I hope it's the Holy Spirit that
inspired it. This passage of scripture kept
coming to my mind last week. It kept rehearsing itself over
and over in my mind, so I thought, maybe I'd better work on that.
Let's read it, verses 28 through 34. And this is recorded more
than once in the scripture. at least twice, I didn't write
it down, maybe three times. Verse 28, One of the scribes
came, and having heard them reasoning together, that is, the Pharisee,
and perceiving that Christ had answered them well, asked him,
Which is the first commandment of all, or the greatest commandment
of all? And Jesus answered him, The first
of all the commandments is, Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is
one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with
all thy strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely,
this. thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. There is none other commandment
greater than these. And the scribe said unto him,
Well, master, teacher, thou hast said the truth. For there is
one God, and there is 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." And when Jesus saw that this
scribe answered discreetly, or with some wisdom, some sense,
he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man, after that, dares
to ask him any question. No more questions. Now, the words of Christ to this
man can be taken two ways, or both. It can be taken either
as words of hope and encouragement. Thou art not far from the kingdom
of God. Or words of woe and warning. or both. You've taken us both. I hope we'll take them as both.
Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. I have three points in
this message. Very easy to follow along if
you're taking notes. Three points in this message. Number one, who this man was,
who this man was that came, and why he came. Who he was and why
he came. Point number one. Point number
two, We're going to see what he heard and what he believed,
or claimed to believe. What he heard from Christ and
what he believed. And in number three, we're going
to see what he lacked. He lacked something. All right? Now you're going to get some
meat this morning. Very necessary message. So gather yourselves
together, okay? Are you with me? Alright, point number one, who
this man was and why he came. Verse 28 says, one of the scribes
came. One of the scribes came. Now
a scribe, we get the word, or we have derived from that, someone
who transcribes something. Transcribe means to write down.
Transcribe, or translate. A scribe was one who actually
translated or wrote down the scriptures. They didn't have
printing presses and copy machines, so in order to have copies of
the scriptures, that's what the scribes did. All day long, every
day, that was their job, writing down, making copies of the scripture. You'd think they'd know it, wouldn't
you? Well, they did. They knew something about them,
they could read them, they could quote them, and they were conversant
on them. They knew something about the
scripture. This man was a religious man. The scribes were very religious. They were moral, they were upright,
they were devout. Scribes were always at the temple.
They had a zeal for God. And like I said, scribes were
knowledgeable. They had some sense. You couldn't
help but have a little bit if you're reading the scriptures
all the time, right? You ought to have more than most people,
and that's what he did. He read the scriptures all the
time, and he wasn't ignorant. He had a little bit of sense
about it, all right? And this is a type of many people,
many religious people in our day, who are like this man. They read the Bible. They read
their Bible. Grant people that, they do, and
many people can quote the scriptures and be conversant upon it. Right? You've run into some. And there
are people who, like this scribe, are religious, they're very devoted
to some belief, they're sincere about it. Paul said in Romans
10, I bear them record, they have a zeal for God. And there
are people who truly have a zeal and enthusiasm about God, about
the Bible, about these things, right? But Paul said it's not
according to saving knowledge, true knowledge. They being ignorant
of the righteousness of God are going about to establish their
own. And I believe that's what this man was guilty of, and that's
what so many people are guilty of in our day. And then there
are many people like this scribe who are knowledgeable. And knowledgeable,
they have some good sense. They're not just out in that,
as Brother Bell would say, idiots. But they have a little sense.
They have a little bit of knowledge. Scripture says if we don't know
Him, we know nothing yet as we ought to know. Right? Him in
whom are hid are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. It doesn't
matter if you have a doctorate, a Ph.D., or a master's. It doesn't
matter. If you don't know Him, if you
don't know the master's, if you don't know the master's will,
if you don't know the master, what good is your master's? If
you don't know the Great Physician, what good is your doctorate?
So we don't know him, and that was this man. Let's look at why
he came. This was a scribe, a man who
knew something about the scriptures and could quote them, and a little
bit knowledgeable, a very religious, moral, upright man, and that
describes myriads of people today, doesn't it? Why did he come? Why did he come to Christ? Turn
over to Matthew 22. This is another account of this
meeting between this scribe. Right here it calls him a lawyer,
and they were. They were lawyers of the scriptures. They were men of the law, scribes,
men who knew something about the law of God, the scriptures,
the word of God. They did one and the same, lawyers
and scribes. All right, look at Matthew 22,
and you need to see this because it gives a slightly different
twist of this. Matthew 22, 35, why did this
man come? All right? Verse 35, and we know
this is the same because of what was said right after it. Verse
35, one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him, a question tempting
him and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the
law?" Do you notice that verse 35? It said, "...tempting him." This man came tempting him. He was a skeptic. He was a know-it-all. He already knew all there was
to know about the Bible. He was a critic and he came to
critique the teacher and his doctrine. He came to catch this
young teacher. He probably was older than the
man, Jesus. He wasn't older than the Lord
was. But he was probably older in age, physical age, than Jesus,
the man. And he came to catch this young
teacher at his words. Catch him up saying something
wrong, tempting him. And he left seeing the truth
of this young teacher and he was put to silence and he didn't
ask any more questions. He didn't ask him any more questions.
You know, skepticism, this man was a skeptic. Skepticism is
not altogether bad. It's not. I've said this before,
that we looked at Nathanael one time. You remember the story
of Nathanael, how it was Philip that came to Nathanael and said,
Do Nathanael come and see the Christ, this prophet out of Nazareth? And remember what Nathanael said? Can't anything good come out
of Nazareth? Well, he'll have to prove it to me. He was a skeptic,
wasn't he? He was a skeptic. And skepticism
is not altogether bad when we come to hear a man teach or preach.
We're told by the Scriptures to try the spirits, aren't we?
Try them. Don't take what a man says as
being absolute truth. Take what God's Word says. Oh,
yeah. Take what God's Word says. And
the Scriptures says we're to search the Scriptures to see
if what that man is saying is so. So skepticism is not altogether
bad, but we must come, people have got to come as willing,
or as James said, be ready hearers. Be more ready to hear than to
speak and give the sacrifice of fools. Sacrifice of fools
is a lot of talk. Fools known by a multitude of
words. And so we're to be ready hearers,
the scripture says, or as Christ said, as little children. We're
supposed to put away all our preconceived notions. And we
come before the Word of God eager to listen and to learn where
the Word of God is concerned. Right? Right. Try what he's saying. Whenever
he says, well, I think, or this is the way I see it, you'd better
try that by the Word of God. Search the Scripture to see what
he's saying. But if we'll be like Nathanael,
a man with no guile, not coming to trip the man up or to critique
his words or catch him or tempt him or come as skeptics and know-it-alls
and with preconceived notions, but coming to actually be taught
by God Almighty, taught by the Spirit of God, teach me, Lord,
we'll learn something. Every true seeker, the scripture
says, shall find. Know what it says? Every true
seeker shall find. Anybody who wants to seek the
truth. Christ said that in John 7, 17. If any man will do his
will, he'll know the doctrine. He'll know it. Every true seeker
will find. That's the reason I say that
anyone who's really seeking the truth, God will lead them here.
He'll lead them to hear this gospel. And then when it says,
seek, you'll find. And I hear people all the time
say, we're looking for a church. That's not being a seeker. If you ever hear a man say, I'm
looking for the truth. I want to know the true and living
God. I want to know what the scriptures really say about salvation.
I want to know what this thing is all about. Now, he'll find
the truth. He'll be led to where the gospel
is proclaimed. Every sincere asker, he said,
ask and you shall receive. Didn't he? Ask. If only a man
or woman would ask, Lord, show me, the Lord would show them.
That's a promise by him who cannot lie. Everyone who knocks, the
scripture says, will have it open to him. Everybody who knocks
on the scripture, the door of the word of God, The door of
God himself. Lord, let me in. Let me in on
this. Open thou my understanding to
the Word. Lord, I don't understand this.
Not a man who's coming before the Word and says, oh, I know
what that says. Yeah, I got that figured out.
No, but Lord, reveal this to me. Open this up. Open up my
understanding. Knock. And I believe that also
means keep knocking. Like that importunate widow.
You know, we keep knocking on the same verses of Scripture.
No, Lord, I don't have it all yet. Open it unto me. I don't have us all yet. That
importunate widow kept coming and knocking, and that judge
relieved her. And it says, Shall not God avenge
his very elect, which crieth unto him day and night, though
he suffereth long with them? Every knocker shall have it open.
But no gainsayer will. No arguer will. No mocker will. Huh? They won't find the truth. Only true seekers find the truth.
All right? So this man came to tempt the
Lord, and he went away not knowing the Lord. He came to critique the teacher,
and he went away not having heard a thing, instead of coming to
learn. You see how important that is?
Come as a little child. All right, now look back at the
text, and look at what he heard. Point number two, this is what
he heard. It's what he heard and what he believed. You're
going to be amazed by what this man believed. This man This man knew something. He knew
something that most people don't. He knew a lot more than most
people do. Look at it. Back in the text, look at verse
20. Back in Mark chapter 12, look at verse 28. He said, One of the scribes came,
and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that he
had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment
of all? And Jesus answered him and said,
The first of all the commandments is, and he went on. So what this man came to ask
him of was of the law, wasn't it? The law. Isn't that typical? The law. This tells me right
here that his mind was going in the wrong direction. The scripture says, being ignorant
of the law. You remember the rich young ruler?
This kept reminding me of that story of the rich young ruler.
The rich young ruler thought he had it all covered, didn't
he? All these things I've kept from my youth up. What do I lack?
And this man had it all figured out. He said, I know that. And
he started teaching the Lord of Glory. What do I lack? We're going to
see what he lacked. Scripture says, Desiring to be
teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof
they affirm. That's so typical there. We know
the law is good if used lawfully, but it's not made for a righteous
man. Not made for a righteous man. A righteous man's true major
concern is not with the law. It's with the gospel. It is. You go and learn what that means.
A righteous man, there's only one righteous man. The only ones
righteous are those that are in Christ. So what are they interested
in? They love the law. They think
it's holy, just, and good, but they're more interested in the
gospel than they are in the law. They see what the law is saying.
You understand what I'm trying to get at? All right, now I'm
giving you some meat here. Stay with me. Want to learn something?
All right, let's give this man the benefit of the doubt. Are
you with me? Let's give him the benefit of
the doubt. Let's say he was sincere and he wanted a true answer to
this question. All right? Let's give him the benefit of
the doubt. All right? What did he hear from
Christ? What did he hear? Read it. Verses 29 through 31. Jesus answered
him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord
our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy
strength. This is the first commandment.
And the second is like unto it, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. There's none other commandment
greater than these. Now turn back to Isaiah 42. Are
you with me? I keep asking you that, but I
need to. I look out sometimes, and the
light is on, but nobody's home. It's Our Lord was quoting Deuteronomy
6 and Leviticus 19, those two laws there. Isaiah 42, it's important
you see this. This is the basis of what I'm
about to say. Christ the Lord came, the Son of God came, the
Son of Man came for basically two reasons. Two reasons. Christ came. Everything he did
and everything he said was with these two purposes in mind. Now, Isaiah 42 is a prophecy
of the Lord Jesus Christ, of him who came and what he did
and why he came. Look at verse 21, a glorious,
blessed passage of Scripture. Isaiah 42, verse 21, the Lord
is well pleased for his righteousness' sake. He will magnify the law, and
number two, make it honorable. Those two things is why Jesus
Christ came. Not to show us how to live, however,
in magnifying the law, he did, didn't he? He showed us what
is required of us. And when a man really hears the
law, he'll see the impossible. Right? And you'll ask some more
questions. You'll ask some more questions.
And it won't be about the law. He came to magnify the law and
make it honorable. Look at verse 1. Oh, my. I love
Isaiah 42. Do you? If you do, Let's look
at it. Verse 1, Behold my servant, whom
I uphold. God's servant. Christ came not
necessarily to do something for you, though he did. He came to do something for God. He came, he had to do something
for God. Right? What was that? Read on. My servant. shall serve me, whom I uphold
by spirit, mine elect." Jesus Christ was God's chosen Messiah. God's chosen, that's what the
word Messiah means, God's chosen representative of man. God's
substitute. God Almighty is the one that
chose Christ as a substitute for sinners. He said, you go
down there in the stead of, in the place of, these that I have
chosen for you to represent. The substitute. We are elect,
Scripture says, John, we saw it last night, didn't we, in
Ephesians 1, chosen in him. before the foundation of the
world. Who was the first elect? Who was the first chosen? Christ.
The firstborn among many brethren. The first elect. My elect. The
one I've chosen to put my name there, to put all my glory, to
put your salvation in. My elect. Behold him. Your salvation
in beholding him. Look. Look at God's elect. Don't look to yourself. Don't
look for your election. Look to God's elect. You'll find
your election. Huh? God's servant. God's servant. My servant, my
elect, lookit there, in whom my soul delighteth. That's what
he said down in verse 21. He's well pleased for his righteousness
sake. God Almighty said it from heaven
out loud. This is my well-beloved son. My soul delighteth in him. Because
this righteous man loveth righteousness. He's just like me. He's holy,
he's just, he's spotless, he's unblamed, unreproved, he's pure,
he's holy like me. And I love holy things, and I
love this holy man. What a holy man! My well-beloved
son, in whom I am well-pleased for his righteousness' sake."
He can't say that about us. Well, please, for my righteousness'
sakes, why? It's filthy rags. Right? It's got holes in it. What's
an old rag? Do you use good shirts and good cloths and things for
rags? No, you use ones that have holes
in them, don't you? That's my righteousness. It's
full of holes. My motive's got holes in it.
Everything I do's got a hole in it. My righteousness is filthy
rice. He can't be pleased with my righteousness. He's pleased with me if I have
the righteousness of Christ. The Lord is well pleased with
us for his righteousness' sake. You see that? Huh? My soul delighted,
look at it, read on, in whom I have put my Spirit upon him,
my Spirit upon him without measure. filled with God's Holy Spirit.
Look at this. Here it is, Gentiles. Hey, Gentiles. Hey, Gentile. Look at this. He shall, not try,
he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentile. That's not saying
he's going to judge the Gentiles, though he does and will. What that means is justice. He
shall justify many. His righteous servant shall justify
many by his knowledge. His knowledge of the law, John.
Not my knowledge. His keeping of the law, not my
keeping it. My righteous servant shall justify many by his righteousness. Of his righteousness have we
received. My servant, mine elect, he shall bring forth justice.
He'll show us how we may be just with God. How? Through him, him
alone. Verse 4, I love this verse, don't
you? Verse 4, "...he shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till
he has set judgment in the earth." Justice, till he justifies all
those he came to do it for. And the isles, the very nations,
shall wait for his law. I know one woman who waited for
his law, for his word. When it says law, it means his
word. That woman sitting at his feet who was caught in the act
of adultery. You remember when the Pharisees
brought her in and said, The law saith she is to be stoned. What do you say? Well, he dealt
with those old self-righteous Pharisees first and got rid of
all of them and got down to the level of one sinner. And what
he had to say to her was, she was waiting on his word, wasn't
she? Well, what will he say? He said, Woman, where are your
accusers? Thus no man accused him. Until
that point, she had never looked up. And when she looked up, she
looked in the face of Christ. She saw Jesus only. And then
she looked around and saw that no man condemned her, that there's
therefore now no condemnation of them that are with Christ,
in Christ. She said, No man, Lord. No man. He said, Neither do I. The law
doesn't, and I don't go and sin no more. Your sins are forgiven.
Now, I'll say, I'm waiting on his word. I'm waiting on it this
morning. I just heard it. Glad to hear
it. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. He doesn't try,
he doesn't attempt. He doesn't try to make an attemptment,
he makes an atonement. He put away my sin. He satisfied
God's justice. He shall not fail. He did not
fail. Saw the travail of his soul and is satisfied. Satisfied. Now look at verse 21 again. The
Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake. Well, please,
and here's the two things he came to do. He will magnify the
law and make it honorable. Jesus Christ came into the world
to magnify the law and make it honorable. Christ came to show
the absolute holiness, strict justice, immutability, Majesty,
honor, glory of God Almighty. When you talk about the law,
you talk about God, don't you? Isn't that his word? Everything
he said? Didn't he say, I've magnified
my word above all my name? My word. A man's only good is
his word, right? The word is the revelation of
God. That speaks of Christ. Well, Christ came to magnify
God, to reveal the Father. And to magnify everything he
said, magnify the law. When you magnify something, what
do you do? You bring it up to its full meaning,
don't you? When you put a magnifying glass
or put something under a microscope, you see everything that's there.
Things you didn't see before, don't you? Christ came to Scripture,
says, to magnify the law, and he did that to show us the Father. to show the utter holiness of
God, the utter justice of God, and yes, the mercy and the love
and the grace of God Almighty, yeah. But for the sovereignty
of God, the holiness of God, he showed them that. That's the
reason men hated him. You know what? If he'd have come
telling them, now you ought to live according to the law, they'd
have accepted that, wouldn't they? Wouldn't they, Joe? If
Christ would have come preaching the Ten Commandments, that you
ought to live according to the Ten Commandments. Would he have
suffered that? Didn't Paul say, if I preach
circumcision, why do I suffer persecution? Did Christ come preaching and
teaching us that we should live by the law, and if you do, do
the best you can, you'll be all right? No. He came showing us
the utter impossibility of keeping the law. He magnified it. He magnified it. Showing us,
thereby showing us, the utter holiness of God Almighty. And
men saw that in Christ Himself and hated Him. He said, Because
I came, they have no cloak for their sin now. You see, perfect
holiness, perfect light was shed in the world. Light. And it took
in all the darkness. And men didn't like light. They
liked darkness. He uncovered their motives, their
hearts, and they said, get him out of here! Get him out of here!
Like a creature of the darkness, get away the light! He's exposing
us! See what I mean? I read of a scripture that
says that he that believes will come to the light. that his deeds
might be made manifest. You remember reading that, Ed?
Every oneness of God cometh to the light. Expose me, Lord. Show
me. Christ came to magnify. He came
to glorify God, show who God really is. Holy. Holy. And yes, he showed God's
love and mercy and grace. Secondly, Christ came to magnify
the law. Secondly, he came to magnify
the law and make it honorable. He showed those Pharisees, Scribes,
Sadducees and everybody else and shows us that we have fallen
and come far short of glorifying God. Right? We're guilty. to do, first of all. Huh? Sure, the Word of God. And he
shall make it honorable as a man. As a man. He honored the law,
he fulfilled the law perfectly. He honored the law. He will make
it honorable. A man had never done that. Never. We all sin to come short of it.
Christ didn't. He kept it perfectly. He didn't
come short of it. He said, I fulfilled it all. All righteousness. Every jot
of the tittle of the law. He said not one jot or tittle
shall pass away till it all be fulfilled. He came to do that. Why? For himself? To show that
he could do it? This is why Christ came. He did
that for somebody. He did that for somebody. Who? Not the righteous. Not those
who kept the law. But breakers of it. Sinners. Guilty before God. That's who
he did it for. Sinners. Sinners. Turn back to
Mark 12 now again. So the Son of God came. Mark
12. Turn back and I'll quit in a
minute. Hasn't been long at all. Not at all. I'm only going to
be about 25 minutes. 30. Mark 12. So the Son of God came
down to earth to honor, to glorify, to reveal God, show who God really
is, and to keep the law as a man for some men and women, as a
substitute, a representative. All right? Mark 12. So this scribe
heard Christ speak about the law, didn't he? He heard him
speak and sum it all up in a few words. Look at what he believed
this scribe. Look at it. He believed what
he heard, and he even expounded on it. I believe his own mouth
was condemning him, though, don't you? Look at verse 32. The scribe
said, Well, Master, and I'm not sure how he said this. I didn't
hear him say it, but he could have said, Well, Master, He could
have said, if he was there to tempt him and the Lord hadn't
already begun to work on his heart, that's how he was saying
it. Well, now, let's see. Teacher. I believe that's the
way he was saying it. Well, that's well. Master. And then he had to add his little
two bits. Joe, I just kind of think if
he'd known who this was, he wouldn't have said another word. Well, Master, thou hast said
the truth." You know what? I know if he'd have known who
this was, he wouldn't have said that. He would have said, Well,
Lord, you are the truth. Wouldn't he? He wouldn't have
said, Well, you said well. That's true. He said, Lord. There is one God, and there's
none other but he. I'll have you know I believe
in a sovereign God. This man believed in a sovereign
God. He believed there was one God. He did well, didn't he? Because there is only one God,
and he professed it. Deborah, he was a sovereign believer
and sovereign God. It says the devils believed that
and trembled. This man obviously wasn't trembling.
Look at verse 33. It said, And to love him with
all the heart, man, his mouth should have been, his heart should
have been being pricked, shouldn't it? To love him with all the
heart. He didn't hear. He was just a
parrot, a tall parrot, wasn't he? And to love him with all
the heart. And that's true. That's true. That's what God requires, doesn't
it? This man's knowledge went further
than most. He knew you had to love God with
a heart. That salvation was a heart thing.
Isn't it? This man knew a lot. Love him
with all the heart, with all the understanding. Oh my, that
this thing just can't be a head knowledge. You've got to know
whom you believe. You've got to not just know about God, you've
got to know him. He knew something, didn't he?
And with all the soul. That's your very being. Your
whole heart, your inner man, a depth of love and feeling can't
just be an outward show of hypocrisy. It's got to be real, he says.
It's got to be really you, really loving the real God. Boy, he
knew a lot, didn't he? This man is Calvinist. And with all the strength all
your person, all your possessions, all your faculties, talents,
abilities, all your energy. Total commitment to him. And love your neighbor as yourself,
he said. He said it is more than all,
it goes deeper in what is required of man, it goes much deeper than
the externals of religion, much deeper than an outward show of
religion, an outward observation or outward observance of form
and ceremony and going to church and playing religion. It's got
to be more than that. He knew a lot, didn't he? I can't believe he knew so much.
If you had run into this man, what would you have thought? This man is saved. Would
you? Would you? Let's hear what Christ
said to him. All right? Here's what Christ
said to him. Now, that's what that man believes.
Look at verse 34. When Jesus saw that he answered
discreetly, or that is, he answered with some sense, some understanding,
he knew something about the scriptures, but he was missing one thing. Jeanette, we were just talking
about this. He knew a lot, and I'm
telling you from the scriptures, from this right here. This proves
to us it's not what you know, it's who. Look at it, verse 34. Christ
said he perceived that he had a little
sense, answered with some understanding, and he said unto him, Thou art
not far from the kingdom of God. And nobody asked anything else. Now, what was Christ saying?
And he might be saying that to somebody in here this morning.
Or somebody who hears it on tape. Thou art not far from the kingdom
of God. What was Christ saying to this
man? What was he doing? Was he commending him? Was he saying to him, you're
doing a good job, keep it up, you're almost there? Is that
what he was saying? That would be like me trying
to climb a high mountain. Let's say I get all the way up
to the gates of heaven itself, and then I see a gulf between
me and getting into heaven itself. And there stands the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. Well, you're not far from getting
into heaven. And turns around and walks off.
And there's this big gulf. Does that come into it? Huh? Would that be good news? And evidently this man didn't
hear what he says. Huh? Being not far, you know
the old saying is, close only counts in what? Horseshoes and
hand grenades. Doesn't count in salvation, does
it? You're either in or you're out. Either saved or you're not.
Either in Christ or you're out of Christ, right? Either in the
ark or you're out of the ark. What if my man's hanging on the
outside of the ark? What if Noah said, Y'all aren't far from getting
in. Would that have been good news?
He's saying to this man, he says, You're not saved. You're not
far from the kingdom of God. And had this man known the law
that he had been talking about, that he had been quoting, had
he known the law, if he had heard Christ say it to begin with,
he wouldn't have said anything more. And if he knew who it was
that stood before him, the very lawgiver himself, you know what,
he would have asked another question. He'd have asked another question.
You know what he would have asked? I guarantee you. Hell, then! Lord, who then can be saved if
it requires the heart and the mind and the soul and the strength
and the love of my neighbor as myself? I haven't, and I'm guilty!
Lord, who then can be saved? And he'd have heard like the
disciples heard, with, man, it's impossible. He'd have said to Job, how then
can man be just? How can he be clean that's more
of a woman? How can man be just with a holy
God, seeing this is what God requires of him? Right? Am I
just preaching doctrine? This man would have asked that. How then can man be just with
God? And he'd have heard Christ say
this, listen, did you catch it? Did you catch it? thou art not
far from the kingdom of God." Did you catch the different tone
there? You're standing right beside the kingdom of God. That man didn't hear you say
that, did he? We read it over there in Mark
1, didn't we? The kingdom of God is at hand. We read it over
in Luke 17. The kingdom of God doesn't come
with observation. Here he is or there he is, or
I saw him last night. He's within you, he's among you.
Christ said to those Pharisees, the King is here. You don't know
him. Salvation is not a man trying
to get to heaven. That's not salvation. Salvation
is when heaven comes to him. You understand that? Salvation
is not us looking for the kingdom of heaven. Salvation is the kingdom
of heaven coming to us and setting up in our hearts. Christ in you,
the hope of glory. After all, what are you looking
for when you get to heaven? A kingdom? That's what the Jews
were looking for, weren't they? You looking for heaven, Henry?
You looking for Christ. Thou art not far." Oh, I wish he had heard that,
don't you? I hope you hear it. I hope you
hear it. Thou art not far. The kingdom
of God was right in front of him, the King of glory. Who is
this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. The King who
hath all dominion, power, and might. You notice I said, if
you heard this man's confession, Margaret, would you have thought
he was saved? He made no mention of sin. He made no mention of
blood. He made no mention of the Messiah,
of the Christ, did he? How can a man love God apart
from Christ? He can't do it. No man knoweth
the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal
him. You can't know God, you can't
love God apart from knowing and loving Christ. Is that right? No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. No man has seen God or heard
God or knows God. No man, the scripture says, no
man ever will will never see God, will see Christ. Christ in him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead in a body and a person. If you don't know
Christ, I don't care how much scripture you know. I received
a letter from a woman this week, a chastening letter. She began
to teach me from the scripture how I was wrong on that newspaper
article. That's about all the response I get out of those newspaper
articles is negative ones. She wrote me and she quoted several
scriptures, but she never mentioned Christ. She never mentioned blood. She never mentioned her need
for a Redeemer. never mentioned her need for
a substitute, never mentioned her need for a sin offering,
a sin atonement. She didn't talk about Christ.
She didn't talk about Christ. She proceeded to tell me how
much knowledge she had of the scriptures and how she had this
and that revealed to her. And she was trying to reveal
it to me. I'm telling you, nobody has anything revealed by the
Spirit of God who doesn't talk of Christ. Scripture says in
John 16, when he comes, he'll take the things of mine and show
them unto you. And when you go away filled with the Spirit,
you go away talking about Christ, talking about his person, his
work. If this man had known who it was standing in front of him,
he wouldn't have been talking about the law. That's what I
said to begin with. He'd been talking about the gospel. Adam didn't talk about the law,
did he, after he fell? Did he? He said, I broke that.
He said, that didn't do me any good. I've told you that illustration
before. Adam got up to hear a preacher preach not too long after he
failed, and the fellow got up and told him that he ought to
keep the Ten Commandments. Adam said, It won't work. It won't work. I tried it and
failed miserably. Adam said, I sure wish you'd
tell us about that coming seed. That's good news to this old
sinner. Law is not good news, it's a curse. Law keeps coming
as a curse. Thou shalt not guilty. Thou shalt
guilty. He has. Good. He shall. That's even better.
Right? Good news. Thou art not far. If you're sitting in here this
morning, you're not far from the kingdom of God. It was preached
unto you this morning.