The Bible is somewhat coded. The key to Scripture, of course,
is Jesus Christ. It's only in knowing him that
you understand the Scriptures. Today, a bit of a difficult message
in this sense. Some will not appreciate what
I have to say today. Only those with ears to hear
will give amen to the sermon, the message. There's something we really need
to clearly understand Who then can be saved? Good question. And good answer. With men, this
is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Who then can go to heaven? Certainly
not the rich. Are there not some of you here
who suppose yourself to be rich? How foolish. You have lots of
money, houses, and land, but in reality, you are wretched,
miserable, poor, blind, and naked, for you are without Christ. In the gospel of Luke, the 12th
chapter, take your Bibles and turn there with me. Luke, chapter 12, verse 15. And he said unto them, take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man's life consisteth not
in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them,
saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself,
and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do? What he should have done is praised
God and thanked God. Because I have no room where
to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do. I will pull down my barns and
build greater. And there will I bestow all my
fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul,
thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease,
eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall
those things be which thou hast provided? So it is he that layeth
up treasures for himself and is not rich toward God. And he
said unto his disciples, therefore I say unto you, take no thought
for your life, what shall you eat, neither for the body, "'What
you shall put on, the life is more than meat, "'and the body
is more than raiment. "'Consider the ravens, for they
neither sow nor reap, "'which neither have storehouse nor barn,
"'and God feedeth them. "'How much more are ye better
than the fowls? "'Consider the lilies,' verse
27, how they grow, they toil not, they spin not. And yet I
say unto you that Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed
like one of these. If God so clothed the grass,
which is today in the field and tomorrow's cast into the oven,
how much more will he clothe you? Oh, ye of little faith. What is Jesus teaching? What
is he teaching here? Let's go to the gospel of Luke
chapter 18. If you have eyes, I'm gonna let
you answer some of my questions for yourself. What was Jesus
teaching there? Let's go to Luke 18, beginning with verse 10. And
Greg referred to this passage in his prayer. Luke 18, 10, two
men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and
the other a publican. That's not a Republican, that's
a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself. He prayed thus with himself. God He uses the verbiage, the
lingo, God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. Now, more than likely, those
of you who feel like this rich man, this Pharisee, you're probably
sitting beside today in this church an extortioner. an adulterer. You probably are. When you go home today, think
on the things I'm saying. They're coded. I fast twice in
the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift so much as his eyes unto heaven. but smote
upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful. God, be propitiatory. God, be the appeasing factor. God, be my substitute. God, be
my Redeemer. God, be my Savior. To me, the sinner. And Jesus
said, I tell you, this man, this man, went down to his house justified
rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself
shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. There is a lesson to be learned
here. Rich people don't go to heaven. It's an amazing thing that the
disciples were astonished at what Jesus said. They were shocked. And Jesus explained to them what
our song has just said, call it grace. If a rich man goes
to heaven, it'll be by the grace of God. Because it's an impossible,
we are all prone to be Pharisaic, to think better of ourselves
than we ought. One of the most amazing stories,
kind of coded again, is the story of two thieves that hung on either
side of the Lord Jesus. In the gospel of John, it says
the thieves railed on him, plural, both of them for a period of
time, railed on the Lord Jesus and said, if you're really who
you say you are, come down from the cross and save us. And then
suddenly something happened. One of the thieves who thought
he was deserving, there was a change on the inside. And he spoke to
the other thief and he said, what are you doing basically?
We are here justly. We deserve what we're getting.
But this man on the middle cross has done nothing amiss. And then
he said the most startling thing, Lord, wait a minute, you're a
thief hanging on a cross beside this guy that has been crucified
with you and you're calling him Lord. Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. Wait a minute, what has happened
here? We call it the new birth. We
call it sovereign regeneration. Have you experienced that? The Lord Jesus said this, blessed
are the poor in spirit. Let me ask you about your spirit
today. If your spirit is rich and you
have need of nothing, you will surely perish. You will not end
up in heaven. Only poor people go to heaven. I know your mind is racing. Some of you in here have no car,
no house, no nothing, and you still think you're rich. Some
of you in here are addicts and have stooped to the lowest, and
you still think you're rich. Wrong spirit. You will surely
perish. I hear constantly and see constantly,
and our whole country has an attitude of ungratefulness. I hear all the time somebody
saying, I deserve food stamps. I deserve, I deserve, I deserve. No, what you deserve is hell.
And it's only when you come to know that you are poor and blind
and lost and needy. I'm going to say this to you.
All lost people get saved. Every lost person gets saved.
Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. If you're
not lost, there's no hope for you. It's impossible. For a rich person
to be saved is like a camel going through the eye of a needle.
What do you think the chances of that are? There are some here who in spite
of having nothing, no money, no house, no car, you still think you're rich.
No hope while you're in that condition. Yeah, but I'm going
through the program. Yeah, and the program will take
you to hell without Christ. There are no do's and don'ts. You cannot merit this salvation. It's totally by grace. There
are only two kinds of people in this world, those that think
they're rich and those that know they are not. You're either lost to sin, you
either have been quickened or you have not. And you are out
of your head to think you can go to heaven by your works. My point today is simply this,
only poor people go to heaven. Only poor, wretched, lost sinners. Say, well, I still don't get
it, Pastor. Well, let me make it just a little clearer. Unless you're lost, you can't
get found. You don't even want to be found. See, that's your
problem. You're not poor in spirit, so
you're not seeking a Savior. You have no desire for a Savior.
In fact, you're insulted. When I preach, it's all by grace.
It's by God's unmerited favor. It's not anything you have done.
If you're saved today, He has sovereignly chosen you, come
to you, when you wouldn't come to Him and saved you by His grace. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
And I would ask you today, what kind of spirit do you have? Blessed
are those who have come to see their bankruptness. Oh, you are
a blessed person. I see my emptiness. I love it
when people say this to me. Pastor, I know it's by grace.
I'm telling you, sometime I am overwhelmed by my own sinfulness. I got two emails this week from
people that I think are truly saved, asking me, do you think
I am, Pastor? Let me tell you, the only people
who ask me, do you think I'm saved, are people that God has
saved. Because otherwise, you cannot
question what you don't have. Amen. And a lost man without
Christ, or a woman without Christ, continues on. They are the Lord
of their own life, doing their own thing, and never question
anything. They never look and see the wretchedness
and the depravity of their own heart. It's only when God turns
you inside out and you see yourself that you cry out, God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. Is there anybody here this morning,
for the first time in your life, when you came to Grace Church,
Grace Gospel Church, and you began to hear the message, something
stirred within you, and you saw yourself a sinner. The Bible says this, blessed
are they that mourn. Anybody hear mourning? I know
this. I came to church mourning today.
Ms. Pam said, what's wrong with you? She said, I thought you were
having a stroke. No, I was just thinking about
my own sinfulness and about the message today. That's the way
God's people think. And when I think about that,
I immediately think about this. Oh, what a wonder that Jesus
found me. Out in the darkness, no light
could I see. He put his great arm under and
wonder of wonders, hallelujah, he saved even me. Blessed are the meek. Blessed
are the meek. They shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled. Do you want to be saved? Do you
see yourself poor? God can save you. In fact, if
you see yourself that way, he already has. You just haven't
been reconciled to that wonderful truth. Only God can put a camel
through the eye of a needle. Only God can make a man who thinks
he's rich find out he's poor and blind. Is there any here
today with their filthy rags of unrighteousness who will come
and lay them at the feet of Jesus? I'm not talking about, I'm talking
about right now. Is there anybody here who sees
their self wretched, but at the same time you are trusting in
Jesus Christ and Him alone? Amen. Some of you have not professed
faith in Christ, but I want to invite you. You can just come
and fall somewhere down here. and we'll keep on having service
and praise God, and we'll know that you're coming because you're
wretched, and you want to publicly confess, I'm no good, but I have
a Savior. I'm ungodly, but He saved me.
Amen. You can do that anytime. For
the first time in your life, you've seen yourself a beggar
and trusted Jesus Christ. Right there, young man, that's
fine, glory. Anybody else? Anybody else? Can you, will you come to Jesus
just as you are? Let's sing it together. Just
as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me. Amen. Amen, my friend. God bless you. God bless you, my sister. Is there one person here today
who's tired of fighting life and always losing? Anybody here
made ready by the Holy Spirit to lay the shotgun down, to hoist
the white flag and surrender to Jesus Christ? Anybody here
who's tired of walking through this scorching desert of life
and you are so thirsty Anybody here mourning their sins? Is
there a poor lost sinner in this house who will trust Christ this
morning? Trust him trust him alone and
say nothing in my hands I bring simply to thy cross I cling O
Lamb of God I come He is a friend of sinners He is a Savior of
the poor. The Scripture says this to the
preacher, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. I want to comfort the little
child of God here. I know you're here today. Many
of you have professed faith in Christ. And there is no doubt
in your mind that in your own strength, you are a flop, a failure,
bankrupt, helpless, hopeless, dried bone sinner. You're the
babe in the open field. And in your life, as you live
your life as a Christian, there is a war going on. There is a
battle going on. Sometimes the flesh is so dominant
that you hardly can breathe out a holy groan. Amen. Sometimes you question whether
you're His or not because you are looking at your mess. I want
to comfort you today by saying this to every one of you who
are professors of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Get your head
out of your belly button. You're not going to find any
comfort looking there. Look away to Jesus Christ and
trust Him. Isn't it true? Isn't it true
of you as a child of God that you say something like this?
What I want to do, I don't do. And what I hate, that do I. And in the quietness and solitude
where nobody's looking or listening, you cry out, O wretched man that
I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? And with the Apostle Paul, you
quickly say, I thank God Jesus Christ has. There is therefore
now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. This
is the way the little child of God lives. This is what the Lord
Jesus meant. when he said, rich people don't
go to heaven. Whether you're coming to Christ
and been recently quickened by the Spirit of God, or you're
here and you've been a child of God for 40 years, you're still
poor. You know it's by grace. You know
it's by grace. And when you hear the message
of grace, you rejoice in it. Someone told me this week, you
know, Pastor, when I came to Grace Gospel, I'd never heard
the doctrine of election that God chose me. What a wonderful
thing it was when I found out that I was not an accidental
kid of God's, that he had loved me before the foundation of the
world, that he had before he formed me in my mother's belly.
We're bound to give thanks for you, brethren beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. You are a miracle of his grace. And what good news it was to
me, Pastor, when you said that Jesus Christ died and paid the
debt for all His people's sin, that Jesus on the cross said,
it is finished, it's accomplished, it's done, their sin debt is
paid in full. How wonderful it is, and how
I go back and rejoice in that, that the debt is paid in spite
of my mess, in spite of my flesh. There's no condemnation, no judgment
for me. Yes, I fall. Yes, I relapse. Yes, I mess up. And yes, there
is a struggle going on, but thank God Jesus paid it all. And thank God that greater is
He that's in me than he that's in the world. I'm gonna win!
I am a winner! Are you able to sing blessed
assurance Jesus is mine? Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. It's true. You know, several years ago,
I wrote this book called Foreknown. And here's what I, this is the
reason I wrote the book. Because over there, I have heard
horrendous stories of women who have slept with dogs. I know
it's shocking, but you'll get over it. It's going on in the
world. Most churches, a lot of churches
are playing church. We don't play church here. This
is the real McCoy here. Women who have been abused, little
girls have been abused by their fathers, or the abuse that's
going on in the church. And I wrote that book because
I thought of the hundreds of folks that are out there who
are locked into the devastation of what has happened to them
in this life, and they feel like there's no hope. If you had sold your daughter
to the crack man, How would you ever survive that? Unless there
was a Redeemer. Unless there was a Savior. Unless
there was someone who was a greater Savior than you are a sinner.
Unless there was someone who is mighty to save. Unless there's
someone who is able to wash all of your sins away. Unless there's
someone who can take your sins and remove them as far as the
East is from the West, never to be remembered against you
anymore. How could you ever get past those
things? It's all true. He is a great and mighty Savior. And though your sins be as scarlet,
he will wash you white as snow. And here's what he says, come
unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll rest you. May God rest somebody today.
May God give rest to someone today. And may you have that
blessed assurance. I was thinking this week about
all the shenanigans of Bible people. And we almost live like and act
like that somehow there are people who don't struggle who are Christians. And we get in our church, our
nice little churchy, churchy stuff. And we really never face
the fact that the flesh is desperately evil. There's nobody any different
in here from anybody else. What you haven't done and what
the person next to you has done, you thought about doing. And I know some of you are like,
I can't believe he said that. I have never. You are the rich
person who does not know that the only way for you to get saved
is to go through that needle. And it's going to take a miracle
to save you, a real miracle. It takes a miracle to save anybody.
But just think about this. Think about how good you thought
you were at one time until God got ahold of you. You hear it
all the time, people defending themselves. That's a drop factor.
Lie like a rug. Just lie like a rug. Always blaming something else
or someone else. What a wonderful thing it is.
I did hear the story this week of a young lady who has struggled
and struggled and struggled and struggled And she said to her father many
times, I am sure for hell. See, here's what I think. I think probably she's sure for
heaven because she wouldn't have been conscious of her sins. That's what I think. And she's probably already there.
What a glorious gospel we preach. What a glorious gospel there
is. Whether you're here and you've never professed faith in Christ,
but your thoughts are like this, I am wretched. I've done about
everything there is to do. And now you have come to that
place where you see it. Now my message to you is very
simply again, look to Jesus Christ and live. Trust Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
To those of you who are Christians and believers, to you I say,
keep looking to Jesus Christ. Keep looking to Him. He's the
answer. He's salvation. He's our hope. He's our everything. And now, perhaps one of the biggest
surprises, Let's stand and sing. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Blessed are they that mourn.