Turn to Matthew chapter 20. The hour is now come for the Son to glorify the Father,
for the Father to glorify the Son. As He said over in John
17, Father glorify Thy Son that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. That hour has now come. I thought how sobering, how sobering
this hour was for him, this trip to Jerusalem. Many times he went
to Jerusalem and many times he had to leave that place because
his hour had not yet come. Often it says his hour has not
yet come. But now the hour, this hour for
which all creation was made, for this hour has now come for Him to fulfill
all righteousness. If He does not go to Jerusalem,
if He does not suffer, if He does not die, if He does not rise again, Righteousness
will not be established. He must die to establish righteousness. His perfect life is our righteousness,
but so is his death, his obedience unto death. And Jesus, in verse
17, and Jesus going up to Jerusalem, going up to finish the work the
Father gave Him to do. And going up with determination,
not dread. I don't believe at all He's going
up with dread, He's going up with determination. Ready, ready
to do this. Ready to redeem me and you. A multitude of sinners given
to Him by the Father, ready to do it. Ready to give up his life. Willing to lay it down. Willing
to suffer. Willing to have his face spit
on. To have his beard plucked out. To be lashed with the whip. Willing
to do it. Ready and willing to do it. I want you to turn over to Mark
chapter 10. In Mark chapter 10, This account is given. He gave
this account of His dying three times. This is the third time.
And over here in Mark chapter 10 and verse 32. And they were in the way going
up to Jerusalem. And Jesus, it says, went before
them. Now get this picture in your
mind. The twelve are with Him. He's
out in front of them leading. willing to get this done. And
they are just keeping up with Him. But He is walking. It says
over, and I believe it's Isaiah 52, He set His face like a flint.
And He was ready to go to this place. And He knew exactly what
was going to happen. And He says He went before them
and they were amazed. You know what they were amazed
at? His courage. They were amazed at His courage
of going up to Jerusalem knowing what was going to happen. They
were amazed at His courage and His strength and His determination
to do this. They were amazed at it. And as they followed, listen,
they were afraid. He wasn't. But they were afraid. They knew the trouble that was
coming. And He took again the twelve He took them aside, he
took them away from, no doubt some others were following along,
and he took them aside and he began to tell them what things
should happen to him. He began to tell them again of
what was going to happen to him. He prepared them for what's going
to take place, what they are about to witness. They've never
witnessed this. They've witnessed his miracles,
his message. His kindness, His love, His mercy. They've witnessed these things.
They've tasted that the Lord is good. That the Lord is gracious. Now they are going to have to
witness His Lord being taken by a pack of dogs. Gentile dogs. He's going to be
betrayed and the Jews are going to turn Him over to the Romans.
And it's going to be like watching him being attacked by a pack
of wild dogs and pulled in pieces. That's what they're going to
witness. They are going to witness the unleashed hatred of human
nature on God. That's what they're going to
witness. And so he prepares them for what's about to happen. But
it says over in Luke, so this is written in Matthew, Mark,
and Luke. But they understood, it says
over Luke 18, they understood none of these things. They didn't
understand the depth of what was happening. They didn't understand
the depth of His work, of what He was going to do and to accomplish. It says that these things were
withheld from them. You know, the Lord reveals the
gospel to us when He saves us. But you know, as time goes by,
we learn more and more by experience of what He revealed to us, doesn't
it? Don't we? I hope. I hope I've learned more
today than 20, almost 30 years ago. You know more of it by experience
and not just by hearing. And they'll learn this. They're
going to learn this. And you know they learn this when we read
the epistles. They learn. And here in verses 18 and 19,
our Lord gives us a detailed account of what will take place
in Jerusalem. The disciples are told, they're
just given an account of what's going to happen, but He knows
in detail exactly what's going to happen. He knows who's going
to do it. He knows who's going to spit
in His face. He knows who's going to slap Him. He knows all the
mockery and all the suffering He knows it in detail. In detail,
He knows it. And He says the Son of Man, the
Mediator, the Surety, the God-Man, the Substitute, is going to go
to Jerusalem and He's going to be betrayed. Not by a known enemy, but by a supposed friend. One
of His own. One of the Twelve. He's going
to betray Him. With a kiss. With a kiss. It's one thing for an enemy to
attack us or betray. But boy, it's another thing when
a friend turns on you. When a friend turns on you. That
makes it more difficult. Although our Lord knew, He knew
that Judas was a son of perdition from the beginning. He knew that.
He's going to be betrayed unto the chief priest and the scribe.
These are the very ones who should have known Him. The scribe, reading
the Scriptures every day, dealing with the Scriptures every day.
The priest, a type of Him, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. These
are the very ones that are going to condemn Him to death. He's
going to be betrayed into their hands, and they are going to
condemn him to death. But what this is going to do
is fulfill the Scriptures. And they don't even know it.
But they are going to fulfill the Scriptures. They're going
to fulfill Psalm 22. They're going to fulfill Isaiah
53, Isaiah 50, and that can go on and on and on. But they're
going to fulfill the Scriptures. As Luke says, over in Luke 18,
that they were going to go up to Jerusalem to fulfill all that
was written of Him by the prophets. Everything that happened to our
Lord happened exactly as it was written, to the jot and tittle.
And the scribes read that every day. They dealt with that every
day. It was clearly revealed in the
Word of God that the Messiah over in Daniel, the Messiah shall
be cut off, but not for himself. He's cut off for his people.
He's not cut off for himself, but it's clearly revealed that
he shall be cut off. But that went right over their
head. They said they understood none of those things. And the
Gentiles, they're going to have a hand in this death. Not just
the Jews, but the Gentiles also. seeing that He is going to redeem
Gentiles, they are going to have a hand in it too. The Jews and
the Gentiles, this whole world, this whole world, by nature,
the whole human race now, truly, the whole human race, with no
exceptions, despises and hates God Almighty. And it is revealed
right here at the cross. who had all the types of pictures
and the oracles, the Word of God, and the Gentiles, they're
going to put their hand together in this, and they're going to
reveal and vent out their hatred of God. That's what's going to
happen. And our Lord knew every detail
that would take place. He knew everything that was going
to happen to Him. He knew that He must suffer. at the hands of these men, cruel
men, at the hands of justice. He knew he would have to suffer.
He knew he was going to have to die. But he knew, he knew
he would rise again the third day. He knew he would not fail. He
knew he would rise again the third day. He knew that he would
be forsaken of God. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? He knew that was going to happen.
Nothing, absolutely nothing took him by surprise. No one sneaked
up on him. No one. He knew he would be wounded
for our transgressions. He knew that. He knew that his
soul would be made an offering for sin. He knew that. He knew
he was a sacrifice. He knew that his blood was the
atonement, the blood of atonement. He knew that. The substitute
must substitute. It must happen. It must happen. As I said, he also knew he wouldn't
fail. He said over in Isaiah 42, Behold my servant whom I
uphold, mine elect. He says he shall not fail. He
shall not fail. He's going to bring forth victory
under judgment. That's what he's going to do.
And his body, it says in the Old Testament, would not be left
in the grave. He knew he would rise again the
third day. He knew that. And this shows
his confidence that the Father would accept his work. He was
totally confident. Can you look back on your life
with that kind of confidence? Can you look back on yesterday
with that kind of confidence? But for thirty-three years, He
could look back on his 33 years of walking on this earth with
absolute confidence and know that his father was well pleased
with him and that he was accepted and that all those for whom he
was doing this for were accepted in him. He knew that. With confidence
he knew this. He knew that the righteousness
that he established would stand. He knew it would stand. He knew
it. And this shows that he is the
Son of God incarnate. I will rise again the third day.
It says over in Romans 1 that he was declared to be the Son
of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. He knew it. He
knew it. And this shows he is the Son
of God. Thou art the Christ, Peter said, the Son of the living
God. Now after he reveals this, He's
going up to Jerusalem. He's going to die. Ready to die. Ready to redeem. Ready to make
the atonement. Anxious to do it. He reveals this to his disciples. And shortly after this, I believe
it just happened right after he told them this again, the
mother of James and John. And over in Luke, I believe it
is, it says that James and John came to him. This shows how sinful we are
by nature even after the Lord has saved us. Even after He saved
us. Shortly after that, James and
John, the mother of James and John, comes to him and says,
I have a certain thing I'd like to talk to you about. Is it about my death? Is it about my sufferings? Is
it about my glory? Is it about my work? He said, I have a certain thing
I'd like to talk to you about. Well, it didn't have anything
to do with understanding what he had said. It didn't have anything
to do with understanding his work, his person. No, you know
what it had to do with? The exaltation of her two sons.
The exaltation of her two sons. But our Lord is so gracious.
Here He is, the most awesome thing ever before and after. He's going to Jerusalem to die,
to suffer under the wrath of God Almighty. And she asked this
certain thing. And he says, What wilt thou? In this sobering hour, we can cast all our cares apart.
I mean, this is not a care. This is just an exaltation. But
in this sobering hour, he says, Tell me, what do you want? What wilt thou? He knew what
she wanted. He did what she wanted. He doesn't
ask for information. He asked to reveal a truth or
a problem. And here he's going to reveal
both. And she says, with this on his mind, I mean, he's a man
now. Listen, he's a real man. God
man, but he's a man with emotions and feelings. And this awesome
event about to take place, this is the last time He's going to
Jerusalem. See, I read to you earlier, He
said the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem. Well, He's going now.
He's on the road. The trip is being made. This
will be the last trip. This is the last one. This is
going up for the Passover. The Passover land is going to
be offered and He's the Lamb. And she says, let my sons, my
two sons, sit with thee, one on thy left hand and one on thy
right, in thy kingdom. When you come into your kingdom...
And here's an act of faith. She acknowledges, and they acknowledge,
he is coming into a kingdom. He is the king. He's the king. And he's got a kingdom. He's
going to have glory and honor and majesty. And they believe
that. Would you let one sit on your right hand and one on your
left? Could they be saved and ask such
a question? Yes. Yes. I thought this last night. Like
snakes, we continually shed our skin, don't we? We are continually
Shedding our skin, that old nature, we continually have to peel it
off. Here's an example of it. Now listen, we are not saved
because we sin not. We are not saved because we sin
not. We are saved because He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. That's why we're saved. And by
the work of the Holy Spirit, we are brought to faith in Him. And our Lord says to her, and
boy, this is a fitting answer to us even now, you know not
what you ask. And you know, He didn't say that
rough. I don't believe He said that. I believe He said it so
tenderly, knowing we're but dust, knowing who and what we are.
He said, you don't know what you're asking. You don't even
have a clue what you're asking. Most of the time we don't know
what we ask. We really don't know what we
ask. We want to be conformed to the
image of Christ, do we not? Do you know what that takes?
Yet learn he obedience by the things which he suffered. To
be conformed to the image of Christ is to be under afflictions,
trial, just like this morning to talk about trials. Oh, he
says, you don't know what you ask. What it takes, what it takes to be made into the image of
Christ, it takes suffering, it takes afflictions, it takes heartaches,
it takes, listen, it takes being stripped of these things. That's what it takes. Now you
ask it. You know, the Lord said to Jeremiah,
seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. Seek them not. Don't seek great
things for yourself. He says to her, and he says to
them, and the other disciples are all around listening to this,
can you drink Can you drink of the cup that I'm going to drink
of? He knew what he was about to
drink, to take in himself. He knew what he was about to
take into himself, what was about to happen to his soul. Not just
his body, but I mean to his very soul. Can you be baptized with
the baptism that I'm being baptized with? Can you drink of the fury
of God's wrath? You want one to sit on my left
hand? You want one to sit on my right hand in my kingdom?
Do you know what it takes to get there? Do you know what I
have to endure? Can you endure that? Can you drink
of the fury of God's wrath against sin? Can you drink of the gall
of bitterness that I am about to drink? Can you do that? Can you be baptized into that
death? That death that I am to be baptized
with on the cross, be crucified? Can you drink that? Can you be
baptized into that? Can you handle that? Can you
satisfy justice by your death? Can you establish righteousness
by your death and by the sufferings? By your sufferings? You know
what they said? We're able. Yes. They said, yes, we're able. Oh, I say, you don't know what
you're asking. You don't know what you're asking. When they came to get our Lord,
what happened? They all scattered. I thought
you could drink of the cup. I thought you could die today. You know, he didn't say that
to him, did he? He didn't say a word. He could have said that.
He said, where are you guys going? You said you were able. He didn't say a word. He didn't
bring that up. No, they said, we're able. Rich
man said, what must I do to enter the kingdom of heaven? He said,
keep the commandments. He said, which? Which one? When the Israelites, I thought
about this as I was going over this. When Moses gave the law
and they were told to keep all the law, you know what they said?
Yes, we can do it. But they didn't give them one. You don't know what you're asking.
Most of the time, we really don't know what we're asking. I'm so glad He gives us by His
wisdom. He deals with us in His wisdom
and not according to what we ask. But now listen here, he
says, indeed you shall drink. You shall drink of the cup. You
shall be baptized with the same baptism I'm baptized with. We
are, now listen, first of all, here's first, I believe one of
the first meanings. We are, we all are partakers of his sufferings
and death as our substitute. His sufferings for sin, our sins,
and his death. It's ours. It's ours. We're partakers of it. We are
one with Him. And then secondly, we shall suffer
persecution for our union to Him. Not to the same degree. Yes, you will drink of the cup,
but not to the same degree. You will be a partaker of my
death, but not to the same degree. John, or James here, one of them
that asked this, was slain with a sword. John was exiled and
then it is written that he was boiled in oil. Peter was crucified
upside down. And you go and read how these
men were killed, how they were put to death. But we all, we
all are partakers in this. And in this life, he said, you
shall suffer persecution. With much tribulation shall you
enter the kingdom of God, with much persecution. You're not
being persecuted over it. I'm not saying you go out and
slap somebody just so you can feel like you're being persecuted.
That's not so. But all you do, I'm telling you,
if you stand for the truth, if you speak the truth, when the
truth is being blasphemed, you'll find out. You'll find out. You'll find out. It says in Philippians
2, it is given on behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but
to what? Also suffer with him. Also suffer
for his name's sake. There is no entering the kingdom
of heaven without suffering. He said, yes, indeed, indeed,
you will drink of it. You will drink of it. And they
did. And if we stand firm for the
truth. The world will not, they will not, the world will not
love you. It will not love you. Not if
you stand for the truth. And then he says here in verse
23. And he saith unto them, Ye shall
drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that
I am baptized with. But to sit on my right hand,
and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to
them for whom it is prepared of my Father." Everything, everything
in the kingdom of heaven, now listen, is divinely prepared
and fixed and shall not be altered." It's divinely fixed and prepared
and it will not be altered. The Father prepared and fixed
it before the foundation of the world. And then it's given by
sovereignty. Our place in the kingdom, our place in the body of Christ, the church, which is the kingdom
of God, is by divine sovereignty, isn't it? You're where you are,
and I'm where I am, and doing what I do, you do what you do
by divine sovereignty. It's given by divine sovereignty,
not special favors. The scripture says God is no
respecter of persons. He's no respecter of persons. We never use Christ, we never
use the name of Christ to get favors from God. Never. And when the ten heard it, the
other ten, they were standing there when this was said, they were moved with indignation
against the two brethren. They beat him to the punch. That's
why they're mad. I honestly believe that's why
they're mad. They're thinking, who do you think you are? Who
do you think you are? Oh, I tell you. Human nature just rises up every
opportunity. It truly takes the work of the
Holy Spirit to humble us, to truly humble us, and make us
take the lowest seat in the house. It's just not natural for us
to come in and want to take the lowest seat. Not natural. It
takes the work of God for a man, for a woman, to truly be humble. and really believe they deserve
the back seat. They don't even deserve the back seat. That God
would even allow us to come into this place, let alone His kingdom,
and to want to sit beside one on the right hand and one on
the left and be there soaking up the glory that only belongs
to Him. But you know what? They were saved. They became
flaming witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says here in verse 25
and 28, and I'll close. But Jesus called them unto Him.
He says, Come here. Come around me. I need to teach
you guys a lesson. Boy, I need to teach you men
a lesson here. Come here. And they draw up close to Him.
He gathers the men right around him. He says, you know that the
princes of the Gentiles, the rulers, he's talking about the
rulers of the Gentiles, they exercise dominion over them.
They get men to serve them. That's the principles of the
world, is to be served, not to serve. That's the principles
of the world. They exercise dominion over them,
and they that are great exercise authority upon them. Leaders in the kingdom of men
look to be served, not to serve. They look for greatness. They
look for applause. They look for fame. He said that's
the kingdom of men. That's the way leaders are in
the kingdom of men. But it shall not be so among
you, whosoever will be great among you." James, John, you
want to be the greatest? You want to sit on the right
hand on the left? He said, here's the attitude that's in the kingdom
of God. Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.
Let him be your servant. The kingdom of heaven is the
total opposite of the kingdom of men. The kingdom of men is
to get. The kingdom of heaven is to give.
That's the principle of it, is to give. The kingdom of men is to be blessed. The kingdom of men is to be blessed.
The kingdom of heaven is to bless. The kingdom of men is to get
honor. The kingdom of heaven is to give
honor to whom honors due. Total opposite, total opposite. And he gives himself here as
the example. Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered
unto, came not to be served or to be made great or to be honored,
he did not come into this world the first time for this reason.
Remember, I read to you last week how he washed the disciples
feet. He was always taking care of
them, always. He didn't come to be ministered
unto, but to minister, to serve, to serve God, to serve His Father,
take care of His people. He came to serve and to give. There's the principle of the
kingdom of heaven. That's the principle upon which
the church operates. to give, to minister and to give,
and he gave his life a ransom, a price, a atonement for many. Well, may the Lord make us willing,
willing to suffer, willing to serve, and willing, to take the last seat in the
house.