Well, as you know, Christ had
just finished dealing with the rich young man who was probably
a Pharisee. He was a ruler. I believe that's
what Mark called him. Meaning that even in his youth,
he had the zeal and the knowledge, the reputation to probably be
part of the Sanhedrin. You know, that's the Jewish court.
If people were to be judged, they had to come before that
court. It's not stated that, but him being a ruler, we know
that he had some high position in the religious community. We
know that he was a sincere, dedicated, moral individual according to
the standards of men. And Christ confronted him at
his point of rebellion, and we know that there are several things
about him that he reveals in his question. Number one, he
thought salvation and eternal life was something that he could
earn by his doing, by his law keeping. And of course Christ
confronted him on that and said, no, that's not true. And then
when Christ looked at him and showed him the extent of the
law, what does the law require for a sinner to be saved? Well,
the law requires perfect righteousness. And that righteousness can only
be found in Christ. And you remember when Christ
read him the, or quoted to him the second table of the law,
which is summarized in love your neighbor as yourself, and realizing
that your neighbor includes your worst enemy, he said, well, I've
kept those things from my youth up. He was deceived by sin. We
read that in Romans chapter seven, how the apostle Paul was in the
same position, and we're all in that position naturally. We
think that salvation is conditioned on us in some way, at some stage,
to some degree. We think that there are conditions
that we personally can meet, accomplish, to attain or maintain
salvation. But if we understand the law,
which we don't until the Holy Spirit slays us, brings us to
see that we don't have the ability nor the will to do what God requires,
we think we're okay. I've done enough. And of course,
when you talk to people about that, you know, I always ask
them, I say, well, what is enough? Tell me what is enough? And if
whatever you say, show me in scripture where it says that's
enough. And, of course, that just sends them into confusion
because they don't realize that. It's like I told you I was having
lunch with a man who talked about going into an ICU unit at the
hospital to a dying woman, and the preacher was in there, a
false preacher was in there with, and they come out, and the preacher
said, well, I'm just sure she's in heaven. And the man asked
him, he said, well, what makes you so sure? He said, because
she did that which was required. Well, what's required? What does
God require? Back in the old covenant, that
question was asked in the law of Moses. What does God require? We love God perfectly, love your
neighbors yourself. If you could do that or if I
could do that, we wouldn't need salvation, would we? But the
problem is we're sinners. And we can't bring forth the
righteousness that's required by the law. And so when the man
said, well, what lack I yet? Well, he lacked a perfect righteousness,
even with all of his supposed law keeping. He still fell short,
and he lacked faith in Christ. Now, what's significant about
that? Well, Christ is the only person and work, his work, where
we can find the righteousness that God requires. Outside of
Christ, there's nothing for us. It's all death and hell. And
so Christ told him, he said, go and sell everything you have.
That's because the man's point of rebellion was his love of
his riches, love of money, we talked about that. And his lack
of faith in Christ. And there's the problem. You
know, and I'm gonna make this point here. Look at verse 25
and 26 again. It says, when his disciples heard
it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, who then can be saved?
Now, why would they ask that question? You know, Christ had
already taught them the gospel. But it's still a problem in the
flesh that when you look at a person, you think about it, when you
look at a person who, like this young man, who's been a pillar
of society, who's been an example, to think of that person standing
before God and being pronounced dead, condemned. Our flesh just
does not want to receive that. And these disciples were still,
even though they knew the facts of the gospel, they were just
flabbergasted over this, you know. Well, this man's, you know,
look at him. You mean he's going to hell?
Well, if something doesn't change. You know, a lot of people argue
over whether this man was eventually saved. I think that's a moot
point because we don't know. I'd like to think that he was,
wouldn't you? I mean, that'd be great. But
if God saved him, his mind and heart was changed. So the disciples
said, who then can be saved? Well, who does God save? Jesus
Christ came into the world to save sinners. This guy here,
He didn't believe himself to be a sinner. And it's funny how
some people think about this. They might say, well, I'm not
perfect, but I've done enough. Maybe that's the way he was thinking,
I don't know. But Christ came into the world to save sinners,
Paul said, of whom I am chief. And it's sinners, he said, I
didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So
who then can be saved? We'll look at verse 26. But Jesus
beheld them and said, with men this is impossible, but with
God all things are possible. How many times and how many ways
from Genesis to Revelation are we taught this basic principle
of God's grace that salvation is of the Lord? We're gonna be
dealing with that in the book of Ephesians later on today. We are his workmanship. What
is that telling us? We're not self-made people. If
we're saved, it's all of God. It's all of grace. It's not God
and you or and me, but it's all of grace in Christ. And so, How
does it become possible with God? Well, it's out of his wisdom,
his power, his goodness, his mercy, his grace, and his justice,
how God can be just and justify the ungodly. How is that? By his grace that reigns through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. So
the Lord showed this person, this man, that for a sinner to
have eternal life, God requires perfect righteousness that could
only be found in him. That's what he means when he
says, sell all that you have and follow me. In other words,
and we're gonna see this in the disciples, they say, well, we
gave up everything to follow. Well, they did, all right? But
hold onto that thought now, we're gonna look at that. But look
at verse 27. Verse 27 says, then answered
Peter and said unto him. Now most commentators will say,
well, Peter's speaking for the rest of the disciples. I'm sure
they all had this on their mind. He says, behold, we have forsaken
all and followed thee. Now this is what the Lord told
the man to do. Forsake all, follow me. Peter
said, we've done that. What shall we have therefore?
That's the title of the lesson. What shall we have therefore? There's several things about
this statement, and I've got it in your lesson here. First,
all true disciples of Christ, all true sinners saved by grace,
by the grace of God now, we do forsake all things and follow
Him. We do. Now these disciples here, they
were fishermen, and of course you know Matthew was a tax collector.
They weren't rich like this rich young man, but they gave up everything
to follow Christ. Now it's not required. For example,
if you're prosperous in this life and God has given you, blessed
you with material riches, it's not required of all true disciples
to give it all away to the poor and do that. That's not what
it is. This man that he required that of, that was his point of
rebellion. He loved his riches, his material
blessings, more than anything else, even though he was trying
to keep the law to be saved. But he didn't understand the
law, and we know that. But here's the thing about it. When the
Holy Spirit brings a sinner to see his or her sinfulness and
depravity, he makes us willing to give up everything to have
Christ, to embrace him, to follow him. Whatever stands in the way
of my getting to Christ, what do we do? We put it on the dung
heap of sin. If it's my riches or whatever,
God will, and listen now, this is not out of the natural goodness
or willingness of sinners. This is a gift from God. But
you know what most people's, Riches are don't you it's the
riches of their own self-righteousness And that's what you know Paul
and Philippians 3 made that so clear everything that I thought
was pot was profitable worth something as far as establishing
me as a In salvation and a right relationship with God in light
of the righteousness of God in Christ I counted all but done
that means he gave it all up and He's not trying to hold on
to any of it. I've seen people who have come
to hear the gospel physically, and they may come to agree with
it, but they don't want to give up their past professions, their
past works, their past experiences, and they want to say, well, there's
some good there, you know. When God gives us the gift of
faith, and that's the second thing. I forgot to put the, I
put first up there in your lesson. The second thing is down there
where it says this is God-given faith in Christ, and God-given
repentance of dead works and idolatry. So put a number two
there. I just forgot to do it. When
God brings us to Christ for salvation, we forsake all of our own righteousness. Even our religious experiences,
and we, I know, you know, I think back on my life. And I can see
the true and living God working things providentially in my life
before I came to know him. But that's hindsight. Because
during that time that I was, didn't know the gospel, was ignorant
of God's righteousness. During that time, I was an enemy
of God in my mind. Now, that's what Colossians 1
says. I was ignorant of his righteousness. I was an idolater. How about
you? A lot of people say, well, I
was worshiping the same God. I just didn't know that much
about. God reveals himself to his people in the gospel wherein
the righteousness of God is revealed, how God can be just and justifier. And so when he brings us as sinners
saved by grace to forsake everything for his glory, to get to Christ,
I must have Christ. It's like that pearl of great
price and that treasure hidden in the field. If you look at
it in that way, there's nothing that's going to keep a Holy Spirit
convicted sinner from coming to Christ. Do you believe that? Understand, that's God-given
faith. That's not something we muster
up within ourselves. Naturally, the natural man doesn't
receive those things. There's none that doeth good,
there's none that seeketh after God. And that's God-given repentance
of dead works. And so what do we do? Well, by
God's grace and God's power, working in our minds and our
hearts through the Holy Spirit under the gospel, we take up
our cross and we follow him. So what is it I say about the
three things in Holy Spirit conviction? If the Holy Spirit has done his
work in my heart, I cannot ignore it, and I cannot deny it, and
I cannot leave it. And you look at it and instead
of it, say I cannot ignore Christ, I cannot deny Christ, and I cannot
leave Christ. So we give up all to follow him.
Now again, that doesn't mean that we all have to give up our
jobs and become traveling preachers like these disciples. God had
a specific mission for them. The 12 disciples, of course,
we know Judas was a false disciple, and then later on Paul was called,
and that's who I believe was the 12th disciple. But God had
a special purpose for them to be the forerunners of preaching
the gospel in the New Testament. So they, he required them, he
told Matthew, put down what you're doing and come and follow me.
He told Peter and Andrew and the others that were fishermen,
he said, put down your nets, I'll make you fishers of men.
And again, he doesn't require that of everybody, all right? But he does require that we leave
and forsake everything to believe and embrace him. And that requirement
is not something that we made out of our own natural wills
or goodness, it's a gift from God. Understand it. For by grace are you saved. My
text this morning, in the main message, Ephesians 2.10, it starts
out, and I probably quote this so often, and you know that,
but it's a summation of what God has done for us. For by grace
are you saved. Through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. And I was talking to a preacher
about this years ago, who doesn't believe the gospel. mind you,
and he said, well, that verse is not talking about faith, it's
talking about salvation. And I looked at him, I said,
wait a minute. I said, you don't think faith
is part of salvation? Yes, it's talking about salvation,
including faith. In other words, salvation, all
of it, everything about it is a gift from God. And that includes
faith and includes repentance. I've got in your lesson here.
Think about it this way. If material riches would get
in the way of your following Christ for salvation, God would
bring you to forsake it and follow him. Don't you believe that? If that's what was keeping one
of his chosen people from coming to Christ, God would bring you
to forsake it. If religious works and efforts
would get in the way, God would bring us to forsake such self-righteous
works and follow Him. And that applies to everybody,
because we're all works-oriented, self-righteous people by nature. Listen, this one. If our earthly
families would get in the way, God would bring us to forsake
them and follow Christ. That doesn't mean we have to
alienate ourselves from them or be mean to them or anything
like that. It just means we're not with them in this thing of
salvation in the gospel. We're not with them. We're divided
from them. Remember he said it, if a man
loves father, mother more than me, he cannot be my disciple. If God The Holy Spirit convicts
us of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and shows us the truth
of our depravity and sinfulness. God's holiness, Christ the only
way of salvation. There's nothing that could keep
us from him. Now, given that, Peter made this
statement. Look at verse 27. Then answered
Peter and said unto him, Behold, we've forsaken all and followed
thee. They had. All right. What shall we have
therefore? in your lesson I wrote here.
It's as though he's saying, we've done what this rich young man,
ruler, refused to do. We've done that. We've forsaken
our homes, our families, our jobs to follow you. What then
will be our reward? Now, that may look, you know,
we look at it and say, what's wrong with these people? What's
wrong with these disciples? Same thing is wrong with us,
we're sinners. We're selfish, all of that. Didn't they understand that what
had happened to them to bring them to forsake all those things
and follow Christ was a gift from God, the grace of God, not
something by which they were gonna earn rewards. And you remember
this thing came up, this kind of idea came up back in Matthew
chapter 18. Who is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? Who's gonna be first, who's gonna
be second? I really believe, and I put this
in your lesson, that these disciples, they heard, they claimed to believe
the gospel of salvation by God's grace, but they were still under
the delusion that Christ had come to set up an earthly kingdom. and rule from Jerusalem. We see
that, I mentioned it in Matthew 18, see it over in Acts chapter
one, when are you coming back? And I think that had something
to do with this. But either way, here's what Christ
told him. Look at verse 28. And Jesus said
unto them, Verily I say unto you, that you which have followed
me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the
throne of his glory, You also shall sit upon 12 thrones, judging
the 12 tribes of Israel. Now, what is he talking about
regeneration? Follow me, in the regeneration. You know, when we think of regeneration,
we think of the new birth, don't we? Except you'd be born again. You have to be given life from
the dead, raised from the dead spiritually, regenerated. And
of course, we know that's the power of God too. Well, if you
read all the commentators, the good commentators, they give
you like three possibilities, but let me read them to you.
First of all, he could have been referring to his first coming
into the world to set all things right by his obedience unto death
and resurrection. In other words, when he comes
in and he talks about giving his people life, He talks about
establishing the kingdom. Secondly, it could refer to the
time of the new covenant extending from his first advent to his
second. And thirdly, it may be exclusively
referring to his second coming when he'll come and set all things
right. He talks about him sitting on his throne. Well, he's on
his throne now. So all of that. Well, What he's
talking about, I believe, is maybe a combination of all three.
And I'm not trying to just, you know, shuff it off there. But
what it is, listen, when he talks about it, he says, you shall
sit upon 12 thrones and judge the 12 tribes of Israel. Now,
sitting on 12 thrones, you know the number 12 is the completeness
of God's government. In other words, whenever you
see that term 12, It kind of relates this way that not one
of his chosen people are going to be missing. They're all there.
The 12 tribes of Israel represents that, was a type of that. Not
one of God's chosen people whose names were written in the Lamb's
Book of Life are going to be missing. They're all going to
be there. And then the Bible calls we who
are in Christ kings and priests in him and what we are, we're
ambassadors of Christ. So the sitting on 12 thrones
and judging the 12 tribes of Israel refers to our position
as his people, as kings and priests to God, as ambassadors of Christ
who bring judgment forth. When he says judging the 12 tribes
of Israel, how do we bring judgment forth? Preaching the gospel. You'll see this referred to in
the Old Testament in the book of Isaiah. I've got two references
from Isaiah. Isaiah 2, 2-4. Isaiah 42, 1-4
when he'll bring judgment to the Gentiles. He'll bring the
gospel. The gospel is a judgment. And it's a judgment of what?
that all who are in Christ are safe and secure, righteous, forgiven. Their sins cannot be charged
to them. They have a righteousness imputed to them. They cannot
be lost. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ. But it's also a judgment on unbelievers. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And what he's talking about here,
I believe, is judging the 12 tribes of Israel that through
the preaching of the gospel, judgment will be brought to all
of God's people in the form of understanding that Christ is
our righteousness. We cannot be condemned. We've
already been judged when he died on that cross. And so we're safe
and we're secure. And I believe that's what he's
telling them. And look at verse 29. He says, and everyone that
have forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother,
or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive
an hundredfold, and shall, now look at the word, shall what?
Inherit everlasting life. The many that are first shall
be last, and the last shall be first. What he's saying here
is this, the blessings and the reward of the kingdom are infinite. We can't even imagine how glorious
they are. Peter spoke of that. It's an
inheritance that's sure and incorruptible. And it's all spiritual blessings,
not just for some in the kingdom of God, but for all the children
of God. It's the blessings of eternal
life, the blessings of grace, blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And when he says the first
shall be last and the last shall be first, that's an expression
that says that we're all on an equal plane before God in Christ
as to our salvation. Those who think that they'll
be first, God's gonna change their mind. and they're gonna
make him like Paul. I'm the chief of sinners. I don't
deserve one thing. And those who God brings down
to that point in humility, he lifts them up to show them how
rich we are by his grace in Christ. We have everything we need. You haven't earned one more blessing
than I have because we've never earned any of it. You understand
that? And that's the point that he's
making to these disciples. Now, like I said, you know, when
they bring forth those thoughts of, you know, what am I gonna
get, you know, out of this? That's just natural thinking.
And we have to fight it, don't we? You know, somebody, I heard
a preacher one time over in Ohio say, He said that if I didn't
believe in rewards, plural, in heaven, he said I wouldn't preach
anymore. Well, he just admitted that he
thinks he's serving the Lord, he's not, but with a very low
motive. Because the motive for serving
Christ is grace, gratitude, and love, and not how much I can
earn. That's not grace. Paul wrote
about that in Romans 4. If God owes it to me, it's not
grace, it's debt. Well, oh Lord, don't give us
what we deserve or what we've earned. Give us what Christ has
earned for us. Okay.