You take your Bibles this morning,
please. Let us turn to the Gospel of
Mark, chapter 12. Mark, chapter 12. Now in this twelfth chapter of
Mark, we're going to begin our reading at verse 13 and read
through verse 34. So maybe that won't be too much
reading as far as time is concerned. But before we do begin to read,
let us bow in prayer together. Lord, as we gather in this house
this day, if the only ones present are those who are wearing human flesh, we will have met in vain. Lord, unless you presence yourself
here this day, take the words that we read out
of your word and speak them in power to our
souls. If you do not do this, We are
not better for what we've read, but rather worse. Lord, the gospel accounts are
full of examples and instances when men were eternally blessed by your words by what you came
into this world to do on Calvary's tree, but there were many others
who were eternally cursed because of their encounter in your presence. Lord, help us to understand what
this means. Help us to know whether we ourselves have been born again by your
Holy Spirit, have been blessed by your precious gospel, and
that we have believed and trusted you in the depths of our being,
and we owe it all to you. Lord, show us this day where
we stand in your sight. Nothing else makes a lot of difference. What I think or what someone
else thinks has no purpose here. Lord, it is you, it is your word,
it is your gospel, it is your grace and your mercy of which
we wish to speak this morning. Grant us your presence. Oh dear
Lord, let us know what it is to meet together when You presence
Yourself in our midst. We thank You in Your dear name.
Amen. Verse 13 of Mark chapter 12,
there are several groups of people parties among the Jewish faith
in our Lord's time who have their own pet emphasis and trying to
trap our Lord Jesus in His words. They have these little pet descriptions of some event or
of someone in a certain place doing certain things. The first
one has to do with whether or not to pay taxes to the Roman
government. who was ruling over Israel at
this time, though they let them in their private and social affairs
continue much like they had before the Romans took over. So in verse
13, they send to him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians,
both of these now are parties within the Jewish religion, and
the Pharisees, probably the most widely known as far as our understanding
of it goes, And they want to catch him at the end of verse
13 in his words. And when they were come, they
say unto him, to the Lord Jesus, Master, we know that you are
true and care for no man, for you regard not the person of
men, but teach the way of God in truth. Now, there ain't a
word of sincerity in that whole sentence. These people are lying
through their teeth, trying to trick our Savior. You see, they only think he's
a man, but if we have any sense at all, we better know that Christ
is God. Almighty God. Is it lawful to give tribute
or tax to Caesar or not? Shall we give or shall we not
give? But he knowing their hypocrisy,
how did he know it? He can read men's hearts and
their minds, and still can, and still does. He said to them, why tempt you
me? Bring me a penny that I may see
it.' And they brought it. And he said unto them, Whose
is this image in superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's.
The Lord Jesus answered and said unto them, Render to Caesar the
things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marveled at him." Now
the next group comes. They're called Sadducees. And they are sad, you see. But
the Pharisees were the most conservative and probably the largest party
among the Jewish religion. And the Sadducees were like the
liberals of today in some respects. Not in our politics in this country,
but in their view of the Scriptures. They did not believe necessarily
what was in the Bible was so. And one of the things that they
did not believe, and they were very adamant about it, and had
even figured out a little riddle to try to trap people in regard
to how they answered these questions, and it was that there is no such
thing as a resurrection. So they want to use that issue
now in order to embarrass the Lord Jesus. Verse 18, Then came
unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection.
And they asked him, saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, if a man's
brother die and leave his wife behind and leave no children,
that his brother should take his wife and raise up seed unto
his brother. Now there were seven brothers.
who ultimately all were married to the same woman because the
older brothers died and a younger brother took their place. So
they asked our Lord, in heaven, which one of these seven brothers
will be her husband? Let's find his answer. And I've
jumped over a few things here. Verse 24. And Jesus answering
said unto them, Do you not therefore err because you know not the
Scriptures, neither the power of God? For when they shall rise
from the dead, when the people who have died are raised to life
in glory, they neither marry nor are given in marriage." Human
relationships Stop at death. And in heaven, our bride is Christ. And He must also be that to us
now in His precious gospel. They neither marry nor are given
in marriage, but are as the angels which are in heaven. And as touching
the dead that they rise not. Have you not read in the book
of Moses? See, this was the real issue.
Had they not read in the book of Moses how in the burning bush
God spoke to Moses saying, and look what he says. If there is
no resurrection, you have to throw this language out of the
Bible. I am the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead. But the God of the living, you
therefore greatly err." Isn't that amazing? How simple
things are and how complicated people want to make them. And
we're not any different than they were. Alright, now, here's
the passage that I wish to try to say a few things about this
morning. Verse 28, Mark chapter 12. And one of the scribes came,
and having heard them reasoning together and perceiving that
he had answered them well, he asked him, which is the first
commandment of all? What's the most important commandment
of all? And our Lord answered him, the
first of all the commandments is Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with
all your strength. This is the first commandment,
and the second is like to it. Namely this, you shall love your
neighbor as yourself. There is none other commandment
greater than these. And the scribes said to him,
Well, master, you have said the truth. He's not arguing. You've said
the truth. For there is one God and there's
none other but He. And to love Him with all the
heart and with all the understanding and with all the soul and with
all the strength and to love His neighbor as Himself is more
than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Now folks, you're
talking about Millions of animals sacrificed throughout the course
of the Old Testament. I mean, you can't imagine how
many were offered and how varied the kind. And when our Lord, verse 34,
saw that he answered discreetly, intelligently, he said unto him,
Now listen to these words, you are not far from the kingdom
of God. I want to talk to you this morning
on that subject, not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that dared ask
him any question. And that's not just talking about
this one occasion. Here's a man that our Lord describes
as not being far from the kingdom of God. Now this man is very religious.
He's a scribe. That means his job. His job is to care for the Old
Testament scriptures, for that's all the Bible that these people
possessed at this time. Not a single book in the New
Testament is yet written. So this man is not far from the
kingdom of God. But when he leaves our Lord,
he is just as far as he was when he first came. So we must call
him religious, but lost. There are many people in this
category. My soul, about every one of us in here has been in
that grouping for quite some time at one place or another.
I know I certainly was for a great
many years. And I grieve over that and I
lament over it, but I can't change it that it is so. caused other people to believe
the same false gospel that I had believed and had been taught
as a child. So when our Lord sees that this
man answers discreetly, in certain respects, we're all
in this same boat. There are certain things about
us that is universal. It takes all human beings of
every generation. We're all fallen spiritually
dead in Adam. This has never changed since
Adam fell in the garden. Every human being born on this
earth since the Garden of Eden is born spiritually dead. Spiritually dead. We can't understand
spiritual things. We're just as dumb as these persons
that came with their pet questions to try to trap our Lord Jesus
Christ. These people met our Savior.
They rubbed shoulders with Him. They talked with Him. They asked
Him questions. He talked with them and asked
them questions. And they knew no more about Him
when they finished than when they started. That's how blind
we are spiritually to who God is, to who we are, and to what
His grace is. It takes a miracle of grace for
us to come out of this spiritual grave and be alive toward God
and in His grace and in His mercy in Christ. Our Lord used these
words in John 3, verse 36, He that believes on the Son has
life, And he that believes not the Son does not have life. That
is the issue that settles between us and being alive spiritually
or dead spiritually. What do we think of Christ? Not what do you think about government
taxes or government this, that or the other. These things are
immaterial when it comes to our souls. But this issue, who is
Christ? What has He done? How does a
sinner believe and trust on Him? Trust Him. Mark 1.15 has this statement,
Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Without repentance, we perish. Now repentance is the twin sister
of grace. In Romans 11, 29, they're called
the gifts and calling of God, which are never retracted. It's not that God gives everybody
these gifts and only certain of us use them. That would make
the difference to be in us and not in Him, and that ain't so. These gifts, when bestowed upon
sinners, always, accomplish the purpose for which they're given.
Therefore, you have a statement like this in 1 John 5, verse
1, Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is what? Born of God. Born of God. You see, by being
born again, we are unable to lay hold of Christ by faith. Now at the same time that certain
things about all human beings are the same, our race doesn't
matter, our language, even the Queen's English, doesn't matter. These things are just They just
are. And it's no great matter if they
are. That's not where the difference
is. But at the same time, there are many significant differences
among people. Let me give you just a sample.
When our Lord Jesus walked this earth, He rubbed shoulders with
a great many people. He spoke to a great many people.
He healed a great many people. I don't suppose that we could
count. And if what John says at the
end of his gospel, he said if all the books were written that
should be written on this Lord Jesus Christ and what he did,
he said the whole world couldn't contain them. I know this much. The gospel accounts, not a one
of them, claim to tell you everything our Lord said and did and preached
and taught. It would be impossible, impossible. But let's look at these differences
for just a second. When our Lord encountered the
Pharisees in particular, He used some pretty strong language.
He didn't take anything off those guys. He was worse to them than
to anyone else. You follow that in the Scriptures
and see what you think about it. Take, for example, in John
chapter 4, the woman at the well. She was, in a manner of speaking, a harlot.
She was half Samaritan and half Jewish. She was spiritually blind and
spiritually dead. You can't read that chapter and
come away with any other thought. But she thought she could outsmart
our Lord. There's too much in that chapter
to try to even think about mentioning just the bare minimum that I
need to get this point across. This woman did everything she
could do to just get out of Christ's presence and go back to the village.
She came to get some water, and if she could just get that water,
she'd be gone. But our Lord does not cease talking
with her. And she just uses all kinds of
things. One of her pet sayings is that
when the Messiah comes, when God sends the Messiah, He's going
to tell us all things. And the Lord Jesus has already
told her. He said, go call your husband.
She said, I don't have a husband. He said, I know you've had five.
And the one you have now is not your husband. She's right. He came to tell
us all things. Oh, my goodness. I've drawn a blank, so let me
just look at a verse of Scripture in John chapter 4. You might as well laugh at it.
It ain't funny, I know. But, I don't want to cry up here this
morning. Not over that anyway. Verse 23, John chapter 4. But the hour comes, and now is,
when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him." Now
this statement, he's talking to this lady. God is a spirit. God is a spiritual being. And they that worship Him must
worship Him in spirit, and in truth. And that spirit, I think,
should have a capital S. It has to be truthful and it
has to be under the direction and blessing of God the Holy
Spirit. The woman said unto Him, and here's where I got that earlier
statement, I know that Messiah comes. I'm dead sure of it. I'm expecting
Him to come. I don't know when it is. which is called Christ. When He has come, He will tell
us all things. He knows everything. He tells
us what He wants us to know. Jesus said unto her, Now, I don't
believe you can find a more straightforward statement from the lips of our
Savior than these right here. There might be one other instance
that is close kin to this one, but for my purposes, this takes
the cake. He said, I that speak unto you
am He. I'm the Messiah. And right at that moment, the
disciples come back from town, they've gone to buy groceries,
they're coming back to Jacob's well, and they intrude on this
sacred moment. And the woman left her water
pot and runs back to town to tell anybody that'll listen,
I've found the Christ, the Messiah. And if you'll take the time to
read From verse 1 through where we were just a moment ago, you'll
see how frequently the Lord Jesus had to cut this woman off where
she tried to escape, you know, mentally and verbally I'm talking
about. And over here, it's like He's wrapping His arms around
her to tell her that He is the Christ, the Son of the living
God. and her search is over. He talks to her about the water
of life, not the water in Jacob's well. Now, in a manner of speaking,
one could, I suppose, say that this woman, at some point in
John chapter 4, was not far from the kingdom of God. Matter of
fact, when she just walked, the first moment she was at Jacob's
well, unknown to her. Just a short little bit later
and she will be in the kingdom of God. Not far from the kingdom
of God. Now if you had to say, Where can people be in our generation
and fall under that category not far from the kingdom of God? Now, I know the answer. I haven't always known it, but
I know it now. Wherever the true gospel is preached. That's the only place that God
presences himself in our day. Where is the gospel preached? Plain and simple. Modern Christianity
is not preaching the gospel. They are simply trying to remain
in existence and to keep what they've got going, going, whether
God's in it or not. Of course, they will say He is,
and they'll use His name frequently and often, but I'm telling you,
the gospel is not preached in very many places in our day. Let's look at this man in our
text. He's quite an unusual fellow
in some ways. What kind of people did our Lord
say to them, you are not far from the kingdom of God? This man's duty is as a scribe. Now, a scribe is a person who
dictates, writes. In this case, copied the Scriptures. Not only preserved the Old Testament
books of Scripture, but wrote them out so that there
would be more copies for people to read. No printing arrangement
of any kind, as far as I know, in that century when our Lord
was on this earth. So He had duties of preserving
the scriptures, transcribing the scriptures, and interpreting
the scriptures. Therefore, this man should have
greater knowledge than other people around him. And yet, for
the most part, the scribes were pretty rotten, just like the
Pharisees and the Sadducees. Somehow, as time passes, God
no longer visits his people. We just leave. Just leave. But this guy is different in
many ways. And I'm still trying to find
out what it means to be not far from the kingdom of God. Let's take another look. It is certain that salvation
is revealed in this book that we call the Bible. It's in the
Old Testament as well as the New. It's in the Gospels as well
as the letters. It's all over this book. All
over it. God saves sinners in and by and
through the Lord Jesus. And that is important for us
to continually remember and think upon. James 1.18 says, of God's own
will, begat, birthed he us with the word of truth. That is, with
this book. Using these scriptures. are instrumental
in our conversion, according to that verse of Scripture, if
there is none other one like it in all the Scriptures. The
second thing I want us to look at is this man's knowledge. The scribe said, Master, you
have well said the truth. There is one God and there is
no other but He. There's only one true and living
God. And He reveals Himself in the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is vital for us to know. But I want to remind you that
we can believe in one God and not know Him. This man is not
far from the kingdom, but he's not in. He's not in. James again, chapter 2, verse
19, tells us that even the devils believe and tremble. We can believe
a lot of things and still not know the living God in Jesus
Christ. This man also knew that the condition
of the heart was of more importance before God than to fulfill all
outward works and ceremonies. Now, when religion puts the emphasis
on the outside, the reality is gone. When a religious organization,
or church, or building, or whatever you want to call it, when you
have to put pictures of Christ on the wall, Christ is no longer
there. I mean, you have to know, we
can't be this dumb that we think that these are authentic pictures,
do you? They look more like Wild Bill
Hickok to me. But this book is silent on what
our Lord looked like, how much He weighed, how tall He was,
what the color of His hair was, or any other description that
is not meaningful to the soul. We know nothing else except what
this book tells us. Oh, you can go back and get historians
that will write about Him and tell you all this stuff. You
can't trust that. They're just making paper for
you to buy. It's important for us to know
that salvation is in God's Christ and no place else. No place else. This man was kinder to our Lord
than the others. He was respectful. And they had
ulterior motives. So this man, in a sense, has
a different attitude toward our Lord. But he's still not far
from the kingdom of God. Not far. He even recognized in verse 28
of this chapter the wisdom of Christ. He said to our Lord,
perceiving that Christ had answered them well, Ask him which is the
first commandment. He saw in what our Lord said
to those others who were questioning him that this man told the truth
and had no problem doing so. And he compliments him on that. That's unusual for a Jew, especially
a scribe or a Pharisee or a Sadducee. He perceived that Christ had
answered them well. He was teachable. He had an open
mind. And after the Lord answered the
others, he stayed and pursued the matter further. But we come to this one issue
that we cannot leave unanswered. Wherein did he fail? He's not in the kingdom. He's
not in Christ. He may be conversing with Christ,
but he's not spiritually in Christ. So, where is his failure? Well, preacher, why do you want
to know this? So we can be sure whether or not we're in Christ. Otherwise this is just academic.
Worthless in my opinion. But it's for the good of our
souls. You don't want to miss Christ
thinking you found him, do you? Here's the real issue. When this man comes to the Lord
Jesus, there's no mention of sin, there's no mention of righteousness, there's no mention of redemption or of salvation. These things
are missing. Listen. In the Bible, everybody that
came to Christ for mercy, everybody that came, no matter when or
where it was in all the gospel accounts, they came as a sinner
for mercy from Christ. Do you understand that? This man says nothing about sin.
There's no mention of the blood, the atonement, the redemption. Another thing that's missing
is the language that he uses to describe our Lord Jesus Christ. Somehow, he does not find these
words in his vocabulary. The Lord Jesus is the God-man. He is the one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He is the only redeemer of sinners. He's the only Savior of sinners. How do you know Christ and not
know Him in these things as well? You follow me. The thing that
brings us to Christ is our sin. And therefore, the things that
we know best about Him is what He did for us in regard to our
sins. He put them away. One time forever. Let me read it to you out of
Hebrews chapter 10. You don't have to turn if you
don't wish to. I don't have time to wait for you. You should already be well familiar
with these words. Hebrews chapter 10. I'll start at verse 12. But this
man, this Christ, this God-man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth,
expecting till his enemies became his footstool. For by one single
solitary offering, the offering of himself, by one offering,
he has perfected forever whom them that are sanctified. And that ain't no grammatical
mistake. Christ is not only our righteousness,
he's our sanctification, he's our wisdom, he's everything there
is to a poor sinner. Let me get back to the book of
Mark really quickly. So what are we going to do with
this man in our estimation? Is he in the kingdom or out of
the kingdom? It's not for you and me to decide.
It is what does our Savior have to say. And when our Lord left this man,
he was still not far from the kingdom of God. but not in. Now, how many people are in that
same category? I do not know. But I think the
number to be rather huge. But that's not for us to decide
either. What matters to you and me is whether or not we are in
Christ or not. We either are or we aren't. That makes the Lord Jesus Christ
to us some very precious things. Scripture says He's our all in
all. He's everything to us. He's God's
unspeakable gift. And to look through the gospel
accounts and see people walking with him or past him everywhere
he went, and not the least effect in themselves. Now, if they could
do that when Christ was here in person, we can certainly do
that in a place like this where Christ is preached. Being here and being saved is
not the same thing. Being in church, here or anywhere
else, is not the same thing. It simply isn't. This is indeed
a vital matter, one to which we should give our close attention. Religious but lost, not far from
the kingdom of God.