we're going to be reading from
Matthew chapter 20 and we're going to read 18 through 28 and
then we'll be in our handout the rest of the night. So if
you'd like to join me in your bibles we're looking at Matthew
20 beginning at verse 18. Now we read these verses last
week and we we spent our time considering those things last
week. So, but I need to add it to,
again, what we're going to look at this week, because this is
setting the table for everything that we'll read in regards to
tonight's study. So, beginning at verse 18, Behold,
we go up to Jerusalem. Now the Lord is speaking He's
speaking to his 12 disciples, as we see in verse 17. Behold,
we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed
unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn
him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and
to scourge and to crucify him, and the third day he shall rise
again. This is the Lord speaking for
the third time about going up to Jerusalem. So let's go on
now. Then came, right after he says
this, then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her
sons, worshiping him and desiring a certain thing of him. And he
said unto her, what wilt thou? She saith unto him, grant that
these my two sons may sit the one on the right hand and the
other on the left of thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said,
ye know not what ye ask. Are you able to drink the cup
that I shall drink of and be baptized with the baptism that
I am baptized with? They say unto him, we are able.
And he saith unto them, ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit
on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give. But for
whom, and you notice I skipped across the words in italics there,
it shall be given. Those words don't even fit right,
and the translators are the ones who put those in there to try
to make it sound easier, but it just doesn't fit right at
all. Let's go on. But for whom it is prepared of
my father. Verse 24, and when the ten heard
it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. Jealousy
popped up. But Jesus called them unto him
and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion
over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon
them. But it shall not be so among
you. But whosoever will be great among
you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among
you, let him be your servant. Even as the Son of Man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life. This is our discussion for tonight. And to give his life a ransom
for many. See how that works out? Christ
and him crucified, huh? So let's go ahead and turn now
to our handout, if you would. I have all the scripture that
you'll need in there. You can keep your Bibles handy
if you want to look up some of these and see what's written
before them and what's after them. But in our last study,
this is top paragraph, page one, in verses 18 and 19, we looked
at the willingness, the purpose of our master becoming flesh.
becoming a man, willingly setting his heavenly glory aside, setting
his face like a flint to become a servant. Let us never forget
that driven by his eternal love for his people, God prepared
a body and the eternal son was manifest in the flesh to lay
down his life for the sins of his sheep. Now that can be summed
up in one word, and that word I have in parentheses, substitution. Tonight we have before us another
of the many examples in Holy Scripture of the fact that true
believers often behave in very foolish, sinful manner. One clear
evidence of this divine inspiration is that the Word of God never
attempts to hide the sins, hide the weaknesses and the foolishness
of the most prominent character. Aren't you thankful for that?
I'm thankful for that myself because it gives me a relation
to all of mankind. It teaches me that I, too, have
these very same weaknesses that they have, and that we're not
alone. We're not alone in the doubts
that we have in our minds. We're not alone in the pride
that lifts up its ugly head within us. We're not alone in these
things, and we see very clearly here how these folks that are
involved in what we're being told here fall for that very
same reasons. Listen to the word. Let me read
this again for you. This is verses 20 through 22.
Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons,
worshiping him and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto
her, what wilt thou? And she saith unto him, grant
that these two my sons may sit, the one on thy right hand and
the other on thy left in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and
said, ye know not what ye ask. Are you able to drink the cup
that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism
that I am to be baptized with? Now look at the end of that.
They say unto him, we are able. Whoo! They sure got some pride
built in on them. You know what? That's the same
kind of pride John gets. That's exactly the same kind
of pride John gets. The mother of James and John,
the sons of Zebedee, this is the last paragraph, page one.
They asked the Lord to give them the places of highest honor and
glory in his kingdom. Like, we've earned something
here, Lord. Give us the right place to sit. Historians tell us that this
woman was sister to Joseph, Mary's husband. She and her sons were
true disciples. genuine believers, followers
of Christ, and the revels, and he, I was supposed to put he
there, not the, and he reveals to us her foolish behavior. Now, page two. James and John,
as well as their mother, who was at best, as any mortal man
can tell, were believers of the truth. They loved Christ and
his gospel. James and John were for sure,
for they were made apostles, they were apostles, but they
behaved in a very carnal manner. They were more concerned about
their crowns than about Jesus Christ, about Christ's cross,
about him going to the cross in Jerusalem. The Apostle Paul,
as our example, wrote to the Galatians, he said, but God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. That's in Galatians 6.14. There's
a good, a good example for you and I
to follow right there. God forbid that we should glory
in anything. And folks, I know I've used this
probably more times than I probably should, but I'm not bragging
when I say, wow, look at that shot I made just down the middle
of the fairway. In my heart, though, I am. In
my heart, I'm bragging. I'm taking credit for what my
Lord has done. for what my Lord has given me,
that clean whatever, the way to swing the club just right
so the ball goes down the middle, that's all of the Lord. And golf
is a great example of that for people like myself who can't
play with beans. But every once in a while we
hit it good just one time, and then all of a sudden we think
we're Tiger Woods and we can play another game around the
golf. But that's just an example of this. These men thought they
were proud in their hearts. Instead of thinking, God forbid
that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
instead of thinking that they should be glorying in Christ
and what he's going up to Jerusalem to do, they came right out and,
can we sit at the right hand of your kingdom, thinking the
kingdom was gonna be of this earth? Let's go on after that
Galatians 6, 14, mid paragraph there. Do you think our great
God might be sharing this with us because some or all of us
may be tempted into that very same sin? Do you think that may
be why the Lord is sharing that with us? The sin of self-assurance? Folks, don't get me wrong, we
have assurance. But it is in no way involved
with this flesh that we walk in. The people of God take no
confidence in the flesh. Isn't that what we read in Philippians
3.3? That means no confidence in our deeds, nor thoughts, nor
feelings. Don't get caught up in your feelings
of this world. Don't get caught up in your thoughts
of this world. Read the word of God and see
what he tells us. He tells us we are weak, frail
people. Our best righteousness is as
filthy rags, knowing that. Knowing that, we see the grace
of God in saving anyone, the grace of God in loving such a
sinner as I. These folks were unbelievably
presumptuous, second paragraph, page two, confidently asserting
that they were able to drink of the cup and be baptized with
the sufferings of the Lord Jesus that he was about to endure,
when they should have been overwhelmed with wonder and humbled with
the loving rebuke of our Lord. He said, ye know not what ye
ask. What a loving rebuke. He says,
are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and
be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they say unto him, we are
able. I can picture myself doing that very same thing. Oh yeah,
sure Lord, I can do it. They were more concerned about
themselves than about Christ and their brethren. Yet these
sons of Zebedee, James and John, were in time to become pillars
of the church and of the kingdom of our Lord, just as they had
desired, just not in the way that they had desired. There
are many true believers like this woman and her sons. Indeed,
in some areas at different times, we are all much like them. It
is written, the flesh left against the spirit, and the spirit against
the flesh, Galatians 5.17. Brother Don Fortner wrote this,
he said, true faith is often found beneath a pile of trash. We are all weak and sinful. We
are all terribly proud and horribly self-serving. And we are very
ignorant of the very things that we think we clearly understand.
Our Lord Jesus teaches us that we are all indeed terribly ignorant,
as Don said. By the gentle reproof he gave
to James and John and their mother, page three, he said, ye know
not. what ye ask." What a gentle,
what a lovingly way to tell us our understanding of his ways
are vague at best. You may recall in one of his
other rebukes, he told Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. This sure wasn't a rebuke like
that, was it? You know not what you ask. I
can just picture the Lord with almost a sense of despair. You poor creature. You have no
idea what you're asking. They had asked to share Christ's
glory, never considering that they must first share His sorrow. I want that to seek in. Listen
to these words from 1 Peter 4.13, But rejoice inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ's sufferings. that when his glory shall be
revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. You recall in Isaiah 53, it says,
our Lord saw the travail of his soul and was satisfied. Think about that for a moment.
Try to understand the depth of what that's telling us. He saw
the travail of his soul, the sorrow, a man of sorrows. He could see the future. He knew
the future. He knows the beginning from the
end. and the end from the beginning. And he saw the travail of what
he would go through. God Almighty turning his back
on his son. That blows my mind. I can't even
wrap this pea brain around that. God Almighty turning his back
on his son. Second paragraph, page three. How much like this woman and
her sons are we? We ask for God to save our sons,
our daughters, but are we willing for the Lord to teach us patience,
trusting him even with those most precious to us? I want to
stop there. I love my children with all my
heart of this world. The only one of this world I
love more is their mother, and I remember a time when all three
of the most precious ones to me walked in this world, in the
world of darkness, just as I did. And though today I'm blessed
with my wife being enlightened as I am, I still have my two
most precious, the two other precious in my life, walking
in darkness with no desire whatsoever. Do I truly trust the Lord if
they're his? I say I do. I say my only confidence
is in his word where he says, all that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. But do I truly trust him with
their lives or do I harbor anger in my heart because they won't
come to the Lord? Not against my Lord, but against
them. I wonder. We ask God to set our
hearts on the things above but are we willing to be weaned from
this world by affliction? We ask the Lord to teach us to
trust him, but are we willing to be cast upon him? We ask our God to make Christ
precious to us, but are we willing to have every rival to Christ
taken from us? We ask for God to use us, but
are we willing to be used as he sees fit? These words apply
to us all far more than we realize. You know not what you ask. God the Holy Spirit teaches us
to weigh our words before the throne of God. Ecclesiastes 5
verse 2 says this, be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine
heart be hasty to utter anything before God. Oh, how we should
sit and consider what it is we're praying to our Lord for. Let
us ever come to the throne of grace with open hearts, seeking
mercy and grace in every time of need, Hebrews 4.16. But we must always remember that
we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. Oh, how easy it is for me to
forget that one. We need God's grace continually,
folks, and that includes in our prayers. that we may pray in
the spirit and with understanding. Listen to these words, Romans
8, 26 through 27. Likewise, the spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought, but the spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. Oh, how blessed
we are to see our Lord as our all in all. We are also given
assurance in Matthew 20, verse 23, that all the Lord Jesus did
and suffered, all that he endured and all that he accomplished,
was as the representative of his people. He lived, died, and
rose again as our substitute, page four. And he saith unto
them, ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with
the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit on my right
hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given
to them for whom it is prepared of my father. You see how the
difference of that reads? Did you notice how that reads
completely different without the addition from the translators? Both James and John suffered
greatly for Christ's sake. James was the first of the apostles
who bore testimony to Christ by his blood. Listen to this
account from Acts 12, verses 1 and 2. Now about that time,
Herod the king stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the
church. and he killed James, the brother
of John, with the sword. John was exiled to the Isle of
Patamos. for the testimony of Jesus Christ
as we read in Revelation 1 verse 9. But there's only one way that
it can be truthfully said that these disciples drank the cup
of wrath the Lord Jesus drank and were baptized in the sea
of woe into which he was baptized. They did so just as all of God's
elect do. Representatively. Substitution. In Christ, all of God's elect
are completely and perfectly saved by his representative work
as our substitute. With regard to the request that
they might sit one on his left and the other on his right hand
in glory, the Savior said, it is not mine to give, but for
whom it is prepared of my Father. The words added by our translators,
it shall be given unto them, should never have been added,
as stated by most commentators. They were added to make the text
read more smoothly, but the indication that some will have superiority
over others in heavenly glory is totally contrary to everything
revealed in the Holy Scriptures about the blessed inheritance
of grace. All who are given to Christ in
the eternal covenant of grace shall come to Him in time. those
who come to him by faith in time he shall in no wise cast out
as we read in John 6 37 this is a matter of absolute certainty
because God the Father has given him our covenant surety power
over all flesh given unto the Lord Jesus that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou has given him that's John 17
verse 2 and all who come to him by faith shall sit with him in
his throne. Listen to Revelation 3 verse
21. To him that overcometh will I
grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcome and I
am set down with my father in his throne. Folks, our greatest
treasure is the Lord Jesus, the very one If you have him, you
have everything. I remember my mom, she believed
that there were degrees of reward in heaven. She said that. And
I'm not going to say whether she was a believer or not. I
don't know the hearts of people. I know she heard the gospel preached.
But I just don't understand how anybody can think there's a better
reward than Christ. Or a lesser reward than Christ. If you've got Christ, you've
got it all. Isn't that what scriptures teach us? Look, turn over to
page five. Look what it says over here on
page five. In his priestly prayer, in John 17, 17, verse 20 through
26, we read these. Sanctify them through thy truth,
thy word is truth, as thou hast sent me into the world, even
so I have also sent them into the world, and for their sakes
I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through truth. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word,
that they all may be one, and now catch this, as thou, Father,
art in me, and I in thee, and that they may also be one in
us. And just to confirm what that's
saying right there, the Lord goes on and says, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou
gavest me I have given to them, that they may be one even as
we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast
sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I
will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am. Folks, we're with Christ right
now. I know we're in this body of
flesh and we'll have to get rid of this body of flesh before
we can go to be with him. Either change in the twinkling
of an eye in his second coming or when we leave the body and
we're absent from the body and in the presence of the Lord.
But we're with him right now on his throne. We're victors.
We're as victors over our enemies. The enemy is sin. The enemy is
death. And we're victors in Christ.
For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. Oh,
righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known
thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have
declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the
love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. Remember how we were, I think,
No, it was our Sunday morning Bible study. We were talking
in our Sunday morning Bible study about the mysteries of God, and
I don't remember the exact scripture now, but there's a scripture
that talks about the mystery of faith. The world doesn't understand
the oneness that we have with Christ Jesus. The oneness of
perfection of spirit, even though this body is covered with sin
from the head to the top of her head to the bottom of her feet.
We're one with Christ in spirit, and our spirits are perfectly
white as snow. When God looks upon us, I know
this is difficult to understand. I know it's a mystery to those
who don't know the Lord, but to those of us who know that
all things are possible through God, we can see how we would
have been perfect in our Savior, in our substitute, the very one
who has made sin for us. that we would be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Listen, look at those words. Hang on to this handout and read
those verses from John 17 over and over. You get the feeling
down about this flesh? Read this. This is the Lord Jesus
Himself talking about you and I, talking about those who believe
God. How do we believe God? By the
gift of God Himself. Oh, back in our handout, this
is the provision our God has prepared for and given to his
elect from the eternity. He says, heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ, Romans 8, verse 17. It is the gift of pure,
free, sovereign grace in no measure determined by our, or dependent
upon us. He who gave us his own dear Son
gave us all things in his Son, withholding nothing. Whether
Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or
things present or things to come, all are yours. And ye are Christ, and Christ
is God. Isn't that what it says, 1 Corinthians
3, 22 through 33, 23? Or how about these words from
Ephesians chapter one, verses three through seven, blessed
be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. Is there anything being held
back there? Is there anything about the treasure of heaven
that might be more for one or more for another? No, it's all
spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ. According as
he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him. in love having
predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted. Folks, if you've got this, what
more is there? In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace. Page 6. Or how about this one?
Psalms 84 verse 11, For the Lord God is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. He's not talking about walking
uprightly in the flesh. Remember what it says? We just
read this last Sunday, but I'm gonna read it again, because
it just came to my mind. This is good stuff right here,
folks. We're talking about those who
walk uprightly in Psalms 84, verse 11. In Romans 8, verse
1, we read these words. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. Walking after the flesh is hard. It's difficult. That war between
my flesh and my spirit rages on day after day. Guess what?
It's not going to get any better. You're not happy with yourself
about something. You don't think you're strong
in faith. You think you're too angry with
others around you. That's the flesh. The spirit
believes God. believes what God tells us about
ourselves and about his son. And it says, there's therefore
now no condemnation to them who are in Christ, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the spirit. That's what this is talking about
in Psalms 84, 11. And let's not forget my favorite
verse here, Romans 8, 31 through 35. What shall we say then to
these things? If God before us, Who? And you can change that word.
I think, well, no, I'd be changing God's word, so I don't want to
do that. But what? Who or what could be against
us? He that spared not his own son. Do we wrap our minds around
this? Do we understand this? He gave his only begotten son
for us. How shall he not give us all
things, but deliver them up for us all? How shall he not with
him freely, also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
anything? to the charge of God's elect. It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And that
brings me to my final point in the title for tonight's study.
Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister and to give his life a ransom for many. That was verse
28. Now, the first thing I want to say about this, I add a little
bit to it here. We're almost to the end. We've
got some time left. Even as the son of man came not to be ministered
unto. Do you think the Lord deserves
to be ministered unto? Jesus Christ deserves it all. He's the creator. He's the one
who put us in our mother's womb. He's the very one who gave us
this physical life. And then in our walk before God
in darkness, in death, in sins, he gave us life, spiritual life. Does he not deserve everything
to be served in all things? Well, here it is. He is served
in all things. He came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister. As we read in Philippians chapter
three, he humbled himself and became a servant. And he did
this to give his life a ransom for many. Mid page six. We understand and rejoice to
know that this servant is himself God, one with the Father in being,
glory and greatness and all things equal with the Father. His eternal
deity is God the Son. Our Savior is altogether equal
with the Father, but He became a man, became our surety, became
our mediator that He might subject Himself to and obey His Father's
will as a man. The Son of God cannot possibly
be inferior to the Father. If Jesus Christ is God manifest
in the flesh, as scriptures declare, there cannot be in any way any
iniquity between the Father and the Son. Augustus Toplady wrote
this, he said, the uncreated, that's the Son of God. and the
eternal begotten son of the father almighty is and must be as truly
a divine being as the father who begat him. When we read the
scriptures of Christ being the servant of God, subjecting himself
to the will of God and obeying the commandment of God, we are
assured that his servitude is and must be by his own free and
voluntary consent. That's what we looked at last
week. He is indeed Jehovah's servant, but his surface was
not forced under subjection. His only bind was the covenant
that he made between God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Holy Spirit before the world was ever created. God the Father
gave God the Son a people. that God the Son would redeem
those people from their sins. That was the binding of the Lord
Jesus and it was the binding that he gave of himself to do
freely. He gave himself for us that he
might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar
people zealous of good works. That's what it says in Titus
2.14. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, Ephesians
5, verse 25. Our Lord himself declares, as
the father knoweth me, even so now I the father, I laid down
my life for the sheep, John 10, 15. From the moment of his birth
until his final breath in this world, the Lord Jesus served.
He was ever Jehovah's righteous and faithful servant. He said
to his disciples, I am among you as he that serveth. That's
in Luke 22, verse 27. There was a perfect understanding
between the father and the son from eternity. Let there be no
misunderstanding in our own minds. Christ became the servant of
Jehovah by his own will to pay the ransom for those he has loved
from before the world was. Isaiah 50 verses 5 through 7,
we read these words, the Lord God hath opened mine ear and
I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back
to the smiters. That would be the men with the
nine tails, the whip of nine tails with the glass and the
shreds of bone. I gave my back to the smiters
and my cheeks to them that plucked off my hair. Remember? They grabbed
the beard of our Lord and Savior and they just ripped it right
off of his face. You know, Mike, I don't know
if Mike's ever had a kid do that to him. Mike, you could tell
me. Does that hurt? I hid my face from shame and
spitting. For the Lord God will help me.
Therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint. And I know that I shall not be
ashamed. As he served the will of God
for us, let us now serve the will of God for him. And I close with these words,
thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Amen.