Well, good morning. If you would,
open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10
is where our lesson will be from this morning. Before we begin,
let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverent, is your matchless name. Lord, we bow before you
in awe and wonder at your matchless character, your matchless person. Mostly, chiefly amazed that sinners
like we are can come before you accepted in the way that you've
provided in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, how we thank you for
righteousness that comes through the obedience of your son. They could come no other way.
We have no obedience of our own to look to or to offer, but how
thankful we are for righteousness and the obedience of our Lord
Jesus Christ. How we thank you for cleansing
from sin that could come no other way other than the blood of our
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, we thank you. How
we thank you for life that comes through His death. Father, we're
so thankful, thankful for your unspeakable gift, the gift of
your son's salvation and life and righteousness in him. And
father, I pray that you would this morning enable us to lift
up the name of Christ, our savior, that you would give us an hour
of true worship where you might worship the spirit and in truth.
And what we pray for ourselves here in this class, we pray for
our children's classes. We pray for your people, father,
as they meet this morning everywhere. Bless your word for your namesake
and for the good of your people, we pray. Father, we pray that
you would be with those who are hurting and sick and trouble
and trial. We pray a special blessing for
our brother Carter and Joyce at this time, Father, that you'd
touch his body, that you'd strengthen, that you would relieve our brother
from this awful weakness and problem he's going through. Strengthen
joys. Father, give them a fulfillment
of your promise that you'd not leave nor forsake your people,
but strengthen their hearts. Thank you for the good report
we've had on Charlie Davis, and Father, pray you continue to
strengthen and heal him in this time of recovery. Father again,
bless us. How we beg of thee, you bless
us in this hour. Don't leave us alone, but give
us a word from thee that we might have our faith strengthened and
our joy strengthened in Christ our Savior. For it's in His precious
name we pray and give thanks. Amen. shall receive a prophet's reward.
And he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous
man shall receive a righteous man's reward. Now, our Savior
in our text talks about a reward. He talks about a prophet's reward
and a righteous man's reward. Now, what is that? What is a
prophet's reward? What is a righteous man's reward?
You know, most people think about a reward. They think about something
that they can earn because of some service they've done or
some good work that they've done. And that's not what the Lord's
talking about at all. You'll notice that the Lord says
here, a person shall receive this reward. They're not going
to earn it. They're going to receive it.
The only thing that we can ever merit, earn from God is death. The wages of sin is death. The
Lord here is talking about the reward of grace. He's talking
about the reward of redemption in Christ. He's talking about
the reward of righteousness that we receive in Christ. He's talking
about the reward of ultimate glorification with Christ. It's
the ultimate end of salvation in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the believer's one and only reward. I wish we could get this
thought of rewards and what a reward is out of our minds. It's so
polluted by false religion and it's so grasped on to by our
flesh. This is what the flesh wants.
But you know the word rewards, plural, rewards, never one time
in scripture is used relating to believers. Never. The word
rewards, every time it's used, refers to to various things. Usually it refers to things that
the wicked earn. They earn rewards, what they
earn by their sin and their rebellion. In Numbers chapter 22, Balaam,
the false prophet received rewards. He received bribes from these,
from this king, you know, so that he would do what a false
prophet does so that he changed his message and curse God's people,
not bless them. Those that came from rewards.
And a believer doesn't have that. A believer has a reward. Christ
is our exceeding great reward. But the flesh hears about a reward. And the flesh thinks just naturally,
I want that. I want that reward. You know,
a prophet's reward. Doesn't that sound like something?
A reward that's better than the average believer gets? Doesn't
that sound like that? A prophet's reward. Or a righteous man's
reward. That sounds like something that's
a better reward than your average run-of-the-mill believer, doesn't
it? And if we're not careful, we'll get so caught up wanting
this reward and thinking about this reward and thinking this
reward is something that it's not, that we'll miss the real
blessing, what the Lord's teaching here. What our Lord is teaching
here is this one glorious truth, that His people are one with
Him. His people have union with Christ.
Believers are so much one with Christ that we are what He is. The Apostle John says, as he
is, so are we in this world. Right now in this world, not
someday, but right now in this world. Was Christ righteous? And so is a believer. We're as
righteous as Christ is because we're one with him. He is our
righteousness. Is Christ accepted by the father?
Of course he is. And so is the believer. Because
we're one with him, accepted in the beloved. Is Christ loved
by the father? Well, you know, he is. And so
is the believer loved by the father with an eternal, immeasurable
love, because the believer is one with Christ. The only reason
any believer is what we are, you know, we are what we are
is by God's grace. It's because we're in Christ,
not in ourselves. We're in Christ, not in Adam.
So here's a warning as we think about these rewards now. Don't
think that you can make yourself more righteous or more accepted
or more blessed or more loved by the Father because of what
you do or what you don't do. Let's get that thought out of
our head. Don't try to make yourself better.
Don't try to make yourself more blessed and more rewarded by
what you do. Because if that's what you're
doing, that's how serious that is, Christ has become of no effect
to you. That's what the Apostle Paul
said. Christ's blood, his righteousness, redemption in him has become
of no effect to you if you're trying to make yourself more
righteous than Christ alone. If you're trying to make yourself
more blessed, more rewarded than you are in Christ alone. That's
a warning to us. But there's also some comfort
here for God's weak little children. We cannot make ourselves more
righteous or more blessed by what we do. But here's the comfort. We can't make ourselves less
righteous. We can't make ourselves less accepted. We can't make
ourselves less loved or less blessed of the Father by what
we do or don't do either. Now, that's the blessing. That
gives the believer comfort because that lets us rest in Christ,
doesn't it? Because we're one with Him. And this union with
Christ, being made righteous and accepted in Christ because
of union with Him, Now that's not just a good point of doctrine.
Now that is good, solid theology, but that's not just a point of
good doctrine. Union with Christ shows us how
much God's people mean to him. God cares what happens to his
people. He feels what happens to his
people. He feels everything that happens
to his people because what happens to them happens to him. And that's
why he told Saul, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? He didn't say, why are you persecuting
my people all over this area? He said, why are you persecuting
me? The Lord cares. He feels what happens to his
people. And he knows that at this point in his lesson he's
giving here in his preacher school to his apostles, he knows they're
discouraged because he just told them how they're going to be
hated for His name's sake. He told them, I'm going to send
you out to preach the gospel and people are going to hate
you for it. I'm going to send you out to preach the gospel
knowing, already knowing, most people are not going to believe
you. And many people are going to hate you for preaching the
gospel I sent you to preach. Even those closest to you, members
of your own earthly family, are going to hate you for believing
Christ. And they're discouraged. I mean,
well, just natural, isn't it? So now the Lord tells them, not
everybody's going to hate you. Not everybody. Not everyone's
going to reject your message. Somebody's going to believe you.
Somebody's going to believe your message. Somebody's going to
believe Christ. And when they do, they're going to receive
you. Somebody's going to love Christ. And when they do, they're
going to love you for preaching Christ to them. Somebody's going
to receive you. They'll love you and they'll
take hold. When they take hold of your message, they're going
to take hold on you too. The person who receives God's
preacher and believes, and when we say receiving God's preacher,
that means believing his message. It is believing the message of
the gospel that God's preacher preaches. When they do that and
they receive Christ, they're going to receive you too, because
the believer is one with Christ. And kindness, hospitality that's
shown to God's preacher is showing kindness and hospitality to Christ
himself. That's what the Lord says, verse
40. He that receiveth you receives me, and he that receiveth me
receiveth him that sent me. Whoever receives you and believes
your message, they're receiving Christ himself. They're receiving
the Father, believing the Father. In verse 41, the Lord says the
same thing about, or he talks here about a prophet's reward.
He says the person who believes Christ by believing the message
of God's preacher, they're going to receive a reward. They'll
receive a prophet's reward. And this is what the Lord means
by a prophet's reward. He means that they will receive
the exact same reward of grace from God that the preacher did.
It's the reward of grace. Now, this reward is not the reward
of stuff on this earth. It's not a reward. Really, it
doesn't have anything to do with this earth. It's a spiritual
reward. It's a reward in the next life. It's a reward of being made like
Christ. It's a reward of being made sinless and holy in Christ. It's not having more than other
believers. This prophet's reward means that every believer has
the exact same reward. It's Christ himself. See, the
reward that God's preachers are going to receive is the reward
of being made righteous in Christ. The reward that God's preachers
are going to receive is being made holy. both body and soul
someday. It's being made just like Christ. The reward that God's preachers
have is being loved by God and accepted by God. And what the
Lord's teaching us here is that is the reward every believer
has. Every believer. See, God's preachers are not
going to receive a better reward than somebody else. God's preachers
are not on a higher spiritual plane here on earth. Now they
are to be loved, they're to be respected, absolutely, for the
work's sake, but they're not on a higher spiritual plane.
When God takes a man to be his preacher, there's nothing inherent
in him enabling him to do this. God calls him to preach. God
enables him to preach the gospel, but he doesn't make them on a
higher plane than other believers. Not on this earth, and not in
glory either. You know, preachers aren't going
to have their own private, gated, you know, high-class neighborhoods,
you know, separate from everybody else. No, God's preachers are
just like everybody else in glory. They've been made just like Christ.
And if they're God's preacher, that's all they want. That's
all they've ever wanted. You know, the Savior is teaching
us here that God will do the same thing for you, give you
the same reward of grace. He'll give you the same forgiveness
the same righteousness, the same love, the same acceptance. If
you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, he'll give you the same
reward. And, you know, the flesh things,
you know, I'd like to have this, this preacher's reward because
somehow a prophet, boy, they're, they're going to be on a higher,
better place, you know, than me. Let me tell you why we need
to get that thought out of our head. Our goal, or something
seriously wrong. I was going to say our goal is
not something seriously wrong with us. If our goal is to be
made as glorious as David or the Apostle Paul or Martin Luther
or John Gill or the martyrs. If that's our goals, I'm wrong.
I mean, seriously wrong. The goal, the desire of a believer's
heart is to be made like Christ. That's and that's the reward
of grace that God gives every one of his people. He gives it
to them because they're all one with Christ. If they're one with
Christ, they can't be any different from one another, can they? They
have the same reward as being made like Christ. So both the
preacher who preached Christ and the hearer who heard and
believed Christ, they've got the same reward. It's being made
like Christ. And the same thing's true of
a righteous man's reward. Verse 41, the Lord says, he that
receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a
prophet's reward. And he that receiveth a righteous
man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous
man's reward. Now, who is this righteous man?
Well, you know what we tend to think? We tend to think a righteous
man is that man or that woman. Boy, they really walk the walk.
I mean, they really walk it. They don't just talk about it.
They live it. I mean, they act outwardly righteous. It seems like they always do
the right thing. I mean, just people, everybody
who knows them, in the church or out in the world, everybody
knows him, says, oh, that's a good Christian man. That's a good
Christian woman. And we think that's the righteous person and
just stands to reason that person is going to receive a better
reward from God than me, because I mean, clearly they're better
than me. But if you're a believer and
they're a believer, that ain't so. It's just not so. The righteous person is every
believer, every believer. Because every believer is righteous
in Christ because they're one with Christ. So when the Lord
talks here about a righteous man and a righteous man's reward,
he's talking about every believer. And the person who receives this
righteous man, they receive any believer and they do it for Christ's
sake. They do it because we're brethren. You know what they're
doing? They're receiving Christ himself. because we're one with
Christ. Every believer is one with Christ
through this union with Christ. Showing kindness and hospitality
to any believer, showing kindness and hospitality to those you
meet with here every Sunday and Wednesday, that is showing hospitality
and kindness to Christ himself. That's what our Lord said. So
the person who receives that righteous man, who receives any
believer for Christ's sake, our Lord says they're going to receive
a reward. It's a righteous man's reward. And what our Lord means
is the same thing as the prophet's reward. They're going to receive
the same reward that every believer, every righteous person receives.
It's the reward of grace. It's the reward of what Christ
earned for his people. See this reward, just like the
prophet's reward. It's not a reward here on earth.
It's not a reward of more stuff on earth. It's not a reward of
more prestige on earth. It's a spiritual reward. It's
the reward that will receive the ultimate of it in the next
life. Being made just like Christ,
being made sinless and holy, being able to see him face to
face and to worship him perfectly. That's the reward every believer
will receive. Every believer. Every believer
will receive the exact same exceeding great reward. It's Christ. Remember when God told Abraham,
He said, I am your exceeding great reward. I am. If you believe
Christ, you will receive the exact same reward as Abraham,
who is the father of the faithful. You think of that because it's
by grace, not by words. If you believe Christ, you will
receive the exact same reward as David, the king. David, the giant killer. David,
the writer of the Psalms. You think of that. Because it's
by grace, not by works. It's in Christ, not in what you
do. If you believe Christ, you will receive the exact same,
I mean exact same, exceeding great reward as the great preacher
and apostle, Paul. Because it's by grace, not by
works. See, we cannot earn this reward
here below by what we do or what we don't do. This reward of grace
is because of what Christ has done for us and what he's done
in us. And we serve the Lord by serving
one another and doing it out of a thankful heart, not because
if you're trying to earn a reward, you've got no blessing in this
thing. But if you're serving God out
of a thankful heart, out of that new heart that God's given you,
and not because you're trying to get something from God, God
will bless that. And you know, I say God will
bless that. He might not bless you in the way we think of it
being blessed. He's going to bless somebody else by what you
do. If what you're doing is to try to get something for yourself,
God's not going to bless that to you. But if you're doing it
purely for Christ's sake, God's going to bless that to somebody
else. Somebody else. And every believer,
I don't care who you are, every believer is to serve this way.
Look what our Lord says in verse 42. And whosoever shall give to drink
unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the
name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise
lose his reward. Now earlier the Lord talked about
receiving a reward. Here he talks about losing a
reward. You know, we might tend to think,
You know, I can't really do anything that matters like other believers
can. I can't do something to help
people and serve like other believers can. You know, in the public
worship service, I'm not gifted to preach or to teach. I'm not
gifted to lead in prayer publicly or to sing or, you know, do some
of these things. I'm not gifted to do that. I'm not, I don't
have any talents or anything to go help somebody. I don't
have, I can't do anything like other believers can. Maybe you
can't. More likely you're selling yourself
short, but maybe you can't. But that's not the point. That's
not the point. If we serve one another out of
love for Christ, that's an outward evidence of faith that's in the
heart, of faith in the heart. Because faith acts. Faith has
to act. Has to. It has to show itself
by our actions. Because faith without works is
dead faith. That kind of faith, faith without
works, faith that does not act in love and faith and obedience
to Christ, that kind of faith can't save anybody. But when
your faith acts, you know what that's a sign of, an outward
evidence of? God's already given you the reward of grace. You're
not doing it to get this reward. You're doing that because God's
already given you the reward of grace. He's already given
you faith in Christ. He's already given you this new
heart. So your works aren't earning
you the reward. They're the evidence God already has given you the
reward. Now remember, we can't earn this reward by what we do. Christ did it for us, right?
Well, the flip side of that coin is you can't lose the reward
because of what you do or don't do either, because it's all in
Christ. If you don't, so what if you can't do as much as someone
else? That doesn't mean you'll lose your, lose this reward of
grace. If all that you can do is the
least thing, just give the least believer a cold cup of water.
If that's all you can do, you will not lose this reward of
grace. Now doesn't a cold cup of water, just getting that cup
of water. Doesn't that seem like the least
thing? I mean, water's pretty cheap, isn't it? I mean, it's
not free, but you turn on the tap and out it comes, you know?
Seems like the least thing. This is what our Lord's telling
us. If the least thing is all that you can do, you will not
lose the reward of grace. Just by doing the least thing.
That's all you can do. Now, let me just give you this. Don't
seek to do the least thing. Seek to do the most that you
can. But if all you can do, some people, that's all they can do.
If all you can do is the least thing, then do it out of a thankful
heart. Do it for God's glory, for the
good of God's people, and God's going to bless that somebody.
He will. And this is another good reminder
for us. All of us need to be refreshed
from time to time. We need a refreshing from one
another. So look for ways to refresh your
brethren. Look for ways to encourage your
brethren. You know, when the Lord teaches
about washing one another's feet, that's what he's talking about.
Look for a way to refresh one another. In this day, in our
Lord's earthly ministry, they walked in sandals and they weren't
very good ones. They didn't have very good arches,
did they? They didn't have very good things, you know, just a
hunk of wood or something probably, some straps on it. It wasn't
very elaborate. And they walked in those things
in this hot, dusty, desert-like area, you know. And boy, their
feet got hot and tired and aching. I mean, you'd think they had
to walk everywhere they went. Their feet got tired. They got
hot. They got dusty. They just irritated. And oh,
for somebody to take that cool, fresh water. Put your feet down
a basin of that. Wash that dust off. Cool your
feet down. Kind of like cool water, kind
of reduce that swelling a little bit. So refreshing. That's just
a cup of water. Just so refreshing. Boy, I mean,
it doesn't even have to be hot. I love water. I mean, I just,
oh, it feels good. All the way down, it feels so
good. It's so refreshing. Seems like it helps my mind,
you know, a cup of cold water. Do that for your brother. Find
a way to encourage them and refresh them. It is shocking how far
having a cold cup of water, one of your brother and one of your
sisters will help you. A hot cup of coffee. If you can do
a little better, maybe more than, you got a coffee maker, and you
got that, Abby likes that, she's like me, she likes that hot coffee,
burns all the way down. Boy, you talk about refreshing. That's a pick-me-up, isn't it?
Have a cup of coffee with one of your brothers. It doesn't
have to be elaborate. I'm telling you, it'll go a long
way. It'll be mighty refreshing to
their spirit. It'll give them a pick-up. It'll
give them a pick-me-up. Earl and I used to work together.
And about twice a day, I'd, I had a desk, you know, and I needed
to get up and walk and I'd be discouraged and stressed out.
And you know what I'd do? I'd go find Earl. And just stand
and talk to him for about two minutes. Just gave me such a
refreshment, such a pick me up. That's what we can do for one
another. I mean, a kind word of encouragement. A word of prayer. Remember somebody in prayer before
our Father. Just a word of understanding.
I understand what you're feeling. I understand. That can be so
much help and encouragement to one another and it will give
them the strength to carry on, to keep going. Look in Matthew
chapter 25. And you know our Savior takes
note of that. He takes note. You think that
cold cup of water, that wasn't anything. That was nothing. That
can't help anybody. Our Savior takes note of the
least thing done for his children. And he takes note of the least
thing done to them too. Hear Matthew chapter 25, verse 31. When the son of man shall come
in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he
sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him should be gathered
all nations and shall separate them one from another as a shepherd
divided his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left, Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, Come, you're blessed of my father. Inherit the kingdom. It's not
something that you earned, it's something you're inheriting.
You're inheriting something somebody else earned and they give to
you freely. Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world. For I was in hunger and you gave
me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was thirsty
and you gave me just a cup of cold water for Christ's sake.
Just for the sake of a righteous man. I was thirsty and you gave
me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. Naked and you
clothed me. I was sick and you visited me.
I was in prison and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous
answer him. Now the righteous did all these
things. I mean, you know they did them because the Lord said
they did them. So they did these things. They didn't know they
did them. Because they weren't doing them
for recognition. They weren't doing them keeping a tally of
all the good things I've done. Then shall the righteous say
unto him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? When
did we see you thirsty and gave thee drink? I don't remember
giving you a drink, a cup of cold water. When saw we thee
a stranger and took thee in or naked and clothed thee? Or when
saw we thee sick or in prison and came unto thee? And the king
shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch
as you've done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,
you've done it unto me. The Lord noticed the least thing
done to what we think is the least of his brethren. He said,
you've done enough. He takes note. But now look at
verse 41. The angel, he say also unto them
on the left hand, depart from me. Ye cursed and everlasting
fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was in hunger
and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty and you gave me
no drink. I was a stranger and you took me not in. Naked and
you clothed me not. Sick and in prison and you visited
me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when
saw we thee and hungered, or thirst, or a stranger, or naked,
or sick, or in prison and did not minister unto thee? When?
Your name was never on the list to go visit and I never heard
about you down there in the prison or the hospital. I never knew
you to be hungry or thirsty. I never know anything about that.
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch
as you did it not unto one of the least of these, you did it
not unto me. See, the Lord takes note of those
things, the least thing done for his people and the least
thing done to his people. So let's seek to refresh and
encourage and help one another, because when you refresh and
you encourage one another, you're refreshing and you're encouraging
the Savior himself. And it's because of our union
with him. See, that's where the whole point
of this passage is. The Lord's not teaching how to get a better
reward, a prophet's reward, or a righteous man's reward. He's
teaching us of union with Christ. And if we're united with Christ,
we'll have everything he's got. And we can't lose it by what
we do, because it's dependent on him, not us. Doesn't that
comfort and encourage your heart? to think that the Lord's done
something so great for the likes of you and me. God sent his son, his only son,
to humiliate himself to come to this world, to be made an
embryo in the womb of one of his creatures, and to be born
a baby, a baby completely dependent on his mother, completely dependent,
and to grow into a man, to be made all his lifelong, all his
earthly ministry from the time he was in that womb made under
the law to obey the law, to keep the law. He didn't do that for
himself. He's already righteous. He did
that for you, for his people. And if that wasn't enough, he
humiliated himself. He humbled himself further for
the holy son of God to take your seed into his own holy, precious
body upon the tree. and to suffer the eternal hell
that you deserve for it upon the cross. He suffered. Oh, how he suffered. He suffered
his father abandoning him, turning his back upon him. The prince
of life died. He gave up the ghost and died
because that's what you deserve. He did that for you so you won't
have to. Three days later, he was raised again. He ascended
back to glory. And when he sat down there, you
know what he did? He sits there making intercession for you. That's a greater truth that we
can ever wrap our heads around. We hear that truth all the time,
don't we? You hear it all the time from
this pulpit. God help us to never let that grow old. God did something
so great for you. That comfort your heart? That
motivates you to want to do something for somebody else? If God saved
you, it has. I hope the Lord will bless that
too.