Well, I know one person that's
happy. That song is Janet's sung acapella. It's Janet's favorite
hymn. It's just outstanding. Alright, let's open our Bibles
again to Luke chapter 18. In our study through the different
books of the Bible, I've told you this the past couple Sundays,
that each of the four Gospels is written to give us a different
view of the Savior. Matthew presented to us Christ
the King. Mark presented Christ as the
servant of God. Luke presents us as Christ, the
perfect man. Next week, we'll look at the
apostle John. He writes to show us the son
of God. Luke writes to show us the son
of man. Luke writes to show us that God
became a man. God became a man in the person
of Jesus of Nazareth. And he was a real man. And Luke
takes some time to point that out to us. Luke gives us more
details about our Lord's birth than the other evangelists. Luke
shows us more of Christ's dependence on his father as a man. And Luke
does that to show us something that's very important. The son
of God became a real man so that he could save real sinful men.
And the story that I read to you a few moments ago in Luke
chapter 18, ends with the disciples asking, who then can be saved? And that's the title of our message
this morning. Who can be saved? The disciples were surprised.
This young man that came to our Lord is the very best man has
to offer. If he's not saved, who can be
saved? Our Lord tells us salvation is
impossible with men. with the very best of men. Salvation's
impossible by what they do. But salvation's possible with
God. Now he says salvation's possible. It doesn't mean that
salvation's a chance, or maybe it'll happen, maybe it won't.
Salvation has already been accomplished in the person, the sacrifice,
the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. It could be, God will say to
you, I don't know if He will or not, but I'm telling you it's
possible. because God saves sinners. Matter of fact, God saves every
sinner. Everybody that knows their sinner, God will save them. However, it's impossible for
you and me to save ourselves. Salvation is impossible by what
men do for ourselves. Now, salvation is not an improbability
with men. It's not just unlikely, we have
a long shot. Salvation is impossible with
men. Salvation is impossible with
men because of the weakness of our flesh. I want to show you
a few things to begin with that cannot save us. I want to show
us these things so that we won't trust in them. Now look back
at Mark chapter 10. This is Mark's account of this
same story. First of all, we cannot be saved
by our sincerity. Mark chapter 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 young man was sincere.
He came running to the Lord. There was a sense of urgency.
He was running to the Lord. And he came in broad daylight.
He's not like Nicodemus that came to our Lord by night so
nobody could see him, what he was doing. This young man was
sincere. He came running, and he came
running to the Lord in broad daylight. He didn't care who
saw him. He was very sincere, wanting
to know about eternal life. Now hold your place there, Mark
10. We'll come back to him in a minute. But look at Romans
chapter nine. His sincerity didn't save him,
did it? because we can't be saved by
our sincerity. It doesn't matter how sincere
I am in something that's a lie, it's still a lie. Romans 9 verse
15. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Salvation is not in our sincerity,
no matter how hard we may run after it. Salvation is in the
mercy of God. Here's the second thing. We can't
be saved by our motions of religion. Look back at Mark 10. When he
was gone forth into the way, there came one running and kneeled
to him. Now this young man came to our
Lord and kneeled to him. And yet it was only right that
he do that. It's right that we bow to Christ.
All of us must bow to King Jesus. But you know, physically kneeling
in a church building or kneeling down on a little bench or something,
that's not bowing the heart to Christ. I remember being a little
boy. I don't even remember for sure
where this was at, but I remember this. There was a service and
it was, as I recall, a visiting preacher. He's standing there
behind the pulpit And he said, let's pray. I'm just this little
kid, you know, and suddenly the fella disappears. He's bowing
behind the pulpit. You couldn't see him. You could
hear him, you know, the microphone. I thought, what good is that
doing? You know, that's not, that doesn't
impress God as physically bowing. Look at first Timothy chapter
four. You know, the same thing applies
to all of our motions of religion. The motions that we do that we
think make us look religion, look religious. First Timothy
chapter four, verse seven. But refuse profane and old wise
fables and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise
profits little, but godliness is profitable unto all things,
having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to
come. Now Paul says bodily exercise
profit little. He's not talking about running
and doing jumping jacks and lifting weights and those things. Those
things are good for the body. What he's talking about is the
motions of the body that we put our body through trying to look
religious, you know, making the sign of the cross or raising
your hands and waving around and, you know, rolling in your
eyes, roll back in your head, you know. That might look religious
to men, but God's not impressed. It doesn't impress God. Even
when we pray bowing the head. Now we ought to do that, but
even that doesn't impress God if we're just bowing our head
to try to impress everybody around us. And I want to make this very
applicable to all of us. I'll make this point about the
motions of religion can't save us. Even bringing our bodies
to this place, to this place or any place where the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace is preached. Even that, getting
our bodies here, does not do our soul any eternal good. We
ought to be here when the gospel is preached, but it's not going
to do our souls any good unless we believe the Christ is preached.
Now I'll show you that in a minute. Salvation's in the heart. It's
not anything about the flesh, not an activity of the flesh
or a changing of the flesh. Salvation's in the heart. Thirdly,
and look back in our text here at Luke chapter 18, we can't
be saved by having the right terminology. Look at verse 18. And a certain ruler asked him
saying, good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Now this man really didn't use the right terminology, but you'll
get the point here. He called our Lord good master.
He means good teacher. Now he did show respect, and
that's right, to show respect, but the way he poses this makes
us understand he thought the Lord Jesus was just a man. Now
he thought he was an extraordinary man, but he thought he was only
a man. And remember, Luke writes to show us that God became a
man. This man that he's talking to
here is God. And that's why the Lord corrects
him in verse 19. And Jesus said unto him, why
callest thou me good? There's none good save one, that's
God. The Lord Jesus is God in human
flesh. You wanna talk about goodness,
he is goodness. He is goodness personified. He's
the way of goodness, the way of righteousness. But even using
the right terminology is not salvation. Talking about Christ
is not the same thing as believing Christ. Talking about Christ,
saying true things about Christ is not preaching Christ. Last
Sunday, I liked the way Chris Cunningham phrased that. He called
that Christology, just talking about Christ. It's not the same
thing as preaching Christ. It's not knowing true things
about Christ that saves. It's knowing Christ that saves.
He's the Savior, the man Christ Jesus saves sinners from their
sins. Fourthly, and this is the main
point of this text, you and I cannot be saved by our law keeping,
by trying to keep the law. Now you'd think that this issue
would be settled once and for all. This is something that's
so clear in scripture, any child ought to be able to read the
scripture and understand. We can't be saved by trying to
keep the law. Yet, all human beings must be
constantly reminded We can't please God by keeping the law.
Even a believer, we're still carrying around that old nature.
And when we sin, when we feel, you know, all we ever do is sin.
But when we feel bad about our sin, what's that old man whisper
in your ear? Oh, you better do something good.
You better keep some laws, you know, before you go to God in
prayer and ask for forgiveness. We need to be constantly reminded. We can't please God by our law
keeping. And that's this young man's problem. He did desire
a good thing, didn't he? We ought to desire eternal life.
But he wanted to earn it. He said, what can I do to get
it? You see, he showed the flaw in
his whole theology by the way he asked this question. What
can I do to inherit eternal life? Nothing. You can't do anything
to earn an inheritance, can you? You born a child, that's how
you get the inheritance, but you can't earn an inheritance.
Inheritance is something that somebody else earns and they
give you as a free gift. That's an inheritance. And the
problem this young man has is the problem all flesh has. We're
trying to earn a free gift. That's our problem. So our Lord
answers him in verse 20. Thou knowest the commandments,
do not commit adultery, do not kill, Do not steal, do not bear
false witness, honor thy father and thy mother. Now, our Lord
tells this man the truth. This is the truth. If you keep
the law perfectly, God will accept you. That's so. But our problem
is we can't keep the law because we've got a nature that's opposed
to the law. We can never keep the law. We've
already, as a matter of fact, broken the law on our father
Adam. It's too late for us to start keeping We've already broken
it. And our Lord is going to teach
that in the way that he answers the question. Now, he's talking
here about the Ten Commandments, and there's two tables of the
law, two tables of the Ten Commandments. The first table has to do, the
first set of commandments has to do with our attitude toward
God. You shall have no other gods before me. Do not have any
graven images. You won't have any idols. You
will not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. And you
remember the Sabbath day. Keep it holy. That set of commandments
has to do with our attitude toward God. The second table, the second
set of commandments has to do with our attitude toward our
fellow man. Honor your father and mother. You should not kill.
You should not steal. You should not commit adultery.
You should not bear false witness. Tell the truth. Don't lie. And
you should not covet what belongs to your neighbor. Now when our
Lord answers this young man, answers his question, you notice
he only quotes the second table of law, doesn't he? But he leaves
one out. He hasn't mentioned covetousness
yet. There's no need for him to bother
quoting the first table of law because it would just be a waste
of time. This man doesn't know God, so our Lord would be wasting
his time, but he quotes the second table and he leaves out covetousness. And I'll show you why in a minute.
Now remember our point. The point is that we cannot be
saved by our law keeping. Look at verse 21. And he said,
all these have I kept from my youth up. This young man says,
he actually says, I've kept all these commandments from my youth
up. And you know, I'm just sure outwardly he had. He honored
his parents. I believe him. I'm sure he's
a little boy, sometimes he didn't, but from his youth up, once he
got to know a little better, I'm sure he honored his parents.
I'm confident this man never took out a knife and slit somebody's
throat and killed him. I'm confident of him. If he's married, he never
committed adultery. He never stole anything, never
took anything that didn't belong to him in his life, and he ain't
got caught in a lie. I know he lied, but he probably
ain't got caught in one. Well, then I have a question.
If he'd done all these things from his youth up, why is he
asking the Lord, what do I have to do to earn eternal life? You
know why? Because he knows, just in him,
he knows what he's done is not good enough. He's asking the
Lord, what can I do to inherit eternal life? Because his conscience
is telling him, you haven't done enough. God's not pleased. If
he would have been perfect, he wouldn't have been looking for
anything else, would he? He knows he's missing something, but he
doesn't know what it is. He's missing Christ. That's what
he's missing. You see, he doesn't understand the true meaning of
the law. He doesn't understand the spirituality
of the law. It's like I said, I'm positive
this man never murdered anybody. He's a fine citizen. But I want
to tell you, he's still guilty of murder. Look at Matthew chapter
five. I'll show you that. He's still
guilty of murder. Hang on to your seats. You and
I are too. We're guilty of murder because
the law is spiritual. Matthew 5 verse 20. For I say unto you, except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven. It doesn't matter if this man's a Pharisee of Pharisees.
He's as good as all the other Pharisees. You gotta have a righteousness
better than that to be accepted, because the law is spiritual.
Read on, verse 21. You have heard that it was said
of them of old time, thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall
kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you,
that whosoever is angry with his brother without cause shall
be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his
brother Rakeh, that is vain fellow, shall be in danger of the counsel.
And whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell
fire. See what our Lord is saying is
just being angry with someone makes you guilty of murder just
as much as taking out a knife and slit their throat. We're
guilty of murder. because the law is spiritual. And I bet you this man, if he
is married, now he's guilty and doesn't know it. I bet you if
he's married, I bet he was a very good husband. You read the other
accounts of this story, he seems like a fine fellow. He seems
like a kind and gentle man. I'm sure he never cheated on
his wife, but he's still guilty of adultery. And you and I are
too. Look at verse 27, because the
law is spiritual. You've heard that it was said
of them of old time, thou shall not commit adultery. But I say
unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her,
hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. See,
the problem, sin is not an act. Sin's in the heart. And we just
act on it because it's in the heart. But that desire, that
guilt in the heart, that's what makes us guilty of the law. So,
as a matter of fact, this young man, and us too, We're guilty
of breaking the entire law of God, every commandment. What
does James say in chapter two, verse 10? For whosoever shall
keep the whole law, yet offend in one point, guilty of it all. Guilty of breaking the whole
law. Now, remember I told you the Lord quoted the second table
of the law, but he left out the commandment about covetousness.
Here's why he did that. He saved that one, he's gonna
talk about that one individually, specifically with this man, to
reveal to him a guilty heart, to reveal to him sin in the heart.
Look at verse 22 in our text, Luke 18. Now when Jesus heard
these things, he said unto him, yet lackest thou one thing. Sell
all that thou hast and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt
have treasure in heaven, and come follow me. And when he heard
this, he was very sorrowful. for he was very rich. He was
very sorrowful because he could not let go of all of his riches. Now our Lord's revealed a heart
problem. He's revealed covetousness. He
revealed to this man, you love something more than you love
God. You desire to have something
more than you desire to have eternal life. And every last
one of us is born with the exact same problem. That's why we can't
be saved by our law keeping. Our Lord tells this young man,
you've got a lot, but you lack one thing. And the one thing
he lacked made everything else not matter. It didn't matter
if he had morality. It didn't matter if he had sincerity.
It didn't matter if he had the right terminology. It didn't
matter if he had the right form of religion because he lacked
faith. and lacking faith in Christ made
everything else not matter. Now I'll give you an illustration
of that. I've seen two people die. I've seen two people draw
their last breath. One minute they were alive and
the next second they're dead. And when that happened, not much
changed. The body died. But at that moment,
it didn't look any different. It will eventually. But at that
moment, the body didn't look any different. There was still
a body lying there. The body had hair, had eyes and
nose and a mouth. The body had arms and feet and
legs, hands. But you know what? The body looked
complete. But it didn't matter because
it lacked just one thing. It lacked life. And when the
body lacked life, everything else that body had didn't matter.
That's what our Lord's teaching. It doesn't matter all the religious
stuff we think we've got. If we're missing faith in Christ,
if we're missing life in Christ, nothing else we have matters.
This young man was missing faith in Christ, and that's what made
everything else he had not matter. That's what our Lord says in
verse 24. And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he
said, how hardly should they that have riches enter into the
kingdom of God. Now, the Lord's not saying that
it's harder for God to save a rich man than a poor man. Sin is sin. You can't categorize sin. God
saves sinners. The blood of Christ cleanses
sin. I don't care if you're a rich man or poor man. The problem
is faith. When he's talking here about
riches, he's talking about us trusting in something that we
can produce or something that we have rather than trusting
in Christ. Maybe it is material riches,
but usually what this is referring to is what we think of as spiritual
riches. We think we've got this robe
of righteousness that we worked out and we really like it and
we're hanging on to it for all we're worth. That's the problem. It's it's It's the spiritual
riches. God saves spiritually poor people,
but people who are spiritually rich, he doesn't say. Now I'll
show you that. Look at Mark chapter 10 again. This is what he, our Lord teaches
us here in Mark 10. Verse 23. And Jesus looked round about
and saith unto his disciples, how hardly should they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God. And the disciples were
astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, he's
going to tell them what he means. And he said unto them, children,
how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into
the kingdom of God? See, the problem is trust. The
problem is faith, what we're trusting in. And those who are
rich in themselves, they have something about themselves, something
in themselves to trust in other than Christ. And if we trust
anything, anything about ourselves, anything about anybody else,
if we trust anything other than Christ alone, it is impossible
for us to be saved. If we trust in our sincerity,
if we trust in our religious knowledge, our religious activity,
if we trust in our morality, if we trust in our faithfulness,
we will be damned. That's so. Look at verse 25 in
our text. That's what our Lord says. For
it's easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Now, I'll tell
you what a lot of the writers say about this verse. They say
that there was a gate in Jerusalem. It was kind of an oval and it
was lower and you could see it kind of looked like the eye of
a needle. And camels, if they were carrying something into
the city and they would go through that gate, the camels would have
to get down on their knees and lower their head and they'd scoot
through that little opening on their knees and get through.
And the writers are saying that the Lord is saying it's difficult
for a physically, materially rich man to be saved. Just like
it's hard for that camel to crawl through that opening that looked
like an eye of a needle. No, that's not what the Lord
is saying. That is not what he's saying.
What our Savior is talking about is an impossibility. It's impossible
for a camel to go through an eye of a needle. I mean, it's
just absurd. I've taken a needle and I'm telling
you, try as I might, there's a piece of thread. It's smaller
than the eye of that needle. I can't get it through. I gotta
call a janitor. Can you come get it? I can't do it, you know.
How absurd is it then to think of a camel going through that?
That's absurd. It is just as absurd for a sinner
to think we can be saved by something we do. It's just as absurd. If the best of men can't be saved,
if it's just as impossible for the best of men to be saved by
their doing as it is for a camel to go through a needle's eye,
who then can be saved? Want me to tell you? Sinners. That's who can be saved. Look
at verse 26. And they that heard it said,
who then can be saved? And he said, the things which
are impossible with men are possible with God. Who then can be saved? Everyone who's in Christ. Salvation
is accomplished through representation, by being in Christ. Look at Romans
chapter 5. We were made sinners by representation,
and we're made righteous by representation. Romans 5 verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man, Adam,
the representative of the whole human race, wherefore, as by
one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. All sin in Adam. That's how we were made sinners
by representation. We'll look over verse 18 of Romans
5. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so,
in the same way, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men under justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so in the same way, by the obedience
of one, shall many be made righteous. So if a sinner is going to be
saved, we've got to be in Christ, represented by Christ. This God-man,
the man who came to be the representative of his people, must save us. And that's who Luke writes to
tell us about. How God became a man so he could
be the representative of his people. Now if a sinner is going
to be saved, we must keep the law perfectly. God cannot lower
the standard of his law to save his people. So if we're going
to be saved, we have to keep the law perfectly. That's what
the holiness of God demands. Well, then who can be saved?
I thought it was impossible for us to keep the law. It is. It is by our doing. But in Christ,
in the man Christ Jesus, God's elect have kept the law. The
Lord Jesus, as a man born of a woman, made under the law,
kept every commandment of the law. Perfect. absolutely perfectly, not just
outwardly like this young man, but in thought and heart and
motive. When the Lord Jesus did every
thou shalt of the law, his people did it too. And when our Lord
Jesus didn't do every thou shalt not of the law, his people did
too. We obey the law in him. If you're
in Christ, you've kept the law in the person of your representative. How good does a sinner have to
be in order to be saved? How good? As good as God. Perfect. Remember what our Savior
told this young man? There's none good save one, that's
God. He is God. How can a sinner be good? In
the man standing right there talking to him. In Christ who
is good. Sinners are made good perfectly
holy, perfectly righteous in Christ, our representative. I
love the way Brother Nyberg teaches this. He says, if you want to
read the biography of any believer, all you got to do is read Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John. Because what our Savior did,
we did in him. That's our biography. So who
then can be saved? Everybody who believes Christ.
Everybody who trusts Christ will be saved. See, it's impossible
to be saved apart from faith in Christ. Just believe Him. Just rest in Him. And I've got
some good news for you. You don't have to understand
Christ to be saved. You don't have to understand
how God became a man. You don't have to understand
that. You just have to believe Him. You don't have to understand
how it is that God could love sinners. All you have to do is
believe Him. He says it, just believe Him.
You don't have to understand how that one sacrifice can take
away the sin of millions. You don't have to understand
that. Just trust Him. Man says it's impossible for
God to be a man. Not for God, it's not. Nothing's
too hard for God. God's Son did become a real man. So he could be the savior, sinful
man. So he did the impossible. He
became a man. Man says it's impossible for
God's son to be made sin. And we say that because we can't
understand how that can be. Not for God, it's not, it's not
impossible. Now I'll tell you, I can't understand
almost anything that God does. I certainly can't understand
how the savior was made sin. I don't have to understand something
in order for it to be so. I mean, there's lots of things
that are so. I can't understand. I can't understand
how the planets all orbit and stay in their places, don't crash
into one. I can't understand that, but it's so. I don't have
to understand how God made his son to be sin for it to be so.
It's just so because God did it. And by faith, I believe that the father He made His Son
seated, made Him my sin, so that He could put my sin away through
the blood of His sacrifice. If my sin was not made to be
Christ, then it's still on me, and I'm going to be damned. Oh,
but if Christ, in unspeakable love and mercy, took my sin and
made it His, then I'm saved. I'm cleansed from all of my sins. Now you just believe him. Just
rest in him. Rest in his sacrifice to put
away your sin. Man says by our logic, it's impossible
for somebody who has died and been laying there dead for three
days to raise himself by his own power from the grave. Not
for God it's not. The man Christ Jesus died, they
put a dead body in that tomb. And three days later, he raised
himself by his own power. I believe that. I don't understand
it, but I believe it. That's my hope of salvation.
If Christ be not raised, Paul said, your faith is vain and
you're yet in your sin. See, I don't have to understand
to believe Christ, do I? Just believe him. Just rest in
him. Don't wonder what law do you got to keep. Don't wonder
what law is the most important one. I better keep that one.
Just rest in Christ. He already finished the work.
He already obeyed the law. Who then can be saved? Everyone
God saves. Every time God saves a sinner,
you know what he's done? He's done the impossible. He's
performed a miracle of grace. Every time God saves a sinner,
he gives life. He gives spiritual life to the
dead. He gives them a new birth. Yeah,
have you ever wondered about this example our Lord uses about
a camel going through the eye of a needle? Wonder why he didn't
use an elephant in his illustration? An elephant's bigger. Have you
ever wondered that? The writers say that the people
there were more familiar with camels than they were with elephants,
but they'd seen elephants. They knew what an elephant was.
It seems like it would make a more dramatic statement to say about
a camel going through the eye of a needle, doesn't it? Well,
I'll tell you the reason our Lord used a camel in this illustration.
Camels are filthy animals and they have a nasty disposition. They just spit on everybody and
everything. They're stubborn as a mule. They're
nasty, dirty animals. And you and I are like camels
in that way. We're nasty and we're dirty,
defiled with sin. We've got a nasty disposition.
a disposition, a heart that hates God. So not only does Christ
have to keep the law for us, he's gotta give us a new nature.
It's impossible for a sinner defiled with sin to enter into
heaven. Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
That's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15. So if we're gonna be saved,
Somebody's got to give us a new nature, a nature that believes
Christ, a nature that loves God. And when we're born again, we
still live in this body of sin. We still have a nature of sin
we carry around with us and don't expect it to change because it's
not the flesh is not going to be changed at all. It'll be just
as sinful as ever. But a believer has been given
a new nature, a holy nature, a nature that cannot sin. It's impossible for that nature
to sin. It's born of God. And man will say, by our logic,
that's impossible. Well, you're right. With men,
that's impossible. But not for God. It's not impossible
for God. Who then can be saved? Everyone
God can save and get all the glory for doing it. That's who
can be saved. Everyone who needs a miracle
to be saved, that's who can be saved. Who then can be saved? Everyone who doesn't have one
thing that will commend them to God, so they need God to do
all the saving, that's who will be saved. Well, if that's true,
and it is, then you and I had better get rid of everything
we're trusting in other than Christ, haven't we? Don't trust
your salvation. Don't trust the eternal salvation
of your soul to the place where you attend, the so-called church
that you attend. Even if Christ is priesthood,
don't you trust in that. You trust Christ. Don't trust
your salvation to the fact that your parents believed Christ.
You trust Christ. You trust him. Don't trust your
salvation to the fact that you know some doctrine. You know,
this young man, he had the right answers, didn't he? Our children
have the right answer. I'm just confident. We could
ask our children a lot of doctrinal questions. They'd have the right
answers. But don't trust that you know
some things. Don't trust the salvation of
your soul to what you know up here. You children don't understand
this yet. But what you know up here right
now By the time you get to be my age, you're going to forget
it. That's why they got to show you're smarter than a third grader,
because by the time you get to be 50, you're not as smart as
a third grader. You don't know that stuff. You
forget. Don't trust the salvation of your soul to something you
can forget. Trust Christ. He never fails. Get rid of everything
but Christ and trust him and you'll be saved. Let's bow down. Our Father, how we beg you for your mercy,
for your mercy and grace. We freely confess our total inability. We have no ability to do anything
to please you. There's nothing about ourselves
with which we can come into your holy presence. Father, how we
beg that you would reveal the Lord Jesus Christ to the hearts
of us gathered here this morning, that you would reveal your darling
son to us and that you'd give us faith, faith to believe him,
faith to simply rest in him. Give us faith to rest in Christ
our righteousness. Give us faith to rest in his
precious blood to cleanse us from all sin. Give us a faith
to rest in him. He obeyed the law. He's finished
the work and our rest is in him. Father, we beg that you would
perform a miracle of your grace, a miracle of your power, and
save us by your grace. It's in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and for his glory we pray.