Spiritually Confused Christians

We've got Christians celebrating in worship while working for the wrong team. Dr. Tony Evans says doing just what we want to do while ignoring God's interests is exactly what Satan wants from us. It may seem right, feel right, it may be the popular thing to do, but the end thereof is death, it's destruction. Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is the alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative. When what we believe to be best isn't 100% aligned with God's Word, how do we respond? Is it sometimes okay to correct God's will with our own desires or with the will of popular opinion? Today, Dr. Evans looks at what really happens when we give greater prominence to human opinion than to God's thoughts.

Let's join him as he begins. In Matthew chapter 16, we have spiritual confusion on the part of Peter. Now, to appreciate this, you have to understand Peter is just coming off of a win, a big win. Because earlier in the chapter of Matthew 16 verse 15, Jesus said, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter says, you are Christ, the son of the living God. The Lord said, blessed are you Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. But I also say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock, I will build my church. Oh, Peter had just gotten compliments from the Savior.

He was scoring points for the kingdom. But when we come to verse 21, confusion sets in. Because it says, from that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him saying, God forbid it Lord, this shall never happen to you. But he, Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me Satan. You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not set in your mind on God's interests, but on man's interests.

Jesus has been teaching his disciples about the fact that he was going to suffer, die, and be raised again. Peter didn't like that. He didn't like the plan of God. He didn't like the purpose of God. He didn't like the concept of a suffering Savior. Whenever your word contradicts God's word, you're confused.

I'm confused. So Jesus had to help a brother out. Jesus had to put Peter in his theological, biblical, and relational place.

Look at what he says. He says, get behind me Satan. I would have thought he would have said, get behind me Peter. But he says, get behind me you devil. The devil was using Peter to try to block the plan of God while using God's name. We live in a day where far too many Christians don't know they're being controlled by the devil. Because what they think, how they feel, and what they say contradicts what God says.

And because they sprinkle a little Jesus on it, sprinkle a little church on it, they think it's okay to correct the will of God with the will of man. He says in Proverbs 14, 12, there is a way that seems right to man. It makes sense to your own human understanding.

There is a way that seems right to man, but the end thereof is death, it's destruction. It may seem right, feel right. It may be the popular thing to do. One of the problems today in our declining, decaying, devolving culture is that we've got Christians celebrating in worship while working for the wrong team. Because it just seems right. It feels right.

It sounds right. And in the name of illegitimate emotions that feel real, they are working for the wrong team. See, what Satan does and what he did with Peter is Satan put his thoughts in Peter's head. So Peter began to think Satan's thoughts and what was in his head came out of his mouth. So the way Satan gets us to get confused is he puts illegitimate thoughts, making them our thoughts so that we utter his thinking in contradiction to what God says, leading to spiritual, biblical, and evangelical confusion.

He was using human logic because what Jesus said didn't make sense. Man's interest, independently of God, is Satan's program. And Satan's program is meant to create a stumbling block. But that's what he does. He trips us up and we become confused and that's why you have so many Christians talking like the world knows what it's talking about because it sounds so good, sounds so right, and you don't have to deal with rejection.

You don't have to deal with adversity. So there needs to be a reset to the confusion, particularly among believers since Peter is a believer. So how do we correct the confusion? You don't want to be a confused Christian. You don't want to be tricked by the devil to score points for the kingdom of hell rather than the kingdom of God.

You don't want to be duped, like we don't want our children to be duped by the voices of their peer group who is leading them in the wrong direction because it sounds so good and they can become publicly acceptable. Well, here it is. Verse 24, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. There it is.

The correction balls down to a decision. This I have discovered of late is the essence of the problem Christians who have not made this decision. We're trying to disciple people who haven't yet decided to become a disciple.

Let me say that again. Our problem is we're trying to disciple people who have not made the discipleship decision, which means you could be with them for years and they make no spiritual progress because they haven't decided. Until the decision is made to be one, you can't be developed properly into one.

So we've got to back up. See, your baptism was supposed to be the statement that now I'm going public as a visible, verbal follower of Christ. You can accept Christ privately. You get baptized publicly because you're saying now I want to be a disciple.

But many people who start off dry go down wet and come up the same. And so they wind up hurting the cause of Christ and seeking to trump the will of God. One of the reasons why we're in all this cultural mess is we've got plenty of Christians and so few disciples. He says if you want to correct the confusion in your life, in our families, the definition of men, the definition of women, the definition of marriage, the definition of order, the definition of government, the definition of all of this stuff that's being challenged today, you've got to start by making a decision. Because he says in verse 24, if anyone, guess what, that means you.

In other words, there are no exceptions to this. If anyone, referring to Christians, Peter is already saved, he's talking to his disciples, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself. That is, when what you want and what God wants does not agree, you've got to agree to lose to you.

When what you want and what God wants is not the same, if you are going to be a disciple, you must say no to you, not no to him. Now it's easy when you and he agree. I can say yes all day to that. If you ask me to eat squash, you're gonna have to talk me into that.

I'm gonna tell you that now. If you want me to eat squash, that's gonna require a little conversation, a little coaxing. Now, you ask me to eat fried chicken, we do not have a problem. Houston, there is no problem, because me and fried chicken agree. We agree. You don't have to beg me, coax me, talk me into it, but squash, we're gonna have a little issue there because that's not natural to my desire. I don't prefer squash.

But the argument is, even though it's not preferable, it's better. See, we don't believe God knows better, so we'll roll with God with the chicken. We ain't gonna roll with Him with the squash, with the stuff we don't like, with the stuff we don't prefer, but that is being made acceptable and popular by the culture that is trying to get us to join up with the devil, because it just seems so right and real and preferable.

He says he must be willing to say no to himself. Well, Dr. Evans will come back shortly with some of the benefits we can enjoy when we take action to move away from spiritual confusion. Today's lesson comes from Tony's brand new series, Divine Reset. It's a look at how God gets our attention and helps us refocus our lives so we can overcome the mistakes, pain, and problems of our past, moving forward with greater clarity and purpose in our future. You learn how to turn confusion into confidence, despair into determination, and defeat into victory.

They're all covered in this set of ten full-length lessons that includes material we won't have time to bring you on the air. And right now, we'd like to send you a copy of Divine Reset as our gift when you make a donation to help support our work here on the air and around the world. This special offer is only available for a limited time, but if we hear from you right away, we'll also include a special bonus, Tony's powerful booklet, Winning Your Spiritual Battles, a handy pocket reference that'll help you push past barriers the enemy places in your life. Just visit us today at tonyevans.org for details or call our resource request line at 1-800-800-3222.

Again that's 1-800-800-3222. Well, Tony will come back with more of today's lesson right after this. Coming to theaters this November. We're at the Church of the Nativity here in Bethlehem where it is believed that the birth of Jesus Christ occurred. Travel with Dr. Tony Evans as he retraces the life and human journey of the greatest being to ever walk this earth. Well, we're here in Capernaum, a place where Jesus did most of His miracles. And it is in this place that He demonstrated He truly is the Son of God. You'll travel the streets, fields, and synagogues that Jesus walked and visit the locations where some of the most powerful events recorded in the Bible took place. It is highly likely that much of what we read about Jesus' ministry in Galilee happened right here. Journey with Jesus in theaters November 15th, 16th, and 17th with Dr. Tony Evans.

Visit tonyevans.org for locations, showtimes, and to learn more. Then the second thing He says is, if you're going to decide to be a disciple, you must take up your cross. Verse 24 says, take up your cross. Now, crosses can be popular.

People wear them around their neck, hanging up in the house. It's a symbol of spirituality. The cross is not a popular tool in the Bible.

It was a device of execution. To bear the cross is to go to the grave. Jesus was carrying His cross to Golgotha. He was carrying His cross to the place of death. He says, you must take up your cross.

What does He mean? The book of Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 says to consider Jesus who was willing to endure the shame of the cross. It had to do with shame to walk through the Roman road carrying the cross. That was a shameful thing.

You were convicted of a crime worthy of capital punishment. The cross is the shame, the rejection, the hurt, and the persecution that comes with your public identification with Jesus Christ. That is the cross. The third thing He says is that you must follow Me. Follow Me. Now, He's talking to the disciples who He just said, I'm going to the cross.

Follow Me. When you are committed to Christ, He will sometime take you to places you don't want to go. The question is, am I willing to identify with Him? Jesus just doesn't want to be in your life.

He wants to be your life. So, what will you get out of this decision? What will you get out of a divine reset that says, I don't want to be duped by Satan anymore? Because many of us are messed up because Satan tricked us with something that seemed right at the time.

Well, let's look at something that you can count on once that decision is made. Verse 25, for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? He says, if you make the decision to become a disciple, I'm going to give you your life. Then secondly, he says, verse 27, for the son of man is going to come in glory of his father with his angels and will then repay every man according to his deeds. So he says, I'm going to give you life now. You will experience more of my reality if you will make this discipleship decision to stop being a confused saint.

You'll see my supernatural into your natural, and when I come back, I will reward you for your commitment. And then finally, he makes an astounding statement to his disciples. Verse 28, truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the son of man coming in his glory. Well that's a reference to Matthew 17, verses 1 to 8 on the Mount of Transfiguration. That's when Jesus stood on the mountain and stripped away his humanity so that the deity burst forth in bright lights that took them to their knees. They were blown away by the glory of the Son of God.

He didn't take 12 up there, took three. Because the closer you were to him, the more of him you got to see. And he says, and you're going to see it before you die. He says, first of all, I'm going to give you life, your soul.

Secondly of all, I'm going to bring back reward. But then he said, and before you die, for those of you who were the closest to me, you will see a manifestation of the Son of God. That's what happened in Acts chapter 7 when Stephen was about to die.

It says while he was still alive, he looked up and he saw heaven open, and Jesus standing on the right hand of the Father, giving him a standing ovation as he was about to transition from earth to heaven. Dr. Tony Evans will come back in just a minute to share a powerful and personal story of Lois, his wife's, final moments on this earth. Stay with us. In the meantime, there's more to today's message than we were able to bring you on the air.

But as always, full-length copies are available. Just check with us for information on the title Spiritually Confused Christians. Or better yet, ask about getting a copy of Tony's complete new series, Divine Reset, a collection of 10 messages that will help you break free from your current spiritual and emotional challenges as you reset your focus and attention on God and His priorities. As I mentioned earlier, it's yours with our thanks when you make a donation toward Tony's ministry.

And we'll also include a copy of his practical booklet Winning Your Spiritual Battles. Visit us today at tonyevans.org to get all the details before time runs out. You can make your contribution and your request online. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members help you. Again, dial 1-800-800-3222.

Have you ever sat down for your morning coffee only to discover you've waited too long and that piping hot first cup is now a lukewarm disappointment? The Bible says some Christians can be like that. Tomorrow Dr. Evans will tell us how we can turn up the heat on our faith and make sure our Christianity has meaning and impact. Right now, though, he's back to share this powerful yet intimate moment from his life. As we entered into the final days of Sister Evans' life, God gave her this. As it was getting closer to her transition to heaven, it became clearer and clearer that there would be no supernatural healing that we prayed for and believed Him for. There were a number of incidences. I'll tell you three. One is when she said to me, the voices are telling me I only have a few days left. Secondly, a number of us were standing in the bedroom and she says, I see my mother. Can't y'all see her? I see my father. Can't y'all see him?

Of course we couldn't. She asked me to write the name Jesus down. I said, why? She said, you've got to write it down. So I took a big sheet of paper, not understanding the request, and I wrote down Jesus, J-E-S-U-S, in big letters, so she could see it and held it over her. She took a deep breath, and she said yes.

Yes. And then, a little bit later, she said, they're coming to give me my reward. They're just waiting for the song.

It's time for my reward. They're waiting for the song. A few minutes later, a song came on, I don't know, it was a radio or whatever, but it was the song Victory in Jesus. And she rang out with a loud voice. That's the song. Because of her closeness to Jesus, she got to see, before she transitioned, where she was going. I don't know how it's going to be for you or me or us. All I know is that you get your soul, you get your reward, and in some way, unique to each of us, there are those who get to see heaven before they ever get there, but only those who do not let the world confuse them, trick them, or dupe them, and who make the decision to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by the Urban Alternative and is celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you.