Mat 19;23-30 23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 27 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?” 28 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
One of the reasons people don’t come to Christ is because they fear that Jesus will ask them to forsake some things that they very much love. They fear they will have to sacrifice many things and suffer loss. Don’t we have that fear in us? Doesn’t that keep us from the path of obedience to Jesus’ command at times? The passage before us today teaches a wonderfully important lesson: that we can joyfully suffer loss in obedience to the command of Jesus, because He promises that we will gain back whatever we forsake one hundred times over. No one who gives up all to follow Jesus will ever end up a loser!
In today’s passage, we come to the last section of this chapter where we have the Lord’s teaching on the rewards for sacrifices done for Him and the gospel.
Let us understand the passage in three points:
- Peter’s outburst question.
- Lord’s unique promise to the apostles.
- Lord’s promise to all disciples in every generation.
1. Peter’s Outburst Question
We have to understand this question with the weight of this whole event. The entire incident funnels down and narrows into this question and the Lord’s promise. Verses 16–22 describe the whole incident of how the Lord dealt with the rich young ruler, which ends sadly with this man walking away without eternal life because his riches were bigger than eternal life for him. The disciples see the rich man walking away sadly from the only one who can give eternal life. Sometime ago, the majority went away, and when He asked them if they also wanted to go, they said, “Where shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Then, in the second section (verses 23–26), they have been shocked by the Lord’s unpopular, shocking application: “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” We saw the disciples’ shocking question: “Who then can be saved?” and the Lord’s glorious statement on the only hope of salvation: “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” even being able to save a rich man—even, as it were, forcing the camel through the eye of a needle. We do not know how much they understood the Lord’s glorious statement, but the whole incident of the rich man shocked them. If this finest Jewish man, who represented the whole Jewish system of attaining salvation, went away sad, they were shocked and confused.
Not just this, remember the full context of the Lord’s ministry and this incident in the Gospel: the entire Jewish nation has rejected Christ; they are following Him, and He is now moving toward Jerusalem and is regularly talking about His suffering and death. That also could have added to the weight of this question. The disciples had long since left all and followed Christ, yet never till now asked, “What shall we have?” Now this was too much for them, so we have the unbearable outburst of Peter’s question.
“Then Peter answered and said to Him, ‘See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?’” (verse 27)
Peter, who was silent so far, as if he could not bear any more, becomes the spokesman for the twelve. Mark tells us that Peter began to say to our Lord, meaning Peter started, and all others also would have followed, but the Lord started answering. This is the reaction of them all.
He says, “Look, Behold.” He wants our Lord to focus on this. He had heard the Lord saying, “If you go, sell all you have, and give to the poor, and come follow Me, you will have treasure in heaven,” and then he was shocked by knowing a rich man can never enter the kingdom. Now, Peter declares, “We have left everything and are following Him.” “We have done exactly what you asked that man to do. We may not have had as many riches as that man, but whatever we had, we have left all that.”
Now, the important question is, why did Peter ask this question? Many say this is the regular, loud-mouthed Peter; he was shocked and asking this with selfish motives, being immature. “What was in his heart is coming out. A mature Christian should not worry about what he will get, but give himself to the Lord.” But I think that is not right. We can all sit and condemn Peter by not knowing what it means to sacrifice anything for Christ; we will know the pain only when we do it.
Think of them: all the disciples, except Judas, have really sacrificed all and followed Him from their heart. We see how Peter left all. In Luke 5, when the great catch of fish happened on Peter’s boat, he fell at the Lord’s feet and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” “So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him” (Luke 5:1–11).
He did leave all; it was not easy at all. Fishing was his passion, and before we condemn Peter for this question, we should take careful note of the fact that our Lord didn’t condemn him for it. Because if there was sin and wrong in his question, the Lord would have responded sharply. We know that our Lord had rebuked Peter for other things he said—in fact, very sharply at times! He rebuked them when they were discussing who was greatest, but here His response is all gracious. Neither did the Lord deny their claim that they left everything. He knows they left all to follow Him. His response is gracious.
Yes, on one side, it is wrong to serve Christ only out of a selfish motive of “what we will get.” It is wrong to make this our primary focus and should never make our obedience contingent on what we will get out of it. He gave His all for us in love, and love for Him should be our primary motive to serve Him. But I think we would not be wrong in wanting to know what the rewards of faithful service to Him are—especially when He condescends to tell us!
From the disciples’ standpoint, they have still not seen the cross and resurrection, so it may not be wrong. Peter, James, and John left their boat. Take Matthew himself—the man whom the Lord used to record these words for us. He was a tax collector, holding a central government job which he had purchased by paying a lot of money to Rome. It was a very lucrative job. When he was through paying off the required amount to the Roman government from what he collected, the rest was pure profit. And yet, we read that Jesus saw him sitting at the tax office as He walked by and told Matthew, “Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9). It was up to one of the other Gospel writers to point out that humble Matthew “left all, rose up, and followed Him” (Luke 5:28). He left that job; he cannot go back.
Yes, sometimes Jesus calls us, and to obey His commands, we may have to leave some things to be faithful to Him. This may mean saying ‘no’ to the legitimate comforts and securities that this world has to offer. How many have left profitable careers and big businesses to go as missionaries and serve as full-time pastors? Some have left behind high-paying jobs; some have forsaken using their skills and talents in money-making fields and applied them to the Lord’s service in ways the world didn’t notice or appreciate or even reward them. How much of their time and life they spent in the Lord’s service! How did they do it?
In verse 29, Jesus indicates that His call to follow Him may require that some very precious things be left behind. He suggests that some would have to leave “houses.” Jesus Himself felt this, because He said, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20). Some would have to leave “brothers or sisters.” Others would have to leave “father or mother” behind. Many can testify that following Jesus has put them at odds—sometimes irreconcilably—with their closest family members. In countries and cultures like ours, it involves being set outside the family forever, outside society or the village. Some would have to leave “lands” behind, which would have been an unthinkable thing in the Jewish culture. Land was the earthly inheritance of each Jewish tribe and of each family in that tribe. To leave land behind would be to leave behind a connectedness with one’s own earthly past and one’s own earthly future, to lose your identity completely. Sometimes, as part of the persecution that comes from following Christ, our wealth may also be forcibly taken from us, as we read last time in Hebrews 10:34, which says they “joyfully accepted the plundering of their goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.”
It truly does cost to follow Jesus. It’s the most expensive adventure to follow Him. If we are truly following Christ, we may have to lose many of the comforts and pleasures of this world. So, it’s a fair and reasonable question that Peter asked of the Lord: “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?”
Well, if as a follower of Jesus—I don’t know about you—I want to know. When God converted me, I lost many things; my father even stopped my education and put me in a workshop. I served Christ with many sacrifices for the last fifteen years—how many hours, days, nights, studies I did, research, books I read, and time I spent preparing and preaching sermons! If I would have spent that time in the world, imagine what I would have achieved. Maybe I would be some CEO of a large company, earning big money. But here I am, forsaking all that, week on week spending hours together, doing a full-time job, family… not at all easy. Sometimes I feel frustrated inside: “Lord, what will I get?” It’s an important question. Our dear Lord, knowing how difficult it is, graciously answers the question and encourages those disciples and us as well. The Lord clearly wanted us to know, and the Holy Spirit graciously preserved this in the Scriptures for our edification; there is nothing wrong in knowing what we will get.
Such a glorious answer encourages us so much. If we grasp these promises, it makes us feel that we have only done 1%, so let us give 100%, because we can joyfully suffer loss in obedience to the call of Jesus, because He promises that we will gain back whatever we forsake many times over.
This response encouraged the disciples so much in that difficult time. After our Lord’s death and resurrection, surely the Holy Spirit would have used this and made them give themselves up for Christ’s sake, everything they had. We see that in the book of Acts. Even these disciples—each of them, except Judas—not only gave everything, including relations, but even their own lives in the service of Christ and died a martyr’s death for our Savior. They gave all for Him. Let us look at the glorious promise. May the Holy Spirit open our eyes and encourage our hearts to sacrifice ourselves to Christ joyfully.
We will now look at the two remaining sections of the Lord’s response to Peter’s question: the unique, direct promise to the apostles, and the promise to all disciples in every generation.
2. Lord’s Unique, Direct Promise to Apostles
“Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Verse 28)
Firstly, notice the peculiar solemnity. “Assuredly I say to you…” Whenever the Lord used that phrase (literally “Verily, I say unto you”), it confirms a peculiar, solemn truth. You have the Incarnate Truth Himself saying, “I speak the truth, nothing but the truth.” “I am about to speak a truth that, among all truths, is a truth you must not forget or lose sight of, but realize deeply and live in the light of that truth.” It is Jesus Himself taking a highlighter and underlining His own words. The Holy Spirit records that as a way to underline and highlight in bold that you should pay attention. This is why it is translated as, “I solemnly declare to you…” It’s a once-for-all-time answer to this important question, and it’s one that you and I can trust in.
He tells them this will happen in “the regeneration.” This word is used twice in the New Testament: here and in Titus 3:5. In the latter passage, it talks about personal new birth—our new birth. We also commonly use it that way. But the word literally means “new genesis.” The ESV translates it as “in the new world,” and the NIV as “the renewal of all things.” It refers to the great doctrine of the regeneration of this sin-cursed universe. It is a great truth of great comfort and joy for believers.
In terms of eschatology (the study of last things), there are four great last things: Jesus Christ’s coming again, the general resurrection, judgment, and the eternal state. In the eternal state, God will not only transform us and make us perfect, but God will regenerate the entire universe. This regeneration is not personal, but the universal restoration of the earth. That is the full culmination of redemptive work where Christ redeems this entire universe from all the effects of sin and the curse. Righteousness will reign throughout the universe.
Acts chapter 3 records Peter calling it “the times of refreshing.” Romans 8 says the whole creation is waiting for that liberation. 2 Peter 3:13 says we await a new heaven and earth, and Revelation 21:1 states, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” Dispensationalists sometimes confuse this with the 1,000-year reign, but this is the eternal state with the new heaven and new earth. It will be a new earth and a new heaven where righteousness will reign. All prophecies, such as the lion lying down with the lamb and the desert blossoming like a rose, will be fulfilled there.
In that regeneration, the restored, renewed universe of new heavens and new earth, when the redemptive work is done and all enemies are destroyed, the highest glory will be given to the Son of Man.
“…when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
When He takes His highest position on the throne, around His throne, there will be twelve thrones. The twelve apostles will be seated, and they will judge, meaning they will reign over the twelve tribes of Israel. Dispensationalists again sometimes misinterpret this to mean that the twelve tribes of Israel will be literally gathered, again sacrificing and building a temple. Why would they again sacrifice and build a temple when Christ has fulfilled all that? This is talking about the restored, new Israel. If you clearly read Romans and Galatians, Paul establishes that the new Israel is the universal church. The twelve tribes refers to the total number of the elect gathered from the beginning to the end of world history. Only those who are personally regenerated by grace shall partake in the regeneration of glory. God will not go back to saving people again with Old Testament sacrifices.
Then why does He say “twelve tribes of Israel”? Understand the context: This is a direct, unique promise to the Jewish disciples. Think of their frustration. The whole nation has rejected their Master as the Messiah. As Jewish men, their great ambition in following Jesus was that He is the Messiah and they will reign with Him when He comes in power, but now there is not only rejection but He is going to die. In frustration, they ask, “What shall we get?” as if they have lost everything. He reassures them and changes the disciples’ perspective regarding the loss they had known as followers of Christ.
This whole incident of the young rich man is a type of Israel’s rejection. After the rich young ruler, who typified the best of Judaism, rejected Christ and the kingdom in their works righteousness—they proved to be an apostatized/false Israel by rejecting the true Messiah. See how wonderful! He assures them that they shall sit on twelve thrones and reign over the true Israel forever. When He is glorified, the disciples will also be glorified with Him. They, having suffered with a suffering Jesus, must reign with a reigning Jesus.
Here, the Lord promises to give them a unique position in His kingdom. The twelve who have followed Jesus as His apostles will have a special reward and status among all the members of the new Israel. He says again just before He went to the cross: “But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:28–30).
They continued with Him—even in His trials. They laid their lives down for Him as His appointed “sent-ones”; they heard the message of the Gospel from His own lips and then passed it on faithfully and authoritatively to the world. And He lets them know that He will not forget them. They will be remembered for everything that they gave up in His service. They will be rewarded with eternal honor in His kingdom.
That is why Revelation 20:4 says, “I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge.” Revelation 21:14 shows there is a special status for the apostles in the New Jerusalem: “Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”
It will be twelve because Judas will be replaced with another apostle. They themselves will be richly rewarded for their sacrifice. Not only will they receive a reward, but the highest honor next to Him in the eternal state. It is a patented honor, peculiar to them alone; no one else will get it. That is why it is so foolish and arrogant for some Pentecostal preachers to call themselves “apostles.”
See the glory of this promise. These weak men, who are so imperfect, part of that hardened Jewish nation, filled with the false teaching of self-righteousness—because they followed Jesus, they will not only be saved and go to heaven and have eternal life, but they will have the highest honor in heaven next to the Son of God. That is given in the form of a title deed signed by the Son of God: “Assuredly…” The ratification of this grant is firm and unchangeably sure, for Christ has said, “Verily I say unto you, I, the Amen, the faithful Witness, who am empowered to make this grant, I have said it, and it cannot be disannulled.” Enough said.
3. Lord’s Promise to All Disciples in Every Generation
So, we have seen the question of Peter and the unique promise to the apostles. What about the rest of us—those of us who have believed their message and have gone on to follow Jesus as they did? Jesus has a promise for us too.
“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.” (Verse 29)
Let us examine this with four questions:
Firstly, Who Are These People?
The people envisioned in His response are “Everyone.” This is not just for the apostles, but everyone who has done this. It covers every man and woman in every generation, of all ages, all regions, and every circumstance.
Secondly, What Have They Left?
They have left their closest relations: brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children, and possessions: houses or lands.
Thirdly, In What Sense Have They Left Them?
There are two senses:
- In every case, they have left them in terms of an idolatrous attachment to them in their heart. Every true disciple in every single age has, in every single instance in becoming a disciple, relinquished all idolatrous attachment to possessions and relations. Otherwise, he cannot be a true disciple. If you have never been brought to a place where there is a fundamental leaving of possessions and relations in terms of idolatrous attachment to them, you have never become a true disciple of Christ, because He recognizes none as His disciples except those who have come with that kind of leaving. How do we know that? Luke 14:26 states:
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”
If anyone has an idolatrous relationship with any other human being than Christ, he cannot be His disciple. Why? Because he has not opened his heart to receive Christ as God, worthy of unrivaled religious love and confidence. Furthermore, Luke 14:33 says:
“So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”
That includes your possessions. The Lord is envisioning a people who have left possessions and relations, and in every case, they have left them in terms of idolatrous attachment. If they have not, they would never become His disciples; they are not Christians. Even these disciples did not leave their family fully and their possessions; they had not sold all and given to the poor (for many of them had wives and families to provide for), but they had forsaken all; they had renounced it as far as it might be any way a hindrance to them in serving Christ. For God had worked in them a holy contempt of the world in comparison with following Christ. So, that is the first way we leave.
- However, in some cases, this “hating” (meaning putting Christ first) sometimes results in the actual, literal forsaking of those possessions or relations. When we truly hate these things in our heart and follow Christ, and when these things come in between us and following Jesus, becoming an idol more important than Jesus, sometimes we may have to make the literal, actual giving up of those relations, homes, or lands essential. In the case of the rich young ruler, Jesus demanded a heart forsaking of idolatrous attachment to things and possessions, which in his case would not be realized without a literal forsaking of them, but not in all cases.
If any of those attachments come in between Jesus and me, when it comes a time when it is going to be Jesus or this relation/thing, we have to be ready to literally cut that relationship as deep as mother, father, children, and parents, even husbands and wives. This has happened to many believers; it has happened to some of us. I remember I had a close friend; he had a lot of money and would spend everything on me because we were poor. He once asked, “Do you need Jesus or me?” I said, “Jesus. Get lost.” These disciples had to leave their jobs, career, and business and had to physically leave family to follow Christ’s calling.
So, our four questions were: Who are these? What have they left? In what sense have they left them? And finally: Why have they left?
Fourthly, Why Have They Left?
This is important. Verse 29 states: “For My name’s sake.” Mark says, “for My sake and the Gospel’s sake.” The reason for which they have left possessions and relations has to do with the person of Christ and the Gospel of Christ. You cannot separate the Gospel and Christ. The Gospel reveals Christ; without Him, the Gospel is nothing. Without the Gospel, we would know nothing of Him. For Christ and the Gospel’s sake, Christ, who offers Gospel blessings, demands whole-hearted devotion to Him. To follow and serve Him, they have inwardly left an idolatrous attachment to people and things, and when it came as a hindrance, some of them have actually been called upon to leave them literally. But it is done “for My sake and the sake of the Gospel.”
For Christ’s sake, they left other attachments in order to be attached to His person. And having been attached to His person, they want others to come to the knowledge of Him and His Gospel. For that Gospel’s sake, for the proclamation and preaching of His Gospel, for the sake of spreading His word, these people have sacrificed and left these things and people. They have sacrificed their efforts, money, and things for the Gospel.
So, we have seen:
- Who are these people? Everyone. It covers every man and woman in every generation, all regions, and every circumstance.
- What have they left? Their closest relations and possessions.
- In what sense they left? Firstly, an idolatrous attachment, and when the situation demands, even a literal sacrifice.
- For what purpose? For Christ and His Gospel.
The Glorious Promise
Now to them, the glorious promise comes:
“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.” (Verse 29)
When we read how this promise is recorded in other Gospel accounts (Mark 10:29-30; Luke 18:29-30), we see that it comes in two parts:
- The first part applies, as Mark has it, 100-fold to life “in this present age” (Mark 10:30). Right now—at this time, as we live for Jesus on this earth—He promises that we shall receive “a hundredfold” of that which we have left for His name’s sake.
- And then, in the coming age, eternal life.
The promise focuses on two distinct time periods/categories: now, in time (the present age), and then, in eternity (the age to come).
The Promise in the Present Age (A Hundredfold)
What is the promise in the present age? Anyone who fits that description—who has forsaken possessions and relations for Christ’s sake and the Gospel—here is the promise: a superabundant compensation/return on losses/investment of the very things left for Christ and the Gospel. He shall receive “a hundredfold” houses and relations.
This is not the eternal reward. Certainly, we realize that the future in eternity will provide more than our imaginations can fathom. But Christ wanted the disciples to understand that even in this life, the one that has suffered loss for the sake of Christ and the Gospel will have much more returned. “Health and wealth” preachers have wrongly interpreted this passage without understanding what Christ is saying. Christ uses figurative language, which is more apparent in Mark’s parallel account.
This is not a literal sense—as if we will have “a hundred fathers” or “a hundred mothers.” The word “hundredfold” is a definite number representing an indefinite number. A number to represent the uncountable. It is a figure of speech. That is what Jesus did here.
Here is the promise to those who leave relations and possessions. You are saying, “I left that and this.” Jesus promises, “in this present age, as King of the universe, I will make sure of a superabundant compensation of the very things left for the sake of Christ and for the Gospel.” This is the infallible promise of the Son of God to everyone. It means every single believer does in principle have this promise fulfilled without exception. If you are worried you are going to lose something for Me and the Gospel, don’t worry; joyfully do it. “I promise to compensate many times.”
How is that? This is the testimony of every believer in history. If we have been selfish and never had much experience of leaving anything, we will never know anything about this.
Take, for example, relationships. A man leaves close friends, brothers, sisters, and relatives to believe in Christ. What happens? The moment he is attached to Jesus Christ in faith, he becomes part of the largest family now in the globe. The moment we are joined to Christ, we are brought into the universal family of Christ in the whole world—the universal church. We may lose one family, one brother, one sister to come to Christ, but how many brothers and sisters we get in loving relationships!
It is a family of those who have relinquished from their heart all idolatrous attachment to people and things. They exist for Christ and the Gospel’s sake. The moment I come into the family of God, it is as though everything the family possesses is mine. In reality, it is my line of credit.
I did lose my close friend. Oh, what wonderful friends I had in my Christian life—true friends. I had to lose my father in relationship because I followed Christ; he was most of the time against me, not like a father, because I followed Christ. But oh, how many spiritual Fathers God gave me as pastors, ministers, and mature Christians, even through books I read and messages I hear! How much guidance, wisdom, and discipline they brought me up with! Older, saintly Christian men who bear a kind and godly influence in my life. Many may have had to leave “brothers” or “sisters” behind, but they have countless other brothers and sisters with whom they share loving fellowship and the hopes of eternity.
I hesitate, of course, to suggest that anyone who leaves a wife behind can expect to have a “hundredfold” (that is why Matthew wisely didn’t mention wife originally). But even if our faithfulness to the Lord causes the loss of the bond of the closest family circle, we have the Lord Jesus Himself as our “spouse,” and we have the infinite fellowship of the children of God as our family members.
A follower of Jesus may be called upon to give up the comforts and security of “houses” and “lands,” but in the family love of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, he or she can enjoy the comfort and security of the countless “houses” and “lands” of other brothers and sisters who share hospitality and the comforts of life with them. We see in Acts that “[N]either did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own,” the Bible tells us of the early Christians, “but they had all things in common” (Acts 4:32).
They “shall receive a hundred-fold, in kindness,” in those things that are abundantly better and more valuable. To receive “a hundred times as much” in terms of houses and farms does not mean that every disciple of Christ will become real estate tycoons! But he will know the richness of grace that will supply his needs, often in the most remarkable ways.
That is the testimony of every missionary, pastor, and true Christian. We see it in our own ministry. When Pastor Bala leaves his children, travels, and comes and serves us in Christ, if in New Zealand, he will just have one son, but here, when he leaves and comes, he has “a hundredfold” sons here. If you imagine there is one true missionary from some country who left family, relatives, houses, and lands and comes to preach reformed truth, and somebody robbed him, and he has no money. If we get a letter that he is coming to Bangalore and needs to stay some days and needs expenses, how many of us will gladly accept him as our own relative and help him every way? Why? Because sitting here, though we have never known them, we have a secret bond, obligation, a line of credit is made to every true believer throughout the whole earth. If anything I have, any brother or sisterly love I can show—a love that is brotherly, sisterly, or fatherly, which can meet the need of someone in Christ—that is already in our heart. And we show it in the way we pray for preachers around the world; you have already put the name in the line of credit.
The line of credit has been there always. Pastor Bala and other missionaries have time and again said they have seen it in their experience. “We go to places; people we have never seen open their homes to us and become our brothers.” Some older women have cared for them like a mother, some like brothers and sisters, because in their hearts, they care for Christ’s disciples. And this does have a literal fulfillment for every child of God in terms of principle. If you are sitting here and saying, “I have never experienced this,” you have to ask, “How much have you left for Christ?” When you meet a Christian you’ve never met before, you’re off somewhere on vacation and you run into a Christian, it’s amazing how immediately there’s a bond, isn’t it? And you go places, and there’s a home for you to stay in, somebody to care for you, somebody who wants to provide a meal for you. There’s a family of people who love Christ, and you come into that family, and there’s far more compensation than anything you ever gave up. “A hundredfold” is just a way of speaking hyperbolically; it’s just manifold. Far more is gained than ever is lost.
No man who has left father, mother, lands, or houses for My sake and the Gospel “shall receive in this present age a superabundant compensation of the very thing left.” No exception; it is the promise of Christ.
John Wesley was a man who ‘sacrificed’ much for the cause of the Gospel. But it was his own personal testimony that he never once, in all his long life, felt he really sacrificed anything for the Lord, because the Lord gave it all back to him a hundredfold. Whatever it may cost you or me “in this time” to follow Jesus, we have His promise that we will receive from His hand—multiple times over—whatever it is that we had to forsake.
That hundredfold account is already there according to Christ’s promise. He says you already have hundredfold relationships that far outstrip the loss of family or friends. We will experience that hundredfold. The parable that follows in Matthew 20:1-16 illustrates that Jesus Christ, by His sovereign providence, will dispense precisely what each believer needs to be sustained as His follower.
Promise for the Age to Come
Mark says he will not only be compensated 100 times, but also inherit Eternal Life. The greatest reason to follow Jesus Christ is because He is the pathway to eternal life! That is the reason the rich man came. That is the reason the disciples followed Him: “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” It is the full blessedness of the life provided by God in redemptive grace. As soon as a believer dies, his spirit goes to heaven, made perfect. He rises with a glorious, perfect body. Acquitted in judgment, he enters the full blessedness of eternal life with a perfected spirit and deathless body in the presence of the Lamb and God. A glorious eternal state.
Alas! Compared to this promise, what is it that we have left? Peter, you have left just an old boat and a torn net. But look at what glorious blessings Christ promises. What a glorious promise: We gain back everything in life that we give up in order to follow Jesus faithfully, and when it’s over, we gain life eternal with Him!
Applications
We learned in the series of the promises of God:
- Deeply meditate on the promise.
- Believe the promise.
- Plead the promise.
Firstly, Deeply Meditate and Don’t Forget This Promise
Christ gives this promise with “Assuredly,” meaning: “If you never listen to any of My words, listen to what I am about to say. Never take it lightly.” This should be taken so seriously that this truth should impact the way you think and change the way you live. You should live in the light of this truth now onwards.
Does this truth speak to your heart? What a glorious promise! If you lose anything for Me and the Gospel, 100 times in this life I, as the Ruler of the universe, give it in writing, sealed with My “Assuredly.” See how blessed is this promise: no man, in any age, in any circumstance, has left possessions or relations for My sake in the Gospel, but he shall receive a hundredfold now. You have already received that in the pledge and promise of Christ. It is a point of how much God allows you to tap, according to His own providence and His own perfect plan for us. We should praise God for this promise.
There are few wider promises than this in the word of God. There is certainly none in the New Testament which holds out such encouragement for the life that now is. Let every one that is fearful and faint-hearted in Christ’s service look at this promise. Let all who are enduring hardship and tribulation for Christ’s sake study this promise well and drink comfort from it.
To all who make sacrifices on account of the Gospel, Jesus promises “an hundred-fold now in this time.” They shall have not only pardon and glory in the world to come. They shall have, even here upon earth, hopes, joys, and sensible comforts sufficient to make up for all that they lose. They shall find in the communion of saints new friends, new relations, more loving, faithful, and valuable than any they had before their conversion. Their introduction into the family of God shall be an abundant recompense for exclusion from the society of this world. This may sound startling and incredible to many ears. But thousands have found by experience that it is true.
To all who make sacrifices on account of the Gospel, Jesus promises “eternal life in the world to come.” As soon as they put off their earthly dwelling, they shall enter upon a glorious existence, and in the morning of the resurrection shall receive such honor and joy as surpass man’s understanding. Their light afflictions for a few years shall end in an everlasting reward. They shall dwell in a world where there is no death, no sin, no devil, no cares, no weeping, no parting, for the former things will have passed away. God has said it, and it shall all be found true.
Where is the saint who will dare to say, in the face of these glorious promises, that there is no encouragement to serve Christ? Where is the man or woman whose hands are beginning to hang down, and whose knees are beginning to faint in the Christian race? Let all such ponder this passage and take fresh courage. The time is short. The end is sure. Let us wait patiently on the Lord.
Secondly, Believe the Promise
If we deeply meditate and could but mix faith with the promise, and trust Christ for the performance of it, surely we should think nothing too much to do, nothing too hard to suffer, nothing too dear to part with, for Christ. This promise will encourage all of us to be ready to sacrifice anything for Christ and for the Gospel. All losses for Christ should be seen as an investment for our happiness in this world. Do you want to be happy? Lose for Christ. How wisely He said, “He who wants to save his life will lose it, but who loses it will save it.” May we hold this with a fresh act of faith; may we live joyfully.
Thirdly, Plead the Promise
When you live sacrificially for Christ, plead this promise in your prayers and needs because you have a hundredfold credit in your spiritual bank account. Let them make a schedule of their losses for Christ, and they shall be sure to receive a hundredfold. “Lord, You promised a hundredfold when I follow You and leave. Here I am; I left relations, left worldly facilities; please meet my need.”
Fourthly, Understand the Cause
I believe it’s important to stress that this isn’t a promise for just anyone who gives up anything. Many people have “left” the comforts of life in order to pursue a self-imposed, pseudo-spiritual, monastic life of asceticism. We study in church history many people doing it. That accomplishes nothing. That doesn’t have this promise. Many forsake brethren, and wife, and children, in overzealous passion, like “the bird that wanders from her nest”; that is a sinful desertion. It is not the suffering, but the cause, that brings the blessing of this promise.
Jesus makes it very clear that we aren’t to lay aside the things of life on our own initiative. Rather, we are only to do so in response to His call and command. Peter, James, John, Matthew, and the others, left everything behind when Jesus called them! He goes before us, beckoning us, as it were, and we “follow” Him only where He leads. In verse 29, Jesus applies this promise only to those who leave the comforts of this life “for My sake”; or as it is in Mark’s account, “for My sake and the gospel’s” (Mark 10:30); or as it is in Luke’s account, “for the sake of the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:29). Loss or deprivation that results from (1) the believer’s relationship to Christ and (2) his stand for the gospel of Christ is what receives the promise.
But the main point is this: When He calls us to follow, and when that call to follow involves leaving behind the comforts and security of the things of this world, you can safely let those things go. We can confidently suffer loss of all things at the call of Jesus, because He promises that we will gain many times over whatever it is that we forsake for Him. Is He calling you in some way today? Trust Him! No one who gives their all for Him will ever end up a loser.
It calls the unconverted to look at the powerful incentives for becoming a disciple. One said he is not a fool who gives up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose. What do we give up? An idolatrous attachment to people and things that will take us to hell. We give up what we cannot keep. What do we get? We get what we cannot lose. What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? If you had the whole world, you would give it to gain what you cannot lose. Oh, why should you remain outside Christ? We have relationships that extend through the globe. Whatever we leave, we will get a hundredfold. Unbelievers don’t have what we have, the line of credit.
So whatever you gave up, look what you gained. You may have thought you had to get it all for yourself and pile it up, and when you abandoned it to Christ, you just found out you could go anywhere in the world, and somebody there would meet your needs. Somebody who belongs to Jesus Christ would care for you and love you.
Conclusion
The Christian is one who has left all things and relations in an idolatrous attachment to follow Christ. Does that describe you? Jesus clearly says if you have not hated all things for His sake, you are not His disciple at all. Don’t deceive yourself. If in your heart you have not left all that, when the time comes to choose between Christ and those things, you will always go with those things. The baggage of the world does not fit on the narrow road leading to life. Let us not turn from Christ, as the rich young ruler did. Let our story not be a sad story like his, but see the glorious promise, and may we believe and follow Him like those apostles to inherit this promise. Though they left all relations now, in Acts, how many brothers and sisters they gained! Just on the first day, 3,000, and now, world over. They are fathers of the church; we are all their children, and they inherited eternal life and will shine like stars in the highest honor for all eternity. Let us follow their steps.
So, we’ll have blessing now, we’ll have blessing in the kingdom, and ultimately we’ll have the fullness of all that God has prepared for us in eternity: the full inheritance.
Devastating Indictment of Decisionalism Evangelism
This passage is a devastating indictment of all notions and practices of slick decisionalism evangelism. The idea that you can argue with a person and somehow make him come to Christ by selectively giving minimum exposure to his own heart’s condition, having him pray a little prayer, and saying he is saved and going to heaven—how can that be called Christian evangelism? Look at Christ Himself. If ever there was a man who seemed ripe for the kingdom, it was the man who was willing to break away from all his peers, all alone, not with a crowd. Surely he should have been told, “God has brought you to this level; you may already be saved. Tap him on the shoulder, pray this prayer, and believe in Jesus Christ.”
Jesus begins to make him realize Who He is talking to. Without knowing who Jesus is, there is no way anyone can enter eternal life. And then He shows the holiness of the law of God and shows the man as a sinner. These are the basic, fundamental issues involved in a soul’s salvation: Who is God? Who is Jesus Christ? Who am I as a sinner? Where do I stand before His holy law? How undone I am in relation to His holiness? And then the call for repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. If the Holy Spirit has brought true repentance, tell him to follow Him.
Though Jesus loved him, He let him go. When the man went away, Jesus didn’t run after him saying, “Okay, I was trying to get full surrender, saved, sanctified, and ready for heaven. At least can we reduce the price now? Maybe 50% sell, and after some time, you can sell full.” Jesus let him go.
Jesus loved him, and He let him go. Jesus loved him too much to pat him on the back and say he is on his way to heaven while he is still on his way to hell. If there is any love we have for men’s souls, we should talk openly about the way of salvation to them.
The reason we don’t share the Gospel is not because we don’t love men as we should; we are too selfish. We are more concerned about successful evangelism than about souls getting truly saved.
This passage is a devastating indictment on all notions of slick decisionalism evangelism. The truest way to draw genuine souls is not to flatter, nor to make entrance easy by dropping the standard or hiding the requirements, but to call out all their energy by setting before them the lofty ideal. Easy-going disciples are easily made—and lost. Thorough-going ones are most surely won by calling for entire surrender.
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 