Christ's Object Lessons - Chapter 28: The Reward of Grace

Pastor David Asscherick discusses Chapter 28 of Ellen White's Christ's Object Lessons, examining the parable of the laborers in the vineyard and the story of the rich young ruler. David explores how Ellen White reveals the true economics of grace—that righteousness itself is the reward, not merely a means to some other end. He highlights how Jesus purposefully omitted the tenth commandment when speaking to the rich young ruler, exposing covetousness as the plague spot in his character. The chapter emphasizes that we are saved by grace alone, and that following Jesus brings joy as we learn to serve Him not for what we receive, but because His way of life is the reward itself. David shows how Christ's invitation to discipleship offers treasure in heaven through relationship with Him, and how the parable teaches that God's reward is not proportional to our works but flows from His unmerited grace.

Scripture References: Matthew 19:16-30, Matthew 20:1-16
Birds mentioned: Canyon Wren
Covers: Chapter 28, The Reward of Grace
Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDl86jHRWSA
Light Bearers

Transcript

Greeting and Announcements

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Greetings everyone and welcome to With DA. Great to have you here. Whether you are watching on Instagram or YouTube, we are signing in an hour early tonight. There we go. Nice to see you, Rich. Stone Doctor New York City, Caledonia Avenue Kid, Art with Miguel. Wow, they're going by fast now. Hello, Lizanne 923, Two Rose, Zach Northrop, Kathy, Something Foreigner, Joseph Rojas, Athemo. Did I get that right? Connie Westerberg. Roberto De Di Rey. Oceans DX. Alright. Marcia Lang, 5050. Peyton Almond. Marianne1193 says morning from Adelaide, South Australia. Nice to say him, right? Glad he. Let's see. Athomo says, hi from oh was that on did I get that? Where is that at? Andrew and Ellie Thompson. Wow, what a joy. What a joy. Roberto says, what up? I'm going to be in Australia in like four days. Well, no, it's a little more than that. Like five days. Okay, welcome everybody. Great to see everybody signing on YouTube. And those of you that are tuning in on uh Instagram and YouTube, we this is our second to the last chapter. Uh I can still hardly believe it. In some ways, it feels like this has been going on for a while, but in other ways it feels like we just got started. Uh let's see. Maria King says, Happy Sabbath almost. The sun will go down here in about 30 minutes. Yeah, I think it's just gone down here in Colorado. Peyton Allman says, Hi, happy Sabbath from Raleigh, North Carolina. Love the video today from Rock Climbing says Stone Doctor New York City. Yeah, that was great. Uh Deb Snyder says, no, say it isn't so. Tennessee Will Bunk says, Hi Dia family. Yeah, I got to get out today rock climbing for I was gonna go out for about two hours, but I ended up staying out almost three. It was just so beautiful. Stone Doctor New York City says that Wren singing was awesome. Yeah. Right when I got to the place that I was climbing today, this absolutely amazing, stunning male canyon wren just came right up on the top of a rock and just sang and sang and sang and sang and sang. And I was able to get very close video. And even when I was climbing on one of the videos that I put up on my Instagram, he's just calling the whole time that I'm climbing. It was just awesome. I felt like he was cheering me on while I was climbing. And so it was really great. I went there to do one specific climb that I wanted to try and get done before I go to Australia because when I come back from Australia, the season in this particular area is kind of coming to an end. And I'm really strong right now. I'm climbing really well. And I was like, you know what? If I'm gonna go do that, it's what we call a V9 in bouldering. I actually did it on my second try. I didn't think it was probably V9. I thought it was maybe closer to V8, but I was really happy to do it on my second try. It's a hard boulder problem, and I was really pleased. I'm also really tired, and I think it's just the whole month kind of and all the guests and the company. And because when we're done here, sometimes we'd stay until late talking, uh hanging out, and then of course I've got the video editing and the rendering and the uploading to do. And 30 straight days. I think I guess we missed one day, almost 30 straight days. I had one day where I lost my voice, but I think it's kind of catching up to me. And I said to Violetta tonight, I said, I'm so happy that I decided to do this one one hour earlier because I'm tired. I'm a tired boy. And uh for that reason, tonight's uh, which is an amazing chapter, by the way, chapter 28, The Reward of Grace. Tonight's is gonna be a little shorter. Now, everybody knows, probably most of you are laughing even as I say that, because when I say something's going to be shorter, it often means it's going to be just as long or longer. But the goal tonight is gonna be to make it a little bit shorter, still cover the material, and still look at this amazing parable. It's one of my favorite, Matthew chapter 20, and then we'll do the rich young ruler in Matthew chapter 19, leading into that parable. Um, but I'm a tired boy. I've I've got to get up tomorrow and put the finishing touches on my sermon that I worked on today. I'm preaching tomorrow on John chapter 6 at a local church, and then tomorrow evening, the last chapter. And I haven't yet decided if we're gonna do a kind of final recap. We might. We'll just see how I'm feeling. So it's possible that tomorrow night will be our last night in C O L with DA, or it's possible that we'll do something on Sunday night. We'll just have to see how I'm feeling, how the wind blows, and uh people are commenting on my sweatshirt. Yeah, I got this when I did a week of prayer there uh two years ago, Lumelinda University. Uh, very cool. Um, all right. Well, we're gonna get started. Welcome everybody. So glad that you are here. This is an amazing parable and a great chapter, The Reward of Grace. And then tomorrow night, the last chapter, what is it? To Meet the Bridegroom, chapter 29. And I can't wait.

Prayer

SPEAKER_00 5:46

All right, let's start with prayer. Father in heaven, be with us now as we open your word. May you open our hearts. Lord, I want to thank you that I had a great day today. Thank you for sending that Canyon Wren to come over and greet me. And thank you that it just sang and sang and sang and sang and sang while I was climbing and hanging around. And it was just so great to be there. Early morning sun, great rock climbing. Thank you that I had the strength and the ability to do that climb that I went to do. And Lord, the sermon preparation this afternoon, spending time with Violetta, and now I'm making some phone calls this afternoon, forgot about that. Uh, now as we look at Matthew chapters 19 and 20, and of course there's other uh passages in Mark and Luke where this story is also found. Um, be with us. We're looking forward to learning about the reward of grace. The reward of grace. Uh Lord, this has been such a great, great month, and I'm just so thankful. So thankful, Father, for this book, for Jesus, our Savior, for the Bible that tells us about Jesus, and of course, uh, for his wonderful parables, the stories, these lessons about objects by Jesus.

Discussion

SPEAKER_00 7:02

And so, Father, as we look at another one of those lessons tonight, may you fill us with your spirit and give us insights, is our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, you're gonna want to find your Bibles, so go to Matthew chapter 19. We're gonna read this through. Matthew chapter 19 of a tired little boy. Matthew chapter 19. Now, we're looking at a parable in Matthew chapter 20, but the setup for the parable takes place in Matthew chapter 19. And so I'm gonna read it here in the New International Version, Matthew chapter 19, beginning in verse 16. Probably not gonna read from NT Reich's translation tonight as much as I love it, but I'm I'm gonna try to be a little shorter tonight. As I mentioned, uh I've got an early morning tomorrow, got to get up, put the finishing touches on my sermon that I was working on today, John 6. What a great passage. And uh I'm preaching tomorrow specifically on the uh right after the feeding of the 5,000, the walking on the water, and then Jesus says famously and provocatively, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. And all the listeners were like, What on earth is this guy talking about? Is he advocating cannibalism and uh looking forward to preaching on that tomorrow at the New Day Seventh-day Adventist Church? So I gotta early morning tomorrow to go over my sermon, finish up a couple slides. So we're just gonna read this in one translation tonight, the New International Version, Matthew chapter 19, beginning in verse 16. It says, Just that a man came up to Jesus and asked, Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life? Why do you ask me about what is good? Jesus replied, There is only one who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments. Which ones? He inquired. Jesus replied, You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself. All these I have kept, the young man said. What do I still lack? Verse 21, Jesus answered, If you want to be perfect, go and sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me. When the young man heard this, he went away sad because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to the disciples, Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, and they asked, Who then can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, With man, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Verse 27, Peter answered him, We have left everything to follow you. What then will there be for us? Jesus said to them, Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on the glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. Now chapter twenty, beginning in verse one. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day, and sent them into his vineyard. About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, You also go work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right. So they went. He went out again about noon, about three in the afternoon, and did this, and at three in the afternoon and did the same. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, Why have you been standing here all day, doing nothing? Because no one has hired us, they answered. He said to them, You also go and work in my vineyard. When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first. The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius, a day's wage. So when those who were hired first, oh, so when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. Ah, these who were hired last only worked one hour, they said, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day. But he answered one of them, I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous? So the last will be first, and the first will be last. Okay, this is a great section of scripture that I have preached on many times over the years, and uh the temptation will be to re-preach one of those sermons. Um so what we're gonna do here is we're gonna look through this chapter, the reward of grace, and Ellen White teases out most of the lessons that I'm gonna want to talk about, but there are a couple that I'm gonna highlight that she just touches on, or a couple uh one actually, or two maybe that she doesn't mention at all. Uh so let's go to page 476, 390 of the original. This is again the reward of grace, chapter 28. Chapter 28, the penultimate chapter, we're almost done. And what a journey it's been to be at the feet of Jesus, listening, learning, growing. I mean, it's just been so, so good. All right, let's read the first paragraph. The truth of God's free grace, and I know you underline that. God's free grace. The truth of God's free grace had been almost lost sight of by the Jews. The rabbis taught that God's favor must be earned. The reward of the righteous they hoped to gain by their works. They didn't understand, for example, that righteousness is its own reward. They were looking for the reward that comes from righteousness. But as we learn in this chapter, righteousness, that is to say, living the way that God has created us and asked us and saved us to live, is the reward. It is the reward. Uh there are additional rewards, but righteousness itself, obedience itself, is a reward. Uh, but they were looking for righteousness as a means. They were looking to righteousness as a means to some other reward. Thus their worship was prompted by a grasping mercenary spirit, which is fascinating. From this spirit, even the disciples of Christ were not wholly free, and the Savior sought every opportunity to show them their error, right? He was trying to disabuse their minds and help them to unlearn these layers of rabbinical tradition that we've been talking about and these maxims of men, as she calls them. Just before he gave the parable of the laborers, an event occurred that opened the way for him to present the right principles. So she opens the chapter in the first paragraph, as she paragraph as she often does, by just letting us know what she's going to be talking about. And the punchline here is that we do not do righteous acts, not that we even can do them, apart from God's goodness and spirit, but we don't do them in order to obtain some other thing. But righteousness is itself the reward. And this chapter, like many chapters in this book, has a lot to say about motivation. Motivation. And one of the primary motivations that she comes at over and over again is the joy, the joy of obedience. Remember that phrase from early on? The joy of obedience. And so she says there are many motivations to do the right thing, to love God with all of our heart, mind, and soul, to love our neighbor as ourself, but also joy. Joy is a primary motivation when it comes to the Christian life. All right. So then she goes through the story of the rich young ruler, and it's one of my favorites. Um let's look at the second paragraph. As he as he was walking by the way, a rich young, or excuse me, a young ruler came running to him and kneeling reverently saluted him. Good teacher, he said, What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And the key word there is that, in order that. Right? And so this whole section, Matthew chapter 19 and 20, the rich young ruler and this parable of the laborers in the vineyard, all has to do with basic economics. Grace and economics. So you're gonna want to write that down if you haven't already done so. Grace and economics. Okay, so you can see here the rich young ruler is approaching Jesus with a patently economic mindset and perspective. What do I do that I may get everlasting life? I'm gonna do something for God, God is gonna do something for me. Right? I scratch his back, so to speak, he then rewards me. What do I have to do that I may have eternal life? A better way and a more theologically accurate way to have asked this question would have been like this. Jesus, what good thing shall I do now that I have eternal life by God's free grace? That's the real question. The question is not what do I do that I may have eternal life, but what do I do now since I already have eternal life by God's free grace? This is what we call the economics of grace. And we're gonna be talking about it for the next hour. Okay. Uh, top of the next page, page 477, the ruler addressed Christ merely as an honored rabbi, as a teacher, not discerning in him the Son of God. The Savior said, Why do you call me good? Trying to get to the question of motive. Why? What are you after? What's the motive? Well, the motive is transparently obvious. He wants eternal life, and he wants to know Jesus' opinion or perspective, just like yesterday. He wants to know what do I do? What is it that I do that I can have eternal life? On what ground do you call me good? God is the one good. If you recognize me as such, you must receive me as his son and representative, is effectively what Jesus is saying. And then a very interesting thing happens here. Jesus says, if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. The character of God is expressed in his law, and in order for you to be in harmony, underline the word harmony, she uses it at least three times in this chapter. Harmony with God, the principles, another extremely important word in this chapter and in this book. She loves the word principle or principles. The principles of his law must be the spring of our every action. Christ does not, I'm continuing to read here, Christ does not lessen the claims of the law. In unmistakable language, he presents obedience to it as the condition of eternal life. The same condition that was required of Adam before the fall. Now she's here speaking about obedience as the condition in terms of the results. Because grace and love, God's free grace and true love for God will result in commandment keeping, obedience, following Jesus. Right? Jesus himself said this in John chapter 14, verse 15. If you love me, keep my commandments. Notice that loving precedes keeping. And so it is true that obedience is, as she says here, the condition, but it's only the condition on the result side, not on the causative side. Obedience doesn't cause our salvation, otherwise it would be by works. What she's already said, it's God's free grace. And that's what this whole chapter is about. So obedience is the condition of eternal life, only in the sense that obedience will be the consistent and obvious result of those that have put their faith in Jesus, those that have repented and believe in Jesus. Um, jump down to uh actually let's just keep reading here. Christ does not, uh we're about midway down that paragraph that begins, Christ does not lessen the claims. The Lord expects no less of the soul now than he expected of man in paradise. Perfect obedience, unblemished righteousness, the requirement under the covenant of grace is just as broad as the requirement being in Eden. Harmony with God's law, which is holy and just and good. There's harmony again. Now, of course, as she's already made abundantly clear, remember back to the wedding garment, that the wedding garment did not have a single thread of human devising. The perfection that we have to have in order to meet the high and holy claims of the law of God is not a perfection that we have or can generate, even in our spirit-inspired works. The only place that true perfection that measures up to the infinitely high standard of God, the only place that's coming from is the righteousness of Christ, obviously, right? But insofar as we can obey with our shortcomings, our follies, our mistakes, our uh, you know, bad heredity, uh the fact that we're living thousands and thousands of years after the fall of Adam and Eve. I mean, with all of those liabilities, we still have the reasonable, like God still has the reasonable expectation of us living lives of obedience, following him, learning day by day to love him more and more and to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is all, this is obvious. We know this. Okay, now look at the next one there. To the words, bottom of page 477, 391, to the words, keep the commandments, the young man answered which ones? He supposed that some ceremonial precept was meant. But Christ was speaking of the law given from Sinai, that is to say, the Ten Commandments. He mentioned several commands from the second tablet of the Decalogue, then summed them all up in the precept, you shall love your neighbor as thyself. But it's actually better than that. It's not just that he randomly cited several. Uh, let's go look at that. Join me in your Bibles if you've got it there. In um Matthew chapter 19, and let's look more carefully at those commands. Verse 18. So when the Richmond ruler says which ones, Jesus replies, and let's go through these, and you'll want to make a note of this. You shall not murder, which is which command? The sixth commandment. Right? You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, which is which commandment? The seventh commandment. Okay? You shall not steal, which is the eighth commandment. You shall not give false testimony, which is the ninth commandment. Now just pause right there for just a moment. If you knew that there was going to be one more commandment mentioned, and so far you have heard, and the rich young ruler, being a Jew, was familiar with the law, he would have known the commands, he would have known them by heart. So if you have heard this sequence, six, seven, eight, nine, what would you assume would be the next command mentioned? Well, obviously ten. Six, seven, eight, nine. But watch what Jesus does brilliantly, purposefully does. Look at this. Honor your father and your mother. That's the fifth commandment. So Jesus goes, six, seven, eight, nine, five. And then he summarizes the second tablet of the law: love your neighbor as yourself, which we talked about yesterday, Matthew, Leviticus 19, 18. And Jesus does not mention the tenth commandment. Have you ever noticed this before? The tenth commandment is omitted. Six, seven, eight, nine, five summary. Jesus purposefully leaves off the tenth commandment, which is you shall not covet. Covetousness is basically greed. It's an inordinate desire for material things. Jesus purposefully leaves off the Tenth Commandment because that is the weakness, the plague spot, as Ellen Wine calls it, in the rich young ruler's soul. And what's remarkable about this is that you know not only that Jesus left it off on purpose, but that the rich young ruler knows that Jesus has purposefully left it off because he feels the unction of conviction come upon him. And he says in verse 20, All of these I have kept, six, seven, eight, nine, five. But what do I lack? What am I missing? And he knew that something was missing, not only missing in his heart, but missing in the list, the itemized list that Jesus had given of the second tablet of the law. Six, seven, eight, nine, five. And then the rich yum ruler, under heavy conviction, says, Ah, something is missing. Something is missing. Deb Snyder says she's never noticed that before. The whole story hinges on this. Jesus signals to the rich young ruler that he knows what's going on inside of the rich young ruler. Remember, the rich young ruler came up and said, Good master. And Jesus is like, Are you sure you want to call me good? Are you sure you want to call me good? Because only God is good. And then he gives evidence that he has inside access to the particular struggle of this rich young ruler. Six, seven, eight, nine, five summary. And it's not just that Jesus knows it, it's that the rich young ruler knows that Jesus knows it. And Jesus knows that the rich young ruler knows that Jesus knows it. That's what's going on here. That's the dynamic. Okay, so then uh he says, What am I missing? Verse 21, he says, if you want to be perfect, go sell all your possessions, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, then come and follow me. Speaking the language of the rich young ruler, treasure in heaven. I have an investment opportunity that you cannot afford to miss. It's going to be costly, but it's going to be worth it. Just as Jesus had said to Peter, James, and John, Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men, that's the language of fishermen. Here he speaks the language of economics to a person that was economically minded. You'll have treasure in heaven. Jesus puts his finger right on the pulse of the plague spot, as Ellen White calls it, in the character of the rich um ruler. But then this. When the man heard this, he went away sad because he had great wealth. Okay, now we'll come back to the story. Let's go pick up what Ellen White says in Christ's Object Lessons. This is so good. So you're gonna want to write there, if you haven't already done so, uh on the bottom of page 477 or 391 or in your journal somewhere. Write 67895 summary. Okay, do that. Very important. Okay, let's turn the page. Top of page 478, the young man answered without hesitation, all these things I have kept from my youth up. What still do I lack? His conception of the law under the influence of the religious leaders was external and superficial. Right? It's the way you looked, it's the way you presented yourself, it was the costume that you wore and the language that you spoke. Judged by a human standard, he had preserved and unblemished character. Jumping down, yet he had a secret fear that all was not right between his soul and God. This prompted the question, what still do I lack? Jesus then again puts his finger right on the pulse, which was the tenth commandment. Covetousness. Jump down to the paragraph that begins, the lover of self. The lover of self is a transgressor of the law. This Jesus desired to reveal to the young man. He gave him a test. The test was not just the selling of his goods, the test was leaving off the tenth commandment purposefully. He gave him a test that would make manifest the selfishness of his heart. He showed him the plague spot, the dark spot, the sickness, the problem, the infection. Right? He showed him the infection, the plague spot in his character. The young man desired no further enlightenment. It was enough. And he walked away. He went away sorrowful. He had cherished an idol in the soul. That's the last place we want an idol, an idol in the soul. Most idols are external to us, right? Right? There's lots of modern idols. We don't want an idol inside of us, right? We want Christ to reign on the throne of our heart. But he had an idol in the soul. The world was his God. He professed to have kept the commandments, but he was destitute of the principal, important word, which is the very spirit of very spirit and life of all the commandments. He did not possess true love for God or man. Last night we talked about the one, the two, the ten, and the six hundred. Love, love, love, love. And that's what she says here. This want was the want of everything that would qualify him to enter the kingdom of heaven. It was in his love of self, worldly gain, he was out of harmony. There it is again, third time. Harmony. Harmony. Out of harmony with the principles of heaven. Now here's what I really like, top of page 479. When this young ruler came to Jesus, his sincerity and earnestness won the Savior's heart. He, looking at him, loved him. Now it's only Mark that records this specific line. The story of the rich young ruler occurs in Matthew 19, which we just read, Mark 10, and Luke 18. But it's only in the Gospel of Mark, where Mark records that Jesus looked at him and loved him. Neither Matthew nor Luke records that particular detail or line. So you're going to want to go to Mark chapter 10 and underline that. Jesus looked at him and loved him. Absolutely beautiful. Basically, she goes on to say that Jesus saw what he might have been. He could have been a powerful preacher of righteousness. The invitation that he gave was not just any ordinary invitation, it was the invitation to be a disciple. Follow me and I will make you vicious of man was an invitation to discipleship. Follow me and you will have treasure in heaven was an invitation to discipleship. So she's talking here about what could have been, what should have been, what might have been, if the rich young Muller had responded to this amazing investment advice, this financial advice that Jesus was giving him. Follow me and you'll have treasure in heaven. Greater than any. In fact, in a moment here, he's going to say it's a hundredfold increase plus eternal life. That's quite a good deal. Okay. Then she says in the next paragraph that Jesus was only asking the rich young ruler to do what he himself did, which is according to 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 9, he was rich, but for our sakes he became poor. That through his poverty we might become rich. And this is what it means to follow Jesus. What it means to follow Jesus is to give up whatever we don't want to give up most. We have to give up everything and anything that could eclipse the total devotion that God requires of us. I mean, this is really what's going on at the Ten Commandments, right? So when God says, I am the Lord your God that brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and you go through the first four commandments. Watch this, take note of this. If you haven't heard this before, you're going to love this. The first thing that he says is, You shall have no other gods before me. Give me your loyalty and affection. We say the same kind of thing in a wedding ceremony. Do you take this woman to have and to hold? Do you take this man to have and to hold? To have means to give them your unreserved loyalty and affection. So that's what God is saying here. And by the way, many have noted, scholars have noted, that Sinai is a matrimonial event. It's a covenant event. God is wooing his people to himself, and he's entering into a marriage with his people. Okay, so the first commandment is you shall not have any other gods. In other words, give me your affections. The second commandment is, you shall not make any graven image or any lightness of anything that is in the heaven above, the earth beneath, of the waters under the earth, and you shall not bow down to it. Well, ask this question. What do you with what do you make and bow? With what do you make and bow? Your body. Right? You use our your body to fashion an idol, to fashion some image that you would then bow down to. So in the second command, God says, Give me your body. Your body now belongs to me, and I will not tolerate any illegitimate uses of your body, i.e., idol worship, which is effectively adultery, since we're now entering into a matrimonial relation. Third command. The third command, uh, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Okay, with what do we take the name of God in vain? With our words, with our mouth. So in the third command, God says, give me your words. I want your devotion to be for me, I want your praise to be for me. I'm not going to be one among many gods. In the same way that on April 4th, 1999, when I married Violetta, my words of romance are exclusively and proprietarily for her. I do not speak romantic words or flattering words, romantically flattering words, to anybody other than Violetta. She gets sole access to my words in a matrimonial context. And then fourthly, fourthly, God says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, and the Sabbath is about time. Okay, so now look at that list again. Commandment one, give me your affections. Commandment two, give me your body, commandment three, give me your words, commandment four, give me your time. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a matrimonial relation. These are the vows of Yahweh to his people. And they enter voluntarily into that covenantal relationship. Right? So this is what it means to be in a relationship with God. That there can't be other loyalties or affections that are obfuscating or eclipsing so God gets like 70% or 65% or even 95%. I mean, even if it was technically true that the rich young ruler had kept all of the commands except the tenth, that's still only 90%. But as we've learned about the law, the law is not fragmented and piecemeal. We talked about this yesterday. The law is a whole. It's a unibody construction, a unibody chassis. So to reject one, to neglect one, to rebel against one is to rebel against the spirit, or as she would say, the principles of all. And that's what the rich young ruler. The opportunity was right there. It was there for the taking. Now, did the rich young ruler change his mind? Hopefully. He was young. He still had ample opportunity to change his mind, and I like to think that he did. I mean, many of the priests that have arrayed themselves against Jesus, we've already seen in Acts chapter 6, verse 7, many of them become believers. We know that Pharisees became believers. So if priests and Pharisees and others can change their mind, there's just no reason at all to imagine that the rich young ruler couldn't have changed his mind, and I hope he did. Okay, go to the top of page 400 and let's see, 479, just going down here. Go to the paragraph, bottom of page 479, that says, Christ looked upon the young man. This is page 393 of the original. Christ looked upon the young man and longed after his soul. He longed to send him forth as a messenger of blessing to men. In the place of that which he called upon him to surrender, Christ offered him the privilege of companionship with himself, the privilege of discipleship. So this wasn't just transactional for Jesus. Jesus longed after this young man, just like Jesus longs after every person. Even when Jesus will be standing in front of Caiaphas, and Caiaphas the high priest will tear his garments and accuse Jesus of blasphemy. Jesus' heart longed after Caiaphas that he would come to repentance. I mean, even on the cross, a thief that found himself nailed to the cross next to Jesus, Jesus' heart longed for him. And in that case, the thief came to faith. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Okay, go to page 480. Now we get to the response of the disciples when the rich young ruler walks away. Jesus muses out loud that it's hard for a rich man to be saved. And the disciples are astonished. They're like, what? I mean, if if it's difficult for a healthy, wealthy Jew to be saved, then you can understand, given their presuppositions, why the disciples ask, well, then who could be saved? I mean, if a healthy, wealthy Jew, if it's hard for a healthy, wealthy Jew to be saved, well, then who could be saved? Because as she says in the paragraph, a couple of paragraphs on page 480, 394 of the original, they were taught that riches were evidence, prima fascia evidence, that these people were under the favor of God, the blessing of God. So if a healthy, wealthy, favored Jew cannot be saved, then the disciples begin to feel a little insecure. And they're like, uh, well then who could be saved? Who could be saved? He says it's easier for a rich man to enter the camp, easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be to enter the kingdom of God. And they were greatly astonished, the text says. Now, when they ask the question, well then who could be saved? Jesus then says famously, with men this is impossible. With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Verse 26 of Matthew 19. Now I know we quote that in a variety of contexts, and I'm not saying it's not appropriate to have a little elasticity and plasticity in the application of this text, but it's important to bear in mind that when Jesus quotes it specifically, here's what he's saying: God can save anybody. That's what he said. When he says, with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Now, again, we can use that, we can apply that to different circumstances and situations. I've heard a lot of miracle stories. I myself have experienced miracle stories, okay? So, yes, it's okay. We can say in other contexts and settings, with man this would have been impossible, but with God, all things are possible. But in the original biblical context, the textual context, Jesus is saying, it's hard, watch this. It's hard for anybody to be saved that clings to the thing that prevents them from being saved. I'll say that again. It's hard for anybody to be saved that clings to the thing that's preventing them from being saved. But with God, this is possible. God can give idolaters victor over victory over idolatry. God can give thieves victory over dishonesty. God can give adulterers victory over lust and pornography. God can give gossipers victory over tail bearing. God, it's not just about the riches. The problem with the riches in the rich young rulers case is that that was the thing that he was holding on to. She's already said half a dozen times or more in this volume. There is no problem with being rich. We want more rich people in the church, friends. We want lots of rich people in the church, generous, spirit-filled, godly, rich people. When Nathan was here, we talked a lot about that. So riches is not the problem unless riches is the problem. Do you get it? Wealth is not the problem. Unless wealth is the problem. But anything, you can put anything in there for wealth. Right? Wealth is not uniquely or idiosyncratically disqualifying. You can get disqualified by clinging to anything that eclipses total devotion to Jesus. And that's what he means when he says with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Top of page 481. A rich man, as such, or on these grounds, the grounds of merely being rich, cannot enter heaven. Now, a rich man can enter heaven. Luke chapter 19 tells the story of Zacchaeus, who was a tax collector and he was rich, and Jesus said, Today salvation has come to this home. But they don't get to heaven because they are rich. We've already dealt with that in the parable of the rich man in Lazarus. His wealth gives him no title to the inheritance of the saints in light. It is only through the unmerited grace of Christ that any man can find entrance into the city of God. Underline that whole sentence. That's the punchline of the whole chapter. It is only through the unmerited grace of Christ that any man can find entrance into the city of God. Jumping down midway on that page, by beholding the matchless love of Christ, the selfish heart will be melted and subdued. It's only by grace, only by grace, only by grace, only by grace, only by grace. The unmerited grace, which grace, by definition, is unmerited, but I like the fact that she throws in that modifying word, unmerited grace. So it's like a purposeful, grammatical, theological redundancy. In case you were wondering about the kind and quality of grace, oh, it's the unmerited kind. I mean, it's just, it's just unmistakably clear. Okay, then I want to go down to a cool little thing that Ellen White does here right at the bottom of that paragraph, just after quoting Philippians 3, 7, and 8. There's a very cool thing here that's kind of old-fashioned, but I really like it, and it jumped out to me, and I want to see if it jumped out to you. The very last sentence in that paragraph says, Then they will not count anything their own. Excuse me, it's the next sentence. They will joy to regard themselves as stewards of the manifold grace of God, and for his sake, servants of all men. So now we're getting back to the joy. Back to the joy. The reason is not the reward, the obedience itself is the reward. The joy of obedience. And notice she does a very clever thing here. She uses the word joy as a verb, right? Normally it's used as a noun. In fact, I was so confused by that, I was like, I don't think I've ever used the word joy as a verb in my life. Now we'll say um to enjoy, right? I enjoyed the meal, but rarely do we just use the word joy without the prefix en as a verb, but she does it here. And I looked it up. I was like, is joy a verb or is she just making this up? But joy is a verb. Old fashioned, they they would use the word joy and look at it again. They will joy to regard themselves as stewards of the manifold grace of God. I like this. I I want to start trying to use joy as a verb. Somebody's asking what page 395 of the original, 481 of the types and symbols. We're looking at the very last sentence in the paragraph that begins, to the rich no less than to the poor. Think about how cool that is. Joy as a verb. Now it's old-fashioned and it's archaic, but I think we should bring it back. Just like we talked about neighbor, neighbor is a verb, right? In the who is my neighbor yesterday's chapter, Jesus used neighbor less as a noun. I have a neighbor and more like a verb. To be neighbor I'm to to to neighbor the world. I'm going to go neighbor the world. Right? And I love this here. They will joy to regard. It's actually kind of hard to do. Try to do it. Try to use joy as a verb. It's not easy. I absolutely love that. Okay, turning the page. Clipping right along here. Then we get into this really, really super duper important pivot in the story. Right after Jesus has said, uh, with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible, Peter speaks up and says, We have left everything and followed you. What then will there be for us? And this is crucial. What then? Peter is operating exactly like the rich young ruler. Now, not in this sense. The rich young ruler refused to leave all and follow Jesus. Peter and James and John and the others did leave all and follow Jesus. Ellen White makes that point here. And of course, Scripture makes the point. That's not my point here. That was a dissimilarity between the rich young ruler and Peter and the disciples. But one similarity is the rich young ruler approached Jesus with a patently economic perspective. What do I do that I can get eternal life? Right? It's transactional. It's economic. I do this, you do this. Okay, look at Peter's question again. He's like, Lord, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we get? It's the exact same perspective that the rich young ruler approached Jesus with. Transactional and economic. In other words, Peter's basically saying something like this: Lord, we didn't give up as much as you asked that young man to give up because he was obviously quite wealthy. But we did give up something. And what do we get with this bargain basement price? We gave up our boats, we gave up our livelihood, we gave up. We didn't give up a lot because we're not rich, but we did give up everything we had. What are we gonna get? What do we get? It's totally transactional. It's completely transactional. And Jesus here does not immediately rebuke this transactional spirit. And let me just say something about that. This is very interesting. I've made this point before, but I'll make it again. You do not have to have perfect motives to follow Jesus. You don't have to have perfect motives to start following him or to keep following him, but over time, Jesus will purify the springs of our motives and he'll make our reasons for following him better and better, more and more pure, more and more noble. So that we'll find that over time the reason that we're following God and following Jesus is because we love him and it's the right thing to do. And then any reward on the other side of that is almost inconsequential. We're happy for the reward, but we're not in it for the reward. We're in it for God Himself. We're in it for the fact that this is how we were made and redeemed to live. Obedience itself is the reward. I'll say it this way. I remember one of my favorite preachers, top five favorite preachers of all time, C.D. Brooks. He used to say that even if, even if God said, you know what, CeeDee, I'm not gonna save you. I just, I'm not gonna save you for a reason A, B, C. Brooks says, I would still go on loving and serving him because my life is better this way than not loving and serving him. In other words, the reward is in the service. The reward is in the following. The reward is in the obedience. We should not think like, oh, I can't wait to fly with the eagles and swim with the dolphins and walk on streets of gold. Friends, all of that is a mere byproduct of the real reward of grace, which is living the life that God created us and made us to live, loving God and loving others. And when we get this motivation straightened out, all of a sudden, we're not looking for what do we get like Peter does here transactionally. We're just happy to be invited to the party. We're just happy to be followers of Jesus. And we won't overworry and we won't have continual anxiety, like, oh, am I gonna be saved? Oh. It's like, stop worrying about that. Remember that great quotation that I already read where Ellen White wrote to Lizzie Innes and said, if you have this one promise, John 6.37, him that comes to me, I will never cast out. I'm gonna preach on that tomorrow. She says, You are as safe as though inside the city of God. Remember that? That's one promise. And you're as safe as though inside the city of God. Okay, so stop with the anxiety about your salvation. Let's move beyond that novice pedestrian motivation. Let's graduate, as Paul would say, or the author of Hebrews would say, let's go from the milk to the meat, from the milk to the food, real solid food. Let's follow Jesus because Jesus is awesome. And because life is better following Jesus. God's not keeping stuff from us, He's giving us all the goods. And so Jesus does not here immediately rebuke Peter for his transactional mindset. He doesn't. He actually says in verse 28, Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on the glorious throne, you who have followed me will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left, houses or brothers, or sisters or father, or mother or wife, or children or fields for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much and get eternal life. In other words, Jesus does not here rebuke the transactional mindset that Peter approaches him with, right? He says, Look, even if your motives are not perfectly pure, I mean, were the thief that think about the thief on the cross, were his motives perfectly pure? No, they were not. He was scared, he was afraid, he was afraid of death, he was afraid of the afterlife, he was afraid of what was coming, he was afraid of the uncertainty, he was afraid of mystery, he was afraid of the internal voices of condemnation that were telling him he was going to be eternally lost. And so he thought, hey, I got a guy next to me on a cross who is also on a cross, and I think he might be the Messiah. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Did Jesus say, you know, you know, I would like to save you, but I can't? Because your motives aren't exactly pure. I'm looking at the motive scale here, and your motives are only 27% pure. 73% of your motivation is just because you're afraid and you want to get off this cross and you're terrified of the uncertainty of death. No, Jesus doesn't say that. Jesus receives people who come to him even with less than optimal motivations. Now, if the thief on the cross had somehow miraculously been able to come down off of that cross, his motivations would have been purified and he would have found out, oh, wait a minute, there are even better reasons to follow Jesus than just that I'm afraid of death. Jesus is awesome, Jesus is amazing. This is the life that God created me and made me to live. Ah, now, and then his motivations become purified. We've talked about this in the Beatitudinal Sequence in the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the poor in spirit, right? We we we are recognize our spiritual poverty. We then mourn that condition. This gives us an attitude of meekness. We hunger and thirst for righteousness. You'll remember this. Our motivations are being purified. Now, what Jesus does do is he tells this astonishing parable in response. Because if you look, the parable is in response to Jesus to Peter's question, well, what do we get? And the parable is so simple. The parable is so simple. Let's go back to Christ's object lessons. Um, she says here that Peter manifested the spirit of a hireling. Exactly right. Just like the two brothers in the parable of the prodigal son. The younger son came back and said, Make me like a hired servant. And even the older son said, What? You killed the fatted calf for the younger brother? You never even gave me a goat to celebrate with my friends. And the father in astonishment says, What? Everything I have is yours. Both the younger brother and the older brother had the spirit of a hireling. Well, that's what Peter's manifesting here. She calls it the spirit of a hireling. And he had this idea that our reward would be proportional to what we gave up. That's not how it works. Our reward is proportional to what Jesus gave up. And Jesus gave up everything. Right? She's already quoted. Uh I'll quote it here again. She's already quoted 2 Corinthians 8, 9. He was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. So you don't get a reward in proportion to what you gave up. Gave up to follow Jesus, as if there is such a thing. We get the reward of what Jesus gave up. And he gave up an infinite, infinite, eternal life. When he laid down his life on Calvary, from Jesus' human perspective, he was laying down his life for you and me. Ladies and gentlemen, that's the gospel. That's the good news. And uh so then Jesus tells a parable. And uh the the parable is so simple. Uh, here it is. There was a man who wanted laborers to work in his vineyard, right? And very simply, some people worked 12 hours, some worked nine, some worked six, some worked three, some worked one. Okay? So twelve, nine, six, three, one. And then when Jesus tells the parable, it's really remarkable because he says that they lined up in reverse order of their hiring. So the people that had been hired last, that had worked only one hour, they were first. They were first in line. Now just imagine, get that imaginate, get that line, get it in your imagination. Okay, now check this out. This is awesome. So when the people, imagine you're standing at the back of the line, you've just worked 12 hard hours, 12 hard hours in the sun, and you see the first people who worked only one hour get a full day's wage, you're thinking to yourself, whoa, this guy has got money to burn. Because obviously he's gonna pay you a heck of a lot more than that. You worked 12 times what that guy worked. So you're thinking, man, I'm gonna get paid like a whole week or more. Because the guy that worked only one hour, he got a full day's wage. We worked 12 hours. And everybody in line would have been feeling really good about their status after the one-hour workers got paid a denarius. They would have been like, whoa, this guy's giving out money. And they're thinking economically, they're thinking worldly. This is what Ellen White says. They're thinking from a worldly perspective. But then everybody received the same, the denarius. And, you know, you can imagine the people that work three hours didn't grumble too much. I mean, they got a full day's wage for working for three hours, that's fair. Even the people that work for six hours, it's like you only worked half a day, you got paid for a full day, they didn't grumble too much, if at all. Then the people that work for nine hours, I mean, look, you worked for nine hours, you got paid for twelve, probably not a lot of grumbling there. But the people that work for 12 hours, grumbling. They're grumbling. And when they come to the landowner, um, it says uh it says, so when I'm in verse 10, so when those who came who were hired first, they expected to receive more, just like the rich young ruler expected to have a transaction with Jesus. Peter expected to get something in proportion to what he had given up. They expected to receive more, but each one of them also received a denarius. Verse 11. When they received it, they began to grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble against the landowner. These who were hired the last hour worked only one hour. Or these who were hired last worked only one hour, they said, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden in the heat of the day. In other words, what are they saying? This isn't fair. This is fundamentally unfair. But it's not unfair. It's not unfair at all, because they had agreed to work for a denarius. That was the contractual arrangement that they had. By the way, even that was a graceful uh amount of money to be paid because the rich the the man doesn't have to hire them. He gave them work. He gave them work. So even that is an act of grace. Now they worked, worked 12 hours, got paid for 12 hours, but he didn't have to hire them. He invited them into he gave them a job. They were standing around before he showed up. Look at this. But he answered and said, I'm not being unfair to you, friend, verse 13. Didn't you agree to work for a denorius? Just go ahead and remind me. Remind me that that was 12 hours ago. I'm trying to remember the conversation that we had early this morning. They said, Yeah, yeah, well, we did agree to work for a denarius. He said, Well, then take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave to you. I it just brings me joy to pay everyone the same. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? In other words, there is no illegality here. There's no unfairness here. What there is is a lot of generosity, a lot of grace, a lot of undeserved, unearned, unmerited reward. The reward of grace. And that's what this parable is all about. It's unmistakable. And the parable makes the most sense when you hear it as the answer to Peter's question: hey, we gave up stuff, what do we get? And Jesus basically says, everybody gets the same. Everybody gets the same. And you can imagine that's really cool. She actually kind of does this little allegorical thing here where she says that the last, the people that were hired first, that were the last to get paid. Um, this is like the Jews, the Jewish nation, the descendants of Abraham, who have been for a long, long, long, long, long, long time seeking to be faithful to Yahweh. You know, their ancestors and their ancestors' ancestors, and their ancestors' ancestors' ancestors. You know, you're talking like 1,500 years of generational faithfulness. Actually, it was generational unfaithfulness largely, but be that as it may, they think, hey, we have we have an entitlement here. We're the Jews, we're the descendants of Abraham. Remember what John the Baptist said? Hey, don't say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. God can raise up children unto Abraham from the rocks. So the Gentiles are like the people that are just sneaking in at the end. And this is a kind of a cool little analogy or allegory that she does here. And the response of the Jews should have been, by the way, the disciples were Jews, Jesus was a Jew. Wow, this is awesome! Look, you guys get in too. This is great. It's good for you, it's good for us, it's good for everybody. The three-hour laborer, the one-hour laborer, the six-hour laborer, the nine-hour labor. It's awesome because this is the economics of heaven, not the economics of this world. They should have been thrilled. And yet, because they were seeing things from an economic and worldly perspective, they were upset and they felt hard done by. But this is the point she makes. She's like, you can't even compare. What's the line she says here? She's got this great line where she says that you can't even compare. Oh, go to the very last page. Go to the very last page, 492-404. Oh, how different. Find that paragraph. Oh, how different. Oh, how different are the standards by which God and men measure character. Oh, how different. God sees many temptations resisted, of which the world and even near friends never know. Temptations in the home and the heart. He sees the soul's humility in view of its own weakness, the sincere repentance over even a thought that is evil. He sees the wholehearted devotion to his service. Wholehearted, we talked about that. Um he has noted the hours of hard battle with self, battle that that won the victory, battles that won the victory. All this God and the angels know. A book of remembrance is written before him, described in, I think, Malachi 3, for them that fear the Lord and that think upon his name. How different God sees it. And friends, we should rejoice for the deathbed confessions. Remember, Jennifer told her story? Remember, Jennifer told her story of how her irreligious father, never interested in religion. But then in his last few days when he couldn't even speak, Jennifer told him the gospel story and tears were running down his cheek. What are we supposed to say to that? Wait, wait a minute. No, wait a minute. How does Jennifer's father get in? I've been faithful, I've kept Sabbath. I mean, I've I've gave tithes and offerings and had people into my home. And how come he gets the same I get? No, no, no, no, no. We're like, hallelujah, deathbed confession, hallelujah, thief on the cross, hallelujah, Gentiles coming in at the 11th hour. That's how we're supposed to feel. We're not hard done by when God pours greater grace on others than maybe we needed. And by the way, there's a lesson there. Everybody needs grace, but not everybody needs the same amount of grace. Friends, there are people that are born into impossibly difficult situations that many of us couldn't even imagine. I mean, uh just many of us were like we're raised in good homes. And it's not that we're not sinners in need of grace. Of course, we're sinners. We need grace. But friends, there are people that have lived lives that we can scarcely comprehend. Maybe you're one of those. I mean, just you need grace upon grace, upon grace, upon grace, upon forgiveness, upon mercy, upon patience, upon loving-kindness. Of course, we all need it in some measure. But some need a lot. Their life has been hard. Hard, hard. And we're all on that continuum. Everybody needs grace. But on that continuum, we should rejoice when people sneak in just in time. And that's not the way the world thinks, it's not a meritocracy, it is a theocracy. It's the way that God governs, not the way that human beings govern. Let's see if I missed anything there. I told you this was going to be a short one. I love the emphasis. I think we got most of it. There's a lot of great stuff here. She says here, the reward is not of works, lest any man should boast. It is all of grace. Just a little further down on page 489, we are saved by grace alone. Grace alone. Now, this is important. We are saved by grace alone, but not grace that is alone. In other words, grace, God's grace will always be, the response to God's grace will always be the response of loving obedience, kindness, helpfulness, love, offerings, obedience. Right? So we're saved by grace alone, but the grace that saves is never alone. It's always accompanied by good works. We're saved by grace alone, but the grace that saves is never alone. It's always accompanied by God honoring, God glorifying. Jesus following works. The works do not save us, of course. It's by grace alone. But the works evidence that we are in a saving, covenantal, matrimonial relation with our Lord. He is the bridegroom and we are his bride. All right. A lot more could be said, but I said I would keep this one short. It's going to be the shortest one by far. Let's go to our rubric. What a great lesson, friends. Woo! I'm feeling joyful. I'm tired, but this always happens to me. Even if I'm preaching or I'm giving a Bible study or I'm doing it with DA, I can be flat. And as soon as I start talking about the Lord, His Word, His goodness, His mercy, Grace, the energy just goes right back up. Now, as soon as I'm done with this and I do the editing, I'm going to completely crash in my bed, but right now I'm

Rubric

SPEAKER_00 1:06:55

fired up. Okay, let's do the rubric: the point, the person, the prayer, the practice, and the promise. The point. Well, I just quoted page 481, 395 of the original. It is only through the unmerited grace of Christ that anyone can find entrance into the city of God. That's it. I'm joying, Wesley says. That's right, I'm joying. Right now I am joying. I am actively joying. Thank you for that, Wesley. I'm so glad I saw that comment. So the point: only through the unmerited grace of Christ. The person, Jesus looks at us and loves us. Jesus looks at us and loves us, just like he did the rich young ruler. Friends, I want you to feel that. Jesus looks at you and he loves you. He loves you. He loves Rich 77A. He loves Sandy Patifer. He loves Landy, Landy S U. He loves Stone Doctor New York City. He loves Jerry V is me. He loves Great Gaiton Gadabout. He loves Zach Northrop. He loves Wesley Babb. He loves Tasman Traders. He loves Liberta Indeed. He loves Nathy Frazita. He loves Deb Snyder. He loves Ike Ike DeMama. He loves all of you. Every one of you. Rebecca Williams, Randall Family 4, Marco Lookup, Zorky Glass. He Jesus looks at you. He knows you. He knows the hairs on your head. He loves you. That's what we learn about the person. The prayer. Father, give me the joy and the pure motives. Give me better and better motives. The joy and the pure motives spoken of in this chapter. Joy is a verb and the pure motives that you speak of in this chapter. The practice. Don't think. This is in my brain. Don't think about the reward of serving God. Remember that serving God is its own reward. Think about the joy of serving him and of helping his children. That's a paradigm shift. Not the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but the journey with Jesus is the reward. Right? Just imagine the disciples. Like, just do a little thought experiment here. When Jesus left the disciples, of course, uh after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and all heaven broke loose and tongues and preaching and all of that, of course, then they knew Jesus was very near to them. But in that period of 10 days after Jesus ascended and before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, what were the disciples thinking? Were they thinking, oh man, I really want the streets of Gaul, I really want to swim with dolphins, I really want to fly with the eagles. No, they were missing Jesus, their friend, their companion. They would have missed his familiar laugh. They would have missed his stories. They would have missed the way that they would eat breakfast together in the mornings at camp. Like they missed him. That's what I want. I want to want Jesus as an end in himself. I don't want to just want Jesus as a means to some other end, which is the real reward. No, Jesus is the real reward. And then finally, uh the promise, uh page 489, 402 of the original. We are saved by grace alone. We are saved by grace alone. All right, ladies and gentlemen, what was your word? Rebecca Wilhelm says, going to miss this. Well, I'm gonna miss it too. What was your word? The joy of the Lord is our strength. Wesley says, preach. I need to learn how to travel with Jesus more joyfully, says Grammy Paparazzi. Me too. Josh Barton says they mourned their friend was still living. Would have been a weird emotion. Totally agree. Okay, here we go. Motivation. Entitled, good word, Deb. I saw that. Unmerited, great word, Victoria. Equal, says Susanna. Living Gracefully says grace. Grace. Reiner Andor Alice says generous. Bob Big Sky says relationship. Game44 says cling. Maria King 186 says standard. Cassandra, hey, great to see you, sister. Sorry I haven't responded to your text yet. Says motive. KB Photog says joying. Fidelity. Stefan, great to see you back. Says cons consinity. Consinity, number one, deference, number two, and benevolence, number three. I know two and three. I am totally clueless about number one. Unmerited reward, grace, grace, unmerited. Torn between harmony and unmerited, says art. Let's see, which church are you preaching at tomorrow? I'm going to preach at the New Day, Seventh day Adventist Church here in Parker, Colorado. Evan Sandoval says he loves me. That's right, brother, and so do I. Gerald Wayne says, keep your smile smiling. Okay, recompense, service, measure. We receive the same measure. We should always give the same measure. I love it unreservedly. Let's see. Jesus is enough. All grace, mercy, price, economics, longed. His harmony, Tanya says. Oh, harmony or symmetry, as in a symphony. Okay, that's cool. Very cool. Consinity. Lack as in what do I lack? Motive. Grateful? Mercy, gift, self-forgetfulness. Receive, says Wits Messi. Emprez 71 says looked. Penny. Penny says Sassy Cassie. I don't get that one. Penny. Or maybe like we all we give is a penny. Is that it? Measure. Equitable. Suprema star says principles. Scene. Oh, simply Norma 7. I love that. He saw him. He looked at him. Zorky Glass says, friend. Lori 2544 says, Oops, I forgot we started earlier. Ha ha, you'll have to watch it on YouTube later. Okay, everybody. Reward, recompense, harmony. Bob Big Sky says, thought we were going to get a C.D. Brooks impression tonight. What was it that I was saying that Brooks says? Oh yeah, he'd say something like this. He would say, let's see, what was the point I was making about C.D. Brooks? He was saying, oh, about the life he would live, even if, even if Jesus didn't Okay, he would say something like this. Brothers and sisters, even if Jesus doesn't save me, I'm gonna follow him because my life is better. Better with Jesus. Something like that. It's not a great impersonation, but I I've spent so many, I mean, innumerable hours listening to CeeDee Brooks that it's just in me. I can hear it, but I I can't get it out. The only impression that I can do really well is that I can do a good Australian accent. Um that's about it. Because I lived there for seven years, but I just I love it. I love, love, love CeeDee Brooks. My word, as you might imagine, is joy. Joy. I love joy. Uh joy as the motivation, joy as a verb, joy. And by the way, here's a little thing as we close. Remember the rich young ruler's demeanor when he went away from Jesus after Jesus made him this investment invitation that he shouldn't have refused, right? Follow me and you'll have treasure in heaven. It says he went away very sorrowful. So that's the opposite of joy. He went away very sorrowful. And so we're really presented with two options here: have an economic view of reality and of salvation that will lead us to being very sorrowful. Or we can have a relational view that will bring not sorrow and sadness, but joy. So joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, down in my heart, down in my heart. I got that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, and take that down in my heart to say, stay, and I'm so happy, so very happy. I've got the love of Jesus in my heart, and I'm so happy, so very happy, I've got the love of Jesus in my heart. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, give us the joy of Jesus in our heart of hearts. May we always remember the reward of grace. Whether we've worked, as it were, for one, three, six, nine, or twelve hours, may we rejoice that the reward is the obedience. The reward is being a follower of Jesus, the reward is the relationship. And then if there's anything on top of that, swimming with dolphins, flying with eagles, walking on streets of gold, traveling to planet upon planet upon planet, Lord, all of that'll be great. But we want to be in it for Jesus, because Jesus is your Son, our Savior. He is awesome and beautiful. He loves us, we love him, and thereby we love you. We thank you in Jesus' name. Let everybody say amen. We'll see you tomorrow night, same time, same place. Love you all. And I'm so happy, so very happy.