There is no hour in which we
need Him more than this one. Me, in order to preach with His power, our sufficiencies
of God, Paul said, we have nothing without Him. And also to hear the gospel. There's no greater need in this
world and for us to hear his gospel. Let's look at Matthew again this
morning. Chapter 19, verse 23. I want to go back and get a few
of the verses that we briefly looked at last week. So we'll
start with verse 23. 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 is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God. It has been said that what our
Lord was referring to here when he talked about the eye of a
needle and a camel going through it, he was talking about a well-known
archway or doorway that was in the area that was well-traveled. and known by them and others
that was shaped like the eye of a needle. And that it was
difficult if you were traveling with a camel, you know, that
was bearing a load for you, that it was difficult getting him
through that archway. And so our Lord uses this as
an illustration of how difficult it is to make a decision for
Jesus, quote unquote. religion will stop at nothing
in explaining away or trying to explain away the utter inability
of man that the Lord is clearly teaching here. He comes out plainly
after they are astonished at what he said. He comes out plainly
and says, with men it's impossible. That's what he's teaching here.
You're not teaching. You got to you know, do it carefully
or it's difficult, it's impossible. It's impossible for men to do
this. And people have come up with
some imaginary farce in order to avoid facing that truth. We're so far gone, we can't do
anything about it. We are hopeless and helpless
hanging up on the mercy of God. Do you have a problem with that?
If you do, then you sure enough have a problem because that's
where you are. It is impossible. That's what
he's saying. He's saying you could sooner
stuff a camel through the eye of a sewing needle than you could
come to me. Because that's what he told the
man to do. Come to me, follow me. Get rid of your idols and
come follow me, the true God. And then he declared to them
plainly, it's impossible for man to do that. And this is humiliating to the
flesh to acknowledge that there's nothing we can do to be saved. It seems ridiculous to religion that God would command a sinner
to do something that that sinner can't do. I've heard him say
that. God would never ask you or command you to do something
that you can't do. Well, we know better than that. Have you read the Bible? Then
you know better than that. God has never commanded the sinner
to do anything that we can do. You look at every time he commands
something in the scripture, every time in his law, when he was
performing his miracles on people and said, stretch forth your
head or rise, take up your bed and walk. Every time he commands
something in his word, it's something there's not. With men, it's impossible. Christ's message to every sinner
was and is, come to me. Come to me that you might have
life. Believe on me and you shall not perish, but have everlasting
life. Come to me. And then he says
in John 6, 44, no man can come to me. Well, that doesn't make
sense. If God's turned the light on,
it does. If you have spiritual understanding, it does. It makes
perfect sense. With men, it's impossible. But
with God, if He bestows His grace upon
you and gives you life, not only does it enable you to come to
Him, it absolutely assures that you will come to Him. But you
can't do it. You can't do it without him.
No man can come unto me except the Father, which hath sent me,
take him from where he is and put him where he's not, in me. This is illustrated, as I've
already alluded to, by practically every miracle our Lord did. And
the ones, the miracles that he did that don't illustrate this
are not teaching that. When he turned the water into
wine, he's not teaching salvation of a sinner there directly by
that illustration. He is teaching there concerning
his precious blood, which is the sinner's cleansing, sin-redeeming,
Precious, the precious blood of Christ is what we're redeemed
with, not silver and gold. So it is our salvation there.
But every miracle that he performed upon a man, like when he said,
Lazarus, come forth from the dead. The words of our text apply
to that. Lazarus, come forth. Matthew
19, 26, if you say that in the case of Lazarus, it goes like
this, with Lazarus, this is impossible. Isn't it? If you do it in the words of
John 6, 44, it goes like this. Lazarus cannot come forth except
the father which hath sent me. Draw him, give him life. It's the same with rise, take
up your bed and walk. This is why our Lord illustrates
the act of God saving a sinner by means of these miracles, because
with men, it is impossible. The answer to this rich young
ruler's question, now think with me. The answer to his question,
and the whole thing started with this, what good thing shall I
do that I may have eternal life? You know what the answer to that
question is? With men, this is impossible. It's right there in the context.
It's the same text. Well, why didn't our Lord just
say that to him? He did. He just showed him that instead
of saying the words. He showed him that. He proved
to the man right there that he couldn't do what was necessary
to have eternal life. With men, it is impossible. The man had to walk away admitting
it's impossible. I cannot do that. He went away
sorrowful. He showed him that with men,
this is impossible. And then he plainly declared
that to his disciples. Has the Lord showed you that?
I suspect he has most who are here because you love this gospel. of the free grace of God, the
inability of man, and the free, sovereign grace of God. If salvation was an exercise
of your free will, it wouldn't be impossible. I exercise my will in those things
in which my will is free every day. I exercise my will all the
time. But to call it free It's not
just a stretch, it's a lie. My will is bound to my evil nature. It's wicked like my nature is.
I'm free to do all kinds of different sin that I want to do. But salvation is impossible.
You can't will it. If you could, it wouldn't be
impossible, now would it? So it's one or the other. It's
either an exercise of your free will or it's impossible with
you. Now based on our text, which is it? Based on the whole word
of God, which is it? And do you see here how this
is a vital matter? This is a matter upon which the
very glory of God hangs. If you can be saved by a decision
of your free will, then the glory and salvation is yours. And God
just gets honorable mention for giving you another chance. He
gets honorable. Thank you, Lord, for giving us
a chance to be saved. Is that what you thanking him
for? Or is it this, thank God for
saving me, for coming where I was and saving me, for drawing me, for saying to me, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. I've caused you to do what you
would never do on your own, what no man can do. I brought you
to myself. That's what love does. That's
what the everlasting love of God does. Instead of like to
this rich young ruler, he said, if you will be perfect, if you
will be perfect, if then go sell all you have. What did he say
to Peter? Two words. It may be one in the original,
I'm not sure. Follow me. That's different, isn't it? It's different. When he says
to Peter, follow me, that's the one that said, let there be light.
There's no if in it. There's no decision on Peter's
part. There's obedience. The sun didn't
decide to shine. It obeyed the voice of the power
of God. And that's what Peter did, and
all the other disciples. The glory of God hangs upon this
now. If you can be saved by a decision
of your free will, then the glory is yours. If with you, however,
it is impossible, and you are hanging upon the free mercy of
God, if you are completely and utterly shut up to Christ, who
said, I give life to whomsoever I will, If salvation is not you
doing something for God, but is, as we've seen already this
morning in the scripture, God freely and graciously doing something
for you that you can't do for yourself, then all of the glory
in saving sinners is his. And this God I'm talking about,
he said, I will not give my glory to another. This is why Paul
said what he did the way he did in Ephesians 2.8, for by grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. lest any man should go around
popping off about his free will decision that he made for Jesus. This is why he said in 2 Thessalonians
2.13, we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God gave you a chance to be saved.
No, that ain't what Paul was thankful for. He said, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Did you hear what he just
said? He chose you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. Belief of the truth. Faith in
Christ is the means through which God's electing grace was bestowed
upon you. Christ is the author and the
finisher of that faith. And the reason he authored it
and finishes it is because he chose you before the world began. And look at it again in the text
there in Matthew 19, this man went away sorrowful, and could
not follow Christ for he had great possessions. And the Lord
Jesus told his disciples that the reason that young man did
that is because it is impossible for a sinner to choose Christ
over themselves. Is that what happened? He went
away, I've got great, he had a decision to make. The same
thing religion will give you this morning. And you know what
he did? The same thing everyone who has a decision to make will
do. He chose himself over Christ. It's that simple. Christ said
it's impossible for him to do otherwise. He can't do anything
else. God's going to have to do something for him. He's not
going to do something for God. It's impossible. And then Peter
said in verse 27, now think about this. What Peter is saying here,
he said, we've left all and followed thee. What he's saying there
is we've done what that man could not do. Now you think about this
with me. Isn't that interesting? The way
that this is connected, the context of this. The Lord just said,
it's impossible for you to do that. What was he referring to?
What he had just told that young man to do. Sell everything you
have and follow me. Peter said, we've done that.
And Peter was telling the truth. Christ just said it's impossible,
and Peter said, we've done it. Have you? The Lord didn't rebuke
Peter for saying that. He could have rebuked him, not
because it wasn't true, but because when you really think about it,
what have we left? What have we given up in order
to follow him? Paul said, you know what we've
given up? A bunch of dung. But he didn't rebuke him for
it. but rather acknowledge that indeed that was exactly what
Peter and the others had done. That's what he did. Let's read the rest of the text.
Where'd we start in 23? Verse 25. Now, when his disciples
heard it, they were exceedingly amazed saying, who then can be
saved? If this young man coming up here
asking, how can I go to heaven when I die? If he can't be saved,
then who in the world can? With me, that's impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. And let me remind you, when he
uses that word possible there, he's not using it in the sense
of maybe it'll happen, that it's conceivable that it might happen.
What he's saying there, that word possible has to do with
ability. God can do it. Man can't do it,
but God can do it. You see the difference? Man is
not able, but God is able. Is your God able? That's what
King Darius asked Daniel. Is your God able to save you
from the lion's den? Mine is. On the authority of
his word right there, he's able. That's what he's saying there.
Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken
all and followed thee. That's exactly what the Lord
said that that young man, if he wanted to be perfect, that's
what he had to do. We've left all and followed you. What shall
we have therefore? Boy, that's me. That's you. He could have been rebuked for
that, you reckon? But look at what the Lord said to him. Verily
I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration,
when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, Ye
also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. And every one, every one, is this you? Is this me? Every one that hath forsaken
houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife,
or children, or lands, for my namesake, shall receive an hundredfold,
and shall inherit everlasting life. In another place he said,
in this life you'll receive a hundredfold and in the next life eternal. Isn't that beautiful? Who in
their right mind wouldn't follow him? Nobody. That's what we talked about this
morning. We have to be in our right mind. That's the issue.
How does that happen? His power with God all things
can be done. But many that are first shall
be last, and the last shall be first. And this is so true. This is not what I wanted to
dwell on this morning, but He provides us a hundredfold
anything that we have to forsake for following Him. And that can
happen. Family? Whatever it is. Whatever you part with for His
glory, you're not going to be the loser for it. You wouldn't
have done it without His grace. And you're not going to be the
loser for it. And I'm not either. And in the world to come, everlasting life. So the Lord
acknowledges that what they did, what Peter had done and the others
had done, was exactly what He just said was impossible. It's
impossible. How did they do it? With God,
all things are possible. Now let's trace this back now.
What was the difference between this rich young ruler, who went
away sorrowful, and Peter? We've already used Peter as an
example here. It could be any of the apostles
here, or any of his people for that matter. What's the difference?
What's the difference? Well, in the same context here,
just a few chapters back, turn to Matthew 16. Verse 13, when Jesus came into
the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying,
whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? And they said, some
say thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremias,
or one of the prophets. And he saith unto them, but whom
say ye that I am? And when we looked at this, we
talked about how the Lord drew a clear distinction here. There
are two kinds of people. There are those that say all
those other things, and there are those that say, What Peter
said. Who do you say I am? It all has
to do with who Christ is. Who he is. Who do you say I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona. Now, for this rich young ruler
to have obeyed the Lord, and sold everything that he had and
followed Christ, he would have had to have known who he was.
Why did Peter follow Christ? Why did he do what he claimed
to do and rightfully so in our text? Left everything he had. He dropped his nets right there
and left his father and his boat. And followed Christ. Why did
he do that? He knew who he was. He wasn't saying what others
were saying. About who am I? Who do they say that I am? Who
do you say I am? You see the difference? Right here in this
same context now. He would have had to have known,
if he had known who he was, he would have done it. Peter knew
who he was. How did he know who he was? And
Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven. With men this is impossible, but with God. Do you hear those
words there in Matthew 16, 17? Do you hear? The words of our text echoing
in those words. With men, this is impossible.
Flesh and blood. Can't figure it out and can't
teach it and can't know it. But with God. He can turn the
light on. He can open your eyes. He can
give you life. He can open your ears that you
might hear the gospel, which is the very power of God unto
salvation. With God. It'll be done. It'll be done. For that rich young ruler to
have obeyed the Lord and left all he had and come and follow
Christ, the Lord Jesus would have had to be worth more to
him than all of his possessions. You think with me this morning.
That's why he didn't do it. He had great possession. To him, they were great. To the
believer, It don't matter how rich he was. To the believer,
there's not anything great about that. Thank God for it. Thank God for earthly means to
honor and glorify him with. But that's not what's great. Christ would have had to be worth
more to him than what he had. Matthew 1345 again the kingdom
of heaven and again Matthew 1345 the Lord's been teaching us this
same truth all through this book. Matthew 1345 he said the kingdom
of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls who
when he had found one pearl of great price did what that rich
young ruler could not do. He went and sold all that he
had and bought it. He's been teaching this same
thing. How did he find that pearl? With men it is impossible, but
with God. How did he have sense enough
to sell everything he had and buy that pearl? With men it is
impossible, but with God. By faith, Moses did exactly what
this rich young ruler could not do. Hebrews 11, 24. By faith, Moses, when he was
come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Why would he do that? the same reason in reverse that
the rich young ruler could not, esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. I would rather be with Christ
and be an outcast than to be without him and have everything
this world can give. Can you say that this morning
honestly? How? With men it's impossible. But with God. But with God. Esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he had respect unto
the recompense of the reward. Christ is our inheritance and
our exceeding great reward. If you ever see him as such, as I said last week, you'll phone
in selling everything you have. You won't even bother to go back
and do it. You'll call up and hire somebody to sell everything
you have and never take your eyes off of him again. How was
Moses able to do that? We read it right there, by faith.
By faith. That's the gift of faith now.
What a gift. What a gift. If God gives you
faith in his son, you will sell everything you have. You will
abandon yourself and all that you think, and all that you think
you know, and all that you've done, everything that you're
trusting in now, and you'll never take your eyes off of Christ
again. You'll follow Him. You'll be with Him. How was He able to do it? By
faith. Where did that faith come from? It was not of Himself.
It was the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. We just read it a while ago.
Not of Himself. With men it's impossible. But
with God. How in the world did He know
that Christ was worth more than all the treasures of this world.
How did he know that? Not very many know that. Not
many esteem him as such. How did he know that? Flesh and
blood did not reveal this unto him, but God the Father which
is in heaven. Christ said to Nicodemus, here's
how you're going to know that. Here's how you're going to follow
me. Here's how you're going to believe on me. You must be born from
above. Look up that word again in the
original sentence. You must be born again. That
word again means from above. Salvation is by the free, sovereign,
distinguishing, electing grace of God. Not of him that willeth, not
of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." Now, does that mean we go around
telling sinners you can't be saved? Well, yes and no. Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that we make
it clear, as the scriptures do, that with men it is impossible. You're not going to work it up. And we do so because, as we've
seen, it's a question of who gets the glory. But also, the gospel command
is repent and believe. Just like our Lord went around
commanding sinners to do exactly what they couldn't do. As we've
said before, if he'd have commanded that man with a withered hand
to swim across the Sea of Galilee and back, Even with a withered
hand, he'd have figured out some way to do that. It might have
taken him a while. He would have worked out and strengthened the rest
of his body. And if I'm gonna go to heaven when I die, you
know, if he'd have told you to do some great thing, you would
have done it. But what he told Naaman to do there is impossible. Well, wait a minute, he can go
wash himself seven times. No, he told him to bow. He told him to submit. He told
him to do that, which is repulsive to the nature. Told him to do
that, which is beneath us by nature. See, we think we can
do better than that. We don't have to just abandon
all hope and cast ourselves on Christ. There are things we can
do. We can walk an aisle. We can tie. We can go to church
every Sunday. We can be good to mama. No, you
can't. No. You're going to have to submit. You're going to have to do what
you can't do. Isn't that what he's teaching
here? You're going to have to do what
it is impossible for you to do. Cast all of your hope, cast your
very soul, and say with Paul, I know whom I have believed.
and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've
committed unto him against that day. You're going to have to
love the one that by nature with your very being you despise.
You can't do that. You can't just decide to do that.
Even in natural things, you can't just decide to love what you
hate. I just decide I'm going to go
eat that dead dog on the freeway. I'm just going to decide that
looks pretty tasty to me. I'm going to go eat that dead
dog. No, you can't. You may make yourself do it, but you're not
going to enjoy it. You're not going to love it. You can't do it. You love yourself
too much to cast your soul upon Christ. You love your righteousness
too much to abandon it for his. You're too proud to say my only
hope to ever be clean is that precious blood that he shed for
sinners. You're too proud. You're not going to do it. You
will not come to him that you might have life. But what do we do? We command
people to do what they can't do. Repent and believe. We issue that command as those
sinners were able to obey it because they very well might
be able to if God gives them life. Peradventure, God will
give them repentance. Tell them to do, Timothy, what
they can't do. Teach them the truth and command
that they do what they can't do. Maybe, peradventure, God
will give them repentance and they'll acknowledge the truth.
They're not going to do it unless he does, but he might just do
it. You tell them to do it. You command them. And you preach
Christ crucified and say, this is the sinner's only hope. Believe. Believe and be saved. And we
issue that command as we preach the gospel. And God may enable
sinners to do it this morning, like the disciples were able
to, and Moses was able to do the impossible. We know that
God gives grace and power to do the impossible. And sinners
are saved by doing that which is impossible with them. And
so we say, repent, believe. Forget what you think you know.
and hear the word of God concerning him and you and how he saves
sinners. Turn to Acts chapter 2. We see this in action right here in Acts
chapter 2. This is exactly what Peter did. Verse 36. Preaching the gospel now, let
all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard this, they
were stabbed in their heart. That's what that word is. Stabbed
in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the
apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? And then Peter said
unto them, repent. We just saw that they're not
going to do that unless God grants it to them. From 2 Timothy, that's
what Paul said. Repent and be baptized, every
one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promise
is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call. The promise is
to everyone that hears my voice this morning, whom the Lord our God shall call. Religion would deduce and do
deduce from this in their fleshly reasoning that if these sinners
were commanded to repent, then they must be able by an act of
their free will to obey that command. But the scriptures teach
otherwise. Let me quote that verse to you,
2 Timothy 2 25. Paul said to Timothy, in meekness,
instruct those that oppose themselves. If God perventure will give them
repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Now, what he's
saying there is you teach them the truth so that they'll acknowledge
it. Tell them to do the impossible.
Obey, believe God's truth. And when you tell them, maybe
God will give them repentance so that they can do it. With
men, it's impossible, but with God. If sinners are going to stop
believing what they believe by nature and start believing God's
truth concerning themselves, concerning God himself, and concerning
how God saves a sinner, by free grace, not of him that willeth,
not of him that willeth, but he says, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. That's how sinners are saved.
By God freely bestowing his mercy upon them through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. If they're going to acknowledge
that and believe that, God is going to have to give them something.
a free gift, the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. Give them repentance. That's
what's going to have to happen. But you see how that Peter in
Acts 2, when he said, what shall we do? And of course, they're
crying that out in despair. They're saying, what in the world
could we do to make up? You don't make up for killing
God's son. But he said, here's what you
do. And he didn't say, well, maybe God will give you repentance,
although he may very well have been thinking that, and I guarantee
he was praying for it in his heart. He desired it. But he said to them, repent.
And that's our message. Isn't that what John the Baptist's
message was? He went around preaching, repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And we do too. We preach Christ crucified. We
preach that what the law could not do in that you were unable
to measure up to its standard. It was impossible with you. But
God sent his son to do it. Sent his son to obey the law
for his people and die for their sins. What was impossible with
you, God has done it. And we declare the gospel of
Christ and his finished work of redemption for sinners. We,
as Paul put it in one place, in God's stead, command all men
everywhere to repent and be reconciled to God. And as I do, I pray that God
would give you repentance and faith in his son. If you're saved
this morning, The reason God saved you is because he loved
you. Romans 9 13. And because he loved you, he
chose you unto salvation. Second Thessalonians 2 13. And
he predestinated you to be conformed to the image of his son. That's what glorified means.
Romans 8 29. And in order that you be like
his son, he sent his son to live a perfect life in your place.
He did everything that you can't do, what's impossible with you,
and didn't do everything that it's impossible for you to resist,
that God has commanded you not to do. He did always those things
that pleased the Father and He sent him to do that and to
die vicariously for your sins. That just means in the place
of another. He died in your stead. Redeeming you from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for you. Bearing in his body
on the tree your iniquities so that you might not. And bearing
the consequence of them so that you never will. Galatians 3 13 and Having done
all this for you He brings that salvation work that was done
for you home to you by doing a work in you He regenerates He gives life
to your very soul you which were dead in trespasses and sins By
the power of his Holy Spirit. You must be born again. I You
must be given life again, a different kind of life. He gives repentance of sins and
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a free gift of his grace.
Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 where we read and 2 Timothy 2, 25 where
we read. He could have turned that rich
young ruler from all of his possessions and turned him unto the Lord
if he'd wanted to. He does it for who he wants to. He makes us willing to sell all we have in our hearts
where it counts. I've never physically sold everything
I have, but by God's grace I don't have anything really in this
world but Christ. Isn't that true of you? And I
can see that most of the time. He makes us willing to sell all
that we have in our hearts where it counts. That man could have physically
sold all that he had and followed Christ for the wrong reason,
and not done that in his heart, and it wouldn't have meant anything.
Psalm 110, three, thy people shall be willing in the day of
thy power. And all of this, starting with the love of God, and come
in where we are with the work of regenerating grace in us and
everything in between the redemptive precious blood of our Savior
that was shed on Calvary. I was saved when he died for
me. I was saved when he died for me. By one offering he hath perfected
forever them that he sanctified. By one offering, he perfected. If you will be perfect, sell all you have and come follow
me. And when he hung on that cross,
he cried that one word before he gave up the ghost, perfect. Who was he talking about when
he said that? By one offering, he hath perfected forever. those whom He sanctified with
that precious blood. Perfect. With men, all of this is impossible. That's an understatement. That's
evident. How are you going to get to God? But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love, wherewith
He loved us, With Him, all these things are
not only possible, but they're accomplished for
all of His people. Finished, perfected, complete. You are complete in Him. And by His grace, we come to
Him and say, Lord, if you will, you
can. That's what that word possible
means there. It doesn't mean that it might
be done, or it's possible in the sense of statistically somehow
or another. It means if he will, he can. Oh, repent. Believe on the Savior. For whosoever believeth on him
shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Let's pray together.