So good to see everybody. Let's
turn back to Luke 18. Sure, I'm happy being here with
you. Look once again at verse 27. This is after the disciples and
ask the question, who then can be saved? If this man cannot
be saved, who then can be? Verse 27, and he said, the things
which are impossible with men are possible with God. I've entitled this message, When
Inability Meets Omnipotence. And that's what takes place here.
And I would like for all of us to try to think we've never heard
the gospel before. And this is the first time we've
ever heard a message and see what we hear. I always like to
try to listen that way. I don't always succeed at it. As a matter of fact, I rarely
do, but it Wouldn't it be a blessing if we could... What is the gospel? What is the gospel? That's the issue. Always ask
me, what is the gospel? Now, verse 18. And a certain ruler asked him,
saying, good master, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? Now we know from Mark's account
that this man came running to the Lord. Now this was somebody,
he was a rich man, a ruler, yet he wanted to be in the Lord's
presence so much he came running to the Lord. And the scripture
says he also kneeled down in Mark's account. This man came
with a very respectful attitude. But he demonstrated something
about himself. He demonstrated ignorance. There were some things
he just didn't know we can see from this approach to the Lord. First, he was ignorant of Christ. He didn't really know who he
was. He thought he did. But this ignorance is demonstrated
in the way he addressed him, good master, good teacher. When the Lord told the disciples,
one of you shall betray me. 11 of them said, Lord, is it
I? One of them said, teacher, is
it I? You know which one said that?
This man looked at the Lord as a teacher and nothing more. Indeed, he is the great teacher
and I want to be taught by him. But he's more than a teacher.
This man didn't understand that he came to him as a teacher and
only as a man, good master, good teacher. What good thing can
I do? Can you teach me? What good thing
can I do? So I'll inherit eternal life. And the Lord corrected him. He
said, why call a sound me good. Now, the reason the Lord corrected
him was because he knew that this man was coming to him as
a man. That's why he said, why call
us out me good. There's none good, but one that
is God. This man was ignorant of the
person of Christ. And secondly, this man was ignorant
of himself. Good master, what can I do? What
can I do? He believed that there was something
he could do that God could be pleased with. good master, what
can I do? And this man didn't understand
that he was mixing grace and works. What good thing can I
do to inherit eternal life? Now there's nothing you do to
inherit. If you inherit anything, you
inherit it wholly because of the will of somebody else. They
willed you to have this inheritance. It's not because you did something
to get it. Now, it could be that in inheritance, some people are
more deserving than others. And I realize that, but still,
if you get an inheritance, there's only one reason you get it. It's
because the will of somebody else, it doesn't have anything
to do with what you do. So he had mixed grace and works. Verse 19, and Jesus said unto
him, why callest thou me good? None is good save one that is
God. You ever believer knows that?
Don't have to convince them of it. I love what Paul said. I know that in me, that is in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And I know that only God is good. Do you know that? Sure you do. But this man didn't. And that's
why the Lord corrected him. Why callest thou me good? There is None is good, save one,
that is God. But our Lord met this man on
the ground he came. He came saying, what can I do? And so he met him there. He didn't
immediately say nothing. He met him right where he came. And you know, the Lord is gonna
meet you and I on the ground we come. If we come wanting to
know what we can do, he'll deal with us that way. If we come
on the ground of pure, free grace, He'll deal with us that way.
He's going to meet you and I on the ground we come. So this man
came on the ground of works and look what, how our Lord answered
verse 20. What good thing can I do? Well,
here's the answer. Thou knowest the commandments
do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear
false witness, honor thy father and mother. Now he mentions the
second table of the law. The first table of the law is
you'll have no other gods before the God of glory, the commandment
forbidding idolatry of any kind, the commandment concerning not
taking his name in vain, the commandment of remembering the
Sabbath to keep it holy. And then there's the second table
of the law. There's four commandments in
the first table toward God. And the second table of the law
is our attitude toward men. And there's six commandments.
Honor thy father and mother. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt
not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not bear false witness. Now he named these five commandments,
but notice he left out one. What did he leave out? Thou shalt not covet. He didn't mention that commandment.
Thou shalt not covet. And actually covetousness was
involved in the first sin and covetousness is involved in every
sin. But our Lord didn't mention that
at this time. Now let's go on reading. Look
at this man's response in verse 21. And he said, all these Have
I kept from my youth up? And I believe this man really
believed he did this. I can't, I can't relate. I mean,
I can't relate. This man sincerely said, I've
kept him from my youth up. Not once have I broken any commandment. You know, there's only one other
man I know of that made such a claim. The apostle Paul. touching the righteousness, which
was in the law. I was blameless. Well, that's
the claim this man made. All of these have I kept from
my youth up. And he seemed so sincere in making
this statement. What like I, what, what else
can I do? I've kept this commandment. Verse
22. Now, when Jesus heard these things,
he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing. Sell all that you have. Now remember
this man was rich. I reckon he was a millionaire.
He had a whole lot of money. It'd be one thing for the Lord
to tell somebody who didn't have hardly anything to sell all they
have, but somebody who's rich, He tells this rich man, sell
all you have. And distribute it unto the poor. And thou shalt have treasure
in heaven. And come, follow me. Now, the Lord realized that this
was a man who was under the complete control of covetousness. under the complete dominion of
covetousness. The love of money is the root
of all evil. And the Lord was meeting this
man on the ground. He came and the Lord will do
that. The Lord will do that. Turn to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. Verse 25, and behold, a certain
lawyer stood up and tempted him saying, master, what shall I
do to inherit eternal life? Same question. Same question.
This man had no good motive. I think that the rich young ruler
was very sincere. This man wasn't sincere. He was
trying to test the Lord, put him to the test, but he asked
the same thing. Verse 26. And he said unto him,
the Lord said to this man, what's written in the law. How read
is that? And he answering said, thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy
strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself. And I think the man stuck his
chest out a little bit. I gave a good answer. He felt
good about what he said. Verse 28. And he said unto him,
Thou hast answered right. And look at the next two words.
This do. This do. And thou shalt live. He met this man on the ground
he came. And that's what happens with
the rich young ruler back to our text in Luke chapter 18.
When Jesus heard these things, how he kept all these commandments.
He's exposing to him that in reality he hadn't kept any commandment
and that he was eaten up with covetousness. He didn't love
his neighbor as himself. Verse 23, and when he heard this,
he was very sorrowful. That's strong language. He was
upset. You know why? He could not comply with the Lord's
terms. He couldn't, and he saw that. He couldn't make himself do it. He could not. He had an inability
to comply with the Lord's terms, and he went away very, very sorrowful. He could not part with his riches. He just could not do this. And this is very similar to what
Paul experienced in Romans chapter seven. Turn with me there. Romans chapter seven, beginning
in verse seven. What should we say then is the
law seen God forbid, nay, I had not known sin, but by the law.
For I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt
not covet. Now all I got to do is hear. I might not be consciously coveting. Might be thinking about something
else. But all I got to hear is, thou shalt not covet. And you
know what I started doing? I started coveting. I can't help
it. It comes out as natural as breathing. That's what the law does. The
law doesn't prevent sin. It exposes sin. That's all it
does. It doesn't prevent sin. All I
got to do is tell you not to do something. That's exactly
what you're going to want to do. That's the way we are. It exposes sin
and that's what Paul is dealing with. So he says, but sin verse
eight, taking occasion by the commandment to use the commandment
as a base of operations. Sin used the 10 commandments
as a base of operations, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence
or evil desire. For without the law, sin was
dead. For I was alive without the law
once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore, the law is holy, the
commandment holy and just and good. Was then that which is
good made death unto me? Is the law my problem? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear
sin, working death in me, by that which is good, that sin
by the commandment might become exceeding sin. Now, our Lord is dealing with
this man about covetousness. You're eaten up with covetousness. And this man saw that he could
not comply with the Lord's command. And he went away sorrowful for
he was, scripture says, very rich. He just couldn't do it. And I put myself in the fellows
place. I've heard people preachers preach on this and you got to
be willing to give up everything. You got to be willing to let
it all go. And I'm thinking, are you, how will you measure
up there? You think you can make that?
I don't think so. I mean, that's just, that's just
talk. That's talk. It's people talking, uh, wouldn't actually
do it, but, um, verse 24. And when Jesus saw that he was
sorrowful, He said, how hardly should they that have riches
enter into the kingdom of heaven for it is easier for a camel
to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God. Now it's interesting, you read
some commentators and they say this needle's eye was a real
low gate. in the wall of Jerusalem. The
camel would have to just get down on his knees and couldn't
have anything on his back and he'd try to get through there
with great difficulty. He got through there. Now, I
don't believe that. I don't believe that for a second, because that's
not even what the Lord's teaching here. He's teaching about impossibility.
He's not talking about difficulty. He's not talking about improbability.
He's talking about impossibility, something that can't be done.
Now, there is no way the biggest animal they had ever seen was
a camel. There, that was the biggest animal.
And what was the smallest entrance they knew anything about? A needle's
eye. Now, how likely is it for a camel to get through a needle's
eye? It is impossible. And it would
be easier for a camel to get through a needle's eye than for
a rich man to enter into heaven. What's the deal with a rich man? He's not poor. You see, the only people that
enter the kingdom of heaven are those who are poverty stricken
before God, that have absolutely nothing to recommend them to
God's grace. There's plenty of materially
rich men who have got into heaven. Job, Abraham, Solomon, David,
I could go on and on. Joseph of Arimathea was a rich
man. The issue is not material riches. The issue is not being poor. You see, this man was not poor.
He thought that there was something he could do. He thought there's
something he could bring to the table. There's something he could
do to help him win eternal life. He was not poor in spirit. He was rich. And if you have
anything, if you have anything, it is impossible for you to believe
on Christ. Not improbable. Impossible. And the Lord gives this impossible
scenario. I can imagine people thinking,
how in the world could a camel get through a needle? It's not
going to happen. Right. Right. But it would be more likely for
that to happen than for a rich man to enter in to the kingdom
of heaven. Now, when the disciples heard
this, verse 26, And they that heard said, and I can hear the
frustration in their voice. If this guy can't be saved, this
is the best humanity has to offer. If this guy can't be saved, this
rich, young ruler, this moral man, this sincere man, this man
who comes running to you and asking sincerely, what can I
do to inherit eternal life? If this man cannot be saved,
Who then can be saved? And I love the simplicity of
the Lord's answer. He says in verse 27, the things
which are impossible with men are possible with God. Now, the
salvation of this man with regard to men was impossible, impossible,
not improbable, impossible. If salvation is in any way dependent
upon any thing I do, my salvation is impossible. Now, what the Lord is teaching
at this time is what is known as The doctrine of total depravity
and total inability. Now, what do those words mean?
Total depravity and total inability. Well, let's look at a few scriptures.
Turn to Romans chapter three. And may I say this? I've never asked for mercy. I've
never asked the Lord to do anything for me. until I've dealt with
this. We couldn't be dealing with anything
more important than this. Romans chapter three, verse 10.
As it's written, there's none righteous. No, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good. No, not one. Look in Romans chapter
eight, verse six, for to be carnally
minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because
the carnal mind, that's the mind I was born with. That's my neck. When I came into this world,
I had a carnal mind. When I was 10 years old, I had
a carnal mind. It's the mind of the natural
man's way. We naturally think the carnal
mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law
of God. Neither indeed can. It lacks
the ability. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Turn to first Corinthians chapter
two, verse 12. Now we have received not the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God,
which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom
teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual
things with spiritual, but the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him, neither indeed can he. Can he understand them? He lacks
the ability to understand them because they're spiritually discerned. John chapter six. John chapter six. You're familiar
with these verses. Verse 44 or verse 43. Jesus therefore answered and
said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me, except the Father
which has sent me draw him." And do you hear what he said?
He said, no man can come. No man has the ability to come. And that means if God leaves
me to myself, I will not be saved. All God has to do is leave me
alone. Well, that's a scary thought,
isn't it? The thought of being left to myself, left alone. Oh, I do not want that. But I
know this, if God doesn't draw me to Christ, I will not come. And the reason I will not come
is because I cannot come. And the reason I cannot come
is because my will is so perverted, it will not come. And this is
what is known, as I said, in the scriptures, we call it, we
give it a name. We call it the doctrine of total depravity and
total inability. Now I want to ask you a question. I'm not asking you. If you believe
that the Bible teaches this, obviously it does. I mean, those
scriptures I just read conclude that the Bible does teach that
men are totally depraved. They can't do good. There's none
righteous and that they can't even come to Christ. They can't
even receive the things of the spirit. God can't even receive.
complete in not subject to the law of God. The Bible most definitely
teaches this. And I, I dare say everybody in
this room agrees with this. Yeah, the Bible does teach it,
but I'm not asking you if you believe the Bible teaches this. I'm asking you, do you believe
that you personally are totally depraved and totally unable? Do you believe that about yourself? I'm not asking you if you believe
a doctrine. I'm asking you if you believe
that you yourself before God are totally depraved and completely
unable to do anything about it. Here's what this looks like. All I do is sin. Now the Bible teaches that if
we say we have no sin deceive ourselves. There the word is
a noun. It has to do with our nature
at all times. I have this sinful nature. If
we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. The truth is not in
us. We've lost all credibility. And then he says, if we say we've
not sinned, they're the words of verb regarding anything I
do. I don't care what it is. If I
did it, it's sin. All I do is sin. I'm not proud of that, but I
know it's the fact. And I cannot not sin. I repeat, I cannot not sin. That's total inability. All I do is sin, total depravity. I cannot not sin, total inability. And that renders me completely
unable to look down my nose at anybody or judge anybody for
anything they do. Paul said, thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judges another, for you that
judge doest the same things. What can I judge anybody for? that I don't do myself. Being in that condition, I have
absolutely no claims on God. If he left me to myself and let
me drop into hell, that's exactly what I would deserve. Now, This sin I'm speaking of
is all my fault. I can't blame Adam. Can't blame
God. I can't blame the devil. This
sin I'm speaking of, this condition is all my fault. And if my salvation
is dependent in any way to any degree on me doing anything or
for me to stop doing anything, I will not be saved. I know that so. If my salvation
is in any way contingent, dependent, conditioned upon, predicated
upon me doing anything. I've got to do something to make
what Christ did work for me. I will not be saved. Now, if you are totally depraved,
and if you are totally unable to do anything about it, you
know what I'm saying is so. And I must take complete responsibility
for this. I'm not a victim. I'm not a victim. This is all my fault. I can blame
Adam. I realize sin came into the world
by Adam. Let's forget Adam once again. How have I stood on my
own? It's all my fault. Every bit of it. Every bit of
it. And you know, you've never, listen to me real carefully to
this statement. You've never asked for mercy. If your sin's
not all your fault, it's only when it's all your fault, guilty
as charged, your mouth is closed, that every mouth may be stopped.
And all the world stand guilty before God. Now, let me tell
you a couple of things about that person who really believes
that he personally is totally depraved. And he really believes
that he personally is completely unable to go together to that person. The doctrines
of grace become more than doctrines they are sent to and believe
and believe the Bible teaches they become doctrines of absolute
necessity. Now, what do I mean by that? I mean this. It's absolutely necessary for
me for God to freely choose me, not for any reason in me, but
simply because he willed to do so. Election is absolutely necessary
for this sinner. I won't be saved if God didn't
freely choose. It is absolutely necessary for
me for Christ to bear my sin and put him away. It won't do
me any good if Christ died for everybody, but some of those
people he died for might end up in hell. That won't do me
any good at all, because if that's the case, I'll end up in hell.
I know myself enough to know that that's the case. I need
a successful Savior. I need an atonement that atones.
I need a redemption that redeems. I need the successful work of
Christ on the cross to actually put away my sin to where I don't
bear it anymore. Oh, I love to sing that song. My sin, oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole has been
nailed to the cross and I bear them no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul.
That's what I need. I need an atonement by the Lord
Jesus Christ that actually puts away my sin. And I need Oh, how
I need the irresistible, invincible grace of the Holy Spirit to cause
me to believe, to give me life, life that I wouldn't have if
he didn't give it to me. I need him to cause me to persevere
all the way to the end. Now, that's what I'm talking
about when I'm talking about the doctrines of necessity. A Calvinist agrees with the five
points. Bible teaches it. I see it. A
Christian sees the absolute necessity of the gospel of grace. Absolutely
necessary. Now with men, salvation is impossible,
but not with God. Here's where the omnipotence
comes in. With God, all things are possible. Let's begin right here. Since God is omnipotent, that
means he's all powerful. You know what that means. That
means whatever he wills, he has the power to accomplish. If he
wills it, he can do it because he's omnipotent. Because God
is omnipotent, he is able to preserve a book without error. Now, if he's not omnipotent,
who's going to say that? I mean, this is a manmade book
and men have changed it and all the things that all the arguments
people use. I understand you believe in that if you don't
really believe in an omnipotent God. But if God is omnipotent,
all powerful, he is able to preserve this book to let us know how
an omnipotent God can save a completely unsavable, unable sinner. Aren't you thankful for the power
of God? The power of God that can reveal a book that can tell
us how God can be just and justify somebody like me. Now turn with
me to Luke chapter one. Luke chapter one. Verse 26, and in the sixth month,
the angel Gabriel was sent from God and to a city of Galilee
named Nazareth to a virgin, a spouse to a man whose name was Joseph
of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.
And the angel came in under her and said, hail. Thou that art
highly favored, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among
women." And when she saw him, she was troubled as to say, can
Cass determine what manner of salutation this should be? And
the angel said unto her, fear not, Mary. For thou has found
favor with God and behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and
bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great
and he shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord
God shall give unto him the throne of his father, David, and he
shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom,
there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel,
and this is a very reasonable question. How shall this be,
seeing I know not a man? Wouldn't you ask the same thing?
Put yourself in Mary's place. If the Lord said this to you,
how? How? Verse 35. And the angel answered and said
unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee. and the power,
the omnipotence of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth,
she also hath conceived a son in her own age. And this is the
sixth month with her who is called barren, for with God nothing
shall be impossible. Because God is omnipotent, a
virgin can have a child who is nobody less than God the Son,
the uncreated, eternal Son of God made of a woman. Because God is all-powerful,
that one man can do what he does representing a whole bunch of
other men. Now, if I died for you, it wouldn't do you any good.
I got to answer for my own sins. And if I didn't have any sin
and died for you, it still wouldn't do you any good because you have
sins that have to be answered for. But this man, This man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, because of who he is, he was able to
do what he did as a representative man. Everything he did, he did
for somebody else. I love that passage in Matthew
chapter three, verse 15, where he said to John the Baptist,
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Who's the
us? Every believer. If God be the
same us as in, if God be for us, who can be against us? And
this man had such authority because of his omnipotence and his power.
He was able to keep the law perfectly for these people. And these same
people, he was able to die for them and put away their sin. Now he has the authority to take
my sin and cause it to be his sin. I don't have the authority
to do that. I remember one time hearing a
preacher and he said, I've taken that sin and put it under the
blood. And I thought, who gives you the authority to do that?
You think you can just up and I'm going to decide to put my
sins under the blood. We don't have the authority to do anything
like that, but he does. He does. He has the authority
to take all of my sin and place it upon himself and bury it.
And because he's omnipotent, he has the power to put it all
away to where it is no more. Now, omnipotence, omnipotence
only can make something to be that was not there before. That's
what happened in creation. God willed this creation into
existence. And from what I understand, matter,
it might change forms, but it's always here. It can't be gone. It might go from wood to fire
to ashes and so on, but it's always here. It's always in the
universe. Only omnipotence can cause something to not be anymore. And that's precisely what took
place with my sin. He caused my sin. When he said
it is finished, my sin was not. It was gone. blotted out, cancelled,
put away. He's got the authority to do
this. He has such omnipotence and authority that he raised
himself from the dead. I mean, I'm... amazed by the
fact that the God-man could die in the first place. I don't understand
that, but he's got the authority to do it because he's omnipotent.
It's amazing to me that he died in the first place, but that
he gave himself life, that God was so completely satisfied with
what he did, that he raised him from the dead. And he said, no
man has the power to take my life from me. I have power to
take it down, lay it down, and I have power to take it up. He
has the authority to give himself life when he's dead. Now, we're
talking about omnipotence, aren't we? When inability meets omnipotence. And this is how omnipotent he
is. He is so omnipotent, whatever
that means, that he is able, he is able to make me and everybody
that believes on him He is able to make me right now, present
tense, not what I will be, but right now, in God's sight and
whatever, and if it's in God's sight, this is the way it is.
He's able to make me holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in the very
sight of God. Now that's what happens when
inability meets omnipotence. Turn with me to John 9 in closing. You're familiar with this story
of the Lord giving this blind man sight. Now this is something that had
never been done before. Verse 32, since the world began,
was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was
born blind. It had never happened up to this
point. I mean, this man was born blind. I mean, he was blind. He couldn't see. He was plum
blind. He was stone blind. I don't even know if he had eyeballs.
He was blind and he was born that way. And anybody that ever
been born blind, they stay blind. Now, when the Lord gave this
man sight, he made this statement. This is the first time this has
ever happened. This is omnipotence at work. This is something that
only omnipotence can do. Now look in verse 39. And Jesus said, for judgment,
I am come into this world that they which See not, they're unable
to see. Well, I've come that they might
see. And that they which see, they
have the ability to see, but they're going to be made blind. Now, what is the issue here? I mean, is it a crime to be able
to see since I can see I'm going to be made blind? The word the
Lord uses, it's not just talking about physical sight. Somebody
that can't see why God would ever look in favor toward them. That's what they see. They can't
see why God would ever look their way. They feel themselves truly
to be totally depraved. It's not just a doctrine. It's
something they believe about themselves. Guilty, guilty, guilty. And they can't see. They look
at themselves and they can't see why God would do anything
for me. I'm so hypocritical. I'm so sinful.
I'm so weak. I can't see one reason in myself
as to why God would save me. I can't see. That's the person
he's going to give sight to every time. Every time. And that person who says, well,
I can see, I can see why God saved me. I've repented, I've
believed. If I was in the equation, you
missed it. But that's what this person says. I can see why God
would save me. I do this. Verse 40. And some of the Pharisees which
were with him heard these words and said unto him, are we blind
also? Are you calling us blind? Jesus
said unto them, if you were blind, you should have, what are those
next two words? No sin. No sin. If you're blind, if you
can't see, why? God would have favor toward you. You know what? You're somebody
Christ died for. I guarantee you. When we were
yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
If you're without strength, unable, ungodly, I guarantee you Christ
died for you. I guarantee you, there's no doubt
in my mind about it. You look to him right now. You
call his name, believe me, he died for you. I can say to everybody
that is without strength, blind, Christ died for you. That's who
he came for. But now you say, verse 41, now
you say, we see. Therefore, your sin Remaineth. You know what that means. It
means he's still there. I don't want to be in that place,
do you? I don't want my sin to remain. I want to be somebody
who cannot. Cannot do anything. Because that's the person that
Christ died for. That's the person who's going
to call for mercy. That's the person who's going
to come to Christ. And the reason that person comes
to Christ is because Christ came to him. When inability meets omnipotence. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
omnipotent grace that causes us to see that we're
blind. And that's when sight begins. Lord, deliver us from being The rich young ruler. Lord, we know that we would.
Confound grace makes grace and works. Think about the things
we can do, but bring us to where we are completely and totally
depraved and unable, and we see that about ourselves. And give
us the grace by your power. to trust the righteousness of
thy son as our only righteousness before God. We pray for your continued blessing
upon this place, upon this pastor, these people, Lord. Bless them
for Christ's sake. We pray that we might see a mighty
work of grace in our day according to your will. Lord, forgive us
of our sins. We're so thankful for the free
forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus. Cause us to love you more
and love one another more. In Christ's name we pray.