Yet, You Lack One Thing

Q: What does the Bible say about eternal life?

Eternal life is a gift from God, given through faith in Jesus Christ, not by our works or righteousness. The Bible teaches that eternal life is obtained not through our own merit or obedience but through faith in Jesus Christ. In Luke 18:18-27, the rich young ruler seeks to know what he must do to inherit eternal life, highlighting the misconception that works can earn salvation. Instead, Jesus emphasizes the necessity of surrendering all to follow Him, illustrating that eternal life requires a heart transformation rather than mere adherence to the law. Moreover, passages like Ephesians 2:8-9 remind us that salvation is purely by grace through faith, underscoring that it's not of ourselves but is a gift from God.

Q: How do we know that salvation by grace is true?

Salvation by grace is confirmed through Scripture, where God reveals His mercy and the necessity of faith in Christ alone. The truth of salvation by grace is firmly rooted in Scripture, particularly in the New Testament. In Romans 9-10, the Apostle Paul clarifies that righteousness cannot be attained by works of the law but is given through faith in Christ. Jesus Himself speaks to this in the account of the rich young ruler, demonstrating that adherence to the law is insufficient for salvation. The consistent message throughout the Bible shows that it is God's mercy and grace that grant us salvation, making it accessible to all who believe, regardless of their past or standing.

Q: Why is faith in Christ important for Christians?

Faith in Christ is essential for salvation and spiritual growth, as it is through Him that we receive righteousness and eternal life. Faith in Christ is the cornerstone of the Christian faith because it is the means by which we are justified before God. In Luke 18, Jesus tells the rich young ruler that he lacks one thing: true faith in Him. This highlights that moral behavior and religious observance, while commendable, cannot substitute for a genuine relationship with Christ. Moreover, Ephesians 2:8-9 emphasizes that we are saved by grace through faith, which not only brings us into a rightful standing with God but also empowers us for spiritual growth and obedience. Thus, faith in Christ is vital for both our initial salvation and our continued walk with God.

Q: What does it mean to lack one thing in regard to salvation?

To lack one thing means missing the essential faith in Christ that is required for salvation. The phrase 'yet lackest thou one thing' from Jesus's encounter with the rich young ruler signifies the crucial element of faith that this individual was missing. While he was outwardly moral and respected, he failed to understand that true salvation requires acknowledgment of one's inability to earn favor with God. In essence, lacking that one thing indicates a heart not fully surrendered to Christ, a heart still clinging to self-righteousness or worldly possessions. Jesus’s challenge to sell all and follow Him was aimed at revealing this lack and demonstrating that faith in Him alone is necessary for eternal life. Without this vital faith, one remains outside the grace and mercy offered through Christ.

Q: How does self-righteousness affect salvation?

Self-righteousness blinds individuals to their need for Christ and hinders their ability to accept God's grace. Self-righteousness is a significant barrier to salvation as it leads individuals to believe they can achieve righteousness through their own good works. In the story of the rich young ruler, he exemplifies this by claiming to have kept the commandments from his youth. However, Jesus exposes the flaw in his belief, showing that self-righteousness prevents one from seeing the true standard of God's holiness and their own inability to meet it. Romans 10:3-4 clarifies that those who pursue righteousness by the law do not submit to God's righteousness in Christ. Therefore, self-righteousness not only fosters pride but also deprives one of the grace that is freely offered to all who humbly come to Christ in faith.

In Luke 18, verses 18 through
27, we have a story of an event in the life of our Lord Jesus
that Matthew, Mark, and Luke were all three inspired of God
to record. It is the story of the rich young
ruler who came to the Lord Jesus asking what he must do that he
may have eternal life. Now, all three accounts give
us different details with regard to the story, and yet all three
accounts tell us the same thing and convey the same message.
The fact that it is recorded three times in these three gospel
narratives, what men call the synoptic gospels, those gospels
that deal with the chronological history of our Lord's earthly
life and ministry, The fact that it is recorded three times ought
to draw our attention to the fact that our Lord here has some
special lessons for us to learn. When our Lord Jesus met with
Peter and would restore his fallen disciple, he compelled Peter
three times to confess his faith and his love for him. And when
he took that same disciple, and would compel him to go preach
the gospel to the Gentiles, he showed him a vision three times
before he would go carry the message of God's grace to Cornelius
and his household. Now here is the message given
three times. We will look at the verses one
by one. We have before us here a rich young ruler, a young man
who is anxious about his soul, who is concerned about eternal
life. I'd like to meet a few folks
like that. Such people are rare. He was rich, but he was concerned
for his soul. He was young, but he was concerned
for eternity. He was a ruler among men, but
he came to be taught by the Lord Jesus, the despised carpenter. This rich young ruler came running
up to the Lord Jesus and said, Good Master, what shall I do
to inherit eternal life? Now, our Lord knew the man's
heart. He knew that this man was thoroughly familiar with
the law of Moses, the commandments God gave by Moses. He knew that
this young man thought just like almost all men do, Indeed, he
thought, like all men by nature do, that eternal life is to be
gained by works of goodness, morality, and righteousness,
in his case, by works of obedience to the law God gave to the children
of Israel. And therefore the Lord answered
this man according to the law. He said to him that he was to
keep the commandments. And here he specifies commandments
having to do with loving your neighbor with all your heart.
And this rich young ruler responded, ìAll these have I kept from my
youth up.î He said, ìIíve been a good boy all my life. Iíve
been a Christian all my life. I was raised in the church. Iíve
always loved God. Iíve always been obedient.î And then the master said to him,
ìYet lackest thou One thing. Spirit of God. Drive that one
thing home to our hearts. Some of you. I do not doubt are
just like this rich young ruler. Yet lacking one thing. Moral. That's to be commended. Morality seeks out better than
morality. Yet lackest thou one thing. You're respectable in the eyes
of men. Your friends here and your friends
around you where you live and family respect you. That's good. Far better to be respectable
than to be unrespectable. Yet lackest thou one thing. You may even, in fact, I'm pretty
sure of it, you believe in God. You believe the Bible is the
word of God, you wouldn't be here otherwise. You believe,
in a sense it must be said, you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
that is, you believe that he's God. You believe that he is the
incarnate God, that he came down here to live and die in the room
instead of sedentary. You believe in his death, his
burial, his resurrection, those things you recognize and acknowledge
to be so. You even acknowledge that Jesus
Christ is the sinner's only hope of salvation before God. Yet
for all that, you know you're not a child of God. You know
you're not saved. You know that you're not an heir
of eternal life. And still in this state and condition,
it must be said, yet lackest thou one thing. Many, many, many
there are who are outwardly good, moral, respectable, religious
people who lack the one thing needful for life everlasting. Let's look at this ruler's question
in verse 18. A certain ruler asked him, saying,
Good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? That's
a question multitudes ask. When men and women are confronted
with the claims of Christ, confronted with their sin, confronted with
judgment, and brought to fear the wrath of God, brought under
a sense of guilt and condemnation, they tend to cry, What shall
I do? In the third chapter of Luke,
on three different occasions, we see our Lord Jesus confronted
by men whom he had confronted. Jews and publicans and even the
soldiers. And all three successively asked
our Savior, what shall we do then? What shall we do then? We're lost. We're condemned. We're under the judgment of God.
What shall we do then? On the day of Pentecost, when
Peter and the apostles declared what the Lord God had done in
the resurrection of Christ, in the outpouring of His Spirit.
Multitudes were pricked in their hearts, and those men of Judea
cried, What shall we do? The Philippian jailer, when he
came in about to kill himself, Paul cried out to him and said,
Do yourself no harm. We're all here. He cried, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? Now, many who made this cry,
were converted by the grace of God. That jailer was, no question. Many on the day of Pentecost,
3,000, were converted. But this rich young ruler comes
to the Lord Jesus not like that jailer and not like those on
the day of Pentecost. He comes to the Lord Jesus as
one who is proud and self-righteous and unbroken, concerned for eternity
but still proud. Concerned to inherit heavenly
glory, but still full of self-righteousness. In essence, when the Lord Jesus
told him what he must do, and the Lord Jesus was just answering
what this man had said, he said, what shall I do? And the man
was saying, you tell me what God requires and I'll do it. What arrogance. What pride that
a man should imagine. He could do that which the Holy
God demands of man. You see, he had a zeal for God. He had a zeal for righteousness,
but not according to knowledge. He was like the Jews that Apostle
Paul describes in Romans 9. Turn there if you will. Romans
chapter 9. Very, very important passage of Scripture. Paul tells
us why the Jews who had all the revelation that God gave to men
for 4,000 years, they and they alone had God's word, God's law,
God's prophets, God's priesthood, God's tabernacle, God's mercy
seat, God's temple. They and they alone had the sacrifices. They and they alone had the revelation
of God, and yet they, having the written Word, ignored the
Word of God in proud self-righteousness and would not believe on the
Son of God. And here's the reason. Look in
verse 31 of Romans 9. Israel, which followed after
righteousness, they pursued it. They wanted it. Israel, which
followed after righteousness, hath not attained to the law
of righteousness. Wherefore? Why didn't they? Because they sought it not by
faith. Do, do, will do anything, but
they will not believe God. Look at it. They sought it not
by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they
stumbled at that stumbling stone, they stumbled at the Lord Jesus
Christ. As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone
and a rock of offense. He who is laid of God a foundation
for our souls, upon whom we are built of God, he who is our only
hope, is to the self-righteous a stumbling stone. Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Shall not be confounded. Shall not be confused. Shall
not be put to shame. Now look at verse 1 of chapter
10. Paul says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. My heart's desire and
prayer to God for you is that you might be saved. Not just
religious. Not just that you be my friend.
Not just that you be a part of this congregation. Not just that
you be respected as some great person. But that you might be
saved. Now watch this. I bear them record. They have a zeal of God. They're
zealous. They're sincere. They're earnest. But not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, being ignorant of the righteousness of God in
Christ. Not ignorant of the fact that
God's righteous, everybody knows that. Ignorant of the righteousness
of God, which is in Christ Jesus the Lord, that righteousness
which God requires, that righteousness which only God can establish,
and that righteousness which only God can give. being ignorant
of the righteousness of a substitutionary Savior and Redeemer, a representative
and mediator, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
they have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
They will not bow to Christ. They will not bow to Christ and
believe Him. And you who cling to something
in yourselves, Here's your problem. You who think yourselves good,
some goodness in you, some goodness done by you, with which you hope
to commend yourself to God, some goodness you just can't let go
of, until you let go of your own, you will never have the
righteousness of God in Christ. For Christ is the end. of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. How many there are like those
Jews and like this rich young ruler, very moral, very proud,
very religious, and very lost. There are things to be commended.
There are things to be commended. This man wasn't a profligate
rebel. He was moral and religious, a good neighbor, a good friend,
a good son. In a day of abounding unbelief,
he comes to the Lord Jesus of his own accord, and he didn't
come like multitudes did. He didn't come to have some disease
healed. He didn't come to plead for the
Lord's mercy on a helpless child. He didn't come out of some extremity
or necessity. He didn't come to see some miracle
performed, some great thing done. He came out of concern for his
immortal soul. He was earnest and sincere. Mark
tells us he came running to Christ. He was orthodox in his creed.
This man believed God. He believed the scriptures to
be the word of God. He believed in the reality of
eternal life when multitudes did not. He was strict and devout
in the practice of religion. He worshipped Christ. Again,
Mark tells us he ran to the Lord Jesus and kneeled down before
him. He seems even to acknowledge
that Jesus Christ, that man, whom others looked upon merely
as a man, a poor, despised carpenter, he seems even to acknowledge
that this man is himself God the Son. Our Lord Jesus, when
he said to him, why do you call me good? There's none good but
God. He didn't say a thing. He's,
I'll take that. I'll take that. Seems as though
this is what he implies. He comes to this one whom he
acknowledges to be himself God, standing in front of him in human
flesh. And yet this young man had two
horrible, sorrowful, damning characteristics. He was ignorant. Brilliant, I doubt not, but ignorant. Our Lord said, Thou knowest the
commandments. He knew the letter of the word.
He knew what the law said, but he had no idea what the law taught. He could recite the scriptures,
but didn't understand the message of the scriptures. He didn't
know that the law requires truth in the inward parts. He didn't
know God requires not only that we keep the law outwardly, but
that it be kept inwardly and perfectly. He doesn't require
mere outward holiness, but absolute holiness. This man displays his
ignorance when he says, I've done that. These things I've
kept from my youth, I've always been good. Oh, never had any
lust. Well, I wouldn't say that. Never
coveted. Well, I wouldn't exactly say
that, but I've always been good. What do you call lust and covetousness? Those who are taught of God,
And I've chosen my words deliberately. Those who are taught of God will
never use such words as, I keep the law, or I have kept the law. It won't happen. Here's a man
who was taught of God, the Apostle Paul, that man who kept the law
blamelessly in his outward conduct when God saved him. When he was
taught of God, he said, I'm carnal, soul under sin. And I acknowledge
that the law is spiritual and holy and just and good. He said,
I am one who must confess, O wretched man that I am. He was taught
of God and understood that the law required something he couldn't
give. Not only was this man ignorant
of God's law and of God's salvation and of God's grace, ignorant
of himself, he was proud. dreadfully proud and self-righteous. Oh, beware of self-righteousness. You who are moral, you who are
my brothers and sisters in Christ, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees'
pride, hypocrisy, and self-righteousness. Nothing is more damning to the
souls of men Nothing is more likely to keep anyone from Christ
than self-righteousness. No sin more horrid than self-righteousness. And the Lord Jesus answers this
man's question plainly. Look at verse 19. The man asked
what he could do to win God's favor. And this is what the Master
said. If you want salvation by human
merit, if you want to be saved by something you do, Then Jesus
said to him, Why callest thou me good? None is good save one,
that's 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. Verse 21, he
said, All these things have I kept from my youth up. But he wasn't
all that he thought he was, was he? None of us are. There's far too
much pride and self-righteousness in the man talking to you and
in every one of you hearing me. This man did not, in reality,
keep the commandments. For the law must be kept perfectly,
kept in all points, kept at all times, kept outwardly and kept
inwardly. But the law being kept, was never
the intention of God for man. It never was. God did not give
the law so that you could set it up as a rule to live by. Brother
Larry and I were talking about this a little bit coming down
the road yesterday, coming back from Dingus. If I had my choice, I would not
have a big stone with the Ten Commandments sitting in any courthouse
in the land. Now, I despise the reason it was removed from the
various courthouses, but I wouldn't put it up. I wouldn't hang the
Ten Commandments on the wall of the church building. I wouldn't
hang them on the wall of the schoolhouse. I'd a whole lot
rather hang something like, be ye kind one to another. I wouldn't do it, because people
are taught and they intrinsically think, all men do by nature,
somehow by doing. The law, I can be saved. The
law was given, Bob, to show you you can't do it. You can't measure
up to what God is. You can't obey Him. You can't
be righteous. You can't do righteousness. The
law was designed to expose sin, identify sin, and condemn us
for sin. Now, the ungodly, they need it.
They need it. The reason we have so much chaos
in our land is because there's no law. Those who are ungodly
need something to hold them in restraint, else they will vent
their lust in every way. But the believer, no, no. The law is not made for a righteous
man. That's what the book says, isn't it? But for the unrighteous,
the law was intended of God to show us our need of Christ, our
substitute. It is the intent and purpose
of the law to shut us up to Christ alone as our Savior. The law
demands perfection. Someone said, run, do, and work
the law commands, but gives me neither feet nor hands. The gospel
declares, done, done, done. This man understood neither.
By the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight. We know that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.
Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified
by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. For
by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. You want
to be saved by the law? Hear what the law says. As many
as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is
written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
written in the book of the law to do them. God requires perfection. He will accept nothing less.
Now, second, look at verse 22. I want us to see what the Lord
Jesus said to this rich young ruler. Now, when Jesus heard
these things, he heard the fellow say, I've been good. If that's
all there is to it, I reckon I'm all right. When Jesus heard
these things, He said to him, Yet lackest thou one thing. And then it tells him to do a
bunch of things. He says, You lack one thing. Now I'm going
to prove it to you. Sell all that thou hast. and distribute unto the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow
me." Now wait a minute. Don, if the Master is here teaching
this young man that he can't be saved by works, why'd he tell
him to do this? He's telling him to do something by which
he demonstrates that he has that one thing, and he couldn't do
it. Let's look at it. One of our
modern soul winners or evangelists could find a young man like this.
He'd had him under the water, dried off, and in the pulpit
in two weeks. But our Lord was not a deceiver, but a Savior. You see, the Son of God, who
is the master preacher, sets an example before us. Our purpose
is to seek the good of men's souls, not to seek good for ourselves
by men's souls. And I lay this charge at religion
everywhere. They seek good by destroying
men's souls, not the good of men's souls. This young man wasn't
lacking in morality or religious duty, orthodoxy, sincerity, zeal,
none of those things. And yet the Master says, you
lack one essential thing. What was that one thing he lacked?
What's the one thing you lack? You who are without Christ. The
one thing is faith in Christ. That's it. Mark tells us this,
Jesus beholding him loved him. and said one thing thou lackest. He said that he loved his neighbor,
honored his parents, kept the commandments. So Christ put him
to the test. He said, all right, let's see
if you do. Go sell everything you've got. Distribute everything
you get by selling it to the poor. And you'll have treasure
in heaven. And come and follow me. Here's
a fourfold commandment the Master gave. First, he commands this
young man to surrender to his authority as Lord. Sell all that
you have and distribute it to the poor. Come on. You want to acknowledge me as
your good master? As your God? You want eternal
life? You bow to me as Lord. You surrender everything to me."
The Lord commands him to trust Him. He says, Come. Come. Come to me. Him that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out. Come unto me, all you that labor
and heavy laden. Faith in Christ is described
as coming to Him. He that cometh to God must believe
that He is and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him. And Mark adds these words. take up thy cross. That is to say, confess me. And he commanded this young man
to obey him. He said, follow me. Now these
are the things our Lord requires of all. Submission, faith, confession,
and obedience. And faith involves them all. Faith submits to Christ. Faith
confesses Christ. Faith follows Christ. Why did
the Lord Jesus give such a command to this man? He was probing his
heart. He was exposing the man to himself. You remember how he dealt with
that woman at the well? She came to him, talking to him, asking
him questions full of curiosity, and the Lord Jesus Then stuck
his finger right in her heart. And he said, you've had five
husbands. And the one you're living with is not your husband.
Why'd he do that? To get her attention. To get
her attention. To expose her to herself. This
fine Samaritan woman who would defend the religion of the Samaritans.
We know, we say in this mount, we'll worship God, the Jews say
over yonder. He said, you adulterous woman,
yeah. And exposed her for what she
is. He dealt honestly with her. You see, God always meets people
at their point of rebellion. This man's point of rebellion
was his money. He loved it. He loved it. I don't mean he had it, I mean
he loved it. His God was his belly. His God
was his wealth. And the Lord Jesus is making
him to know it. J.C. Ryle made a tremendous observation. Let me read it to you. We must
be willing to part with anything, however dear it may be, if it
stands between us and our Savior. We must be ready, as the Master
said, to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye,
to make any sacrifice, to break any idol. Remember, the thing
at stake is eternal life. If you have gangrene set up in
your right arm, and you're like I am, you're right-handed, you
can't pick up a soup spoon with your left hand. And the doctor
says to you nuts, either lose that arm or lose your life. Is there any fool here who's
going to hang on to the arm? Life eternal is at stake. You can either keep your life
and go to hell or lose it and save it. That's the option. This command was designed to
expose the evil of this young man's heart. to destroy his self-righteousness
and pride, to show him the impossibility of salvation by the works of
the law, to show him the necessity of someone to bring in righteousness
for him. By this one pointed command,
our Savior strips away the fig leaves this man had sown together,
his self-righteousness, and exposed his foolishness and pride, showed
him his need of grace and mercy in Christ the Substitute. This
rich young ruler's one fatal deficiency was a deficiency of
heart. Like Simon Magnus, his heart
was not right with God. He'd never been broken. Brother Lamar said to me just
last Tuesday night when he was sitting back there, used to be
a Mormon, and the first time I met him, I had preached on
Christ our surety, and God got a hold of his heart, and he said,
paying our tithes was our fire insurance. And for most people,
religion's fire insurance. That's all. That's all. Everybody
wants to go to heaven. Nobody wants to go to hell. This
young man did. The problem was, he was proud. and self-righteous, his heart
unbroken. He loved the world and the things
of the world, and he wouldn't give it up. That's what kept
him from Christ. That's what kept him from Christ.
The sacrifices of God are a broken heart. A broken and contrite
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise, and the only way your heart will
ever be broken is if God reveals His Son to you and in you and
breaks your heart. Telling sad stories won't do
it. Singing sad songs won't do it. Scaring folks to death won't
do it. Only the revelation of Christ
in you will break your heart and cause you to seek Him and
grace in Him. You must, in essence what I'm
saying, you must be born of God. You must be born again. Now,
thirdly, let's look at our master's response to his response. Verse
24. When Jesus saw that he was very
sorrowful, this man was very sorrowful, we're told in verse
22, because he had great wealth. He had a lot of money. He had
a lot of money. The master, when he saw that
he was sorrowful, This is what it said. How hardly shall they
that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. Is that talking about folks who
have a lot of money? Or is that talking about folks
who are rich in self-righteousness? Well, it looks to me like he's talking
about money. The other is true, but that's
not what he's talking about here. For it is easier for a camel
to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter
the kingdom of God. Now, commentators and preachers
that tell us stories say, well, what the Lord is doing is he's
referring to a small opening in the wall at Jerusalem where
if a camel was to go through there, it couldn't go through
loaded up. He had to take the load off of him and he had to
crouch down and crawl through it. That's not what he's talking
about. You ladies got a sewing needle in mind? You ever tried
to stick a piece of thread through one without your glasses on?
A camel can walk through that needle's eye easier than you
can save yourself. That's what he's saying. Self-salvation
is an impossibility. And yet, he's speaking specifically
about riches. We see the fact confirmed all
around us. Grace and riches seldom go together. Not many mighty, not many noble
are called. Comparatively, few rich men are
found among God's saints. And I'll tell you why. I'll tell
you exactly why. Part of the fault is their own.
Part of the thought is preachers. Riches tend to make folks proud,
self-willed, self-indulgent, and hard of hearing. They just won't listen to anybody. They won't do it. But here's
something else. Rich people are seldom dealt
with faithfully, and truthfully by preachers. Preachers bow and
scrape before folks with money and power. I see it all the time. I see it all the time. I've been around long enough
to be observant. See folks that spot somebody
with money, some preacher, they'll, oh, Brother Bob, oh, it's so
good to see you. Blow smoke up your skirt, make
you feel good. because they want to flatter
you in hopes you might invite them out for a cup of coffee
sometime. Flatter and fawn and dote and scrape. Flatter you
with every, if you just happen to say something might possibly
be good. Oh, did you hear that? Build them up. Because they want
yours, not you. The wise men said those The rich have many friends. Few people have the courage to
deal with them truthfully. They flatter them and brag on
them, and the result is that their hearts, being choked with
the cares of the world, their eyes are blinded with the flattering
tongues of men. Now, children of God, hear me.
We are fools. We are fools to envy the rich
and to covet their riches. Fools. Fools. Read the 92nd Psalm. If you had
what that fellow you envy has, you'd be just like him. He is just a stalled ox being
fattened for the slaughter. That's all. That's all. Happy
is that man. Happy is that woman who has learned
to pray, Lord God, give me neither poverty nor riches. Blessed are they. who truly are
content with such things as they have. Now, many try to make our
Master's words mean something they don't mean. They mean exactly
what they appear to mean. It's easier for a camel to go
through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of God. Now, these disciples saw this. They watched what was
going on. They heard the conversation.
They knew who this man was. Good, moral, mighty, respected,
rich, religious fellow. They knew him. And the master
watched that man walk away to hell. And he said, this is impossible. This is impossible. For this
man, by all that he is and does and all that he possesses to
save himself. And the disciples said, who then
can be saved? Look at verse 26. And they that heard
it said, who then can be saved? And the Master gives this answer. The things which are impossible
with men are possible with God. Have there never been any rich
folks saved? Oh, yeah. I know a few various parts of
the world who use what God's put in their hand for the fervor
of the gospel and the increase of His kingdom. There are men
like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, men like David and Solomon, like
Jehoshaphat and Josiah, men like Daniel Rich men. Rich men. But men who were conquered by
grace. Men who saw Christ, believed
Christ, worshipped Christ, loved Christ, and gave all to Christ. With men, any man and all men,
salvation is impossible. But the things which are impossible
with men are possible with God. What does that mean? That means
that your case is not hopeless, and my case is not hopeless. No matter who you are, no matter
where you are, no matter what your position is, whether you
be in the pitch of poverty or abounding with wealth, none who
walk on topside of God's earth are beyond the reach of God's
omnipotent mercy and the outstretched arm of His grace. That which
is impossible with men is possible with God. You see, it's grace,
not place, that is the hinge upon which salvation turns. Oh,
God be gracious. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Now, if the Lord God Almighty puts his hand on you, you will
be saved. Folks ask who then shall be saved?
I'll tell you who. Every blood-bought sinner. Every
sinner loved and chosen of God. Every sinner called by his Spirit.
Every sinner who comes to Christ. shall be saved. Let me show you
one more text of scripture. Turn to Luke chapter 10. If you're not saved, it's not
because there's no love in Christ for sinners. It's not because
he's not able, willing and able and ready to save sinners. If
you're not saved, it's not because of anything lacking in him, but
because you will not come to him that you might have life.
It's because yet lackest thou one thing. It's because you cling
to this world and cling to your righteousness and refuse to choose
that one thing needful, the one thing you must have, Christ Jesus
the Lord. Here in Luke 10, the last verse,
you're familiar with the story. Martha's coming with much serving
and she got upset with the Lord Jesus because he didn't pay any
attention to what she was doing. And Mary was sitting at his feet,
hearing his word, and she said, Lord, don't you care that she's
letting me serve alone? And this is the Master's response. One thing is needful. Oh, God,
teach me. One thing is needful. Just one thing. Just one thing. You didn't hear that, did you?
Just one thing is needful. One thing. And Mary has chosen
that good part. She chose that one thing needful,
which shall not be taken away from her. Christ is the one thing
you've got to have. That's all. Christ is the one
thing I've got to have to give me standing with God, acceptance
with God, righteousness with God, redemption and satisfaction
forever before God. One thing, people. Christ. Anything else? Anything else? is utterly vanity, insignificant,
meaningless, less than vanity. He and he alone is needful. Let me read something to you
I found today. And I've never seen this before to my knowledge. It's a hymn written by Samuel
Medley. Jesus engraved it on my heart. that thou the one thing
needful art. I could from all things parted
be, but never, never, Lord, from thee. Needful art thou to make
me live. Needful art thou, all grace to
give. Needful to guide me lest I stray. Needful to help me every day.
Needful is thy most precious blood to reconcile my soul to
God. is thy indulgent care. Needful
thy all-prevailing prayer. Needful thy presence, dearest
Lord, true peace and comfort to afford. Needful thy promise
to impart fresh life and vigor to my heart. Needful art thou,
my guide, my stay, through all life's dark and thorny way. In
death thou wilt most needful be. to bring my spirit home to
thee. Needful art thou to raise my
dust in shining glory with the just, needful when I in heaven
appear to crown and to present me there. Then needful still,
my God, my King, thy name eternally I'll sing. Glory and

Yet, You Lack One Thing

What does the Bible say about eternal life?

How do we know that salvation by grace is true?

Why is faith in Christ important for Christians?

What does it mean to lack one thing in regard to salvation?

How does self-righteousness affect salvation?

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Yet, You Lack One Thing

What does the Bible say about eternal life?

How do we know that salvation by grace is true?

Why is faith in Christ important for Christians?

What does it mean to lack one thing in regard to salvation?

How does self-righteousness affect salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

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