Matthew 19, beginning with verse
16. And behold, one came and said
unto him, good master, what good thing shall I do that
I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, why callest
thou me good? There is none good but one, that
is God. But if thou wilt enter into life,
you're asking me what you can do, not what God can do or what
God has done, but you're asking me what can you do. All right,
here's what you do. You keep the commandments. Which
one? All 637 of them. Perfectly. Motivated with pure love. He saith unto him, Which? Which
of the commandments? That's how man thinks. Which
one? Thou shalt do no murder. Thou
shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother.
Thou shalt love thy neighbors thyself. And the young man said
unto him, all these things have I kept from my youth up. Wow,
what a statement. What lack I yet? Jesus said unto
him, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and
give it to the poor. And thou shalt have treasure
in heaven, and then come and follow me. But when the young man heard
that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples,
Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the
kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, 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. And when his
disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who
then can be saved? Here's a moral man, a successful
man, a great man, a man well beloved in his community. He's
a rich man. He has everything to contribute. He has great potential. And if he's not going to be saved,
who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them and he
said unto them, are you listening? With men. It is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. I invite you to turn back with
me to Matthew chapter 19. You can also find the account
of this same story the rich young ruler in Mark chapter 10 verses
17 through 27 and Luke 18 verses 18 through 27. You get some added
details in some of the other accounts that's not in this one
and then some are very brief. It's not so much about the rich
young ruler that I want to talk about this morning, but what
our Lord said to his disciples as they being astonished asked,
who then can be saved? Is there any doubt in anybody's
mind about what they're talking about? They're talking about
salvation, talking about men being saved by God. And that's
what they said. Who then can be saved? This was a rich man, he was a
moral man, he was an outstanding man. He was a humble man. He came and knelt before the
Lord. And it seemed as though he was
seeking the Lord to be saved. But things are not always the
way they seem. Now I have every reason to believe
that the Lord afterward did save this man. I myself am convinced that this
was Joseph of Arimathea that came and begged the body of Christ
after his crucifixion. I have no basis for that. It's just something that I've
read and known. And you say, well, why do you
think that the Lord saved this man? Because he said he loved
him. And you know what he says in
Matthew? I mean in Romans chapter 8, what's going to separate you
from the love of God? He said nothing. Nothing shall
be able to separate you from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. Our Lord didn't bandy about with
terms. He said, I loved him. I loved him. If he loved him,
he saved him, didn't he? But not on this day. Not on this
day. He's going to teach this man
something and he's going to teach his disciple something. This
man came wondering what he could do to be saved. And if you were
to come to me this morning and say, what good thing could I
do to be saved? I'm going to tell you nothing.
There's nothing you can do to save yourself. Nothing. Nothing. He didn't ask the Lord to save
him. He didn't ask the Lord to tell him the way of salvation.
What he said was, what good thing must I do that I might have eternal
life? If salvation were based on your
worthiness, your will, your works, or your righteousness, then you'd
be expected to keep the law. All of it. Perfectly. Continuously. in motive, thought, and deed,
that's what he requires. Your obedience would be without
question, without argument, and without any thought of merit
on your behalf. Luke 17.10, he said, so likewise
when you shall have done all those things which are commanded
you, say, We are unprofitable servants. We have done that which it was
our duty to do. We won't pay for it. Huh? That's what it is, isn't it? Go over and ask your neighbor,
can I use your lawnmower? Well, if you pay for it, isn't
that what we're asking God? When we come like this, man,
we expect to get paid. If I pray a lot or visit a lot,
then I expect to get paid for it. How silly is that? He said, when you do everything,
I'm God. You're my creatures. And when
you've done everything I commanded you to do, all you've done is
your duties. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. Upon this
commandment, on this commandment, hangs the whole law. In other
words, you can keep that whole law and violate this and you're
guilty of the whole law. Because every law in there demands
that as demotion. Love, he said in Romans 13.10,
is the fulfilling of the law. And the question raised by the
disciples was one asked by every sinner who hears the gospel and
has no understanding but that of the world or his own reasoning. Who then can be saved? Well, let me ask you something.
Do you know what salvation is? Do you know what it is? We say it's escape from hell. That's a little portion of it,
but that ain't it. That ain't it. What good would
it do to save you from hell and leave you in your nature? What good would that do? Or like this rich man and even
his disciples, are you just left in a tizzy when you hear these
things? You don't know what you've heard.
You don't know what you want. But our Lord just said this,
with man it's impossible. It's not unlikely. It's not difficult. It's not even extremely hard.
It's impossible with men. It takes the work of God in a
man before that man will do anything. Paul told the Philippians, he
said, work out your own salvation in fear and trembling. Wasn't
that what religion preaches? No, because that's not the end
of the verse. He said, work out your own salvation
in fear and trembling for it's God that worketh in you both
to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do you have an interest
in the gospel? It's God working in you. You see what I'm saying? There's
a difference. between a man trying to generate something and God
doing a work in him, causing him to do something. What are you trying to say, Preacher? I'm saying put man out of the
equation. Get him out of it. He ain't in it. Put man out of
the equation. Put man on the outside looking
in, not on the inside looking out. Put man in the prison of his
nature. Put man in his place as a sinner. With man, it's impossible. But
with God, all things are possible. Or as he says in Luke 18, the
things which are impossible with men are possible with God. And that's my message this morning.
With God. With God. Paul describes our
condition by nature in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 12. Before hearing
the gospel of Christ, before faith, before regeneration, he
said, here's how he describes it, without God in the world. Not with God, without God in
the world. What does it mean to be without
God? Well, it means, first of all, that there's no knowledge
of God. Everybody has an opinion about
God, don't they? My sister used to tell me that.
I'd quote some scripture to her. She said, that's your opinion. That ain't my opinion. I'm reading
to you from the scriptures. That's what the Holy Ghost put
in writing. He inspired these men to write
these words. He tells us who God is. God's
holy. See his son hanging on the cross?
Did God spare him? He spared not his own son. That's
what the scripture said. Well, if he's not holy, if he's
not holy, he'll spare his son. But if he's holy and righteous
and just, he ain't gonna spare his son. He ain't gonna spare
anybody. I thought about it and I don't
know if I can express my thoughts about God before He revealed
Himself to me. But I sensed He was always handy. That's how I thought about God.
He's always handy. The people that I knew in those
churches, they'd man in a flash just start calling on God and
talking to God. He was handy. That was my sense
of who God was. He's always handy. And he's always
ready to help me. He's standing right there waiting,
waiting for me to do something. He was right there, right there. He was desiring to do good things
for me, but I had to let him. And my friend, if you just sit
and think about things, that's what I'm talking, that's my whole
point in this. I want you to think about things.
You think about how pitiful you are, how weak you are compared
to God, and you're going to let God do something? And I guess I thought because
my dad was an office holder in the church, it gave God a special
interest in me. Maybe some of you kids in here
this morning think the same thing. Because your dad goes to church,
your mom goes to church. Well, God's got a special...
I'm one up on God. God's got a special interest
in me. I'm His son. No, He don't. That don't mean anything. It's
a great advantage that God's given to you, a great privilege
that God's given to you. But it don't give you no advantage
with God. I believed that God would reward
good and punish evil. But I didn't know God. And that's
my point. To be without God is to have
no knowledge of God. He said, you thought I was altogether
such a one as yourself. That's what men do. They compare
God to themselves. Paul wrote to the Corinthians
and he said, Awake to righteousness and sin not. For some have not
the knowledge of God." Well, I speak this to your shame,
he said. Not everyone in a given assembly
knows God. They come, they dress up, they
say things, they pray sometimes, sometimes they sing. I don't
mean they know God. Any natural man can learn doctrine. All you have to do is read. It's
not mathematics or anything else. You read it, you learn it. Memorize
it. Speak it. Talk it. Argue it. Natural man can learn doctrine.
He can join the church. He can serve the church for years. Judas did. Nobody suspected Judas
of betraying the Lord. He said, had not I chosen you
twelve, and one of you is a devil? And everybody looked at each
other and said, is it I? Everybody but Judas. Demas did. Paul called Demas
his fellow laborer. And then later on he said, Demas
hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. The Pharisees
and scribes were masters of religion, yet our Lord said in John 8 verse
19, you neither know me nor my father. You don't know God. If God were your father, you'd
love me because I proceeded forth and came from God. This is God
standing in front of you and you hate my guts. There are those who've never
known even the Scriptures. Men and women born in jungles,
raised in seclusion. People right here in the United
States, raised in homes, never heard the Scriptures. Never heard
them read, never donned the door of a church. All they have is the knowledge
that God set forth in creation and conscience. But religious
or heathen, they're without God, having no knowledge of God. Paul
said to the philosophers at Mars Hill in Athens, as I toured your
grounds, he said, I saw a lot of monuments. And on one of your
altars, I read this inscription to the unknown God. He said,
Him declare I unto you, the one you don't know. The unknown God, the God men
neither know or worship. And then secondly, to be without
God is to be without His blessings and benefits. If you're without
God, you have no blessings. Ignorant men who don't know God
insist that God loves everybody, that Christ died for everybody,
and that the Spirit of God was given for everybody. That's not
so. Not so. You can't find that in
the Scriptures. It's not in there. God's blessings
and benefits are for His elect, not for the world. And men and
women are at ease about eternity because they think they can prepare
for it any time they want to. All they have to do is open their
mouth. Pow! God saves them and they're on
their way. I worked construction for years. I was working on a
high-rise building for the University of Kentucky. And they had a pinned
together scaffold going up on this It's an eight-story building.
And they had an elevator, a makeshift elevator attached to it. If you've
ever been on Penn and you've got a scaffold, you know what
I'm talking about. It's shaky. And they have an elevator on
there. And I got on that little elevator and closed the door.
It's all open. You can see, and we're going
up that elevator. And I took my management stuff, went back
to get on the elevator, and there was a sign there. It said in
the event that this elevator falls, just before it hits the
ground, jump up. That's what men believe about
salvation. Just before they die, they're going to jump up. They're
going to jump up. They're going to receive God.
They're going to repent. The goodness of God leadeth thee
to repentance. Faith not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. He boasted, if God gives you this much to do, you boast
about it for all eternity. And then thirdly, to be without
God is to be without the affection of God. Vessels of wrath, he
talks about in the Scriptures, fitted for destruction. He told
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, to show
my power in you. Vessels of wrath fitted for Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. Vessels of wrath said to be endured
of God, not loved of God, endured of God. He puts up with them.
salvation of his people be accomplished. There's a vast multitude of men
and women on a broad road, he said, headed for destruction. That's their destiny. That's
where they're going. It's well populated. That road,
bumper to bumper, rush hour traffic, headed for destruction. That's what he's talking about.
Vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction. In a great house,
he said, there's vessels of honor and dishonor. Men and women turned over to
themselves, given over to a reprobate mind, given over to religion,
to a spirit of antichrist, given over to believe a lie and be
damned. That's what the scripture says. No provision made for them,
no power exercised, no future promised, just a certain fearful
looking for judgment and fiery indignation. And I know men and
women have a lot of ifs and whatabouts, but there are no possibilities
apart from being with God. That's what he's telling them.
With God, all things are possible. But you take God out of the equation,
and there's no hope. There's no hope. A preacher, what exactly is with
God that we need so much? Well, let me give you a few things.
First of all, the very possibility of salvation. Who does it rest
with? It rests with God. Paul wrote to Philippians, opening
address to him. He said, my confidence is that
he that hath begun a good work in you will keep on doing it
until it's complete. That's my hope. That's what I
rejoice in. The very possibility of salvation. With man it's impossible. None
righteous, none good, none willing, none seeking, no fear of God
before their eyes. Where exactly can one start to
offer hope based on man? If all I have to work with is
you, where can I go? On what basis could I possibly
offer you any hope? Paul said, I have before proved
they're all under sin. Jews and Gentiles, religious
and heathen, they're all under sin. Scripture said at its best state,
man's altogether vanity. That's the best. The best. Altogether vanity. Job said he
drinks iniquity like water. The word possibility means potential. There's no potential with man.
I've got nothing to build on. False religion is all man. He
tells us that the mark of the beast Is what? Six, six, six. What is six? That's
the number of man. Six. Man, man, man. That's the
mark of the beast. Everything appeals to men. There's
no gospel in man. There's no good news. There's
no hope. He's dead spiritually. He's a living corpse. But with God, all things are
possible. What else is with God? Well, with God is a man. He took not on him the nature
of angels, but the seed of Abraham. There's a man with God. You know
what he calls him in the scripture? The God-man. One mediator between God and
me and the man, Christ Jesus. He's the God-man. He's God and
man in one glorious person. Proverbs 8.22, the Lord possessed
me, he said, in the beginning of his way. Before his works
of old, I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or wherever
the earth was. When there were no depths, I
was brought forth. When there were no foundations,
no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled,
before the hills were, I was brought forth. While as yet he
had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part
of the dust of the earth, when he prepared the heavens, I was
there. When he set a compass upon the
face of the depths, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened
the fountains of the deep, when he gave to the sea its decree
that the waters should come so far and no further. Now watch
this. Then I was by him. as one brought
up with Him. What's with God? A man. A mediator man. A covenant charity. I was by Him as one brought up
with Him and I was daily His delight rejoicing always before
Him. And this one mediator between
God and me and the man Christ Jesus. In John chapter 1 verse 1, he
writes in the beginning was the Word. Now watch this. Where was
the Word? And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. What's
with God? A man. A representative man. A substitute. There's a man in glory. I love
that message that man brought. There's a man in glory who's
with God. And he's always been with God.
He's one with God. He says in John 10 verse 30,
I and my father are one. And because they're one and he's
our federal head and representative, we're one in him. We're with God if we're in Christ. That's what I'm preaching. And the glory, he said, which
thou gavest me, I've given them, that they may be one, even as
we are one. John 17, 23. I in them, and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the
world may know that Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them
as Thou hast loved me." What's with God? A man, a Savior. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. This is God and man in
one person. Salvation is in a person. A glorious
appointed person, a substitute for sinners, an eternal head
and representative and everything God demands from the sinner,
He supplies in His Son. Everything. God demands from
you a perfect righteousness and you can't do it. But He does it for you in His
Son. justifies us freely by His grace. Oh, everything required from
us is made possible in Him. In Him we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins. We're chosen in Him, predestinated
unto the adoption of children in Him, redeemed in Him, made
righteous in Him, made wise unto salvation through the preaching
of Him. brought into fellowship with God by Him, made nigh by
His blood, made heirs of His grace, given power to become
sons of God, and given the very pledge of our inheritance and
promise of eternal life. Where's all that at? It's in
Christ. What's with God that we need
so much? The man, Christ Jesus. In Him, the Scripture said, dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Are you listening? And ye are complete in Him. Huh? What else do I need? I don't
need anything else. I just need God. Psalm 130, verse
7. Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy,
and with Him is plenteous redemption. And then thirdly, the scripture
tells us that the Word was with God and was God. He's the Word. There's no saving knowledge of
God anywhere else except in Christ. No man knoweth the Father, save
the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. In him he reveals
his name, none other name under heaven given among men, whereby
we must be saved. You can't know God apart from
Christ and his people bear his name. Don't we? We bear his name. He tells us in the book of Jeremiah,
he said his name shall be called the righteousness of God. And
he goes on for a little while, and he says some things, and
then in the chapter After he gets through talking in that
chapter, he said, and her name shall be called the righteousness
of God. We bear his name. And gospel preaching is declaring
the name of God in Christ. Listen to this, John 17, verse
20. Neither pray I for these alone. That is, his disciples that was
there. He said, you stay here, I go to pray. And he went over
there and he prayed that high priestly prayer to God. But he
said, I'm not just praying for these alone, but for them also
who shall believe on me through their word. They're going to preach. Well,
they're going to preach my name. Paul said, when I come to you,
Corinthians, He said, I'm determined not to know anything except Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. I don't know anything else. And then lastly, what is with
God that the sinner needs so desperately? All his hope. What if somebody were to ask
you this morning on your way out the door, what's your hope?
What would you tell them? You know what Paul said? Christ
in you, the hope of glory. That's your hope. My hope's in
a person. There's one that sits victorious
at the right hand of God, and he's our hope. Paul said, We
give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying
always for you, since we heard your faith in Christ Jesus, and
the love which you have to all the saints. For the hope laid
up for us in heaven were of you heard before in the word of the
truth of the gospel. Where's our hope? At the right
hand of God. And I said all that to say this,
Colossians 3 verse 1. If you then be risen with Christ,
because that's the only hope there is. God chose me. He provided the means. He intervened
in my life by His Spirit and by the preaching of the Gospel.
He gave me the ability, made me meet to be partakers Heirs, enlightened saints, gave
me the ability to do those things. My hope is seated at the right
hand of God. The only way, the only way that
God would send me to hell is if he fails because that's my
hope. You see what I'm saying? We have
a hope. It ain't a hope, hope, hope.
We have hope. It's an anchor, anchor beyond
the veil. Now he said, if you then be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth at the right hand of God, and set your affection on
things above, not on things of the earth. For you're dead, and your life is hid with Christ
in God. or with God. And when Christ,
who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
him in glory. Oh, may God the Holy Ghost teach
us what it means to be with God. David said, bless the Lord, O
my soul, and forget not all his benefits. What shall I render to the Lord
for all His benefits toward me? I'll take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. Isn't that what we're doing
this morning? That's exactly what we're doing.
Oh, may the Lord open your eyes and ears and hearts to Christ.
Come to Him. You can plead in Him. Everything
God has for sinners is in Christ. It's all in Christ. There's nothing
in this world but the world. Everything's in here. All right,
thank you.