Well again, we'll have a break
from Isaiah this week. I don't know how long we'll have
a break for, but we'll have a break this week. And I want to turn
your attention to Matthew chapter 19. This is something that cropped
up in Christine and my daily readings, and it just seems so
relevant that it has prompted the message for this week. Matthew
chapter 19. And in the last few verses, though
it relates to all that Peter read to us earlier, it relates
to all of that, the account of the rich young ruler coming to
Jesus and asking what he needed to do to have eternal life and
the dialogue that went on from that. And then in verse 27, Peter
answered and said unto him, behold, we have forsaken all and followed
thee. What shall we have therefore?
So the title of the message is Forsaken All and Followed Christ. I don't know about you, but increasingly
I find in this world that the path of true faith in Christ
is ever more lonely. It really is. we are to live
at peace with all men, as much as is within us, we are to get
on with people, we're not to be obnoxious, we're not to be
those that are constantly berating them, standing on a soapbox and
preaching at them, nevertheless, nevertheless. The faith that
we believe, the Christ that we believe, the gospel that we believe,
separates from the world. It really does. It's unavoidable.
And what is it that separates? It's particular redemption. Above
all other doctrines in scripture, it is the doctrine of particular
redemption, or if you like to give it its title as it is in
the tulip mnemonic, it's limited atonement. It's the doctrine
that Christ did not die for everybody. If you've ever heard an Arminian
gospel preacher stand up like Billy Graham and that type and
say God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, do you know
that's a lie? That is a lie. That is plainly a lie. The Scriptures
do not teach that. The Scriptures teach that Christ
died for a multitude the Father gave Him before the beginning
of time, and He died for those only. He did not pay the penalty
for the sins of the whole world if only the world would believe
in him, as so many who call themselves Calvinistic Reform believers
say. No, not at all. He died for the sins of his elect. It was to put away their sins.
Who did he come to save? He came to save his people from
their sins. for the transgressions of my
people was he stricken. This is what the scriptures say,
and people find it a hard saying. Look in John, well you don't
need to look but I'll read it to you, John chapter 6 and verse
60. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, when
they'd heard what? When they'd heard what he was saying, about
the grace of God. Verse 44, He said, Jesus said,
What do you mean? If I want to come, I'll come.
No. No, said Jesus. No man can come to me. except the Father which sent
me, Droid." Well, why won't He call me? Well, He might do. But
get down off your high horse and listen to what the Word of
God says. This is sovereign grace. Verse 53, Jesus said to them,
verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. What's
He saying? He's saying you must have a vital
spiritual living union with the Son of God, with God in flesh,
the Redeemer, who came to save his people from their sins. Otherwise
you have no life. But we have Abraham for our father.
We have all the Jewish rites and ceremonies, is what they
were saying. And he said, not possible, not enough. You must
be one that the Father's called, and you must be called to a vital
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And they said, when they heard
this, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? Or, in other
words, that's too tough for me, I can't stand that. And many
of them left him when he said that. Many of them departed. They said they were going elsewhere. From that time, many of his disciples,
those that had claimed to be his disciples, went back to the
world. to those around them, to the
things that they've been doing. They left the Lord Jesus Christ
and His teaching and they walked no more with Him. That's what
it is. It's very, very distinctive. This need for a vital union with
Christ and the need for sovereign grace. What are they born of? Not of the will of the flesh,
nor of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God. But of God. Think about it. It's absolutely
vital, and sovereign grace offends the pride of the natural man.
Look in Matthew chapter 10, just turn back a few pages if you
can, to verse 34. 10 verse 34. You see, this teaching of Christ,
the world's view of Jesus, if they have any view at all, and
the religious view of Jesus, that is spouted on the media
and in the world's religion is that it's nothing other than
gentle Jesus meek and mild. You listen to what the Lord Jesus
Christ said in his ministry. He said, think not that I am
come to send peace on earth, I came not to send peace, but
a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and
a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that
loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And then
he goes on about taking up the cross and following him. Jesus
is saying there that the message of the gospel that he came to
preach, the message of the kingdom, makes enemies of the world. Why? because this world around
us strives for its own peace. It strives, is it not the case,
think what the politicians are preaching all the time, universal
well-being. This is what worldly religion,
I listened to the service on the radio this morning, exactly
this, yet again, this message of universal well-being without
any reference to the justice of God. The justice of God is
offended justice, is violated justice, justice and righteousness
that is violated by sin, and yet this world seeks peace without
making any amends for that violated justice of God. What is the primary
doctrine of this world in which we live, so it seems, in the
days in which we live? What's the moral high ground?
Is it not tolerance of diversity, whatever form it takes? Isn't
that it? That's what it is to be righteous
as far as this world is concerned. You're tolerant of diversity
whatever form it takes, whatever form of perversity it takes.
Tolerant of it. The Word of God says otherwise.
The Word of God says that God is just and holy. The Word of
God says that God must punish sin. The Word of God says that
the soul that sins, it shall die. He shall not clear the guilty,
is what the Word of God says. And yet this world sets itself
against the things of God. Listen to Psalm 2 verses 2 and
3. The kings of the earth, the rulers, the rulers of today,
the politicians, the order, the world order of today, the kings
of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together.
They gang up together in their United Nations and their European
councils and all of these places against the Lord, against the
Lord's justice, against the Lord's righteousness and against his
Christ, against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands
asunder. Let's get rid of these constraints
of this law and justice and righteousness of God. Let's get rid of it and
live exactly as we want to live and do that which is right in
our own eyes and cast away their cords from us. But I tell you,
the message of this book God is holy and just. There is no
escape from him except in the Lord Jesus Christ. The way of
life is what this book calls a narrow way. Jesus himself said
it. The way to life is narrow, the
narrow way. In Pilgrim's Progress, it was
that narrow, rugged, steep path, only one way. And he describes
the alternative as being that broad way, which the world is
on. And do you know where the broad
way goes? It leads to destruction. I fear there are those that call
themselves believers who liked the notion that they have one
foot on the narrow path and the other foot in the broad way.
But you can't straddle both. You absolutely can't. To be right
with God in Christ, The world must be forsaken. Now what do
I mean by that? Don't get that wrong. I don't
mean we all go and live in a monastery. We all go off and live in some
reclusive island somewhere where all the distractions of this
world are taken. Not at all. We are to live in the world because
God said he would leave his people in the world, but we're not to
live as those who are of the world. We're not to have the
mindset of the world. We're not to have the desires
and the motivations of the world. Yes, he gives us all things freely
to enjoy, the things of beauty in nature we can look at, the
things that we can enjoy, the food and the wine we can enjoy,
the merriment with friends and loved ones that we can enjoy.
Yes, he's not talking cut yourself off from that, but don't let
the things of this world and its aspirations and the things
that it values be the things that drive you as a believer
and a follower of Christ. Christ must be followed. And
so I have two points this morning. What is it to forsake all? And
secondly, what is promised in compensation? First of all, forsake
all and follow. Verse 27 of Matthew 19. Now what
prompted this statement? What prompted this answer of
Peter? It was the situation they were in. This young man had come,
this rich young ruler had come to Jesus and asked him, And he's coming, obviously he's
really quite pleased with himself. He's coming for affirmation that
he's done everything right and that he's going to heaven. People
want, even in these days, people want affirmation that they're
going to heaven. Don't they? Some say they don't
believe anything, but some say, oh, I want to go to heaven. Oh,
yes, I want to go to heaven. Please tell me that I'm going
to heaven. This rich young ruler came, please tell me that I'm
going to heaven because I know I've done everything right. I'm
a pretty good guy, is what he said. And Jesus said, well, what
does the law say? If you're saying, what must I
do? What must you do? You must keep the law. That's
what you must do perfectly. Cursed is everyone who does not
continue in all things written in the book of the law to do
them continually without any error, without any slip whatsoever.
And he says, well, which ones? And Jesus said to him, well,
you shall do no murder, you shan't commit adultery, don't steal,
don't bear false witness, honor your father and mother, love
your neighbor as yourself. And he said, I've done all those.
And Jesus said to him, when he said, what am I lacking? I've
done all those, is there anything still that I'm lacking? And Jesus
said to him, yes, go and sell all that you have. Go and prove
where your affection really is. Go and sell all that you have
and give it to the poor, and come and follow me.' But when
the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful. Why?
For he had great possessions. He had great possessions, and
those great possessions possessed him. They possessed him and they
held him and he was a slave to them and he couldn't let go of
them and he was grasping them because he'd earned them and
he was grasping them and he was clinging on to them and he couldn't
leave them. And so he couldn't follow Christ
because Christ said you've got to leave them. This is not telling
us to go and be poverty stricken. This is not telling us that at
all. What it's telling us is where is your heart set? You
know, Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, he said, don't
set your heart on the things that are on this earth where
moth and rust corrupts, lay up treasure in heaven. Do you have
heavenly treasure? That's where to have great treasure
and great possessions in following him. No, he wouldn't forsake
his possessions. Whereas, as Peter said, they
had. The disciples had. Look at Matthew
chapter four. In Matthew chapter 4, let me
find that quickly. Matthew chapter 4, the calling
of the disciples and verse 18, Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee
saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, this was Peter who was
speaking here, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the
sea for they were fishers. And he said unto them, follow
me and I will make you fishers of men. And they argued about
it and wondered, it doesn't say that, does it? It says in verse
20, they straightway left their nets and followed him. They didn't
even gather up their nets to sell them to somebody else who
was a fisherman. They left them and followed him.
Why did they do it? We know why they did it. It wasn't
because they were better than anybody else, but by the grace
of God, God made them willing to follow in the day of his power.
When he gave the call, like the man with the withered arm who
could not stretch out his arm, and Jesus said to him, stretch
out your arm, and with the call came the power to do. And with
the call to Andrew and Peter came the power to obey the call. When they heard him say, follow
me, and I will make you fishers of men, they straightway left
their nets. We have left all and followed
you, said Peter. We've done it. In Luke 5, chapter
11, they forsook all and followed him. Another account of the calling
of the disciples. What was the attraction? What
did they see? In themselves, as ordinary men,
they couldn't see anything because we're all naturally blind. But
God, by His Spirit, shined the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And in what they saw
of him and what they heard him say, they heard, as Peter said
in Matthew, in John 16, when he said about them, who is it
that, no, I'm sorry, I'm getting that wrong. It is Matthew 16.
When he said, who do men say that I am? And they said, you're
a prophet, or John the Baptist, or Elijah, or something like
that. And he said, but who do you say I am? And it's Peter
that said, You are the Christ, the son of the living God. In
John 6, when they started to go away from him, he said to
them, will you also go away? And Peter gave the answer to
the question I've just asked. What was the attraction? Attraction's
the wrong word, really. What was the thing that compelled
them to stay? Peter said, to whom shall we go? There's nowhere
else to go. Why? For you and you alone have
the words of eternal life. These are the words of eternal
life. Why would you, why would anybody follow Christ? This is
the reason you hear him preached, as Romans 10 tells us. A preacher
comes, a God-sent preacher comes and preaches. This is God's way.
It might be verbal preaching, nearly always is. But it might
be preaching that you read in a book. It might be an account
of a sermon that speaks to you. But God sends a preacher. This is God's way. By the foolishness
of preaching, it pleased God to save those who believe. You
hear Him preached. You hear the righteousness of
God preached. You hear the sin of man preached.
You hear judgment to come preached. You have the fear of death in
your soul. You know that you must meet God,
and yet you're not right with God. And then Christ is set forth. Christ is declared as the one
who has paid the sin debt of the multitude the Father gave
to Him. And you cry out, whilst on others you are calling, Lord,
do not pass me by. Savior, dear Savior, hear my
humble cry. Whilst on others you are calling,
do not pass me by. You see as He is preached, You
see in your mind, by your brain, you see that God in the Gospel
is perfectly just in punishing sin, in paying the sin debt,
and thereby is perfectly just in justifying those who by nature
in the flesh are sinners. And this is how God is both just
and justifier, a just God and a Saviour. And it's not because
you've got more mental capacity than others, but God by His Spirit
comes and makes you alive, and gives you faith. By grace are
you saved, through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God, to believe the Son, to believe the message. And in
believing, it doesn't stop there. People think that they can just
believe and then carry on as normal. No, it requires commitment
to Him. This is what saving faith is.
This is the faith of God's elect, His commitment to Him based on
the gospel that you've heard. You know that the justice of
God is satisfied for me the sinner by virtue of my union with Christ
from eternity in what Christ is as the Son of God, the Anointed
One, the Promised One, the Christ of God, the Messiah who is coming
to make satisfaction for sin, the seed of the woman coming
and in His dying, in His pouring out of His lifeblood, in His
drinking that cup, that bitter cup, Father if it be possible
that this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
When I know that, what else can I do than be wholly committed
to Him? to be wholly committed to His
truth, to be wholly committed to His service. You see, I have
tried the broken cisterns of this world. I've tried them. We carve out stone cisterns to
hold water, the water of pleasure of this life. And they always
get broken. You know how fragile it is? You
know, heavy stone, and you just hit it wrongly and crack, down
goes the crack, and all the water pours out. I've tried the broken
cisterns, Lord, but ah, the waters failed. The waters that I thought
would satisfy for this life, they failed. And even as I stooped
to drink, they mocked me as I wailed. I've tried the baubles and the
trinkets and the jewels of this world. and they haven't satisfied
but now in the gospel I have found the pearl the pearl, the
pearl of look at Matthew 13 Matthew chapter 13 and verse
44 The kingdom of heaven is like
unto treasure hid in a field, the which, when a man hath found,
he hide us, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he
hath, and buyeth that field for that bit of treasure he's found.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking
goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price,
went and sold all that he had, and bought it." That pearl of
great price. I imagine many of you like the
Antiques Roadshow, and there's I wouldn't watch it naturally,
but Christine cannot let an episode go by without watching it, so
I end up watching it. And I must say, some of it does
quite entertain me. And I particularly like the bit
where they have three items that to the uneducated eye all look
more or less the same. You know, this one, this one.
But one of them is of ordinary value, one is of medium value,
and one is of stupendous value. And the game is what they have
to try and work out which one is which, and it's amazing how
often they get it wrong. They get it right sometimes,
but, you know, this is the idea here. This merchant in the little
parable had found the pearl of greatest price. That's the one.
That's the one. The expert says that's the one.
And that's the gospel. You see, what does your soul
need? To be right with God. You know you've got an appointment.
It's appointed to man to die once and then the judgment. You
know you've got an appointment. You can't avoid it. You need
to be righteous. Follow holiness. Pursue holiness. Without which, if you don't have
it, if you don't have the holiness of God, you shall not see God.
He will condemn you to hell. Where will you find that holiness?
in the pearl of greatest price. Who is the pearl of greatest
price? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Him, and the gospel of his grace,
that pays the sin debt for his people. Ah, I've found it, I've
believed it, I've embraced it. This is the pearl of greatest
price. Having this, I'm rich for all eternity. Having this,
it doesn't matter what I have or don't have now. Having this,
I am rich beyond measure for all eternity. John Bunyan, who
lived, just up the road from us in Bedford, not more than
about 20, 25 miles from where we are, was deprived of his liberty
in Bedford jail for preaching what I preach. He was deprived
of his liberty for 12 years. Don't think that those days might
not return. In this increasingly liberal
society, I can see the day coming when the one message that this
world conspires to stop altogether is this message of sovereign
grace in the Gospel. And it happened to Bunyan, and
he was deprived of his liberty for 12 years. But all that time
he was deprived of the things of this world, do you know he
was rich beyond measure? For he had the Gospel pearl.
He had that pearl of greatest price. And with that pearl of
greatest price, look what he wrote there. Pilgrim's Progress,
the Holy War. Look how he illustrated the truth
of God from that confinement in prison. And now the hypocrites
who rule Bedford, just up the road from us, they make what
they can of it. They get whatever tourist money they can out of
it, and yet not one of them believes it. No, when you have the pearl
of greatest price, there's no competition. It's utterly one-sided
commitment is all that you must have. Look in Luke chapter 14.
Luke chapter 14 and verse 25. And there went great multitudes
with him, and he turned and said to them, if any... See the crowds
were finding it easy to follow Christ. And he said, if any man
come to me, And hate not his father, and mother, and wife,
and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life
also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his
cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. He says it's
a costly thing. Following Christ carries a cost. is clear in verse 29. Jesus said
in response to Peter's question, everyone that has borne the cost
of forsaking houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother,
or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake, everyone
that's borne that cost shall receive an hundredfold and shall
inherit eternal life. Their faith The faith of a believer
often costs possessions and family. It does. It costs family. Again,
Matthew 10. I think we read it earlier, didn't
we? Matthew chapter 10 and verse 34. He says, think not that I
am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword to set a man against his father at variance with his
father and mother and daughter-in-law and so on. A man's foes shall
be they of his own house. There's a cost involved. For
Peter and the other disciples, what was it? Career advancement. I mean, no doubt they had a promising
little fishing business, and yet they left it. They abandoned
it because they had to, for the work that Christ had for them.
Worldly honor and riches might be involved. I tell you, I find
it incredibly difficult, I'm not saying impossible, I find
it very hard to understand how anybody can be a true believer
and yet be highly involved in public life because it is of
necessity a situation that causes so much compromise with the truth.
We know of one man. I don't know his true state before
God. Tim Fallon, who is the Liberal
Democrat MP for Westmoreland, the county that I grew up in.
In fact, he lives in the same village as my sister. And he
claimed to be a Christian, and he was leader of the Liberal
Democrat Party, but he stood down because he just said he
just found his faith utterly incompatible with what he had
to say and do as a public figure. And whether he's a true believer
or not, I don't know, but I admire the man for being that honest.
No. Career advancement is a cost.
Worldly honour and riches. What a snare riches proved to
be for that rich young ruler when he went away sorrowful in
verse 22. You know the parable of the sower,
Jesus said, some fell amongst thorns. Some of the seed of the
word fell amongst people who were like those who are ground
that's got thorns in it. And it says in Luke 8, 14 When
it sprung up, when that seed of the Word sprung up, it was
choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. This
world chokes the truth of the Gospel of Grace. The love of
money, said Paul to Timothy, the love of money, not money,
there's a song that says money is the root of all evil, that's
not what it says. It's the love of money is the root of all kinds
of evil. And it is, the love of money.
It's not money as such, it's your love of it that's the issue.
Don't envy the rich. Pity them. Honestly, we look
and they announce the lottery win. Oh, somebody this week won
a Euro millions, 122 million pounds, wasn't it? Was that in
the news the other day? That was the sort of, it's not the
biggest one, somebody I think has won 150 odd. And you say, oh,
wouldn't that be wonderful? What a curse that would be. What
a curse lots of money would be. Don't envy the rich, pity them. In Matthew 13, 22, Jesus talks
about the deceitfulness of riches. They deceive because they make
you think that you're well off, when in actual fact you're not.
You're in actual fact like a drowning man who is a rich man with his
pockets stuffed full of gold. And what's the heavy gold going
to do to you if you're drowning? You know boys, don't you? That
heavy gold is going to drag you down to the bottom of the sea.
What must you do with that gold in your pockets? If you're drowning,
you're overboard, and you're drowning, you must get that gold
out of your pocket and get rid of it. You cannot swim with gold
in your pockets. What was the rich young ruler's
problem? You know, he'd done all those right things, but he
wouldn't give up that which Jesus told him he had to. It's what
it says in James, chapter 4, verse 4, Know ye not that friendship
with the world is enmity with God, enemies with God? Whosoever
therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
John says this in his first epistle, chapter 2, verse 15. Love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
But all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father,
but it is of the world. And the world passeth away. Don't
forget that. And the lust thereof. but he
that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Why is the world a problem? Because the world is the kingdom
of Antichrist. It has an aspiration to common
good without the satisfaction of divine justice. They think
like this, that a man's life, as Luke 12, 15 says, they think
that a man's life consists in the abundance of the things which
he possesses. Do you think like that? Do I
ever think like that? That the man's life, the worth
of a man's life, consists in the abundance of the things which
he possesses. If you think like that, believe
me, regarding eternity, that is a delusion. It's just like
the false gospels of this world. It's a refuge of lies. It's a
false message. Don't believe it. Jeremiah 6.14,
they have healed also the hurt of my people slightly. The false
prophets have. Saying what? They say, peace,
peace, when there is no peace. The message on the radio from
the Anglican, wherever it was, this morning, peace, peace, when
there is no peace. There's only peace for God in
the gospel of His grace, in the doing and the dying of the Lord
Jesus Christ. As Isaiah 48, 22 says, there
is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked. Who are the
wicked? Those who will not believe the Son. That's what it is. What
must we do that we do the works of God? Jesus said this, this
is the work of God, because it truly is the work of God. It's
the work of God's Spirit. This is the work of God that
you believe on him whom he has sent. Do we make void the law
through that faith, through that belief? No, rather we establish
the law. The only way the law can be established
is in the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is impossible
to get into heaven without this. This is what he says in verse
24. Again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the
kingdom of God. Do you know they try and Make
that easier. You boys have been to the zoo.
You've seen a camel, haven't you? If a camel was standing
in this room, it would take up an awful lot of space, wouldn't
it? A camel in here, and in the sewing box down there, your grandma
has got some sewing needles. And if you've seen the eye of
a needle, which is the little bit that you poke the thread
through, and it's very difficult. Some of us really struggle to
get a thread through the eye of a needle. How about a camel
going through the eye of a needle? There are those who try and make
it easier by saying, ah, the eye of a needle is a gate in
Jerusalem, which was a bit hard, but if you pushed hard enough
you could get the camel through it. No, it's not. He means an
eye of a needle. That's what he means. He means
it's impossible because the disciples were exceedingly amazed and they
said, well, nobody can be saved then. And Jesus said, with men,
you're right, it's impossible. By man's efforts, it's impossible.
But with God, all things are possible. With God, all things
are possible by his grace. When God shines his gospel light,
the value of that outweighs anything the world can offer, doesn't
it? When God shines his gospel light, when you have believed
the gospel, the value of that makes everything else seem relatively
worthless. You know, if God told you to
abandon what you've got and go somewhere else, don't get any
funny ideas, but seriously, if He did, and you're truly following
Christ, you'd be happy to let it go, because you know that
He will supply all your need. It must be forsaken, and Christ
must be followed. Do you claim to be a believer,
a follower? Or are you still grasping on
to the world? What God calls you to do is hold
the things that he gives you on an open, flat hand that he
can take. The Lord giveth and the Lord
taketh away, said Job. Blessed be the name of the Lord. God gives us and God takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
You see, You have to be clear, as Jesus said in the Sermon on
the Mount in Matthew 6, 24, No man can serve two masters, for
either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will
hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and
mammon money. So is it all negative? Is it
all negative what you've got to do in forsaking? Well look,
there's promised compensation. Look in verse 29. And the other
accounts in the other Gospels say in this life, in this time, and then in eternity shall inherit
eternal life. There's a clear promise that
whatever has been forsaken of the world's pleasures, believers
will not lack whatever they, here's the word, need. Need, not want, whatever they
need in terms of the things lost. I've been a believer now for
many years, I would say knowing the true gospel for well over
30 years now, being in religion for a lot longer than that, but
well over 30 years knowing the true gospel, as I heard Henry
Mayan preach to me in the 1980s. And I found that wherever I go
in the world when I meet other believers who believe the same
thing, Whatever I've lost in terms of worldly human relationships,
I've got true fellowship with those people. I know that I can
go there and what's theirs is mine and what's mine is theirs
when they come here. I know I can go to, we just went
to Australia and we spent three and a half weeks in Australia.
And how long did it take us to get used to one another and weigh
one another up? Should I tell you? No time. Instantly,
instantly, we were the best of friends. Instantly, when we went,
we stayed in Angus and Lisa's house and it was our home. It
was our, we were made to feel this is your home. And it was.
And the other friends that we stayed with, it was our home.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he made that promise, it really
is true. I'll give you an illustration from our time there, and I won't
mention him, because these messages go far and wide, but there's
one man in the congregation there, and he's a lovely man, and we
spent quite a bit of time with him chatting. And do you know,
for the sake of the gospel, he's lost his family, his wife has
deserted him, his children have deserted him, he's lost all those
things, it's a great, great cost, but, But he's got brothers and
sisters and husbands and wives and children. It's all made up
to him. Look at Matthew 12, Matthew 12
verse 47. Then one said, Jesus is preaching
in a house, and his mother and his brother stood outside desiring
to speak to him. One said to him, behold, your
mother and your brethren stand without. Your blood relatives
are standing outside. They want to speak to you. And
he answered and said unto him that told him, who is my mother? Who are my brethren? And he stretched
forth his hand toward his disciples and said, Behold my mother and
my brethren, for whosoever shall do the will of my Father which
is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother. You see, God does honour His
promises. He does give us those things
that we abandon for the sake of the Gospel. But the first
benefit above all, and I'm not going to be long, is that of
Gospel riches that I've already mentioned. The pearl of great
price, which is what? It's peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. It's peace with God through the
redemption that He has accomplished. so that my soul sings that hymn,
my sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but
the whole, is nailed to his cross and I bear it no more. Praise
the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. There is therefore now
no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Because
you see, if you have Christ, if you have him, as John says
in his epistle, 1st Epistle, Chapter 5, He that has the Son
has life, true life, eternal life. For Christ is made unto
us wisdom from God. So much about life I don't understand,
but Christ is made unto us wisdom from God. If I have the mind
of Christ, I have the mind of God regarding the things that
are. And I'm wiser than all my teachers in this world. I don't
care how qualified or how elevated they are. If I have the mind
of Christ and the wisdom of God, I'm wiser than all of them. The
most simple believer trusting in Christ has the wisdom of God
in Christ. and has righteousness, which
we must have to see God, because in Him I have it. I have it. I don't strive for it. I have
it in Him. And sanctification, which is
not my work, according to obeying the law of Moses, not at all.
It's what He has made unto me. And redemption? I've got a debt
that needs to be paid, and in Christ it is paid. It's taken
away. Who shall bring anything to the
charge of God's elect? Christ has died. We're so rich
in Him. Paul says all things are yours. All things are yours and you
are Christ's and Christ is God's. The honour of God is resting
upon you. If you're Christ's, in the Old
Testament in 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 30, God says through
his prophet, them that honour me, I will honour. Do you hear
that? That is the promise of the eternal
God. Them that honour me, I will honour. Psalm 37 verse 25, I
have been young and now I'm old, yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. For God does give his
children their daily bread. Psalm 68 verse 19 speaks of the
Lord, who daily loads us with benefits. And how does he do
it? Well, partly it's because the
gospel teaches us not to be grabbing and grasping like this world,
but to be content. Philippians 4 verse 11, I have
learned in whatever state I am therewith to be content. For
as he says to Timothy, godliness with contentment is great. Do
you want to be rich? Oh, do the lottery. No, no. Do
you want to be rich? Truly godliness with contentment
is great gain. Don't fear worldly deprivation,
little flock. Fear not, little flock, said
Jesus. You are heirs of God's eternal kingdom, joint heirs
with Christ. Do you realize that as the children
of God, Ephesians 1-3, He has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ? In the Lord, who is
my shepherd, I shall not want, for he supplies all my need.
No, whatever deprivations of the world's baubles or whatever
else it might be, Paul says in Romans 8.18, I reckon that the
sufferings or the deprivations of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us. Have you forsaken all to follow
Christ? or is the cost too great? Just
beware. I didn't want to finish on a
negative note, but I feel I must bring this verse, Matthew 16
and verse 24. Then said Jesus unto his disciples,
if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life,
grasp hold of it, shall lose it. And whosoever will lose his
life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if
he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul? May God bless those
thoughts to us. Amen.