Good morning. If you carry over
your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 20, we'll continue our
study of Matthew chapter 20 this morning. Before we begin, let's bow in
prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverent, is your matchless name. Father, we bow before you
this morning. We bow before you seeking your
presence among us as we worship, as we attempt to worship. We
bow before you seeking your mercy, grace, and forgiveness of our
sin. We bow before you thanking you
for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for salvation in
him. We thank you for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father,
I pray that you would bless us this morning as we attempt to
preach that gospel and to hear it and believe it. Father, grant us faith. Let faith
be mixed with everything that we do and say here this morning
that we might leave here with our hearts, our affections set
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, bless your word. Bless
your word here and other places where it's preached. Father,
bless your word. We pray. Father, we thank you for the
little ones that you've given us. We thank you for the the
children that you've given to us. And Father, we pray your
mercy upon them. Oh, would you be merciful, we
pray. Father, we pray for the sick
and the afflicted, those that need you especially. Those are
sick in body, heart, and mind, and in great difficulty. Father, we pray that you'd comfort
their hearts, that you'd heal, that you would provide a way
out as soon as it could be thy will. The Father again bless
us as we look into your word. Let us look into your word and
see the glory of Christ our Savior. It is in his precious name we
pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, I've titled
our lesson this morning, The Savior of a Sinful People. I want us to see three very simple
things from our text this morning. First, I want us to see the willing
Savior. Second, I want us to see the
Savior's sinful people and thirdly, how those sinners are saved.
Now first, the willing savior, Matthew chapter 20 verse 17.
And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the 12 disciples apart in
the way and said unto them, behold, we go up to Jerusalem and the
son of man shall be betrayed under the chief priest and under
the scribes and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver
him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And
the third day, He shall rise again. Now, this is the third
time that the Savior has told his disciples he's going to Jerusalem
to be crucified. He'll be, he'll suffer there.
He told them the things that he'll suffer. He told them who
it was that would cause him to suffer and that he would die
and rise again the third day. This is the third time he's told
them that. I mean, you just heard it. You just read it. It can't be
more plainly stated, can it? This is what's going to happen.
This is the third time he told them that. There are several
lessons here. Number one, that tells me this
is something the savior always knew was going to happen. His
sufferings and his death is something that he always knew was going
to happen. And it's the sole reason that he came to earth
as a man. It's the sole reason he took
on him flesh, that he would come to earth and accomplish the eternal
redemption of God's people, that he would accomplish God's eternal
purpose by saving his people through his sacrifice. Almighty
God, purposed to save the people. The father chose the people to
save. It was always God's purpose that
those people be saved by the obedience of Christ in the flesh.
So he would come in the flesh and do what that sinful people
could not do. Keep the law, honor the father. And it was always
the eternal purpose of the father, that by the sacrifice of his
son, by the death of Christ, the sin of those people would
be paid for and put away under his precious blood, the blood
of his sacrifice. Now that is God's eternal covenant
of grace. It was a covenant made between
God and God. This is how God is going to save
his people from their sin. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, he
came in the flesh. He is God. He is God. It's not like he's God. He's
not a special just a man. He is God. And since he's God,
He knew the purpose of God. He knew why he came. He knew
what he would do. He knew what was going to happen
in the future because he's the very one that ordained it. He
was in full agreement with this. This is not something he came
to do. The father forced him to do. He came in full agreement
to be sacrificed so that he might redeem the people that the father
gave him to say. And he was willing, he was willing
to do it. And he was always focused on
doing it. because it's His will. It's not
just the Father's will forced upon Him. He said, I and my Father
are one. They have the same will. They
have the same purpose. It was His will that He come
here and be a sacrifice for His people. It was His will that
He go to Jerusalem and suffer. If it was not His will, He wouldn't
have gone. But He went because it's His will. He told us that
from a boy, the first recorded, I believe they're the first recorded
words of our Savior. I must be about my father's business.
I must be. He always knew this and he was
willing to do it. The father predetermined every
detail of the sacrifice of his son and the son knew all those
details and he was in full agreement with it. He knew Judas would
betray him. He knew he would because he ordained
Judas to betray him. He knew that the whole world
would be in on his death and the whole world would be in agreement
with it. This might be the one and only thing the Jews and the
Romans agreed on, the death of Christ. I can't hardly think
of anything else they were ever in agreement on, but they sure
were in agreement on this, this man Jesus has got to die. And
the Savior knew it. He knew the world would be in
on it. He knew that the Jews, the chief priests and the scribes,
the Jewish religious leaders, he knew they would be the very
ones that condemned him to death. The ones who sat and transcribed
the scriptures, who transcribed all those promises of the coming
Messiah would not recognize that this is him and they were the
very ones who would condemn him to death. He knew that. And he
knew that the Gentiles, he knew that the Romans would be the
ones to mock him, to carry out this execution. He knew about
their beatings, the stripes that they put on his back. He knew
how they'd pluck out his beard. He knew how they'd nail him to
the cross. He knew how he'd die on that
cursed tree. He knew how they would mock him as he died. You
know why he knew all those things were gonna happen? Because he
was the one ordained that they would happen. This is God's purpose,
how he's gonna put away the sin of his people. And I think we
always have to be very clear about this. The sacrifice of
Christ was by his will, by his design, by his choice. The Jews
and the Romans never took him against his will. They never
forced him to do anything against his will. Of all the people that
the Romans ever crucified, I bet he's the only one that laid his
hand down on that cross and they didn't have to hold down the
nail. He didn't fight them. He gave himself to be crucified. He did it willingly. And more
than that, he delighted in doing it. He delighted in honoring
and pleasing his father. He delighted in sacrificing himself
to save his people because he loves those people. The Savior
always knew. He always knew. He always knew
that this is how he's going to suffer. He always knew this is
how he's going to die. But he always knew something
else, too, because he purposed something else. He knew. His sacrifice would put away
the sin of his people. He knew it. The outcome was never
in doubt. He always knew he would die and
rise again three days later. He kept telling them that. We
have pictures of it throughout the Old Testament. He told his
disciples that plainly. He would rise again the third
day because the sin of his people had been put away under his precious
blood. He knew he'd be the successful
savior. Now that's the message that the Lord kept repeating
to his disciples over and over again. It's the third time that
he told them this. The sacrifice of Christ, not
something that God did in the corner. He didn't keep this thing
hidden before or after. He kept telling us promises of
it. He kept giving us pictures of it. He told his disciples
so plainly, this is what's going to happen. And yet the disciples
still had no idea what the Lord was talking about. Look at Luke
chapter 18. Luke chapter 18. Here's Luke's
account of this conversation. He tells us something here that
Matthew doesn't tell us. Luke 18 verse 31. Then he took
unto him the 12 and said unto them, behold, we go up to Jerusalem
and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the
son of man should be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto
the Gentiles and should be mocked with spitefully and treated and
spit it on. And they shall scourge him and put him to death. And
the third day he shall rise again. Now look at verse 34. And they
understood none of these things. And this saying was hidden from
them. Neither knew they the things which were spoken. That seems
kind of shocking, doesn't it? But here's why I point this out. Tarshane, how often have we heard
the gospel over and over and over and over again? It's still
not understood. Huh? I can't throw rocks at the 12th,
can you? How often have we heard the gospel
over and over and over again and still not believed? How often? How often Have we heard the gospel? This congregation has been blessed
to have heard the gospel longer than just about anybody that
I know. And we believe it by God's grace. Many of you can
say, I believe this. I stake my soul on that. I believe this. Heard the gospel and believed
it. And then left this place and
gone out like I never heard a thing. and like I never believed a thing.
Gone out, saying I believe, I mean, really, truly, yes, believe in
the gospel, and gone out in the world trying to keep the law
to please God. How often have I heard the gospel,
heard I'm nothing, heard Christ is everything, and gone out thinking
my morality's gonna please God and make me better my brethren?
And we're gonna get to that in just a second. How often, though?
I mean, I'll ask you. If we're honest, often. Often,
isn't that right? How many times have we heard
the gospel, the gospel that should humble us, the gospel that should
put us in the dust and gone out into the world so full of pride,
so full of arrogance, so full of self-righteousness and proud
of our right doctrine? How many times have you left
this place, gone past some freewill Armenian Catholic church, whatever,
and just pride burst up in your heart, how much more, you know,
how much better you are. It's our nature. You know why
the disciples were like this? They got the same nature that
we do. That's why. Now they did finally later on
understand, didn't they? These things were not hid from
them forever. When did they finally understand? After the Lord arose,
he opened their understanding, he appeared to them, and he opened
their understanding that they might understand the scriptures,
that all the law, that Moses, all the law, all the prophets,
all the Psalms, they speak of Christ. Now I see, now I see. Oh, we say with Thomas, my Lord
and my God, yes, I doubt it, yes, I would not believe, but
when he opened the scriptures, now I see, now I see him. And that's when you and I are
going to understand, when Lord is pleased to open our understanding
and we see Christ in the scriptures, that he's all that matters, that
he's all I need. And the only way the Lord's ever
going to open our understanding so that we believe on Christ,
the only way that's going to happen is by the preaching of
Christ. A steady diet of Christ and Christ
alone, a steady diet of preaching God's word Verse by verse, line
upon line, precept upon precept, this is the one and only way
the Spirit's pleased to reveal Christ to His people. So I'll
tell you what, it's my intention to keep preaching the Word, to
keep preaching Christ. I won't do it as well as it should
be done, and none of us will listen and believe and apply
it to our hearts as well as it should be done, but by God's
grace, that's what I'm gonna keep doing. That's what we're
gonna keep doing. This is God Almighty's eternal purpose of
how he's gonna save his people from their sin is by Christ and
Christ alone, by his obedience, by his sacrifice, and his resurrection. And you know, even after the
Lord saves us and he reveals Christ to us, we say, now I see,
we're born again. We are still chock full of sin
and we're in constant need of forgiveness. So that brings me
to my second point, the Savior's sinful people. Verse 20. 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 thy right hand and the other on the left in
thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said,
you know not what you ask. Are you able to drink of the
cup that I should drink of and to be baptized with the baptism
that I'm baptized with? And they say unto him, we are
able. I'll tell you something about sin.
Our sin is rooted in a too high opinion of self. That's where
sin is rooted. Our opinion of our own righteousness,
our opinion of our own strength and our own ability and our own
worth is all far too high. And that's the root of all sin. That was Adam's problem in the
garden. I want to be God. I think I'm able. And it's still
our problem today. It's a problem of the nature
of this flesh. And don't these verses give us a clear illustration
of that? Even after God saves us, Nobody
can deny the flesh is alive and well. And that's why even believers
often make such big, big mistakes. It wouldn't surprise me that
James and John kind of convinced their mother to make this statement.
Somebody, one of the really old writers I read said that their
mother was Joseph's sister. Joseph, the foster father of
our Lord. So maybe they thought her being his aunt, maybe that
would have some bearing on the situation. She'd have some sway
in this thing. And they got their mother to
make this request. And this request is so full of
self, isn't it? So full of self, so full of pride. To think that you could sit on
thrones, flanking our Lord on his right, on his left. Makes
it seem like somehow they thought they were worthy to just about
be on the level of the Lord. They weren't saying they actually
deserved to be right on his level. They did want the Lord at least
to sit in the center, didn't they? And at least that is a place
of preeminence. But let one sit on your right hand, one sit on
your left hand. Like I'm worthy to sit there. Like I'm worthy. They just, it's this flesh, we
understand it. They want some glory in this
thing. They want some recognition in this thing, you know. Where
when they should have wanted the Lord to have all the glory,
they wanted to share. They wanted to be right up there,
you know, and be seen, you know, just almost equal with him. The sad thing is, is they knew
the Lord was going to sit on a throne. They knew that. And they wanted to sit beside
him and sit about his feet. There's something wrong when
a believer does that, isn't there? And every one of us have done that.
Every one of us. Sinful people, sinful. James and John were more
concerned about themselves than loving their brother. What happened
to the Lord teach us, take the low seat until somebody else
take the high seat. What happened to that? They wanted to be able to lord
it over their brethren. The Lord told them, this is not the way
it is in my kingdom. Gentile kings do that. Gentile
rulers do that. Not you. It should not be that
way in my kingdom. You're not going to lord it over
your brethren and rule over them. But that's what they were thinking.
And that's why they tried to make this secret power grab.
And we'll look at this next week. This is a good thing to remember.
Somebody makes a secret power grab. They ain't going to stay
secret for long. The other disciples knew what they were asking, but
they're making this secret power grab. And that's so unloving. They're not asking for blessings
for their brethren. They're not asking for glory for themselves.
There's just something wrong when a believer does that. These men were so full of themselves,
they actually thought they could suffer with the Savior and earn
the right to sit beside Him. He asked them plainly, can you
drink of the cup that I'm gonna drink of? Can you be baptized
into the sufferings that I'm gonna be baptized with? And they
said, yes. The flesh has too high of an
opinion of itself, doesn't it? You think about the cup that
the Lord's talking about here. He said, can you drink of this
cup? The cup he's talking about is the cup of his sufferings. It's the cup of his father's
wrath. unmitigated wrath against sin. That cup was so bitter and it
was so dreadful, the thought of drinking from it made the
blood of his body somehow flow backwards
or something and come out the pores of his skin. That's how
horrible just the thought of drinking that cup. This cup was
so awful. It was so horrible to drink.
The Savior prayed, Father, if it be possible Let this cup pass
from me. If there's any other way my people
could be saved, let this cup pass from me and save them another
way. Nevertheless, not as I will, but thy will be done. Because
there wasn't another way. He knew it. He just prayed that
so you and I would know there's no other way. There's no other
way for us to be saved. He prayed that so you and I would
know the cup of his sufferings. is just unimaginable to you and
me. No normal human being, no son
of Adam could ever drink of that cup of sufferings and live. Nobody
could, only the Savior. And that's why he has to drink
it alone. And bless their hearts, these
two men said, yeah, we can do it. Now there's no excuse for this
kind of behavior among believers. None whatsoever. None. We ought
to certainly pray that the Lord deliver us from it. And we'll
look at this next week. Just from a personal standpoint,
I pray the Lord to deliver me from this. But for your sake,
I pray he will too. We're gonna see the problems
this thing causes, the division among the 12 that this causes,
the hard feelings that it caused between them. There's just no
excuse for this kind of behavior. It ought never happen. But it
does, doesn't it? It does. And if we're being honest
with ourselves, none of us can throw a rock at James or John,
because we've all done the very same thing at one point or another.
At one point or another. And that's awful. It's humiliating. It makes you feel hopeless, really,
doesn't it? But let me give you some comfort.
God's sinful people. Yes, all we do is sin. But our
salvation is found wholly, completely, only in Christ our Savior. And not one speck of it is dependent
upon our good conduct, our good behavior and our good attitude,
not one speck of it. The Lord Jesus Christ has saved
his people from all of their sin. The blood of Jesus Christ,
God's son, cleanses us from what? All sin, all sin. Thank God that includes even
the sin of pride and arrogance that we commit even after the
Lord saves us and reveals himself to us. Brother Fortner said this
in his commentary in a way that only Don could say it. True faith
is often found beneath a pile of trash. I couldn't agree more. True faith, maybe not often,
always is found beneath a pile of trash, but found beneath a
pile of flesh. James and John acted this way.
And here's our God's mercy and grace. James and John acted this
horrible, awful way, and the Lord didn't cut them off. The
Lord is still going to make them the pillars of the early church. History tells us that James is
going to be one of the very first martyrs, one of the very first.
The first of the 12 martyrs will be James, and the Lord's going
to send them into all the world and preach the gospel, and they
will suffer. Both of them will suffer. James
suffered as a martyr. John on the Isle of Patmos, they
suffered, but they never drank a drop of the cup of the Father's
wrath against their sin, because the Savior drank it all. Down
to the very dregs of the bottom of it, He drank it all, so there's
not a drop left for His people to drink of. Yes, they suffered
for Christ's sake, but that was an honor. They never suffered
drinking of the cup of the Father's wrath, because Christ did it
for them. That's how He saves His sinful
people. And here's the third thing. Here's how those sinful
people are saved. They're saved by substitution.
They're saved by union with Christ. Look at verse 23. And he saith
unto them, you shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with
the baptism that I am baptized with. But it sit on my right
hand, on my left. It is not mine to give, but it
shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my father. Now when the Lord says you shall
drink, you shall indeed drink of my cup. He can only possibly
mean here that James and John, all of God's life, he can only
possibly mean that they're saved by substitution. That's the only
thing he can possibly mean. The only way that any of us can
be saved is by Christ's suffering, everything that our sin deserves.
The only possible meaning of this, you shall indeed drink
of my cup as your drink of that cup through union with Christ,
through union with him. Salvation is found in union with
Christ. The only way any of us could
drink of the cup of Christ's sufferings is through union with
you. He's the one that drank it. He's
the one that suffered it. But we drank that cup through
union with Christ, through union with our substitute. We did what
he did. He said, you'll be baptized with
the baptism that I'm baptized with. That can only be talking
about union. We're not talking here about
water baptism. It means being put into, immersed
into Christ. All of God's elect have been
baptized into Christ, immersed, put into Christ, immersed into
Him, so that the Father doesn't see me in Christ. All He sees
is Christ, because I'm hidden in Him. I'm baptized into Him.
And since the Father put His people into Christ, we all did
what He did. We were put into Christ our surety
before time began. We're in Him. So since we're
in Him, we did everything that He did in time. When Christ drank
of that cup, so did you if you believe Christ. When he suffered,
so did we if we're in him. When Christ died, so did we who
are in him. When he rose again, so did we
who are in him. That's the only way a sinner
could be saved. It's the only way that we could
ever say we drank of that cup of Christ's suffering. It's through
union with him. My substitute drank it for me,
and I'm united to him. And that salvation, everything
we hope Everything a believer hopes for by God's grace is all
through union with Christ, by being a joint heir with Christ.
I don't ever want God to give me what I've earned. I want my
inheritance to be what Christ earned for me is by being a joint
heir with Christ. I said this a week or two ago,
we looked at this. I don't know what the Lord means.
He talks about somebody sitting on the thrones and judging the
12 tribes of Israel. I got no idea what that means.
We'll know someday. But I do know this, bound to
shadow the doubt. There's not gonna be a reward
in heaven for our works. No, no. The reward is a reward
of grace. Never a reward of works. The
reward will be what Christ earned for us, and nothing can be added
to it. Certainly, you and I can't add
anything to Him. No, that can't be it. And the
Lord is saying that here. You'll notice this phrase is
in italics. It shall be given to them. When you see those words
in the King James Version in italics, those are words that
have been added by the translators. And they add those things to
try to give a better understanding of the verse or to make the verse
read better or something, you know. And usually what they add
is good. It helps us understand what has
been translated from the original Greek or Hebrew. But in this
case, they messed up the meaning. they messed it up completely.
What the Lord actually said is, it's not mine to give, but for
whom it is prepared of my father. Well, who, who did the father
prepare for this? Who is, who is all this prepared
for? He prepared it for a son. He repaired it all. This is all,
all of God's purpose of redemption. That purpose is not about you
and me. We need to remember this. God's
purpose of redemption is not about you and me. I'm thankful
for it. We who believe benefit from it. But the purpose of all
this is to glorify God's son. God prepared all this to glorify
his son. His son be the one and I was
going to say the crown jewel, but the only jewel of all of
God's works. And he's going to show it off
for all of eternity. All of this is prepared for Christ
to have the preeminence and the honor. And by God's grace, the
Father has prepared a people. He prepared a people for His
Son. And you know what those people will do? They're not gonna
sit on the throne beside the Savior. Now, they want a better
view of the Savior than that. I don't wanna sit beside Him
and look at Him, do you? You know where a better view of Him
is found? His feet. Mary chose the best thing, didn't
she? All being at His feet. The Father's prepared a people
to be at Christ's feet Worshipping him around his throne and every
single person who's there will be there because Christ suffered
for their sin. He died for their sin and he
rose again for them because he put their sin away and they're
never once going to want to stay there. And remember what I did?
No, they don't want anybody to bring up what they did. You know
what they want to talk about? Owing to him who loved us, washed us
from our sins and gave himself away. We're not going to want
to talk about ourselves. Let's talk about him. Let's talk about
him. Maybe if the Lord will open our scriptures to our understanding,
maybe we'll get a hold of that. Maybe we will. All right, I hope
the Lord will bless that too.