Would you turn with me to Luke
chapter 18? As usual, I'm always happy to be here with y'all.
Real blessing to be with you. I'm glad your pastor asked me. Luke 18, I'd like to begin reading
in verse 18. And a certain ruler asked him,
saying, good master, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why
callest thou me good? None is good, save one, that
is God. Now notice 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, always 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 was
very sorrowful, for he was very rich. 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'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 when they heard it said, they said, who then can be saved? And he said, the things which
are impossible with men are possible with God. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that you would be
pleased in your mercy to meet with us and speak in power to
our hearts from your word. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. I've entitled this message, When
Inability Meets Omnipotence. I got that title from verse 27,
and he said, the things which are impossible with men, the
things which are completely beyond the grasp of men, the things
that they cannot do and lack the ability to do, the things
that aren't going to happen, the things that are impossible
with men are possible with God. There's the omnipotence. All
things are possible within. When inability meets omnipotence. In verse 18, and a certain ruler,
he's called a rich young ruler in one of the other counts. Asked
him saying good master What shall I do to inherit eternal life? We know from Mark's account that
he came running this rich young ruler He came running and he
kneeled down on his knees He seemed to have a great respect
for Christ and he seemed to have a genuine earnestness But when
he made this statement He demonstrates an ignorance that all lost men
demonstrate. First, he was ignorant of the
person of Christ. He said, good master, good master. Now that's the word for teacher.
You know, when the Lord said, one of you will betray me. Eleven
of the apostles, or disciples, said, Lord, is it I? One said, Master, is it I? Which one do you reckon it was?
It was Judas. Yes, the Lord is a great teacher,
but this man wasn't coming to him as needing a savior. He's come needing
information. Good master, what good thing
can I do to inherit eternal life? Can you give me the proper information
and let me know what it is I need to do to inherit eternal life? The Lord corrected him when he
said, why callest thou me good? Now, the Lord Jesus is good.
You and I know that. But this man thought of him as
only being a man. And that is why he corrected
him. Why callest thou me good? Good, but God. So this man had
a complete ignorance of the person of Christ. He thought he was
a great teacher, a good teacher who could give him the right
information. But he didn't believe he was God Almighty. He had no
understanding of that. This man demonstrated a complete
ignorance of himself. He said, what good thing can
I do? He didn't know that there wasn't
anything good he could do. But he believed he could. What good
thing can I do? This man demonstrated that he
didn't know that grace and works could not be mixed. He said,
what good thing can I do to inherit eternal life? And there's not
a good thing that anybody does to inherit eternal life. Any
inheritance is given because of the will of somebody else.
It's not because of some good thing you do. It's because of
the will of somebody else. So this man was mixing grace
and works, and he demonstrated his ignorance. Now let's go on reading, verse
19. And Jesus said unto him, Why
callest thou me good? None is good, save one, that
is God. And the rich young ruler did
not know that he was speaking with God the Son. Just a good
teacher. Now, when you come into the Lord's
presence, He's going to meet you on the
ground you come. He came asking, what good thing can I do? And so the Lord answers his question. He meets him on the ground he
comes. Look 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.
He takes him to the law. Now, there are two tables of
the law. The first table with regard to God. You'll have no
other gods before me. The commandment regarding the
forbidding of idolatry commandment concerning taking his name in
vain, and the commandment concerning the Sabbath day, the first table.
And then the second table, you have the commandment concerning
honoring your parents. You have the commandment concerning
thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear
false witness. Did you notice the one in the
second table that he left out? Covetousness. He made no mention
of covetousness. Verse 21, and he said, here's his answer
to this, all these have I kept from my youth up. Now there's
only one other man I know that made that claim, the Apostle
Paul. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, I was blameless. All these have I kept and obeyed
from my youth up." Now, making that statement, he once again
demonstrates his ignorance. He's ignorant of the law of God. He has no idea what it means.
He's ignorant of the character of God. He has no idea of the
holiness of God. The Apostle Paul said, with regard
to God's holy law, he said, we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, fleshly, sold under sin. I can't get out from
under it. That's me. And he had no understanding
of what God's law really said, or he would have never made a
statement like this. But he seemed so sincere, he seemed so desirous
to know what he needed to do, and he was confused. Well, I've
kept all these from my youth up. Verse 22. Now, when Jesus heard
these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing. sell all that you have and distribute
it unto the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come
follow me. What wisdom the Lord uses in
dealing with this young man. You see this young man did not
know that he was completely controlled by covetousness. You know there's
an element of covetousness in breaking any of the Ten Commandments,
coveting something. And it's really a summary of
the breaking of them all. And this man was controlled by
covetousness. He was a rich man, and he was
not willing, he could not comply with the Lord's commands. He
couldn't do it. And he was very sorrowful. Look in verse 23.
And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful, for he was very
rich. I guess the guy was a millionaire.
Maybe he had $10 million in the bank. And you know, if the Lord
told me, sell all that you have, give it all to the poor, You'll
have treasures in heaven. Come follow me." I wonder how
I'd respond. I wonder how you'd respond. This man understood that he could
not obey this command. He was confronted with his inability. He went away very sorrowful. He was grieved because he could
not make himself do what the Lord told him to do. He couldn't part with his riches.
Now verse 24, and when Jesus saw that, he was
very sorrowful. He said, how hardly shall they
that have riches enter the kingdom of heaven. As a matter of fact,
he tells us it's impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of heaven. What's the deal with the rich
man? Why would riches prevent him from entering the kingdom
of heaven? I mean, there's a lot of wealthy men who have entered
heaven. David, Solomon, Job. I could name many men. Abraham.
Lot. Many men in the scriptures entered
the heaven who were materially rich. But let me say this about
being rich. If you're rich, you know what that means? That means
you're not poor. Just means you're not poor. The
only people who enter the kingdom of heaven are they who are the
poor in spirit. They have nothing to bring to
the table. They don't have anything to recommend
them to God. They got nothing to work with.
They're absolutely poor. They're without resources. They're totally poverty stricken
before God. They don't have anything to bring.
That's the poor in spirit. They see themselves as having
nothing. Nothing that God could accept, nothing that they would
dare bring into God's presence. They're poor in spirit. This
man was rich. Mark's account says, how hardly
shall they that trust in riches enter the kingdom of heaven.
It wasn't the riches that was the problem. It was the trust
in the riches. It was being eaten up and contaminated
with covetousness. couldn't stop being that way. You notice the same account as
Paul in Romans chapter 7. Turn with me there for a moment. Romans chapter 7. Verse 7, what
shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid, nay,
I'd not known sin, but by the law, for I'd not known lust.
Except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. Now all I have
to do is say, thou shalt not covet, and what happens? Start
coveting, don't you? You can't suppress it. You can't
hold it down. All I got to do is say, thou shalt not covet.
You begin to covet, don't you? And that's what Paul said his
experience was. Verse 8. But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, evil
desire. As soon as I heard thou shalt
not covet, all I did was begin to covet. 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, and the commandment holy, and just,
and good. Was then that which is good make death unto me? 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 sinful. Now this man found out that he
could not comply with the Lord's commands. He was a rich man. Look in verse 25, look at what
our Lord says. He said, for it is easier, 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, I think it's interesting
that when you read commentaries on this, I've read this in several
commentaries, they say, well, the needle's eye was an He's
not talking about literally a camel getting through a needle's eye.
There's these little openings in the walls in Jerusalem, and
they've got to get down on their knees and get through, and you've
got to take everything off their backs. It's just very difficult.
Now, for one thing, you can't interpret anything in the Scripture
that's outside of the Scripture. What I mean by that is you can't
say, well, this happened in Jerusalem and so-and-so, and so, therefore,
it must mean this. Or there was a gate in Jerusalem
that was this small. You can't do that. Besides, what
the Lord's talking about is impossibilities. Camel's the biggest animal they
had ever seen. And an eagle's eye is the smallest entrance
they knew of. How much possibility is there
for a camel to get through an eagle's eye? Absolutely none. Absolutely impossible. It is impossible for a camel
to get through a needle's eye. And that being said, it's easier
for a camel to get through a needle's eye than it is for a rich man
to get into heaven. Now he's talking about inability. verse 26, and when they, the twelve, when
they heard, and they heard, and they that heard it said, they
looked at this man who, most moral man they'd ever come across.
I mean, talking about a candidate for the kingdom of heaven, this
was a rich man, he was a well-respected man, he was a moral man, we want
him to be in with us. And they looked at what our Lord
said to this man, and they looked at him, and they said, who then
can be saved? If this man can't be saved, this
is the best humanity has to offer. A rich, young ruler. If he can't be saved, if it's
easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for this
man to be saved, who then can be saved? Now, there are two questions
of vital importance in this narrative that need to be dealt with. Number
one, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Well, for one thing,
there's nothing you can do to inherit eternal life. If you
have an inheritance, it's because of the will of somebody else.
But if you want to go that route, if you want to go the works route,
here's what you got to do. You've got to keep the law perfectly. You cannot have any sin at all. In thought, in word, in deed,
in motive. And that is what God requires. If you want to go that route,
turn with me to Luke chapter 10, back a few pages. Luke chapter
10, something similar took place here. Verse 25. And behold, a certain lawyer
stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life? Same question, isn't it? What
shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he had bad motives
in this, because he did this to tempt the Lord. And he said
unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou? 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 can just see
him pushing his chest out a little bit after he said that. I gave
the right answer. He felt very good about his answer. And I
love the way the Lord dealt with him. And he said unto him, thou
hast answered right. What are the next two words? This do. and thou shalt live."
If I'm going that route, the only way I can be accepted is
if I love the Lord God with all my heart and soul and strength
and mind and understanding and will, and if I love my neighbor
as myself perfectly. Now, if I'm going to go that
route, that's the only way to go. And the second question is,
well, who then can be saved? If this man can't be saved, who
then can be saved? And our Lord gives this answer
in verse 27. And he said, the things which are impossible with
men are possible with God. Now this is when inability meets
omnipotence. The things which are impossible
with men. They're not going to happen.
It's not going to happen under any circumstance. Impossible. Salvation is impossible. Me doing
anything to save myself is impossible. The things which are impossible
with men are possible with God. Now, if salvation is dependent on
the ability of man to do anything nobody will be saved. You believe that? If salvation
is in any way dependent upon you to do anything or to not
do anything, if salvation is ultimately dependent upon me
or you, if that's the case, no one will be saved. Salvation
is impossible, not improbable, but impossible. Impossible. Now this is what is known as
the doctrine of the total depravity and total inability of man. Now if I'm wrong on the fall,
I'm wrong on it all. This is where we've got to begin.
The doctrine of the total depravity and the total inability of man.
Now I want to read you some scriptures. Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. I'd like you
to look at these with me. Romans chapter 3. Verse 10, we read of four nuns
here. Four nuns. As it is written, there is 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 Turn to Romans chapter 8, verse 6. For to be carnally minded
is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because
the carnal mind, that's the mind you were born with and that I
was born with. That's what we came into the world with, the
fleshly mind, the mind of the flesh. The carnal mind is enmity. against God. Not it's at enmity. It's enmity itself. For it is
not subject to the law of God. And look at this next phrase.
Neither indeed can be. It lacks the ability. So then,
they that are in the flesh cannot please God. They lack the ability. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. 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 teaches, 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 know. He lacks the ability
to know them because they're spiritually discerned. Turn to
John chapter 6, one other scripture. Now these are statements regarding
the total depravity and the total inability of man, and the two
go together. John chapter 6, verse 43, Jesus therefore answered
and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves, no man can. come to me." He doesn't say,
no man may come. He says, no man can come. No
man has the ability to come to me except the Father which has
sent me draw him. Look down in verse 65 of the
same chapter. And he said, therefore said I
unto you that no man can come to me except it were given to
him of my Father. Now, I've got a question. I'm
not asking you if you believe the Bible teaches total depravity
and total inability. I'm not asking you that because
obviously it does. These scriptures are unmistakable
that the Bible does teach the total depravity and the total
inability of man. So I'm not asking you if you
believe the Bible teaches this. But here's what I am asking you.
Are you totally depraved? And are you totally unable? Now that's my question. Here is total depravity. All I do is sin. Here is total inability. I cannot not sin. That's me. Sin's my name. Sin's my nature. Sin's my actions. Because all I do is sin, and
I cannot not sin, I am completely unable to sit in judgment to anybody, over anybody, concerning
anything. I've got no right to judge anybody. Because I know deep down in my
heart I do the same things. Isn't that what Paul said in
Romans 2? Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever
thou art that judges, for thou that judges doest the same things. And because of my depravity,
because of my inability, I have absolutely no claims on God. If He leaves me to myself and
lets me go to hell, just and holy is His name. Now, if my
salvation is dependent in any way to any degree on me doing
something or stop doing something, I know this about me, I won't
be saved. I know that. Jeremiah said, Jeremiah said in Jeremiah chapter
13, verse 23, can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard
his spots? So can you do good who are accustomed
to doing evil. Now, with regard to my own personal
depravity and inability, which I really believe, you know what
else I think about it? It's all my fault. I'm not a victim. I can't blame
Adam. I can't blame God the way Adam
did. The woman you gave me, she gave
me the fruit not to eat. And if you wouldn't have given
me this woman, it wouldn't have taken place. No. No. All my sin is all my
fault. Every bit of it. I'm no victim
in this thing. It's all my fault. Now understand this. It is only
when a person sees that they're totally depraved, totally unable,
and it's all their fault, that person is going to cry for mercy.
Mercy is all they have. They won't ask for anything else.
You will not. I will not ask for mercy until
I'm brought to that place. Now let me tell you a couple
of things that are true regarding this person who really believes
that he is totally depraved and totally unable, somebody who
does nothing but sin, everything, everything they do, it's got
to be labeled sin. And they cannot stop being this
way. Let me tell you something that's
very true regarding this person. First of all, what we call the
doctrine of grace becomes the doctrine of necessity. Big difference. Now, if I believe
that I'm totally depraved and totally unable to do anything
spiritual, you know what becomes absolutely necessary to me? It
becomes absolutely necessary that God unconditionally chooses
me to be saved. I mean election. I don't argue
with it. I know it's the only hope I have.
that God would choose me. Let me tell you something else.
The person who believes they're totally depraved, the only hope
that they have is that Jesus Christ actually died for them
and paid for their sins so that they're gone. They don't argue
with limited atonement. They say, Lord, let me be found
in Christ. It's not just believing things
because they're logical and make sense. They do. You know, they
do. It does make sense. I remember one time I was, I
was talking to a preacher about limited atonement. And he said,
he said, you're just trying to make sense. Yeah, well, yeah,
it does make sense, but that's not why I believe it. I believe
it because it's what the Bible teaches. It's the only hope I
have. If you really believe you're totally depraved, the only hope
you have is that Christ died for you. If you really believe
this about yourself, the only hope you have is that God the
Holy Spirit comes to you irresistibly and invincibly in omnipotent
grace and gives you life and causes you to believe and causes
you to repent and causes you to come to Christ. I mean, it's
absolutely necessary. If you really believe this about
yourself, You know that the only way that you'll persevere in
the faith is if He preserves you all the way to the end. I mean, this is not just doctrine
to argue over or say, well, I see the Bible teaches that. You need
this. You need to hear it, too. You need to hear it. If you don't
need to hear this, you don't really believe it. It's as simple
as that. It's only when I am faced with
my utter inability that I can hear with God all things are
possible. This is when inability meets
omnipotence. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Now, first of all, let's begin
here. God is omnipotent. And because He is omnipotent,
all-powerful, whatever He wills, He has the power to perform.
Because He's omnipotent, He's God. Because God is omnipotent,
He has the power to preserve this Word that tells us how an
unable sinner can be saved by an omnipotent God. Now if he's
omnipotent, he can prove this word in this book. Everything
we believe is from this book. We don't go to the Bible to prove
what we believe. There, it's right there. No,
we go to this book to find out what to believe, don't we? And
we believe that all-powerful God has the power to write a
book, which he did, and it to be preserved. Preserved. And we don't have the Men's ideas
and where they change this and you know, we have the word of
God. It's translated I know the word the originals in Greek and
Hebrew and so on but this is the word of God and because of
God's power turn with me to Luke chapter 1 Verse 26 And in the sixth month
the angel Gabriel was sent from God into 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 unto her and said, Hail, thou art highly favored.
The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast
in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel
said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with
God And behold, shalt thou conceive in thy womb, and bring forth
a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, 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 for ever. And in his kingdom there shall
be no end. Then Mary asked a very reasonable
question. Then said Mary unto the angel,
How should this be, seeing I know not a man? I've never had any
kind of relations with man. How am I going to have a baby?
The angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power 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 old age, and this is the
sixth month with her that was called barren. For with God nothing
shall be impossible." You see, because God's all-powerful, God can become flesh. And because God has all power
and all authority, he can do what he does as a representative
man and as a substitute. And because he's all powerful,
he can work out a perfect righteousness for me. and keep the law perfectly. And he could do it because he's
God. He could do it as a representative man, as a substitute. You see,
if I kept the law for you, it wouldn't do any good because
it'd be me keeping it. It'd just be me. It wouldn't be for you.
It'd just be for me. Not that I can keep the law anyway. But
he could keep it for somebody else. And he, as God, has the
authority because he's God and he's able to do it. He can take
my sin and make it. His sin. And He can take His
righteousness and make it my righteousness. He can do that
because He's God. He has all authority. And He
has such power in His death that when He died on Calvary Street,
all my sin was put away. It was made to not be. It was made to... I didn't do
it. It's what's called justification.
He actually put away my, he has the authority, the power to do
that. I remember one time hearing a preacher say, well, he got
caught in some kind of scandal. He said, well, I put those sins
under the blood. And I thought, who gives you the authority to
do that? You don't have the power to do anything like that. But
he does. He does. And he can be raised
from the dead. He gave himself life from the
dead because of his omnipotence. Explain that to me. How does
the God-man die in the first place, and how does he give himself
life? Because he's omnipotent. Because he's God. When he was
raised from the dead, every one of God's people were justified.
He's got the power to bring me into glory, to make me perfectly
conformed to his image. For with God, nothing is impossible.
Now here's how glorious this is. I have some small awareness
of my sinfulness. I don't know anywhere near how
bad it is. You know, I was talking to somebody the other day, and
he said, well, I feel really bad about myself. I said, it's a lot worse
than you think. It's a lot worse. Yet, I believe that right now,
when God sees me, because with God all things are possible,
when God sees me, he sees me as one who is holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in his very sight. Because with God, All
things are possible. That's what happens when inability
meets omnipotence. Turn with me for a moment to
John chapter 9. There's two other scriptures I want us to look
at. John chapter 9. This is when the Lord gave sight
to this man that was born blind. Verse 32, since the world began,
was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was
born blind? Hadn't happened. Hadn't happened. Now, it happened
now, though. He gave this man who was completely
blind sight. Now, look in verse 39. And Jesus
said, for judgment, I am coming to this world that they which
see not, they completely lack the ability to see, might see. And that they would see, they're
able to see. They might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which
were with him heard these words and said unto him, Are we blind
also? Jesus said unto them, If you were blind, if you could not see in yourself
one reason why I would look in favor toward you, you can't see. You're blind. If you were blind,
you should have no sin. You show me any sinner. who can't
see why God would look in favor toward them. And I'll show you
a man who has no sin. That's what the Savior says. He doesn't just say their sins
are forgiven. He says they don't have any. In Him is no sin. But now you
say, we see, we can see. I can see why God would say,
me, I did this, I quit doing that. Your sin remains. It's still there. One other scripture, Romans 4. Verse 17, as it's written, aren't you thankful
for the it's written? I'm so thankful for that. I mean, that's, we'd be in trouble
if Todd said this. That wouldn't mean anything,
would it? But it's written. As it's written, I have made
thee a father of many nations. Now, when the Lord said that,
He still didn't have any kids. But yet he said, I have made
thee. Not I will make thee. I have made thee. That shows
us the supremacy of God's will. If he wills it, it's past tense
before it's even done. It's happened. I have made thee
a father of many nations before him whom he believed, even God,
who quickens the dead and calls those things which be not. as though they were. I'm one of those things that
be not. I'm like that fellow with the
withered hand. It's withered. Stretch forth
thy hand. I can't. But I do. Because he told me to. That's
the supremacy of his will. Verse 18, who against hope believed
in hope that he might become the father of many nations according
to that which was spoken. So shall thy seed be. And being
not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead when
he's about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's
womb. He considered not his inability. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able also to perform. He believed in God's ability. Now I want to leave you with
this one last thought. Do you believe that God is able to save you with no contribution
from you. That's what's called saving faith. Lord, we ask that you bless this
word to our good. Lord, we confess we're completely
unable and totally depraved. and how we need your grace, how
we need your omnipotent grace. Bless this for your glory and
our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.