Thank you, Jeanette. Thank you,
John. Go with me to Luke, chapter 22. The Gospel of Luke, chapter
22. We've been studying through this
book a long time now. It's leading up to the cross. In Luke 22, the Lord had just had the Lord's table with His
disciples. And he told them about his sufferings. He told them that's what the
table was all about. His broken body, the wine, his
shed blood for their mission, their sins, his suffering. He
told them about his sufferings. And then right after that he
told them one of them would betray him. He was going to lay down His
life for them, and none of them were worth it. And they all knew
it. He told them what all He was
going to suffer for them, and yet one of them was going to
betray Him, sell Him out for thirty pieces of silver. Can
you imagine? Our Lord put up with Judas for
three years. Can you imagine? David spoke
of that in the Psalms a couple of times. He said, my own familiar
friend with whom I ate bread as he lifted up his heel against
me. Can you imagine eating and drinking? And he said in one
place, it wasn't my enemy, it was one that went into the house
of God with me that turned against me. Can you imagine eating and
drinking and worshiping with somebody against your shepherd? That's what David said. And that's
what happened to our Lord. And every one of the disciples
said, Lord, is it I? This greatly troubled them then.
Eleven of them, sincerely, from their hearts, they were troubled. And they all, knowing what sinners
they were, they thought, it could be me. And they were all worried. Now, they all said, Lord, is
it I? And lastly, Judas said it to
save face. He didn't mean it. Would I betray
my Lord for this world or for money or for anything or anyone? Would I take sides with those
that sit? David said, I have not sat with
dissemblers. I haven't communed with those
that don't love my Lord, don't love my shepherd, don't love
his people. What Judas did, he did to our
Lord, but he did it to everybody else, too. It was only the grace
of God that kept them from killing all those disciples, and Judas
would have been to blame. Would I? You know, when we talked
about this, denial is bad enough when we deny our Lord. To do
things and say things that are denial of the faith that we believe. Betrayal is worse. It's worse.
It brings damnation. They were all convicted. They
were all shocked. They were all shocked. Who would
do such a thing? Is it me? Could I do this? Lord, would I do this? I know
they were all praying in their heart, don't let it be me. Don't
let it be me. Well, it didn't take long for things to change. You know,
we're so fickle. The word fickle means liable
to change. We change with the weather. Don't
we? Up, down. Hot, cold. In and out. Faithful, unbeliever. Strong, weak. Just up and down.
Fickle. We're finite. Our understanding. They just didn't understand.
After all the Lord had said to them, they just didn't understand,
did they? He kept telling them. And we're
fallible. Fickle, finite, and fallible.
Us fellas. We all just went fallible. I
mean, liable to err, liable to do anything wrong. Liable to
fall. Fallible. And it didn't take
long that they would start talking about who was the greatest among
them. Look at it, verse 24. There was
a strife among them of which of them should be accounted the
greatest. Unbelievable, isn't it? Unbelievable. The Lord just told
them what all He was going to do for them. And then He's going
to remind them in a minute of what He did for them and where
He found them and where He's going to bring them. But there was envy and strife.
And James said, where there's envy and strife, there's confusion. Shouldn't be strife among brethren. If we're all just a bunch of
sinners saved by grace, we shouldn't know why we should be offended
by anything or anything that's said or done. Strife is always
from pride. You know that? Always. Between
husbands and wives or friends or brothers, always pride. If
we really felt like we were the chief of sinners, unworthy, of
the least of His mercy. Nobody could say anything that
would offend us. If we really felt like we were
the chief of sinners, who could offend us? Pride is the cause
of that. You know, James and John and
their mother, their mother got in on it. This is what happened.
Their mother came and said, Would you, Lord? And she worshipped
Him. She knew Him. She worshipped Him. But she said,
Lord. And Jeanette, they were all still
ignorant of the kingdom. They thought the Lord was talking
about the kingdom. And they thought He's going to
set up an earthly kingdom. And you can't tell them. It's
not here. And they all thought He's going
to set up a kingdom and there's going to be rulers in the kingdom. And they all thought, who's going
to be in the chief seats? Who's going to rule? Peter, James, and John probably
thought, well, he chose us and took us up on the mountain to
see something. The others didn't see what we
saw. They didn't hear what we heard. Surely, we're in the top
three. You know they thought that knowledge
puffeth up. Did we ever get like that? Because
we know the truth and other people don't. We know in part. I like, you
know, the Lord's enabled me to preach some good message at times.
And somebody said, that's a good message. And I know it's a good
message. It's Christ. And I know it wasn't
me. And I'm not capable. It's Him. I know that. Just an
old railroad, like these fishermen. John Bunyan one time, a lady
came up to him after he preached and said, Brother Bunyan, you've
never been better than you were today. He said, I know, dear
lady, the devil just told me that. He that walketh in pride, God
is able to abase. It was Simon Peter at this same
time said, they may forsake you, not me. And he meant it. In love he really was. And he
showed it. We're going to see in the garden.
He's going to take that sword out and he's going to take everybody
there. But he had to see that, Simon Peter, you're liable to
fall. If I don't hold you up, you would
forsake me. You will forsake me unless I
don't forsake you. Every one of you. All right. The knowledge puffeth up, doesn't
it? It does. I think we know more. So the
Twelve argued who was the greatest. I remember back in the 60s. My
dad told me this. I was just a boy. And he said,
Sovereign Grace, you know, was taking hold. The truth was taking
hold. And there were preachers everywhere. One conference, I
do remember this. in 1970 or something like that. My dad asked pastors of grace
churches to stand up. There were 40. There are not that many now. The Lord's
calling in the laborers from the harvesters. Forty men declaring
the gospel. Churches all over. What Dad said
back in the 60s, there was talk about starting a sovereign grace
convention, an organization, you know. You have to elect officers. You know, you've got to be a
president, a vice president, a secretary, a senior vice president,
an assistant to the vice president of the vice president of the
president. On and on it goes, somebody wants some, and they
all said, who's going to be president? Who's going to be vice president?
And they start bickering. Dad said, boys, we ain't going
to do it. We're not going to do it. There's one that reigns and rules.
The most high potentate, president, chief executive officer. We're
all just a bunch of servants. So they argued about who was
the greatest. When the great one was sitting
there. Turn it back and commit this to memory. Ecclesiastes
5. Go back there. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes
chapter 5. We just talked about the tongue,
didn't we? Ecclesiastes 5. This is a verse
we need to The verse says we need to commit to memory. Know
where it is. But may the Lord write it on
our heart. Ecclesiastes 5, verse 1. You
have it? Keep thy foot when thou goest
to the house of God. Be more ready to hear than to
give the sacrifice of fools. What's that? Words. Fool is readily
known. He'll let his foolishness Because
he speaks off the top of his head. And they consider not that
they do evil, that is, by talk. Be not rash with thy mouth, let
not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. Because God is in the heaven. His eyes behold, His eyes have
tried, He hears, He sees everything. And the year upon earth, He's
above, above all. You're beneath, you're on the
earth. What are you? Earthy. What's in the earth? Worms. That's all we are. That's all we are. Equal finite,
fallible fellows. Aren't we? Fallen. Sons of Adam.
That's all we are. They were arguing about greatness. Who's going to be the greatest?
And our Lord said in verse 26 of our text, verse 25, he said
the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them. They that
exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. They're
called this and that and the other. You know what the term
minister means? Minister. Servant. You know, in politics, they've
made this term minister a lofty, flattering title, Minister of
Defense. Servant? There are no titles
in Scripture before anyone's name. None. Even David wouldn't
put King in front of his name. David the King, small K. Well, minister, and he said in
verse 26, you shall not be so, but he that is greatest among
you, let him be as the younger. That is the oldest generally
has the lead, but we'd be like a child. Be like a child. And
he that is chief as he that does serve, not you. You're to be
my servants, he said, and the elder be like the younger to
serve. And the chief would be like an underling. Why is that? Because he said in verse 27,
Who is greater, he that sits at me,
or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at me?
He said, but I am among you as he that serveth. Sitting right
there. They were still in this upper
room. They were still sitting at that table. They were still
eating and getting finished with that supper, okay? And Christ
is sitting right there. God manifested in the flesh is
sitting at that table. And they start talking about,
who do you think it's going to be? And he's sitting right there
and he's listening to all, he hears every word they say. And
he says, who's the greatest here? Now this is He. Our Lord was
sitting there. This is He of whom Scripture
says, sitteth on the circle of the earth. The earth is His footstool. And this is the one who was high,
yet became low. This is He whom angels praised, sitting on the throne
of glory. Here he sits at a plain wooden
table. He whom angels praised and worshipped
in glory and bowed down to and served, everything, the multitude
of heavenly hosts served him who sat on the throne at the
right hand of the majesty on high and here he is, he gets
up from that table, this time, at this time, he gets up from
that table and gets a bowl of water and takes his clothes off
and gets an old towel and wraps it around his head and kneels
down at their feet, their stinking dirty feet. sinful feet, and
starts washing every one of them, their feet. At whose feet every knee shall
bow and every tongue confess him? Well, he was at their feet,
washing their feet. And yet they're talking about
his feet. Unbelievable, isn't it? Unbelievable. And he reminds them, look at
verse 28, I'm leading up to this two-part message here. This is all he introduces. He
reminds them, he said in verse 28, you are they which have continued
with me in my temptations. You have seen all I have endured. You have been with me and seen
all that I have endured. And the worst was yet to come
that he was going to do. They're going to see him dying
on Calvary's tree for them. And they're going to be so ashamed.
And they'll forsake him. They're all going to be so ashamed. You have seen everything I've
endured for you. You've known something of who
I am and where I came from, how far I came, how low I stooped
for you. We've seen a little bit, haven't
we, brother? All the Lord hath done for us. Where He's brought
us. Look at verse 29. I appoint unto
you a kingdom as my Father appointed unto me. James, Peter, John,
Simon. He never called him Peter. He
called him Simon. Simon, son of Jonas, son of Adam, sinner. James, John, Thomas, Matthew,
publican. I appointed you, I chose you,
I came down from heaven for you. I left where I was, throne of
glory, peace, happiness, glory, honor for this, for you. And I came down here for you
and I've lived for you and I'm going to die for you and I'm
going to pour out my blood for you. I'm going to take everything
you deserve. for you, because I loved you,
and I've chosen you, and I'm going to save you by my blood. That verse 30, that you may eat
and drink at my table in my kingdom. John, this is the same time when
he preached John 14 through 16. And then his prayer, John 17,
is when he went in the garden. Okay? All that's not here. But
he preached all of that in John 14, 15, 16, didn't he? He said,
I go to prepare a place for you. You're going to sit at my table
in my kingdom because of what I do. If I leave you to yourself, you're
not going to be there. You wouldn't have come to me
if I hadn't called you. You wouldn't have chosen me if
I hadn't chosen you. You wouldn't. He'd be gone like Judas. Judas
is gone, and you would be too if I didn't keep you by my power. He's reminding them this. And
you're going to sit at my table in my kingdom, not some great
person, but a great sinner saved by a great Savior. We understand
that, disciples. I guess one of my favorite stories
in all the Bible is Omer Phibosheth. Is it you? There was a fellow
sitting at his table, David, King David's table, named Omer
Phibosheth. And he was there by David because
of the mercy and the grace of the king. Omer Phibosheth, let
me tell you if you haven't heard the story. Mephibosheth was the
son of Jonathan, one whom David loved, who represents crime. But Mephibosheth was of the house
of Saul, and the house of Saul were the enemies of David. The
enemies of David. Saul hated David, tried to kill
him. And all of Saul's sons, he had seven other sons beside
Mephibosheth. And David had every one of those
sons of Saul killed, because they were his enemies. They didn't
want David on the throne. They wanted him on the throne.
They were rebels against a king, and David had every one of them
killed. Well, David is sitting on his
throne one day, and this is God the Father, this is God the King.
And David said, Is there any of the house of Saul, is there
anyone left of the house of Saul that I might show kindness, that
I might have mercy on, that I might spare for Jonathan's sake? For the covenant I made with
my friend, I love dearly as my own flesh and blood, Jonathan,
say. And God the Father, before the
world began, says, Is there any of the house of Adam, sons of
Adam, enemies of God, haters of God, that I might show kindness
and mercy and salvation for Christ's sake? And somebody said, Yes,
O King. There's one, he's down in the
house of Maker in Lodibar, house of no bread. But you don't want
him. He's no good. He's just like the rest of them.
Besides that, he won't come. He can't come. He's lame. He's dead and trespassing sin.
He won't come if you called him. He won't come. He's lame. You don't need him. David said,
oh yes. I made covenants. And I'm going
to save one of these fellas. And he said to two of his strongest
servants, go fetch him. And this is what God said before
the world began concerning son of the house of Adam, sons of
Adam. Mercy, truth, fetch that man. Righteousness, peace, lay
hold of that man. Almighty love, arrest that man. Go down there. But what if he
won't come? Lay hold of him. Compel him. Pick him up. Put him on your
shoulder. Bring him to me. Why, O King?
I'm going to show mercy. And they brought him in. He was
laying through a fall. You remember? He was laying.
He couldn't come because he fell. As a child, he fell. And all
we have sinned and fallen and come short of the glory of God.
We fell in Adam. In Adam, we all died. But by
crying, made alive. The Gospel calls. God sends the
Gospel. His messengers. And He says,
fetch that man. He don't want to come? He can't
come. But I said, fetch him. And they come. And they brought
Mephibosheth. And they sat him down at where?
At the feet of the king. And he's fearful. He's trembling. He doesn't know if the king is
going to kill him or save him. He doesn't know. He knows who
he is. He knows what his brethren got.
And he knows it's going to be the mercy of this king if I live
today. And David spoke kindly to him. David spoke in love to him. He heard David's voice as the
voice of an angel. And David said, Mephibosheth,
well son, here you are. Jonathan's. You belong to Jonathan. My son. He said, bring old Mephibosheth
up here. Put him right here, right beside
me. Sit him at my table as one of
the king's sons." And he said, furthermore, everybody in here
that waits on me, wait on him. I want everything and everyone
in here to work together for his good. That's my purpose concerning
him, for Jonathan's sake. Do you understand that? That's
what he did for me. For Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. Can you imagine Mephibosheth
ever getting puffed up? Can you imagine Mephibosheth
ever being offended? Can you imagine? What if Ziba,
as that wicked servant who pretended to love the king, Ziba coming
up and whispering in his ear, David, you want to be king. David's
a bad man. Can you imagine him listening
to Ziba? Can you imagine him ever getting tired of sitting
at that table? Can you ever? Can you ever imagine
him saying, I got other things to do, other people to be with,
things to see, places to go, people to see. Can you imagine,
for a minute, my fiddler chef getting tired of sitting at that
table and wanting to be anywhere and with anyone else? Can you
imagine? No, and he didn't. He didn't. All right, in closing, let me
just declare this. You know the only thing great
it says about man in Scripture? Do you? You know the only time
it talks about man's greatness? Let me read it to you. Genesis
6, verse 5. God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth. A bunch of great sinners. David
said, pardon my iniquity, O Lord, for it is great. That's the only thing it says
about man that's great, is his wickedness, his sin against God.
God feeds him, clothes him, has mercy upon him, shelters him,
protects him, provides for him all the days of his life. Though
the man doesn't know him, he thinks it's the worst thing in
the world to come worship God. God does all this for him all
his life, for her all their life, and they don't give God a thought. When the birds sang of God's
glory, the trees clapped their hands. But man, no. God said the ox knows his owner,
the ass his master's crib. But people, he came to his own,
that is his creatures, they received him not. In fact, they did worse.
They killed him. And that was me. And such were some of you. Let
me give you some illustrations here. A man's great sin. Adam
and Eve. They had everything. Adam and
Eve had everything. God didn't withhold anything
from them. Everything. They lived in paradise. We think if we could live in
paradise, we'd be the happiest people. They weren't. God said one thing. One thing
you can't have as a proof of my sovereignty. You can't touch
that tree. Why? Because I said so. Everything
else. What'd they do? I want that. Noah. Eight persons on the whole
earth saved out of maybe a billion people. Eight! Look at Noah. Look at him. A couple of years
after the ark. Naked and drunk in his tent. Lot and his daughters. The Lord saved, spared the whole
town, 250, 300,000 people. And the Lord, to bring Lot out,
he had to lay hold of him in mercy and grace. And Lot wanted
to stay there. His wife wanted to stay there.
So he left her there. But he took Lot and brought him
out in mercy and grace, and his daughter, and set them outside
the camp. Now look at Lot a few days later. Jacob. All his sons, down there,
pat down and around. It was a mess, wasn't it? All
of Israel. Look at Israel, God's people.
After he brought them, all he brought them through, through
the Red Sea, and all he brought them through, look at them dancing
around that gold. Like it's their God. David. Every man at his best
stays all together. Look at David. The Lord reminded
him, David, look where I found you, following sheep. Now you're
on the throne, the greatest man on earth. David, what have you
done? Adam, where art thou? Solomon, could your wives tear
your hearts away from me after all I've done for you? Solomon,
look at you. We're just a bunch of great sinners.
You know that? But all of this, and you, who
were dead and trespassed in sin. Hath he quickened? You who walked
according to the course of this world. You who were children
of wrath, even as others. But God. Say it again. But God. But God. Who's great
for His great love. We're with you, Lord. Great sinners. It takes a great person to love
a great sinner. Behold what manner of love the
Father has shown upon her. Great. Who shall His greatness
declare? Let me just try for a second. In thirty-one minutes, give me
two more. On His greatness? He's great in power. Look what
He's created. Oh, He's great in glory. Everything declares His glory.
He's great in honor. He's great in majesty. He's called
the great and dreadful God we should fear. And yet this great
God, holy, just, and righteous in all His way, He will by no
means clear the guilty. His greatest glory, His greatest
character, His greatest attribute is mercy. Moses said, Lord, show us your
glory. Look at all you've done for us. But I want to know who
you are and what you've done. I want to see your glory. He
said, okay. I'm going to make all my goodness
pass before you. I'm going to proclaim the name
of the Lord, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful, gracious. In Psalm 145, that Psalm of the
Great One, it says, Who shall His greatness declare? It says
in Psalm 145, the Lord is gracious, great in His goodness. I'll sing
of His righteousness. The Lord is gracious, full of
compassion, great compassion. Slow to anger. We provoke Him
and provoke Him and provoke Him, but He's slow to anger. And of
great mercy. Oh, my. Great mercy. Great, great. How much mercy
has the Lord shown you? How great is His mercy to you? What about grace? How much has
He given you? What all has He done for you?
Oh, He's great in His love, great in His wisdom, His justice, His
faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. Oh,
it says in Ecclesiastes, some of you, He said the Lord's mercy
is that we're not consumed. Because His compassions, they
fail not. His mercies are new every morning.
Our great God. You know what we are. Here it
is in conclusion. Here it is. Sum it all up. All
we are is a bunch of sinners. Great sinners. That's the only
thing great about any of us. Great sinners. And it took a
great Savior, a great work of salvation to save the likes of
us, didn't it? Praise be to His name. Okay,
let's sing a closing hymn, number 209. Marvelous Grace, greater than
all my sin. Marvelous Grace, 209.