Open your copy of your Bible with me to the book of Mark. Mark chapter 10, we're gonna be looking at verses 23 through 31. Mark 10, 23 through 31. We've been making our way through this gospel of Mark for a couple of years, little by little. I think last time it was Chris, he preached on the rich young man here in chapter 10, I think back in February. So during the sabbatical here, Chris Chandler and myself, when it's our turn to preach, we're going to be continuing to go through this book of Mark. So I thought it might be kind of helpful to go through some of this and review just so that we kind of get an idea of the context of what we're going to be studying here today. From the very beginning here in chapter 1, we saw that Jesus' ministry began with him saying, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe. Now the theme of the kingdom of God, if you read through the book of Mark, you would see that that is something that comes up again and again and it will come up in our passage this morning. But then he calls his disciples to himself. He calls them to drop everything and to come and to follow me. And they've observed Jesus' teaching. They've observed his compassion on the crowds. He's observed them healing their sicknesses. They've watched Jesus confront the Pharisees, and they've even been rebuked themselves at times. Which is why I find it kind of interesting that if you look at some of the more recent chapters, you see almost kind of a superiority complex that has started with the disciples. An example of this can be seen in chapter 9, where the disciples are discussing amongst themselves who is the greatest. Right after that, the disciples are found to be rebuking somebody for casting out demons in Christ's name because they were not following us. But then here in chapter 10, the disciples actually turn their disdain to the children. They were annoyed with them, but people were bringing their children to Christ that he might touch them. And this one actually made Jesus mad. He said, do not let the children or let the children come to me. Do not hinder them. For to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. And so this brings us to the disciples here in chapter 10, observing the rich young man who thought he was good enough to enter into the kingdom of God, he was good enough his whole life, even as a child, obeying the law in his youth. But Jesus tells him to do one more thing, to give up that which you're trusting in other than me. Sell all of your possessions, give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and then come and follow me. But he sorrowfully turns away from Jesus, who scripture says loved him, because he had great possessions. The disciples are watching all of this. So shifting our focus back to them, our passage this morning then, is gonna challenge their wrong thinking as to who is worthy to enter into the kingdom of God. So let's then take a look at our passage here in Mark 10, starting at verse 23. And Jesus looked around and he said to his disciples, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And they were exceedingly astonished and said to him, then who can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, with man it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God. Peter began to say to him, see, we have left everything and followed you. Jesus said, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or lands for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands with persecutions. and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first. Amen. Let's ask the Lord to be with us as we hear His word preached. Our Father, Lord, we're grateful to come to that point here in worship, Lord, where we hear from you in your word. And so we would ask that you would open our eyes, that you would open our hearts, that we might receive these things, Lord, joyfully and thankfully by faith. Father, that you would convict where conviction is needed, that you would encourage where encouragement is needed. But Father, Lord, that we would, that we receive all of these things by faith as we hear your word preached. In your name we ask, amen. Well, we'll start this morning with a question. Are you worthy? Are you worthy? As a good Reformed Baptist, I think we're supposed to say, no, no, there's no way, no, no, I'm not worthy. But it is kind of a trick question, I will admit. Because on one hand, there is a sense of worthiness that we have as human beings that we're made in the image of God. Our families and our friends, they're worth a whole lot to us. We need each other. But on the other hand, yeah, my sin. My deeply wicked heart. I would be embarrassed to let anyone know what sometimes I really think. I know that I'm not worthy. So, which is it? As I was scouring over the online to see what various things there were, I found this article. It says what it means to be worthy and why you are. The author writes, Although many voices scream at us that we're unworthy, there is someone else who disagrees, someone that doesn't scream, someone that gently whispers value and importance into the core of our being, someone who deemed us worthy before we even took a breath. In fact, he's the one that gave us that breath. The almighty God who created us in his image and likeness has deemed us worthy. Jesus proved it by demonstrating love when we were his enemies. Jesus came and carried out the plan prepared from the beginning of time because God deemed us valuable and important. He deemed us worthy of redemption, worthy of adoption. worthy of reconciliation, worthy of the blood of his son Jesus, and worthy to be born of his Holy Spirit of grace. Because of what God has done, you were born worthy, and nothing can change that. It's this kind of warped sense of worthiness, this self-centered, me-first theology, that I think runs kind of rampant in our culture today. Well, of course God loves us. I mean, he sent his son to die for all we're worth, right? I think there's some of this wrong thinking that's in the disciples at this point, since there was Jesus, because they had in mind who was worthy. worthy enough to enter the kingdom of God. Even if the rich man walked away and he wasn't, there's a good chance the disciples were. I mean, hey, we're hanging with Jesus, aren't we? Truth of the matter is, Both were bankrupt in their sufficiency and their self-worth. At this point, they are still very deficient in their own efforts. They don't understand this. They're nowhere near being rich in the all-sufficiency of Christ. You know, it's easy for us to look down on the disciples with such obvious wrong thinking about who is worthy and, in a sense, who is wealthy enough to enter into the kingdom of God, but, you know, this exchange here was recorded in Scripture as the very Word of God, which means there is something here for us to take note of, to see Christ, and to see just how much we, too, are more like the disciples than we would like to admit. And so, yes, there are things in life that perhaps we want and we highly value, that we treasure, good things even, sometimes though we treasure them more than the things of God. I know my own heart left to myself. I would not see any value in following Christ. In fact, the rich young man, he walked away because of what he had and what he could gain. And yes, life has a lot of things and has experiences to enjoy now. But brothers and sisters, I'm hoping that this morning I want to bring out that only God can make it possible for us to rightly see and to rightly embrace the true worth and riches of Christ and his church, both in this life and in the life to come. In short, only God can enable us to see just how rich we are in Christ. And that's what I'm hoping to bring out this morning. So we're going to break out this passage in three points that sort of goes spiritually from rags to riches. We're going to start with first the deficiency of man's worth. Then we're going to look at the divine deposit. Then we'll look at the dividends for discipleship. So let's begin then with the first, the deficiency of man's worth. And here in Scripture, I really want you to see that truly realizing that it is impossible to enter into the kingdom of God through our own efforts, this is rightfully going to lead us to despair. Verse 22, before our passage says that the rich young man, he was rather disheartened by what Christ had said. He went away sorrowful because he had great possessions. Well, perhaps the disciples too were sorrowful that he went away because he had great possessions. This guy could have been used for the furthering of God's kingdom. He could have been somebody that really would have been influential in what God was, or what Jesus was doing. And so there had to have been some level of frustration as they're watching the guy walk away, and Jesus letting him walk away. You might have thought, man, Jesus, you kind of have some weird ideas about fundraising and church planting. But verse 23 begins with, and Jesus looked around. He's looking at them. Are you going to do what he just did? Are you thinking what they're thinking, what he's thinking? The wording here in verse 23, actually, yes, Jesus was looking at them with a commanding view. He did know the intents and thoughts of their hearts. And having looked at them and understood what they're thinking, he challenges them with this phrase, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. Verse 24 says the disciples were stunned. For once, Peter didn't have anything to say. But verse 24 and 25, Jesus doubles down and restates it more generally, but still with the wealthy in mind. Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Now there's some manuscripts that you might have that actually says how difficult it is for those who trust in riches. to enter the kingdom of God. So basically these two statements from Jesus, they're similar, slightly but significantly different. In verse 23, Jesus here mentions those who have wealth. And in verse 24, it implies that Jesus is referring to those who are trusting in their wealth or their riches. Now, the word wealth, the Greek word for this is indicating or talking some pretty great possessions, houses, real estate, things like that. Is it wrong to be wealthy? Well, no, we know from James 1, 17, every good and every perfect gift is from above, comes down from the father of lights. But I like how R.C. Sproul puts this here. He says that There's no such thing as bootstrap ethics in the Bible. No one pulls himself up by his own bootstraps apart from the grace of God. Everything that we have comes to us from his bounty and from his goodness. For this reason, God cares deeply about what we trust and what we do with that which he entrusts to us. So if we're putting our confidence in material wealth or the things that we have, things that he's given to us, then we're trusting in something that's different that cannot possibly give us ultimate satisfaction or save us. We know the scriptures say you cannot serve both God and man, God and money. But verse 24, here's Jesus basically saying that it's impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. Here's a switch, and we've gone from wealth now over to rich. Rich in the Greek has more to do with liquid assets or just plain money. Really just to show the wide spectrum that all of these can be obstacles to faith, such as possessions and real estate, same thing with money. I'm reading from the ESV, and while this omits any mention of the rich here in 24, it is implied in verse 23 and 25. I really couldn't find any reason why some versions of the Bible have it and others don't, but the omission of that phrase, those who trust in riches, does not diminish the fact that the rich are still in mind given the context of the surrounding verses. I really kind of like the generalized statement of the ESV because it's bringing out this underlying fundamental truth that, yeah, it's impossible for anyone to enter the kingdom of God on one's own merit. We are altogether deficient, spiritually bankrupt, if you will, in trying to procure and secure righteousness with God. It's so impossible that Jesus here uses an extreme example of the largest animal that the disciples probably would have been familiar with, trying to go through the smallest opening that the disciples would have known. It's such a hard... example that even in the 9th century I found that there's a legend that popped up that started to say that well actually this is probably referring to a small gate of entry in the Temple of Jerusalem known as the Eye of the Needle. It was much smaller than the most entry ports and so if there was going to be a merchant who wanted to try to enter into this Eye of the Needle gate they would have to take the load off of the camel They would have to drop the camel to its knees and try to inch its way into the city, but you could do it. This analogy would have been suggested that It is kind of possible to enter the kingdom of God, even if you are rich. I mean, but the rich would have to unload their riches and have to get down on their knees in humility, right? And they'll just barely get into heaven. And sure, that might soften the blow here to the rich of Jesus's analogy, but there really is no mention of this kind of story historically anywhere before Jesus's time. In fact, this popped up long after Jesus's time. And I think it takes away from the utter impossibility of exactly what Jesus said. I think we need to feel the weight of our own deficiency before a holy God. We literally bring nothing before him other than our sin. Well, moving on, Mark then indicates that, yeah, the disciples were stunned at the first statement and then just completely undone at his second statement. Well, why is that? Well, because the Jews, they saw that those who were rich were those who were directly blessed by God as if they had some level of favor with them or with him. And this was implied then, you could see from the typology of the Old Testament, They were looking at the physical examples that were typological of the spiritual realities that were going to be taking place to come in the New Testament. God covenanted with Israel. He told them if you will but obey and keep the covenants, you will be blessed. You will receive then the promised land and material possessions. Fast forward, then, into the disciples' time, and yeah, it was still assumed that if those who were rich, wow, they, yeah, they must be pretty obedient, and they must be doing something right, that God was obviously making His face to shine on them. So, it really wasn't so much that the disciples thought that you could buy your way into heaven, but that riches were an indicator of God's favor and His blessings. And so thus, who else would have a greater chance of entering the kingdom than the rich? Well then, yeah, this leads to despair in verse 26. And they were exceedingly astonished and said to him then, some manuscripts say they were talking amongst themselves, then who can be saved? This is a cry of desperation. Finally, though, the right question is being asked when faced with trying to fulfill the commands of Jesus. And this is the response that the rich young man should have come up with when he knew that he couldn't do what was necessary to inherit eternal life that he had asked about in verse 17. Yeah, Jesus's words did not comfort them. It was actually more of a threat. They were being faced here really with the doctrine of total depravity. Man's efforts are completely worthless in trying to enter the kingdom of God. We know the scriptures talk about this. There's none who are righteous. No, not even one. And this rightly then should leave us undone. But this realization of the doctrine of depravity is really meant to be a doorway of hope. It's really supposed to be a mercy for the disciples that they would then draw away from themselves and draw away from their own abilities and to their saving, loving Lord. Yeah, the disciples were astonished because they thought that some people had a better chance of gaining God's favor than others. Pretty laughable, right? But you ever wonder if maybe we sometimes have this mentality? I think it sometimes subtly creeps into our society, our culture. In fact, I was driving this week and came up on a pickup truck that had this on the tailgate. Thank you, God, for loving me, even when I don't deserve it. I was like, I'm with you on that first part. But in and of ourselves, when have we ever deserved the love of God? I was reminded of Romans 5, 5-7, when Paul is talking about, for scarcely will a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. but God demonstrates his one love toward us, and that while we were still yet sinners, Christ died for us. And sure, the thought that we somehow would deserve the love of God is indeed cringeworthy. Have you ever found yourself, though, maybe when praying for forgiveness, praying repentance, thinking about your own sin, Father, oh God, I am so unworthy What about when you obey? Are you worthy then? If you had a great week, I hardly sinned at all. Are you worthy then? We know from Isaiah 64, verse 6 tells us that all of our righteous acts They're not worthy. They're like filthy rags. But besides our acts, what do we treasure in our hearts that are perhaps good, but could be obstacles in our loyalty to God our Father, from whom, as we noted earlier, all good things come from? And whether it be my possessions, or whether it be the relationships that I have, can we sing with the hymnist, my richest gain, I count but loss, How would you respond if God took away from you all of your treasured possessions, all of your relationships? How would I respond? Would we be like Job? The Lord gave, the Lord's taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Or would we be more like the rich man who walks away from the Lord feeling sorry for himself and ultimately forfeiting salvation? Man, Ken, that's kind of an extreme example, don't you think? Easy. Okay, perhaps in the sense of, yeah, maybe we're not ever gonna be called to be like Job, God forbid, but just like the disciples, this is meant for us to evaluate what it is I might be possibly clinging to more than clinging to the cross. Is it all I have is Christ, or is it all I have is Christ and yeah, the things that I do for Him? Or my family, or my career, or my good character? Do we really have a sense of our deficiency before a holy God? And if you're seeing it this morning, then that is actually a mercy of our Lord. For only He can make it possible for me to see and to fully embrace, really, Christ, our greatest treasure. So having seen then the deficiency of man's worth, I think now we're ready to consider, secondly, the divine deposit, as seen in verse 27. And Jesus looked at them, and this word looked has to do with affection, and said, With man it is impossible. So he affirms what they just said. But not with God, for all things are possible with God. I wholeheartedly agree with R.C. Sproul here when he said, this is one of the greatest statements in all of scripture. That's a good time for everybody to say amen. Amen. All things are possible with God. This is the pinnacle of our passage this morning. It's a similar response that Jesus gave to the father of the son, just a chapter before, the son with an unclean spirit. And he tells him all things are possible for the one who believes. So to the disciples, their question regarding who can enter is immediately answered, specifically regarding the rich. We know this to be true because, well, one, Jesus said it, but two, we actually do have biblical examples of men who were wealthy and faithful. Think of Abraham. Vast wealth, just even just alone in his herds and cattle, probably one of the richest men in the world at this time. And God gifted him all of the land as far as the eye could see. And that point where his herds and his nephew Lot's herds were getting too big, he offered to Lot first selflessly, choose which way you want to go. If you want to go right, I'll go left. If you want to go left, I'll go right. Yeah, he chose the lush land, the well-watered spot by the Jordan, the Jordan Valley there. It's a great place to raise cattle. Not so great a place to raise a family, as he would learn later. But the point is, is that Abraham, as wealthy as he was, he counted his faith, he counted his family, worthier than all of his stuff, all the cattle, all the wealth that he had. Consider also Job. Obvious example too, right? God touted him before Satan, saying, and Satan scoffed at him, saying, well, yeah, does God, does Job fear God for nothing? Of course he's gonna bless you. You've given him everything that he's ever wanted. I mean, you take it away and I guarantee you he's gonna curse you to your face. So God allowed Satan to take away everything that was dear to him, even his family. Instead of cursing God, Job in submission says, though he slay me, yet I will trust him. He did not trust his wealth and all those things, all those good things that God had given him. He trusted in his Redeemer. But think also lastly of Joseph of Arimathea. I'm sorry, who? Yeah, Joseph of Arimathea, almost a guy that was completely forgotten in the New Testament. But he's mentioned in all four Gospels. He was that wealthy man who was also a follower of Christ who gave the tomb for the body of Jesus to be laid in so he could be buried with dignity. And we know him not so much for what he had. We know him because of what he gave. By God's grace, this wealthy man had his priorities in proper order. And not only are the rich able to be saved, but God makes it possible for all men to be saved. Well, how is this possible? Because Jesus doesn't really expand on it here. The disciples were starting to have more and more of the mystery of the gospel revealed to them. Twice before this passage, Jesus foretells his death and resurrection. In fact, the following verse is right after this passage. He's going to mention it a third time. The disciples, they not only didn't really understand it, but they were kind of afraid to ask. Peter had just been rebuked for telling Jesus, don't say these things. They didn't understand, but they would at some point. Praise God today that we have all of his scriptures in one book. Paul says in Colossians 1, the mystery of the gospel, hidden from ages and generations, but now revealed to the saints. To them, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Pause. Did you catch that? Let me read it again. The riches of the glory, which is Christ, our greatest treasure, is in you. In other words, Christ is our divine deposit. He paid all of our deficiency. He paid our debt, the penalty for our sin. And not only that, but then he imputed to our account his righteousness. taking us from rags to riches, the rags of unrighteousness to the riches of Christ. Let's rejoice with Paul again, praise as he writes in Ephesians 2. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. There's that divine deposit again. and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Brothers and sisters, Here is our theology of hope. Here is before us the doctrine of justification, which should lead us, then yes, to doxology. Without the divine deposit of Christ in our lives, no one can be saved. Everyone's account is spiritually bankrupt. We just read earlier, the wages of sin is death, but with God, salvation is possible. As one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. Let us be thankful that this is not of our own doing, that it is the gift of God. It's not dependent on what we've done or what we possibly can do. You don't want any part of your salvation. How terrifying the thought would be that part of it, maybe .0001% of my salvation is up to me. As a sinner, how good is good enough? And this, I'm suggesting, would be a warrant for perpetual insecurity. As long as Christ plus something from me I could never be sure. I know too well my own heart, but there is safety and security at the cross. Trusting and resting in Christ alone, by faith alone. So, okay, having looked at the deficiency of man's worth and now the divine deposit, which is great news, yes, for us sinners. I'm pleased to say this is not all. So finally, let's look at the dividends of discipleship in verses 28 to 31. Verse 28, Peter began to say to him, see, we have left everything and followed you. I don't know what tone of voice that I should use here because when reading about this, there's really not a, consensus in the readings I did to determine how this was said, but it kind of comes down to one of two ways. What Peter began to say to him, see, we've left everything and followed you. Almost as if he's scared, stating this out of disparity and uneasiness with what Jesus just said about, oh, with man it's impossible, but with God it's possible. Or it could be read as kind of a more smug, like, hey, we've left everything and followed you. Almost self-congratulatory. You know, that rich guy that just went away? We did that. We gave up everything. We're following you. I tend to think that this was actually the latter, because of Peter's personality. And also, but given the examples of the superiority complex, we were sort of seeing that they were struggling with, and we know that they're still struggling with this, because later in chapter 10, we're gonna see James and John approach Jesus and ask, hey, can one of us sit on your left, one sit on your right? They're still struggling with this. Who's gonna be the greatest? But either way, I think Peter is looking here from some sort of affirmation from Jesus. And Jesus says, yeah, verse 29 and 30. Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel. who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecution and in the age to come, eternal life. Wow, what do these things mean? Perhaps I think it would be helpful to state up front maybe what it doesn't. To leave houses, which represent possessions, family, or land, which could represent possession, but also a sustenance of life, so where they get their food from, maybe their living. Leaving these things doesn't mean selling everything and forsaking our family. We'll go against scripture if we did that, go against caring, providing for our family. Plus we also know that the disciples, they still had possessions, they still had family, even though they were traveling with Jesus. Jesus' point here in leaving these things for his sake and for the gospel is that those who are his disciples, those who will be his disciples are not trusting in them. for their ultimate satisfaction and security in this life. Their loyalty as a follower of Christ belongs to God first, over the family and possessions. It's similar to what we just sung in A Mighty Fortress is Our God. Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. Those things are temporary. There's nothing to be tightly grasped in this life. We cling to, we hold fast to God's truth and his kingdom, which are eternal. Okay, but what does Jesus mean when he says that we'll receive a hundredfold now in this time, these things back? Okay, well, again, literally, it's not saying that we're gonna get a hundred times the land, the homes, hundreds more sisters, brothers, Mothers. Notice it doesn't say fathers because there is only one father. It doesn't mean that we're going to get all those things literally. In fact, some people don't even have these to begin with, so how could they be rewarded with more of something that they might not have even had in the first place? But if you set this in contrast to what Jesus said about eternal life in the age to come, he is speaking of earthly rewards now. In short, what I'm saying is he's speaking about the church. As one commentary put it, I really like this, the disciple who wholly gives himself to follow Christ over even his own family will have not one of each, but a hundredfold bound to him by still a more fervent and more admirable affection. This is gained without any effort. countless brothers and sisters, as well as houses and lands in any part of the world, who receive you as their own family, who welcome, respect, and take care of you with the utmost attention. Last week we had Dr. Pradigaladet. from Sydney, Australia, come and preach and told us about the Reformed Baptist Church over there. And I thought, man, that would be sweet to go and visit him. But let's say we did, and we lost all of our luggage, and we didn't have any place to stay or anything. Are we to worry? Nah. You know what? We got family there. The church, I know, would take care of us because of the commonality that we have in Christ. Bring it back home here closer. I've talked with some of you recently, and I know that you've gone through some dark times, and I've listened and given glory to God as I've heard just how much the church has ministered to them. The body, through no effort of their own, partnering with the church, the local church, the loves God, the fears Him, instant riches, instant family, instant lands, houses, as it were, we are truly rich. And with the church, with Christ as our head, it's true joy, it's true peace. Brothers and sisters, this is true satisfaction now in the kingdom as the body of Christ. This is, I'm suggesting, the dividends of discipleship. But note, soberly, that Jesus adds that this is with persecutions. It's not all a bed of roses all the time, but we're going to need the church, especially during these times of hardships and persecutions. I think this was key, as Jesus' promise here would have been of great comfort to those who were going through those periods of times of persecutions. Think of the Christians during the time of Rome with Nero. under his heavy hand. These are the times that the church was sometimes known as the suffering people of God. They were not alone. They were welcomed by the family of God wherever they might be fleeing to and finding like-minded churches to find refuge. But wait, there's more. As if this wasn't already enough, here now, the promise, the dividend if you will, of eternal life giving them and giving us a heavenly perspective on their sufferings of this life and encouragement to continue to strive on to be found faithful to the end. But then in verse 31, here Jesus makes kind of a general warning that might be perplexing at first but Maybe more understood in the context of what Peter just said, hey, you know, look at us. I mean, we gave up everything and followed you. This is a phrase that's also expanded in Matthew 20. You might be familiar. That's the parable about the laborers in the vineyard. This parable describes a master of the house. And he's going around paying the first workers who have been there the whole day their wage. But then he also comes around and he pays the same amount to the workers who started the 11th hour as an illustration of but many who are first will be last in the last first. Note here in verse 31 also the conjunction but. This is indicating most likely that this is a warning to the disciples that hey just because that you are the earliest disciples and you're the nearest to Jesus, and yes, perhaps I'm the first to just leave everything behind, doesn't necessarily give them preeminence or give them any exclusive right to the blessings that were promised by Him. I mean, we know that there would be great disciples that would follow them throughout all history, just, I mean, an obvious one, the Apostle Paul. He did great things. So, bringing this back together, becoming a follower of Jesus, I'm suggesting this yields adoption into the family of God, being provided for by His family and preservation in the midst of our suffering until that point of eternal life when it's granted in the age to come. This is our hope, this is our comfort. This is a free gift that's made possible by God, humbly received by us in faith, and his son through his word and through his spirit. Yeah, these are the dividends of discipleship. Do you find this to be worthy of following Jesus? Or do you find following him seems to be more of a burden, costly? I mean, these things that we just talked about, these dividends of discipleship, is that truly being rich? I mean, now? If you're struggling with this, wrestling with it, some good questions to ask might be, okay, so what is it that I hold more desirable than following Christ? What is it that makes the treasures of Christ seem, meh, dull, anticlimactic? What is it that's preventing me from singing out, hallelujah, all I have is Christ? Or have we kind of been complacent with what we know that we already have? Take, for example, listening to the gospel and the promise of forgiveness each Lord's Day when we gather for worship, which is frankly the most amazing news we're ever going to hear. Amen. Amen. Yes. But when we hear, praise be to God for his glorious grace, amen. I'm not saying that you should necessarily give a hearty amen, although that would be nice. But it is a good, good check. Where's my heart at the moment? Does the gospel become precious to me again? Or is it, hmm? What's for lunch? Barely a blip on the map. Barely a blip on the radar. We all struggle with this at some times. Not coming down on everyone. But this is existing in our hearts. And we need to ask God to recalibrate our hearts, to be tuned in to see and to fully embrace the true worth of his church and the riches of Christ, who is our greatest treasure. And so to conclude all this then, you know, I want you to see, we've actually seen the gospel given in this passage about all things we make possible by God. We saw the right question being asked, who can be saved? As a result of realizing our own deficiency with our own efforts. Secondly, we saw the divine deposit made on our behalf by Christ, who is our greatest treasure. Third, we finally saw the dividends both in the here and not yet of being a disciple of Christ. And all of this given by the free grace of God. So circling back again to that original question, are you worthy? Am I worthy of the love of the Father and entrance into his kingdom? By myself, no, not even close. By God's mercy, my worth is in the blood and the righteousness of Christ my Savior, so that now I, by faith, with all of God's people, his church, stand confidently before the throne of our Father, but Jesus is our brother, the Holy Spirit is our help. But perhaps the more better question would be, who is worthy? Because that then takes the object, us, takes the focus off of us. We're not the object of the question, and you know what? We're not the answer to the question. either, but we gladly proclaim with the elders in Revelation 4 11. Worthy are you, O Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. Amen. So may God, yeah, be pleased to open and renew our hearts to see and to fully embrace the true worth of his church and the riches of Christ, our greatest treasure. Amen. Amen. Let's close in prayer. Oh, Father, thank you for this exchange between the disciples and Christ. The disciples your friends who are with you, and yet, Lord, there was many things that they didn't know, they didn't get, they're still depending on some stuff of their own to find favor with you, but Lord, even us, sometimes as close as we can be with you, we are still being sanctified, we are still seeing sin in our lives that need to be purged and forgiveness sought by God, who is rich in mercy. Lord, we thank you for giving us Christ. We thank you that we can come to you at any time, Lord, to seek forgiveness, to seek that which only you can give us as a divine deposit in our hearts and our lives. We pray that you continue to do that in our lives. Lord, not only now, but this coming week and the rest of our lives, I pray, Lord, that this was an encouragement to us that even though, yeah, we're like the disciples at times, Lord, we also know that the disciples were your children. They were part of your church, just like we are. And we love you, and we're grateful for what you have done for us, our greatest treasure. In your name we pray, amen. I think a really good way to respond to this is to sing a song. It's by the Gettys. My worth is not in what I own. I love how this captures What I was trying to say, that last stanza, two wonders here I confess, my worth and my unworthiness, my value fixed, my ransom paid at the cross. Please stand with me. Let's respond to our God with whom is truly worthy. Let's sing. My worth is not in what I own, Not in the strength of flesh and bone, But in the costly wounds of love at the cross. My worth is not in skill or name, In win or lose, in pride or shame, but in the blood of Christ that flowed at the cross. I rejoice in my Redeemer, greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul! I will trust in Him, no other soul is satisfying Him more! As summer flowers we fade and die, Faint youth and beauty her revive, But life eternal calls to us at the cross. I will not boast in wealth or might Or human wisdom's fleeting light But I will boast in knowing Christ hath a cross I rejoice in my Redeemer, greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul! I will trust in Him no other, so let us satisfy in Him alone! To understand and confess My worth and my unworthiness I vow to face my trials one day at last! I rejoiced in my Redeemer! Great pleasure was freed of my soul! I would trust in Him no other! No one is satisfied in Him alone! I rejoice in my Redeemer, greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul. I will trust in Him, no other. My soul is satisfied in Him alone. Amen. Please be seated. I think this is a really awesome time to receive new members into the church. We've come to that point where Christ builds his church. Matthew and Paige, if I could have you come up and stand here by me on the left. We just heard how rich we are in Christ and the worth of Christ, but also his church. And we've added Matthew and Paige. You guys can come up here. We voted them in as members to be a part of this local body, to be part of the family. And so this morning, we're reading the Book of Acts. where the Lord added to his church. And so all of us as members here at CRBC, yeah, we praise God and we rejoice when he does so as head of the church. So I'm gonna ask Matthew and Paige some questions in their vows. You guys can reply with, I will or I do. But then I'm gonna ask you members of the church, your vows to them to uphold them as part of the church body as well. Matthew and Paige. Do you acknowledge yourself to be a sinner in the sight of God, justly deserving his wrath and without hope except in his sovereign mercy? Do you repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Savior of sinners, and do you receive and rest upon him alone for salvation as he is offered in the gospel? Do you endeavor in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit to live according to your identity as a follower of Christ? Do you engage to walk together with God's people and Christian love through the power of the Holy Spirit? Do you commit to support Christ Reformed Baptist Church in its worship, work, and witnessed through your faithful attendance, cheerful giving, regular prayer, and the diligent exercise of your spiritual gifts for the good of the body? And lastly, do you submit yourselves to the government and discipline of Christ Reformed Baptist Church, and will you endeavor to maintain its purity and peace? Amen. Members of Christ Reformed Baptist Church, Do you, as a congregation, receive Matthew and Paige into our fellowship to engage, to serve, to encourage, to watch over, and to pray for them as fellow members of the body of Christ? We do. Amen. You guys can have a seat. Amen. Well then, together, as a church, as the body of Christ, we come here to our liturgy now where we confess our faith along with all of us as one body with Christ as its head. So if you could, please stand with me. People of God, what is it that you believe about Christ? We believe that the Lord Jesus by His perfect obedience and sacrifice of Himself, which He, through the eternal Spirit once offered up to God, has fully satisfied the justice of God, procured reconciliation, and purchased an everlasting inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven for all those whom the Father has given unto Him. Amen. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, Amen. Well, I'll leave you this morning with the doxology that's taken from Romans 11, 33 through 36. Let's let the Lord have the last word. Oh, the death of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor? Or who has given him a gift that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Amen. You're dismissed. In about 15, 20 minutes, we'll gather downstairs for our fellowship lunch. Thank you.