Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter
10. The title of the message today
is found in Mark 10 verse 31. Mark 10 verse 31. Let's read
that verse. But many that are first shall
be last. The last, first. First. Most interesting verse
to contemplate upon. The first, last and the last
verse. That's the way of grace. That's the way of the gospel.
Now Peter and the other disciples heard the Lord tell the young
rich man to sell out and to follow the Lord. Remember? And the Lord
said, you sell out, you give what you have to the poor, you
take up the cross and follow me and you will have Treasure
in glory, which is an eternal inhabitants, incorruptible, undefiled,
that fades not away. Sell out, give up, bow down,
and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Disciples standing around that
day heard the Lord tell that man those words. Well, we know
the story of that man. It says in Mark 10, verse 22,
He was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for He had
what He thought. He thought He had great possessions.
Now, Peter and the other disciples did exactly what this young,
rich fool refused to do. They did leave their all. And
they did follow the Lord Jesus Christ. They left their fishing
boats. When the Lord, James and John
were out fishing, and the Lord walked up that day and said,
follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. They left their father,
they left their occupation, they left their boats and they followed
the Lord. exactly what the Lord commanded
them to do. They left their families, they
left their occupation, they completely surrendered themselves to the
ministry of the gospel of Christ Jesus. Now, in Matthew 19, 27,
it says, Peter speaking, Behold, we have forsaken all and followed
thee. What shall we have therefore?
You see what it says down here in our text, Mark 10, 28. Then
Peter began to say unto him, Lord, we have left off. Behold, Lord, we have left off.
We have followed thee. What shall we have therefore? Now a rather poor question. For
we ought to rather think We ought to rather think, or he should
have thought, that we have already received all at the Lord's hand.
You see, Christ Himself is our exceeding great and eternal reward. Christ Himself, if we have Him,
we have all things, all spiritual blessings in Christ. Christ Himself
is our reward. What shall we have? We have Him. And in having Him, Being one
with Him, we have all things in salvation. In Him, we have
all things. The Scriptures declare that.
The Lord Jesus Christ has made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and He is our redemption. Now listen, no man,
no person is a loser by following Christ. You'll never be a loser. You'll never be at loss. Following
the Lord Jesus Christ. Trusting Him. Bowing to Him. Receiving Him. You'll never be
a loser. For all those who follow Christ
and love Him have all things freely given in Christ Jesus. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and in Christ believers stand complete. Complete in Him. He is our wisdom. He is our sanctification. He
is our all and in all. We have left all. We have followed
thee. Same principle that's stated back here in Mark chapter 8.
Turn over there. Mark chapter 8. Mark chapter 8 verse 34. And when he had called the people
unto him, with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever
will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and
follow me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake
and the gospel's, the same will save it. You can never go wrong
trusting the Lord Jesus Christ for all things in salvation and
in all things in life. He is Jehovah Jireh. He is the
Lord that will provide for his people. You see, truth is in
Christ. is devoted faith. True faith
in Christ is self-denying faith. True faith in Christ is committed
faith. Anything less than that is a
delusion. Anything less than that is vain
and empty. True faith forsakes all and follows
the Lord Jesus Christ. True faith willingly surrenders
to the sovereign rule and reign and dominion of the Lord Jesus
Christ. True faith, the faith of God's elect, The faith that's
a gift of God's true faith acknowledges in salvation Christ is everything. True faith. We have left all,
and we have followed Thee. That's what believers do. For
getting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto
those things which are before, we count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. Oh, that we may win Christ and
be found in Him. Peter said, Lord, we have left
all and we have followed Thee. Well, good. Good. Have you left your self-righteousness
and followed Christ? Have you left pride in the dust? And are you humbled before God?
Have you left all and following the Lord Jesus Christ and looking
to Him to provide all things in salvation? Now here's the
first point in this message, of which there is three, if I
get that far. We see first of all the Lord's
glorious and gracious promise in verse 29 and verse 30. Let's
read these two verses. And the Lord answered and said,
now here's the Lord's answer. Peter declared, we have followed
all, we have left all and followed you. What shall we have? What shall we receive? Well,
Peter, you've received all things. But the Lord said this, Verily
I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, brethren,
sisters, father, mother, wife, family, children, lands, for
my sake and the gospel's sake, but he shall receive a hundredfold
now in this time houses, brethren, sisters, mothers, children, lands,
And if you take a stand for the gospel, you will have persecution. You see that? And, and, is there
more? And, in the world to come, eternal
life. Eternal life. Now, the Lord's
glorious and gracious promise. Peter recorded this in 2 Peter
1.4, "...whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious
promises, that by these ye might be partakers of a divine nature."
All the promises of God in him are yes. And in him, amen. In him, unto the glory of God
in Christ Jesus. Believers are fully persuaded
of all that God has promised. Of all that He has promised,
He is able to perform God's gracious promise. He said you'll have
hundredfold right now in this time. Now listen to me. Few if
any promises in the Word of God is as wide and broad and bold
as these gracious words. All grace now and all glory hereafter. Let all who suffer for the cause
of God and truth lean and meditate upon these truthful words and
find great comfort in God's enduring word and promise. He said, I'll
never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Lo, I'm
with you always. Now listen to this. Whatever
the cost, The sacrifice for following Christ. Standing and contending
for the gospel now. Our Lord promises you right now
a hundredfold blessing in this life. A hundredfold. A hundred
times more. You who do believe the gospel,
have you not experienced this to be true? A hundredfold more
now in this life. Have you not found communion
with other believers to be most endearing, most precious to you? This past week, I've been privileged
to shovel mud, and to steam clean, and to carry out furniture, and
to do a general cleanup. with people for whom I did not
know before. But who were my brothers in Christ?
I have brothers many, sisters many, houses many, lands many. There is a family and unity of
God's people throughout this world. And we have found this
to be so. New friends in Christ. I've met
some new brothers this week. I was able to labor with them,
get down in the ditches, get down in the mud, in the muck. That's a brother. A brother who
comes out of love. A brother who responds out of
love. Someone asked me when we were
sitting out front eating lunch not too long ago, last week,
And they asked me, someone asked me, how did you get all these
men down here to labor and to get down in the sewer muck? And
that's what it is. It's sewer muck. And hazard their
health. How did you get all these men
in here to clean up the muck? And I said, I didn't ask for
one. They just showed up. You see, we have a family that
reaches beyond this local assembly. A family that is knitted together
in love. A family that's more loving,
more kind, more faithful, more valuable than any earthly, fleshly
family. Paul called it this in Ephesians
2. Fellow citizens, we're the saints and of the household of
God. We are of the household of God. And as brothers and sisters
in Christ, we labor together, we weep together, we rejoice
together in the gospel. We have new brothers, new sisters,
new mothers, new children, homes, land, meeting new believers.
Our Lord, by giving us His love and love for others, has given
us a hundredfold blessing right now. I had people that called this
week and asked me, how you doing? And I said, I'm doing great.
The Lord has blessed us so abundantly. And a lot of people think, well
man, you're crazy. No, I really believe that. The
Lord has blessed us greatly. Greatly. And we do give thanks. We say with David, bless the
Lord, O my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy
name. Not only is that true, And that's great. We have a blessed
family united together in Christ. But not only is that true, hundredfold. Look what it says there. And
in the world to come, there is a life to come, there is an eternity
to come, eternal life. Eternal life. in addition to
all the blessedness we enjoy today through Christ, in the
world to come everlasting glory. Now be sure you understand this.
Eternal life is in Christ Jesus. This is eternal life that they
might know Thee, the only true God. Turn over, if you will,
to 1 John chapter 5, and let's read these words. 1 John chapter
5. Eternal life. Eternal joy. 1 John 5. Notice this. 1 John 5. Look at verse 10. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life. This life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
does not have life. Eternal life is in Christ Jesus. Eternal life, now listen, eternal
life is not the reward of our faithful service. Eternal life
and everlasting salvation is the gift of God. The gift of
God. Eternal life, everlasting righteousness,
and all spiritual blessings come to sinners by God's sovereign
purpose and grace through the merit, faithfulness, and sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ, being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. For it is God
who has saved us, God who has called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace. See what he's saying there? We
have, believers have, forsaken all and we are following Christ
and He has promised a hundredfold blessing right now. And eternal
glory to come. Oh, what a blessedness. Now look
at verse 31. But many that are first shall
be last, and the last shall be first. Now what's being said
here? What is being taught here? The Lord's solemn warning. Our Sovereign Lord sees things
from the side of infinite, eternal wisdom and perfect knowledge. He sees things as they really
are. As they really are. Many that
think themselves to be first, first in riches, first in righteousness,
like the rich man that we read about in Mark chapter 10. He
thought he was first. He said to the Lord, after the
Lord shut him up to the law, he said, I've done all those.
He thought he was first in riches. He thought he was first in righteousness. But in the end, He went away
sad and grieved. He thought he was first, but
in the end, and in reality, he was last. He was condemned. He was shut out. Many sinners
who consider themselves less than the least of all the saints,
many a sinner who considers themselves to be the chief of sinners, Many
a sinner who considers themselves like the Apostle Paul, O wretched
man that I am in the kingdom of grace, the last, the lowest,
the base, those who are humiliated, those of a contrite heart, they
shall be first. You see what's being said there?
Don't think yourself first. Think yourself last. Because
the last shall be first, and the first shall be last. Psalm
34 declares, The Lord is nigh unto them of a broken heart,
and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. This is a way of grace
in the kingdom of God. This is a way of salvation in
the kingdom of God. It's salvation to the lowest.
To the chief of sinners. Our Lord said this, this is a
faithful saint. worthy of all acceptation, that
the Lord Jesus Christ came to save the last. He came to save sinners. Now
let me give you some examples. The Jewish Pharisees. Do you
remember those fellows? The Pharisees. We read in Luke
18, our Lord spoke that parable to certain who trusted in themselves
that they were righteous And because they trusted in themselves
that they were righteous, they despised others. They thought
they were first, didn't they? They thought they were it. They
thought they were somebody. The Pharisees thought themselves
to be the foremost. The predominant ones in the kingdom
of God. Yet God bypassed those who thought
they were first. And there's an old wretched publican
over there. hitting on his breast, saying,
God be merciful to me, thee sinner. And the scripture said that man
went down to his house justified rather than the other. You see
in that parable, the first was last, and the last was first. That's the way of grace. So that's
one example. Here's another example. The Jewish
people who were first in outward privilege, They had the law. God passed by all the Egyptians,
the Philistines, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Malakites,
the Electrolytes, all the other likes. And showed mercy to a bunch of
Jewish people. They had the privilege of the
law. They had the privilege of the
tabernacle. They had the privilege of Seeing the Messiah manifest
in the flesh. Seeing and witnessing God among
them. God manifest in the flesh. Yet,
they rejected Him. He came into His own and they
rejected Him. They scorned Him. They said away
with Him. They said crucify Him. They said
we have no King but Caesar. The Lord turned to His elect
among the Gentiles, the last, and made them first. Let me give
you an example of that. Find Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. Look at verse
44. And the next Sabbath day, Acts
13, verse 44, came almost a whole city together to hear the word
of God. And when the Jews saw the multitudes,
they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which
were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and
Barnabas whacked bold and said, It was necessary that the word
of God should first have been spoken unto you, but seeing that
you put it from yourselves, and you judge yourselves unworthy
of everlasting life. You say they didn't think they
needed a Savior. Especially not that one. They
didn't think they needed a righteousness. They thought themselves to be
first. Lo, he said, we turn to the last. We turn to the Gentiles. You see that? Now read on. Look
at verse 47. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that
thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
when the Gentiles heard this, the last, The lowest, the base,
the nobodies, the dog. They glorified the word of the
Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed, believed
the gospel. You see, the first shall be last
and the last shall be first. Now listen to this, even among
the apostles, The one who seemed to be first. You remember those
twelve men, the Lord chose them. He knew one of them was the devil.
He knew that. Even among the apostles, the
one who seemed to be first. The one who seemed to be foremost.
The one who carried the money. The one that had financial power.
The one who paid the bills. The one who the others trusted
with their finances. He thought he was first. They
thought he was first. Oh no. He was last. Judas turned
out to be a traitor. Judas turned out to be a devil.
He was first in his own eyes and maybe first in the eyes of
the apostles. But in the end he was lost. In the end he was
last. In the end he was doomed to eternal
damnation. You see the first shall be last. And the last shall be first.
Whom did God call to replace Judas? You may call. He called Saul of Tarsus. The
least likely any believer who was persecuted under the wrath
of Saul of Tarsus, they never would have suspected
this man who was last. To become the first. The last and the least. Anyone
expected to take the place of Judas was Saul of Tarsus. The
one who was the persecutor of the gospel. You remember the
scripture says of him, he went around breathing out, threatening
a slaughter against the disciples. The one who was a hater of Christ.
The one who was last, the meanest, the vilest, the lowest. God by
his marvelous sovereign grace, made him first in grace. Grace made him first in gifts.
Grace made him first in preaching the gospel. Grace made him first
in writing. God used that man to write most
of the epistles in the New Testament. The apostles testimony is this,
I am what I am by the grace of God. I am less than the least
of all the saints. The last shall be first and the
first shall be last. Now let me give you this. Fourthly,
some Old Testament examples of this very principle of grace.
The last being first. Can you think of some examples
in the Old Testament about the last being made first? And the first being made last.
How about this one? Jacob and Esau. Huh? Esau, the firstborn, was last. And the last, Jacob,
the younger, first. For it says in Romans 9, It was
said to her, Rebecca, the elder, the first, shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. You see that? That's the way
of grace. That's the way of grace. Here's another example. You remember
Jacob had 12 sons. One of the youngest of those
sons was a young man named Joseph. Very good type of Christ. Joseph
the youngest, Joseph the last of the brothers became first. You remember those
brothers, they hated him because of his father's love and compassion.
I'm sure Jacob loved the others. But they were envious of Joseph.
And so they contrived a plan to put him in a pit and leave
him. And then he was sold off into
Egyptian slavery. Slave in Egypt. The last! God made him first. God raised him and put him on
the throne. And those brothers, his oldest
brothers, who thought themselves to be first, when they were begging
for corn, they bowed before their younger brother, Joseph. You see, the last was made first,
and the first was made to bow. That's the way of grace. That's
the way of the gospel. I've got more. Here's another
example. David, King David. King David,
the youngest, the last of all of his older brothers. You remember
the story when God decided, when God determined to kick Saul out? And to raise up his king. God
instructed Samuel to go down to the house of Jesse. Jesse
had eight boys. God told Samuel to go down to
the house of Jesse and anoint me a king. A king after my own
heart. Well, Jesse got word of it and
had a feast for Samuel when he came down. And Jesse naturally
thinking, well, my firstborn son alive, surely that's the
Lord's anointed. And so Jesse started at the firstborn. The first. And he prayed at all
of his sons in front of Samuel. And Samuel was impressed for
a while. You remember what God told him? You're looking on the
outside. I'm looking on the heart. God
rejected all seven of those boys. And then Samuel said, is that
all you have? And Jesse said, I've got one
little runt. You know, he's not much. He's just a little red-headed
runt. And Samuel said, We're not going
to sit down and eat until you bring him. And David, the little shepherd
boy, came in. And God said, Samuel, that's
my king. Arise, anoint him, this is he! You see, the last was made first. That's the testimony of every
believer. last, lowest, vilest, guilty
sinners made whole by the grace of God. The first shall be last
and the last shall be first. This is a way of grace. This
is the way of the kingdom of God. It is the grace of God that
makes us to differ in Christ Jesus. You see what that's saying? I don't think I've really understood
that verse. until I sat down and really studied
that. The first shall be last and the
last shall be first.