their commitment to Christ. They have a lot. Now here's the thing.

[00:01:31] Jesus walked into your house and said you, I want you to leave everything behind like the disciples. I want you to leave everything behind and I want you to follow me. Would you do it? I pause for dramatic effect.

[00:01:49] Put you do it. I would venture to say that just about everybody who's hearing these words would say, yeah, I would do it knowing what I know that he's a son of God that he died and rose again,

[00:02:01] that he truly gives eternal life. That he's the master of the universe. That he's the Savior, the world that he's my Messiah and my Christ. Yeah, knowing what I know, I absolutely would leave everything behind to follow Jesus. Do you have to do that?

[00:02:16] Well, he has an ask you to do that, but he does ask you to follow him. He says, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me. So what does it mean to follow Jesus?

[00:02:29] It means that we leave certain things behind. We let them go like what? Well, first of all, we lead behind our pet sins. Colossians says it this way. In him you are circumcised in the putting off the sinful nature,

[00:02:45] not with the circumcision done by hands, but a circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him and baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of the Son of God. In other words, we renounce the devil in all his works and all his ways.

[00:03:01] We say in the confession for give us, renew us and lead us so that we might walk in your ways and live for your kingdom to the glory of your holy name. We're saying, Lord Jesus, I want to get rid of sins

[00:03:14] that are pet sins of mine. I want to renounce them, I want to walk away from them, I want to live for you, give me power by your holy spirit renewed by your grace,

[00:03:24] redeemed by your blood to walk away from pet sins. And I encourage you, my friend, to do just that. So when Jesus says come and follow me, be committed like Peter was. Again, we're saying, well, he's not telling us to lead all of our material possessions behind,

[00:03:42] but he is asking us to lead behind our pet sins. Secondly, he's asking us, commanding us to lead behind our former identity. What does that mean? A lot of people on planet earth,

[00:03:58] and especially here in America find their identity in what they have and how much money they make and what people say about them, how successful they are, how popular they are. Again, what people say about them or think about them,

[00:04:11] no one, we're believers in Christ. We let that go. We have a new identity, something else defines us and what is that, something else? What is our new identity? We are found to be baptized children of God who trust in Jesus as

[00:04:24] Savior, Lord, Redeemer, and King. Our identity is rooted and grounded in the fact that God calls us, and His beloved children, through faith in Jesus Christ. And if anybody asks us, who are you? You know we can say I'm a child of God,

[00:04:39] I believe in Jesus, I'm headed to heaven. My name is written in the book of life. I have the forgiveness of sins. The promise we turn in life, I am a follower of Jesus Christ. That is our identity. And so when Jesus says,

[00:04:55] follow me, we lead behind pet sins. We lead behind our former identity. And finally, we lead behind this. We lead behind a partial commitment to Christ. A partial commitment to Christ. Have you ever noticed that some believers I hope it doesn't identify you?

[00:05:13] That some believers say, well, I'll give you a part of my life, but not my whole life. Yeah, you cannot have my time and my talents, but not my treasures.

[00:05:22] Or I still want to hang on to these sins over here, and yeah, I know this is a redeemed. And I know that's redeemed too, but I'm not going to give this up for you. No,

[00:05:30] rather we say, I'm giving up my partial commitment. So we say, Lord Jesus, I give you my eyes to look for opportunities to serve you.

[00:05:38] I give you my ears to hear the proclamation of your word. I give you my mouth to proclaim your praises. I give you my hands to do your bidding.

[00:05:48] I give you my feet to walk in your ways. I give you my mind to be formulated by Holy Scripture. I give you my heart to dedicate it to your values and your wishes for my life. I give you my whole life.

[00:06:02] St. Paul said it this way in Romans chapter 12, we said, I'd be see you there for brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a holy sacrifice, a holy living sacrifice to God,

[00:06:14] which is your spiritual act of worship. So we say, my whole life, Lord Jesus Christ is yours. So we give up pet sins, we give up our former identity, and we leave behind a partial commitment.

[00:06:34] But all of that is law, induced and empowered by the Holy Spirit. This is our desire. This is what we wish to do. The problem is we don't do it perfectly.

[00:06:49] And so we go back to Jesus Christ. We drown our sins in the blood of the lamb. We follow what first John chapter one says, if we confess our sins, God's faithful and just and will forgive our sins,

[00:07:01] and cleanse us from all and righteousness. So what do we do? We say daily, by contrition and repentance, I drown my old Adam in the sea of God's forgiveness,

[00:07:12] in the forgiveness of sins revealed through the life-dead resurrection of Christ, and that empowers me to live a new life in Jesus Christ.

[00:07:20] Every day we live a new life for the Lord Jesus Christ, giving up pet sins, giving up our former identity, and giving up a partial commitment.

[00:07:32] And that's a daily experience walking hand in hand with the Savior. Jesus said it best when He said this, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself,

[00:07:44] pick up his cross and follow me. Peter said, we've left everything to follow you, Lord Jesus. We say, Lord Jesus, I'm willing to leave everything to follow you, but I give you these three things for sure.

[00:07:59] You have an ask me to leave my family. You have an ask me to leave all my material possessions behind, but you have asked me to follow you.

[00:08:07] And so I give up. I let go of pet sins, my former identity, and a partial commitment to you. I let that all go. My friends, let it be so, and let it be done to the glory of God's holy and saving name.

[00:08:24] And that is today's daily truth. And oh yes, by the way, sorry I went so long. Have a great day in Jesus Christ. Thank you for tuning in to daily truths with Dave Olman. Master Dave Olman is the pastor of Mount Hoorchurch in Boulder, Colorado.

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