Who Sits On The Throne of Your Heart?

Introduction

Well, good evening. We have filled in a few of the spaces since right at 5 o’clock. And some who were away this morning are back this evening, and we’re glad to see you. Last Sunday morning, I did a lesson in regard to the nature of the kingdom that Jesus came to establish, a kingdom that he said was not of this world. The nature of that kingdom being spiritual, not as we understand the kingdoms of this world, enduring, lasting forever, according to Daniel 2 and verse 44. And the nature of this reign or the sphere of it has to do with submissive yielding hearts. More on that in a moment. And some of the things that ought to result in our lives as a result of the existence of this kingdom to this time.

It is my hope and my concern that this kingdom be evidenced in our submissive hearts, in our submissive wills, and that we truly be functioning as citizens of this kingdom as God wants us to. And of course, as we think about this kingdom, I think about a passage in Matthew 6 and verse 33 in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus said that this ought to exceed in priority all earthbound concerns. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. And he’s talking about such things as daily necessities or daily needs and not being anxious about all those things. The Lord knows that you need those things. He’ll take care of and provide for his people. But what you need to seek most is God’s reign, the kingdom, and the very nature of that reign, a reign of righteousness.

Now, a preliminary observation. That this seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness involves much more than church membership and/or a contentment with one’s involvement in the local church. There are a lot of folks engaged in religious activity who do not necessarily understand this kingdom and the submissive will that God requires for it to be truly evident in our lives. This speaks to the very nature of one’s conversion to the Lord or one’s decision to obey the gospel of Jesus Christ and the ongoing results of that decision. There were those who were teaching among the people in Rome that we can sin more and grace would abound more. Grace covers sin or deals with the problems of sin. So let’s just sin more, propagate and promote sin and let grace do its thing.

And Paul answers that and says, no. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound may it never be? And then he gives an explanation of what their baptism into Christ meant. Do you not know that you were buried with him in baptism? That we are then to die to sin. That’s the point of our conversion to begin with. We’re dying to sin, our sins are being washed away, and we rise to walk, he says, in likeness of Jesus’ resurrection unto newness of life, the body of sin has been put to death. Walking in newness of life. Hold that thought as we talk about the nature of this kingdom. Baptism into Christ, as essential as it is, there is no cleansing and forgiveness without it.

It is more. It is more than just a fix for one’s sinful past. Yes, we are cleansed and forgiven. We rise to walk, though, in a newness of life. It’s more than just coming to the realm of the saved. It’s more than that. It is putting on Christ. In Galatians 3 and verse 26, it says, We are all the children of God and the children of Abraham by faith in Christ Jesus. And then he says in verse 27 of Galatians 3, 4, as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, that’s what believers do. They accept the Lord’s teaching, since he’s the king. They accept the Lord’s teaching on baptism, submit to it, and are thus cleansed. He says, For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, what?

Have put on Christ. And the word there is the idea of donning of a garment or putting on clothes. And that’s why the New American Standard says, you have clothed yourself with Christ. That’s a part of this rising to walk in newness of life. You have clothed yourselves with Christ. And going forth from that, remember we talked last week about submissive wills. It is then, because I have been baptized into Christ, not just dealing with the problem of sin in my past, but where I’m going into the future, I am submitting to the reign of the king completely. And that’s the nature of that discussion in John 6 that we’ve been studying in our adult class. Where Jesus tells them, don’t work for the food that perishes, but instead work for the food that endures to eternal life.

And he says, I am the bread of life that comes down out of heaven. And if that’s the case, then we need to consume that bread, right? To have life. And he says, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in yourselves. The flesh profits nothing. My words are spirit and they are life. So what does it mean then to clothe yourself with Christ? It’s all about him. It’s all about what he’s dictating for my life. He’s the king. I’m the subject. You see, if Christ truly reigns in me, then I’m allowing him to determine the behavior and thinking of my life. And that’s what our baptism meant in the first place. And what did Jesus say? Come to me, all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

But that’s not where he stops. He says, Come take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. But that involves coming to him and coming to him on his terms and learning from him. For my yoke, you see, we embrace his yoke. That could be equivalent to John 6, couldn’t it? Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in yourself. He’s saying, Come take my yoke. For my yoke is easy. It’s not that I want to excessively burden you or burden you in a way that hurts you or is not good for you. For my yoke is easy. You were made for this. This is what God created you to be.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. The far greater burden is living your life without God. And with sin on your account. This is a far better offer than anything that the world offers us, though sometimes we become convinced of the opposite. Those former lusts which were ours, Peter says, in our ignorance, come calling again and beckoning us. And we say, oh yeah. Yeah, that’s tantalizing. I want a little piece of that action. And that was your ignorance. That’s not when you were wise, Peter says. Do not be conformed to the former lusts, which were yours in your ignorance. If you do that, if you again become conformed to this world rather than being transformed by the renewing of your mind, that’s the new walk in Christ.

If you again become conformed, you again become entangled and you surrender the rule of Jesus in your heart. So let me tell you, this is a short course on what it means to come to Christ tonight. Are you getting all that? Are you still with me? Now let me tell you once you do that. Once you have acknowledged that Jesus is indeed the king of a very special kingdom that’s going to endure forever, and people struggle to perceive that kingdom. Remember, we talked about that last Sunday. They look at this and they say, well, what’s so great about that? Or they compare it to things that sort of look like the kingdom, but really aren’t. And they judge things on the basis of appearance. We’ve been talking about that on Sunday morning rather than judging righteous judgment.

So they don’t really perceive this kingdom for what it really is. Sometimes it sort of looks ordinary to them because it’s not properly assessed. And so these people who are under the king’s reign and rule, who have submitted their will to his, which is a very powerful and awesome thing. Let me tell you what the rest of the story is all about for them. Now I’m talking to people tonight. Many of you have embraced the truth about salvation. You’ve been baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, been cleansed by the blood of the water. You have arisen to walk in newness of life. Now let me tell you what the rest of your days are about. It’s about the devil’s attempt to dethrone Jesus from your heart.

Now that’s not God’s desire. He wants us to continue to walk in this renewing of our minds that the New Testament talks about. But the devil’s attempt, the rest of your earthly life, will be to dethrone Jesus and to draw us away from his life-giving rule. And he will try to provide a conscience soothing substitute. I think that’s what Paul was telling Timothy about in 2 Timothy chapter 3 when he talked about people who hold to a form of godliness or like their religiosity. They hold to a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. You see, the devil’s going to try to dethrone Jesus from your heart. And if you allow him to do that, and that’s the only way that can happen, he can’t forcibly remove the king.

Only you can allow that to happen. He’s going to try to offer some conscious, conscience soothing substitute. Again, hold to a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. 2 Timothy 3 5. Coming back to that text in a moment, hopefully. And this, as Jesus, as he attempts to dethrone Jesus from your heart, we will have been, and we are sufficiently equipped for this battle. That’s what Ephesians 6 is about. Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to resist him. All of his fiery darts are flaming missiles. We’ve got to put on the breastplate of righteousness and take up the shield of faith and equip ourselves with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to God for the destruction of fortresses.

1. Inadequate Evidence

We have been adequately equipped, so if I’ve scared you in any way, we have been adequately equipped for this battle. Now, that’s what’s going on with this spiritual kingdom. And so now we come to the question. One great question, which the believer must ask. One who has come into union with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And that is who is sitting on the throne of my heart. And that’s what I want to talk to you about for a few minutes tonight and get you to think about very carefully. Three points. Two words for each point. The first, I want to talk about inadequate evidence. Things that might be a part of evidence that Jesus is sitting upon the throne of our hearts, but in and of itself is not adequate evidence.

Number one. The conversion of one’s past. I’m not talking about the moment that we obey the gospel. Because obviously, at that point, when obedience comes from the heart, Romans chapter 6 and verse 17, we rise to walk in newness of life. Jesus, we have submitted to Jesus’ rule. He is indeed the King. But that does not mean he is the King perpetually. And yet that’s the way some people treat their conversion to the Lord. Many find contentment in the fact that I believe the truth about baptism, and I was baptized into Christ, and therefore, membership of the kingdom. I have my card. I’ve obeyed the gospel. But remember, we were raised up with him to walk as he walked. I want you to flip over now to 1 John chapter 2.

1 John chapter 2. I didn’t say this is not evidence because this is necessary. I’m talking about inadequate evidence. 1 John 2 and verse 3. Notice what John says. By this we have come, by this we know that we have come to know him. And he’s talking about Jesus here in context. If we keep his commandments.

And does not keep his commandments, he is a liar. And the truth is not in it. See the danger if this is my evidence? He says, whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. And by this we know that we are in him. The one who says, the one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner that he walked. Now there’s your evidence. Your evidence of faithful service in this kingdom is that we are ongoing fighting, remember the attempt of the devil to dethrone Jesus from our hearts. We are fighting the good fight of faith. As Paul tells Timothy, that young evangelist, to do, 1 Timothy 6 and verse 12. And then what does he say after that?

Fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life. He’s telling Timothy, you’ve got to keep walking as Jesus walked. You’ve got to keep walking in newness of life. A second inadequate evidence is attendance at assemblies. And certainly I’m not discouraging folks attendance at assemblies. This is an essential part of Jesus’ rule. But one’s presence alone is not necessarily an indication of his rule in our hearts anymore, and Julia and I were just talking about this a few moments ago, any more than the extensive religious activity of the Pharisees meant that they were in a right relationship with God. Extensive religious activity is not necessarily an indication of Jesus reigning in our hearts. The Pharisees could not be further from God’s rule, even though they were very religious and meticulous about their religion.

Now I’ll tell you what does happen at assemblies where truth is taught and where truth is practiced. And those things are essential to having Jesus as our King and his reign in our hearts and lives. I’ll tell you, we’re stirred and inspired by the prayers that are prayed and the songs that we sing and the truth that is delivered. But this is just the beginning of things. Adequate evidence is now a life that results from such assemblies, a life of worship and holiness and service. Do you think the Lord’s Supper is just about some kind of checklist thing where you say unleavened bread, we got that right, and fruit of the vine, we got that right. We didn’t add any other kind of elements because Paul’s very specific about that, what the Lord’s Supper really involved.

They had turned it into this lavish meal where some were eating a lot and some weren’t getting anything. He says, look, it’s basically just two elements here: unleavened bread and fruit of the vine. And we got that right. And then, as it says on the front of a lot of communion tables, I think it says it there, this due in remembrance of me. And so we did that on Sunday morning, took about 10 or 15 minutes. Is that it? Is that all it means? No, this is about us remembering what Christ’s death and life means in our lives. And should energize us for that battle that’s going on, fighting the good fight of faith where the devil is trying to dethrone Jesus from our hearts. And so we go out there and live a life of worship, holiness, and service.

2. The Rivals

Now that is adequate evidence of his reign. So the real battlefield that we’re talking about here is the second point that I want to share with you, and that is the rivals. The devil promoted rivals for our hearts. And I want to talk briefly with you tonight about a very present day threat to the reign of Jesus in our hearts. And these four things in particular secularism, materialism, which you might know a little bit more about that, heathenism, and narcissism. I heard a story many years ago about all the isms that preachers warn about, and that they’ve heard preachers talk about. You know, there’s there’s liberalism and institutionalism. And when I was a kid, there was a lot of talk about premillennialism. I don’t want to talk about that anymore.

People still believe premillennial theory.

Warning about all these isms. And a little young fella said, I have a question, preacher. You’re warning about all these isms, but what about baptism? That’s an ism, too. And of course, the preacher was quick when he said, young man, that’s a tism, not an ism. So baptism is okay because that’s a tism, not an ism. Well, there’s some isms that aren’t bad. Fundamentalism is not a bad term. Monotheism, polytheism’s bad, but not monotheism. So not all isms are bad, but secularism. Well, that is a serious malady of our time. What is it? Secularism is opposed to that virtue or that quality that we’re needing to add to our faith. Add to your faith, virtue to your virtue, knowledge to your knowledge, godliness. And some more things in that list, but I wanted to focus on godliness because that’s what secularism is opposed to.

Secularism is the opposite of godliness. Secularism is just seeing everything on the horizontal level. You basically rule out the spiritual realm. The activity of angels, of course, the Hebrew writer talks about ministering spirits sent out to serve the elect. You read in the book of Daniel some fascinating stories about what angels are doing. I have sermons on the activity of angels as we get glimpses of that throughout the Old Testament in particular, but even some New Testament passages talk about what angels are doing in the spirit realm. And of course, there’s our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as we looked at this morning, a God of wonders, who from that spirit realm works, and Jesus reigns from this spirit realm. But secularism just removes all of that and sees everything on this horizontal, physical, which leads to the materialism, and you sort of understand that.

Everything’s about material things. A love of this world. Now I’ll tell you why I think secularism is so popular in our times and a pitfall for many people. If you rule out in your mind the existence and presence of God, you’re not answerable to him. You see, you remove God from your thoughts. You just remove God from the equation altogether, and you sort of get to be king of your life, see. Secularism is opposed to Jesus’ kingdom. It says, I get to be the king. I don’t answer to anyone above myself unless somebody has more power than I do and tells me things that I cannot do, or else I’ll be punished, like our governments. Secularism vanishes, makes the spiritual realm vanish, and that’s sort of helpful to some people’s minds, because then you can sort of rule out the spiritual eternal destinies as well.

We don’t have to think about hell and its reality. When secularism dominates one’s thinking, materialism inevitably results, and closely on its heels, will be hedonism. Hedonism says that life should be lived solely for pleasure. Whatever pleasure I can attain, whatever you deem pleasurable, whatever feels good, affects all of your decisions and choices, discomfort. However you measure, however, you judge discomfort, that is to be avoided at all costs whenever you can. These thoughts, some of these thoughts I got from a brother that I’ve known for a long time named Alan Turner, who wrote these thoughts on Facebook recently. He said, Finally, the pursuit of pleasure at any cost leaves men and women broken, lonely, and sad. And he said that in contrast with the Christian’s ambition. Whether at home or absent in the body, he said, to be pleasing to the Lord.

Second Corinthians 5 and verse 9. Now, as a result of this secularistic kind of thinking, and the materialism, the focus on the material that goes with that, and the hedonism, the focus on the pleasure that goes with that, ultimately, when that has been practiced long enough, then the result will be narcissism. I was just introduced to this term within the last decade or so. Now, psychologists have heard this term and have studied about it, but Alan Turner wrote about it recently, and I want to read a lengthy quote here. Narcissism is one of secularism’s false values. It says, Me first. It says, I’m number one. The narcissist is in love with himself. Other people matter only as they serve to fulfill and satisfy him. He is only concerned about his rights, his privileges, and his happiness.

Wives, husbands, children, employers, employees, and fellow citizens. All take a second seat to the narcissist. He or she is a me first kind of person. He is in love with the self-esteem, self-love. Pull your own strings, put yourself first, your number one chivalist of modern day pop psychology. He says when the Christian becomes infected with this spiritual disease, he begins to talk about doing something for himself. He talks of being tired of doing what God and everyone else wants him to do. He begins to complain about the sermons not being uplifting enough. He complains that Bible classes just aren’t positive enough, blah. A lot of things he goes on. I might have gone a little different route with that. But he says it’s not too long before families, church unity, ethics in the marketplace, and community stability soon begin to play second fiddle to the star of the show.

Numero Who No. Okay, so I’m preparing these thoughts this week, and the whole Lance Armstrong thing breaks. I’ve read several articles about the Lance Armstrong saga. I’ve thought for a while he was dirty. But now we’re seeing the wake of his dirtiness. The people that he has bullied. I read about a fellow that was associated with him in the past who now has to do his life work in Australia because he couldn’t get the work here that he wanted to do in regard to bicycle sales. He’s now in Australia because of Lance. His wife, who was aware of his doping and was involved in it to some degree, though not liking it. Well, he just sort of cast her aside when that became a convenient thing.

Now I’m not a psychologist. And I don’t know if he would be described clinically as a narcissist or not. But I want to tell you who’s on the throne in Lance Armstrong’s heart. It’s obvious. He is. And look at the people that he has bullied and hurt in his promotion of himself. Alan Turner makes a good observation, though. It’s not that nothing is ever done, quote, for others. But even in something that might be done or might be seen to be done for others, it’s still really all about them. About how others perceive or regard them. It’s about their elevation in other people’s minds. Their esteem, as he talked about self-esteem, Alan Turner did. It’s about how they’re esteemed by others, and so they do their good works, as Jesus said, to be seen of men.

And I just got to tell you, we live in a culture that is eaten up with self. And it influences us. And we need to be careful that in all of our relationships, that it’s not all about me and how I want others to think of me and what I want and what I desire. One of the great things that marriage should do for Christians and families raising kids should do for Christians is it gets us out of that me first all the time. It should do that. Especially with our kids. What kind of relationship, what kind of healthy relationship can you have with your kids if your kids perceive it’s always about you and not about them. And when marriages go awry, it is often this problem of who’s reigning on the throne of my heart.

The scriptures teach us that when we put self aside and truly serve others, serve God and serve his people and serve the lost and serve our neighbor. When we truly set aside self to do that, the great thing about it is we don’t lose in that choice. We actually gain in that decision. We have actually acted in the welfare of self and the ultimate reward of self when we sacrifice self. More on that in a moment. You see how we fall into this trap. There are several passages. What’s the second commandment? The second greatest commandment. So first one, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. You can’t do that if you have yourself on the throne, by the way. And again, just because of those inadequate measurements, you know, I was baptized in the past, I’m attending assemblies.

That doesn’t mean that you’re loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and strength necessarily. Maybe at some point in the past you did, but you’re not necessarily doing that now. Okay, love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second is likened to it. What? Love your neighbor as yourself. What is that saying? The Lord knows. I mean, and look. Who or what can you really control? Yourself. I wish I could just save everybody. I could do whatever I had to do to just save everybody. We can’t do that. Even Jesus can’t force people to save themselves. He motivates them in certainly a most powerful way. But even good people, I can’t save all of you people. Who can I save? Ultimately, just me.

Now I can influence others, I can teach them, I can encourage them, I can admonish them, but ultimately it’s going to be about their decision. Ultimately, it’s just me. And I want salvation for me, and that’s not a bad thing. You want salvation for you, and that’s not a bad thing. And we take care and nourish self, don’t we? We take good care of ourselves.

We want to fix this thing if we can. We want to get well. And the husband. And it’s interesting in Ephesians 5, the same kind of illustration is used. The husband is challenged to love his wife. He says, husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. True indication that we love in a proper way ourselves is if we demonstrate love for others. Because that’s what’s best for us. That elevates our lives and makes us like God, makes us imitators of him. And so when I love my wife, that’s really the ultimate love of myself. But if we get this thing backwards, and I start elevating myself above my spouse and above everyone else.

We must train ourselves to be holy. 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 7. I’m just afraid that a lot of times we wake up in a given day. And there I am. There I am sitting on the throne.

Are you kind to people? Even though they don’t deserve it. I mean, if you’re meeting somebody, you just, this is somebody you may never see again. You come in contact with them in the world and you’re kind to them. It may just be this one little interaction that you’re having, whatever it is at Walmart, whatever it is. Are you kind to people? Not because they’ve earned it or deserved it. Because they’re made in the image of God. And yeah, you’ve got to put forth a little effort to be kind. I mean, we’re on a mission. You know, I go to Walmart, I’m on a mission. I’ve got things I’ve got to get, and I’ve got to get out of there. It’s crazy in there. But do you ever go out of your way to be kind to people just for training?

3. The Spiritual Work

Just to remind yourself. It’s not about me. All other people matter to God. Regardless of how they’re dressed or how they look or what color they are. All those people matter to God. They may not be in his kingdom. But they matter to him. And deserve to be treated accordingly by his people. That’s just one little way. That we can train ourselves. We’ve got to get off this throne. Let me go ahead. I’ll say more about that in a minute. Let me get to the conclusion of this. The spiritual work that we have to do for Jesus to be truly sitting on the throne of our hearts. What did Jesus say in Matthew 16? If any man wishes to come after me, okay, we better listen to whatever follows that.

If any man wishes to come after me, let him deny himself. Have you thought about that? Let him deny himself and take up your cross and follow me. What has happened in your life lately where you denied yourself? It was your natural inclination to want this thing or to do this thing or pursue this thing, and you said no. Because of God, because of others. We need to be trained in this regard. This is not an occasional decision, but it’s a way of living. I deny self, especially in things that are inordinate and sinful, but even in some things that are morally neutral choices and decisions, what things have you done that indicate your self sacrifice. Or self control. Part of the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians chapter 5 and verse 23.

And then there’s this matter of that you’ve got to deny yourself. You think Jesus was excited about the upcoming crucifixion? Does it sound like he was excited when he said, Not my will, but thine be done? He didn’t want to go to the cross. He did not want to die that kind of death. But he knew he had to. And so he denied himself. Not my will, but thine be done. He sacrificed for the betterment of others. And now, again, what I said earlier. Now, ultimately, what did that mean? He who humbled himself to the uttermost, who left heaven, humbled himself, became as a man, that’s remarkable in and of itself. But went even further and died the death on the cross now as a result of that self-denial and his cross.

He now has a name that is above every name. Ultimate humiliation ended up in ultimate exaltation. How can we be his disciples if none of that ever is what our lives are about? We can’t be any of his. If this doesn’t define us in some way. No, not to the extent that he did. But how are we modeling that? Where are we saying no to ourselves and yes to others? Are we taking up our cross? Whatever it is that stands between me and doing the right thing, living righteously, whatever it is I must endure to go to heaven. That’s taking up your cross. And following me. The portrait of Jesus is multifaceted. It requires intense and careful scrutiny, honest, self-examination, and frequent change. And I gotta tell you, I’m still learning what it means.

And it will be a lifelong endeavor. Jesus will only sit upon the throne of your heart if you allow him to. He will not force his way there against your will. The benefit is immense, both now and in regard to his ultimate promises of reward for us. Two passages, and we’re done. 1 Peter chapter 1, 2 Peter chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. You see, according to 2 Peter 1 and verse 3, it is his divine power that has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence.

For by these he has granted us precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature. And that’s what we’ve been talking about tonight. Having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Tell you who kingdom citizens are. Kingdom citizens. Those who have escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust have now set their minds and focus on being partakers of the divine nature. Adding to your faith those things that follow in this context that I quoted from earlier, adding to your faith the fruit of the Spirit, the outgrowth of the Spirit’s product in our lives. That’s the evidence that the King reigns. When those things are what our lives are about, and when we’re growing and learning about those things and how to do them better.

Conclusion

So let me ask you about this week. You’re going to let the king reign.

And how are you going to demonstrate his reign? How about beginning each day with prayer? How about as you go about your routine tomorrow, whatever it might be? How about the way you interact with other people? The way you treat them, the way you talk to them. How about taking self off the throne? And letting someone else dictate what you say and do. First of all, Jesus. But then others. Enhancing their lives. That’s what this kingdom is all about. And may we all learn and grow and be more like our master. If there’s someone in this audience tonight who’s not a Christian, you need to be involved in this great kingdom. And that’s what we’ve been talking about the last couple of weeks. And we talked at the beginning of this lesson how that’s done, how one comes to the Lord.

And if you’re subject to his invitation, won’t you come as we stand and sing together?