Well, good morning, everyone.
I promise you I won't judge how long I'm preaching by that clock
up there, because it looks like it stops. If you would open your
Bibles with me to Mark chapter 10. Before we begin looking at this
passage, let's bow before our Lord together in prayer. Our Father, we come into your
courts this morning Hearts that are full of rejoicing and thanksgiving.
Father, how thankful we are for the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The good news of full and free
salvation in him. Salvation in him that satisfies
both your justice, your truth, your mercy, and your grace. Father,
we're so thankful. Human language can't express
our thanksgiving that you would choose to be merciful to sinful
men and women such as we are. And Father, we pray that one
more time today, you might enable us to hear the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ and have our hearts taught and thrilled and
comforted and edified. Father, we pray this may be the
day that you see fit to give faith and life to one of your
people here this morning, that you would enable them to hear.
This may be the day that you are pleased to reach down and
give them life. We pray that you'd give us a special day of
worship, that you'd show us your glory. And what we pray for ourselves,
we pray especially for our children's classes. Father, that you would
bless our teachers and that you might bless our children with
a ready mind and a Hearing ear that she would be pleased to
use this time to plant the seeds of faith in their hearts. That
one day we may speak of them as young Paul spoke of young
Timothy that from a child. You've known the Holy Scriptures
which are able to make you wise unto salvation. Father, make
us faithful to teach him to teach them the truth. And she may be
pleased to be merciful to him of all of our prayers for our
children, this is our chief prayer, that you'd be pleased to be merciful.
Father, we pray for the sick and afflicted of our number,
both here and other places, Father, that are in deep, deep waters,
facing very, very difficult circumstances that to the human eye seems very
dire. Father, we pray you'd be with
them. Our prayer is that you would comfort them and heal them.
But Father, above all, we pray you'd give them a special portion
of your presence. Comfort their hearts with your
presence, we pray. All these things we ask in that
name which is above every name, the name of Christ our Savior,
amen. Now in the will of the Lord,
this is not something that I planned, but our message this morning
and our lesson this morning are very, very closely tied together,
very similar in subject. And since that seems to be the
will of the Lord that we hear this this morning, I pray he
enable us to hear it. I've titled our message, Met
at the Point of Rebellion. Now, before the Lord saves anyone,
he's gonna meet that sinner at his point of rebellion. He's
gonna break him there. He's gonna make him surrender
there at that sinner's particular point of rebellion. Now, in general,
this is true of us, this is true of the whole human race. Our
rebellion is this, that we refuse to believe on the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We refuse to trust him, we refuse
to bow to him and surrender to him. We refuse. By nature, we
refuse to trust Christ to do all of the saving for us. That's
our rebellion. That's our nature of rebellion.
But you know that rebellion manifests itself in different points, in
different people. And that's what I want us to
look at this morning and pray that the Lord will meet us at
our point of rebellion and that he would enable us to surrender,
submit to him. Our lesson begins in Mark 10,
verse 17. And when he was gone forth into
the way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked
him, good master, What shall I do that I may inherit eternal
life? Now this is the question that
this young man asked. What shall I do so that I can
inherit eternal life? But you know what he meant. He
says inherit, but what he means is what can I do to earn eternal
life? And I'll just start to answer
that question by saying this. There is nothing any son of Adam
can do to earn eternal life. Because look what our Lord says
in verse 27. And Jesus, looking upon them,
saith, with men, it is impossible. It's impossible for any son of
Adam, a daughter of Adam, to earn eternal life from God. But before we look at what the
scripture says we can do, I want to look at a few things that
we do that will not give us eternal life. And hopefully the Lord
will deliver us from these things. Number one is this, our zeal
and our religious sincerity will not give us eternal life. You
know, this young man, he has some commendable traits. He did
some commendable things, didn't he? This young man is interested
in salvation. He's concerned about his soul.
He's concerned about eternity. He is very sincere. He's full
of zeal. He came running to the Lord.
I mean, he didn't even wait to walk. He came running to the
Lord. He felt some urgency about this thing, about his soul and
about eternal life. That's good. He was serious about
this thing of having eternal life, but his zeal and his sincerity
could not give him eternal life. If his sincerity could give him
eternal life, he'd already have it and wouldn't have to come
ask the Lord, what can I do to inherit it? He'd already had
it. Now I'd say pretty much everybody here, we're sincere about our
religion. Wouldn't you say that? We're
sincere about this thing of seeking Christ, of the gospel, of hearing
from him and worshiping him. We're sincere. But just like
this young man, let's not be mistaken, our sincerity will
not give us eternal life. All right, number two, our outward
show of religion will not give us eternal life. Now this man
ran, and he kneeled before the Lord. He kneeled before the Lord,
but he didn't have eternal life. He did the right outward motion,
didn't he? He should be kneeling before
the Lord. All of us should be kneeling before Christ. But the
right outward form of religion did not give this man eternal
life. If it did, he wouldn't have come asking the Lord, what
can I do to inherit it? All of us are just like him,
aren't we? Now, we are orthodox, Calvinistic people. We have the
right form of doctrine. We preach the doctrines of grace. And I'm telling you, that's the
true gospel. Now, that's true of us. We have
the right form of religion. We don't say we preach the doctrines
of grace. We don't do it. No, we do. We don't say we preach
Christ crucified and don't do it. No, we do. We have the right
gospel. We have the right doctrine. We
have the right outward form of religion. But our correct outward
form of religion will not give us eternal life. Because eternal
life is not outward. It's inward. It's in the heart.
It's a work that God has to do in the heart. And thirdly, our
outward morality will not give us eternal life. Look at verse
18. And Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good? There's
none good but one, that is God. Thou knowest the commandments,
do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear
false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and mother. And he
answered and said unto him, master, all these have I observed from
my youth. Now I have to tell you, I don't
think this man was gilding the lily. when he said he had kept
these commandments from his youth. I'm just very confident he had
not outwardly committed adultery with another man's wife. I'm
sure he never had. I'm very confident he never murdered
anybody. He never took somebody's life.
I'm sure he never stole something that didn't belong to him. He
at least tried not to lie on, tell lies. I don't know how well
you can get by without that, but he at least tried not to,
didn't he? He tried not to lie on somebody. I'm confident he
never defrauded anybody. He didn't cheat somebody. He
didn't slander them. And I'm very confident he was
a good son. He really did his best to honor
his father and mother. I'm confident that he did that.
But this outward morality did not give this young man eternal
life. And I can show you he knew it
too. Look at Matthew chapter 19. Here's Matthew's account
of this very same story. Even though outwardly he was
a very moral man, he still knew he lacked something to have eternal
life. Matthew 19, verse 20. The young
man said unto him, all these things have I kept for my youth
up. What lack I yet? I'm lacking something, what lack
I yet? He knew he was lacking something
because his conscience told him he was lacking something. And
I tell you what he was lacking is perfection. His conscience
told him he wasn't perfect, and the Lord told him the very same
thing. The Lord showed him that good works, not true good works,
they're perfect works. The Lord said, why callest thou
me good? There's none good but God. See,
in order to be good, it has to be God. Something that is good
is not as good as we can do. What is good is as good as God
can do. And that's perfection. In order
to be good, it has to be perfection. And this young man and none of
us have it. We do not have this perfection.
What does scripture say about us? We all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. We're all as an unclean thing.
Well, then that's what I can't do to inherit eternal life. Well,
what can I do to inherit eternal life? What does that take? You
know, the word inherit that this young man uses means to receive
a portion. It means to obtain an inheritance
from another. So what can I do to inherit eternal
life? What can I do to receive a portion? What can I do to receive this
portion of an inheritance from Christ the testator. See, it
has to be from another. So what can I do to obtain eternal
life as a portion from Christ the testator? Well, here's the
fourth thing. Salvation takes a total commitment
to Christ. If we would inherit eternal life,
it takes a total commitment to Christ. Now look back in our
text, verse 21, Mark 10. Then Jesus beholding him, loved
him, and said unto him, one thing thou likest, go thy way, sell
whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shall have
treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow
me. And he was sad at that saying,
and went away grieved, for he had great possessions. Now there's
nothing wrong with being wealthy. This young man was wealthy. But
here's the problem. His wealth was his God. His wealth
was his idol, and he wouldn't give it up. He was trusting in
it. He was trusting that his wealth
somehow, you know, would keep him safe from the troubles of
this world. Just like he thought his good
works, his observing the law, he thought those good works could
save him. This was his point of rebellion. And he's gonna have to surrender.
He's gonna have to submit here. His riches are gonna have to
go. So that he only has Christ to cling to. And he only has
Christ to trust in. Now remember, everybody has a
different point of rebellion. So everybody the Lord saves doesn't
have to sell all their possessions and take a vow of poverty in
order to be saved. But they do have to commit all
to Christ. They have to commit all to Him. Let me give you a
few examples. Zacchaeus had to come down and
humble himself before the Lord and before everybody else and
be revealed as a sinner that he was. Zacchaeus had to come
down. Peter, James, and John, they
had to leave their boats, they had to leave their nets, and
they had to leave their daddy and follow Christ. They had to
leave all visible means of earthly support and commit to following
Christ and commit to depending upon him. Matthew, he had to
leave his crooked tax collecting business. He had to leave his
cook ledger books. He had to leave all that money
that he was cheating people out of and skimming off the top.
He had to leave it all. He had to get up right that minute.
The Lord said, Matthew, follow me. Now, where was Matthew? He was sitting at the receipt
of customs. The Lord met him at his point of rebellion. He's
going to have to leave it all, and he's going to leave it all
now. Matthew got up and committed to following Christ. He followed
him. Saul of Tarsus. He had to quit trusting in everything
that he had done in his flesh and commit all to Christ. You
know, when God saves a sinner, that's what they're going to
do. They're going to commit all to Christ. They're going to commit
all of their salvation to him. I'm going to commit all. I'm
going to commit all my salvation to him. I'm going to commit my
way to him. He's going to lead me. He's going
to guide me. He's going to provide for me.
If I go into the valley, he's going to lead me there. He's
going to put me there. And if I'm going to come out of it,
he's the one that's going to bring me out. I commit all to him. It's not my way and what I think
is best anymore. It's what he says. I'm gonna
commit all to him, spiritually and physically both. Look over
Matthew, or I'm sorry, Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter
three. This is the exact thing that
the apostle Paul experienced. Philippians three verse four. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof
he might trust in the flesh, I more. You think you've done
something good? I've done more, Paul said. Circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
and Hebrew of the Hebrews. My mama was a Hebrew, my daddy
was a Hebrew. As touching the law, a Pharisee,
outwardly perfect. Concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, Touching the righteousness which is in the law, outwardly,
blameless. There was nobody that knew me
that could point a finger and blame me for any point in breaking
God's law. Blameless. Saul of Tarsus thought
that was his gain. He thought that was his righteousness.
He thought that was his standing before God. But, verse seven,
what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ.
Yea, doubtless, and I count all things, I count everything about
me, all things that I used to trust in, I count all things
but loss. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of
all things, I've suffered the loss of all those things that
I used to trust in, things about me, and I do count them but done,
that I may win Christ and be found in him. not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith. I've
given up everything that I used to trust in that I've done. I
count all that, but done that I may know him and the power
of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made
conformable unto his death. If by any means, I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead, if by any means I might
be given eternal life. Oh, Saul of Tarsus. Boy, he had
a lot he trusted in. He had a lot he was proud of,
didn't he? Oh, he was proud of his family tree. I mean, he was
a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He wasn't a half-breed. He wasn't
even a mother from one tribe and father of another tribe.
His father and mother were both of the favorite tribe, the tribe
of the Hebrews. He was proud of all the observing
the ceremonies he did. Even when he was too little to
choose for himself, his parents took him on the exact day, the
eighth day, to be circumcised. Oh, he was proud of his zeal.
He was so proud of his zeal. Boy, if you were doing it wrong,
he'd persecute you. He'd throw you in jail. He was so proud
of his doctrine. He had the right doctrine. He
knew, oh, I'm a Pharisee of the Pharisees. There is nobody that
can find any chink in my outward armor. But if old Saul of Tarsus
was gonna have eternal life, he's gonna have to throw all
that in the garbage. He's gonna have to quit trusting in everything
that he used to trust in about himself, and he's gonna have
to commit to trusting Christ. If he's gonna have eternal life,
Saul of Tarsus had to trust Christ alone for all of his salvation.
Same thing's true of you and me. And here's what we know about
old Paul. He did. Did he commit all to
Christ? Look at 2 Timothy chapter one. Verse 12. For the witch cause I also suffer
these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed. It's not a what, it's not a what
I've done, it's not where I've come from, I know whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. Paul committed all to Christ. And if God's gonna save you and
me, we're gonna have to do the same thing. We're gonna have
to commit all to Christ. Now, somebody might be thinking,
Sounds like you're preaching works, Frank. This is something
I gotta do. You know, I know that it is impossible for our
flesh to let go of our point of rebellion. I understand that.
It's impossible for our flesh to quit trusting in ourselves.
It's impossible for our flesh to quit trusting in the idol
that we've made up and trust Christ alone. It's impossible
for our flesh to do that. See what the Father did? He sent
his son into the world to do it for his people. To do it all
for his people. Look back in our text, verse
23. And Jesus looked round about
and saith unto his disciples, how hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God. And the disciples were
astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again and
saith unto him, children, how hard is it? for them that trust
in riches to enter into the kingdom of heaven. See, the problem is
not having riches, it's trusting in riches to enter into the kingdom
of God. For it's easier for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God. See, the Lord's not saying it's
impossible for a wealthy person to be saved. Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, David, Job, Solomon, all these men were wealthy men. What
the Lord is teaching us, it's impossible for a person to enter
into the kingdom of heaven and be saved by their own merit.
We cannot be saved by our own works. What the Lord is saying
is it's impossible for someone who's rich in their own righteousness,
in their own obedience, in their own goodness, in their own works.
If we think we're righteous in those things, it's impossible
for us to be saved. Because salvation is not by works,
is it? It's by grace. So it's impossible for a sinner
to save themselves. And that's the illustration that
the Lord gives us. You know, there are those when the Lord
talks about the camel going through the eye of the needle. There's
some I've read that say what the Lord's talking about there,
there was a small gate in the wall of Jerusalem, and it was
kind of shaped like the eye of a needle. And maybe donkeys and
people and stuff could walk through that, but a camel couldn't do
it. But some people could train their camel to get down on its
knees and lower its head and shuffle through that gate. It
could be done. But it was very, very hard. Camels,
from what I understand, they're dirty, mean, and stubborn animals.
So it'd be hard to train a camel to do that. And we talk about
being dirty, mean, and stubborn. Who's that remind you of? Us,
doesn't it? But the Lord's not talking about
getting through that gate in the wall. He's not talking about
something that's difficult but can be done. The Lord's talking
about something that's impossible. It's impossible to get a camel
through the eye of a sewing needle. It's impossible. I mean, maybe
you ladies can do it. I bet every man in here has a
whole lot of trouble getting a thread through the eye of a
needle, much less a camel. The Lord is talking about something
that's impossible. This is what he's teaching us.
Salvation is impossible by the works of men. It's impossible. Salvation by our own merit is
impossible. It is impossible for you and
me to earn eternal life from God. It's impossible. Now this
rich young ruler, he was the best that Israel had to offer. I mean, he was the best of the
best. Under the law, he was the best. Nobody could point out anything
this young man had done wrong outwardly. He's the best they
had to offer. And the Lord said, it's impossible
for that man to be saved by his own righteousness and his own
works. It's impossible. And the disciples were amazed.
They thought this man, I mean, all of us would like to be outwardly
as moral and upstanding as this young man. We'd all like to be
that way. And they were amazed. You're telling me that man can't
be saved? The Lord didn't say he can't
be saved, did he? He said he can't be saved by his works.
Verse 26, and they were astonished out of measure, saying among
themselves, who then can be saved? Who can be saved? I'll tell you
who can be saved. every object of God's mercy and
grace. Verse 27, Jesus, looking upon
them, saith, with men, it is impossible, but not with God. For with God, all things are
possible. Salvation is impossible by the
works of man and the will of man. But all things are possible
with God. Not only is the salvation of
God's elect possible, It's done. It's finished. See, salvation
is accomplished by the will of God alone, by the work of God
alone, by the grace and mercy of God alone. Only God could
choose a sinner to save. Only God could do that. Our sin
is so heinous, only the blood of Christ can pay for it. We
have racked up such an enormous sin debt against God Only the
blood of Christ can pay it. We're so defiled by our sin,
it takes the blood of God to cleanse us from our sin. We're
dead, we're dead in sins, and only God can give a new heart,
a heart of life, a heart of faith. And only God can make a sinner
come to Him begging for mercy. Only God can make a sinner submit
at His feet. Only God can give faith that
believes Christ alone, that commits all to Christ. I'm gonna commit
all my salvation to Him, and I'm gonna commit everything that
I have in this world to Him. Only God can save the sinner.
Now salvation is of the Lord. So who then can be saved? Well,
everybody the Father chose to save, they will be saved. Everyone
for whom Christ died, they shall be saved. They have to be, because
the price has been paid. You see, God loves his elect. He set his love on his elect
from eternity past when he chose them in divine election. He loves
them. The father loves them. The son
loved them. The son loves those people. He
came in the flesh to suffer and die to put the sin of God's elect
away. All those people that he loved
in divine election, The son died to put their sin away. God, the
Holy Spirit loves them. He loves them. He's not going
to let them go. He's not going to let them have
their way. He's not going to let them not submit at their
point of rebellion. He's going to break them and
he's going to give them life and faith in Christ because he
loves them. Because God loves his people, he will not see them
perish. He will not. Now scripture doesn't
record it. But I'm just pretty sure of this.
The story of this rich young ruler did not end right here.
I'm sure of it. And here's why. Look at verse
21 again. And Jesus beholding him loved
him. Now I'm just firmly convinced
this young man was converted later on. Not on this day, but
later on. And it's just not recorded in
scripture. And here's why I'm sure of that. Because Christ
loved him. And if he loved him, he died
for him. Look at John 13. John chapter 13, verse one. Now, before the feast of the
Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should
depart out of this world under the father, having loved his
own, which were in the world, he loved them until the end.
He loved them until the end. He went and suffered and died
for them because he loved them. He didn't love them once and
then quit loving them. He loved them always. Scripture says the
Lord loved this man. If he loved him, he suffered
and died and put his sins away. I know he did. If God loved this
man, he always loved him. And he eventually drew him to
Christ. What do we read in Jeremiah 31 verse three? I've loved you
with an everlasting love. Therefore. See, God's love means
something. Therefore have I drawn you. The
Lord loved this man. He went away right now, but the
Lord drew him back later. I'm sure of it. See, that's God's
doing. If you have a desire to come
to Christ, I wish I could get this through somehow, and I know
only God can do it, because I know Brother Henry told me this a
thousand and one times, but if you have a desire to come to
Christ, my friend, come. You know why you have a desire
to come to Christ? It's because God's drawing you.
You come to Christ. You don't worry, well, you know,
am I one of the elect? Is God really drawing me? I don't
know if this is real. Tell you what, We can establish
this, can't we? We're sinners. Are you a sinner?
No, but there's not a person here that can deny we're a sinner.
Then you come to Christ because you're a sinner who needs saving.
If you're weary of trying to make yourself good enough, this
rich young man could not make himself good enough. I promise
you outwardly he's better than every one of us here. If you're
tired of trying to make yourself good enough, just quit trying
to make yourself good enough and come to Christ. Come and
rest. If you're thirsty for salvation,
if you're thirsty for eternal life and you know you don't have
it and you know you can't earn it, tell you what to do. Come
to Christ. Come and drink. That's what he
said. I'll make a statement. This is a true statement. I made
this statement once when I was preaching and a woman heard it
and she never came back to hear me again. She told me this is
why. But Jonathan, I'm gonna die on this hill. If you're not
saved, if I'm not saved, tell you what, it's not God's fault.
It's not because God didn't choose me. It's not because Christ didn't
die for me. It's not because Holy Spirit
didn't give me life. It's my fault. If you're not saved, it's
your fault. Because you refuse to give up
your works and come to Christ and commit all to him and depend
on him alone. I'm telling you that's the truth.
Now if you come to Christ, I'm telling you what, this is the
truth from the word of God, you shall be saved. And you know
what you're gonna confess? It's all God's doing. The Father
chose me, the Son died for me, the Spirit called me, God forgave
me and God kept me. Salvation is of the Lord. I know that's true because only
the Lord could save somebody sinful as me. And the only way
you're gonna find out if God will have mercy on you, somebody
here, somebody listening, they might wonder, will God have mercy
on me? Will God forgive me? Will God save me? Well, I'm gonna
tell you what, there's only one way to find out. Submit. Submit, surrender to Him. Give up your point of rebellion.
Whatever it is, whatever it is, it's holding you back. Whatever
it is, it's holding you back from trusting Christ and coming
to Him and surrendering to Him If that's your point of rebellion,
give it up and surrender to King Jesus. You come to him and beg
him for mercy. Eternal life is found at the
feet of Christ. If you would have it, surrender. Humble yourself and fall at his
feet begging for mercy, because if you're gonna have it, that's
where you're gonna have it. Nobody yet. Has ever left the
feet of Christ, unforgiven, dead in their sins, without eternal
life? Nobody yet. And you're not so special that
you'll be the first. Come to Christ, beg him for mercy,
and you'll inherit eternal life. That's a fact. All right, hope
God will bless that to you.