Matthew chapter 20 and beginning
with verse 20. We'll read down through verse 28. Then came to him the mother of
Zebedee's children with their 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 shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism
that I am baptized with? They say unto her, we are able. And he saith unto them, you 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, it is not mine to give, but it shall be given to
them for whom it is prepared of my father. And when the ten
heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them unto him
and said, you know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion
over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon
them. But it shall not be so among
you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among
you, let him be your servant. even as the son of man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life
a ransom for many. I have three observations I want
to make from this passage of scripture. And I want my emphasis
to be mainly this morning on the sufferings, the sufferings
of the Lord's people in this world. My first observation is
all men are fallen. All men are fallen. Now, I observed
this in the action of two of our Lord's disciples here. Matthew
tells us, we just read that it was their mother, Salome, who
asked a certain thing of him. Now, Salome was the sister of
Joseph, Mary's husband. And as we read here, her husband
was named Zebedee. But it wasn't just the mother
who is asking this. It was the two disciples, James
and John. And I know this because in Mark's
record, the same account, the mother is not mentioned at all. It's just James and John. And
also when our Lord asked them if they were able to drink of
his cup and be baptized with his baptism, it wasn't the mother
who answered, it was his two disciples. All men are fallen. At least
two other times, we're told of the Lord's disciples seeking
preeminence. And I don't know what else you
could call this. These two men seeking preeminence. Once before this, in Luke chapter
nine and verse 46, we read, then there arose a reasoning among
them, which of them should be greatest. Here we have the disciples of
him who is greater than all, who being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but took upon
himself the form of a servant. Here we have his disciples seeking
who should be the greatest. That was once before recorded
in Luke chapter nine. They were seeking preeminence.
And then another time on the very night before the Lord was
crucified, the Lord instituted the Lord's supper that night
when he gave them the bread, which was a picture of his body
that is or would be broken for his people, has been broken for
his people. and gave them the cup, which
represented, of course, his blood, which was shed to put away our
sins, to ransom his people. Here we have this one who is
above all, who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and yet his
disciples, they're seeking to be the greatest. There was also
a strife among them that last time. Some kind of a fight. That's what the word strife means,
isn't it? Some kind of a dissension among
the 12 disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Which of them should
be accounted the greatest? All men are fallen. That's my
observation. All men are fallen and all men
need a savior. When I say all men are fallen,
what do I mean? I mean that all men have fallen
into sin. And we know from the word of
God that this fall took place way back in the Garden of Eden,
when our father Adam, who was a representative man, represented
all men and women, when he disobeyed God and he fell into sin. Therefore, we come into this
world fallen individuals. Here, these were believers, James
and John. This isn't Judas. Think about
this. This isn't Judas Iscariot here. This is James and John who are
seeking preeminence. It will only be when the Lord
Jesus Christ comes again for you and for me, if we are his
children today, that we will be free from sin. As long as
we are in this world, and I know that this has been taught by
some who claim to be Christians, that there's a second work of
grace Some kind of an experience that you may have after you've
been saved and you'll be free from sin, that you can just work
on it and little by little or have an experience, whatever,
that you will be freed from sin in this life. It's not going
to happen. If you believe that, you're just
setting yourself up for disappointment. No, the scripture says, if we
say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
in us. Thank God we have an advocate
with the Father. John said, if any man sin, we
have an advocate with the Father, or since we sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And when God's
people sin, it's still sin. It's still sin. Just because
a person's saved, if he does something that is evil, it's
sin. But immediately we have an advocate
with the Father who's always there. He's always there. Jesus Christ
the righteous, who is the propitiation for our sins. and not for ours
only, but for the sins of the whole world. And you know, people
take that and they think, well, he's a savior. He died to pay
for the sins of the whole world. No, no, he's a propitiation for
the sins of his people who are scattered throughout the world,
both Jews and Gentiles. Now, You notice it says, the
last verse that we read, even as the son of man came not to
be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom
for many. Now, let me ask you something. If a ransom doesn't ransom, can it be called a ransom? Think about it. A ransom is a
price paid, isn't it? To free someone who is in captivity. The justice of God held all of
us in captivity responsible. All men responsible for our sins. He came, and he came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom
for many. All of those that he ransomed
are ransomed. They have to be, or you cannot
call it a ransom. Now, before I move on to my second
observation, let me make this point. The disciples, these two
disciples, James and John, they were part of the nation of Israel.
They had been schooled, as all the Jews at that time had, to
believe that when the Messiah would come, he would set up a
material kingdom in this world, a physical kingdom in this world. And that's what they were interested
in. When the Lord would set up a kingdom in this world, a kingdom
like David had, a kingdom like Solomon had, when they ruled,
the nation of Israel ruled over so many different nations. That's
what they were looking for. That's what they'd been taught
to expect. And James and John wanted to
be on either side of the Lord Jesus Christ. When our Lord stood
before the Roman governor Pilate, when he had been taken there
by the Jewish leaders. Pilate asked him, art thou the
king of the Jews? That's what he was being accused
of, claiming to be a king. Art thou the king of the Jews?
He answered, and this is very important, my kingdom is not
of this world. They were expecting a material
kingdom in this world, a physical kingdom. But he said in Luke
chapter 17 that my kingdom is among you. It comes not with
observation. Most kingdoms that have come
in this world have come with observation. either fighting,
battles, and a king was raised up by having a superior army
or something like that, you could see it. But our Lord says, my
kingdom is not of this world. And he said, if it were, then
his disciples would fight. They would fight. Listen to Paul's words when he's
writing to the Church at Colossae, giving thanks unto the Father,
who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son. Every child of God, every
one of us here today who, we sang that hymn just a few minutes
ago, Saved by the Blood, and everyone who is saved is saved
by the blood, There is no other way of salvation except through
the blood of Jesus Christ, through his ransom. The price was his blood. We've
been translated into a kingdom. We come into this world, we are
in a kingdom of darkness. And of course, the prince of
darkness, that's Satan. We were under his control. under
His dominion, all men, until God did something for us. If
He did, He translated us. He took us out of that kingdom
of darkness and put us into the kingdom of His dear Son, the
kingdom of the Son of His love. That's the way that could be
read, the kingdom of the Son of His love. What a kingdom we've
been put into, translated into. It's a kingdom of light. It's
not a, it's a kingdom of righteousness. The kingdom of God is righteousness
and joy and peace and the Holy Spirit, the scripture says. That's
the kingdom we are in. But his disciples, they were
still And until the day of Pentecost,
until God poured out His Spirit on the day of Pentecost onto
the disciples, they still labored under that false idea of a material
kingdom in this world. You see that in Acts chapter
1, when they asked the Lord, the risen Lord, will you at this
time restore the kingdom to Israel? They were still thinking about
a material kingdom. Once God the Holy Spirit came
upon them, their eyes of their understanding were opened, and
you never read anymore, hear anymore about a kingdom in this
world. Yes. You know, as I was preparing
these notes, and I mentioned the fact they were seeking preeminence,
and I said, I don't know what else to call this. They were
seeking preeminence. Who's going to be the greatest?
Who's going to be the greatest? I could not help but think that
the Apostle John later, many, many years later, he actually
had this sin directed toward him. Let me show you that. Turn with me to 3 John, the third
letter of John. He writes this letter to a man
by the name of Gaius. And he had nothing but good to
say to Gaius. 3 John. The elder unto the well-beloved
Gaius, whom I love in the truth. I wish above all things that
thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. And that's a good rule right
there. We should never, as children of God, we should never desire
material prosperity above spiritual prosperity. It's been the ruin
of some people. For I rejoiced greatly when the
brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even
as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to
hear that my children walk in truth." That's true of every
pastor, every man who's ever preached the gospel. There's
no greater joy for a man to hear that God has blessed his ministry
and God has saved people and they're walking in the truth.
John was no exception. Beloved, thou doest faithfully
whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers. This man Gaius evidently was
maybe a wealthy man. Most of the believers in the
early churches were slaves, we know that, but there were some
who were men of means, and evidently Gaius was one, and he used the
means that God had given him for the furtherance of the gospel.
Notice he said, which have borne witness of thy love, thy charity
before the church. Whom if thou bring forward on
their journey after a godless art, thou shalt do well. God's
blessed you. God's given you material blessings
and you've used that and you do well in using that and promoting
the gospel. These men who've gone out preaching
the gospel because that for his name's sake, they went forth
taking nothing of the Gentiles. They've preached the gospel freely.
They didn't go out taking up offerings, no, they preach the
gospel freely to the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive
such that we might be fellow helpers to the church. Now look
here. That was Gaius, but sad to say
there was another man in the church. Not saying he wasn't
a believer. His name was Diotrephes. Diotrephes. I wrote unto the church, but
Diotrephes," now watch this, "'who loveth to have preeminence
among them receiveth us not.'" An apostle of Jesus Christ. He was not received. This man,
Diotrephes, why? Because he wanted the preeminence. He wasn't an apostle. He was
maybe a minister in the church there, but he loved to have the
preeminence. He received not the apostles.
Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds, which he
doeth, predding against us with malicious words, speaking evil
of the apostle, and not content therewith, not not content to
do that, just to sow discord and speak evil of this man of
God, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth
them that would, and casteth them out of the church. Beloved, follow not that which
is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good appears to
be of God, But he that doeth evil, appears that he hath not
seen God. Then he names another man, Demetrius,
hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself. Yea,
and we also bear record, and you know that our record is true.
I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write
unto thee. But I trust I shall shortly see
thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Peace. What a blessing. What a blessing it is for a church
to have peace. I wouldn't say Every problem
that I've known over the years in churches resulted from someone
seeking preeminence, but I will say this, most of the time, that's
been a problem. We have a man visiting our church,
been visiting for several weeks now, and he told me recently,
after one of the services, he said, I have an observation I
want to make about this church. I said, what is it? He said,
you have peace here. Amen. And I said, I'm thankful
for it. But I also told him, I know that
that can be removed too. And anytime any of us, if we
fall into this sin of seeking preeminence, that's surely what's
going to happen. Now let's move on to my second
observation, the Lord's wisdom. They came asking to sit on his
right hand and on his left hand. But my second observation is
the wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. He told them of sufferings
they were to experience. He didn't grant their request.
But I want you to notice something in verse 23. If you've turned
back here to Matthew chapter 20 and verse 23, The scripture here reads, and
he saith unto them, you 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, you
notice those next few words are in italics. It shall be given
to them for whom it is prepared of my father. You know, the translators
added these words Usually to make the meaning, they said,
clearer. But does it? In this case here,
does it make the meaning clear? Jesus did not say that it was
not in his power to give the most honorable seats to whom
he would. We know that whatever the father
does, the son does likewise. In John 5, he said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the son can do nothing of himself, but what
he seeth the father do. For whatsoever he doeth, these
also doeth the son likewise. This is what he said here in
this text. To sit on my right hand and on
my left hand is not mine to give, but for whom it is prepared of
my father. In other words, as the son of
God, he was in this world who always did the will of his father,
always honored his father by his obedience. Now, our Lord
at this time, he could have told James, here's James and here's
John looking at him and we've got a favor to ask, what is it?
Can I sit on your right hand and I sit on your left hand?
James, he could have told him this, James, you're going to
be the first one that's going to shed your blood by the sword
of Herod. That's what's going to happen
to you. And John, there's going to come a day when you're going
to be exiled to an isle to live among criminals. And some say
that John, at one point, was even cast into a pot of boiling
oil of some kind and didn't die from that. He could have told
them that, but he didn't. He could tell every believer
You're here this morning when you first began to believe, to
trust in Christ, began your Christian journey, and you're still on
it. You're making your way toward the promised land. He could have told you that very
day what you're going to experience, the sufferings you're going to
go through, the death that you're going to die. He could have told
you that. But thank God, he doesn't. We walk by faith, not by sight. That's very important to remember.
We walk by faith, not by sight. The Lord did not tell these two
what they were going to suffer, but he tells all believers. You maybe didn't hear it, but
you're going to hear it this morning. He tells all believers
that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. No one's going to escape. We
must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. I read this, I'm going to quote
in just a moment, by Charles Spurgeon. I read this this past
week, and I quote, somebody prayed the other day that I might see
the reason why the Lord has lately afflicted me. I hope the brother
will not pray that anymore. For I do not want to know the
Lord's reasons. Why should I? I know that he
has done all for my good and for his glory. And I will not
dishonor him by questioning him and wanting him to explain himself
to a poor worm. To a poor worm. The Lord did
tell them that they would drink of his cup and be baptized with
his baptism. What was the cup? And what was
the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ? It was a cup of suffering. It was a baptism of suffering. Now it's wrong, and you know what we've come to call the gospel
of prosperity, the prosperity gospel. But it's wrong for men
who call themselves preachers to stand up and tell people You
come to Christ and your problems will be over. You look to Christ,
you trust in Christ, and you'll have no more problems. It's wrong,
it's misleading, it's a lie. The Bible certainly doesn't teach
that. Many of God's children, their
problems only began when they came to Christ. My message last Sunday evening
I took from Romans 8 and verse 18, for I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. And we looked at both
suffering and glory. And I mentioned the fact that
suffering is usually under these three headings, physical suffering,
suffering in family and spiritual suffering. The first two, physical
suffering and suffering in family relationships, the lost, they
have those sufferings too. That's not peculiar to believers.
But spiritual suffering is something only God's children experience,
only something that God's people know anything about. After the message last Sunday
evening, one of the brothers asked me about Colossians chapter
1, or made a comment, rather, about Colossians chapter 1. Turn
here with me. Colossians chapter 1 in verse
24. Colossians 1, actually in verse
23, Paul says, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister who now, that
is Paul, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up
that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his
body's sake, which is the church. When he speaks here, when Paul
wrote and speaks of filling up the afflictions of Christ, he
is not speaking about Christ's personal, about his sufferings
and his afflictions, his sufferings to redeem his people. Those sufferings,
those afflictions that the Lord Jesus Christ experienced ended
at the cross. They ended at the cross when
he said, it is finished. and he has never and never shall
suffer affliction again. His sufferings, his personal
sufferings ended at the cross. And as in Hebrews 10 and verse
14, we read, by one offering, he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. If we try, if we try to mix our
sufferings with his sufferings, All we do is pollute his sufferings. Just like when God told the nation
of Israel, if you build me an altar of stone, don't you lift
a tool upon it, because if you do, you've polluted the altar. Let me read you a quotation by
John Gill, or comment rather, on this verse. There was nothing
left behind of his sufferings to be undergone by any of his
people. He had drank of the cup and all
the dregs of it. He had sustained the whole of
his father's wrath. and all the curses of the law,
being abated nothing, but was made perfect through sufferings.
Having perfectly suffered all, he suffered once, and once for
all, he will suffer no more, nor is there any need of his
suffering more or again, for he has finished sin, wrought
righteousness, made peace, and obtained eternal redemption.
Nor had he any partner in his sufferings, nor did he need any,
or left any part of his sufferings to be filled up by others. For
he endured all and the whole, which the law and justice of
God could require in his own body, in the body of his flesh
through death. Of these sufferings, the apostle
does not speak. What is Paul saying here then?
The afflictions of Christ. He's talking about the body of
Christ, the church. He's talking about the church,
his body. And this reminds us of that union
which exists between Christ and every believer. There's a mystical
union between you if you are a believer, a child of God this
morning, between you And Christ, you are a member of his mystical
body. He's the head of that body. And
when he appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, what did he
say? Saul, Saul, why have persecutest
thou me? While he was in heaven, Paul
was persecuting believers here upon the earth, but they were
members of his body. and you touch the toe and you
touch the head. Yes, these are the afflictions
Paul is speaking about in this verse of scripture. God has ordained,
God has purposed that his church, that believers go through certain
sufferings here in this world, in this life. Someone said, well, I can't see
why God would do that. You don't have to see why. You
don't need to see why. But I tell you this, you can
count on this. Whatever you're suffering, whatever
God has for you, for me, any of his people to suffer in this
life, you know that it is the product of infinite love, Infinite
wisdom and infinite power, whatever it is. Whatever you're going
through, don't say, well, I mean, it's all right to question, I'm
sure, but why me? Why me? Many times people look
and think, well, must be something I've done. Must be some sin I've
committed. No, remember this, Christ paid
for your sins. He's already paid for your sins.
He's already forgot them. He won't remember them anymore.
No, it's for your good, and it's for His glory. You say, I can't
understand that. Well, like I said, we don't have
to understand it. Here's my third observation,
and I'll close. The Lord, remember what their
desire was to set on His right and on His left Our Lord didn't
tell us who's going to be on the right, who's going to be
on the left, because all who overcome are going to sit with
Christ in His throne, and all overcome by the blood of the
Lamb. But the Lord did, now listen,
the Lord did give us the character of those who will be on His right
hand and on His left. He did. Look back with me. to Matthew, and I'll close, Matthew
chapter 18. He did give us the character
of everyone who will sit with him in his song. In Matthew chapter 18, in verse
one, At the same time came the disciples
unto Jesus saying, who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
Jesus called a little child unto him and set him in the midst
of them and said, verily I say unto you, except you be converted
and become as little children, you shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven. What's the character of those
who sit on his right hand and on his left hand? They're like
little children. Little children don't seek honor. They don't seek preeminence. They're humble. They're humble. And that's the character of everyone
who's going to sit on his right hand and on his left hand. I trust the Lord to bless his
word to all of us here this morning. We'll sing a hymn and we'll be
dismissed.