Luke chapter 22, and we'll pick it up in verse 28. Here are the word of the Lord. You are those who have stayed with me in my trials and I assign to you as my father assigned to me a kingdom that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come to you this morning and we seek your favor as we come to your word. We pray that you yourself would speak to us as your word is open before us. That we would hear these words as what they really and truly are, as the words of God, which are living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. God, we pray that your word would penetrate our hearts, that it would do its work in us at times to remove the cancer of sin like the surgeon's scalpel. God, that it would, your word would comfort us and bring encouragement to us that would increase our spiritual fortitude as we seek to live for you in a world in which it's hard to do so, in which we often grow weak and weary. We pray that you would set before us Christ in all of his benefits And the promises that we have in Christ about the age to come, that we might take him at his word and be heavenly minded in our orientation, not so much focused upon the things of earth, which are in a certain sense our business here and now. We pray that you'd help us to live in this world, but not to be of this world. To do all for your glory. and to look forward to and to really long for and anticipate with a great deal of hope the coming of the city of God, which has foundations, of a day when we will reign with you in glory and feast with you at table. God help us to keep these things before us and enable us to persevere in this Christian life which we now live. We pray all of this in Christ's name, amen. If you recall in the passage that came immediately before this, even as Christ instituted the Lord's Supper, which was his last supper, the context of his earthly ministry and washed the feet of his disciples, giving them this example, profound example and pattern for their own leadership and what it meant to be and what it would mean for them to be not only disciples of his, but especially leaders among his people and in the church. The disciples begin to, even as their own Lord and Savior serves them in the most humble way, they begin to be filled with pride. And a dispute arose among them, we're told in verse 24, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And it's easy for us to write this off as sort of the the way of the disciples before Pentecost. Because, of course, in a powerful and profound way, Pentecost changed these men. And as they're filled with the Holy Spirit and immediately go from what we see at the end of Christ's ministry and in the context of his betrayal and death, men who scatter, who betray him, who deny having known him, who are really pretty weak and pathetic, and then to boldly proclaim Christ to multitudes in Jerusalem, to those who just crucified their master, to say things as Peter says in his Pentecost sermon, this Jesus, whom you delivered up for death, and really bring a great deal of conviction through his preaching to them. These men, we might assume that everything changes with Pentecost, but if you look forward to the New Testament, there's evidence that this kind of pride was still operative. It was still at work within them. The Apostle Paul speaks of going and and having a dispute with Peter and some of the other disciples that there was perhaps some pride in their hearts that he had to call out. So it's not something that necessarily went away, and here Jesus, he condemns this spirit of pride, and he offers a correction to them, a stinging rebuke, and it's the kind of thing that disciples, his disciples, these apostles would need to hear, later on as the Apostle Paul is even brought to point this out and to bring conviction to them. further on, but all of his disciples, all of us, can be filled with pride at various points in time. And we can think of ourselves more highly than we ought. And if we really consider, especially as we do each Lord's Day, as we reflect on the law of God, and we allow God's law to bring conviction to our hearts, we can, as we reflect on our shortcomings and really count our blessings, we can count our sins and really take stock of the things that we need to confess to the Lord and to repent of. As we do this, we find ourselves to be still dealing with indwelling sin. This is a continual reality for us. And so in light of this, it's really quite striking what Jesus says next. The apostles are imperfect. They fail. They've just failed. They've just shown themselves to be full of pride, very capable of this. The same with us, we can come each Lord's Day and reflect on the past week and realize, here I am again in need of grace, in need of forgiveness, but surely the Lord sees nothing worthwhile in me. Because if I'm really honest with myself, I think I give the Apostle Paul a run for his money when he calls himself the chief of sinners. And yet look at what Jesus says to them, you are those who have stayed with me in my trials. Is this not really a great contrast with what he's just said by way of correction? And now he says this, which is very comforting, very encouraging to them, very heartening for them to receive his commendation. And we see a couple of things here in these verses, and I want to look at both of them with you this morning. The first is just to look at this commendation that he gives to them in verse 28, and then we look at the comforting words of verses 29 through 30 and the rewards that he offers them in in response to this faithfulness, this loyalty, this steadfastness that he is commending him for. And I want you to see here this word stayed. If you're familiar with the King James Version, you'll know that says continued. You continued with me. And it's in the original language, this is a perfect participle, which may not mean much to you, but it indicates that this is something that they have done, that they will continue to do. It's a characteristic of their discipleship that they are the kinds of Christians, they are the ones who have stayed. They're the kinds of Christians who do stay, who persevere, who continue. And continuing is an important part of our discipleship in following Jesus. Flip back with me, if you would, to Luke chapter 8 and verses 8 through 15, where we see the parable of the sower. Luke chapter 8, starting in verse 8. I meant to begin in verse 5. Luke chapter 8, starting in verse 5, and going through verse 15. Jesus tells a parable, and he says this, starting in verse 5. A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold. As he said these things, he called out, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. And so as Jesus does at times explain the meaning of the parable to those who are in his inner circle, to his disciples, he goes on in verse nine. And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are imparables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Now the parable is this, the seed is the word of God, the ones along the path are those who have heard, and then the devil comes and takes away the word. from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy, but these have no root. They believe for a while, and in time of testing, fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. And what do all of these have in common? We can analyze each of these different types of soil or these different conditions of the hearts which receive the Word of God. They receive the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. But all three of these have this in common, that they don't continue in it. And it might be the work of Satan, it might be the cares and concerns of the world, it might be that they never have matured enough in their understanding to have any kind of root. And so the truth is not taken root in their heart. But whatever is the case, the end result is the same, is that whatever fruit we might say is present there, evidence that God is at work perhaps, it's not, It's not unto salvation. It doesn't result in perseverance or a continuance with Christ. It isn't like what we read in verse 15, that as for those in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience. So there's a holding fast and there's a patience. Those who are truly saved are those who continue. They're those who continue. The disciples, they had many opportunities to turn back, and many others did turn back. I think about in John chapter 6, Jesus would sometimes teach, and you know this is, I think, instructive to churches and to ministers because one temptation of ministers is to preach what will be most palatable to the many, and so draw a great crowd of people who attracted to the Word, and you know there's a way this can be done so that you're not preaching falsehood necessarily, but at the same time you're not preaching the difficult teachings of Scripture which might turn away some. And so in doing that and just preaching what's sort of encouraging and light and breezy and what everybody can agree to, we can really fill our churches in this way, but that's not the pattern that we see in the New Testament, especially in the example that we have of Christ. He would have a large multitude, crowds, coming to hear him speak. And then he would preach things which were very difficult and just drive away, almost intentionally turn away these multitudes so that he was left with just a small band of disciples. And that's what we find in John chapter 6 when he says things like, you must eat my body and drink my blood if you're to have a share in me. And he has hard things to say about salvation, and unless the Father draws you, you'll never come to me. And all of this is just very difficult for people, and they turn away from him. And then Jesus asked the twelve, after this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him, Jesus said to the twelve, do you want to go away as well? And Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. This is what Jesus means. And we're talking about, if you read, you'll read the Gospels, you'll be under no pretense that these are men who are not able to stumble. They're beyond reproach in every way. They are perfect men. never slipping up. These are men who are frequently arguing amongst themselves about who's the greatest as we've seen and that's not the first time this has happened. These are men who are often confounded and slow to understand the things of God and they're not so different from you or I. James talks about this when he talks about the prayers of Elijah. And he says, you know, Elijah was not so different from you or I, and yet God answers his prayers because the prayers of a righteous man are effective in this way. The disciples are not so different from us. They have their shortcomings and their failures and they're imperfect and they're still, even after they're born again, even after they've put their faith in Christ, they're still dealing with sin in their hearts. And yet this is what Jesus means. It's what Simon Peter, he really gives voice to the feeling of all the disciples, I think, when he says, Lord, whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. And so they stay, they persevere. And that means for us, that means persevering in repentance. It doesn't mean that we're going to be perfect, but it means that we're going to persevere in waking up yet again, taking stock of our failures the day before, repenting of our sins, seeking the face of God, looking to Him for the kind of help that He alone can give to us, and walking with Him in this sort of continuing way where we stay with Christ despite our failures. The disciples, they weren't perfect men, and just because they persevered in Christ doesn't mean that they did not stumble off and along the way. I want you to listen to the Bible commentator, Matthew Henry. If you've never read any of his, a lot of times when they had Christian bookstores, I guess you don't have those anymore, but almost every Christian bookstore would sell a one-volume commentary of Matthew Henry's one-volume commentary in the Bible. You can access it online now, but you may have a copy. It's worth getting because there's such rich insights and it's very devotional and encouraging. But this is what Matthew Henry writes about our passage. It says, Christ's disciples had been very defective in their duty. We find them guilty of many mistakes and weaknesses. They were very dull and very forgetful and often blundered. Yet their master passes all by and forgets it. He does not upbraid them with their infirmities, but gives them this memorable testimonial, you are they who have continued with me. Thus does he praise at parting to show how willing he is to make the best of those whose hearts he knows to be upright with him. You see, the point is, if we think that what really counts in terms of our salvation or our commendation with the Lord is our record of righteousness and how well we have obeyed, we're putting the emphasis on us. And it doesn't matter how well you've obeyed, because even if you think you've done it all well, you have no clue how insufficient your obedience is and how unworthy you yet are. It's just, if we've done all that we can, our very best is really, is very little. And the more that we know of God and his holiness and of his law, the more that we'll realize that we have done very little to please him, very little of worth. But if our focus is on staying with Christ, it puts the emphasis where it needs to be, which is persevering with Jesus, of walking with Him. And He is the one that is our Savior. We don't save ourselves. God isn't looking to our good works and counting that for righteousness. He's looking at the righteousness of Christ. And so in answer to that question that I sometimes ask of, say, new believers, If God were to ask you, why should I allow you into heaven, what would your answer be? There's only one acceptable answer to that, and it's to point to Christ in some fashion. When people point to themselves, well, I pray, I read my Bible, I go to church, I've tried to do good, that's not what the Christian gospel is about. That's not what gives us salvation. but is pointing to Christ. I've trusted in Him. I don't deserve salvation, but I am with Christ. And that's what the Lord, His opinion of them is based on them continuing with Him and not their obedience to Him or their good works. And the Lord deals with us in this way also, not just the disciples. And so as we see Him commending them for their perseverance with Him and not dealing with them according to their obedience or their record of righteousness, we can know that the Lord deals with us similarly. And we see this in the Psalms. I think it's very well put in Psalm 103, verse 10. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. And in verse 14, for he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. And so you need to understand that the Lord, He knows your frame. He remembers that you are dust. And He doesn't deal with you according to your sins or pay you according to your iniquities. And Psalm 130, verses three and four, if you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. This is what matters. In terms of eternal reward and our assurance that we will be with the Lord in glory, what matters is not our perfect obedience or our righteousness, inherent righteousness or goodness or moral purity, but is have you stuck with Christ? Because He is your substitute. He has been good where you have been bad. He has obeyed where you've disobeyed. And if you stick with Him, even if you are dealing hard with sin all your life, then you will come into this same reward that Jesus promises to His apostles and disciples here. And so let's look at this reward. And so in Luke chapter 22, in verses 29 and 30, Jesus says, since they are the kind of people who have stayed with me in my trials, and you are those who have stayed with me, Jesus says, I assign to you as my father assigned to me a kingdom. I assign to you as my father has assigned to me a kingdom. And we see this throughout the Bible, especially throughout the New Testament, as a promise to believers. Think about the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says in Matthew 5, verse 3, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He's gifting the kingdom to those who believe in him, those who are not proud and feel themselves to be rich strong in spirit, but to be poor and weak in spirit. Matthew 5, 10, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 25, 34, Then the king will say to those on his right, Those who have trusted in Christ that they are righteous and have come to him for salvation, the king will say, come, you who are blessed by my father. Those who are blessed by my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. There is this inheritance of the kingdom. It belongs to all of those who trust in Christ. The apostle Paul speaks not only of his own crown of righteousness, but for all of those. who have loved Christ. Henceforth, Paul says in 2 Timothy 4.8, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. And also in Revelation 1, in verses 5 and 6, to him who loves us, and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priest to his God and Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. It's Christ's kingdom, but he has made us to be part of his kingdom and to be rulers in this kingdom which is to come. And so there's great good news in this. We see here not only is Christ promising this reward of an inheritance of a kingdom, which as we think about a lot of what makes our perseverance in the Christian faith so difficult is because the kingdoms of man do offer us rewards. And if we'll get along and go along with the world, then there are material rewards. There are rewards that we can touch, that we can take here and now, which are very tantalizing. And yet we're called as God's people to forego many of these worldly pleasures in order to receive rewards that are to come. And yet we can only do this and delay our gratification And if we have this sure promise, this assurance that even if I receive no earthly reward, there is a heavenly kingdom and I'll receive the rewards that belong to that heavenly kingdom. In verse 30, Jesus says that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. So to get a picture, just a sketch or a glimpse of what that reward entails or what it might mean to inherit that kingdom. Jesus says in verse 30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And so here this idea of not just being citizens of the kingdom but co-regents to rule together with Christ in the new heavens and the new earth, and to sit at table with him in this privileged position, to sit at table with him and to enjoy table fellowship with our Savior. Something that we experience just in part here and now in this life. There are times we have glimpses of it when our fellowship with the Lord is particularly sweet, and we long to actually see him face to face. There are times when we feel as if he is present among us. We can't see him. We can't feel him, we don't actually hear his voice, but we feel as if he is present among us. At times, in our own personal devotion, or as we take the Lord's Supper together, or spend time in worship and fellowship with the church, we feel like he is drawing by his Holy Spirit, drawing very close to us. Well, that is just a glimpse, a foretaste of far greater things, of deeper joys, and further blessings. I take, we can't imagine what these might entail. I think that one way that we go wrong is sometimes we can think of heaven as being a place that is pretty dull, that it's a place where people float on clouds and play harps or something like that. There's a cultural impression of what heaven means and it's very dull, it's sort of boring. and we look around us and we see all of the rich experiences and the sights and the beauty and the joys that we have on earth and we think it's just a lot less of that in heaven. And so no wonder so many people aren't really looking forward to heaven because they think I love food and I love drink and I love to go and see the beauty of nature and a sunset and mountains and sweeping vistas and the and the sun set at the beach or something like this. And I love to have human experiences of watching my children play or just enjoying fellowship with a good friend late into the night or whatever it might be. Just really those moments of greatest joy in our life. And then we think of heaven as being some kind of dull, eternal existence. It couldn't be further from the truth. The greatest experiences, the greatest moments of appreciation for the beauty of what God has made, or the joys in human relationships, all of these are like dim reflections of greater realities that are to come when we're in the new heavens and the new earth. And so we really just, we can't imagine, we can't picture, but just think of what you love about earth, the purest and the best experiences on earth, and just multiply those. And allow yourselves to imagine that whatever heaven is like, it will be greater than these things, such that we'll never wish to go back to this former way of existence. The Apostle Paul really, I think, puts it well and summarizes all of this when he says in 1 Corinthians 2, 9, "...as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him." Do you love Christ? Do you love Him? Have you trusted in Christ for salvation? And do you look forward to His coming? Are you walking in perseverance with the Savior? He's not calling on you to walk perfectly. He is not greatly disappointed and ashamed at every misstep that you take. He is quite willing to correct you whenever you walk astray and there's disobedience to His word as He corrects the His disciples, and He'll correct you through His Word, through other Christians to bring correction. And we ought to be willing to receive correction and be discerning our own hearts to long for greater and greater obedience to Him. But we shouldn't from that conclude that He'll only be pleased with me when there are no more missteps, when there is no need for correction, because He is pleased with you now. For the sake of Jesus, God is pleased with you because of what Jesus has done for you, if you're trusting in him. And so it counts, if we're to receive what Paul says, no eye has seen nor ear heard nor the heart of man imagined, for those who love him, what God has prepared for us, we've got to continue with Christ. That's what matters. So continue with Christ, church, as we pray together. Father God, we thank you for the blessings that you have God, the blessings that you have promised us in Christ, many of these blessings we've enjoyed here on earth, just the ordinary blessings that we receive through your word and through fellowship with other believers, your Holy Spirit who walks with us, and God, the way that you're present with us through your Holy Spirit, God, but we look forward to and we anticipate further blessings and greater things in the age to come. And we pray that you would fix our heart upon heaven and God, that you would help us to persevere in the faith and to continue to be those who, if anything could be said about us, we're an imperfect lot and we're full of failures. And there are many things that we have to be ashamed of, really. God, if anything could be said of us, let it be that we have continued with Christ. God, that we've looked to him. That we confess our sins each day and look to Christ for our standing with you. Look to Christ for spiritual comfort and strength and for every grace that we need to live in this life. Help us to look to Christ. We pray that you would exalt Christ among us and honor him in this people. We pray all of this in Christ's name. Amen.