We read from Luke's Gospel in
chapter 18 of the ruler that came unto Christ asking what
he should do to inherit eternal life. Christ reminds him of the commandments
which the young man claimed he kept from his youth up from being
told to sell all that he had and give to the poor He went
away sorrowful, for he had many riches. And Christ's response
was, how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom
of God, 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. And
they that heard it said, who then can be saved? And Christ answered, The things
which are impossible with men are possible with God. The things which are impossible
with men are possible with God. It was impossible for this young
man to change his own heart. He felt that before God He was
upright and righteous. He felt he was obedient to the
law of God. He did not see himself as a sinner. Yet Christ looks upon him and
points out where he lacked. Despite all that he thought he
was, his heart was set upon the things of this world. He loved
the position he was in. He loved the authority he had.
He loved the respect he had for men. He loved the wealth that
came with his position. In reality, he hated God in his
heart. For if he loved God, he'd give
up all and follow him. But he loved his riches rather
than God. Christ exposed him for what he
was. And it exposes us for what we are. We're faced with the
same question. We're just the same. We're just the same. Which is
why those that heard Christ's words to this young man cried
out, who then can be saved? Because they looked at that man
as being upright, they saw him as being outwardly moral. And
if he could not be saved, what hope had they? They knew that
in comparison to God's law and righteous standards, they came
far short. And if even he could not be saved, what hope for them? For Christ's encouragement is
that the things which are impossible with men are possible with God,
and they are impossible with men, but they are possible with
God. He illustrates this in the rest
of the passage. He goes on to tell the disciples
what must become of him, that the Son of Man should have all
the things that the prophets wrote concerning him accomplished,
that he should be delivered unto the Gentiles, and mocked, and
spitefully entreated, and spitted on, that they should scourge
him and put him to death, and the third day he should rise
again. And the disciples understood
none of these things. through what would happen to
Christ. The impossibility of salvation
should be brought to pass. Following this, Christ came nigh
unto Jericho and met with a blind man who was sat by the wayside
begging. And the blind man cried out,
What's going on? And they told him that Jesus
of Nazareth passed by. And he cried, saying, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before
rebuked him that he should hold his peace. But he cried so much,
The more thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood
and commanded him to be brought unto him. And when he was come
near, he asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto
thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus
said unto him, Receive thy sight. Thy faith hath saved thee. And
immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying
God. And all the people, when they
saw it, gave praise unto God, because Christ, in touching this
blind man's eyes to see, Christ, in giving him sight, did that
which was impossible with man, but which only Christ could do. Christ illustrated the impossibility
of salvation through his words to the young ruler, and he demonstrated
how he could do the impossible in making a blind man see. Yes, salvation's impossible,
humanly speaking. There's none of us who could
save ourselves There's none of us who are righteous before a
holy God. We're lost and we're condemned
because we cannot live, act, speak, think as we must before
a holy God. We can't come into his presence
because we're full of sin. We're full of sin within. And it bubbles up to the surface
in everything we do, say and think. We can't help ourselves. It stains and it pollutes all
that we are and all that we do. We're utterly unrighteous before
a holy God and his righteousness, his holy law condemns us. How may we inherit eternal life? It's impossible. There's nothing
we can do to inherit eternal life. We can't cleanse ourselves. We're guilty before a holy God. We're guilty. And this is what
James picks up on as he continues his words in his epistle. And
he comes to address the law. and the contrast between the
law and the gospel and the grace of God in Jesus Christ. In James
chapter 2 verse 10 we read, for whosoever shall keep the whole
law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that
said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if
thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become
a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do as they
that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have
judgment without mercy that have showed no mercy, and mercy rejoiceth
against judgment. Whosoever shall keep the whole
law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. Before God, we are all guilty. God gave the law by Moses, not
as an instruction for us to keep it, to make ourselves righteous. but to demonstrate to each and
every one of us that we cannot begin to make ourselves righteous. We're already fallen and lost
in sin. And every day we live, every
attempt we may make to keep that law and to live righteously,
we fall down further. It condemns us. If we don't commit
adultery, we kill. If we don't kill, we bear false
witness. If we don't bear false witness,
we fail to honour our mother or father. If we honour our mother
and father, we find ourselves covetous. If we're not covetous,
we don't keep the Sabbath day. If we keep the Sabbath day, we
have other gods before God. If we love God, we find ourselves
hating our neighbor. Doesn't matter what it is, whatever
we think we are keeping, we are failing somewhere else. And in
reality, we fail throughout in every respect. We find ourselves debtors before
a holy God. His character, His holiness demands
that we are righteous. demands that we are righteous,
and we're not. We hear today a lot about people's
rights, our rights, women's rights, workers' rights, human rights. The reality is, the only one
who truly has rights is Almighty God. and towards him we have
obligations and we've never met them. We owe him our complete
perfect obedience. We owe him our complete righteousness
inside and out. Each and every day, every hour,
every minute, every second from the day we're born to the day
we meet with Him in eternity, we owe Him complete, unending
righteousness, holiness, perfection. He has rights, and we have obligations,
and we have never ever met them. We have never rendered unto Him
what is due. We are debtors before our Holy
God, we've never given Him what is His. He creates us, He sustains
us, He gives us life with which we should walk before Him in
righteousness, with which we should worship and honour Him
and we never have. We use our life, we use our strength,
we use our energy to seek our own glory, our own riches, our
own honor, our own lusts, our own desires. We've robbed him. We're debtors. We're guilty before
a holy and a righteous God. And our only right in this world,
our only right is the sentence of death, the penalty of death,
which God issues according to his law against each and every
one of us. God has rights. He demands righteousness. We owe him perfect obedience. We owe his law perfect perpetual
obedience. We owe him perfection. and we've
never begun to give it. Perfection is perfection, it's
total. Without one blemish, without
one omission, without forgetting to do one thing, it's total. And yet if we offend in one point,
we are guilty of all. James says, if you offend and
yet offend in one point, he's guilty of all. You can keep the
whole law. But if you slip down in one place,
one time, you're guilty of all. This rich young ruler that came
unto Christ, he thought he kept the law. He thought he was righteous. And yet Christ exposed him. He comes, good master, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said unto him, why callest
thou me good? None is good save one, that is
God. 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. And he said,
all these have I kept from my youth up. 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 And when Jesus saw that he was
very sorrowful, he said, how hardly shall they that have riches
enter into the kingdom of God. 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. This man felt like he kept the
law from his youth up. And those that observed and heard
saw him and thought that this is a moral man. And yet Christ
said, follow me, give up all your riches. And he was sorrowful. If he couldn't do that, what
hope was there for him? If you keep all the law, the
whole law, but offend in one point, you're guilty of all. This man's love for his possessions
Not just the physical riches that he might have had, but also
his position. He was a young ruler. He was
elevated above the people. He was in a position of authority.
He loved that position. He loved the respect of men.
He loved how people saw him. This young man's love of his
possessions, all that he had, the status, the position, the
riches. revealed a covetous heart. It revealed a covetous heart,
a love for something other than Christ. He said he loved God. He said he served God. But as
Christ says elsewhere, you cannot serve God and mammon. His heart
was elsewhere. When Christ said, give it all
up and follow me. If you love God, follow him with
all your being, with all your heart, soul and mind. If you
truly love God, then follow him. It exposed where the heart of
this man was. He wanted God, but he wanted
everything else too. His heart was elsewhere. And
his love for his possessions revealed his covetousness. But in essence, it meant not
just that he was guilty of coveting, and yet he had kept the rest
of the law outwardly. But it shows how he broke the
law in every command, in every sense, in essence throughout. With a heart that loved something
other than God. He was adulterous towards God. He was unfaithful towards the
God he claimed to serve. He claimed to be a follower of
God. He claimed to be wed, as it were,
to God. And yet he loved another. He
loved his riches. He loved this world. He loved
himself. So he was adulterous towards
his God. He murdered God in his heart. He didn't love Christ with all
his heart, soul and mind. Otherwise he would not have been
sorrowful when Christ said, give it all up and follow me. He loved
another. So he loved one and hated the
other. In reality he hated God, he hated
Christ, he murdered him in his heart. He claimed to have kept
the commandments from his youth up. The fact that his heart was elsewhere
revealed the lie. He was lying to himself, not
just to others. He bore false witness. And we're all the same. We think
we might live a certain way. We think we might be serving
God. We think that we might be upright in this and upright in
that. But the reality is we're lying
to ourselves, we're lying to others, we're putting on an appearance,
a show. We're putting on an appearance
before God and before men, which is not true because our hearts
are divided. He did not honor his father and
mother, he did not honor God. For if he did, he'd give up all
for God. You see though, James says that
you may keep the whole law and yet offend in one point. You
may not commit adultery but you kill or you may commit adultery
and not kill. You may offend in one point.
In reality, if you offend in one, you've broken all. They're
all intertwined. They expose the sin which is
within us. And we'll only keep them all
if we have a righteous heart. that cannot break a single command. They're all one. So we kid ourselves,
we fool ourselves if we think that there is anything righteous
in us or if we think that we are moral in any sense or that
we have walked before God in any way in keeping with his law. We break every single command. every day. We are utterly unrighteous. Either we love God with all our
heart, soul and mind or we don't. And if we don't, we bow down
to other gods. We hate God. We put him to death
in our hearts. We are guilty of all And how in essence deep down
our heart in loving this world, in loving the praise of man,
in loving ourselves, how our hearts in essence rage against
Almighty God. The psalmist in Psalm 2 cries
out, why do the heathen rage? Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thing? Why do we hate God? Why do we
hate His righteousness? We see this in the world around
us. We see this in current events. The politics, the judgments in
the courts. How the people this week are
enraged against the ruling of the Supreme Court in the USA. What consternation it brings.
I see it myself at times. You speak the truth and people
rage. They hate what you say. They
hate the truth. But their rage isn't against
the judges. Their rage isn't against me or
you. Their rage is against Almighty
God and His righteousness. We're all like it. every one
of us is in our hearts throughout. Paul demonstrates this in Romans.
He proves in the first three chapters how we're all under
sin. How our mouths are full of cursing
and bitterness. There's none righteous, no not
one. There's none that understands. There's none that seeketh after
God. They're all gone out of their
way, you and me included. They together become unprofitable. There's none that do if good.
No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps
is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery
are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. Now we know that what thingsoever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before
God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. We're all guilty before a holy
God. And as such, as Paul says in
chapter 1 of Romans, the state we find ourselves in by nature
is that God's wrath is revealed from heaven against our sin. Paul says in Romans 1, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. We know God in our conscience,
we know the truth and yet we hold it back, we resist it, we
reject it. It goes on, that which may be
known of God is manifest in them, for God have showed it unto them.
The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God. Neither were thankful, but became
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. You and I included. We're guilty. We've all broken the law in every
respect, in every command in essence. And we can't help ourselves. We can't help ourselves. We can't
change ourselves. We can't change our thinking.
The disciples say, who then can be saved? It's impossible with
man. We can't change. We're full of
sin. We're full of unbelief. We're
full of hatred. And we're full of rage against
God. We can't change. When the Gospel comes unto us
and warns us that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven,
we can't change. God may by His Spirit begin to
sound that alarm that warns us of what we are. We may begin
to see what we are and acknowledge what we are. We may begin to
cry out, Lord have mercy upon me, but we can't change ourselves. The gospel comes unto us with
a command. Repent and believe in the name
of Jesus Christ. Repent and believe. But we can't
repent. And by nature, we can't believe. We're unable to turn from our
sin and our wicked ways. And we can't believe, we're blind
like that blind man we can't see. Though Christ come in the
gospel and stand before us, we're blind, we can't see him. Repent,
what is it to repent? Not just to show sorrow and contrition
for your sin, not just to turn from your sin and turn to God,
but to repent is to completely change your thinking. Metanoia, to have a complete
change in our thinking, a 180 degree turn from all that we
were and are. As those who were going, heading
diametrically opposite from God, to turn around and head towards
Him, to completely change our understanding and beliefs. By
nature, we rage against God and His righteousness, we reject
His holiness, we reject His law, we reject all that He is, we
find it hateful, we find God to be something we do not want,
we object to Him, we go our own way. And to repent and believe the
Gospel is to be turned, to see that all that we used to think
was right is wrong. and all that we used to think
was wrong is actually right. We can't change our thoughts,
we can't change our understanding, it's impossible. But when Christ
comes in the gospel in power and finds us blind and dead in
our sins, he can take the dead sinner the lost sinner, the wretched
sinner, the one without understanding, the unbelieving, the hateful
sinner, the raging sinner, and cause him to see. Saul was raging
on the way to Damascus, and Christ met with him. Saul
saw, why persecutest thou me? And as light shone into Saul's
heart, that which was impossible with man became possible with
God. God turned him around. God changed his heart. God showed
unto Saul his grace, his mercy, his love. Law won't save you,
Saul. Your works, your obedience, your
attempt to live before me righteously will never save you. You can
put an appearance of morality on before other men, but I see
the heart which rages against me. Only grace, only love, only
the mercy of Christ, only the face of Jesus Christ. shining
before Saul could change that hard heart. And if God in grace
brings you or I on our Damascus road to come to meet with His
Son and to see how gracious, how loving, how merciful He is,
then our hearts will change. then that which is impossible
with us, that which we could never do, will be brought to
pass. We will believe in that which
was once unbelievable. We will be righteous through
the blood of Jesus Christ. When in ourselves we are anything
but. James says, If you offend the law in one
point, you're guilty of all. You'll become a transgressor.
It will slay you. Whenever and wherever you turn
to the law, it will slay you. It slew you in your unbelief,
it slew you when you were lost. And believer, should you turn
to the law in any sense, in any way, to rule your life as a believer,
to guide you as you deal with your brethren, as you come to
worship, as you live with one another, should you turn to that
law, it will slay you. He was addressing those who were
preferring one over another and in so doing their hearts were
murdering those who outwardly did not appear as great as others,
who were not dressed as well as others. They despised one,
they elevated one over another. They looked upon others via the
law. They approved those who appeared
righteous. like Saul once did in the appearance
of men. And they despised those who appeared
as nothing, like that blind man sat by the wayside. Yet Christ
sent that law-keeper away in sorrow, and he had mercy upon
that blind man who had nothing and touched his eyes. So James
goes on to remind His hearers, you and I, believers, so speak
ye and so do, as that shall be judged by the law of liberty. You're under the gospel. You're
under grace. Look upon one another with the
same grace that Christ has looked upon you. Forgive one another
as Christ has forgiven you. The law condemns. Why return
to it? We can't hope but to keep it.
If we fail in one point, we're guilty of all. So speak, and
so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty,
the gospel, grace. Believers are not judged according
to the law, but by the law of liberty. by grace. Believers speak and do as those
who are under grace, not under the law. They look upon one another
in grace, knowing that we're each sinners who can't possibly
by our own strength stand up before a holy God, but who as
nothings have been washed in the blood of the Savior. Mercy
rejoices against judgment. Then says, he shall have judgment
without mercy that have showed no mercy. And mercy rejoices
against judgment. The gospel is a message of grace. It's a message of Christ. It comes to those who are lost
in the darkness, condemned and broken by the law, condemned
as sinners who have no strength, and it comes unto them and presents
a great and a mighty Saviour. It presents unto us Christ. Saul on that Damascus road came
and he saw a light shining from heaven. He heard the voice of
Jesus Christ. He met with his Saviour. And where the law had simply
brought him under condemnation, grace came down from God above
in justification. Yes, grace reigns. It reigns
through righteousness. How? Why? Why does grace reign? Because it triumphs over the
law. It triumphs where man failed,
where we could not live righteously. Grace, as seen in Jesus Christ,
manifests the very righteousness of God. It makes known unto guilty
sinners like you and I that the law has been satisfied. It's
been fulfilled, it's been answered in entirety. Every point in which
it was broken, it's been satisfied. We broke it, the law demanded
our death. And that demand has been satisfied. It's been answered. because of
that one who went to Jerusalem to be taken by wicked hands and
condemned, the one who would be spat upon, the one who would
be crucified, the Son of Man, who was delivered unto the Gentiles,
mocked, spitefully entreated, spitted on. They scourged him
They put him to death, and the third day he rose again. None of the disciples at that
time, when Jesus spake of this to come, understood. By nature,
we do not understand. We may know of it. We may know
what happened to Christ. We may read of it. But there's
no comprehension of just who he is. And just what he did,
and just what he suffered, and just how much he loves the ones
for whom he died. And yet through his death, he
took our sin. He took his people's sins. He
took their transgressions. He took every point in which
they broke the law and he paid the price to the uttermost. He
drank the cup of God's wrath to the dregs. He felt the full
fury of God's wrath pour down upon him. He felt the judgment
and the penalty of the law slay him. He suffered. He was cast out and rejected
by all men. And his own father, as he laid
the people's sins upon his own son and poured out his justice
upon him, turned his face away. Christ in the darkness endured
an eternity of wrath, an eternity of judgment because of every
single point in which every single sinner for whom he died had broken
that law. because of all their unrighteousness,
because of all their iniquity, because of all their hatred,
because of all their rage, because of all their hate for God and
his gospel, because of all their unbelief in Christ and his gospel. He endured, he suffered out of
love for those that hated and rejected him. Did he suffer in
your place? Did he bear your hatred of him? Did he bear your rejection of
him? Did he bear your unbelief in
him? Did he suffer what you and I
should suffer? What he did in his death we will
never understand we will never comprehend the depths to which
he went and the love which took him there the love which took
him there he took away every point of transgression every
sin every evil deed He took away the very nature of sin which
pollutes every one of his people. He paid the price in entirety. He suffered an eternity of hell. He died for the guilty, for lawbreakers
like you and I. And in so doing, he manifested
the righteousness of God. He manifested the righteousness
of God. His death was an act of faith
in which he showed forth his love for God in absoluteness,
and his love for his neighbor, for his brethren, for his people,
for his bride in absoluteness. He showed forth the righteousness
of God in perfection. He fulfilled the law in perfection. He loved God and he loved his
neighbor in a way that no one ever has and nobody else ever
could. He manifested the righteousness
of God. The righteousness of God was
manifested in judgment against him. But it met with one. who was righteous in himself. Though he bore the sins and the
iniquity of his people for whom he suffered in himself. He was righteous. He was perfect. He loved with a love beyond comprehension. He believed God with a belief
unlike anything else. He never wavered. Though he suffered
in the darkness, he knew that what he came to do would bring
about its purpose. Everyone for whom he suffered
would be saved. He manifested. the righteousness
of God. As Paul says in Romans 3, having
shown us all to be guilty, he says in the gospel, but in spite
of that. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. For there
is no difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Everyone for whom He died had
sinned and come short of the glory of God, but everyone for
whom He died is brought to see and believe on Him, who by faith
upon the cross manifested the very righteousness of God. How
different He is from us. In Christ we see the very opposite,
the total opposite of all that we are and all that we do. All
that we are and do is sin. And all that he is and all that
he does is righteousness. perfect righteousness. No one upon the face of the earth
had ever seen a man like this man. Never a man spake like this
man, they cried. They'd never met with somebody
who was perfect, the perfection that shone through him, the righteousness
that was seen in him, the holiness, the love, the light, the purity. They'd never seen one like this. They'd never seen the faith of
Jesus Christ. So unlike what we are, He came
as God, taken upon himself human flesh, born a man with a human
soul. He came as a man, made a little
lower than the angels, even for the suffering of death. He was
made under the law, and he honored the law in every point. Not because
he tried to. Not because he set the commands
of the law before him and read what it said and made sure that
he did this and didn't do that. He didn't need to. He was righteous. He could do nothing but do all
that the law demanded. He could do nothing but not fall
in any way that the law prohibited. He was righteous. He was the
very righteousness of God. The law measured him and it could
not find one blemish or fault or failing in him. He manifested
the very righteousness of God. and he manifested that righteousness
in its absoluteness by faith at the cross in his death. Here is the love of God that
he laid down his life for sinners. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. God sped not his own son. He gave himself for those who
hated him. At the cross, the world gathered
and beheld the very righteousness of God, suffering in the place
of sinners. We all, each and every one of
us, rejected him. hated him, despised him, and
in our hearts we pierced him. And yet he looked upon his own
from that place with absolute love and perfection. He satisfied
the law. He paid the price and the penalty.
He honoured God in all he did. And he looked upon his own and
said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Oh,
has he looked to you when you've put him to death? Has he looked
out to you in grace and mercy and said, Father, forgive them.
They know not what they do. Make them righteous. Make them
perfect. Cleanse them in my blood. Give
them life. Make them see. Make them hear. Make them live. Make them one
with me. Oh, does Christ look upon you
from the cross where you've put him to death and say, Father,
forgive them. They know not what they do. Make
them live. For that which is impossible
with man is possible with God. Will he touch you and make you
see and say unto you, thy faith hath made thee whole? Has he
given you his faith to believe on him and to follow him, giving
up all because you love him who first loved you? Oh man.