Please, Mark chapter 10. I want to begin reading verse 17.
To most of you, this is a very familiar
story. I believe the Lord's stories
truly happen. I don't think this is just something
somebody thought up, like a parable of some kind. I think this actually
really happened. In verse 17 of Mark chapter 10,
we read these words, 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. 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. have I kept from my youth?" Then Jesus, beholding him, loved
him and said unto him, One thing that 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 said, and he was sad, And he was sad at that saying,
and went away grieved, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around about
and 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, but Jesus answered them and said
again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard it is for them that
trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God. It is 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 I want to stop there
for just a second. We'll pick it up in verse 26 in a second,
but I want to make sure everyone is clear about this. There are
those who would like you to believe that this place called the Eye
of the Needle over there in Israel, it's a small hole in the wall,
they would like you to believe that they're talking about that.
The original language is very, very clear. The original Hebrew
language is very, very clear. It's talking about a needle that
you use to sew fabric with. Now you tell me, is it possible for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle? Yes. No way. You think the people
of that day didn't understand that completely? They did. Let's
go on now. And they were astonished. They
were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, who
then can be saved? Who then can be saved? Let me
ask you something. Do you wander at times? If you do, don't feel alone. So do I. How can we not? How can we not go through this
life with what we see in this flesh, with what we look at every
day when we get up and look in the mirror, and not say to ourselves, Am I saved? The apostles, when the Lord Jesus
was telling them that one would betray them, every one of them
said, is it I? How could we not? How could we
not? Who then can be saved? That's
what I want to talk to you about this morning. What a wonderful question. Can I? Can I be saved? A man who gets
up in the morning and the first thoughts that come into my mind
are a hatred of something. The man who gets up in the morning
and first thoughts come to my mind is a murmur about that guy
who's sitting in the White House over there. What has he done
to me today? Do you know who we murmur against
when we do that? We murmur against God. Who is
it to put that guy there? These two young men. who were
attacked by the mountain lion up there by Mike's place, up
there by your daughter's. Probably pretty close to your
place, huh? Yeah. What a shame. What a way to lose
your life by a mountain lion. Do you know that that was ordained
of God to be, it was purposed of God to happen? Everything
that happens, folks, Everything, all the wars that are going on,
volcanoes that come up, when the earth shakes, everything. When a guy walks into a school
and shoots up a bunch of kids, God has purposed all things. John, John, how can, how can,
how, relate those things to God. Folks, He's God. He's either
God or we're wasting our time. He's either sovereign over everything
that happens or you and I are sitting here in vanity thinking
we're doing something good. It angers me, it bothers me that
people make out my God The one who rules over all things according
to his purpose. And say, well, he doesn't rule
over this. Oh, yes, he does. If this rich guy, if a rich man could be passed
by simply because he's rich, can I be passed by too? Isn't that what the disciples
were saying when they said, Lord, is it I? Am I the one? You know why they said that?
Because we all know that we're capable of doing it, don't we? Folks, you have to know what
you're capable of. God has to show you and reveal
to you the truth of how deep we are lost in sin. Throughout the Word of God, we
are warned over and over and over again of false teachers,
false prophets, false teachings, false Jesuses, another gospel
which is not a gospel. That's what it says over in Galatians
1 verse 6, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that
called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. But to clarify that, then Paul
says this, which is not another. There's only one gospel. There's
only one message that is good news to a sinner, and that Jesus
Christ paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. But there be some, it says, going
on in that verse that trouble you and would pervert the Gospel
of Christ. It says in 2 Corinthians 13,
5, examine yourselves. That doesn't mean that we just
look and say, okay, yep, I believe in the Lord Jesus, that's it,
I'm done, I'm saved. Go on and live your life any
way you want. That is not what that's saying
at all. Oh, there's some people who think that's what we're saying.
God's people know that's not, don't we? We know. the battle that rages within
us, just as Paul did. Oh, wretched man that I am. If you can't say that about yourself, you want to examine yourself. Examine yourselves whether you
be in the face. In Jude, Verse 3, it says, Beloved,
when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common
salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort
you that ye should earnestly continue for the faith which
was once delivered unto the saints. Continue. Keep on. First thing Pastor Gene taught
me, John, keep on keeping on. Keep on preaching Christ. Keep
on preaching Christ. Keep on preaching Christ. Verse 4, For there are certain
men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this
condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. You know what that means? It
means turning it into wickedness. We know what grace is, don't
we? It's unmerited favor. We know there's two things in
this world that cannot mix grace and works. You can't mix the
two. Turning God's grace into works
of men, into a decision, to follow Jesus into getting baptized,
into coming to the front and saying a prayer, whatever way
you want to look at it. There were men who ordained before
time, ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness
and denying the only Lord God, our Lord Jesus Christ, denying
who He is, denying His sovereignty. Paul says after that, or Jude
says after that, I will therefore put you in remembrance, though
you once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people
out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed
not. What is it about the condition of this rich young man that makes
one ask, who then can be saved? In your bulletin, Bottom of the announcement page,
you'll see an article by Todd Nider. If I am
not saved. If I am not saved, it is not
because I want to be saved and God refuses to save me. If I am not saved, it is not
because God did not elect me, Christ did not die for me, and
the Holy Spirit did not give me life. If I am not saved, it
is because I do not want to be saved. That does not mean I do not want
to be delivered from the punishment of hell. But it does mean I do
not want to be saved God's way on God's terms. If I am saved,
I do want to be saved. If I am saved, I am saved because
God elected me, because Christ died for me, and the Holy Spirit
gave me life. But if I am not saved, I have
no one to blame but myself. I do not want to be saved. Could
anyone charge God with injustice because he did not give somebody
something they did not want? What is it about the condition
of this rich young man that makes one ask who then can be saved? Well, I want to begin first with
an understanding about this, about who God is. Our Lord says
in John 6, verse 63, it is the Spirit that quickeneth. Now,
what that means It's fairly simple. That means the Spirit must be
made alive. Some of you who are here for
Friday night Bible study, you're getting a deja vu right now going,
oh, we talked about that Friday night. Yes, we did. But there
are some who didn't get to hear it. So I'm going to share with
them this morning a little bit about what we looked at Friday
night. And this is this. It is the Spirit that quickeneth. That means the Spirit must be
made alive. That's what the word quickeneth
means. It means to be made alive. Well, why would the spirit need
to be made alive? Because the spirit is dead and
trespasses in sin. Isn't that what Scripture tells
us? Well, no, wait a minute. You may not believe that yet.
Let me keep going. It says then after that, the flesh profiteth
nothing. That means when we walk around
in this body that we walk in, it's not going to profit us anything.
It's the spirit that must be quickened. Those who are dead
in trespasses and sin, we must be given life. We're talking
about what is it? What is it about this rich young
man that makes one ask who then can be saved? And I'm telling
you, it's Jesus Christ the Lord. That's the answer. That's the
keep on keeping on. That's the message that must
come from this pulpit every Sunday to feed his sheep. We've been
in the world all week, haven't we? We're filled with all the
muck that we hear from TV and news and our stupid phones, my
stupid phone. Our Lord says, after He tells
us it's the spirit that needs to be made alive, the flesh prophet
of Nugget, the words I speak to you, He says, they are spirit
and they are life. The spirit of a man is his heart,
his inner being. And thus saith the Lord in Jeremiah,
the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked
who can know it. 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. It's the heart. That's where we need to begin.
What is it? What is it about the condition
of this rich young man that makes one ask, who then can be saved? It's the heart. In John 3.19,
and this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world
and men loved, this is where your heart is, that's where your
treasures are. Men loved darkness rather than light. because their
deeds were evil. Their heart is a deceitful thing
above all things and desperately wicked. Verse 20 says this, for
everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. We won't come to
the light. We won't bow to the sovereign
God. Why? Because we like the God that
we've made ourselves to be. That's why. I like the fact that
I may be the one who chooses my own destination. Isn't that
a good thing to think of ourselves? I did it my way. This young man was steeped in
his worldly belongings. Isn't that what we read back
there in verse 22? And he was sad at that saying
and went away grieved. for he had great possessions.
He was steeped in all, I've got this great Harley Davidson, whoo,
man, I got everything. What more do I need? Got that
Harley Davidson, I can ride it, I sold that, now I got a trailer,
I can go camping, whatever, I got all these cool things, live in
the greatest country on earth. Greatest freedoms we have yet,
oh. He was steeped in his possessions. He was steeped in his works of
the law. Isn't that what we read back
in verse 20? What was that again? He says, and he answered, he
said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. He thought. He thought, I've
done it. You know, we were looking at
this in Friday night study. Folks, you can't just do a little
bit. It has to be perfect. Christ
came and fulfilled the law. That was our subject matter for
Friday night. Fulfilled perfectly all that is needed for God's
law to be satisfied. You can't do it. This young man
thought so. He was steeped. Leaning hard. That's what we
just read. Lord, Master, I've done all this
since I was young. I've done it all. He loved his darkness and he
would not come to the light. That's what we read again there
in verse 22. And he who sat at that saying and went away grieved. To come to Christ is impossible
for one who is steeped in self-righteousness, one who cannot see the true Kingdom
of God. Turn over. Mark your place there
in Mark chapter 10. We'll come back to it in a moment.
Turn over to John chapter 3. In John chapter 3 we read about
Nicodemus, another story that we're very familiar with. There
was a man named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to
Jesus by night. And he said unto him, Rabbi,
teacher, master, we know that thou art a teacher come from
God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except
God be with you. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, verily, verily, amen, amen. I say unto thee, except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Except a man be born again. You cannot see. Folks, to come
to Christ is impossible for one who is steeped in self-righteousness. And every one of us come into
this world in our own self-righteousness. One who cannot see the true Kingdom
of Heaven. We just read, to be born again
is the work of the Spirit in verse 8. Look at that if you
would. I jumped out of that. Look over verse 8. Let's begin at verse 6. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel
not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind
bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.
And now listen to what it says next. So is every one that is
born of the Spirit. To be born again is the work
of the Spirit. Who can be saved and who can
be saved? Those who have been born again
by the work of the Holy Spirit. What is it that the Spirit does?
Turn over to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. What is it that the Spirit does? In Ephesians chapter 1 verse
3, we read that, I've read that four or five times. I'm going
to turn over there and make sure I read it right. That's okay.
You guys keep turning to Matthew chapter 5. I'll be right there.
I want to make sure I quote it
properly. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Remember,
we're talking about the new heart. We're talking about a heart matter,
spiritual, heart blessings in heavenly places in Christ. That's important. That's important
because when we get over here to Matthew chapter 5, our Lord
talks about what the Holy Spirit does. It says blessed in verse
3. Matthew chapter 5 verse 3. It
says blessed are the poor. That means, as we looked at in
our Bible study, that those who are blessed of God, like I just
read in Ephesians, what did I read? Let's read that again. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. With that in mind, blessed are
the poor in spirit. That means that if you're blessed
of God, the Spirit of God will make you poor in spirit. You can't do it on your own.
You're not just going to get smarter someday and say, oh yeah,
you're right, I'm just going to have to humble myself and
make myself poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
those who have God has made poor. Blessed are they that mourn,
verse 4, those who are made to mourn for their sins. Did you ever mourn for your sins
before God called you out of darkness? Did your sins ever
bother you before? Folks, I'm telling you, it's
a good thing if they do now. Because it's God who makes us
to mourn over our sins. It's God who makes our spirits
pour. Verse 5, blessed are the meek.
It's God that makes us meek. Blessed are they which hunger
and thirst after righteousness. It's God that makes us thirst
and hunger after His righteousness. He does that by showing us we
have none of our own. No. Blessed are the pure in heart. If you think you have any purity
in your heart, you are not blessed of God. But if you think Christ
is dwelling in your heart, that's all the purity you need. If God has given you reason to believe
that Christ is dwelling in your heart, your heart is as pure
as gold, as pure as the white snow. No matter what you see
in the mirror, I'm not condoning what you see.
I'm not condoning. Don't take what I'm saying and
say, see, he's telling us we can live any way we want. We
know better, don't we? We know better. Only fools would
say something like that, that don't know God. I know, because
I used to say those things myself. I was a pretty big fool. Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you. How dare you take my self-will
away from me? That's what my aunt said. She
poked me in the chest. She turned into a devil right
in front of my face. And she said, don't you dare
take my free will away from me. Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. for great is your reward in heaven."
Back in our text. Look again at verses 23-25. Oh,
I went to the wrong text. I'm still in the wrong text. I'll
get there. Wait a minute. I wrote down the wrong one. Look
at verse 27. Oh, no, I'm in the wrong chapter. 23-25, read that again. And Jesus
looked around about and 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. But Jesus answereth,
saying, again, answereth again, and saith unto them, Children,
how hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter into
the kingdom of God. It is easier for the camel to
go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished out
of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And now
we read verse 27, And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it
is, but not with God. For with God
all things are possible. With men it's impossible. Why? Because dead men can't do anything. Over in Ephesians 2, again, familiar
words, so familiar some of you can quote it without reading,
unlike myself who can't quote anything without reading it,
right? It says in chapter 2 verse 1, and you hath he quickened. That means made alive. What was
it about the spirit? What did the Lord say back there?
He said the spirit has to be made alive, has to be quickened.
The flesh prophet is nothing. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sin. where in times past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to Prince and
the power of air, the Spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened, hath made alive us together with
Christ. By grace ye are saved, and hath
raised us up to sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Who then can be saved? Those
whom are quickened or made alive. That's who. Your riches cannot save you.
Only God can make a man humble. Only God can make you poor. Only
God can give life. And John 17 tells us how that
life comes. Turn over to John 17. John chapter
17. This is how God gives life. Look here at verses 1 through
10. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all
flesh. That he should give what? What's the next two words? Eternal
life. How does life come to one who
is dead and trespasses on sin? How is one made life? Through
the Lord Jesus Christ. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. John 14, 6, we read these words,
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. How is it then? How is it then
that one can be saved? Through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how. And that's the only
way. There is no other way. Other
people come with other ways as robbers in the night. But there's
only one way. That's through Christ. Our Lord
goes on to say after that, if you had known me, you should
have known my father also, and from henceforth ye know him and
have seen him. In our text it says, with men
it is impossible, but not with God, for with God all things
are possible. How is it He has saved some?
How is it He has saved some? The elect, the remnant, the chosen? Look over with me at Philippians
chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. Just after Ephesians. Philippians
chapter 2. I'm getting there. Look at verses 5 through 11.
Let this mind be in you. Philippians chapter 2, verse
5. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. Does God have all power,
folks? Does the God who has revealed
Himself in Scriptures to you, does He have power over everything?
All things? Is He sovereign? Every molecule,
every speck of dust where it lands? Every snowflake? "...who being in the form of
God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself
of no reputation." Verse 7. and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being
found in the fashion of a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient. How is it this one, how is it
this rich one could be saved? Being found in the fashion of
a man, he, Jesus Christ, humbled himself and became obedient unto
death. even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him and given him a name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things
on the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now turn over
to Hebrews 10. How is it? How is it this one,
this rich man, how can anybody be saved? How then can someone
be saved? This one who humbled himself
and became a man, a servant, even unto death. Look over here
at Hebrews chapter 10. We're speaking of him. Look at
verse 12. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice, For sins forever sat down on
the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." One more if you would look back
at Hebrews chapter 1. Turn back to the left here to
Hebrews chapter 1. How is it that anybody could
be saved? This One who offered one offering,
who sat down at the right hand of the Father, this One who humbled
Himself and became a man, who gave Himself as a sacrifice. Look here in verse 1 of Hebrews
chapter 1. God, who in sundry times and
diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son,
whom He hath appointed heir of all things. Who being the brightness
of His glory. Why is this so important? Because
this is where grace comes from. And it's perfect grace. Perfect grace. Who being the brightness of His
glory and the express image of His person and upholding all
things by the word of His power when He had by Himself purged
Our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
How is it he saved some? He laid down his life. How is
it that some could be saved? He shed his own blood. Why? Why would God save any? Let me
give you a better question. Why would God save me? Can you ask that of yourself? Turn to Jeremiah chapter 31.
You got Isaiah, Jeremiah, Old Testament. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 31. Why would God save me? A wretch, a worm, polluted in
filth. Why would God save me? Jeremiah
31 verse 1, we read this, at the same time, saith the Lord,
will I be the God of all the families of Israel. His chosen
people, and they shall be my people. Thus saith the Lord,
the people which were left of the sword found grace in the
wilderness, even Israel. When I went to cause him to rest,
the Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have
loved thee. Why would God? save me. Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
I have drawn thee. Yea, I have loved thee with everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
I have drawn thee. In closing, you may ask this
question, was the young rich man saved? He walked away, didn't
he? Go back to our text in Mark chapter
10. I want you to look at this for
yourself. I want you to see the words of God. Don't take John's
interpretation. Look at it yourself. Look at
verse 21. Then Jesus, beholding him, loved
him. Was the rich young ruler that
came to Christ saved? David Edmondson writes this,
he says, before I answer, I want to ask you a question. Does the
Lord save those that he loves? What did we just read? What did
he just read? You better believe he does. You
better believe he does. Yes, I know, writes David, that
the Lord told that young man, there is one thing that you lack,
go your way, sell all that you have, and give it to the poor,
and you shall have treasures in heaven. Yes, I know, writes
David, that the Lord said to the zealous ruler, come, take
up thy cross, take up the cross, and follow me. He says, yes,
I know, that moral young man was sad at that saying, and he
went away grieved, for he had great possessions. But I'm telling
you that young man was saved. I know that he went away sad
that day, but if God loved him, there would be another day that
he would rejoice in his redemption in Christ. How do I know that?
Because all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. What do
we read there in verse 21? Then Jesus, beholding him, loved
him. loved Him. There would be another day that
this young man would rejoice in the redemption that he finds
in Christ Jesus. David says, how do I know? I
know because God has never loved anyone that He did not save. Did you catch that? When you
see someone on the street corner saying, Jesus loves you! Feel
free to ask him, how do you know? God has never saved anyone that
he did not love. Isn't that what election is all
about? It is God's love and salvation going hand in hand. God foreknew
us and predestinated us to be his because he loved us. But He loved us in Christ. God
called us because He loved us and chose us, but He loved us
and chose us in Christ. That's in Ephesians 1 verse 4.
God saved His people because He loves, He chooses, He calls,
and He justifies us, but it's all in Christ. That's what we
read in Ephesians 1 verse 3. And because of His love for Christ,
God's elect will one day soon be glorified. You can read that
in Romans 8, 29-30. If I am a child of God, when
God beholds His Son and loves Him, He beholds me and loves
me just the same. If God beholds and loves me in
Christ, He will always Behold me, he will always love me because
he has always loved his son. Amen. Stand with me, if you would,
please. Folks, God loves you. He keeps
you, just like a chicken keeps her chicks, little ones, under
his wing. Hold it up. Protect. Amen.