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He was then met by a rich man who desired to know what good thing he must do to
have eternal life. It is not our purpose to enter into this passage here, other than to lodge
a protest against the idea often read into it that the Lord meant to teach the doctrine of the
Epistles--faith without works. The commandments are stated as the way to enter into
life, and added to that He said, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and
give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come follow Me." Nothing
but the assumption that the Gospel of Matthew speaks in the same terms as the Pauline
Epistles could have made men teach from this passage the doctrine of justification by
faith without works. However, we pass on. The test was too severe for the young man,
and the Lord said to His disciples:--
"Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall enter with difficulty into the kingdom of
heaven. And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God" (Matt. 19: 23, 24).
Again the disciples are amazed at His teaching. If such as the rich young man should
find difficulty, amounting almost to an impossibility, then said they, "Who then can be
saved?" The elective element is again introduced (as in verse 11) by the words, "With
men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Peter seems to have been
turning the matter over in his mind. The young man had failed at the test of giving up all
his possessions and following the Lord. It was a perfectly natural thing for Peter to think
that at least he and his fellow disciples had the advantage here, for they had left all. He
therefore turns to the Lord and says, "Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed Thee;
WHAT SHALL WE HAVE THEREFORE?" This question, the manifestation of its
spirit, and the needed rebuke, is the one great feature of the parable, while the emphasis
upon the sovereignty of grace as related to service and its reward is the other. The Lord
is gracious in His reply. He fully recognizes what they had done and suffered, and He
tells them of their reward first, adding afterwards words of warning, and illustrating His
point by the parable under consideration:--
"Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the
Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones
judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
After having said this much in answer to Peter's question, the Lord continues:--
"And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother,
or wife, or children, or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and
shall inherit everlasting life."
The hundred-fold seems to indicate the highest, as may be seen in the parable of the
Sower (Matt. 13: 23). There is no hint that hundred-fold will be given for one amount of
forsaking, and sixty-fold or thirty-fold for another, indeed the truth we all need to learn
here is that reward for service and the opportunity to serve is as much an act of grace as
salvation. Who among us will dare to say that we have "earned" the "far more exceeding
age-long weight of glory"? We need to remember the words of Phil. 1: 29, "For unto you
it is given in grace in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer
for His sake." The very word translated "given" in Phil. 1: 29 is translated "forgive"