A way of introduction, we'll briefly look at verses one and two. Our Lord had basically finished what he was saying and therefore just carried on his journey to go from Galilee, going towards Jerusalem, because that's, of course, where he was aiming for, because that's where he was to face trial and then be crucified. His final journey basically was to the cross. It's almost passed over in the actual passage, but it mentions the fact that great multitudes followed him. How many truly believed, we don't know. Judging by the fact that he healed many, presumably many of them accepted him as a healer. Many, therefore, probably accepted him as a prophet. There would have been some who would have been truly believing, of course, and accepted him as the Messiah. We don't know how many. And when the Pharisees asked the question is in verse three, it leads our law to bringing out teaching on marriage, that is a family life. And then from there, we then go on to him speaking to the rich young ruler and so on. So that it is a follow through in these three passages, which is why I've taken as a whole, because sometimes there's a general theme that does run through a whole chapter and it's worth actually having that whole theme coming out. But sadly, as we know today in our society, there are certain things which stand out. Marriage, of course, has eroded. They've tried to change the meaning of it. They can't do that before God, no matter what they claim. They've tried to just make divorce easier and easier, as if it doesn't matter. And they've also, there is this heavy push for covetousness, which is what we'll deal with, particularly in the second point. the rich young ruler, this push to make money and just get gain. Everything is to look upon this life, the whole point of atheism and agnosticism and all these different things is to look down and to gain from this world because they think there's nothing coming after. But they're wrong and the Lord deals with all of these issues. Now our text is going to be Matthew chapter 19 and in verses 1 to 30. And the theme is watch our heart. And we'll be looking at a hard heart, a covetous heart and a true heart. So the first one is a hard heart. Verses 3 to 15. At the time of our Lord, divorce happened for pretty much anything. It was almost like what we see that maybe more within the Muslim community today, but in that sense, there was a certain parallel with what was happening then in the Jewish community. So if the wife did anything wrong, they just divorced her, and that was it. It was terrible. No security. because it was just all, what any reason was given, just anything. And let's face it, that's kind of the way our nation's going today. That's even if people bother to get married, because many people don't even bother with that. But the Pharisees came to Jesus in that context, that context of the extreme end of easy divorce, and they wanted to test or tempt Him. So in other words, they weren't asking out of a genuine heart of, what's the answer to this? This wasn't like the divorce, the disciples asking a question. They were asking Him to tempt them, to try to bring out problems in Jesus' teaching. So their aim was to go back to the law of Moses and basically said it was Moses' right to allow divorce for any sort of reason. Well, our Lord, in a sense, just completely ignores that question, at least initially, and goes above that question because it goes back to the first principles. And what are the first principles? Because the principles are basically straightforward. God created us male and female, and God designed marriage to be for life. That is the basic first principle. Note, and sadly in our day and age, we have to note with great clarity, it is male and female, there are no other genders, and we have to note clearly that it is only one male with one female in marriage. It's a pity we have to explicitly state that, but we do. So it's one couple consisting of one man and one woman. It's a couple that leave their respective parental homes and they form a new family unit. It's for life. It's not meant to be broken. Our Lord gives the exception here, only sexual unfaithfulness. That's the only one that is mentioned here. If there's sexual unfaithfulness, then he's saying, yes, divorce is then permitted. In 1 Corinthians, we find also there is a reason for desertion that also allows for divorce. But the basic principle is marriage is for life. That is the principle that we are to walk by. But the Pharisees were not satisfied with this because they wanted greater clarity. So they're pinning down about Moses. What about this Moses? He allowed it for anything. And the Lord makes it clear, Moses only allowed this divorce for anything because of the hardness of their heart, because of their determination. or to put it another way, because their sin was so great before the Lord. Now, it's a subject that's not easy to preach upon, because obviously some here may have gone through a divorce. These are always complicated and difficult matters. They're not pleasant. And people who have gone through them, they've gone through them through much pain. And I can't think of anybody I've ever known who's ever gone through a divorce who went through it because that's how they started their marriage with that intention. You don't think that way when you get married. Well, if you have been in that position, well, you have to start where you are now. That's the reality. Because, yes, it may be, maybe you have divorced for the wrong reason, but it's happened, it's done. Maybe you remarried for the right reasons afterwards. but you can't go back. And let's take it broader than divorce. Think about many things in your life that have had consequences that might last to today. You can't just undo them. We don't have a time machine to go backwards and change what happened in the past. We have a gracious God, a merciful God, so we take the correct principles, But if we have messed up in the past, I mean, think about it. I mean, David messed up. Go to 2 Samuel chapter 11 and you'll see David messing it up. Go to Psalm 51 and you'll see his repentance. There were consequences because of that sin, yes. but he still had to carry on from where he was and the Lord dealt with him from where he was. So if there's something to be repented of, we repent of it and then we have to start from wherever we are. And that goes for whatever your sins are, whatever my sins are. In our heart, we may look back and think, what if? and we do that probably all the time. I doubt there's anybody here, I certainly sometimes look back and think, well, what if I hadn't done that in the past? What consequence would that have had for now? But we can't go back in time. So here we come to the theme, which is to watch our heart. So whatever we had in the past, have a read at Psalm 103, Because whatever we had in the past, whatever mistakes we've made, whatever sins that we've partaken of, however we may have offended God in the past, we have to start by now. So if it's something we've repented of, we repent of it, and then we carry on from the situation that we're in. There may be consequences from our actions in the past. But don't let the consequences harden your heart. Because the Pharisees here had a hard heart. They weren't looking at a matter which was difficult with the intention of finding out how do we navigate through this. They were asking to test and tempt the Lord. I remember at Bible college we had, as you do when you study these passages, there was a debate about divorce and it lasted about, I think, two or three lectures. I'm not sure there was an absolute clarity for some of the issues, but we were sitting there and we're working out all the complications that come in people's lives. And that's why me and some others came to the conclusion, we can't always just, we can't go back and sort it out. We just have to start from the position we're in. But let your heart be softened by the Lord. Don't let the things that perhaps convict us of our sins in the past, And I mean, I'm a recovered alcoholic, cannabis addict. I have had plenty of sins in my past, but they're in my past. As far as the East is from the West, that's where they've been put. Let our heart be softened and follow the Lord from wherever we are now. So that's a hard heart where we have to watch our heart. And I appreciate these are sensitive issues. but be softened to what the Lord says. Because there's another issue that we go beyond the hard heart, we then come on to the covetous heart, the rich young ruler. I personally think this rich young ruler was more genuine in his question. He didn't set out to trip up the Lord. He didn't set out to try to trap the Lord. He was asking, as we'll see, from a covetous heart, so he wasn't asking in the genuine sense of wanting to genuinely repent, he was asking in the sense of wanting to justify himself, but he wasn't asking to trip up the Lord. But he was obviously rich, he was a ruler, and there's nothing wrong with being rich or being a ruler, But if we take our riches or our position and we put that as the thing that we aim for in life, then there's a problem. If we put God first, then there's not a problem. And just as a little aside, the rich young ruler here is not the apostle Paul before he was converted. And I say that quite emphatically. Some people say, oh, the rich young ruler might have been Paul. No, it was not. He was a ruler, not a Pharisee. In the Bible, Pharisees have always called Pharisees, rulers are called rulers. Pharisees are never called rulers, and rulers are never called Pharisees. They're two distinct sets of people. A ruler would be something like a magistrate or some other official person of, for want of a better word, worldly powers or kingly powers. A Pharisee is the religious ruler, the religious guide, but he's never just called a ruler. So this young man was a ruler. He had a position of authority within the nation or within the region he was in, and, of course, he was rich. And he calls Jesus good. And Jesus says to him, why are you calling me good? There's only one good, and that's God. Now that leads us to two little things. One, when Jesus said that, Jesus then didn't say, well, I am not good. So Jesus, by implication, is saying, yes, only God is good. Yes, you know, that's me. It's a kind of slight indication of his deity. It's not explicit, but it is there and implied. But also it points out there's a contrast here. You see, he's saying, you are good. But he himself is thinking he is good. So he's trying to put his goodness on a par with Jesus. He's trying to take the standard of goodness to be his life. But Jesus is saying to him, no, no, no, no. Your standard of goodness isn't your life, it's God. And that's a whole different ballgame. And of course, the Lord tells him to keep his commandments, but he wants to justify himself. So he says, which commandments? Well, the Lord does give an answer to which commandments. He names a few of them, but you feel like answering, what do you mean which commandments? It's all commandments, but do you notice our Lord, the commandments that our Lord refers to are from the second tablet. It doesn't start with honouring God and worshipping God, keeping the Sabbath, it starts actually with the second tablet, how we deal with each other. So we can take it that this probably was a Jew, probably was somebody who was outwardly going to the synagogue, worshiping God, going to the temple with the sacrifices and so on. Probably outwardly everything looked fine. But our Lord wanted to hit at the heart of the problem. And that was his covetousness. And then the man was sad, of course, and went away. And then we come to verses 23 to 26. Well, there's a thought. First of all, it's not talking, sometimes, some people talk about a needle gate in Jerusalem. There's no such thing, neither in the Bible, neither in archaeology, neither in history. That was a fantasy made up by, I think it was some monk in the Middle Ages. It's not talking about some kind of gate. And if it was a small gate, then a baby camel might fit through, so that would destroy the illustration. No, no, no. This is taking one of the needles, maybe, even take one of your biggest needles, a darning needle or something like that, and then trying to take a literal camel and squeeze it through. Well, it's patently impossible. In fact, it's not just impossible, it's utterly ludicrous. And that's the point our Lord is making. He's taking an illustration that's obviously ludicrous and saying, But here's the thing, the disciples then say, well, who can be saved? And the Lord says, with men this is impossible, with God all things are possible. In other words, God can put the camel through the eye of the needle. And that's how we are saved. Because this is wider than just for those who are rich. This is all of us. None of us would naturally come to God, we're all rebels. It's all impossible. With all that camel trying to get through the eye of the needle, can't be done. But by God's grace and by His mercy, He fits us through. Now that should be a comfort. It's a comfort that we need to now watch our own hearts. Because covetousness isn't just for the rich. Covetousness happens for the poor and for the middle classes and everybody else. Because our heart can desire what is not ours and put that first. Our heart can look to the things of this world and not to God. Don't put that first. Watch your heart. If you don't know Christ as your Savior, then beware. Beware because you might be thinking, I've never done anybody any harm. I'm not a sinner. You might be thinking about the second tablet of the law and thinking about how you behave before others and deceiving yourselves into thinking you've kept all these commandments because none of us actually have. Because if you sin in your heart, then that is enough to condemn us. But as much as we have a covetous heart and as much as it's impossible for a covetous heart to change, with God all things are possible. So you can trust in Christ and follow Him. And when you turn from a covetous heart to Christ, you're then given a true heart. Verses 27 to 13. Peter has asked the question, see, we have left all and followed you, therefore, what shall we have? You know, on the surface, we might immediately think, oh, I don't know if I'd want to ask that question. That sounds like I'm just now wanting something. But our Lord doesn't rebuke Peter. Our Lord doesn't say to Peter, you shouldn't ask this. Our Lord actually answers them in a very positive way by telling them, well, this is what you will have. This is what you do have. So in that sense, I would say there's nothing wrong with Peter's question here, because I believe Peter asked this question from a genuine heart of, okay, that's the situation, what about us? Because we have left all. They may not have given up as much wealth as the rich ruler was being told to, but they have given up all that they had. They walked away from their fishing business where they would have security and now they're following the Lord, expecting persecution and trouble because he's told them that's going to come. What do we have? Well, there's a bit of debate exactly which way we take this passage. One way we can take it, which is the way I generally favour, is that we take it in reference to the end, that is, when time comes, because it's the reference to the inheriting of eternal life and so on, and talking about, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne. I think this is speaking about at the end, when we're in heaven and we have all the good things of God. The other way of taking it is The regeneration is referring to when we are converted in Christ. The sitting on his throne is our Lord ascended. Remember, he sat at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And the 12 thrones is in reference to the fact that the disciples, when they were alive, were theologically, in that sense, judging the Gentiles and judging the Jews with all their doctrine, as we see in the Scripture, when they're challenging both ways. And the gain, is of course when we come to Christ, when we trust in Christ, every single believer throughout the entire world is our sister and brother. So we actually have a worldwide family which is why we can refer to each other as brother and sister. But many people in this life of Christians don't necessarily have what we call the good things of this world, because many are persecuted, many are martyred and still are being martyred today. The Hindus are martyring thousands of Christians in India. We know South Sudan, Christians are still being martyred. We know North Korea, it's happening in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, all these different places. It's probably happening quietly in places in the West as well, but it doesn't hit the news. What do they have? They have everything. They have God. They have glory. They have heaven. Because ultimately, whichever way you take this passage, ultimately it will point to the fact in heaven, the believer has their inheritance. Those who have a true heart have all that they ever need. might not always be all that we ever want on this earth, but our wants aren't always quite what we need. And then in verse 30 we read, but many who are first will be last and the last first. In the context of what's just been said, The rich of this world will often be last because often we find rich people have often converted a bit later in life because they have all that they need and often it takes longer to persuade them. So, for example, Colonel Saunders of Kentucky Fried Chicken was converted much later in life. I think he lived about 10 years or so after he was converted. And he became a very clear-cut Christian, gave a lot of his money away, actually, to Christian causes. And a lot of people who are poorer, who are struggling, well, they don't have to be persuaded that they don't have everything and that they need Christ always so hard because they see their life and they think it's a mess. Often people who come to church week after week after week, they live a decent life and they think, well, they have it all, but they don't because they still haven't turned to Christ as their Savior. I didn't need much persuading in my pre-Christian days that my life was a mess. I didn't need a calculator and Ready Reckoner to figure that out. It was blatantly obvious. But if you've been brought up in a Christian home and you've lived a decent life all your life, sometimes it's harder to see the sin in the heart. It's harder to see your needs because you're not doing something that's so overtly wild. Many who are first will be last in the last first. But whether we are, whichever one of that category we fall into, we need to seek Christ and have a true heart. So if you don't know Christ as the Savior, then you don't have a true heart, whatever you think. because our nature is sinful and corrupt to the core. And therefore, our hearts are rotten to the core. But when you trust in Christ, you have a true heart by God's grace. And if you're trusting in Christ, then we also need to watch our heart to see it doesn't get led astray and to bypass metal into areas which are not good. In conclusion then, It's not an easy thing to examine our hearts. And I know we've dealt with some subjects which are not easy and not always comfortable because many of us have passed and not all of us cover many of the things that we've just dealt with. But we can't escape what the Lord says in His Word just because we might find some of it uncomfortable. But we need to examine our heart by God's Word. and see whether our standard meets up to his standard and if it doesn't then we need to repent and trust in Christ or repent and come back to the Lord depending on whether we're a believer or not. In other words we're not to work things by man's opinion but by God's opinion and we need to watch our heart. So if you're a believer, watch that you don't stray into self-righteousness, covetousness, or any other wanderings, as we can all easily use our security in Christ to become careless. Not intentionally, or that's not the intent, but it can happen. And remember, as far as the East is from the West, remember that We can't get into a time machine and change the past, but we can repent of it and move on from where we are and live from where we are. If you don't know the Lord, then beware of your heart telling you all is well, for it is not quite the opposite, in fact. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Therefore, repent and turn to Christ for salvation. Pray for Him for salvation. Seek Him. And when we turn to Him in repentance and faith, He'll in no way cast you out. Let us all watch our heart.