turn in your Bible to John chapter
15. We live in a day where men and
women believe they can do almost anything. Most seem to think
that anything and everything is possible if you just put your
mind to it. Few things are impossible anymore. Things may be difficult, Things
may be unlikely, but not impossible. Not too much that's impossible.
Men and women's self-righteousness can take many forms. And our
hearts within us are so deceitful. How deceitful? Well, the scripture
says deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. So much
so that we can't even know them, only God can. And apart from
a sovereign work of grace, we will not bow, we will not submit
to Christ alone for the righteousness that God requires. It takes a
divine revelation from God for us to see our need of Him. A big thing today that disguises
itself as gospel preaching is something that a lot of these
self-help teachers and books call the power of positive thinking. That's the first step towards
apostasy. One of the first steps, anyway.
Has man really fallen so low that he thinks he can change
the outcome of anything by some power within him? Do we dare
claim to possess some ability to manipulate God and his providence
by some positive inward will or thoughts of our own making? And it's absolutely nothing less
than just an arrogant effort on our part to dethrone God so
we can sit in the place of omnipotence. It was the will of both Satan
and Adam to be their own God. And that's what separated and
alienated both of them from their Creator. By God's sovereign grace,
mercy, the saved sinner knows that their will is in bondage
to their nature. God has made them to know that
it's impossible for them to be saved. God has made His people
to know. Make that distinction. That it's
impossible for them to be saved apart from a new nature that
only He can give. When I was growing up, I don't
know, this will probably tell my age, but there was a television
show called Mission Impossible. Do you remember that? The show
was about a team of government spies and specialists who were
offered impossible missions, should they decide to accept
them. But the humorous thing now, thinking
back on that, is the fact that the show was called Mission Impossible,
but their mission was always accomplished. So it wasn't impossible
at all. That's how most people view and
define impossible today. What they really mean is that
it's difficult, that it's unlikely, not impossible, just very hard
to accomplish. But when God says impossible,
he means impossible. He means not possible. That's
the definition of impossible, not possible. There are some
things that are truly impossible. I want to talk to you this morning
just for a few minutes about something that's truly impossible,
something that's not possible. And again, contrary to the popular
belief among this religious world in which we live, it is impossible
for men and women to be saved apart from the mercy and the
grace of God. Not just difficult, impossible,
impossible. Mankind has convinced themselves
that they can, by a will and a work of their own, appease
and satisfy a thrice holy God. It's impossible. In and of yourself,
it's impossible. I know this because in this religious
day, salvation is taught to be nothing more than just a collaboration
between God and man. That God made salvation possible
and man's got to add, contribute something in order to make it
certain. I hope you don't believe that
lie. So, you're here in John chapter 15. Now, here the Lord
is talking about the vine and the branches, and the Lord is
teaching and showing us how spiritual life, meaning salvation, is accomplished. He compares sinners to branches. There are only two kinds of branches
mentioned in this passage. Branches that are dead, withered,
and cast into the fire, and branches that are purged to bring forth
more fruit. What's the difference between
the two? What gives one life and not the other? The vine. The vine's what gives life to
the branches. Look at verse one. The Lord Jesus said, I am the
true vine, and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me
that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And every branch that beareth
fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now
you are clean through the word which I have spoken to you."
Now I want you to pay close attention to verse four. Our Lord says,
abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot, probably
wouldn't hurt to underline that. As the branch cannot, it's not
possible. That's what that word means.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in
the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me. So first, the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself. It's impossible, except. It abides in the vine. To make
certain that we understand this principle of life eternal, our
Lord tells us very plainly as the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, no more can you. He's comparing us to this branch
and He says without this vine you cannot bring forth fruit.
You cannot produce life or any evidence of life except you abide
in Me. There's no life apart from the
vine. If the vine's cut off from the
branch, the branch is gonna die. It's gonna wither, and it's gonna
be cast into the fire. It's impossible. You're gonna
hear that word a lot in this message. It's impossible for
a branch to live without the vine. Now we know, and our Lord
tells us right here, that Christ is the vine. He said that very
plainly in verse one. I am the true vine. There's no
life apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. It's impossible for the
branch to bear fruit in itself. The branch cannot bear fruit
of itself. Isn't that so plain? Life is
only possible through the vine. Life is only possible through
Christ. Now look at verse 5. He said,
I am the vine and you are the branches. He that abideth in
me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without
me you can do what? Nothing. Can't do anything. You know, I looked up that word,
nothing, and you know what it means? Never. Without Christ,
you can do nothing, never. You can never do anything to
appease God in and of yourself. That's what Christ said. Without
me, you can do nothing, never. There's no possibility of life
for the branch apart from its union with the vine. No possibility
of life for anyone apart from union with Christ. Mission impossible. Now, look back a page or so at
John chapter 14, verse six. Jesus said unto Thomas here,
he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh
unto the Father but by me. You may want to underline those
three words. No man comes to the Father, but
by me. There's no possibility of coming
unto the Father, but by the Lord Jesus Christ. No man cometh unto
the Father. No man has the ability to come
to God, but by me, Christ said. It's not possible to come to
God apart from Jesus Christ. Now, look back at John chapter
six. John chapter 6, verse 44. No man can come to me. Did you
hear that? No man can come to me. Doesn't have the ability. Except
the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I'll raise him
up at the last day. And when the Lord says no man
can come to me, that word can there is a Greek word, I hope
I'm saying this right, it's dunamahi. It means not able. It means you
don't have the ability. Of course, we already knew that,
didn't we? No man is able to come to Christ. It's not possible
for any man to come to Christ except. Boy, that's a word that
I've grown to love, except. Except God and mercy and grace
drawing. Religion today has made coming
to Christ a very easy thing. Raise a hand, walk an hour, repeat
a prayer, oh yeah, you're saved. Give your heart, be baptized,
yeah, you're saved. Here in John chapter six, coming
to Christ is declared to be a thing that is absolutely, utterly,
and entirely impossible for any man or woman except God do a
work of grace to and in them. You see, the inability of man
to come to Christ lies deep within his nature. This is what folks
don't understand. through the fall of our father
Adam and because of our own sin. We can't blame it all on that.
The nature of man has become so polluted and there's just
not enough adjectives. I'm telling you, there's not
enough adjectives in the English language to truly describe how
far man has fallen and how polluted that he is. So depraved, even
that word. just doesn't enter into the fullness
of it. Corrupt, so depraved, so corrupt,
so polluted that it's impossible, impossible for him to come to
Christ without God the Holy Spirit bringing them. The inability lies first in the
obstinacy of the human will. Folks say, well, men can be saved
if they will. That's true. But that's the problem. They will not come to Christ
that they might have life. Impossible. No man will come
unless he be drawn to what our Lord said. And I believe men
and women can be saved if they will. That's not the issue. The
issue is no man or woman is ever found naturally willing to submit
to the humbling terms of coming to Christ. Look down at verse
65 here in John 6. He said, and he, being Christ,
said, therefore said I unto you that no man can, same word, no
man's able, it's not possible, to come unto me except it were
given unto him of my Father. You see, coming to Christ is
a gift of God. The ability to come to Christ
has to be given to you. It has to be given to you by
God. He's the one that has life eternal. Only He can give it.
So again we say what we always say, and that is that God has
to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. God has to give
us something that we don't have. We don't have any life. We don't
have any ability. We won't have any ability until
we have life. And I know that it may seem ridiculous
to speak the obvious, but it's impossible for a dead man to
do anything. God has to give him life and
he has to give him the ability or he'll never come. He can't. He's dead. The scriptures ask,
can the Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can the leopard
change his spots? Can a leopard rearrange his spots?
That's what men think about salvation today. Well, I can just rearrange
a few things in my life and everything's going to be all right. No, no,
no. No, sir, you can't do it. It's impossible. Can you, who
are accustomed to doing evil, do good? No, it's impossible. With man, it's impossible. Now
impossible means unattainable. It means unachievable. It means not possible. It's impossible. It's unattainable. It's unachievable
for a sinner to give themselves life. It's not just difficult.
It's impossible. It's not just unlikely. It's
unattainable. Do you remember what that rich
young ruler came to Christ for? Well, a lot of times we speak
of that narrative in maybe a negative sense because of the outcome.
But He came to Christ for life. For eternal life. Let me show
you that. Turn to Matthew chapter 19. If
you're in John 6 still, you may stick your marker there. We'll
come back to it. But look at Matthew chapter 19 for a moment. Matthew chapter 19, look at verse
16. And behold, one came and said
unto him, that being the Lord Jesus, he said, good master,
what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? He wanted
eternal life. But he was ignorant as to how
it came. Because he asked, what good thing
must I do? He was ignorant of how eternal
life was obtained. Because there's none that doeth
good, no not one. None of us can do any good to
appease God and give ourselves life. It's impossible. He said,
what good thing shall I do? That's the problem. It's impossible
for us to do anything good. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. That's exactly what the Lord told this zealous young
man. And look at verse 17. Christ
said, why callest thou me good? He said, there's none good but
one, and that is God. That's the same thing as saying
there's none that doeth good. That's the same thing as saying
that there's none righteous. No, not one. He said there's
none good but one, and that's God. You're not good. God is. And besides that, being good's
not the issue. The issue is being perfect. Look
at verse 21. Jesus said unto him, If thou
wilt be perfect, Good's not good enough. 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 and follow me. But when
the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he
had great possessions. And then in verse 23, the Lord
looked to his disciples and he said, I'm telling you the truth. He said, truly, truly, listen
to me. He said that a rich man shall
hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say unto
you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Now,
I just want to mention this because I found it somewhat Well, not
humorous, but sad. There was one or two of the old
writers that said in ancient times, some of the archways in
the wall that surrounded the city was called an eye of a needle.
And sometimes these archways were so low that a camel found
it difficult to go through. But that's not what the Lord's
saying here at all. You look up the word needle in
the original Greek and it means to sew. It's talking about a
sewing needle. Let me ask you, can a camel go
through the eye of a sewing needle? You say, well, that's impossible.
Exactly. It's impossible. I can't get a thread through
one of those eyes of the needle, much less a camel. It's impossible
to get a camel through one. So impossible that the disciples
asked, who then can be saved? Who then can be saved? Matter
of fact, in the light of truth, it's impossible for any man,
rich or poor, to be saved apart from God's mercy and grace in
Christ. And if one like this young man
who had kept all the commandments that he had kept, and I'm telling
you, there's really no doubt in my mind that he was pretty
sincere about that. If he couldn't get into the kingdom
of heaven by a work of personal righteousness, the disciples
said, who then can be saved? Who then can be saved? How did the Lord answer? Verse
26. With men, this is impossible, but with God, all things are
possible. Did you hear that? With God,
all things are possible. Do you believe that? Only with
God is salvation possible. Only in Christ is salvation for
certain. I cannot provide what God requires. You cannot provide what God requires. You know why? It's mission impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. God said to Moses, He said, I'll
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. And then the Scriptures use these
two words, so then, if God has mercy on whom He'll have mercy,
and compassion on whom He'll have compassion, so then, it's
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God. There's those three words again,
that show with mercy. There are many things that are
impossible for man, but not to God. You remember what the Lord
asked Abraham? The Lord asked Abraham, he said,
is anything too hard for the Lord? The Lord came to Abraham and
said, you're going to have a son in your old age. Sarah laughed
and God said to Abraham, is anything too hard for the Lord? Is there? With God, all things are possible.
You remember what Job said to the Lord? He said, I know that
you can do everything. Everything. And that no thought
can be withholding from thee. Now listen to me. Listen to me,
Carol. This may be the last time I'm ever able to preach to you.
I don't know what awaits. If you're ever to be saved, If
you're ever to have your sins forgiven, if you're to live forever
in the presence of God, God's going to have to do something
for you. The question is, do you want God to do something? If you cannot come to Christ,
and you can't, in and of yourself, that you might have life. If
you will not come, as John 5, 40 tells us, if we will not come
to Christ, that we might have life, then it should be very
obvious to us that you will have to be made both able and willing. I had someone tell me recently
that God needed laborers in His kingdom. You know, that sounds good, doesn't
it? But God don't need anything. They went on to say that God
needed sinners to love and worship Him. No, He doesn't. No, He doesn't. Men by nature are so vain. Does
man do God a favor by submitting to Him? Do we add something to
God by believing Him? I think we're the one that benefits
from it, aren't we? Does a man think that he hurts
or diminishes God by rejecting Him? You know, all my life a preacher
told me that he pictured God to me as the little old man,
you know, walking upon the portals of heaven, wringing his hands
and going, oh, won't somebody just let me love them? Won't
somebody just love me back? That's not God. That's not the
God this book tells us about. No, sir. We don't hurt or diminish
God. When we reject, we hurt and diminish
ourselves. If thou be righteous, what givest
thou him, or what receiveth he of thine hand? Job 35, 7. If
thou sinnest, what dost thou against him? Or if thy transgressions
be multiplied, what doest thou unto him? Job 35, 6. God that made the world and all
the things therein, seeing that He's Lord of heaven and earth,
dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worship
with men's hands, as though He needed anything, seeing that He giveth to all
life and breath and all things. Does that sound like a needy
God to you? The Jews told John the Baptist that Abraham was
their father. And they were so proud of their
heritage. John said, God's able to raise
up these stones to raise up children under Abraham. God doesn't need
anything. And He certainly doesn't need
anything from us. But we need everything from Him. And that's
where you're going to have to be brought. Well, my time's about up, but
again, verse 44 in John 6. Oh, I pray that God would enable
sinners to believe this. Our Lord said again, verse 44,
no man can come to Me. No man has the ability to come.
It's not possible for man to come to Christ to be forgiven
and redeemed. It's a mission impossible except
the Father which has sent Me, draw Him, and I'll raise Him
up at the last day. Now look at verse 45. It's written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Now is that talking about
all the world? Well, no. It says, every man
therefore that hath heard. That's who that's talking about.
Every man that has heard. Every sinner that hath learned
of the Father. You see that there in that verse?
Our Lord said, only they cometh unto me. Only those whom I've
given life. Only those whom I have drawn
unto me. They cometh unto me. Now let
me just give you four quick things from this verse. It's written
in the prophets. It's written in the word of God.
When Christ spake these words, the word of the Old Testament
prophets was all they had. If you're gonna find the way
to eternal life, God's ordained means is going to be by and through
the preaching of his word. Right? They please God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Secondly,
you're going to have to be taught of God. I can't teach this to
you. The best teacher in the world
can't teach you this. You're going to have to be taught
of God. God, the Holy Spirit, will have to reveal the things
of the Spirit of God to you. We looked at that a week or two
ago in 1 Corinthians 2. It says, Now we have received,
not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God,
that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God,
which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom
teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth. You're going to have
to learn these things from God. God's going to have to teach
them to you. You'll never see them. You'll never learn. Comparing
spiritual things with spiritual. Why? Because He goes on to tell
us, because the natural man receiveth not things of the Spirit of God.
He cannot receive them. It's impossible for him to receive
them. They're foolishness to him. It
says, neither can he know. We're brought back to that. He
can't know them. Never. Mission impossible. They're spiritually discerned.
That word discerned means determined. It means distinguished. The things
of God's Spirit are spiritually determined. They're spiritually
distinguished. Do you know what that means?
It means that God's going to have to teach you. God's going
to have to teach you. You're going to have to be taught
of God. God determines who will be taught.
God distinguishes who will be taught. If you have a desire
to be taught the things of God, then life has already been granted
unto you. Isn't that a wonderful thought?
Because you're dead and you'd have no interest at all in the
things of God if He had not already begun the work of grace in your
heart. Do you have an interest in the
things of God? Then praise Him, friends, because God's already
begun a work of grace in your heart. Third thing, you're gonna
have to hear. That's what it says there in
verse 45. Hear what? Well, what's written in the prophets.
You're gonna have to hear what's written in this word. You're
gonna have to hear the gospel as it's taught in the book of
God. You're going to have to hear
it with spiritual ears. You're going to have to hear
it with discerning ears. You're going to have to hear
it with ears that have been determined by God to hear. Ears that have been made alive
to hear. And the fourth thing, you're
going to have to learn of the Father. I was taught a lot of
things in school, but many of them I never learned. He that is taught of God is he
that has effectually heard. He that is taught of God is he
that has learned of the Father. Do you see that? God's Word is
effectual to those whom He teaches. If God teaches you, you're going
to learn. Sometimes it's the hard way. Most of the time it
is. It's with much tribulation that
we enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, and lots of times it's
because of our own obstinance, our own hard-headed ways. By His grace, I heard that Christ
died for sinners. I'd heard it all my life, Christ
died for sinners. This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. But one day I heard. By His grace I learned that I was a sinner. By His grace
God taught me that I have a substitute. God taught me that. I didn't
figure it out on my own. By His grace I heard, I was taught,
and I learned that this substitute died as a sacrifice for my sin. You know what happened then?
I willingly came to Christ. Mission possible. Mission possible. Isn't that what verse 45 says?
He that's taught of God, he that hears from God, he that learns
from God, cometh unto me. And that's so simple, yet impossible,
if God didn't grant you the grace to do it. Because Christ is God. By His grace, I have seen my
Savior. By His grace, I've seen that
He's God. God's committed all judgment
unto His hand. He's the one that I must appease. Before, it was impossible for
me to see that. But with God, all things are
possible. Look at verse 46, and I'll finish.
Not that any man has seen the Father, save or except he which
is of God. He has seen the Father. Sinners
that are born of God have seen the Father. Have you seen who
Christ is? He's God. Do you believe that Christ is
a just God and a Savior? By His grace I believe it. God
made it possible for me to believe it. And I must also remind you
that without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh
to God must believe that He is. That He's what? That He's God.
We talked about that earlier. Now look at verse 47. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting
life. Without faith in Christ, it's
impossible to come to God. But if thou canst believe, all
things are possible to him that believeth. That's what the Lord
said in Mark chapter nine, verse 23. Well, can you believe? No, I can't. Not in and of myself,
it's impossible. It's an impossible mission, but
with God, all things are possible. If God gives me faith, then all
things are possible. Will you believe? Nope. No, I
won't. Not in and of myself, I won't.
I will not come to Christ that I might have life. But in the
day of God's power, He made me willing to believe. Psalm 110,
verse 3. It's possible. And it's also
impossible for me to ever be lost. Isn't that a wonderful
thought? Oh, the Lord said, for there shall arise false Christs
and false prophets that shall show great signs and wonders,
insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. But it's not possible. It's impossible
for God's elect to be deceived. In another one of the Gospels,
that same verse is seduced. It's impossible for one of God's
elect to be seduced. If you belong to Christ, to be
lost is mission impossible. Oh, may God enable us to believe
this, friends. God, give me the faith to trust
in Christ and Him alone for salvation.