Mark chapter 12, and looking in verse 28, and
one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together
and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, which is
the first 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, with all thy soul, 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, 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 the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus
saw that he answered discreetly, or wisely, he said unto him,
thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that
durst ask him any question. And Jesus answered and said while
he taught in the temple, how say the scribes that Christ is
the son of David? For David himself said by the
Holy Ghost, the Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right
hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. David therefore
himself calleth him Lord, and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him
gladly. And he said unto them in his
doctrine, beware of the scribes which love to go in long clothing.
and love salutations in the marketplaces, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
and the uppermost rooms at feasts, which devour widows' houses,
and for pretense make long prayers. These shall receive greater damnation. And Jesus sat over against the
treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury,
and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain
poor widow, and she threw in two knights, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples
and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you that this poor widow
hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury.
For all they did cast in of their abundance, but she of her wont
did cast in all that she had, even all her living. Now the Lord does make great
contrast to the way of religion and the way of Christ. The kingdom of God is not defined
by religion, by any man's religion, by any denomination that men
come up with. It's impossible that men should
capture the kingdom of God because the kingdom of God is that which
flesh and blood cannot attain unto. It's that which cannot
be grasped. It's that which cannot be entered
into. It is that which the Lord alone can show a man. It's impossible
that the wisest of preachers, the best of orators, can stand
before men and convince men what the kingdom of God is, or give
them an entrance therein. Now we live in a day and an age
when it is quite common that men stand before men to do what
they call preach, and then they say that they're giving men an
opportunity to come into the kingdom of God. It's impossible
that a man could give another man an opportunity. because the
kingdom of God is not entered by opportunity. Kingdom of God's
entered by the sovereign grace of a holy God who's pleased to
call his people out of darkness and into the light according
to the good pleasure of his will. And so it is that men don't have
anything whatsoever to do with that. That comes as a great downer
to a lot of people. Religious men hate such a message
as that because they delight in stirring men up to do things. I mean, when I was growing up,
that's what I thought church was. It was stirring folks up
to do stuff. Brethren, if you come here expecting
to be stirred up to do something, you're gonna be sadly mistaken
because we're not seeking to stir folks up to do something.
What we hope to do by the grace of God is to exalt the name of
Him who has done all things according to the good pleasure of His will.
And who in the depths and wideness of His mercy sent forth His only
begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world to die
for sinners. to die for those who were dead
in trespasses and sins, not to those who were wounded, not to
those who were needing a little help along the way, but to those
who were in such a situation that they could not rescue themselves
or in any wise move one step towards the solution to their
problem. Christ alone is the Savior of
sinners. And He is the Savior of sinners.
He doesn't try to save folks. He's not hoping to save folks. He saves men according to the
good pleasure of His will. And we rejoice this morning that
He is the Savior and that salvation belongs to Him. Oh, that He might
visit us today. That He might call men unto Himself. That He might give us ears to
hear. the glorious message of the gospel of free grace in Christ. The Lord had been questioned
by many, and of course we had just read in these verses prior
to these last week about those that the Sadducees who came seeking
to promote their position as they did not believe in the resurrection. And so they wanted to trip up
the Lord Jesus Christ and present the resurrection as being a foolish
thing. They wanted to make him to appear
to be a fool in their sight. Of course, he turned the tables
on them, as he did. How foolish is it for men to
think that they could ever trip up God? But a lot of people do
think that. A lot of people think they can
fool God. A lot of people think they can
hide from God. But it's impossible to do. But
he knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. Now, I've often
said, some people take comfort. I've heard men say, oh, well,
the Lord knows my heart. Well, brother, that ought to
cause you to fall on your face in fear and trembling, because
that is a true thing. The Lord does know your heart.
And what he sees in your heart is nothing but corruption. And so when men say, the Lord
knows my heart, they don't understand what it is that the Lord does
know. He does know your heart. And the heart is deceitful and
desperately wicked. Who can know it? See, men don't
know their own heart. Men think they do. Often men
think they're serving the Lord. The Lord knows your heart. Oh,
that he might cause us to tremble before him. But these men, they
had no fear of God. and they came with their religion
and seeking to present their different theories as men do.
You know, men will argue and talk about their theories of
what the scripture means and this, that, and the other. I've
done plenty of that in my lifetime and I see the folly of it all
because the only thing that the scripture sets forth that men
need to know is that Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners. And
that the only way that a man is going to be saved is according
to his mercy and kindness to deliver them out of the situation
that they're in. Now anything else that somebody
comes along telling you other than that is kind of superfluous.
That's not saying that there's not some things that you might
learn and need to know that might help you along the way. But the
message of the gospel is Jesus Christ and him crucified. And
there is no other gospel than that. So here was a man that
came to the Lord with a little different. mindset. Now why is it that some men seek
the Lord and some men seek religion? And the answer is the mercy of
God. Now this man, just like Nicodemus
before him, came to the Lord He didn't make a fanfare of it,
he just came to the Lord because he sincerely wanted to know.
Now Nicodemus wanted to know something. The Lord didn't give
him a chance to ask his question, but he told him what he needed
to know, did he not? He said, Nicodemus, except a
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Well,
here was a man that comes to the Lord, I believe sincerely,
and I think the Lord points that out. And he heard them reasoning
and perceiving that he had answered them well, he asked him, what
is the first commandment? What would the Lord tell us? What do we need to know? And
the Lord said, the first of all the commandments is the Lord
our God is one Lord. He has one purpose. and that is to bring glory to
his name. Now a lot of people don't like
that. The Lord said I am a jealous God. He said thou shalt have
no other gods before me. Now he didn't mean that you can
rank them and you can have one, two, three, four, and five, but
put me at number one. That's not what he meant. He
said there's one. And you said, don't have anything
else in my face. Don't come into my presence with
your religion. Don't come into my presence with
your ideas. You come into my presence knowing
that I am the holy God of all. Bow down and worship at my footstool. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength. Now if that doesn't take your
breath away and cause you to say, oh, woe is me, then you
have not understood who you are. And you've not understood the
heights in which God resides. He dwells in the light to which
no man can approach. And yet we are to love him with
all of our heart. And we see within our heart every
thought and intent of our heart that goes away from Him. Oh,
that He might move us today to see what we are. You see, that's
what the law does. The law doesn't come to give
you a checklist of what you need to do. Well, let's see, we need
to love the Lord with all our heart. Well, I've done that.
And we need to love our neighbors, ourselves. Well, I've done that.
Well, I'm doing pretty good. No, the law comes to show us
what we are by nature. The law comes when the scripture
says, love thy neighbor as thyself. We don't pat ourselves on the
back and say, well, we're doing a pretty good job. No, we say,
oh, Lord, how far from that I come every day because I love myself
and I want to promote myself and I want my way to be the right
way. Oh, Lord. Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself. And the scribe said unto him,
Well, master, thou said the truth, for there is but one God, and
there is none other but he, and to love him with all the heart.
And to love his neighbors himself is more than all the whole burnt
offerings and sacrifices. Now this man did give indication
that he had some understanding of the truth. He understood that
all of the sacrifices and offerings that men can make unto the Lord
are of no use whatsoever. The blood of bulls and goats
can never take away sin. The Lord had given him that understanding. And when Jesus saw that he answered
wisely, he said unto him, thou art not far from the kingdom
of God. Now, you know, all men, regardless
of where we come in our own understanding and our own wisdom, we're not
in the kingdom of God by that. He didn't say you've come into
the kingdom of God because you understand this. But he said,
you're not far from it. Oh, that the Lord might show
us, you know, how far we are from the kingdom of God and that
he might draw us into it by his grace. And that's the only way
that a man will come in there. And no man after that durst asked
him any question. Wasn't any more questions asked.
I mean, what else can you say when you say Christ died for
sinners? I mean, that's the end of the
story, is it not? The Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt
love thy neighbors thyself. The Lord is demonstrated as a
man walking among men of loving his neighbor as himself. He loved
his neighbor above himself, for he laid down his life for those
whom he loves. Oh, what a glorious Savior he
is. And while Jesus answered and
said, And Jesus answered and said while he taught in the temple,
how say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? Because
he said David called him Lord. Now what he's teaching them is
that the son of David who would sit upon the throne of God was
come into their very midst. Now the Jews were looking for
a descendant of David that would come and deliver them from the
oppression of the Romans and install himself in the exalted
place over the house of Israel and would reign as David's son. They believed that. They wanted
that, but they didn't understand that the David's son that the
Lord spoke of who would come was the Lord Jesus Christ who
would come and walk in the flesh among men of the house of David. And he would call him Lord because
he is Lord. Because you see that's the one
who came who was born in Bethlehem. Now we're coming up to a time
of the year when a lot of talk is made about the birthday of
Jesus. And you know, I'm not against
anybody remembering the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. But
the Lord never told us to do that, did he? He told us to remember
his death until he comes again. Because the only reason that
he was born into the world was in order to go to Calvary's cross
and pay the price for our sins. And so it is that we remember
his death. Now there's a lot of lip service
given to worshiping the Lord and a lot of men like this time
of the year because they can think of little baby Jesus. in
that manger. Little baby, helpless Jesus.
He's in there. And He did indeed come in the
weakness of the flesh. I can't imagine it. I don't understand
it. I mean it baffles my mind to
consider the incarnation of the Son of God. how he who formed
men from the dust of the earth could be held in a mother's arms. I can't grasp that. I can't get
it. It's a wonder beyond amazement.
But let's don't get so caught up in the wonder of that consideration
that we forget that he whom Mary held in her arms, a savior of
the world. the Savior of sinners. He's that
one who came into the world to die, to pour out his life's blood. Even as that infant. I can't
imagine it. I don't understand it. But anyway,
David therefore himself called them, Lord, whence is it then
his son? They didn't know. He didn't tell them, did he?
But he would show them in time to come. as he did indeed become,
before their very eyes, become as the King of Kings and the
Lord of Lords. He wasn't waiting for a time
to be the King of Kings, he was, but he was indeed showing them
little by little. Now that is the way that the
Lord teaches, as Sister Emily mentioned a moment ago. The Lord
does teach his children line by line and precept by precept.
Now it's not the line by line and precept by precept of men,
because you can learn line by line and precept upon precept
in the religion of men and get nowhere. But if the Lord is pleased
to teach you line upon line and show you the unfolding of his
kingdom in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's a glorious
thing. And no man comes to that place
immediately. See, no man has all understanding
at once. In fact, none of us have any.
Paul said, we know nothing as we ought to know. Just think
about that. When you've learned everything that you could possibly
know, you don't know anything. Job came to that conclusion,
did he not? I mean, the Lord had blessed
Job. The Lord chose Job. uh... the lord uh... told these
uh... uh... his friends uh... that
they had to get you better go see joe and uh... and you better uh... you better
hope that he prays for you cause i've received joe joe belongs
to me i love joe but joe as much as he knew as
much as he was favored by the lord he had come to a certain
place did he not He said, Lord, I've heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear. But he said, now mine eye seeth
thee. And he says, I hate myself. And
I repent in dust and ashes. Well, you see, that's the place
the Lord brings those whom he loves. Those whom he loves, he
does not leave in the depths of their pride. but he causes
them to come down and worship at his feet. Oh, that we might
be the worshipers of Christ, even as David said, my Lord. And he said unto them in his
doctrine, beware of the scribes, which loved to go in long clothing.
They loved the chief seats, let's say, stations, marketplaces.
There's never any shortage. of men who will stand before
other men and tell them what they want to know in order that
they might be built up in other men's eyes, so that they might
occupy a place of honor. Preaching the gospel is a privilege,
but it's a gift, it's not a position. You know, it's not a place that
a man is put in so that he might be lifted up above other men,
or so that men might salute him in the marketplace. Because if
a man's preaching the truth of God, he's not gonna be saluted
in the marketplace. You know, the world's not gonna
have any time for him. They don't wanna listen to what
he's got to say. And so it's not a place of honor, not meant
to be a place of honor. But it's just a place that God
pleased to call some men to. And a man can't anymore call
himself to it, learn how to do it, or have somebody put him
in that place. It can't be done. It's only that
which God is pleased to do. And what God does, a man can't
overturn. But anyway, he said, there are,
he said, beware of them. And I, you know, that is a message
that needs to go out today. Beware, beware of those that
come in sheep's clothing, that come preaching some other message
than Jesus Christ and him crucified. That come with a message that
speaks about Jesus, speaks about even the cross. But then while
you're sitting there listening, he reaches around and he's got
his hand in your hip pocket. He's getting your money out.
Because I'm telling you, you can believe this or you can not
believe it. The Lord does not need your money. He's not after
your money. He's not seeking you to give
him your money. And any preacher that will pressure
men in any way to give money unto some cause that is not for
the benefit of the children of God is a false prophet. Now Paul, he did indeed tell
men to give, did he not? But what did they give for? It
was for the relief of the saints in Jerusalem. He didn't come
saying, you know, I need a new camel to ride. My old camel he's getting. kind
of wore down, and his feet sore, and I need me this, got this
new model camel, and I've been wanting to get this camel, and
I want you to, you know, give, give so that I can get this camel.
No, he didn't do that. He comes to Corinthians, he says,
I never asked you for anything. He said, in fact, I came among
you and worked, that you might know that I wasn't after your
money. And so that's what he says here, these devour, Widows'
houses, all these pressures. They got on TV and they know
they can sit there and there's, and I'm gonna put this, I'm not
being a sexist, I'm just saying what the truth is, that widows,
who are sitting at home, perhaps listening, maybe up in age, and
they can't really go anywhere, so they listen to these preachers
on TV, and these preachers say, oh, you know, we need your money.
The Lord just gonna do such wonderful things if you'll just send us
your money. And they devour all of those houses. And they go
into chief places, and they got their names up in lights, and
they want men to see them. Well, brethren, there is no place
of honor to be given, except unto Christ, and Christ alone. And Jesus sat over against the
treasure, and behold how the people cast money into the treasure,
and many that were rich cast in much. And a poor widow came
along, and she cast in two mites. Now I don't know how much two
mites is, but it's quite a small sum, I can tell you that. But
it doesn't make a difference how much it was, because the
Lord wasn't talking about how much it was or how little it
was. See, the kingdom of God is not concerned with how much
you have or how little you have. That's not the point. That's
not it. But the Lord took notice of this
woman, not because of the amount that she gave or didn't give.
But he says this, she did cast in all that she had. even all
her living. Now there's great men in the
world and they've got lots of money. And it doesn't mean anything
at all in the kingdom of God. Nothing. And there are some who have absolutely
nothing. And that doesn't mean anything
either. You see, a man can be poor as a church mouse and wind
up in hell just as sure as a rich man. That's not the issue at
hand here. But what the Lord said is what
Paul said. Whether therefore you eat or
you drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. And so, you know, a man doesn't
need to be concerned with what he has. He needs to be concerned
with what the Lord has. And I believe it's the truth.
When the Lord in His grace and His mercy visits a man, it shows
him what he is by nature. The Lord will give him a generous
heart. And such things as the Lord will
lay upon his heart, He will do. And I'm thankful that He does
not require of His people one thing. See, there are no requirements
for the people of God. Christ satisfied every claim
that the law had. There's no requirements. That which the Lord would have
us do, He has brought to pass. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind.
And love thy neighbor as thyself. And the Lord does move his people. And none of us knew that perfectly.
But I don't believe there's any of God's people that don't desire
in their heart to be found, numbered among those who do those things.
May he give us such grace today. May we know that every good and
perfect gift coming from above, that the Lord has given us all,
what can we withhold from him? Oh, that he might stir our hearts,
give us a love for his word, love for his truth, and above
all, a love for him. You know, I was thinking of something,
this is kind of off the subject, as Brother Al was speaking to
us there today, and I was thinking about the details of things that
the Lord puts in motion that seem to have no real As far as men are concerned,
we think of things in a big way, you know, but we don't think
about every detail. I mean, when you think about
an ant digging an anthill, you don't think about the fact that
every grain of sand that comes out of that anthill, some ant
had to carry that out of there. In other words, it didn't just
one day wind up there's an anthill out in the yard. The Lord directed
the steps of every one of those ants to do exactly what he wanted
to do to make that just exactly what it was. But I was thinking,
as Brother Al was talking about the Anikims, and it mentioned
that guy's name, I can't recall it right offhand, Ajar, or something
like that, anyway, that he was great, he was great among the
Anikims. Now he was great among the Anikims,
but we don't even know who the Anikims were. And yet, see, here
was a whole society, evidently, of people that went about in
their ways in the earth doing all these things to bring them
to the place where they would be the Antichems that the people
of God feared to go into this land, the Antichems from whom
Goliath came, evidently. And all of these things struck
my mind as I was thinking, you know, how intricate are the ways
of God? How pass finding out? I mean,
he raised up a whole civilization of people and recorded the name
of this man who nobody even knew. I mean, probably half the people,
they didn't even know who he was. And yet the Lord mentions
him by name, says he was great among the Anakins. But what did
it mount to? Nothing. It didn't mean a hill
of beans. I mean in the bigger scope of
things, but it did mean something because God made it so. And so
it is that the Lord is directing all things according to the good
pleasure of his will. And he's bringing his people
by ways which they knew not. See, you didn't know that one
day the Lord would cause you to hear his word. You didn't
know that. You might have thought you heard
his word. I grew up, I mean, I heard preaching. I can't remember
a time when I wasn't in church and hearing preachers rant and
rave and carry on and do all this stuff. And I never knew.
I mean, if you'd asked me, have you heard the word of God? I'd
say, yeah, I hear it all the time. But you see, one day the
Lord called me to hear it. I wasn't looking for it. But
by His mercy, according to His kindness, He caused me to hear
it. Oh, what a merciful God He is
that He calls His people out of darkness and into the light
to see Christ and Him crucified as our only hope. What a glorious
thing.