How Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Peter Obeyed the Gospel of the Kingdom (Part 1)

What kind of demands can he make? Middle-class American, typical spiritual American demands. That’s all he can demand. When Jesus Christ walked by, what could he demand? Foxes have holes in the ground; birds have nests in the trees…but the greatest thing that ever came out of mankind doesn’t have a rock to lay his head on. He had clothes on His back, and nothing in His hands. They were bare. He hadn’t… Maybe I’d better stop right there and go back, and I want to make sure I’m getting all my point in here.

The Lord loves you. By the way, the Father loves the Son. The Son loves the Father. The Lord Jesus loves you. He came to earth looking for a bride. He didn’t have one, but he would do anything to get her, because love needed a place to go. Jesus Christ was a divine creature. He was a new species. He was both man, all man, and he was God, all God. He was all God and all man, and nobody had ever been that before, not even God. He was looking for a wife. He was also the Son of God, rightful heir to earth and rightful heir to the kingdom of the heavens.

While He was looking for a bride, He was also winning His sonship so that He might rule heaven and earth…and He won obedience. He won his sonship by obedience. The first step in that obedience was losing all things. The loss of all things. Gee whiz, I’m just standing here speaking, and I’m just… I’m getting under conviction. I really am. Man, I just suddenly realized what I’ve got—the loss of all things. I held my hands up there a minute ago, and I said they were empty. I realized mine wasn’t. I’ve got a wedding band on mine. I don’t mean that I’m going to give up marriage, but I didn’t realize until just a minute ago that I own gold.

Simon Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none.” Praise the Lord. You know, brothers and sisters, I was thinking about that while driving up to the meeting this morning. This is really on my heart, and I was driving along here. I’ve been thinking about all the things that have been said about what I’ve been speaking lately. Oh, not much has been said; I don’t want to over-dramatize this. Only a few people even know I’ve said it. You know, a few people have said this is a little extreme.

I was driving along, and I was thinking, what’s the gospel of the kingdom going to do when it’s preached all over the earth, or even around in middle-class America? This is what I realized: there are going to be people who will find Scripture to prove that this is not necessary, that this is not important, that we can go on with the Lord without it, and they will quote some verses, and then they will rationalize, and they’ll say how foolish this is, and when they get through, I’m not going to be in the world, and they’re going to be in the world. They may be scripturally correct, and I may be scripturally wrong, but when the conversation’s over, they’ll be in the world, and I won’t.

Do you understand what I mean? That Christianity will continue on its fat, sloppy, rich course, men earning money, giving their time to the accumulation of wealth, and so forth, and so forth. They will have all the Scripture, and they will have absolutely proven beyond doubt that I’m wrong, and they’re going to be in the world, and I’m going to be in the kingdom of God. So, I’m sorry, I can take that…I can say, well, we must pay attention to the things we have. I’ve got a safer way—not to have any things. You know, there’s been moral issues going around here for years about big automobiles and little automobiles and high incomes and little incomes. Well, I’ve got a perfect solution. I just don’t have anything. I’m warming up to this idea. I’m trying it on for size.

I am impressed that Jesus Christ left everything. He came up to Simon Peter, and He looked at him, and said, “Simon Peter, leave everything and come follow me.” Point one, point two in just a moment. Did Simon Peter leave everything? He left everything. We’ll prove that in a minute, very simply; I’ve already mentioned it. He left everything. He didn’t have anything. Did Simon Peter leave everything? Yes or no? Everything? Well, he kept his wife. There’s one. He kept his wife. He left everything to follow the Lord Jesus.

Now, if I can pursue this a little further, what can a middle-class minister standing in the stained-glass church demand? He can demand whatever he is; no more and no less. Simon Peter left everything. What did the Lord Jesus leave? He left everything. The incredible thing is that, to have a wife, He also had to leave the earth, at least physically…He had to leave the earth physically…so that He could enter man, so that man would also be divine, because there’s only one divine God, and He had to enter mankind, that mankind might be his bride, that He might have her to marry, that they might be one, even as he is one.

Now I’m up to the day of Pentecost, and that’s where I was trying to be three or four months—no, a month and a half ago. You remember we went through all the Gospels, and we talked about the Lord Jesus coming to love. You remember Mary Magdalene and how she loved the Lord, and she was such a prototype of the church. I want to ask you a question. Did Mary Magdalene leave everything? Are you absolutely certain she left everything? Can you prove to me that Mary Magdalene left everything? Okay, because she did something before she went everywhere he went.

I want you to know something. Mary Magdalene won the right to enter the kingdom of God. Mary Magdalene had been a harlot, and she had accumulated great wealth from it, and what had she invested it in? It was an investable commodity in those days. Today, people invest in stocks, but in Europe, they invest in paintings. In those days, men and women invested in precious ointments. She invested in ointments worth a great deal, and she heard Jesus Christ say, “Leave everything and follow me,” and He had saved her from her sins. She had wealth, and she didn’t give it to the poor, although the Lord had probably told her, “Give it to the poor,” because that’s what He told the wealthy man: give it to the poor.

What did she do? She decided she’d throw it away; totally waste it. She didn’t want anything. Where did she decide to waste her wealth? On the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. I had another scripture to read. I’m not going to read it. I’m going to tell it. Did Simon Peter leave everything? You can only demand what you’ve experienced. Brothers, you can only demand what you’ve experienced.

Jesus Christ told Simon Peter, “Give up everything, and I’ll make you a fisher of men,” and he won the right to fish for men. Did He ever fish for men? You bet your life He did. When did He fish for men? On the day of Pentecost. He said, “Leave this crooked and perverse generation.” He preached the gospel of salvation that day, and how many believed? Three thousand. I’m not sure, though, that was the day He won his fisherman’s license. Well, He won them on the day He followed the Lord, but let me tell you the day He put it into practice. He won it….He put it into practice…not on the day of Pentecost, which was Sunday, but on Monday. What did Simon Peter say to 3,000 people on Monday morning? He said, ” Most of you folks don’t live here. You ought to stay here.