Alright, brethren, we're going
to be in Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10, verses 17 through
27. Now our text this morning is
speaking of the rich young ruler who comes running to Christ,
and he appears to be a sincere seeker. That is until Christ
hits him right in the seat of his sin, that one thing that
was keeping him from trusting in Christ. And so it would seem
discouraging to us, and we've seen it before where we know
people that seem very sincere. for a time they're with us and
then until they hear that truth and they go away and choose the
world and go away sad not believing the truth. But today I want us
to see that Man, he can't save himself. Man does not save himself. It's not in what he thinks he
can. He tries to. It's very natural
to man to think that it's things that he does to save himself,
but that's not our salvation. It's not in what we do. Christ
in Christ alone saves sinners, and he does so by grace. by grace, his grace. It's a gift
of God, apart from any works that we do. So with man, salvation
is impossible. With man, salvation is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. And our title is, The Impossible
is Possible with God. Alright, so we're going to begin
first looking at the delusion that man is under. Because man
thinks, he's deluded, thinking that he can save himself. And our text opens with the young
man running to Christ in Mark 10, verse 17. And when Christ
was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled
to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit
eternal life? Now don't let this fact pass
you by. Don't let it go unnoticed that
this is a religious man. And the reason why I shouldn't
just pass this by is because we're religious people. We are
here sitting in a church hearing the word preached. And so this
is a religious man. Well, we're most of us would
confess that. Yeah. All right. I mean, we don't,
we tend not to like the term religious because we, for us
now it has negative connotation, but there is a sense in which
we are religious. We think we know God and we trust
God. And this man thinks he knows
God and trust God. Let's pay attention to what's
going on here, lest the same ill that befalls him should befall
us as well. So we should have great interest.
Now, from the outset, this appears to be a hopeful engagement. This man comes running to Christ,
and it seems like it's going to result in a very joyful and
wonderful moment where this man is going to come to Christ and
be joyful rather than sorrowful and one of astonishment. So this
man, he seemed to have many commendable attributes. He was very earnest.
He was very zealous. He came running to Christ. We also see that he showed great
reverence and respect. He actually kneeled before Christ.
just about worshiping Christ. He kneeled before him and he's
obviously very conscientious and a thoughtful young man because
he's considerate of his soul and eternal things. These are
of interest to him. And it says there in verses 18
through 20 in our text, Jesus said unto him, why callest thou
me good? There is none good, but one,
that is God. And we'll come back to that a
little later, but he says, thou knowest the commandments, do
not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false
witness, defraud not, honor thy father and mother. And he answered
and said unto him, master, all these have I observed from my
youth. So outwardly, this is a very
moral man. He's a good guy. He wouldn't
be afraid to leave the room with your wallet there on the shelf. He's a moral man. He's not going
to take from you or seek to harm you, at least it seems. But inwardly,
he's entirely blind to the fact. He's deluded to the fact that
he's a self-righteous Pharisee. He's trusting in his own works
and in his own righteousness, and it doesn't even appear to
him, he doesn't even understand it or see what a self-righteous,
arrogant, prideful man he actually is. He's not moral, he's a wicked
man. And so the issue is that all
men, like this man, all of us, are completely delusional about
our salvation, about how we are saved, how God forgives us. We're ignorant of these truths,
by nature, we're ignorant of how God saves. So the first delusion
of man is that he thinks salvation is obtained by something that
he does. That's what man thinks, naturally. He thinks it's obtained
by something that he does. And all men, throughout all time,
have thought that. They look to their works. They think it's something that
they do. And all false religions They
teach it. They always put some part of
your salvation in the hands of the sinner to do something. They turn some part of it to
you, whether it's all of it or some part of it, they turn it
to you. in some form or another, and
regardless of what the name goes by, whether it's Muslim or Buddhism
or Confucianism or any of these other isms or Catholicism or
even Protestantism and so-called Christianity, it's all anti-Christ. When it turns the work to the
sinner, it's anti-Christ, because it's not resting in Christ alone. It's against Christ. It's against
the gospel of Christ, and it is therefore anti-Christ. So many will admit and say, yeah,
grace has something to do with it. I get that. Grace has something,
some part of my salvation, something to do with it. And this young
man even thought that it was a gift of God. He seemed to just
about say as much. He wanted to inherit it. But
he was looking for what he does to inherit that gift. Because
that's what it is. People will speak about grace,
but it's still something that they've got to do to inherit
that gift of grace. So they combine works with grace. But turn over to Romans 9. Romans
9. and go to verse 31. Thankfully,
our Lord isn't silent on this. He doesn't leave us to figure
it out, but He reveals it to us. He tells us plainly in His
Word, Romans 9, 31. says, but Israel, which followed
after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law
of righteousness. Why? Because they sought it not
by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. So all natural
Israel They tried, all that time that they were in existence,
since they had the Law of Moses given to them, they tried to
come to God in keeping the Law, and yet they were stumbling.
They were stumbling over that stumbling stone, which is Christ.
So that when Christ came, and reveal to them their heart that
they're sinners, that they're not keeping the law, that they're
actually breaking the law in their own heart and in their
minds and their thoughts, especially toward the Lord of glory, they
hated him for it. They stumbled over him because
they believed that their righteousness was in their keeping the law.
They believed that was their righteousness and their salvation
and he exposed that Even if that was, you're not going to be saved
by it because you're not keeping the law. You're actually breaking
the law. So it says, for they stumbled
at that stumbling stone. And it's like when Cain, it's
throughout all history, Cain killed Abel because what Abel
did and what was accepted of the Lord because he came in the
blood of a lamb, believing God, trusting God, and Cain wanted
to come in his own way, his own works, his own will, and because
it was rejected of God his way, he couldn't kill God, so he killed
the one whom God clearly favored and loved, Abel. So he put him
to death, and so it reveals the heart of man, and that's why
when you speak about grace, well for a time they may seem to delight
in it, but when they realize that what that means is they're
a dead sinner that can't save themselves, that's where the
anger and the hatred eventually comes out when they realize what
you're saying to them. So, they stumbled at that stumbling
stone. As it is written, Behold, I lay
in Zion, a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. And that's the irony
is that people try to do works and try to add to what Christ
did because they don't want to be ashamed in the end. They want
to do everything they can to give them the best possible chance
of being saved, and so they add to Christ. They don't rest in
Christ alone, and they will be ashamed therefore. But all those
who say, I see it, Lord. I see exactly what you're saying.
I'm the sinner. I can't save myself, but you
provided, in grace and mercy, you provided the Son, and you
say all who come to you, resting in His work and trusting it completely,
you receive, all who trust Christ and come to the Lord in Christ
They shall not be ashamed. They shall be received of the
Lord. That's the hope and the glory
that we have. Romans 10 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear
them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. And the child of God testifies
to the work of grace in their heart by believing and resting
on Christ. We're testifying that God has
done this. He's worked this in me, this
hope in me, that's all of him. because they believe they really
rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. The second delusion is that man
thinks the law of God only had to do with outward behavior.
That's another thing that natural man is deluded by. He thinks
the law of God is only speaking about the outward behavior, what
he actually physically does in the flesh. And the Lord here,
what he says to this young man, he's not telling this man that
he can be saved, that he's just about there and just needs to
clean up a few things and he's going to be saved by his keeping
of the law. And there are some people that
would teach that, that say that's what Christ is saying. When I
was just dead in religion, I actually thought that. I stumbled over
that and thought, is he saying that we actually can be good
enough to work a righteousness? And it really confused me. So
he's not saying, young man, do these works and you'll be saved. Because anyone that would come
to God in their own works, in their outward keeping, of the
law, it better be a complete keeping of the law, even in the
heart and in the mind, and we can't do that. So it's got to
be kept perfectly. Paul wrote to the Galatians,
if you want to turn there in Galatians 3.10, Galatians 3.10
through 12, He says, for as many as are of
the works of the law are under the curse. You're obligated to,
if you're going to come to God in the works of the law, you
better be 100% nailing that thing. perfectly, both outwardly and
inwardly, in the heart, because it's spiritual. And he says,
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. Not him, but that's what's
written. It actually says that in the law, that if you don't
do these things perfectly, you're cursed. The curse is upon you.
You will die the death in hell. And then it says, verse 11, but
that no man is justified by the law and the sight of God, it's
evident. For the just shall live by faith,
and the law is not of faith. You need to do it. To the letter
of the law, to the T, to the jot and the tittle, you need
to do that law perfectly. And we don't even know, most
of the time when we're sinning, we don't even understand how
offensive we are. And then, So there is no coming
to Christ and combining it with works because they're mutually
exclusive. You either come completely in Christ or you come in the
law. And those who come in Christ
plus the law are coming in the law. They're not coming in Christ.
There's no grace then. It's either law or works and
there's no combination. And Paul told us in Galatians
3.21, if there had been a law, at the end of it, if there had
been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law. But instead, what Christ is teaching
is, he's showing that it's impossible for man to save himself. He's
revealing that it's impossible for us to save ourselves by the
keeping of the law. And two, the thing that he's
doing here is he's exposing this man's sin to him. He's making
it known to him that he is a sinner, and three, that no sinner is
ever saved. And this is true of us all. None
of us is saved until we're brought to see what a vile, hell-bent,
reckless sinner we are, and that we deserve hell. He brings each
of his children to know, I'm the sinner. I'm the reason why
Christ had to go to that cross. I put him there by my sins. I
deserve hell. And until that's made known to
us, we don't see the need of Christ. We don't really care
all that much. Unless you just want to be religious. We know
that that's worthless, that that doesn't help a person, with God,
anyway. And so this man, also fourth,
we see that this man was ignorant, and he's making it known, this
man's ignorant of the spiritual nature of the law. And Samuel
said, but the Lord looketh on the heart. The Lord looks on
the heart, not the outward. He looks, he knows what's going
on in our heart, and in our thoughts, in our mind. and the things that
we lust for and look for in this world. Many think that adultery
is just fornication, the outward act of committing adultery. And
that's what they think, that if I don't do that, then I've
never committed adultery. But the Lord showed us that just
to look upon a woman, to lust upon her in your heart, you've
committed adultery. adultery. So when we look upon
another and lust for them, that's adultery in our heart. We're
guilty of that sin. And many think that murder is
if I do the physical act of taking another person's life. And yet
Christ showed us that if you so much as are angry with someone
without a cause, without a cause and you're angry with them, and
or you hate them, you despise them, you've committed murder.
Because you think, I can't stand this person. I wish they would
just die, be gone forever. And that's murder. He's saying
you've committed murder in your heart. Many think that stealing
is physically taking something that belongs to another. But
Christ shows us that just coveting what another person has. Why
do they have that? They don't deserve that. I should
have that. That's stealing. you're stealing from someone
else because you think that you deserve it, and if you could,
you would take it from them and they wouldn't have it anymore.
It would be yours. And lying, they think, is openly
saying it. But how many Lies do we tell
ourselves about people. We build up stories and we tell
ourselves those stories and convince ourselves, that's the truth,
I knew those people were dirty and rotten and stinking. And
we were just making it up in our own minds and telling us
this and feeding it constantly. We're always looking, I knew
it. I knew it, that's them, that's who they are. And so that, we
see how we're liars ourselves and in our heart, and the Lord
looks upon the heart. And so that's another delusion
that man has. And then third, man thinks that
he's kept the law of God. We actually think That we've
kept it good enough, we tell ourselves, and therefore we're
worthy of God accepting us and receiving us. That's another
delusion that man has. We think that we've done good
enough. When you talk to somebody, a
lot of times they'll say, yeah, I'm not perfect, but I am better
than Joe over there, or I'm better than so-and-so. And so we justify
ourselves or we tell ourselves more lies, saying, it'll all
work out. I know people, don't worry about
me, it'll all work out. I'll get it all straightened
out. No, you won't. None of us gets it straightened
out. We're all dead sinners. And so
when man works to save himself, what he's really saying is, I'm
too good to need any help from God. And they actually think
like they're doing God a favor by not by not crying out for
the blood of Christ. They think somehow this is pleasing
to God, and that's just more offensive to God. So man is saying
that when he thinks he can do enough to justify himself and
to be accepted with God, he's saying, I'm not so bad and so
wicked that I need the blood of Christ. I'm not that bad. Maybe just a little bit of forgiveness,
but I don't need much at all. And what you're saying is, God,
you're a liar. Because God said, we all, if
we're to be saved, we need the grace of God completely, the
complete salvation which he's provided in his Son, Jesus Christ.
That's why he sent Christ. If we just needed a little help,
the Son of God wouldn't have had to come and work perfection
and bear us in his body and go to the cross. He didn't go to
the cross for himself. He went to the cross for his
people, bearing them, bearing their sin into his own body.
He drank the wrath of God in our place, not for his own sins,
but for our sins. He became our surety and put
away our sin, bearing that sin debt and that burden for us.
He didn't deserve it. He didn't need to do any of that.
So that tells us, and God tells us, We're sinners. We can't save
ourselves. And he doesn't accept any part
of our wicked, filthy handworks. It's like taking up a pile of
poo and then telling somebody, you know what, I'm going to make
a hamburger for you. Are you going to wash your hands
first? I ain't going to wash my hands.
Why are you telling me to wash my hands? I'm clean. Thanks, but
I ain't going to eat that hamburger. I don't want that hamburger.
And that's what we're doing with the Lord, is that we're filthy,
hands and we're coming to God saying, look at these good works,
why don't you take these and nuzzle up to these in your bosom
and rejoice in what I've done. And it's filthy and it stinks.
And that's what we're coming to God with by nature when we
think our works earn us some kind of favor with God. And it
doesn't. It's like your kid, if they made
a statue or a figurine out of dog dew, Would you really keep
it in your house? You'd be like, come on, let's
get that thing out of here. I don't want that thing here.
And so, God isn't accepting our work. So, accept God, show us
this grace, we'll go right on in those delusions, thinking
that we've done something good for him. But this now brings
us to the compassion of Christ. And we see Christ's compassion
for this young man. Look at verse 21. Mark 10.21
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing
thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give
to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come,
take up the cross, and follow me. Now, I realize that there's
many people that argue over this phrase, Jesus beholding him loved
him. We know that the Arminian takes
that and says, see, that shows that Jesus loves all men, even
those that are in hell. And then there's some that aren't
comfortable with the fact that it says love there, and it's
sort of a tension that's kind of left out there for us. And
so they go through great lengths to do acrobats and backflips
and somersaults and all these gymnastics to try and make that
word mean something that it doesn't. And they try to tell you, well,
love doesn't really mean love there. But you feel it. You feel like, wait a minute,
now you're not being honest and genuine with what it says. It
says there that Christ beheld him, beholding him, loved So,
first of all, what we see is Christ's love for sinners. We
do see his tenderness, his compassion, his kindness for this man. And what we see here is that
Christ beheld him. He looked at this man. This sincere
man who was sincerely wrong, he beheld him, and very tenderly,
and very kindly, and mercifully, full of compassion and love,
he revealed this man's sin to him. He showed him his need is
Christ. And the second thing we see there,
actually, is that we have every reason to believe that though
this man went away sorrowful, we have every reason to believe
that Christ that in the time of his love, Christ received
that man, that Christ brought that man. He brought him into
the fold and the kingdom of God. I know it doesn't say that, but
I'm not about just so I can feel happy with my my little box of religion to
force things that it doesn't say there. But I do believe,
we do have every reason to believe that this man was saved, and
here's why. Let's look at four scriptures that give us confidence
that the love of God would eventually arrest this man and bring him
into the fold of Christ. Because I'm not just saying that
to feel good about it. We do have the scriptures tell us.
So first of all, we know that God loves his people from all
eternity. He loves his people from all
eternity. It says in Jeremiah 31 3, the Lord at the peer of
old unto me saying, yea, I have loved thee with a neverlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
I have drawn thee. Just keep remembering how merciful
Christ was to reveal this man's sin to him. Second, God's love
for his people is unchanging. It doesn't change. Who he sets
his love upon, it's from eternity and it never changes. Malachi
3.6, for I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Third, Christ loves his children
to the end. He doesn't change, so he loves
them to the end. It says in John 13 verse 1, Now
before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour
was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father,
having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them to
the end. He fulfilled all the obligation
to fulfill that covenant of grace for his people, nothing stopping
him. He went and did the work that
had to be done for us to know him and be with him for all eternity. And then fourth, those whom Christ
loves are saved by his free and sovereign grace. They're saved
by his sovereign grace. It says in Romans 9, 15, For
he saith unto Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
It's the Lord's sovereign choice whom he will save. So because
of these facts, we have every reason to believe that this man
was arrested of Christ, that he was obtained and brought to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know if it was, but I
know some people say that that was the Apostle Paul, while he
was still Saul, a very wealthy young man and did very well in
the Jews' religion, and it could have been him And that loop is
just never tied for us. But regardless of that, we have
every reason to believe just based on the love that God has
for his people. We see how just because that
man walked away for a time sorrowful, that doesn't mean... And we've
all been there, right? We've heard the truth for a lot
of years. before the Lord arrested us and
brought us to see our need of Him and rest in Him." So just
because this man walked away at that first time doesn't mean
that he walked away forever. Now let's look at Mark 10, 17,
and 18 again. And when he was gone forth into
the way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked
him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal
life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There
is none good But one, that is God. Now I came back to this
because there's something sweet in that. It's as if Christ is
inquiring, why do you say that? Has the Holy Spirit revealed
something to you about the Son of God, that he is Christ come
in the flesh? Has God revealed this to you?"
And I say that because you remember Christ's response to Peter, Peter's
confession in Matthew 16, 16, when he said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And Christ responded saying,
Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not
revealed this to thee, but my Father in heaven." So it's as
if Christ is saying, has the Lord revealed something to you? And that's then when he beheld
him, when he looked upon him and loved him and spoke peaceably
to him. Well, spoke to him in the sense
that he revealed his sin to him, because it's as if he turned
to him and dealt with him as God. and revealed, then, his
sin to him there, right? His own wicked heart. He was
discovering to him the wickedness in his own heart, lest he should
go on believing that he's something when he's nothing, right? And
it says there, actually in Matthew 19, that's the parallel passages
in Matthew 19, 17, and 18, it says, And Christ said unto him,
Why callest thou me good? There is none good but God, that
is, I'm sorry, there's none good but one, that is God. But if
thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. And this guy
says, which? Which one? Well, if you're keeping
the commandments, you don't need to ask which one if you're keeping
them all and you're perfect. But he asks, which? And James said in 2 Tim, for
whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point,
he's guilty of all." So that's just, to you that still think
that there's something we can do to save ourselves, just breaking
out, just stumbling once in the law, you've broken the whole
thing and are guilty of breaking it all. So Christ was discovering
to this man that he's a dead sinner in need of grace, and
he's got a plague in his heart for which only Christ can heal
him. And that's But I want us each here, hearing this Word,
to understand we all, by nature, have this plague in our heart.
We're sinners, desperately in need of the grace of Christ,
and Christ reveals to His people that they have that plague. We
have that sin that is causing us to stumble and preventing
us from trusting and resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
by grace, He discovers it to us. He shows us our need of Him,
and that's a mercy. This man went away sorrowful,
but that must have plagued him for a long time until the Lord
brought him to saving rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. So he
hits this man right at the point of his rebellion. He hits him
right in the mark where this man can't get away. He was struck
with the death blow right there from what Christ said. Look at
verses 21 and 22 in Mark 10. Then Jesus, beholding him, loved
him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell
whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow
me. And he was sad at that saying,
and went away grieved, for he had great possessions. And so
we see there in this that the Lord is showing to us that sooner
or later, if you're his, He's going to hit you, right? And
that one thing that you lack, that one thing that is causing
you to stumble and preventing you from resting. in the Lord
Jesus Christ and believing on him. He hits his mark right at
the point of rebellion. Jeremiah 17, 9 and 10, it says,
the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Thankfully,
Christ knows it. And he says, I, the Lord, search
the heart. I try the reins even to give
every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of
his doings. And we're going to have to eat
a whole heaping full of humble pie and be brought low to see
our need of Christ. That's where it's going to begin.
We're going to eat of our doings. We're going to see we're the
sinner, we're the guilty one. he's righteous and holy and I
desperately need his blood and forgiveness and mercy." And he'll
bring that cry out of his people because he loves his people to
the end. He loves them from eternity.
He came to this earth in the flesh. He humbled himself and
bore that burden to put it away that you and me who hope in him
even if you don't open them yet, but in that day, when he gets
you, it's for your good and mercy. It's to show you his love and
to increase that love that we have for him more and more. So,
this young man had one thing lacking. He felt much. He did
much. He believed much. He did a lot
of things. Much. But he was lacking one
thing, and Christ made that appear to him. So we know this, right? We've spoken to people, we've
been among people where we've had a hope, and one of the things
there that we see in this is don't be discouraged. Because
just like we went away sorrowful for many, many years and pushed
it off and didn't want to hear it, yet the Lord in his day,
in the day of our, that appointed day of love for us, he came and
arrested us and brought us to confess our need of him and he
broke us. And that's what he's going to
do for each one. He's going to break us at that point that we're
stubbornly holding on to that sin. And I can attest that some
of us have a number of things that have to be broken and brought
to confess. And I'm one here before you. There's been a lot that the Lord
has saved me from and been merciful to me. So you that are sinners,
Don't fear to come to Christ. He's a merciful and compassionate
Savior. And He receives sinners. So,
while salvation appears impossible, And Christ let this man walk
away to drive home the point to him, his need of Christ. And
it drives home the point to us, our need of Christ. That with
man, salvation's impossible. Utterly impossible. But with
God, all things are possible. And that's what we see here in
our final point, the impossible done by God. In Mark 10, verse
23. And Jesus looked round about
after this man goes away, and he saith unto his disciples,
How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom
of God. And the disciples were astonished
at his words, because Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children,
Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to
enter into the kingdom of God? And that helps. They were astonished,
but he reminds them, receive my words as little children.
He had just said that in the beginning of the chapter. We
must receive the kingdom of God as little children. And he reminds
them, children, how hard is it for them that are rich in this
world to receive the kingdom of God. And then he said, verse
25, 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. And
they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, well,
who then can be saved? Because again, you're looking
at the outward. You're thinking a rich man has much at his disposal
to earn the favor of God. He can give alms to the poor. He can give money to build the
temple. He can do all these things. Surely
he can earn a salvation. And Christ is saying, no, it's
not in our outward exterior works. And those who trust in those
riches, trust that they're doing something to earn a favor for
themselves. It's an easy trap to fall into, and that's preventing
the people from coming to him. Plus, also the ease. comfort
and ease, especially as you've had the taste of it, you really
don't want to let those riches go and go back into poverty and
scraping by and just doing it. It's not a thing that you want
to eagerly do when you've done it before and things like that. So they were astonished, but
Jesus looking upon them, verse 27, saith, with men it is impossible. but not with God, for with God
all things are possible." And so what we're seeing there is
that it's impossible for nature to rise above nature. Nature's
never going to rise above itself and do that which is spiritual
and pleasing to God. It's impossible for us to save
ourselves, but to those who receive the grace of God, to those who
have been shown grace and given grace and mercy and compassion,
it's easy for them to enter the Kingdom of God. When He's broken
you and shown you your need of Him, it's easy to go right on
through that eye, right on into the Kingdom of God. Nothing prevents
you and can stop you then. Alright, so in closing, consider
these three truths. One, He shows us that the love
of money, the love of riches, and the love of this world, it's
the most deceitful and dangerous thing that we have going against
us, working against us. Turn over to 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6, and look at verses
9 through 11. Remember, Paul's inspired by
the Holy Spirit, so he's writing this. And it's right in line
with what Christ has taught us. But he says, but they that will
be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish
and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 4, verse 10, the love of money
is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they
have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with
many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee
these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, patience, meekness. And he's saying there, seek Christ,
put Christ first. As parents, a lot of times we
set our kids up for great sorrow and trouble by always pushing
them into great schools and educations. Don't take that job that you
like doing, take this job because you're going to make a lot more
money and they just become miserable at it. I mean, we knew somebody
that was a great, fantastic artist and yet her parents were making
her go in to be a dentist, which was miserable to her, but it
didn't matter. And she couldn't marry somebody that she loved,
she had to marry somebody that made a lot of money like her
and that's not healthy. Nobody I know, I mean nobody
that we fellowship with did that, but that's what the world does.
They push people into riches and money and all they are is
just miserable. And so we ought not to be setting
up our children for that. We should encourage them and
ourselves, seek the kingdom of God first. Some will make money,
some will be fine. And the Lord, we pray and trust,
will give them a heart to contribute to the kingdom and to the gospel
to push that out. But that shouldn't be our pursuit. Because when you pursue that,
and you get that little taste of the money, all of a sudden,
all these goals, all these worldly goals just start lining up in
your mind. And I've never been so stingy as when I made money. When you make good money, man,
that heart in me, anyway, no sooner do I think, I'm going
to give this amount to the Lord, by the time I get to the plate,
that thing is maybe a third or a quarter of what it is, what
it was initially. You just see that in the heart. happens like that. That's why
he shows us that it's dangerous. It really brings you down. 2. With men, salvation is impossible. Salvation is impossible with
men. He's not going to save himself. Nothing he can do is going to
rise him up out of nature to make him right with the Lord. 3. With God, all things are possible. All things are possible with
God, including the salvation of sinful, undeserving man with
the wickedness in his heart. So great is God's grace that
it could take a fat, bloated, wealthy man, strip him down,
and bring him in through the eye of the needle right into
the kingdom of Christ. That's how great His grace and
mercy is. So set your heart in your mind
on Christ and be willing to pick up that cross. In fact, not just
willing, but take up that cross and follow him because he promises
us great abundance of riches. Now, I know it's hard for the
flesh to accept that now, but trust him and he knows. He knows
the things we have need of and he always provides. He gives
and he's a merciful Remember that tender love and compassion
and mercy he showed to this man. Don't find excuses for it. Just
trust that the Lord, he knows what he's doing. If he set his
love on that man, that should be great encouragement to us
who also are great sinners and unworthy of his grace and mercy. I pray the Lord will bless that
to your hearts, brethren. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you, Father. Help us To hear what you say,
Lord, we don't want to hear it in the flesh, but Lord, help
us to trust you, to believe you that you do provide all that
we need, and even abundantly, Lord, you give us above and beyond
what we could ask or think. And Lord, you say that those
who forsake homes and families in this life, so to speak, will
gain much more in the world to come, but also even in this life,
Lord, that we shall have families and houses and an abundance of
things in the joy and in the fellowship of your kingdom with
your people. Lord, we ask that you will continue
to bless us, bless us with the gospel. Lord, we thank you for
Our visitors, we thank you, Lord, for those whom you've added to
us. And Lord, we ask that you would
continue to bless this people, Lord, who have sacrificed so
much and given up much to see your kingdom established here,
to be fed themselves, but also that others would hear and be
fed and settled in the Lord Jesus Christ, because that's a merciful
thing. We thank you for that, Lord. We pray that you continue
by your grace to teach us, that you would deal tenderly with
us, remembering that we are but flesh and foolish men and women,
Lord, and that we need your grace and mercy every hour. We pray
for those that are sick and not feeling well, that you would
heal them. Lord, we thank you for those that are on the mend
and just getting better, and Lord, that you would continue
to heal them and make them strong, and Lord, that you would Indeed,
pour your spirit out upon us that we would have love for Christ
and love one for another. We pray this in Christ's name,
our Lord and Savior. Amen.