Luke 22, 28, ye are they which
have continued with me in my temptations. Now these three
verses, 28 through 30, I almost just made a final comment at
the end of last week's message concerning this, but I believe
there's more here than what we could just briefly comment on.
Think about what the Lord said here. You are they which have
continued with me in my trials. The Lord had just rebuked the
disciples very gently. He was always gentle in his rebukes
and long-suffering in his teaching. But even after our Lord had showed
them by perfect example what true greatness is, and that it
consists in humility and service. And as we read in Matthew 23,
the Lord had taught them that they were not to desire to be
masters for one very simple reason. One is your master. But they still strove among themselves
concerning which of them Should be the greatest and he said to
them in verse 25. That's the way the world works.
That's the way the world thinks But he told them It's not gonna be like that with
you So why do we still do that? I
thought about that. Why am I still that way? It's
not like that in God's kingdom. Why do we still actually think
that we're somebody? So our Lord is teaching them
here in this context about how the kingdom is. And since they
were talking about that, among themselves, that's what they
were talking about, who's gonna be the greatest in the kingdom,
and they were thinking all wrong, hence the gentle rebuke from
our savior, it's not gonna be that way. He told them another
time, unless you come as a little child, you're not gonna enter
into the kingdom at all. But he rebukes them gently, but
now in this verse, he greatly encourages them. He encourages
them, how kind he is. You are they which have continued
with me in all of my trials. You've stayed
with me. Not long after this, we know
that all of them forsook him and fled. In fulfillment of the
prophecy, I'll smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.
But here on this day, at this table, he encourages them this way. You're the ones, you're the few.
The multitudes had gone back and walked no more with him.
But not you. Not you. And let's not miss this. May God give us grace not to
miss this. They were talking about and he
continued to teach them about who is great and what greatness
is. And let's face it, we want to
be great. You ought to want to be great.
There's nothing wrong with that in the right way. Not as vain
ambition or selfish, vain glory. We don't want any glory that
belongs to anybody else, much less that belongs to God. But
think about it. Do you want to not be that great?
Is that what you think every day? I sure don't want to be
much today. I don't want to amount to much
today. Is that the way to think? You
don't want to be good at what you do or excel or as the Lord said, redeem the
time, make it count. The days are evil. But look at what he taught them
here and may God teach it to us. Who you are and what you
are in his kingdom where it counts is because of two words in verse
28. with me. It doesn't matter what you've
done. It doesn't matter how much you've done, what you haven't
done, your failures, your successes, who you are, what your status
is. Nothing matters about what you've done or who you are, except
this, you're with me. All that talk about who is gonna
be who is vain and foolish and contrary to reality. But just
look at this, he's saying. Look at this and think about
this and rejoice in this. You're with me. You're still
with me. What he's saying is, part of
what he's saying here is that for you to stay with me in my
trials has been a trial of your faith. It's been a trial for
you, one which many failed. But here you are, here you are
with me. You see how he takes their minds
and their focus off of, well, who's gonna be the greatest?
I've done this and I've done that, but you did that, who's
gonna be the greatest? You're with me. After all, after all we've been through,
after all is said and done, here you are with me. That's what
matters. And it had been a trial. There's
a lot to think about here. First of all, what is a trial?
What is temptation here? The word means to try, to test. And think about this, this is
interesting. It means an experiment. Does God do experiments? Not
in the same sense we do. We do experiments because we
don't know what's going to happen. That's not why he does them.
He does them in order to show what he said happens and why
and how. to put it on display. And it's to test fidelity, to
test virtue, integrity, and constancy. You understand that in natural
things. You buy a tool to do a certain job and you try it
out. Let's see if this is gonna work. Let's see if it's gonna
work. See if it'll get the job done. I've had some that have
and I have some that haven't. You hire someone or you get hired
on a trial basis. They look good. That person looks
good on paper. But boy, this job, it may not
be the easiest job in the world. There's difficulties. There's
a test. The heat gets turned up. You have to maybe be able to
think on your feet. And the full weight of the burden
of the responsibility hasn't been laid on them yet. Let's
do that and then see what happens. And then we'll know. That's what
the word is here. Will they hold up? Of course, in our Lord's case,
it's not a question of if. It never is with Him, but it
is with us. It does say if you continue.
That's us seeing whether we're going to or not. God already
knows. He's the reason you do if you do and don't if you don't.
It's not a question of if with Him. It's a display of how great
he is, a proving of his character. No man ever endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself like he did. In Psalm 129 too, it
speaks in the language of the Savior and says, many a time
have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed
against me. And we know it's him speaking
because look at, listen to the next verse, verse three, the
plowers plowed up on my back. They made long my furrows. That's
at the beginning of his life, he said, in my youth, they despised
me and afflicted me and tortured me. Can you imagine, you know
how young children are? It don't take snakes long to
start acting like snakes, does it? Boy, the worst for me was
middle school. You talk about a disaster. In
elementary school, it was still a little bit early, maybe, for
most of it to come out. It's like when they were bit
by the fiery serpents, you know, when you're first bit, you may
not show that many symptoms. But after the poison has had
a while in your veins, it starts to get different, doesn't it?
Can you imagine how they treated the Lord as a young man, being
who he is? And then the end of his life,
they plowed furrows in his back. He was the man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. He was tempted by Satan himself,
face to face. And tempted does not mean, and
this is important for us to understand, tempted does not mean the way
we use the word. We really want something, but
we're gonna exercise our willpower. It does not mean that the Lord
wanted to sin, but overcame that desire to sin. He had no desire
to sin. Satan had nothing in him. The
Lord Jesus Christ was and is the impeccable Son of God. It doesn't mean that. It's tested,
tried, proven. That's what we've seen here. He was and is impeccable in his
very nature, co-equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Do you know what a trial it was
for him to even be with sinners like us? Do you remember when
he said, how long you perverse and wretched generation, faithless
generation, how long will I be with you? How long shall I suffer
you? And how can we even think of
him bearing the weight of the sins
of his people? My sins. In the garden, his soul was exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death. Have you ever had grief that
almost killed you? We might say that. The burying of the sin itself was one thing, but also
the contemplation of suffering all of the wrath of his father,
to be forsaken by his father. We'll never know what that is.
What is contained in that cry of his from the cross? I thirst. It wasn't just water he was talking
about. to be deprived of what you need
the most, the favor of God. When some little something astonishes
us or makes us mad, sometimes we say this, my God, We say when we're mad sometimes,
my God, or something's just amazing, we say, my God. Think of him saying that though
on the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He was tested. He was proven. And in much of that trial, in
much of that hatred and scorn and ridicule that he faced all
of the days of his life, as a baby they tried to kill him. Much of that his disciples had
endured with him, some of it. He was tested and so are we.
He doesn't give faith without testing it. Not like him. We're not tested like he was. But we are tested, and there's
no question as to the outcome of our case either. Not with
him, there's not. It's not up in the air. On our part, though, we do have
to ask the question, Lord, is it I? That was the same context,
wasn't it? Lord, is it I? Somebody's gonna
betray you? Somebody's a snake? Somebody's
unfaithful, somebody is... Somebody's a horrible hypocrite.
Does it mean? We do have to ask that. But if he is my only hope, I
have a good hope. Our confidence is in him, always. When I look at myself, I have
to say, is it me? But when I look to him, I'm looking
under the one who authored my faith and finished it, will finish
it. And where is my faith? In him
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and where is he now? Matthew 7, 24, therefore, whosoever
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, now this is a
believer. The Lord Jesus Christ has come
to me, and we did, we have. He said, come to me, I'll give
you rest, and we did, and he has. I will lock in him unto a wise
man, which built his house upon a rock. Now here in our text,
he's encouraging them for something that he did. That's what this text is saying.
The reason they don't fall is because of him, but they're wise
men. Coming to him is wise. built this house upon a rock
and the rain descended. This is what we're talking about.
You are they which have continued with me in my trials. When the
rain came, you were there and you still are. The floods came and the winds
blew. Boy, I tell you what, there aren't any winds like those. Those that blew upon the Savior. And those who love him, and the
heat, they beat upon that house, they beat upon it, and it fell
not. It fell not. Why? For it was
founded upon a rock. It didn't have anything to do
with the house. It has to do with the rock. And of course the fool built
his house upon the sand and the rain descended and the floods
came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell.
And great was the fall of it and the difference, the only
difference is the rock. He was tested and so were the
disciples in John chapter six when our Lord taught the plain
truth of how sinners are saved. He flat out told him, you're
not coming to me. You're not gonna come to me. No man can
do that, except as I teach you, as you hear the truth, as the
gospel is preached to you, my father, if he draws you, if he takes
hold of you and brings you from where you are and brings you
to me, then you'll come to me. And nobody liked that much. Nobody said, boy, that was a
great sermon. except just a few. He said, you're not gonna be
saved by your will. If you're gonna be saved, you're
gonna be saved by the mercy and power of God Almighty. And many, many went away and
walked no more with him. But you are they, he said in
our text. which continued with me in my
trial. They said, to whom shall we go?
And again, think about this. Why? Why is that question, what's
the answer to that question? Are you going and where would
we go? You remember what the next word
is? You. The first word in the answer
to the question, will you also go away, is you. Simon first
asked another question, which to whom shall we go? But the
answer, the first word in the answer, the reason they could
not leave is thou. Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and you are that Christ. We believe and are sure that
you are that Christ, the son of the living God. You are they which have continued
with me. And that's why, because of who
he is. What exactly is tried in a believer? We're tested. Talking about testing
our integrity, does that mean the qualities that you were born
with are being tested by God? How long are you gonna hold up? The strength of your character,
is that what's being tested? Boy, you talk about failing. Everyone fails that one in all
ways, But what is tried in a believer? Well, we know the answer to that
over and over in the scriptures, don't we? Listen to 1 Peter 1.3,
and you're welcome to turn to these with me. I want to take
our time this morning. We're only meeting once today,
and it's getting a little cooler in here. So look at it with me. 1 Peter 1.3, listen to this language
now. Talking about what we're talking
about. You are they which have continued with me in my trials. What an encouraging thing to
hear from the master. But look at it. First Peter 1.3,
blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a
living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That's the beginning of salvation
right there, isn't it? God said, I'll have mercy on
whom I have mercy. And Simon said, according to
his abundant mercy, he gave me life. He birthed me from the
dead now. To an inheritance, verse four,
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you. How long has that reservation
been in place? Since before we were born. Who
are kept? Are you gonna be able, are you
gonna show up? For your reservation, you're kept by the power of God. Through faith, through faith,
through faith. Coincidence you reckon that Brother
D read what he did this morning? Through faith, you're kept by
his power. through faith that he authors,
and he must finish, and he is the object of. Kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time, ready to be revealed. I like what D read that long
chapter, didn't he? You know what stood out to me
this time? Two words, as yet. Noah believed God concerning
things that he had not seen as yet. There's a few things that
are still waiting to be revealed under the light. We ain't seen
them yet. But we're looking, aren't we?
We're looking into him. May God give us grace, always
and ever and only to look into him, ready to be revealed in
the last time. We're in you greatly rejoiced,
don't we? What else is there in this world to rejoice in? Though now for a season, if need
be, you are in heaviness through manifold trials, that the trial
of your faith, what's being proven? Whether you're a great person
or not. Let me save you some time, you know. Whether you're a person of integrity
and you know, backbone and faithfulness. Let me save you some time. What he tests is the faith that
he gives. He proves that when he gives
a sinner faith, they have faith. Job, look at what Job went through. Look at, think about all that
he went, he lost everything. down to lose that far from losing
himself. Everything he owned, everything
he had, everybody that he loved, and was that close to losing
his life. You know why he didn't lose his life? Because God said,
you're not going there, Satan. And what did he say as he sat
on that ash heap? Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's the faith he gives. And
when he tries it, we're gonna find out whether he gave it or
you just came up with it. That's what we're gonna find
out. That's the experiment. That the trial of your faith
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire. That's how gold is trialed. And
that's the way he looks at us. I don't know why we're gold to
him, but we sure are. We sure are. We're not gold by
nature now, but he gave himself for us. Might be found unto praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. And why does
that faith not fail? Well, we just read it, kept by
the power of God through faith. It's through that faith that
he gives as one object, one author, one finisher, one object. God
gives it, he keeps us that way by keeping us looking unto Jesus. Kept by the power of God through
faith all the way unto complete, full, accomplished, experienced
salvation all the way. Spurgeon said one time if the
Lord Jesus Christ brought me to the gate of heaven and left
me right there. I'd never get in No way no way And look who's writing this Where
we just read old Simon Peter old Simon wrote that Do you know
why Simon wrote that? I believe I did, because he was
not just taught it by the Lord in word, but he experienced it. Right back in our context in
Luke chapter 22, Satan hath desired thee, that he might sift thee
as wheat. And I'll tell you what, he left
old Simon bold, I will die with you. Nobody's gonna mess with
us. I'll cut your ear off. Let's
pull our swords and get this started. Simon was crying like
a baby. He wept bitterly. Satan hath
desired to have you, that he might sift you this week, but
I've prayed for you. Why? That your faith fail not.
That's why they're sitting there with him still at that table.
He said you are they which have continued with me In my trial
It was trial for them, too But it was him trying the faith that
he gave Purifying it increasing it Cause it to shine more and
more we don't get better But we will by his grace grow in
that grace If he gives it He tries it. So the Lord encouraged them this
way. Wouldn't that be encouraging? You've continued with me. Not
many have. A lot of people, you know, boy,
crowded around him, wanting a free meal and wanting this and that,
wanting to see a magic show. A lot of people came and went,
but here you are at the table with me. That's an encouragement,
isn't it? He's saying that to you, but
here you are. Does that encourage you a little bit here you are? You've continued with me of course
he's the reason we have Being yet with him Here you are with me. He said
is that what where we are are we just at church. We just going
to church With me with me here you are with me That is the great position that
is to be aspired to Quit talking about how great you are how not
so great somebody else is and look who is great And here we
are with him You see why he said that in that context I We glory in him and his accomplishments,
not our, we don't have any, we don't have any. Not for bragging
purposes anyway. Remember Hebrews 11 where our
brother read, by faith Moses chose, Abraham believed, Noah
moved with fear, Enoch walked with God, old Jacob worshiped
God, leaning upon the top of his staff. And we do, we do,
we've continued with him. But the glory is his. He is why
we do. It's looking unto him, it's by
faith in him. It's by him being our strength
and our glory and our all in it all. That's why we're here.
He gives us grace and wisdom and love and faith to continue. And then he says, look, you've
continued. Isn't that marvelous? Isn't that encouraging? You've
continued with me in my trials. What an encouragement. Think of it this morning and
give him all the glory in your heart. Here you are. How many
of us would have been choked out by the cares of this world?
if not for His grace. Paul said, Demas hath forsaken
me, having loved this present world. Do you know anybody like
that? We all kind of love this present world, don't we? Is it
I? Do you know anybody like that?
They've forsaken the Lord because they love this world. Just about
everybody I know is like that. Just about. Upon how many has the heat of
affliction beat down like the summer sun, and they've withered
and become bitter, hateful, and angry with God? How many just
don't really care about anything or anybody but themselves? How
many times would you have followed if he had not prayed for you
that your faith fell not? If he had not kept you by his
power, held you in his hand and said, nobody is taking you away
from me. How many times did we have left him? If not for this precious promise,
I will never leave you or forsake you. That's why we're with him
because he hasn't ever left us. Everything hinges upon continuing
with him now Turn with me to Colossians 119. This is everything
to continue with him Colossians 119 Colossians 119 for it pleased
the father that in Christ should all fullness dwell in and having
made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile
all things unto himself by him I say whether they be things
in earth or things in heaven and you by the blood of his cross
he reconciled you who were at one time alienated and enemies
in your mind enemies of God by wicked works, yet now hath he
reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present
you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Why
are we standing that way in that place before him, holy? Because of the blood of his cross
and unreprovable in his sight. If you continue in the faith,
He's not saying what Christ did depends upon what you do. He's
saying, all this is true of you. We're going to find out if it
is, if you're one of the ones, because if he gave you faith,
you're not going to lose it. The gifts and calling of God
are without repentance. If you continue in the faith
grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the
gospel, which you've heard, which was preached to every creature,
which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul and made a minister doesn't
mean everything depends upon your faithfulness it simply means
that if you continue faithful that's why because of the blood
of his cross and because he reconciled you to God by the body of his flesh through
death that's why all of that in verses 21 and 22 is the reason If we are faithful, it is a monument
to his faithfulness. That's what it is. And then a final thought this
morning, and this is only a final thought because I don't know
a lot about this, but here's what is clear. These other verses here, remember
we talked about those two words, with me. That's what greatness is for
us. with him that's what we're to glory in don't glory in your
riches or your might or your wisdom you don't have any of
that let him that gloryeth glory in
this that he understandeth and knoweth me that he's with me here's the other reason you're
going to be great and you are not because you have or will
distinguish yourself in some way and greatness is not even
what they thought it was, was it? It was service, but also,
look at these three words in verse 29. Remember those words,
with me? That's what they should have
been glorying in, not, you know, who's gonna be great, you know,
who's gonna be the top dog among us. He said, you're with me.
What's glory in that? And also this, look at this,
those three words, and I appoint. Are you going to be great in
the kingdom of God? It'll be by his appointment,
not by what you've earned. You've earned a bunch of, you
know, jewels for your crown and all that. No, he appoints. All that you have. And this just sums up the whole,
the whole message this morning. talking about now who's going
to be greatest listen to me carefully now all that you have or ever
will have in time and eternity all that you are or ever will
be in time and eternity is because of this statement from the mouth
of God's Son and I appoint he appointed them apostles he
appointed them unto eternal life And he said, I've appointed you
a kingdom. And I appoint. That's who we are. Right there. That's all we are. Whatever he
appoints. What we have. What do we have? Who are we? It's defined by those words with
me. Why do we have it? And I appoint. What we have, we have because
He gives it to us. What do you have that you didn't
receive? Now if you'd received it from Him, why do you glory?
Why do I glory like I do? And we are what we are, let's
be reminded again, we are what we are how? Listen to what Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 15, nine. I am the least of the apostles. You wanna talk about comparing
somebody else with somebody else, well, just leave me out of that. By God's grace, just leave me
out of that. Because I persecuted the church of God I was an enemy
of God, but by the grace of God, I am what I am now. And his grace, which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain. He doesn't offer grace. He doesn't
make grace available. He bestows it. He says, I appoint,
and he doesn't do so in vain. He doesn't fail. But I labored more abundantly
than they all. By faith, Moses chose. By faith,
Noah moved with fear. By faith, Enoch walked with God.
Yet not I, Paul said, but the grace of God, which was with
me. Don't forget that part. Not I, but God's grace. I am what I am by the grace of
God. And I have point. And I don't know, as I said,
I don't know if this only applies to the 12 when he's talking about
judging the 12 tribes. And obviously Judas wasn't going
to be judging one of those 12. There were 12. It's not what
a lot of people think, because they think, well, there were
12 apostles, 12 judges, and Judas wasn't going to be one of them.
And he's sitting there telling them those 12. He wasn't gonna
be one of them. So what does he say in here?
Well, I Know this I know that in his kingdom. Nobody rules
over anybody else. He just told him that he just
told him that it's not that way with you It's not like it is
in the world big shots and little shots. They're just shots One is your master And Paul wrote of the whole church
in 2 Timothy 2.12, if we suffer, we shall also reign with him.
Keywords there, with him. Don't think, you know, boy, I'm
gonna reign with him. Here's what I know now. To appoint
means to dispose of, to arrange one's own affairs. The son of God has arranged his
own affairs in such a way that we're all gonna sit at his table. Do you see that in verse 30?
You're gonna sit at my table. And eat and drink with him. Think about what eating and drinking
is now. He is meat indeed and drink indeed. It's not that there's going to
be food. I don't know, again, I don't know what I don't know. And you
don't either. And people that speculate and
write books about it, they don't know either. It's obvious they
don't. But meat and drink here, it's
kind of everything, isn't it? Just in a physical sense. We
do it all the time, all day. When we're not eating, we're
thinking about what we're going to eat. When we're not drinking, we're
thinking about, do I have enough to drink? We don't really have
to think about that much because it's so abundant for us. But you see what I'm saying?
It's just, it's kind of everything in a physical sense. Christ is everything there. He's
what we need. But also, you just eat because
you have to. He's what we want too. He's what
we enjoy. The best part of it, isn't it?
You go on vacation, what's the best part of it? Man, we ate
at such and such a place. Wow. It was unbelievable. That's the way it is for me anyway. But it's not, it's also, I don't
want to eat alone either, do you? I don't want to eat alone. I don't ever want to eat by myself.
We're not going to. We're going to sit at his table
with him. Eat and drink in his kingdom It kind of makes this whole discussion
of who's gonna be who and all that It doesn't mean anything. That's it. You see how stupid
we are That's the way he's arranged
his affairs you have a seat at his table When we were lame on both of
our feet So like Mephibosheth, he gave us a seat at the king's
table, and when we are no longer laying on both of our feet, because
he has predestinated us to be conformed to his very image,
we're still going to be sitting at his table. Beautiful for situation. Thank God. With me. And I appoint.