Sermon
#56 Series: Matthew
Title: “Ye Know Not
What Ye Ask”
Text: Matthew 20:17-23
Reading: Bob Poncer – Bobbie Estes
Subject: The Request of Zebedie’s Wife
Date: Tuesday Evening - September 12, 1995
Tape # R-73
Introduction:
Rolfe
Barnard used to say, “You better be careful what you pray for, because God just
might answer your prayer.” So often we pray and ask God to do things for us, or
give things to us, without considering what weighty things might be involved in
God’s compliance with our requests.
Such was the case with the mother of Zebedie’s children. Our Savior said
to her, “Ye Know Not What Ye Ask.” My
reason for doing so will became obvious as we go through this passage.
Proposition:
True prayer is not trying to change God’s will,
but submitting to God’s will; not seeking what we want but seeking what God has
purposed by the direction of his Spirit.
There are five very important lessons to be learned from
these verses. I will give them to you as we go along. My God the Holy Spirit be our Teacher and graciously lay them
each to our hearts.
I. Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died at Calvary
by his own choice and determination, by his own voluntary will – (vv.
17-20).
This is the third time our Lord told his disciples how that he
must suffer and died at Jerusalem. Though he told them frequently and plainly
how he must be betrayed, delivered by the Jews into the hands of the Romans,
and condemned to die as a common criminal, yet, Luke tells us, “They understood
none of these things” (Luke 18:34). He told them plainly that…
These were not bare possibilities, but
absolute certainties. The death of
Christ at Calvary was a matter of divine predestination. Indeed, Christ’s death
at the cross was the focal point of God’s purposes from eternity and is the
focal point of all God’s purposes from eternity and is the focal point of all
God’s works in time.
·
John
12:31-32 “The Crisis of the World.”
·
Acts
2:23
·
I
Peter 1:18-20
A. Our Lord Jesus Christ died
as a voluntary Victim of horrible, ignominious cruelty and of divine wrath, as
our Substitute.
1.
He
knew from the beginning all that he must suffer.
·
The
Betrayal of Judas.
·
The
Denial of Peter.
·
The
Beatings and Humiliation.
·
The
Imputation of Sin.
·
The
Wrath of Sin.
·
The
Wrath of God.
·
Death.
NOTE: What a great aggravation to
his soul the foreknowledge of his suffering was – Gethsemane.
2.
Yet,
none of these things moved him from his gracious purpose.
·
Isaiah
50:5-6
“He
saw Calvary in the distance all his life through, and yet walked calmly up to
it, without turning to the right hand or to the left.” – J.C. Ryle.
A.
No
sorrow can be compared with his sorrow – (Lam. 1:12).
B.
No
love can be compared with his love – (John 13:34 15:13)
B. Why did the Son of God
voluntarily lay down his life for us at Calvary?
1.
He
knew that it was his Father’s will (John 10:16-18); Heb. 10:5-10).
2.
He
knew that without the shedding of blood is no remission of sins – Justice must
be satisfied! (Heb. 9:22).
3.
He
knew that he was the Lamb of God who must be sacrificed for the sins of his
people (Rev. 13:8).
4.
He
knew that without his death, his life, though perfect, holy, and gracious,
would be useless to his people.
5.
He
knew that the whole of God’s law, the whole book of the writings of God’s
prophets, and the whole revelation of God’s glory could be fulfilled and
revealed only by his death as the Sinner’s Substitute.
Blessed is that soul who knows these things,
who knows the meaning and necessity of Christ’s sufferings and death!
II. True believers sometimes
behave in a very foolish, sinful manner. (vv. 20-22).
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, persuaded their
mother to ask the Lord Jesus to give them the places of highest honor and glory
in his kingdom. Historians tell us that this woman was sister to Joseph, Mary’s
husband. She and her sons were true disciples,
genuine believer’s, followers of Christ. But they behaved very foolishly.
NOTE: Notice that the Bible never
attempts to hide the sins, weaknesses, and foolishness of it’s most prominent
characters – Proof of Inspiration.
A. These disciples were truly
spiritual people, but they behaved in a very carnal manner.
1.
They
were more concerned about their crowns than about Christ’s cross! (Gal. 6:14).
2.
They
were unbelievably presumptuous, when they should have been overwhelmed with
wonder and humbled (v. 22).
3.
They
were more concerned about themselves than about Christ or their brethren.
4.
Yet,
these son’s of Zebudee were, in time, to become pillars of the church and
kingdom of our Lord – (James and John).
B. There are many true
believers like this woman and her sons; indeed, in some areas at different
times, we all are very much like them – “The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit
against the flesh.”
·
Weak.
·
Ignorant
of Very Important Things.
·
Terribly
Proud.
·
Horribly
Self-Serving.
1.
Do
not presume that the weak brother is no brother.
2.
True
faith is often found beneath a pile of rubbish.
III. The gentle reproof given to
this woman and her sons is a warning to us all – “Ye know not what ye ask.”
They had asked to share Christ’s glory, never stopping to
consider that they must first shake his sorrow – (I Pet. 4:13).
How much like this woman and her sons we are! We ask for God to save our sons and daughters – But are we willing for the
Lord to teach us patience – But are we willing to endure trials? We ask for God to make us holy – But are we willing to be purified by
affliction. We ask for God to teach us to trust
him – But are we willing to be cast upon him? We ask the Lord to make Christ
precious to us – But are we willing to have every rival to Christ taken from
us? We ask for God to use us – But are we willing to be used as
he sees fit?
These words apply to us all far more than we realize –
“Ye know not what ye ask.” – “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine
heart be hasty to utter anything before God.” (Eccles. 5:2).
IV. All that the Lord Jesus
Christ did and suffered, all that he endured, and all that he accomplished was
as the Representative of his people – (vv. 22-23).
There is only one way that it can be truthfully said that
these disciples drank the cup of wrath he drank and were baptized in the sea of
woe into which he was baptized – Representatively!
In Christ all God’s elect are saved perfectly by the
representative work of Christ our Substitute!
V. The Lord Jesus Christ became
a Voluntary Servant to God the Father in order to accomplish our redemption,
subjecting himself in all things to the Father’s will – (v. 23).
A. He is God the Son, in all things equal with the Father – (I John
5:7).
B. He became our Surety and Mediator, Jehovah’s Servant, to save us by
his obedience to the Father.
·
Isaiah
42:1
·
John
10:16-18
·
Philippians
2:1-11
·
Hebrews
10:5-14
Application:
As he served the will of God
for us, let us now serve the will of God for him.