I invite your attention back
to Mark chapter 10, verses 28 through 34. The title of my message this morning is
Lessons from the Master. Lessons from the Master. What
our Lord teaches concerning His grace, His salvation, and His
law and justice satisfying, justifying, propitiatory, substitution, sacrifice,
are really the only things in this world worth considering
where everything else in this world shall pass away. Every
close union we have here shall disintegrate, and we will all
be new in that world beyond. In this passage of Scripture,
such things that ought to occupy our minds are clearly declared.
And in this day, these things are set aside, I'm afraid, for
what is labeled as advancement. in the Christian life. I saw
a book this week as I was at a Christian bookstore, in quotes,
Christian bookstore, as I was buying some communion cups because
we were out of them. The title of the book I saw was,
Belief is Just the Beginning. Belief is just the beginning. And the subtitle was something
that suggested a surefire way, progressive steps of becoming
a greater Christian. That's what it was about. Now
this effectively scourged the work of Christ to the lower echelons
of importance and elevated faith to the beginning of salvation
only. A thing in which faith is not
an actor at all. Your faith, was not an actor
in your salvation. Your salvation was an actor in
your faith. It gave you faith. God gave you
faith when he saved you. This kind of notion is very popular
today. The grand doctrines of scripture
and all the scriptures doctrines are grand. or put on the back
burner, if mentioned at all. Some time ago I saw a pastor,
so-called, of a megachurch, some 12,000 people. I don't see the
word megachurch in the scriptures, but it was a megachurch. He stood
before a humongous gathering and said that people were no
longer interested in subjects like justification, or sanctification,
or redemption. What he was really saying is
no one is any longer interested in the gospel. That's what he
was really saying. Another renowned pastor who is
now defunct in his Crystal Cathedral is in Hock. He said this one
time, he said, sin is anything that lowers our self-esteem.
And I say to you, sin is anything that uplifts your self-esteem. These false and abominable notions
are born of a carnal idea that the work of Christ was at best
a minor influence in the life of the self-made righteous man.
The things declared in this passage are encouraging lessons from
the Master. They are things of substance
and worthy of our attention. The disciples are taken aback. They are astonished beside themselves. This passage says, astonished
out of measure, or amazed out of measure at the doctrine or
teaching of the Lord that He's revealed in the way, that He
dealt with this rich young ruler. They evidently felt, and when
you see the word ruler, rich young ruler in the Jewish economy
was a person who was rich because of his religion and was wealthy
in religion. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and
a ruler, that means a well-known religious person among the Jews,
this rich young ruler. People looked at him, the disciples
looked at him He was a man of exemplary character. He was a
man who was obedient to the Bible from his youth. A man who to
the disciples was sure for eternal glory. He was a man of religious
piety, yet he went away sorrowful because the thing required of
him could only be realized by God-given faith, and that he
did not possess. He possessed natural faith. but
not God-given faith. Natural faith will get you as
far as you want to go in nature, but it will never transcend nature
and enter into the spiritual. What follows is Simon Peter's
reaction to what the Lord had required of this young ruler.
What did the Lord require? The Lord required him to sell
all he had and give it to the poor. And he walked away a sorrowful
man. a sorrowful man. And that was
not an edict or a command to every person. It was a command
dealing with this man as he had answered Christ and Christ dealt
with his answer and told him this is what you must do. This very thing seen The very
interesting thing seen here is our Savior's response to Peter's
statement. Peter said this after he had
seen the rich young man sent away, and he got to thinking,
well, you know, I'm no longer a fisherman. I don't have a job
anymore. My wife's back home with my mother-in-law. You know, I'm kind of poor, following
Christ around. So he says, then Peter began
to say in verse 28, and him, Lo, we have left all and followed
Thee. We have left all and followed
Thee. Now this text only presents the
statement that he made. There was a question also that
he asked that followed the statement. That's found in Matthew's account
in Matthew 19 and 27. He follows saying this, he says,
We have left all and have followed Thee. What shall we have therefore? What are we going to get out
of this? What shall we have therefore?
And immediately, even as I read it myself, there was a kind of
a sarcastic way in which I read it, because that's the way we
look at such a response. But instead of a rebuke, which
I think would be our righteously indignant retort, our Lord tenderly
answers Simon Peter with encouraging words of promise. Considering
Simon's statement, we may feel that he should be indicted for
the apparently materialistic motive behind the question. We
may be a little bit offended that Peter seems to be saying
that what he has done is worthy of reward. What shall we have
therefore? But forgetting for a moment the
questionable question, the words of Simon Peter are actually an
honest statement of the cost of believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ. They're an honest statement. And they were spoken so that
God, the Lord Jesus Christ, might answer them in the way that He
answered them. We have left all, Peter said. That's what faith does. God-given faith forsakes all
and follows Christ. Faith born of the gospel is unqualified. It's an unqualified surrender
of self, denial of self, denial of life, and all laid at the
feet of the sovereign rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said to this young man,
to whom riches were important, one thing thou lackest. Go thy
way, whatsoever thou hast, give to the poor, and thou hast thy
treasure in heaven, and come, take up thy cross, and follow
me. That's what it is to be a believer. One man said that the first place
we go after God gives us faith is the garbage heap, to bury
the past and all things involved in it. Upon hearing the words
spoken to the rich young ruler, Peter's reaction wasn't far off
the mark. That story is a prerequisite
to the words of Peter and shed a lot of light on what Peter
said. Faith is not manifest simply by believing the right things.
I know many who do, though faith is born and lives on the truth.
But if believing the right things was saving faith, this young
ruler would have went away happy and not sad. But he went away
sad. Faith's consequence is leaving
all for Christ's sake and the Gospel's sake. Our Lord said
in Luke 14, in verse 25, He said, And there went great multitudes
with him, and he turned and said unto them, If any man come after
me, and hate not his father, and his mother, and wife, and
children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also cannot
be my disciple." Now he's not talking about living, vital,
active hate toward mama and daddy. He's saying between him and the
love you have for him, mama and dad would seem like hate. And
many moms and dads will see it that way. when you come to know
the Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever does not bear his cross,
and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you,
intending to build a tower, sitteth down first, and counteth not
the cost, whether he shall have sufficient to finish it? Less
happily, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to
finish it, all that he beheld, and begin to mark it. saying
this man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king
going to make war against another king sitteth down first and consulteth
whether he is able to ten thousand to meet him that cometh against
him with twenty thousand. Or else, while the other a great
way off, he sendeth an ambassador and desireth conditions of peace.
So likewise, whosoever it be of you that forsaketh not all
he hath cannot be my disciple. Now He said that, not to His
disciples, but to a mass of people that were following Him. Now
why were they following Him? They were following Him, according
to John chapter 7 or 6, because of the deeds that He did. They
were following Him because He healed people. They were following
Him because He raised the dead, made blind men to see and lame
men to walk. They were following him for the
miracles that he did. So he turned around and said,
well this is what's going to cost you to follow me. Everything you got. Everything you got. Though the believer does not
serve the Lord for gain or reward. And he doesn't. If you're doing
it for reward, I'm here to tell you that you already have your
reward. You got it. You got it. That's all you're
going to get. But you've already got it. You remember when Satan
approached God? And God said, have you considered
my servant Job? He's a good man. Hates what is
evil, does that which is good. Satan said, well, does he serve
you for nothing? You've made him a rich man. He's
the richest man in town. He's got more than anybody else
has. Does he serve you for nothing? God said, yes, he does. He serves
me for nothing. Just take everything he's got and I'll show you that.
And Satan took everything he had. And Job said, The Lord giveth
and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
He did not sin against God. And Satan came again before the
Lord and he said, Do you observe my servant Job? You took everything
he had and he's still worshiping me. Satan said, Well, let me
touch his skin. He'll hate you. You can touch
his skin, but you can't kill him. So he gave him a horrible
disease. And Job said to his wife, he
said, why don't you just curse God and die? He said to that
woman, shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord and not
evil? And in all this, Job did not sin against the Lord. Why
do you serve God? If you truly serve God, it's
for nothing. It's for nothing. You're not
getting anything out of it than what you already have. And the
thing is, When God saved you, He made you realize He had already
given you all things. All things. Our Lord assures
us that those who follow Him have indeed received far more
than they ever gave up. Far more than they ever gave
up. Look at verses 29 and 30. Back in our text. Jesus said unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house,
or brethren, or sisters, or fathers, or mothers, or wives, or children,
or lands, for my sake and the gospel's. But he shall receive
a hundredfold now, and in this time, houses, and brethren, and
sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecution,
and in this world, and in the world to come, eternal life. You've got more than you had
before you knew Christ. And this is an amazing promise,
especially in the light of Peter's question. These blessed words
just about cover it all. I know in this world you will
have troubles. That's part of it. It says with tribulation.
Trouble is the life of the child of God. You did no trouble until
you knew God. You just had that carnal nature and everything
was just according to the carnal nature. You had no questions
about your life, no questions about yourself. Then God comes
along and messes up the whole situation and gives you the Spirit,
awakens you to life in Jesus Christ, gives you faith to believe
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and now there's a struggle
that begins that does not end until you die. Everything you do, even though
you would do good, evil is present with you. In your flesh dwelleth
no good thing. There's a law or a principle
within. You're willing to do good, but you can't do good.
And you're willing to do evil and thank God you can't do that
either. But that's when the trouble begins.
And today, if your heart is troubled, weighed down with the cares of
the world, and you feel as if you're given more than you can
bear, If friends and family have made you a persona non grata
because of the truth you believe, hear the words of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Imbibe them. Become inebriated in your soul
as the heavenly cordial soaks into your mind. For this life and the next, this
promise will sustain you whatever it costs you. And you here have
paid some costs. You've paid some prices. Many
of you never had a peaceful holiday with your family after you embraced
the truth of the gospel. It's all over then. It's all
over then. Many of you had dear friends
who you've known for years, who you sat with and talked with,
and when you heard the gospel and told the truth, they're no
longer your friends. Maybe that's you this morning. Whatever it costs you to follow
Christ is not to be compared with what you have and will receive. It's as simple as that. Not to
be compared. In Christ the believer has the
promise of forgiveness, peace, redemption, reconciliation to
the blood of His cross, grace, new mercies every day. Christ said that's yours. He
put it in terms like moms and dads and houses and things like
that. And there's a truth to that. I recently preached in
West Virginia and there was two families fighting over who I
was going to stay with. I had two families there wanting me
to stay with them. And it's not because I'm such a swell guy,
but I'm pretty swell. But they wanted me to stay with
them. Why? Because they're some of my brothers and my sisters
and my mamas and my daddies in other places. I have hundreds
of them. I'm going up at the end of this
month to Detroit, outside of Detroit. I've got a mom and a
dad and a brother and sister there that's going to take care
of me. In August, I'm going out to Great Falls, Montana. I've never been out there. I'm
going out there to see the Grand Tetons, I expect, and other great
things, big rivers and trout fish, and do a little preaching.
But I've got a mom and daddy waiting for me out there to take
care of me. Because I got more than just one mom and dad. And
that's all because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. All
because of that work. Christ further promises that
we shall have while we're here comforts and joys. Joy unspeakable
and full of glory. More than sufficient to make
up for that which we have left for Him. The fact is that when
the believer is asked, He rarely, if ever, speaks in terms of loss.
And if you know a person who says he's a Christian, he's always
talking about loss. I'm not a believer. A believer don't spend his time
talking about loss. Spend time talking about what
he has. What he's gained. You remember
Esau and Jacob? That's a great... Turn over to
Genesis 33. If you have a Bible, turn to Genesis 33. Jacob and Esau. And listen to the words of these
two men. One is Jacob. God loved him according to Malachi 3 and Romans chapter
9. And there is Esau. God hated
him according to Malachi chapter 3 and Romans chapter 9. We have these two brothers meeting,
and Jacob has brought a ton of stuff to give to Esau. And in verse 9, Esau doesn't
want it. And Esau says, Genesis 33, verse
9, I have enough, my brother, keep thou hast thyself. I have
enough. You'll notice, beside the word
enough, there is no marginal reading. But then you go down
to verse 11, and Jacob says to Esau, I pray thee my blessing
that it be brought to thee, because God hath dealt graciously with
me, and because I have enough. But you'll notice there's a marginal
reading behind the word enough, beside the word enough. If you'll
look at the margin, Esau says, I have enough. Jacob says, I
have everything. I have All things. Two different words in the original.
One means enough, sufficient. One means all things. Same word
interpreted in English. It's a different word in the
Hebrew language. In 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and
Romans chapter 8, Paul says in both places, what we suffer here
is not to be compared with the riches that awaits us in glory. It's just not to be compared.
The promise does not end here in this world. Our Lord promises
eternal life in the world to come. Now, if you're a child
of God, you already have eternal life. And that's not going to
change. The life you have now in Jesus
Christ, as He has given you eternal life and salvation, that's not
going to change when you die. It's still going to be the same
life, still be eternal, still go on forever. Still be in reference
to Christ and His Word. All that'll be the same. What'll
be different is your flesh will die. And you'll leave that junk
behind. This old man that plagues us. This carnal nature that always
is against us. That's left behind. But the Lord
promises eternal life in the world to come. What does that
mean? It's not talking about the length
of it. It's talking about the quality of it. We will be forever
with our Savior. You know what heaven is? It's
to see Christ. That's what it's all about. We'll
be in a world, a new heaven and a new earth at sea, where sin
and sorrow and sickness and death and Satan and temptations and
parting And weeping, accusations, and indictments shall be no more. It just won't be that. Weeping
may endure through the night, but joy shall come in the morning.
What a day! The next lesson taught by Christ
is found in verse 31 of our text. But many that shall be first
shall be last and the last first. To show you how sad and foolish
we are by nature after our Lord has taught this lesson. Peter,
James, and John try to figure out who's going to be the best
in heaven. That's the way we are. But our Lord says this,
but many that are first shall be last and the last first. Now these are words of warning.
A lesson of warning against the self-deceit and conceit of pride.
This is a warning to Peter, James, and John. And trust me, if the
inner circle gets this warning, we better take it to heart also.
There's no doubt that this warning is for the disciples that walked
with our Lord. Among them at this very time,
there stood a most trusted individual. He carried the purse. He was
the church's first treasurer. And what will become of him?
He will soon betray the Lord with a kiss of a false friend. Sell him for 30 pieces of silver.
Soon he will take up his residence as a denizen of the damned. His
name is Judas Iscariot. And his action proved that he
was first in his own eyes. He was first treasurer in the
church. And now he's the last. He's the last. There's also one
who was not now among these people, or maybe he had just been, who
would take the place of Judas. He would be confronted on the road to Damascus
and made into an apostle. Some people have suggested that
the rich young ruler that came to Christ was actually Saul of
Tarsus. And if you read what he said and compare what he said
in Philippians when he wrote the New Testament, in Mark chapter
10 verses 19 and 20, our Lord said to him, Thou knowest the
commandments, do the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not
kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud,
do not honor thy father and mother. And he answered, Master, all of these,
have I observed from my youth?" Which shows, first of all, he
don't know what the law is and what it does, and he believed
he kept it. He said, I sinned once. He says,
I was alive without the law. When the law came home, sin revived
and I died. But that description of, Master,
I've done this since my youth, rings true of his words in Philippians
chapter 3. In Philippians chapter 3, there
are those who are looking to the flesh for salvation. There
are those who are preaching the flesh for salvation. They are
called dogs and evil workers and concision. And Paul says
though in verse 4 of chapter 3, though I might have confidence
in the flesh, that is in the flesh now he's
talking. If any man thinketh that he hath whereof he might
trust in the flesh, I have more reason. Master, I've done these
since my youth. I have more reason. I was circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel. There ain't a Gentile in the
woodpile. That's what he said. Not a Gentile. I'm Hebrew. Pure. Died in the war. Son of
Abel. I can trace my lineage all the
way back to Abel. I'm a son. I was of the tribe of Benjamin.
The importance of that is the tribe of Benjamin was a tribe
said to have lasted the longest as a tribe in worshiping the
Lord. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. I wasn't just a Hebrew. If you
looked up the top ten Hebrews, I was one of them Hebrews. As
touching the law, I was a Pharisee. I kept the Word. I guarded the
Word. I lived by the Word. Concerning
zeal, When I heard about this Jesus of Nazareth and his band
of ragtag followers, I went out to kill them all in the name
of my God. Concerning zeal, I persecuted
the church. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, you could not find one fault with me. I was blameless. Now later he
says in the same chapter and a few verses later, that was
nothing but manure, but it really sounded good in religion. It
really sounded good in religion. Maybe it was solid tarsus that
was the rich young ruler. It does say that the Lord loved
him. Interesting enough. Now Saul was, now at this time,
while this was going on, Saul was waiting with bated breath
for his moment to strike against Christ in his church. Soon he'll
receive letters from the priests and the elders with no probable
cause warrants to kill and maim these followers of this man from
Nazareth. Soon everyone in the circle will
consider Saul the last They won't want anything to do with Him.
But God's ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher
than our thoughts. Soon that student of Gamaliel, that lawyer,
that Pharisee of Pharisees will be defrocked by the Jews and
elevated to the chiefest among the apostles by a work of grace. Let's be careful to not neglect
this warning. How many have we seen that did
run well for a time? They seemed destined for great
things. They had zeal and showed great commitment and understanding.
They garnered our trust as did Judas. They were with us, but
not of us. And for whatever reason, be it
some strange wind of doctrine, some fear of censure, some care
of the world, some warped notion of their own importance, some
love of the world, they disappeared from the worship of the Lord.
They seemed first. but are now nowhere to be found. They are last. May God keep us,
because that's the only thing that's going to do it. May God
keep us by grace that we might run our race to the end, to begin
with Christ, stay with Christ, and end with Christ. There's
nothing else on this earth but Him, nothing in heaven but Him.
It's all about Him. This book from Genesis to Revelation
is about Him. Nothing in it is not about Him
or some aspect of His work on Galilee for His people. We have
but one word to say when people say, what is our life? It's Christ. What is our death? It's Christ. What is our salvation? It's Christ.
What is our holiness? What is our sanctification? What
is our righteousness? It is Christ. And nothing else. Christ is our salvation and Christ
is all of it. Finally, we see in the words
of our Lord the assurance that we need never doubt the promises
that He's made. Verse 32. They were in the way
going to Jerusalem and Jesus went before them and they were
still amazed. She said, what did he do with that rich man?
It would be harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than a rich man to be saved. God said he couldn't be saved,
yet he said, with God all things are impossible. They're still
amazed. And as they followed they were afraid. They were thinking
about themselves. They were thinking about, well if this man who is
so good is lost, what about us? And he took again the twelve
and began to tell them what things should happen. He says, you've
got no worries. Because this is not about you.
It's not about your character. It's not about your conduct.
It's not about what you do or what you don't do. It's about
what I'm going to do on your behalf. He said, behold. Telling them what would happen
to them. Behold, we go to Jerusalem. You remember it says in Isaiah
50, He set His face like a flint toward Jerusalem. Why did Jesus
Christ come to this earth? Why did He come? Did He come
to set up some sort of earthly kingdom? No. His kingdom is not
of this world. Did He come to set up some government? No. Why did He come? He came to die in the room instead
of His people. And by that best, secure their
redemption and salvation for all eternity. And He did what
He came to do. Or else, He's a failure. And
trust me, He's not a failure. Behold, we go to Jerusalem. The
Son of Man shall be delivered unto the chief priests. Delivered.
That's what it says. It's delivered by God's predestinating
power. He's predetermined it for us.
He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, and ye have taken with wicked hands and have slain him. Against
thy holy child Jesus, both Pontius Pilate, the Jews, Herod, and
the Gentiles, all gathered together, for to do whatsoever had been
aforeordained to be done. First time the word predestination,
pro eriso, is used in Scripture, Acts 4, 24, 26-28. What happened
on that tree outside Jerusalem? We sang a little bit about it.
He ransomed the church. What he did, he bought it, paid
for it, got it out of hock. Got it out of trouble with God.
In Jerusalem on that tree, our Lord satisfied the laws of the
man. Every last one of them. He satisfied
justice for his elect. He redeemed and saved them by
his blood and his death. He did it. He redeemed them.
There on that cross, He put away our sins in language that only
metaphors can explain because there is no real explanation.
We know we are sinners by nature. And yet before God, we have no
sin. God said, I will remember their
sin no more. I put away their sin by the sacrifice of myself.
He put it behind God's back. Where is that? What's behind
God's back? All things are before God. What's
worse behind God? That's metaphorical language.
They're just gone. They're annihilated. They no longer exist in the mind
of God. They're cast to the bottom of
the sea. Cast to the bottom of the sea. They're separated from
us as far as the East is from the West. That's the language,
but it's language of metaphor because we really can't explain
what a wonder it is that we who know what we are by nature can
know also and believe and trust that we stand before God as righteous
and holy because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Put
away our sin. Three days later, after he was
buried, he rose from the grave and we rose with him. That's
the first resurrection. We were quickened together with
Him, it says in Ephesians chapter 2. Why did He rise? He rose for our justification.
That's what it says in Romans 4.25. He rose for our justification. What does that mean? That means
in all the universe, if records are kept, in all the
universe, if you are a recipient of that grace, in all of the
universe, there is no record of you ever having sinned against
God. That's what justification is.
Not pardon. It's propitiation. It's justification. It's just as if I never sinned. You say, well, I don't feel that. It doesn't matter what you feel.
Feelings are deceiving. God's Word is real. God says, Loretta, you have never
sinned against Him, ever. What does He say? Think about
that. Dave, you know what you are. You're old Dave. God looks at
you and says, that boy is as clean as a whistle, neat as a
pin, no sin in him, no spot, no blemish, no wrinkle, no such
thing. Never ever. When He was raised, we were justified.
And He has saved His people from their sins and given them all
things that pertain to godliness and life. And He has never and
will never look to them for anything having to do with their eternal
acceptance with Him. Now if you want to have something
to do with it, and you're that insane, go ahead and shoot for
it. But I'm glad, that down deep in my soul, that nothing, that
God considers nothing I do, in the salvation of my soul. By
grace you're saved, through faith. That not of yourselves, it's
a gift of God, not of works, let's see the mention first.
Alright. God help us. Help us Lord. Keep us. Watch over us. Cause us in our
minds and hearts to abide in the doctrine of Christ. To live
in Him who is our life. In whom we live and move and
have our being. We bless You that You've done it all. And
that You've made us aware of it by Your Spirit through the
Word and given us faith to believe. We do praise You and thank You
In Christ's name, Amen.