Alright, we're gonna go ahead and open our Bibles and come into Matthew 20 verse 25 we've kind of gone through a little bit of this in Sunday school, but This last part of Jesus talking to his disciples, and of course, right at this point, he's approaching the cross. He knows there's one purpose for his life. He's going to die for sinners such as we. And he's going to do it all according to the purpose of God. And so when we look here, these are pretty rich texts. I mean, the Lord is definitely showing the truth of his word, the truth and purpose of his life. You know, sometimes we ask ourselves, what is the purpose of my life? Well, the Bible makes it very clear that the purpose of your life is to glorify God in everything that you do. I mean, every day that we have is a gift from God, everything that has been given to us by the hand of God. Whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we do all for the glory of God and understand that everything that we have comes from His hand. I mean, the Lord can give and the Lord can take away, but He does everything according to His purpose. And so when you view life in such a way that the purpose of your life is to glorify Him, It gives you a better clarity and understanding of your purpose. Our purpose is definitely to honor the Lord with our life. I mean, the Bible makes it very clear that all of us have been called to be slaves of Christ. Now, we've talked about that before. We have the King James that renders it servant. It is actually the word slave. And so there's two people in this world. You're a slave of sin or you're a slave of Christ, but you're not both. You're one or the other. And so when you and I look at it in that way, we realize that we are slaves. We are servants of the Most High God. We have been called to serve Him with our life. God gives us breath every day for that one purpose. That is, the whole reason of your life is to serve Christ. You know, we look around and we see all the things that are going on in the world. We see a lot of destruction these days with all the storms and things that are going on. And we think, boy, some of these things have been pretty horrifying. But the truth of it is, God tells all men to repent and to believe upon his Son, whom he has sent to be a Savior of all men, especially of them that believe. But if you and I say, well, I am a Christian and I serve the Lord, how do we serve that? But you are only serving the Lord through self-sacrifice. I mean, the Bible makes that very clear. I mean, the Bible says, if you're going to follow me, it's going to cost you your life. If you're going to follow me according to the word of God, what is it? Well, we're going to become slaves of Christ. We're going to be obedient unto him. We're going to be doers of the word and not hearers only. It doesn't mean that it's very easy to serve the Lord. It's very easy to be a servant of Christ. It's very easy to walk in the truth that God has given us to walk in. The reality of it is we make decisions each and every day of how we're going to honor him with our life. So remember when we're going through Sunday schools, we went through the previous verses, and as I come in here to verse 25, it's a very rich text, and I think we need to grab a hold of it. He's talking about the style of greatness, what it means to truly serve from a worldly standard to a spiritual standard. I mean, believers are always to do the opposite of what the world says. The world wants prestige, the world wants power, the world wants money, and the world works many, many hours so they can obtain all the things this world can offer you. But according to the word of God, in the end, it's all burned up as wood, hay, and stubble. So all that time you spent trying to obtain all those things you're trying to attain and put God as secondary and not first and foremost, then we realize that all the work that we do under the sun, as the preacher says in Ecclesiastes, everything we do under the sun is absolutely worthless. Matter of fact, vanity, vanity, all. His vanity. He hadn't built many things, if you remember Solomon. He had come to an understanding of God that no man had ever come to. He was the wisest man in the world, but yet he started out strong and he finished very foolishly. And he admits that, especially in the 12 chapters of Ecclesiastes. So when you and I look at the Word of God, God wants us to finish our course. The Bible makes it very clear that each and every one of us have been given a course. And when that day is up, you'll finish your course and hopefully you'll accomplish all the things God had for you to accomplish. Remember the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10, we have been created unto good works and all this before the foundation of the world. So when you and I read the Bible, we know God has a purpose for our life. There are things that we have to accomplish for His glory. And when our time is up, when we've accomplished what He has chosen for us to accomplish, hopefully we can be as Paul and say, I have finished the course, I have finished the race, and now I must die. And Paul did die. He was beheaded for the cause of Christ. He gave his life for his Savior, but he went through many trials and testings, many things in his life where God kept him very much a broken man. And we talked about it a little bit in Sunday School, the idea that the one that God uses the most is the one God breaks the most. God only uses the broken. He doesn't use the ones that have everything together in their life where everything is always well with them. God takes the men that He's used the most, and women, and He has broken them physically, spiritually, emotionally, and He has brought them to their knees where their only hope was in God, and God used them in very mighty and powerful ways. And so we demonstrated a little bit of that in Sunday School this morning as we went through those texts. But when we come into verse 25, the Bible says, But Jesus called unto him and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them. I mean, when we look around, we see the Gentiles and the way they rule, they rule with power, prestige. Their whole goal in life is to achieve everything they can in this life, become more, have more money, more things, bigger houses, nicer cars, whatever it may be. But when we look here, the Bible says, and that they are great exercise authority upon them. So when you think about all the Gentile rulers of the world, maybe it's your boss, maybe it's people that own companies and all the things that they try to achieve, they work their life away trying to achieve more and more, better and better. and trying to obtain goals and more goals, and they lift their goals up higher, and pretty soon their life is expired, they die, and everything they did is just gone. They can't take anything with them. The Bible makes it very clear. You came into the world naked, you'll leave the world naked, you'll take nothing with you. So all these things you're working so diligently and so hard to obtain, rest assured it all goes to rubbish in the end. It means absolutely nothing, except for a child of God that takes their life and pours it into other people. Now, I want you to think about that for a minute. I mean, when we look at our own lives, are we truly those that have self-sacrificed our life for other people, and it's never been about us? Look what Christ says here. Verse 25, again, we'll read it. But Jesus called unto him and said, He know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they are great exercise authority upon them. But It shall not be so among you." I mean, when you look here, Christ makes it very clear. This is not the way a Christian lives their life. This is not about the power, the prestige, the money, and all the hours that people work to obtain all the things that they want to obtain. and all the many trials and turmoils that they go through obtaining all these things that the world can offer you. It does not bring peace to your heart. It does not change your life. It does not give you a sense of worth of living because a lot of them in their world, the purpose of their life is to make more and more money. work more hours, pour their life into their job, work lots of overtime, have lots of things, and they never are satisfied. You know, the Bible makes it very clear that the lust of the flesh is never satisfied. No matter how much you get or whatever you get, you want more, because that's the way the lust of the flesh works. We obtain, we want more and more and more of whatever it may be. And so when we think about that loss aspect, we all have this battle. This is something that we all fight. We all want to obtain more and more things. And we work hard and we work hours and hours and hours. to obtain it, and in the end, the Bible says it was just rubbish. Remember, the Bible makes it very clear that at your judgment seat, all the wood, hay, and stumble in your life will be burned up and consumed, but the only thing that will go through the fire is them gems and those spiritual blessings that God has given you. And also remember that the Bible makes it very clear that, as a child of God, that we have all been given spiritual blessings. We see that in the book of Ephesians, chapter 1. So when Christ says to him, but it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. So when we look at the wording here, I think we can back up into our text here a little bit. Remember the whole purpose of the conversation. A mother comes to her, to Jesus, with a request. She has two sons. She wants her two sons to sit at the right hand and on the left hand. She wants her sons to have prestige. She wants her sons to be somebody really important in the kingdom of God. And so when we talked about it a little bit in Sunday School, he says here again, And they came to him, the mother of Zebedee's children, with her sons, worshipping him, desiring a certain thing. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? And she saith unto him, Grant that these two my sons may sit one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left, in thy kingdom. Well, that's a very interesting request, coming to Jesus and making that request. But obviously she must have been very bold in her thinking, wanted to make sure that her sons were going to be well taken care of. And remember we talked about James and John. James was beheaded for the cause of Christ. John lived beaten, exiled, in pure loneliness, writing the book of Revelation with no other human contact around him. That was the purpose of her two sons. That was exactly what God was going to accomplish with them. And we talked a little bit about that in Sunday School. So when you come to verse 22, and Jesus answered and said, He go, You know not what ye ask, but ye are able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of. I want you to notice there, you know not what she asked. Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? Remember we talked about the baptism, that's the baptism of suffering. We kind of went into a little bit more in-depth thinking into that. And he says the cup there would be the cup of wrath, okay? So when the Bible says here, are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, which would be the cup of wrath that the Bible refers to, and we talked about that. and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with and they say unto him we are able. So when we look here and he says well we are able then we realize that in their mind they thought for sure that they could drink of the cup of wrath and they could endure a baptism of suffering. You know they call it a a theology of suffering. There are many books that are written on the subject. I think they're very powerful depending on the author and who you're reading. I think we've got to be careful with books. I think we need to read the book, the Bible, every day. But I think we've got to be careful by reading multiple books. As a reader, and reading multiple books myself, sometimes I can be reading many books without reading the Bible. And I think that is sin. And we can be all guilty of it. And so when you look here, he says, you know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that i am baptized with and they say unto him we are able and he saith unto them ye shall drink look here future tense ye shall drink indeed of my cup i want you to think about this in one aspect when he's speaking to them he's speaking to us here in twenty uh... twenty five okay he's speaking to us as children of god he's speaking to us and addressing us with the same words that he addressed the disciples in this day. And so when he says there, you shall indeed drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. That is a baptism of suffering. Okay. That's we, we established that earlier, but to sit at my right hand and on my left, it's not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared to my father. So when we look here, we see the father is the one that'll set the one on the right and the one on the left. And to be that close to Christ, my goodness, what an amazing gift that would be. But just imagine the suffering and the cough that they must drink to get to that point, to sit at His right hand or on His lap. So He makes that very clear. He prepares them, because then He makes the statement very clearly, it's not me to give, it's my Father in Heaven that will give those seats. And so then we came in there to Verse 24, and it says, and when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. So in other words, they wanted that position. They wished they would have asked him for those two seats. And remember, it was their mother that came in and asked for the seats. It wasn't them in particular. But rest assured, they were also thinking that if mom would go and ask, maybe he would go ahead and give them what they wanted. And so Christ has to address much deeper issues with the disciples. Because when you look at the indignation that they were moved with, you realize that they were very jealous of their mother going and asking him for them. So they're going to get angry with them. Jealousy is a very wicked thing. and I think we all can be very jealous at times over people. Remember, we've talked about the aspect of jealousy, the aspect of envy. What's the difference? Well, jealousy obviously is different than envy, because when you envy something, what you do is you wish that they didn't have what that person has. I mean, that's what envy is. Envy isn't you want it like jealousy is, but envy is you just don't want them to have it either. So we have to guard our hearts against envy, against jealousy, because we're very prone to do that no matter who we are, thinking the grass is always greener on the other side and it's just my life is such a mess. But the reality of it is we all have to struggle. That's a sin of the flesh. That's in our nature. We want sometimes what other people want, and then we just want others not to have what they have because you don't think they deserve to have whatever it is. We're not God. We're not the ones that make that judgment. I know that everything that a man has comes from God, and I think we understand that. So when the Bible says here, and when the 10 heard it, remember we had the 12 here, but the 10 heard it, they were moved with indignation against the true brother. And so when you come into our context here in verse 25, the Bible says, but Jesus called unto him and said, you know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, that they are great and exercise authority upon them. So when we look at our word dominion and we look at our word authority, how do they exercise that? They rule as a dictator. Sometimes you may have had a boss that everything they do is always right and they just expect you to do what you tell that they tell you to do. There may be things in that situation that could be a little more cost effective. Maybe you'd have a better idea or a better plan and the boss refuses absolutely to hear anything you have to say because they know what's going on and you don't know anything. But every boss, if they're a servant leader, in other words, they use the resources that they have in their business or whatever it may be. But Jesus here, he's going to speak to them directly. Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles, they exercise dominion, look at our word, dominion over them, and that ye exercise authority upon them. So how do they rule? We could say they rule like a dictator. What they say goes and that's just the way it is, whether you like it or not. And we all had bosses that were kind of like that. But what Christ wants to do is he wants to show them how the Christian is supposed to act, how the Christian is supposed to respond. It's kind of like being in the workforce. If you have disrental employees, sometimes they come and they talk about the boss to you. Well, as a Christian, we don't even give an ear to that because that's just gossip. And we never have voice and opinion one way or the other, whether it's right or wrong. Because if we listen to that, then we become partakers of their sin. So we don't want to listen to it. We don't even want to be involved in it. And so we say, I really don't want to say anything. I don't even want to hear about that. Because people like to do that. They talk about people. They gossip. And whatever it may be. But when he says here, but it shall not be so, among you. So I mean, when you think about that to a Christian, we should be different the way we approach things. And so it says here, but it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. Now we look at our word minister, we're talking about a servant. We talk about a servant leadership. OK, so when we talk about being a servant leadership, what are we talking about? We're talking about serving in a way that's unconditional, in a way that we honor God with our lives. We don't complain about our bosses. We don't complain about our situation. We're very closed up and we don't gossip about it. We don't tell all kinds of people about what's going on or like we talked about before. It's unfair. You know, when we think about things being unfair, we realize that we are thankful to God that he is not fair. because if he was fair, we would all go to hell. I mean, that's exactly what fair would be. So when I look at the scripture here and he says, be it not so among you, you are to be what? You are to honor the Lord with your life. You are to be obedient and faithful to him. You are to love him and to honor him with everything in your life. So when the Bible says here, but it shall not be so among you, listen, a Christian must be different than other people. We can't be like everybody else. I mean, you know, even in my job, you know, a lot of times I'm pretty much on my own as I do my job. So I don't really work with a group of people too much. But even people talk about, you know, this boss or that boss or things like that. But the reality of it is we are here to honor God. And we know we don't want to have an ear to gossip. We want to honor Christ. In other words, don't listen to the gossip. If you listen to the gossip, you're a partaker of the sin, even though you had nothing to do with it. And so that's what you have to look at it as. So when the Bible says here, but whosoever will be great among you, what's he say? Let him be your minister. Now, when I think about people that are great in ministry, like a Robert Murray Machine, if you ever read his little biography or his little autobiography, I think it's a great read. He only had a five-year ministry. He died at a very young age. Or David Brainerd, another one, died at a very young age, but he was used in the missionary movement from the writings that he wrote in his autobiography. So when you read some of those writings, those are the men that influenced missionaries to the greatest degree, although they had very short ministries, four years and five years, and they were gone. or lots of different people like that, but God used them. But they were leaders in the truest way. And so when we look at the word of God here, and he says, that it should not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. There's no great men in ministry. We're all fallible. You know, I mean, we're not infallible. It isn't that everything we do is always right. We need the prayers of saints and every Christian that's truly out there doing the work of the Lord, every Christian that really likes to enjoy telling people about the gospel, that be that faithful witness for Christ, like an ambassador for the king. All of us that have those opportunities. That is bringing glory and praise unto the Lord. You don't look at that person and say, well, I'd never be like them. I would never do all the bad things they did. The truth of it is, we could do all the bad things that the worst people in our lives have done, because we are just as capable of it. But we are thankful to God that gives us that victory, right? I mean, remember we talked about it before, about how are we saved? We're saved by grace. through faith, right? It's not only in faith. It's by grace that we have faith. It's by grace that God has given us faith. And so because we know the King and because we know the Bible, we know that we are to live our life differently than we should. So when Christ speaks here very clearly, remember, he's bringing the 12 back under control in one sense of the word, because we've got 12 disciples that had their indonation. We have two here that thought for sure they'd get a right hand and a left hand sit at the throne, which obviously wasn't going to happen today. But we also know where they ended up, and they suffered greatly for the cause of Christ. So they were in the suffering of the baptism. And then it says here, as you look in verse 27, he says, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. Okay, so I mean, this is really interesting when you think about the conclusion. In other words, we don't want, you know, people that boast themselves for positions, you know, whether it be ministry or missionaries or things like that, we don't want to be very boastful people. We just want to be faithful, presentation, reading, teaching, whatever it may be. You know, and it can be for women as much as men, in the sense of talking about the Lord with people that you come in contact with. God uses women as mightily as He uses men. And I've read many biographies of women that God has used greatly. And not in the aspect of a pastor, obviously. We know that's not biblical. But the reality of it is, we are all called to be a servant of the Lord. I always remember the movie Sheffy. You know, you all know that's kind of one of my favorite ones. I've watched it a million times, I think. And he says, well, who are you? I'm just a servant of the Lord. You know, it's kind of one of those sayings that stuck out in my head for years now. But the whole purpose of that is that's what I am. I'm a slave of Christ. I'm an ambassador of the king. And I'm just here to bring the good news of Jesus Christ because of what he's done. in my life, kind of like we were talking about a testimony. You know, people say, I've had people that I've actually worked with me and I've trained in different levels of ministry, and they say, well, I don't really have a testimony. I've never really done anything bad, you know, and so with that testimony, this young man, or this man that I knew, I told him, I said, it's not about whether you did the bad things or not, you know, it's like, you can't give a testimony unless we're a drug addict or an alcoholic or something to that regard. Reality of it is if God has stepped into your life and changed your life forever from the heart And that's a great testimony that Jesus Christ really can change lives, right? Change hearts. I mean the Bible makes it very clear that when we become a believer We've been given a new heart. That's why the book of Hebrews refers to us as new covenant people Believers we are part of the New Covenant and the New Covenant is in Christ's blood. That's what the book of Hebrews talks about So we're not of the Old Covenant the Old Testament of works We're in the New Covenant because we're New Covenant believers because we are rested and trusted in an imputation of the propitiation of Christ's righteousness and his blood that was shed in for every believer. We are thankful for the shed blood of Jesus Christ. For the Bible says without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. And when God has forgiven us the day that you repented of your sins and believed upon Jesus Christ, that day you are forgiven of every sin you will ever commit. Your past was forgiven, your present was forgiven, and every sin that you'll commit till you die or be raptured, whatever the case may be, You are forgiven and you are justified before a holy God. So when we define the word justification, we define the word as declared righteous by God. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So we know that to be absolute. So when the Bible says here, whosoever shall be chief among you, let him be your servant. When I think of this verse, I think of George Whitefield, if you've ever read his two book biography, a great read. You know, he's a good author that wrote those two books, those two volumes. But the point of his life is this is the way he was. He never came in thinking he was something. He knew he was nothing. And he knew the only reason that he had another day to live was by the grace of God. He thanked God every day for the grace he gave him to be able to preach to people As he did in George Whitfield when he preached to people, it was open air in a field, standing up on a box or a tree stump and just preaching the gospel. And that was open air, and you're talking thousands of people would come to hear him. Remember one account he gave one time? When he came in there to preach the Bible, he'd come in and he could hear big clouds of smoke coming in all these different directions. Well, at that time, it was horse and buggy. That's all they had. And you could just see the cloud of smoke coming. They would shut down cities at that time just to hear George Whitefield preach. So he would come in and people would be traveling. And a lot of these people were traveling like walking and horses, obviously, and wagons and things like that. But they would just not even go to their jobs that day, so the businesses would shut down because he was coming into their town. When he would come in, the message that George Whitefield preached majority of his sermons, he must be born again. That's all he would preach. They asked him one time, they said, Mr. Whitfield, why is it every time you come and preach you always say, you must be born again? That's always your sermon. And he looked at him and says, well, because he must be born again. You know, remember the word born again is born from above. Man can receive nothing except to be given to him. from heaven, and so we're really thankful for people like him. He didn't come in thinking that he was the chief among them, but he came in as a servant of Christ. He was a servant of the Most High God. So when you and I come with people and we talk to people about the Bible, it's not the idea of matching our intelligence with their Bible intelligence. That means nothing. There are a lot of people that don't even have the Holy Spirit that have verses of the Bible memorized. There are people that have all the accounts that are written in the Bible memorized, but don't have the Holy Spirit. We know that to be true. And so when we look at the Word of God, we don't come in thinking that we are the ones that know it all. We come in as those humble servants of the Lord, wanting God to do a miracle in somebody's life. I mean, all of you probably know people in your life that you talk to about Christ. I would hope that you're very diligent in your evangelism, whoever that may be. You know, a pastor, missionary, evangelist, they might not have that opportunity to talk to that person that God has given you an opportunity to talk to them. So you, with the knowledge that you have of the Word of God, you come to them and you are a servant unto them. You tell them, not that you know it all, but that you do love them and you truly would love to see them. come to Christ. And knowing that we can give them all the scripture that we know, we can give them everything that we've been taught, we can show them in the Bible what is said, knowing that it is God that will open the heart, it is God that will open the eyes, and it is God that will regenerate the soul. And they're changed forever. You know, I mean, just think about that. If you ever had that opportunity to lead somebody to Christ, where God used you as a chosen vessel to bring that one unto himself, you told them everything you knew, you didn't know much, maybe, you know, but you knew enough to show them the gospel and show them what Christ had done in your life, and you told them everything you knew, and maybe nothing happened. But what about the ones maybe that you told all the same things to, you've been praying for them for however long it may be, and then God opened the eyes of their heart and they finally seen the Christ that you were talking about. And as my grandma did over seven years of talking to her like every Sunday, all of a sudden their lights came on and she looked at me and she goes, why is it that you never told me this before? But the reality of it is, I did tell her, but I can tell her all kinds of things about the Bible, but only God can open the heart. And when God opened her heart, I remember I was in a chair in my mom's living room and she started crying. And she told me, why didn't you tell me this? And I did for seven years. And then 30 days later, she passed on. But the reality of it is, is that we teach and preach, whatever, even talk about conversation about the gospel and what it can do and the change of the heart Because the one thing programs can't do, no matter what they are, they can't change the heart. They can put the clothes on them, give them a job, give them housing, give them everything they need to physically take care of them, but only God can change the heart. So when the Bible says here, whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. We don't come in very arrogant, thinking that we know everything. You know, sometimes you run across Christians that have all the answers. Be very leery of a Christian that has all the answers. Because the reality of it is, they're not a very broken person. And what does the Bible say? God only looks upon one of a broken heart. A broken and contrite heart. Right? A heart full of contrition, not a heart that's puffed up and they know it all. So you just got to do my five steps and you'll live a good Christian life. Anybody that says that, they're very dangerous and I wouldn't even give them air. go the Word of God and say, God, how can I live the Christian life according to the purpose and glory of you? So, I mean, when we look here, that's that servant of the Lord. That's the servant that doesn't put himself above other people. Even wicked, hell-bound sinners, we still humble ourselves before them because we know that if God didn't step into our life and change our life forever, we would be no different than them. If God wouldn't have stepped into my life and radically changed me from the inside out, I would be no different than any other alcoholic today, or any other addict or addiction, whatever it may be. But I know that when God stepped in, changes came about because God gives you a new heart. So in other words, you don't crave the things you once craved. You don't want the things you once want because God has given you a new heart and that new heart wants God. That new heart wants the Holy Spirit. The new heart wants to grow in the grace and knowledge. The new heart wants to read the Bible and get an understanding of what it says. The new heart just wants to honor the Lord with their life. because Jesus Christ has become very real to them, and they love Him, and they can say with other servants of the Lord, I just love the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm just a servant of the Lord, I'm nobody important, but I do know the God of the world, and the One that created all things, and I do know that He stepped into my life, changed me from the inside out, and has forgiven me of all my sins, and I do know that if God began the good work, I do know that He will perform it till the end. I do know that. And because I know that, because the Bible says so, I can think of those verses, every man a liar, but let God be true. God has never lied. This book that you read is the same book that has came to every generation prior. And we read the Bible, and the Bible, the truth is what sets. of man free. See, sometimes when we become a Christian, people say, well, if you become a Christian, then you can't do all the cool things you like to do. What they don't understand is when you become a Christian, you don't even have the heart to do those things that you once did. You've been changed from the inside out. So when the Bible says, therefore, if a man is in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation. He has a new heart that's been given to him, and he is forgiven. of all his sin. And so when you think about that, if you really understood the gaps of all your sin has been forgiven in Christ, you would understand about that cup that was upon us. The Bible makes it very clear that if man has not repented or believed upon Jesus Christ, the Bible says that the wrath of God abide upon you. Every unbeliever that's in the world today, the wrath of God abides on them. Remember our word abide in the Greek means remain. It remains on them. The only way they will ever get changed is if God comes in and survives and saves their heart and changes their life from the inside out. So when you and I look at that scripture we say to God be the glory. I mean every Christian would say I'm so thankful that God saved me from God. I mean, what do we say from? From God. Where did Christ come? He came to die for our sin, and we are thankful for that so great a salvation. So when Jesus, remember, He's talking to them about wanting to be somebody. Basically, if you're going to be somebody for the Kingdom of God, you've got to become a servant or a slave of Christ, as the Scripture says. So Christ concludes this lesson, per se, in verse 28, And the Bible says, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, okay, the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister I mean, what was the purpose of him to minister? He did not bring himself above all people. He didn't say, I will crush Rome. He didn't say, you scribes and Pharisees, I'm just going to whoop on you and show you how smart I am. He loved them to show them that he was the way, the truth, and the life, as John says in John 14 6. And what is that purpose? But he also knew that there were people that had their hearts hardened, their eyes closed, and their hearts shut up, that would never believe upon that glorious gospel of who Christ was. I mean, you have the Messiah of God standing in front of people and they could not see him. He was doing miracles that no man had ever done. They could not understand. They never denied the miracles. None of them ever denied the miracles because they were undeniable. But they denied that He was the Messiah. They denied anything that He did. And Christ did nothing but good for society. And He helped people. And He healed people. And He changed people. And He influenced people. And He did it all with one purpose. To honor His Father who art in heaven. So that same submission that he had unto the father is the same submission that we are to have unto the son. That is exactly what the Bible says. So when you look in verse 28, verse 28 says, even as a son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and then he says here, and gave his life a ransom for many. So when we look here, you have to understand that this is very interesting because we're talking about the substitutionary nature of Christ's sacrifice. How does one be saved? Christ took my place, paid my debt in full. What about the littlest sin you've ever committed that had to be paid for by a crucified Savior? The one that God sent to be the Savior of all men, especially of them that believe. I mean, we have the substitutionary undertones here. We have a ransom that is a price paid to redeem a slave or a prisoner. That's the word ransom that we see there. And you and I, before we came to Christ, we were slaves of sin. Two people in the world, again, slave of sin, slave of God. No matter how you look at it, you're a slave of one or the other. I mean, that is the word of God. And so when you think about that, we know that God is the one that had to satisfy the justice and the wrath that was upon us. The price had to be Christ's own blood. We call that the atonement, right? So when you look at a verse like Leviticus chapter 17 verse 11, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it unto you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that make of atonement for the souls. So when you and I think about the blood of Christ, We understand what the Bible says in Hebrews 9.22, and almost all things are by the law purged with blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. So there had to be a crucified Savior. So when you think about the divine meaning of the cross in particular, it's this, Christ is the one that became sin for us, that died in our place and paid our debt. full so that's really important because when you look at back into Isaiah chapter 53 verse 4 it says surely he had bore our grease carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we We are healed. So when we look at scripture like that, we are thankful for that perfect sacrifice. So if you had a verse that had the whole gospel in the truest sense, people would say, well, it's got to be John 3, 16. I disagree. I think the most beautiful verse in scripture that deals directly with the gospel and every aspect of the gospel would be 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21. The Bible says, for he had made him Christ. God the Father had made him Christ to be sin for us, That's how we were redeemed. Christ became sin for us. Who knew no sin, he was a sinless son of God, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. So when you look there, that is what it's talking about. And so when the Bible says here, he came to what? To give his life a ransom for many. I mean, he makes it very clear here. And truly, he's already talking about everything that has come through, whether it be the baptism of suffering, whether it be the cup that we all drink, knowing that Christ, our Lord, our Savior, our elder brother, has already went before us. He's paved the path. All he says to us is, follow me. So when you think about your life, let me explain. Christ has already blazed the path of your life. Every child of God, He has blazed your path. All you have to do is follow Him and nothing else, right? And so when you look at the scripture here, Christ made it very clear, 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 want you to notice the word many. It doesn't say he gave his life for all. He gave his life for many. That's what the Bible says. So he speaks here about that drink and the baptism that he's preparing to undergo at the cross at Calvary. He knows that he's going to the cross. He's on his way to Jerusalem to be crucified and to die as a ransom to pay and bring us back unto himself. And he paid it in full. And the greatest part about the scripture in this sense of the word is all of this before the foundation of the world. All of it is done before the foundation of the world. All of it is completed before the foundation of the world. And so we say, to God be the glory. So when we think about this aspect of salvation, we are thankful. And what it should do is it should humble us in our heart and say, God, only you can do what you do. I cannot do it. You have to do it. You have to do whatever you need to do to bring me into absolute submission unto your Lordship. Absolute submission to be obedient and faithful to the Word of God, to read it every day and to write it in the tables of our heart. I mean, that's the whole purpose of reading the Bible. You take God's Word, write it in the tables of your heart, so when you're tested or tried or whatever may come, The Word of God will burn in your heart as a fire. I mean, that's what the Bible talks about over and over again. So, I mean, it's really interesting when you think about it because we come in here