A Promise, a Prophecy, and a Problem

    “Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee. And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting. Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken” (Luke 18:28-34).

    In Luke 18:18-27 we read about the rich young ruler who came to the Lord Jesus, fell on his knees, and worshipped him saying, “Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” You know the story. The Master said to him, “Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.” This rich young ruler looked at all he had, looked at what Christ required, counted the cost, and said, “No.” He chose to save his life and lost it.

    That rich young ruler possessed three things. He possessed them and they possessed him. They are snares by which Satan keeps multitudes from faith in Christ. First, religion without Christ: the rich young ruler was a self-righteous religionists. He was like those who eat and drink unworthily in 1 Corinthians 11. He presumed that he knew God, but did not.

    Second, the care of this world: he was a ruler among men, and had many great cares. Third, the deceitfulness of riches: the young ruler, that lost, self-righteous religious man had great wealth.

    When he walked away from the Saviour, the Master said, “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” The disciples were astonished. They said, “Who then can be saved?” If it is left up to men, it is impossible. But, blessed be his name forever, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” “With God all things are possible.”

    The Lord Jesus had just told the rich young ruler that if he would forsake all and follow him, he would have treasure in heaven. Peter latched onto that and said to the Saviour, “We’ve done that. We’ve forsaken all and followed you.” And Matthew tells us he then asked, “What shall we have therefore.”

    There is nothing in Peter’s question that implied pride, arrogance, ambition, or unbelief. He did not say, “I have forsaken all. What shall I have?” He said, “we”. And the Lord Jesus said nothing to correct him or chastise him. Neither will I. The fact is if I had heard what Peter had just heard, I suspect I would have asked the same thing. In fact, I have asked the same thing. I am very interested in knowing what that treasure is that is laid up for us in heaven. Aren’t you?

    Here is the Saviour’s answer to Peter’s question. “Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting” (vv. 29, 30).

    Our Saviour here makes a broad, blessed promise to all who follow him regarding his all-sufficient, boundless grace. It is not merely a promise about the glory that awaits us, but is primarily about the grace that is ours in this world. Yes, in the world to come we shall receive a crown of glory that fades not away and everlasting blessedness beyond the scope of human imagination. But our Saviour here promises us that all who forsake all and follow him shall “receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.” This promise refers distinctly to the life that now is. It is spoken of as “this present time”.

    We will never suffer loss at the hands of our Master! He promises us “manifold more” than we forsake by following him. Does that mean that we will have greater riches, more property, greater fame, better health, a more tranquil life in this world, as the “health, wealth, prosperity” wolves of today promise? Of course not!

    Our Lord’s promise obviously has a higher meaning. The “manifold more” of the promise refers not to carnal, but to spiritual things. Our Lord Jesus always gives infinitely better than he gets. He here promises us that he will give us, “in this present time”, indescribably more than we will ever be obliged to give up for his sake.

    Yes, we must lose our lives to save them. We must forsake all, if we would have Christ. But giving up our lives is giving up nothing. The life we get is everything. What we forsake for Christ is nothing. What we get is Christ, who is all! For this Pearl of Great Price, any man who will not sell all that he has is a fool.

    Come, sell all that you have and buy the Pearl of Great Price, the Lord Jesus Christ, without money and without price (Isaiah 55:1), and you shall find everything your soul needs in him. You will have no lack of righteousness, for he is the Lord our Righteousness. You will have no lack of atonement, for the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. You will have no lack of holiness, for Christ is our Sanctification. And you will have no lack of grace, for all grace is ours in Christ. In Christ you will find everything your soul needs. Our Lord’s disciples found it so, and we shall, too (Luke 22:35).

    “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus”! He will give you, “in this present time”, such peace, hope, joy, comfort, and rest in sweet communion with himself, that you shall never lack anything. The Lord Jesus Christ shall be more to you than money, or property, or relatives, or friends. In our darkest hours he keeps them in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed upon him (Isaiah 26:3). He will give you grace to glory in tribulation and take pleasure in reproaches, in infirmities, and in persecutions for his sake (Romans 5:3; 2 Corinthians 12:10). In your greatest heaviness, he will give you such joy unspeakable and full of glory that you will count it an honour to suffer shame for his name’s sake (1 Peter 1:18; Acts 5:41; Romans 8:28; 11:36; 1 Thessalonians 5:25).

    Friends have often proved faithless. Great promises have often been broken. Riches have made themselves wings and flown away. But not one of Christ’s promises has ever fallen to the ground. Yes, “my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus”! “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

    In a word, no matter how long “this present time” shall last, no matter what woes “this present time” shall bring, no matter how dark “this present time” shall appear, the Lord God, our great and gracious Saviour, promises to all who forsake all and follow him, “My grace is sufficient for thee” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). There is an infinite, super-abounding, overflowing sufficiency in the grace of God to meet all the needs of all his people forever. No matter who you are, no matter what your needs may be, no matter what circumstances you are in, if you are a believer, if you trust the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord God says to you, “My grace is sufficient for thee”! His grace is sufficient to sustain you in your trials (Isaiah 43:1-5), sufficient to uphold you in temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13), sufficient to enable you to perform all his will (1 Thessalonians 5:25). The providence of God will never take you where the grace of God will not keep you. “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it”! His grace is sufficient to uphold, sustain, provide for, and protect his servants and to make their labours effectual to the souls of men. “Our sufficiency is of God”! And his grace is sufficient even for, no, especially for his fallen saints (Psalm 37:23-25; Mark 16:7).

    In your last hour, when you come to the swelling of the Jordan and are about to cross over to the other side, you will yet hear him say, “My grace is sufficient for thee”! When the world is on fire, you will look back over this world and all your life’s experiences and say, “He hath done all things well.” In that great day should the Lord Jesus ask, “Lacked ye anything?” Our response will be, “Nothing.”

    Oh, how unsearchable are the riches of Christ “in this present time”. And after this, in the world to come “life everlasting”. He gives us grace here, boundless, infinite, free grace, and glory in the world to come!

    In (vv. 31-33) we have before us our Saviour’s clear and detailed prophecy concerning his own death as our Substitute. The Lord Jesus, from old eternity, set his face like a flint to go to Calvary and die in our place, bearing our sins in his own body, that he might suffer all the wrath of God to the full satisfaction of justice, to put away our sins and redeem us from the curse of the law. Now, he says to his disciples, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.”

    It was for this cause that he came into the world (Matthew 1:21; Hebrews 10:5-14). He came here to give his life a ransom for many, to make his soul an offering for sin, and to bear our transgressions in his own body on the tree. He was born in Bethlehem so that he might pour out his life’s blood unto death at Jerusalem.

    Let our souls ever be clothed with wonder and amazement before our Saviour and his great love for us (Romans 5:6-8; 1 John 3:16; 4:9, 10). Let us ever glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:14).

    He never swerved from his path for a moment. He was straitened in spirit, until he had finished the work he came to do (Luke 12:50). Such love passes knowledge. It is unspeakable and unsearchable! We may rest on that love without fear. If Christ so loved us before we thought of him, he will surely not cease to love us after we have believed.

    Our Saviour’s calmness in the prospect of certain death is an example for us. Like him, let us drink the bitter cup which our Father gives us, without a murmur, and say, “not my will but thy will be done”. Believers have no reason to be afraid of death and the grave. Christ died to deliver us from the fear of death (Hebrews 2:15; 1 Corinthians 15:56, 57). Because he died, we shall never die. Because he arose, we shall arise. Because he lives, we shall forever live.

    Here is a very sad, but very common problem among true believers. “And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken” (v. 34).

    When the Lord Jesus described his coming sufferings and death, as he often did, his disciples didn’t understand a thing he said. Its significance was hidden from them. They failed to grasp what he was talking about. We read this with a mixture of pity and surprise. We wonder at the darkness and blindness of the Jews. We marvel that in the face of plain teaching, and in the light of plain types of the Mosaic law the sufferings of Christ were not known. But when we read of the ignorance and unbelief of these disciples, these who truly forsook all and followed him, these who truly trusted him, we are amazed. These were saved men, the apostles of our Lord!

    What pride, arrogance, and hypocrisy that fact reveals in us. We have greater light than they had. We have the whole volume of holy scripture. We walk no longer, as they did, in the dim light of types, shadows, ceremonies, and carnal ordinances. We have the full sunshine of God’s complete Revelation. Yet, we are still terribly ignorant, fearful, and unbelieving.

    Why did God the Holy Spirit inspire Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to tell us so much about the ignorance and unbelief, the weaknesses and fears, the falls and failings, and even the denials and abandonments of these faithful men? He did so to teach us that were he to leave us to ourselves, we would all soon perish. Thank God, he will not leave us to ourselves!

    He did so to teach us that our salvation is not dependent upon the strength and quality of our faith, but upon the strength and quality of our Saviour. It is not our knowledge that saves us, but Christ.

    And he did so to teach us that Salvation is altogether the work of God’s free grace in Christ. God’s saints in this world, as long as we live in this world, are still weak, sinful, failing, and ignorant men. Nothing more!

    We must, as long as we are in this weak state, live by faith in Christ. “As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.”

    Yet, it is to us, weak, ignorant, sinful believers that the Lord Jesus Christ made the promise we read in verses 29 and 30. “Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.”