In Matthew chapter 19, this text
of scripture comes to my mind and bears upon a question that
has been brought up in my life since I was a child. Very, very
important. And I wanna preface what we read
here with a few comments. And perhaps those comments can
be summarized with the title of this message. The title is
Mission Impossible. We joke at that because there's
a TV show, a longstanding TV show that had that title, Mission
Impossible. But I'm using it in all seriousness
here because I can tell you from my own experience that I at one
time did not understand that what was needed was impossible
for me. And I don't know how long it's
been since I first considered that possibility that I could
come into God's presence, that I could come into heaven, that
I could have eternal life. But ever since I first thought
that, it seems that God has been teaching me the impossibility
of it for me. And so this is a very, very important
subject, it's important because God has made it important. And
it's important because it's important to us whom the Lord is saving
and has saved. If we enter heaven, it's impossible
for us, but it will be possible only for God. Until we come to
that, we cannot be saved. And this is such an important
subject that it's repeated three times in this account in scripture,
Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And it was so surprising to the
disciples that it says in this account that they were exceedingly
amazed when Jesus said this. They understood it, we don't.
We naturally think what Jesus said here means it's really,
really hard But somehow you can do it. You can somehow, it can
happen for you somehow. Even though it's said to be impossible,
it really just means it's hard. And that's our problem, is that
we have a misconception of the truth. We not only have a misconception,
we have a false notion of the truth. And this text of scripture
is meant to show us that. One of the things that scripture
teaches is that unless the Lord radically changes our outlook,
our viewpoint, our understanding of the truth, unless he changes
us entirely in the way that we look at ourselves and God and
Christ, especially, especially our religion, Unless we have
a complete change in the way we understand our religion, we
cannot be saved. That's called repentance. Repentance
means a change of mind. And that's something we cannot
do. Jeremiah 13, 23 says, can the leopard change his spots?
Can the Ethiopian change his skin? It's a rhetorical question. The answer, of course, is no.
then neither can you who are accustomed to doing evil do good. It's impossible for you. And
so these things are very, very important. Now let's read this
in Matthew chapter 19, and beginning at verse 16. Actually, I wanna
back up to verse 13, because we don't normally include this,
but it is in the context. In verse 13 of Matthew 19, then
were there brought unto him, to Jesus, little children that
he should put his hands on them and pray, and the disciples rebuked
them. The disciples rebuked those who
brought the little children. But Jesus said, suffer, allow
the little children and forbid them not to come to me, for of
such is the kingdom of heaven. Now the message here is going
to teach us that you can be too big to enter heaven, but you
can never be too small. Verse 15, and he laid his hands
on them and departed thence. Verse 16, and behold, one came
and said to him, good master, what good thing shall I do that
I may have eternal life? Now this question comes up every
day in the world in religion. And it's put something like this.
How can I be saved? How can I get saved? What can
I do? How can I be accepted by God? And religion has an answer. And
we're gonna look at that answer in a minute. And we're gonna
see that answer is not right. But this man came with the wrong
answer. He came with the wrong viewpoint,
the wrong thought of how to enter heaven, how to have eternal life. And his wrong thinking is revealed
in his question. It starts out, good master, and
he continues, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal
life? That's upside down thinking.
Jesus expertly answers him. He said to him, verse 17, why
callest thou me good? Why do you call me good? Now
that was setting him up to understand the implications of everything
that follows. He goes on. There is none good,
but one, that is God. This was contrary to what this
man thought. He obviously thought he was good. And he thought he
could see goodness in Christ, and obviously a good teacher.
And he was complimenting him as a man, as a teacher. But his
opinion of Christ was far too low. Jesus is telling him, there's
none good but God. But, here's the second part of
his masterful answer. He says, but if thou wilt enter
into life, keep the commandments. You just have to do everything
God said. He said to him, the young man
said, which? Which commandment? Which commandments?
Jesus said, okay. Now in the law, there are two
tables. Remember, God wrote the law with
his finger on two tables of stone and gave it to Moses. On the
second table, there are five commandments having to do with
our duty towards others. And so Jesus is referring to
that second table. He says, thou shalt do no murder,
don't kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal,
thou shalt not bear false witness, don't lie, honor your father
and your mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The second table of God's law
has to do with our duty towards others, and it gives us prohibitions. Don't do these things. Don't
murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie. And all
of that is comprehended or summarized by thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. The law tells us many things
what we should not do, and this man says, he says, the young
man said to him, all these things have I kept from my youth. What lack I yet? Now in that
last part, when Jesus said, you shall love your neighbor as yourself,
he's actually introducing the correct interpretation of those
commandments that he spoke first. To keep ourselves from committing
things we're forbidden from doing, like stealing and lying and murdering
and adultery, that's not enough. It's not enough for us to just
not do what God forbids. It's actually necessary for us
to do what he says here, which is summarized in this, love your
neighbor as yourself. Do this, and you shall enter
into life. Verse 21, Jesus said to him,
if thou wilt be perfect, he said, I did all those things for my
youth. He claimed to have kept all those duties God gave us
that we are to keep towards others. He claimed that. In fact, he
said he had done it since he was very young, from his youth.
He knew the law, and he had kept it, at least outwardly. He had
never killed anyone. Neither have I, thankfully. He
had never actually committed adultery with another man's wife. He had never, he said at least,
stolen anything. He had never lied. It gets harder
and harder to believe as you go down the list, but even if
he had, let me ask you this question. How does that help you? How does
it help me? I haven't. Not even outwardly
have I not lied or honored my father and my mother, especially
not love my neighbor as myself. So let's go on. Jesus said, if
thou will be perfect. Okay, so you've done that, great.
If you'll be perfect. Listen to what he says. 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. Now, when Jesus began to answer
this man, he told him, why do you call me good? There's none
good but God. The first table of God's law
has to do with our duties towards God. This is what God requires
of us. And the first and most important
commandment is greater than these, which Jesus gave him. And it
says that we shall love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul,
mind, and strength, and have no other gods before him. Jesus
said, there's only one good and it's God. He called him good
master. The man did not believe, did
not understand, he was not persuaded, he didn't come to Jesus Christ
as God. He did not know that he was God. But Jesus gave him a commandment
here. If you will be perfect, this is coming now from God himself,
Go sell what you have, give it to the poor, come follow me.
And what did he do? Did he obey God? Because what he told him to do
was God's commandment for him, and it had to do with what he
had, what he could do to love his neighbor as himself. And
so in his answer to the man, He actually reveals what was
truly in his heart. And this is a key part of understanding
this. He came expecting. came thinking
with confidence and enthusiasm and expectation that he could
do what was required to have eternal life. And this is the
assumption. This is the presumption of all
of man's religion. I can do what's necessary. Isn't
it? In fact, if you were to take,
and I'm I'm saying this not to just slight others, but I'm saying
this because it's so demeaning, it's so against the truth of
God. It's so against God's honor and
name, and so against the salvation of your soul. What I'm about
to tell you is the belief, is the opinion of almost all church-going
people in this nation. Evangelical. Evangelical religion
says this. This is how to get saved. And
they use those words. This is how. You need to say a prayer. And
in your prayer, you want to say something like this. Lord, I'm
sorry for my sins. Please forgive me. I want to turn from my sins.
and come into my heart, Lord Jesus, I accept you, and therefore
I believe that Jesus died for me, right? Something like that. In other words, and this is really
important that we see the comparison here. This man came in the same
way that almost every church-going person in this nation and the
world, for that matter, comes to God. They say, we're going
to make it so that salvation is possible for everyone. Isn't
that true? Salvation is really possible
for everyone because God loves everybody, Jesus died for everyone,
and the Spirit of God has given an invitation and actually inclined
everyone But God himself has either chosen or because of a
limitation somehow, he has left the decision up to your own free
will whether or not you will accept Jesus Christ and be saved. And if you do, you are saved.
If you don't, then you will spend eternity in hell. Is that not
pretty much a summary of all of religion today? And let me
tell you from this text of scripture, that is false, utterly false. Now it's important that we see
that in order to be saved, our thinking, our religious thinking
about how to be saved must be completely changed. We must forsake
and abandon it because God persuades us. He turns us from that. And
this is how he does it. He came believing it's possible
for me. I can do, if you give me a requirement,
I can fulfill that. I can meet the condition. I can
do it. He was confident. He was enthusiastic
even, even expecting that he would do it. And then Jesus said,
well, keep the commandments. I've done that. And he was thinking
outwardly. The Lord looks only at the heart.
1 Samuel 16, 7, God does not see as man sees. Man looks at
the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. And so God's
law is intended to reveal what's inside of us, what motivates
us, how we think, our intentions. And when Jesus gave him this
thing to do, go sell everything you have and come follow me,
it revealed the fact that what he really loved was himself. He did not love his neighbor
as himself. Not in any way. Because he could
not do what Jesus told him to do. And he did not love God.
Therefore, he was a law breaker. Therefore, he did not keep the
commandments because in his heart he had never kept them. Even
though outwardly, according to his claim from his youth, he
had. He knew the law and outwardly he had kept it. But guess what?
That did him absolutely no good. In fact, it left him worse. It
left him worse than he was before. And he went away sorrowful. He
went away despondent. He went away realizing he had
no hope because he could not do what was required. And sadly,
modern day, and it doesn't matter what time in history, religion
does not leave men sorrowful and remorseful. and helpless
and hopeless because it tells them, this is what you got to
do. Say this prayer. Tell the Lord, I'm sorry. You
just have to want to change. Tell him, you accept Jesus, and
therefore, because God has loved everybody, Jesus died for everybody,
and the Spirit of God has invited you and offered salvation to
you, you can make what God did work by your decision. That is
utterly contrary to what Jesus said here. It's contrary, first
of all, because Jesus said, you gotta keep the commandments. Accepting Jesus doesn't keep
the commandments, does it? No, it does not. Somebody has
to keep the law. Moreover, Jesus said here, and
we're going to read this, that this man did not do what Jesus
said to sell everything, to go give it away to the poor, and
then come and follow him. He couldn't do that. He couldn't
follow Jesus. He goes on. Read this with me,
verse 23. Then said Jesus to his disciples,
verily I say to you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the
kingdom of heaven. Okay, sounds like it's hard,
but not impossible, right? But again, he said, I say unto
you, 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. Now,
if you were a child, like I was when I first heard this, You
would imagine here stands a camel and here's a little needle's
eye. How's this going to work? What
did Jesus mean? He meant it was impossible. You can't get a camel to go through
the eye of a needle, can you? He made it clear. But what do
people hear? What did I hear when I heard
this? It's really, really hard, and it's really rare. But somehow,
optimistically, I'm going to make it. Isn't that the way we
think? But the Lord is saying here,
notice, He says, and his disciples heard. They were standing there
when Jesus said this, and they were exceedingly amazed, saying,
who then can be saved? Notice, they didn't just say,
well, how can a rich man be saved? Who can anybody be saved, if
that's what's required? That's the right question. Who
can be saved? And here's the answer. And Jesus
beheld them and said, with men, this is impossible. Now, this is very important.
Any religion of man says salvation is possible for everyone. Sadly,
most people don't make it because they don't do what they could. Jesus said no. Jesus said it's
impossible for men. But religion contradicts him,
doesn't it? He says, no, it's possible for men. We're going
to tell them how. We're going to write books about
it, how to be born again, how to get saved. Have you been saved? I don't know. What's required? Well, here, let me tell you.
When you say this prayer, you recognize what you are. You recognize
Jesus. You do these things, and you'll
get saved. Jesus said, no. With men, this
is impossible. His mind was wrong. His outlook
was wrong. All right. The problem is that
until we see that salvation is impossible for us, we cannot
be saved. And that sounds harsh. God says,
repent. He says, believe in scripture. And guess what? He also says,
it's impossible. It's impossible for you. Look
with me at a couple of scriptures. Look at Galatians chapter three.
Jesus said to this man who believed he could keep the law, he believed
there was something he could do to have eternal life. He believed
these things. Jesus said to him, that's what
you need to do. Go do it. And he couldn't. Galatians
chapter three. And look at in verse 21. It says
here, is the law then against the promises of God? Jesus gave
him commandments. Are those commandments contrary
to God's promises? There's a reason for asking that,
but notice he answers. No, God forbid, not in any way,
God forbid. Four, listen to this carefully. If there had been a law given
which could have given life, verily, most certainly, Righteousness
should have been by the law. If there had been a law given
by God which could have given life, then righteousness should
have been by the law. Your obedience to the law would
have brought righteousness and you would have been given life.
Right? That's what he asked. How can
I have eternal life? What good thing can I do? Religion
says there's just one good thing you got to do. You got to accept
Jesus. Look at chapter two of Galatians. In verse 21, I do not frustrate
the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, in other words,
by your own personal obedience to what God requires, if you
can be righteous that way, what's the consequence? Then Christ
is dead in vain. He died for nothing. Would God
require His Son to die? Would Jesus give His life for
nothing? To claim that is to blaspheme
God and to blaspheme the Lord Jesus Christ. That He would do
something for nothing and not accomplish His will by doing
it? That's to claim that God's will means nothing, His work
means nothing, He doesn't accomplish anything. God is making it utterly
clear here, we cannot be saved by what we do. Do you understand
that? It's impossible for you. Okay, now this comes to us as
a surprising thing, doesn't it? That it would be so impossible.
It's not just really, really hard. Somehow we'll dissect this
camel into its molecular structure and feed it through the needle's
eye, and eventually out pops a mangled camel, and we'll reassemble
it, and there you have it. No. No. Just take it as a child. It's not possible. But that's
contrary to the way I think. I know that it is. Listen to
these words of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 9, verse 23, he says,
Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich
man glory in his riches. But let him that glorieth glory
in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the
Lord, which exercise, I do this, loving kindness, judgment, and
righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord. Don't boast in or trust in your
wisdom, not in your strength, not in your riches. You know
what riches do for us. A rich man, has a lot in the
bank or in his treasures. And if he wants something, he
just gets it, doesn't he? If he can't do something, he
just uses his money to make it happen, doesn't he? If he has
dangers, he uses his money to secure himself and his property.
He uses his money to get legal aid. He does whatever's necessary
to manipulate things because he has enough money. What is
that called? It's called trusting in your
riches. Now, I said earlier that God
looks not at the outward appearance, but at the heart. And Jesus said
in Matthew 19, he said, A rich man shall hardly enter
into the kingdom of heaven. I say it is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
to the kingdom of God. He's not talking only or merely
about possessions. There were many people in scripture
who were believers and were also rich. Abraham was a rich man,
David, King Solomon, Joseph of Arimathea, there were a lot of
rich, Nicodemus was a rich man. But these men also were saved. So it's not physical possessions
here. Understand that when the scripture
speaks to us, it's looking at the inner man, the inner thoughts,
what we trust in. And if we read the other accounts
in Mark and Luke, we would see that. He says in the same place,
he says, those that trust in riches. In Mark chapter 10, he
says, Jesus answered and said again, to them children, how
hard is it for them that trust in riches enter into the kingdom
of God, you see? It's what's going on in here.
trusting in riches. So this man not only had wealth,
but his wealth was his confidence. And the wealth that he was talking
about here in this text of scripture, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, is not
his physical possessions that allowed him to just buy things,
although that reflected, that was evidence of what was going
on inside. But it was his inner trust in
his own ability to do what was required to have eternal life. He thought he could do it. Here,
how can I be saved? I'm going to give you an explanation.
It's on this little piece of paper. It's only this long. Just
do this and fill out your name and it'll be done. I did it. Most people have. Why haven't
you? Well, when the Lord saves us, he teaches us this is impossible. And as I said before, it takes
a long time. It takes a long time to learn
this. A lifetime, perhaps. But the Lord teaches us this
by his grace. Now, I'm gonna read a few scriptures
to you. Look at the book of John, the gospel of John in chapter
five. He says in John chapter 5 and
verse 39, search the scriptures for in them you think you have
eternal life. This is what the rich man, the
young rich ruler thought. The scriptures tell me what I
have to do. This will give me eternal life if I can do it.
And Jesus said, and they are they which testify of me. Big
revelation, big light. In verse 40, and you will not
come to me that you might have life. In other words, you won't
come. You will not. You refuse. You reject it. You do not. You won't. You don't want to. You refuse this. And like in
Romans chapter one, it says, they did not like to retain the
knowledge of God. We don't like God's thinking.
We don't want to retain it. Look at chapter six. John chapter
6 and verse 44, not only will we not, he says in verse 44,
no man can come to me except the father which has sent me
draw him and I will raise him up at the last day. Now, religion
says everything God has done, he's done it universally and
equally for everybody. They like to think in terms of
the bill of rights. God has created all men equal.
Everyone has a right to this. Everyone can do this. You just
need to do your part. God has gone so far, he's left
the rest up to you. Isn't that it? You hear it on
TV and these Christian-like movies. They want to be Christian and
they say, well, God has done his part. He's left the rest
up to us. We've got to do our part now. It's common, right? God helps those who help themselves.
But this is all false. Here's the truth of Scripture.
All of us, without exception, have failed to do one thing of
all that God requires. We have failed. In fact, we can
bring ourselves under guilt and condemnation. We can bring ourselves
under the judgment of God, but we cannot save ourselves from
the guilt and condemnation and judgment of God. Not the guilt
of our sins or God's condemnation against us for our sins. We can't
do that. It's impossible. And he says
here in John 6, 44, we can't come to Christ unless the Father,
God the Father, draw. And the word draw means drag,
like you drag a net from the ocean. And he says, except the
Father which has sent me, draw him, and I will raise him up
at the last day. Who will the Lord raise up? Those
the Father draws to him who come. Who are going to come? Only those
God draws. Does God want to save everybody? Does God want to save everybody?
Well, religion of man says absolutely. In fact, if he doesn't, this
is what man's religion says, we're going to take the superior
moral ground. We're going to take the high
ground here and say, yes, he does. And we're going to make
it so that salvation is possible for everyone, because we're going
to boil it down to this. God has loved everyone. Christ
died for everyone and taken their sins away. And the Spirit of
God is offering and inviting men to come, pleading with them.
and he's left it up to you to do the last part. In other words,
God has hinged, he has made a pivot on the spindle of man's own will
and decision, all of his eternal destiny. God himself has conditioned
all of his own sovereign will and work on what man thinks and
does. In other words, he's relinquished
the throne to man. That's what people think. That's
the way they come. And they can't rid themselves
of this kind of thinking. God has to do it. He has to invert,
change our minds, shine the light into the darkness, create us
out of nothing, give us life from the dead, and birth us.
And that is not something we can do. It's impossible. Look
at John 1, the gospel of John 1. Verse 10, Jesus, the word,
was in the world. He came into the world. And the
world was made by him. He's God. And the world knew
him not. This means everybody in the world
without exception. By nature, they did not know
the creator when he came. Verse 11, he came to his own,
meaning the Jewish nation, and his own received him not. Total
failure on man's part. Why? It's impossible. But look,
verse 12, but as many as received him, and false religion says,
you just gotta exercise your free will. That's what it means,
you accept Christ. That's not what he's talking about here.
To them gave he power to become the sons of God, authority to
know they are, even to them that believe on his name. It's interesting
how in evangelical free will works religion, they change the
word believing on Christ to deciding for Jesus, or committing your
life, or exercising your free will, or accepting Christ, these
kinds of things. That's not what he says. Believe
on his name. And we saw a few weeks ago, his
name is all that he is. His name. It's not just a label,
it's all that he is. To call on his name is not to
call on him to recognize me, it's to call on him to save me
for his own sake, his own honor, according to his own character.
his own strength, all that he is, not anything that I am. So
those who believe on him as he is, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God. And notice, here's how they were
able to believe, which were born, they were born, not of blood,
not because they were born into this world, nor because they
were born to a particular culture of people like the Jews. Notice,
nor of the will of the flesh. Now, here's a text of scripture
that utterly knocks the pillars out of the bottom of man's free
will works religion. It's not of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man. Notice, here's the answer, but
of God. Jesus said this, for men, this
is impossible, but not with God. How plainer can it be? Look at
Romans chapter nine. Art was mentioning this to me
before the service. I'll read this to you. This man,
it says in Mark's account, he came running to Jesus and kneeling
to Jesus. And obviously showing him respect
by calling him good master, asking him about eternal life. He would
think if anyone, should be given, should be saved, it would be
someone like this man. Which church would not want a
church full of men like this man? But notice in Romans chapter
9, he says in verse 6, not as though
the word of God has taken an effect. talking about those Jews
who were not saved, the people of Israel who had God's word
but are yet not saved. It's not because God's word didn't
have the power or bring about God's will. He says, for they
are not all Israel, which are of Israel. It's because that
the word given to Israel was not given to everybody in that
nation because they were only physically part of that nation.
They weren't the true spiritual people of Israel. He says, neither
because they are the seed of Abraham, the offspring of Abraham,
are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God. Just because you're born to Abraham,
you're not God's child. But the children of the promise,
God's promise to them, are counted for the seed. For this is the
word of promise, at this time will I come. This is what happened
in history. God came to Abraham and said, Sarah shall have a
son. That's a promise. It's a promise
concerning Isaac, Sarah's only son. Not only, but when Rebekah
also had conceived by one, remember Rebekah was Isaac's wife and
she conceived twins. when she had conceived by one,
even by our father Isaac, for the children inside her womb,
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to His election, His choice, might
stand, not of works. How hard is that for our rock-thick
heads and hearts to accept? It's not of what you do. In fact, he says, but of him
that calleth. This is why God made salvation
only by his electing choice. It's because it is not by what
you do. Not of your will, not of your
birth. It's by God's doing. He says, it was said to her in
the Old Testament, in scripture, the elder shall serve the younger,
not Esau, but Jacob. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated before the children were born.
He asked the question then, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness
with God? Now, if God didn't mean that
he loved Jacob and hated Esau before they were born, this question
would mean nothing. That's exactly what he meant.
He says, no, there's no unrighteousness with God. Verse 15, for he saith
to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I
will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Man,
it's impossible for you. So then, it is not of him that
willeth. There it is again, plain text
of scripture that contradicts the claims of false religion
throughout the world. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that shows mercy. How
clear can it be? You see, by claiming that salvation
is possible for everyone, but most people fail to do what's
possible for them, What are men saying? They're contradicting
Christ, aren't they? He said it's impossible. And
they're claiming that men can do what's impossible, that they
can somehow get eternal life by doing something. How insulting
that is to God's character. In scripture it says that the
gift of God is eternal life, and that righteousness is the
gift of God. and that life, obviously eternal
life, is the gift of God, and faith is the gift of God. If
all these things are God's gift, and God gives as it pleases Him,
then why doesn't everybody have it? Well, false religion would
say because they don't want it. They rejected it. And then they
placed themselves on the side of that company of people who
did want it somehow miraculously out of the impossibility of their
sinful nature and mind. They erected, they raised up
to life something that did some good, and God had to acknowledge
that. I didn't want to save you, but
here you go. Here's some eternal life for
you too, because you proved yourself beyond what I expected. I thought
it was impossible, but you pulled out the impossible. You see,
they contradicted Christ, but they did something else. Because
to claim that salvation is possible for man, they also claim that
it is not necessary for God to contribute to it. God has done
his part, he's left it all up to man, and man has to do his
part. Well then, the whole thing hinges on man, doesn't it? If
he rejects it, he's damned. If he accepts it, he's in, he's
got eternal life. So God's really not needed here,
because look at all these people here. God did all he could for
them, or all that he would, but he left it up to my free will
and I took it. Sorry for them. Congratulations
to me. Well, praise be to me. That's
really what they're saying. And this sounds like you're being
rough and mean to people. No, I'm honoring, by pointing
out, I'm honoring the fact that God's Word, when it claims that
salvation is impossible for man, but possible for God, I'm honoring
the fact that God's glory is seen in the fact that He does
do what is impossible for men. And for us, this is our salvation.
This is the reason why we are so attached to this, why we cling
so tenaciously to this. From the bottom of what we are,
the low bottom of our heart, we hold on to this. This is our
life. This is our only hope. That God did for us what was
utterly impossible for us. We didn't influence him. We didn't
manipulate God. We didn't meet a condition. God
did it all or he will do nothing. Because if Jesus died for everyone,
and God loved everyone, and the Spirit of God invites and offers
salvation to all, and even maybe influences them to some extent,
but leaves the rest to us, then because it is equally done for
all, then God's doing and will didn't make a difference in any.
He left it up to us. And that means it's not possible
for God because he said he does the impossible. But it wasn't
possible because he didn't accomplish it. So it's a twofold blasphemy. It takes God's clear statements
that it is not of the will of man, it is not of him that runneth,
it is of God who shows mercy. And it takes the clear statements
that until you are born of God, you cannot see and you cannot
enter the kingdom of God. You're dead in sins. You need
to have life and God has to give it from the dead. You have to
be created in Christ Jesus out of the nothingness of your void
and darkness. Now, what part of that do you
find an ability in yourself? Because when you do, that shows
the perversity of your rich heart where you think you have riches
that you can pay out in order to get what God says for you
is impossible. God has to do it. Now, what did
God do? See, the right question is not,
what shall I do? The right question is this, what
did God do? Because the answer to that question
is God's glory. And let me show you this in 1
Timothy 1. He says this, in verse 13, Paul
says, I was before a blasphemer. I spoke against God and against
Christ, and I was a persecutor. I hounded God's people to death
and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly
in unbelief. It doesn't mean that his sin
of unbelief was excusable. It means he was guilty. And God
gave him mercy. And verse 14, and the grace of
God, that's what it was, the grace of our Lord was exceeding
abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Notice
verse 15. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. You see, this is God's
doing. This is what God has done. What
good thing did Christ do that I might have eternal life? That's
the question. And what's the answer? He came
to save sinners. And the Apostle Paul says, of
whom I am chief. Now, we understand that we all,
in our own understanding, think of ourselves as the worst, but
just take the words at face value. If the Apostle Paul truly was
the chief of sinners, and God saved him, what does that mean?
That means that he can save any sinner, doesn't it? If he saved
the worst, That means there's no sin from which Christ cannot
save us. That means it's possible. Even
the sin of arrogance of heart that thinks I can do something
that God can accept to gain eternal life for me. I can please God. I can make myself acceptable.
No, no, no. He came to save not the righteous,
but sinners. Not the righteous, but sinners.
There's so many places in scripture in answer to that question, does
God want to save everybody? The answer to the question from
scripture is no. No, he doesn't. And that would
floor, that would utterly shock and inflame and enrage man's
religion. Because the center stake in the
religion is that salvation is possible for everyone. God wants
to save everybody. He just left it up to us. No,
no. The truth of scripture is it
has been impossible for you since the fall of Adam. And your birth
into this world, you were already dead in sins, conceived in sin,
blind, lame, deaf, dumb, ruined, lost, filthy, foul. Your best works, utterly filthy
rags. So this is what he came to do.
He came to save sinners. How? Look at 1 John 4 where Brad
read to us. This is how. Notice this. This
is how he did it. And this is what I want you to
believe. because we say all these things not to make some kind
of a platform on which we to elevate ourselves, but to plead
with you to look to Christ. He says in 1 John 4, and this
was manifested, the love of God toward us, because that God sent
his only begotten son into the world that we might live through
him. Herein is love, God's love. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us. Notice who's doing the work here.
Where did it come from? Where's the fountain? Where's
the spring? God. He loved us, and what did he
do because of his love? He sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now, propitiation's a big word,
not something we use a lot. What does it mean? It means something
done to please God by taking away the reason for his anger
against us. To please God for our sins that
were against him, God had to do something. He had to do it
for himself. He had to do it without our help. He gave his son to be the propitiation. He's the sacrifice that takes
away the reason for God's just wrath against us. He pleased
God, and he pleased God so much that God lavishly, abundantly
poured out his favor and grace and gave us life by him. What Christ did, That pleased
God, that took away the sins of his people, that took away
God's wrath, that satisfied his justice. What the Lord Jesus
Christ did, the one who is the propitiation for our sins, he
came into the world to save sinners. So the answer to the question,
what did Christ do that I might have eternal life, is the answer
we need to look at. is the answer we need to come
to God by. God has done something and everyone
who believes on him has eternal life. Let's pray. Lord, we pray
that you would be so merciful to us to do what is impossible
for us, to take away our sins and to show us our savior who
is our propitiation to God. He gave himself, he offered himself
to God. It was a sacrifice, he did it.
He laid his life down. He shed his blood. His body was
broken. He did it willingly. He stooped.
He who was rich gave everything. He gave everything. for us who
are poor, poor in any value towards God. In ourselves, we have no
reason to expect that God would ever have mercy on us. But looking
upon the Lord Jesus Christ, we can see that independently of
our own will or work or thought or understanding or riches or
strength, God did something. to honor himself and to please
himself and to save his people by a salvation that was eternal
and certain and sure and accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. Help
us to trust him only and to trust him forever and praise your holy
name and thank you from the bottom of our heart. In Jesus name we
pray, amen.