And you'll find my subject, the
title of my message, down here in verse twenty-seven. And our Lord, looking upon them,
upon His disciples, saith, With men it is impossible, but not
with God. For with God all things are possible.
The title of my message today is, Salvation Impossible with
Men. Absolutely impossible with men. As long as a man or a woman are
on this earth, they'll be devising a way to be saved. They'll be
devising a way to be saved. Have you ever known anybody that
died without any hope? Have you heard a preacher preach? If the preacher, if the person
can't devise their own way, the preacher will devise a way for
them. And here's what happened here. Here's a fellow who came
running. It says there in verse 17, he came forth into the way,
there came one running. I mean, this fellow, he was really
interested in salvation. He came to the right person.
He came to Jesus Christ. He did the right thing. He kneeled
to Him. And he says, Master, what shall
I do that I may inherit eternal life? And he told him what all he needed
to do. He said, if you're going to be saved by doing, you're
going to have to do the law. He said, no problem with that. I've done that. I've done that. But you lack one thing. What
is it? Sell everything you've got. Sell everything. I mean, if you're going to know
me and come to me, Sell everything you've got. You're going to have
to give up that covetousness, that greed, that self-righteousness,
and take up your cross and follow Me. Well, there's disciples.
Our Lord told them, He said, How hardly shall a rich man enter
into the kingdom of God. And they just said, Wow. They were astonished, and He
sent it to them again. Said it's easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
the gate. And then it says there in verse 26, and they were astonished
out of measure. You could not measure the amount
of astonishment these fellow had. That a rich man, it would
be easier for him to go through the eye of a little needle. For a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved. And they said,
oh my, well, who then can be saved? Who possibly could be
saved? Our Lord said, with men, it's
impossible. With men, it's impossible. But
you know, as long as men are devising a way to be saved, but
what they want to be saved for and why they want to be saved,
that's another question. Altogether, another question.
It'll be a rare person you'll find who wants to be saved from
sin. Men want to be saved to go to heaven. They want to be
saved from their addictions. They want their marriage saved.
They want their health saved. And they want to be saved from
a thousand things, but very few people ever want to be saved
from sin. Very few people want to know the Lord Jesus Christ. They want to know what they need
to do, and the preacher will tell them what they need to do.
And I tell you, but our Lord here is talking to His disciples.
That's who He's talking about. In verse 23, He looked around
about and saith unto His disciples, How hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God. And they became astonished
and said, Who then can possibly be saved? These are the fellows
that's got the power. These are the fellows that's
got the authority. These are the fellows that can pay for the
churches. These are the fellows that can
put all the money in the treasuries. These are the fellows that support
the ministry. Who in the world can be saved? Our Lord said,
with men this is impossible. But let me tell you this right
off the bat. Salvation is needed because they ask this, who then
can be saved? This rich young man, this man,
I don't say rich here, but this man came, young man came, running
and kneeling. He wanted to know how he could
be saved. So then salvation is needed.
It's needed. Whether man knows it or not,
it's needed. And we're a people in trouble.
We're the people born in trouble. We're shaped in iniquity and
conceived in sin. How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? We're in trouble with God. That's
the first person we're in trouble with. We're in trouble with God.
God will by no means clear the guilty. He will not at all acquit
the wicked. He won't do it. And you know,
the Scriptures tells us we're in trouble with the law of God.
This fella here said he kept it all. And our Lord said, that's
not enough. That's not enough. You say what
you've kept all your life. He says, but I tell you what,
I'm going to get to the heart of the matter. You say you've
kept the law? He says, love your neighbors
as yourself. If you do, you take what you've got and you start
giving it away right now. Start giving it away. And we're
in trouble with the justice of God. People say the devil held
us in bondage. No, no, no. The justice of God
held us in bondage. The judge of all earth says that
soul is sin if it must die, and truth says yes and amen, and
he will not let us go until justice is satisfied and sin has been
paid for and the law has been magnified and honored. And we're
in trouble because of our sin. I mean, beloved, what are we
going to do with our sin? Who's going to take care of our
sin? You see, and that's why the Lord said with salvation,
man is impossible. Salvation's impossible with men.
First of all, it's impossible because he can't put away his
own sin. He can't put away his own sin. Our Lord Jesus, or as
the Scripture said in Psalm 130, verse 3, Lord, if thou shouldst
mark iniquities, who would be able to stay? Who shall ascend
into the holy heaven? Who shall ascend into that holy
hill? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. He that hath
not sworn deceitfully, nor lifted up his soul. And who can say
he's got clean hands and a pure heart? You see, a man, it's not
what he does that's his problem, it's what he is that's his problem.
He does what he does because he is what he is. Sin's his nature. So when sin's your nature, you
can't do nothing but sin. And that's what he does or doesn't
do, that's not his problem, it's what he is that's his problem.
And you cannot change what you are. And we cannot atone for
our own sin. That's why our Lord Jesus said
here in verse 19, He said, Thou knowest the commandments. Yes,
I do. I know them. Don't commit adultery, don't
kill, don't steal, don't backbite. I've done them. Our Lord looked
at him and loved him and said unto him, You lack one thing.
You want treasure in heaven? Give everything you've got away.
Take up your cross and follow me. And not only can he not put
away his own sin, but he can't atone for his own guilt. Here's
the thing about it. There's nobody in this world,
unless he's a sociopath or psychopath, that does not have some guilt
and always feels guilt. And he can't atone for his guilt.
We have this guilt. We have guilt. You know, even
if you don't feel your guilt, that God said the whole world
is guilty before God. I mean guilty. You know, when
you get stopped for speeding, you get stopped for stealing,
whatever it is, you may not feel guilty for it, but if the law
says you're guilty, you're guilty. And you're going to pay the price
for it. And he can't atone for his own guilt. And the price
is too great. And the one is too poor and needy,
and not only that, but he's without strength. So how can he atone
for his own guilt? And here's the thing that preachers
and psychologists and sociologists have been trying to do ever since
the world began. They've been trying to work on
the guilt of man. First they want to make him feel
guilty, and then they want to do something to make him get
rid of their guilt. And so they constantly work on
this thing of guilt. And they never, you know, if
somebody comes to one of their offers and so-called gets saved,
And then he'll come back three months later. Preacher, I don't
holler at night, you know, I feel condemned. I feel so much guilt.
He said, well, I was there when you got saved. Jesus said, you
repented of your sins, didn't you? I did. You accepted Jesus,
didn't you? I did. Well then, listen, what
do you feel guilty about? You're fixed up for heaven. And
then they turn around and work on their guilt and try to get
them to the altar again and tell them, this is what you need to
do. Have you sinned this sin? Have you done this thing? Have
you been here? Have you witnessed? Have you done this and that?
Well, then you need to come to the altar and get rid of that
condemnation. Oh, my. If you feel guilty, let
me ask you this. If you feel guilty, what can
you do to get rid of your guilt? Huh? And I tell you what, here's another
reason why salvation's impossible with the man. He can't change
his heart. Jeremiah said the heart is deceitful. Above everything
on this earth, the heart's more deceitful than the... He said
riches are deceitful. Sin is deceitful. But the most
deceitful thing on this earth is the human heart. And I know that from experience.
It deceived me in religion. It deceived me when I was a boy.
It deceived me when I was a young man. It deceived me when I was
a preacher. It deceived me when I prayed. It deceived me when
I gave. It deceived me and told me that I was alright until God
in sovereign mercy revealed Himself to me and put me in the dust. Huh? And not only is it deceitful
above all things, but it's desperately wicked. It'll justify itself. It'll clear itself. It'll always
make somebody else to fall for what they do, lay the blame on
anybody but themselves. Everybody's a victim, and nobody's
responsible. If it hadn't been for you, I
wouldn't have done that. If it hadn't been for you doing
this, I wouldn't have said that. If it hadn't been for you, I
wouldn't have been here, and I wouldn't have done this, I wouldn't have
done that. But that's why he means the heart's deceitful,
and it's so desperately wicked that it won't take the blame
for nothing until God makes it take the blame. Ain't that right?
And oh, listen, he can't purchase salvation. This is why it's impossible.
The man can't purchase salvation or earn it. That's why them disciples
just backed up and said, well, who then can be saved? Huh? Look over in Psalm with me, Psalm
49. You know, the Lord said this. He says, by the works of the
flesh shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God. No flesh. That's mine, yours, or anybody
else's. Psalm 49. In verse 6, you can't purchase
salvation, you can't earn it. And you know, this is so strange,
that there are people out there who honestly think they can.
They say, well, I kept the golden rule. So that entitles me to it. He never hurt nobody all of his
life, so that entitles him to it. I've attended church, I haven't
missed a service in 40 years. That entitles me to it. People think they can earn it.
They really think that. They think that, you know, there's
a multitude of people on this earth that think God owes them
salvation. That's what they said, Lord,
have we not done these many wonderful works, cast out devils, preached
in your name? Well, look at all the things
we've done. The only people that knew they
didn't do anything, he says, those sheep on the right, he
says, you know, they said, you've done, you've fed the poor, you've
fed the poor, you've fed the hospital, you've done this, that,
and the other, and the prisons. He said, Lord, when did we do these
things? The only people who in the world ever does anything
is people don't know they've done anything. When a person
knows they've done something, they ain't done nothing. but
condemn themselves. The Lord's people don't know
they've done anything. But anybody that knows they've
done anything, they tell the Lord what a good thing they've
done. Not only them, but they tell everybody else and listen.
Ain't that right? Well, look here at Psalm 49,
verse 6, talking about earning it or purchasing it. They that
trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of
their riches, none of them, can by any means redeem his brother,
nor give to God a ransom for him. I don't care how you know,
and I don't care how much it costs you, and how, you know,
they say, well, we can pay him out of purgatory. You give a
million dollars to me, and give a million dollars to the church,
and that'll get them just right after the end of purgatory. Give
another million dollars and we'll get an arm out. Get another million
dollars and we'll get each other's arm out. And next thing you know,
after several million dollars, the church has gotten wealthy,
but the fellow is still in hell. And that's what he says, and
look what he said in verse 8. For the redemption of their soul
is precious. And you know what happens? That
soul ceases forever. If it's not redeemed. And so,
you see, let me tell you this, since you can't furnish it, can't
purchase it or earn it, can't change your heart, can't atone
for your guilt, can't put away your own sin, what will it take
then to be saved? How is salvation possible? Well,
I'll tell you. Look with me over in John chapter
6. I'll tell you how. How salvation is possible. How is salvation possible then? What will it take to be saved?
Who then can be saved? Who then can be saved? Our Lord said here in verse thirty-five,
John six, Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that
cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. But I said unto you, that ye
also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the will of Him that sent me. This is the Father's
will which has sent me, that of all which He hath given me,
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every
one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up at the last days. The Jews then
murmured at Him because He said, I am the bread which came down
from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the Son of Joseph? whose father and mother we know. How is it then that he saith,
I came down from heaven? Our Lord answered and said unto
them, murmur not among yourselves. Here is your problem, and everybody
else's. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath
sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught
of God. Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of
the Father cometh unto me. Not that any man hath seen the
Father, save he which is of God. He has seen the Father. And let
me tell you what, how salvation is possible with God. But let
me tell you what this, you know what it'll take to be saved?
When they ask who then can be saved, it'll take more than preaching
or a preacher. It'll take more than preaching
or a preacher. Here our Lord Jesus just got through telling
me he's that bread of heaven. Look what they said there. They
murmured and said, how can he say he's that bread which came
down from heaven? Don't we know his father and his mother and
his son, Joseph, his mother and his brother? Don't we know all
of them? How can he say? So even Christ being the preacher,
the prince of preachers, the one sin of God, the prophet of
God, they did not believe him. The scripture said in Mark 6
20, he says, John, was a preacher. He was the last
Old Testament prophet, a burning and a shining light. And the
Scripture says that Herod heard him gladly, because John was
a just man and a holy man. But yet, beloved, he was not
saved. He even cut the preacher's head
off. And that's what he's saying here. How may it take more than
a preaching or a preacher? Look over here in verse 60 of
John 6. Many of his disciples, when they
had heard this, said, this is a hard saying, who can hear it? And our Lord murmured, knew in
himself that his disciples murmured and said, does this offend you?
Does this cause you to stumble? Does this hurt your feelings?
Does this make you want to quit? Why, and if you see the Son of
Man ascend up where it was before, it's the Spirit that quickens,
not the preacher. Not even the preaching. It's
the Spirit that quickens the flesh, profits nothing. Do everything
you can by the flesh, by all the preaching that there can
be. It's not the flesh that profits nothing. It's the Spirit. And
the words that I speak unto you, they're spirit and in life. And
listen here. But there are some of you that
believe not. Why don't you? He knew from the beginning who
they were that should be trained. Oh, our Lord Jesus Christ, that's
what he says. So it'll take more than preaching
or a preacher, and it'll take more than miracles. You know,
not anybody has ever been saved by seeing a miracle. Not one
person's ever been saved by seeing a miracle. You know how many
people saw miracles? That rich man in hell. Here's
what he said. He says, Father Abraham, send
somebody to warn my five brothers that they don't come here to
this awful place of torment. He says, oh, listen, if they
have Moses and the prophets, if they don't hear Him, there's
nothing we can do. He said, oh, no, no, let somebody
come from here to go there. If somebody rose from the dead
and went and told them, then they would repent. He says, no,
they would not. He said, if they won't hear Moses
and the prophets, they won't believe if one did rise from
the dead. How many stood in Lazarus' tomb
when Christ says, come forth, Lazarus come forth, and ended
up perishing because of that? Christ rose from the dead, and
we tell you that, but men won't believe it. And you know there
was, how many times, a man that was born blind, our Lord opened
his eyes. And what did they say? This man
that opened your eyes, he could not possibly be of God. He said,
well, this is something that has been heard since the beginning,
that a man born blind would be able to see. I don't care what you say. Don't
you give this fellow the credit for it. I mean, they saw something
that never saw a man born blind, thirty years old, thirty-eight
years old, and all of a sudden he's seeing. And instead of rejoicing
in it, some of them got mad about it. And oh, and our Lord Jesus went
by the pool of Bethesda. That fellow laid there for 38
years, not able to walk, not able to move. Nobody get him
in that pool when he was stirred. Our Lord walked by and said,
Will thou be made whole? Everybody else was around there
too. Will thou be made whole? I don't
have nobody put me in. He said, Stand up and walk. Get
your man. Come on, get up. And the first
thing somebody said was, ask this fella, don't you know it's
not lawful for you to carry your bed on the Sabbath? Get out of that swing, it's the
Sabbath. Don't you bounce that basketball, it's the Sabbath.
Don't you pick up that guitar, it's the Sabbath. Oh my. And it'll take more than
Bible knowledge. Oh, man, I've known preachers,
and I used to do it. I used to do it to show off how
much I knew about the Scriptures. And that is all flesh. Our Lord
Jesus said in John 5, 39, search the Scriptures. Search them. For in them you think you have
eternal life. They are those which testify
of me. So you can have Bible knowledge. Paul had Bible knowledge.
Pharisees had Bible knowledge. There's preachers that I know
that can quote chapters at a time. They just stand and just, you
know, they call that Jack Van Ippy, the walking Bible. But
one thing about that walking Bible, he never talks of Christ.
He talks of prophecy. He talks of the future. He talks
about how much money he needs, how many souls he's going to
win. But he never talks about Christ. And you can get up and
spout chapter after chapter, verbatim, verse for verse, and
until you preach Christ and know Christ, you're just spouting
words. If your Bible knowledge don't
make you know Christ, come to Christ, look to Christ, you don't
know nothing yet. Ain't that right? Paul said,
I want to have the excellency of the knowledge of what? Christ
Jesus, my Lord. They said there's ever learning,
ever learning, never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. And I'll tell you something else
that material blessings won't do anything. Here's this fella,
he had more than he could ever want in ten lives. Now the Lord
said, just give it away. I can do a lot of things, but
man, I ain't giving my money up. That gold shines too much. That silver, that weighs too
much. I'll tell you, this luxurious
living I've had is just too much. I can't give up this. I just
can't give it up. Oh, Israel left Egypt rich, went
into a land flowing with milk and honey. And you know what
they did? They continually and constantly murmured and complained
and forgot God. Prosperity is much more harmful
to men than poverty is. In fact, that's our problem today,
is materialism. That's most of us, that's what
this world, you know, this world has more than it knows what to
do with. They waste more consume more,
desire more, want more than any... I mean it, you know, and Demas,
Paul says, Demas has forsaken us. Why did he? He loved this
present evil world. He loved his fame. He loved his
wealth. He loved his prosperity. Charles
Spurgeon got up one time. There was a young man in his
congregation. Somebody in his family left him
extremely wealthy. And he went to Mr. Spurgeon,
he said, Mr. Spurgeon, please pray for me.
He says, I've been left a lot, a lot of money. And I don't want
this money to be the destruction of my soul. So please pray for
me. And he got up and told that congregation,
he said, a young man came to me that became very wealthy through
an inheritance. And he said, oh, pray for me,
Mr. Spurgeon, that I don't let this
money be the destruction of my soul. And people are going to do it.
They're going to do it. That's why the Lord said, you
know, that man's life doesn't consist in the possessions that
he has. This fellow had possessions.
And they say, well, the Lord just wanted him in his heart
to be willing to do it. No. He had to give it up. He had to give every penny he
had to the poor and follow Christ, or he was going to not be saved.
Now, I'm going to tell you what I personally believe. In every place you find this
fellow here, our Lord says this. He loved him. And because he
loved him, I believe God saved that man later. And I've heard
several people say that this was the Apostle Paul, who was
smoked down on the Damascus Road later. Because Paul was a wealthy
man, raised in a wealthy family. But now whether that's true,
I don't know. That's just conjecture on my part. That's why our Lord
said, how hardly shall they have riches. How hardly shall they
have riches. And I tell you, And here's the
key to it. He says, how hardly shall they
that trust. Trust. There's nothing wrong.
Abraham was a wealthy man. Nicodemus was a wealthy man.
God took him out of that tree. And he was a wealthy man. But
the thing is, there's nothing wrong with having riches. It's
trusting in them. Don't let riches have you. And
if riches has got you, that's when you're in trouble. You can
have wealth, but don't let wealth have you. Don't you think that's
right? Uh-huh. And oh, and it'll take
much more than prayer. I don't know where I'm at anymore. But it'll take more than prayer.
I was in a service years and years ago. You know, a funeral. And that's why I quit going to
funerals where they don't have a gospel preacher. A fella got up and says, you
know, looked at all the kids. Mother died and all the kids
sitting there and said, your mama prayed for every one of
y'all to be saved. And I believe every one of you
be saved because God will answer her prayers. She's such a good
woman. My prayers don't hardly get out
of my mouth. Don't go no farther than my voice. Huh? Oh, I'll be alright. Mama prayed for me. Surely they
won't be lost. I prayed for them for years.
Lord, I know my children won't be lost. You wouldn't believe
how many tears I shed for them. That Pharisee went off and prayed
thus with himself, I thank your Father. I'm not like this. I'm
not like that. I'm not like the other thing.
And they say you want to go where your mother is, you want to go
where your grandmother is, don't you? And they use that to try
to get people... And listen, I'll tell you what,
it's not where Grandma goes, it's not where Mama goes, it's
where Christ is! It's not a view of what your
mother or your daddy done, it's a view of a bleeding, bloody
sacrifice on a tree, putting away sins that save sinners. And all persuasion and programs. What programs y'all have for
the young people? Same programs we have for the old people. Sit
still and hear the gospel. Oh my. And it'll take more than
judgments. Here's the thing about judgments.
When judgments come, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes,
fires, whatever, here's what people say, well, the devil caused
that to happen if it's bad. And if it turns out good, God's
done that. You know, if the devil burns
down a beer joint, I mean, if a beer joint's burned down, they
say, boy, good, God put that beer joint out of business. Then
a church burns down, they say, oh my, the devil done it. You see, but oh, that's
what people, and you know a tornado goes through and tears down everything.
And somebody that's spared, they'll say, well, God was judging them
because of their wickedness. I knew somebody put on the side
of their house. God spared me. God saved me. Didn't save the
rest of them. Listen. God said, I create peace, and
I create right. I make good, and I make evil.
Huh? I create it. And there ain't
a thing on this world where there's a beer joint burning down, or
there's a church house burning down. It's God Almighty that
runs this world. It ain't the devil. It's God
Almighty that's in control of fires, earthquakes, storms, rains,
floods. It's God that's in control of
them, and not a judgment has ever saved one soul. Now we're going to get down.
I'm going to tell you. Salvation to the Lord. It says
there, with God, all things is possible. Here in John 6, let
me tell you what this is in. This is what it will take. It'll
take a divine decree. He says there in verse 37, John
6, All that the Father giveth me, watch what it says here,
shall come to me. God gave Christ a people, He
says they shall come to me. If you be the Christ, tell us
plainly, I've told you, and you believe not. Why don't you believe?
You're not of my sheep. That's why you don't believe.
My sheep hear my voice, and I give unto them eternal life. Oh my,
not only that, but he says, and I came down to do not my will,
but the will of him that sent me. And this is the will that
sent me, that all that he's given me, I will not lose. So we have
these shells and these wheels here. It don't say nothing about
us, it says something about what they do, His divine decree. And
then there's this divine determination. Oh, my. He said, I should lose nothing. I will in no wise cast out them. I'll raise them up again at the
last day. Now, beloved, this is what God
said He's going to do. God says that I'll cause them
to sin. I'll raise them up. I'll lose
not a one of them. And oh, looky here. And I love this. And he says there in verse 40,
And this is the will of heaven that sent me, that every one
that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up at the last day." You know, and
I came down, and I give... He said, "...all that the Father
hath given me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
know wise cast out." Here's all these shells and wills. We have
a divine Savior, a blessed Savior. I came down from heaven, not
to do my will, but the will of heaven sent me. I'm not losing
one of them. I'll save them all. Let me tell you something. Is
our Lord Jesus Christ called a Savior? Thou shalt call His
name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin. He
said, I'll send out of Zion a Savior. Now, if His name is Savior, and
He's called a Savior, how could He possibly then not save us? The very title tells us that
He's going to save us. He didn't say, well, we'll call
His name Jesus, for He shall try to save His people. He'll
make salvation possible. He'll open a door for salvation.
He'll save you if you'll allow Him to save you. He says, thou
shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from
their sin. And the Redeemer redeems. What
do I mean by that? They say, Jesus paid for your
sins. All you've got to do is just
accept it. Well, listen, if redemption, redemption is something that
happens with Christ God on the cross. Is that not right? He
has redeemed us by His blood, being justified freely through
faith in His, but through the redemption of Christ. Now redemption
was back there. What did you and I have anything
to do with it? And the price has already been paid. So there's
nothing I can do to add to what has been paid. I don't have to
do anything to pay it. So he's really a redeemer who
really redeems. He didn't... You know, I tell
you, this is what most preachers do, and you know this as well
as I do. They say this. They say, well, Christ put away your
sins if... Christ put away your sins, but
here's what you need to do. You need to take this redemption,
this blood of Christ. Put your faith in it. Put your
repentance in it. Put a few tears in it. Put some
sincerity in it. Put the best you can in it. Stir
it all up. Then you'll be alright. No. No, no. Christ paid for our sins,
redeemed us from our sins when He died on the cross. Like a
sin I ever committed. Even the sin that I committed
in Adam was paid for when Christ died on the cross. And not only
mine, but everyone that was given to Him. That's what he says, you know,
we can't pay for it. Christ doesn't pay for it. He
is the redemption that really redeems. He said, what man, if
you have a ninety-nine sheep, if one of them is lost, will
not go into the wilderness until he finds that one lost sheep
and lays him on his shoulders and brings it back. Brings it
back. And oh, look at this. Look what
he says here. Look at this divine declaration
down here in verse 45. This is what I like. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. What? Who shall be all
taught of God? Everyone that was given to Him.
Everyone that comes to Him. Everyone that sees Him. Everyone
who believes Him. Everyone who is the bread of
life for them, they shall all be taught of God. What will they
be taught? They'll be taught first and foremost that they
are impotent. No power, no ability. And they'll
be taught secondly that Christ has all power and all ability.
Huh? And oh, you know, you've got
people on the cross. Here's two thieves on the cross.
One on either side of our Lord Jesus Christ. It starts out saying
both of them railed on him. And then something happened where
one of them looked at the other and says, why are you saying
that? We are here indeed justly. We're here to condemn for our
own sins. We're here justly. But this man had done nothing
amiss. And he says this, he says, Lord, when you come into your kingdom,
remember me, He realized that he was there
because he is unjust. He had sinned. He was there because
of his own guilt, his own sin. He realized that Jesus Christ
was Lord, Jehovah, Savior. He realized he had a kingdom.
He realized that if he didn't live in that kingdom, Christ
would have to take him. And our Lord looked over him and said,
Today, today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. What happened
from the time that he was cussing him until they asked him? Who
taught him on that cross? There wasn't no preacher there.
There wasn't no slogan there. There wasn't no altar there.
There wasn't an offering box to put any money in. He couldn't get on his knees.
He couldn't give anything whatsoever. He couldn't do nothing. He couldn't You know how? They shall all be taught of God. God taught that man in just a
little while on that cross what every preacher under the sun
could not have taught him. Read in the Bible, only God can
open a man's heart. And that's He does the same thing
for us, the same identical thing for us. I get up here and I preach
over and over and over again, say the same things over and
over and over and over again. And as old Scott Richardson said,
if it's worth repeating, it's worth repeating twice. If it's
worth repeating twice, it's worth repeating half a dozen times.
The secret to teaching is repetition, repetition, repetition. But listen, only God can take
a hold of a man's heart and teach him. Only God can take your ears
and let it hear. Only God can perform this miracle.
And only God can make a man say, I'm here justly. This man's done nothing amiss.
Lord, You're Jehovah. You're the God. You're Savior.
You're Jehovah the Savior. And You've got a kingdom. And
I want to be in that kingdom. I want to get off this awful
place where my guilt and condemnation has me. I want to be in your
kingdom. How can I? Would you remember
me? Remember all. Remember me. And our Lord says, can a mother
forsake her children? Yes, you can. Forsake her second
child? Yes, you can. But I'll never
forget you. Why won't you? I'm craving you
on the palms of my hands. And that man was craving on Christ
and in the covenant of God's grace given to Christ before
the world ever began. But he wasn't saved until his
last moments on this earth. That's how God can teach you
that. And let me show you this. A divine
drawing. Look what he said in verse 44.
No man No man can come unto me, except
the Father which hath sent me to draw him." Now what in the
world does that mean? Well, it means the same thing when
Simon Peter drew that sword and smote off Malchus' seer. It means
exactly the same thing. God's going to reach and get
a hold of you and draw you. People say, God won't force you
to do anything. If He don't force you, You ain't coming. This drawing here means that
it's a compulsion. It's an irresistible drawing.
I mean, beloved, when He gets a hold of you, you're coming.
I mean, He's got to reach and get in your heart. He's got to
reach and get it. And here's the thing about it. He does it
in such a way that you come thinking that you're the one that's coming
and He's the one that brought you. That's one of the most mysterious
things about the grace of God. He brings in the deadliest, fiercest
people who are willing. He draws you to Christ with such
a power. And all the same time, you're
the one coming. And when you get there, you say,
Lord, it's me. I'm here. It's a mysterious thing. But when you look back, you say,
I'm here because God brought me. I know because God taught
me. I have because God gave me. I
see because God gave me eyes. I come to Christ because God
taught me of Christ and brought me to Christ. And so, beloved,
if a man or a woman is ever saved, ever saved, if he is ever changed and given
a new heart, it'll take an act of God Himself. You know, people
say, well, it'll take an act of Congress to get this done
or that done. They say, how do you get an insurance policy?
And I always have a disclaimer, and it says, we'll not cover
acts of God. We'll not cover acts of God. But I'll tell you what, there's
one act of God that must take place, and it must take place
in your heart, your soul, your mind, everything about you, that
God must come and do for you. He has to do it, or you'll never
know Him. Don't you believe that? You know
why I believe it? Because that's what happened
to me. I didn't come, He brought me. And now since He brought
me, I just keep on coming. And now since He brought me,
I say, Lord, don't never, ever let me go. Never let me go. Our Father, our gracious God,
in the blessed name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, thank
you for your gospel. Thank you for your truth. Thank
you for the Word of God. And oh, Father, I just preached
the salvations of the Lord, completely and entirely of the Lord. And I pray that you would be
pleased to work in a heart, to work in a mind, to work in an
understanding today. And let sinners know that they
get to Christ and come to Christ from the heart without moving
a muscle. Without moving a muscle. God
help them to look to Him. Father, meet with us tonight. Thank you again for all your
dear people, and your preachers, and for our nation, and those
who serve. Lord Jesus bless them for Christ's
sake. Amen. Amen. Let's turn to my
old favorite, 125. Stand with me. you