More than a hundred years ago,
a Welsh ship called the Royal Charter had sailed safely around
the world and was coming home. It had managed to navigate treacherous
waters in every part of the globe. And as the ship docked briefly
at Queenstown, one of the sailors telegraphed his wife. and told
her that he would be home shortly, just a few hours. Well, you can
imagine her anticipation, her excitement. She hadn't seen her
husband in months and months and months, and now he's gonna
be home in just a few hours. So she scurries around and fixes
supper and gets herself all fixed up, and she sets down when she's
expecting him to arrive in the front room, the parlor, they
called it, and she was waiting on him. Instead, a messenger
came to the door. And the messenger told her that
the ship, as it approached home, was smashed on the reef at Mailford
Bay on the coast of Wales. And her husband was drowned.
She was devastated, obviously. When her pastor heard what had
happened, he hurried to the house to minister to this shocked,
grieving widow in his congregation. And later, he made this statement.
He said, never can I forget the grief, so stricken and tearless,
with which she wrung my hand. As that dear lady held her pastor's
hand, this is what she said, just in shock. So near home,
yet lost. So near home, yet lost. So near home, yet lost. I take those words for the title
of my message this morning. Some of you here are, as it were,
in the suburbs of the city of refuge. You're in a very, very
dangerous place. If you find yourself at last
in the suburb on the outside, not in the city of refuge, doesn't
matter how near you are to it, you're going to perish at last.
What a pity that some will stand at the gates of salvation and
yet for want of one step will perish forever. You come as it
were to the door. You may even admire the door. You may think the door is very
lovely and be able to describe all the details on the hinges,
but you will never be saved by the Lord Jesus until you enter
in by the door. It's not enough to admire him,
you got to believe him. He is the door, but you just
can't stand and look at the door and admire the door and come
close to the door and rub shoulders on the door. You must enter in
if you would have life and go in and out and find pasture for
your soul. So near home, yet lost. I can't think of anything more
pitiful, can you? Today I want to talk especially to you who
are near, so very near to the kingdom of God. and yet out of
Christ. If you should meet God in your
next breath, you'd wind up in hell forever. With that in mind,
I want you to read with me Mark chapter 12, verses 28 through
34. Here's a young man, I presume
a young man, in the same position that you're in. Our Lord had been challenged
by the Pharisees and the Herodians. They thought they would entrap
him. And then the Sadducees came and thought they would entrap
him. And there's a scribe over here, a scribe who'd been listening,
a scribe who spends his life transcribing the scriptures,
spends his life working in the house of God, doing work in the
name of God. He spends his life there. He's
been listening, watching. And he saw that the Lord answered
them discreetly. He saw the Lord answered them
well. And this is what we read in verse 28. One of the scribes
came, having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that
he, the Lord Jesus, had answered them well, asked him, which is
the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, the first
of all commandments is here, O Israel. The Lord our God is
one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment.
And the second is like, namely this. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. There is none other commandment
greater than these. The scribe said unto him, Well,
master, thou hast said the truth. For there is one God and there
is none other but he. And to love him with all the
heart and with all the understanding and with all the soul and with
all the strength and to love his neighbor as himself is more
than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Now that is a
tremendous statement for that scribe to make. He understood
this is far more important than all the externals of religion.
Read on. And when Jesus saw that, when Jesus saw that he answered
discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom
of God. And no man after that durst ask
him any question. You see, it is quite possible,
it commonly happens, that a man or woman may be very near to
the kingdom of God and not enter into it. Now when I speak of
the kingdom of God, I'm talking about the kingdom of grace, the
kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, the kingdom of heaven, the church
of God in earth as well as in heaven, not the professed kingdom,
multitudes enter into that broad way. I'm talking about the church
and kingdom of God's elect who are born of his spirit, washed
in his blood, and stand before him justified and accepted. I'm talking about those who are
indeed the people of God. Some of you are in the kingdom. You've been washed in the blood
of Christ. You've been born of his spirit, called by his grace.
You're led in the spirit and you walk in the spirit. That
is, you walk by faith in Jesus Christ the Lord. Your lives are
ruled, governed, and directed by God the Holy Spirit. If you're
in the kingdom of God, I remind you one more time, you are in
God's kingdom because God put you in his kingdom. You're not
in God's kingdom because of something you did, not because of a decision
you made. You're in the kingdom of God
by a work of his almighty grace who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
son. Some of you are far, far off
from the kingdom of God. Far off. You're here this morning
not really because you want to be. You're here because you're
kind of pressured to be. Mom and dad require it, as moms
and dads should. Mom and dad insist on it, as
moms and dads should. Mom and dad brought you, as moms
and dads should, but you'd rather be somewhere else. You'd rather
be doing something else. Or you're here because of pressure, social
pressure, family pressure. You're here just because you
have to be for some reason or other. But that's all right,
you're here. And it may be God brought you
here, even under those circumstances, so that he might bring you into
his kingdom. He's done it many times. He's
done it many times. I recall reading a story years
ago, some young men and who were out one night raising a ruckus,
and Whitfield was preaching in London, in one of the rough areas
of London, and there was a church building there, and all the church
buildings had clocks inside them, so these three young men who
were out just taunting and jeering, said, let's go inside and just
see what time it is, and so they just walked in, and looked up,
and one of them heard that preacher, and he stopped, and he sat down,
and God gave him life and faith in Christ Jesus the Lord. He
might just do that for you. That's God's mysterious wonders
of grace. He calls whom he will under what
circumstances he will. But some of you, like this man
in our text, are not far from the kingdom of God. So near,
home, yet lost. If God the Holy Spirit will allow
me, everything depends on that. I want to reason with you from
the scriptures. Give me your attention. May God give me your
attention. First, let me describe the character
of that man, that woman, who is not far from the kingdom of
God. This scribe had listened carefully as the Lord baffled
the Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees with their attempts
to discredit Him. And then He asked the Savior,
apparently asked the Savior not as He had planned. You remember
the scribes and the Pharisees and the Herodians had gotten
together, the Sadducees rather, and they had gotten together
and concocted this plan to ensnare the Lord, to trap Him. And this
scribe now listened, and he observed what neither the Pharisees, Herodians,
nor Sadducees did. The Lord Jesus baffled them.
And he comes to ask a question. And the question he asked, it
may be the question he had planned to ask, but now he asks it in
a different spirit. He says, which is the first commandment?
Which is it? And the Lord Jesus answered his
question according to the scriptures. In verses 29, 30, and 31, the
Lord Jesus said the first commandment is this. Hear, O Israel, the
Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment.
And the second is like it. Namely this, thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment
greater than these. Now in those words of our Lord
as he answers this question, he gives us four things very
clearly. First he declares the triunity of the eternal Trinity. He declares that the Lord our
God is one Lord, and yet he has just previous to this declared
himself to be God. He came into the temple, drove
out the money changers, and he said, My house shall be called
the house of prayer. And this scribe was fully aware
of what our Lord had said. And he speaks now concerning
the Lord God, and he says, The Lord our God is one Lord. that
we worship one God in the trinity or triunity of his sacred persons,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ, this
man who stands here speaking to this man, is himself God Almighty,
God incarnate, the second person of the blessed Godhead. And then
our Lord declares to this young man the requirements of God's
holy law. The young man says, what does
God command? What does God require of me? You ever wonder that? Just exactly what is it God requires? Nothing except perfection. And
that's most reasonable. He's perfect. He's perfect. He requires nothing but holiness.
And that's reasonable. He's holy. He doesn't require
anything except that you love God with all your being and your
neighbor as yourself. And thus he exposed the depravity
of man. For you see, no man can keep
this commandment. That's the reason the law was
given. People read the law and fuss about putting the law in
courtrooms, and putting the law in classrooms, and teaching kids
to memorize the law, and you go in churches and they hang
the law up on the wall. Moose and I were driving down
the road yesterday, or the day before yesterday, going down
to Crossville, and he was telling me about a church sign. He likes
to read signs as he's going along, and he said, I saw a church sign
coming down, said Mount Sinai Baptist Church. What a horrible
name. Mount Sinai Baptist Church. Folks
love the law, because they don't understand it. Our Lord here
declares to this young man, this is what God demands of you. And thus he exposed this man's
sin. You see, what things whoever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God. You will never, never, never
come to know God's free grace in Christ until you stop thinking
highly of yourself and stop excusing your sin and stop bragging on
yourself and fall down before God Almighty guilty of your transgression
and sin. And then he shows thereby the
necessity of a righteous sin atoning substitute. If this is
what God requires, God requires perfect righteousness. God requires
perfect holiness. God requires perfection of me. And I'm a sinner. I cannot give
what God requires. Then the only hope there is for
my soul is if someone capable, able, and willing comes and stands
before God as my substitute and representative. Blessed be His
name. He did. Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, came here for the specific purpose of being made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. And then when
this scribe heard the Savior's words, he answered him discreetly
with reverence and with wisdom. In verse 32, the scribe said
unto him, Well, master, thou hast said the truth. There is
one God, and there is none other but he. And to love him with
all the heart and with all the understanding and all the soul
and all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself,
this is more than the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And
Jesus saw that he answered him discreetly. And he said unto
him, thou art not far from the kingdom of God. This young man
recognized that our Lord Jesus is a master in Israel, a teacher
come from God. He acknowledged the Lord's doctrine.
He said, well, but those other fellows came and called him master.
Yeah, but different. They came and called him Master
with a pretense of reverence. This man calls him Master speaking
discreetly. He says to him, after having
heard his answer, after having heard his doctrine, Master, you've
told the truth. You've told the truth. He seems
to submit to the Lord's teaching. He bows even to the Lord's confession
that he is himself God. Now that was a remarkable thing.
When our Lord Jesus says there's just one God, he didn't come
back and say, but you said you are God. You said that you are
God. You said that the house of God
belongs to you. Oh no. He understood exactly
what the master was saying. The Lord Jesus came in, revealed
himself as God, said, this is my house, this is the house of
God, it's my house. And my house should be called
a house of prayer. And then he says to this young man, the Lord
our God is one Lord. And this young man said, you've
told the truth. You've told the truth. I bow
to your word. He acknowledged then the Lord's
doctrine. And the Lord Jesus said to him, thou art not far
from the kingdom of God. Why? What did he see in this
young man that he didn't see in the others? What was it about
this man that caused the master to speak so to him when the Pharisees
and the Herodians and the Sadducees, he just kind of turned a deaf
ear to them and walked off. Just sent them, skedaddling back
where they came from. He saw in this man This one standing
before him, a man of sincerity and truthfulness. This scribe
was something more than just a religionist. He was no hypocrite,
he sincerely studied God's law. The Lord Jesus saw something
of the, this man to whom our Lord spoke saw something of the
supremacy of God's character. And he tried to order his life
by the law of God. Like the Jews, that Paul spoke
of, he had a zeal of God. The problem was it wasn't according
to knowledge. And this young man understood.
He understood something of the spiritual nature of God's law.
He saw the law had more to do with God's glory. It had more
to do with an inward principle of love to God and love to men
than with outward ceremonies and rituals. He understood what
the papist could never understand. He understood what the mere ceremonial
religionist, the mere doctrinalist could never understand. He understood
what the legalist could not understand. He understood that the law of
God has to do with heart, not ceremony. It has to do with experience,
not doctrine. It has to do with inward principles
of love and grace implanted in you, not with mere exercise of
religious legality and religious strictness. The Lord Jesus saw
in this scribe something very, very rare. He saw in him a teachable
spirit. What a rare thing that is. Most
folks know everything. I recall once years ago, I asked
Brother Mahan something concerning a fellow who kind of come around
every now and then, but didn't ever stay. No sticker. He'd come to conferences and
visit and he'd be gone a while, come back. And I asked Henry,
I said, what's his problem? He said he'd never shut up long
enough to learn anything. He wasn't teachable. This young
man was teachable. He says, Lord, teach me now about
your law. He was willing to learn, willing
to have his doctrine, his religion, his opinions, and his experience
examined and corrected by the Word of God. There's not many
folks like that in the world. Here I am now, I've been in church
all my life. I've been a scribe ever since I came to adulthood.
I've been going about the business of religion all my life long,
but I know that you're a teacher, a master in Israel. I understand
the doctrine that you declare. It's altogether contrary to everything
I've ever seen, heard, or experienced. Now I'm gonna bring my doctrine
My religion, my life, my opinions, and all the opinions of those
folks around me right here to you. You correct it. He had a
teachable spirit. This man appeared to be in a
very hopeful condition. He saw the unity, breadth, and
simplicity, the spirituality of God's law, and appears to
have realized something of his inability to keep the law. He
knew what God required, and he knew he couldn't meet God's requirement.
Therefore, there's reason to hope for this man. And some of
you are just like him. Not far from the kingdom of God. You have some fear of God. With some measure, to some degree,
that kind of Regulate your life. It kind of keeps your life in
check. Kind of keeps you from behaving
like you used to. You have a high regard for the
things of God. You hear others cuss and swear
around, you take God's name in vain, and you may not correct
them, but you don't You don't enjoy it. You're kind of cringe.
You have the Word of God and you have some respect for it.
You don't spend your time studying it and reading it as you know
you ought, but you have some respect for the Word of God and
the worship of God, the ordinances of God's house for prayer and
such things as that. You know something about your
need of Christ. I hope I'm talking to some of
you. The Word of God sometimes seems to be a barbed arrow in
your heart when you hear it. You go home after hearing the
sermon and you resolve, I'm going to confess Christ. I'm going
to trust Him. Like the prodigal, you say, I
will arise and go to my Savior. But that's as far as you've ever
gone. It's as far as it gets. You've come to the door, but
you haven't entered in yet. You've come to the gates of the
city, but you stop at the gate. Now I've got to warn you, and
this is my second point. I'll be brief, but oh, hear me. God help you to hear me. You
are in a very dangerous position. You may be a little happier,
a little more respected, than the base, profligate, openly
ungodly. But before God, you're no better
off. Before God, now listen to me, listen to me. Before God,
as far as acceptance with God's concerned, you're no better off
sitting here this morning than you would be if you were laying
out in the ditch drunk. Not before God. You're no better off sitting
here this morning than you would be if you was out reveling and
engaging in all manner of riotous living. You're sitting here.
You're getting up on Sunday morning and taking your shower and putting
on your Sunday go-to-meeting clothes and fixing yourself up
and coming in looking good and getting your Bible and walking
in church and greeting me and when you get done, you say, boy,
that's a good sermon. I appreciate you talking to us and being faithful
to us. That won't do you one speck of good. Not a speck. Not a speck. You say, preacher,
you're telling us we ought not to come to church? Oh, no. If
you care for your soul, you better come hear what God has to say
to your soul. But I'm telling you it won't merit you anything
before God. It won't merit you a thing. You are absolutely no
better off before God than the prophet and the rebel and the
unbelieving out in the world. Though this man was not far from
the kingdom of God, we are never told anywhere in the book of
God that he entered into it. I read of a man named Felix who
trembled He trembled as Paul spoke. And he said, I'll call
for you one of these days. When it's more convenient, I
want to hear you. But he never called. I read of a king by the
name of Agrippa who said to Paul, almost thou persuadest me to
be a Christian. But almost isn't it? He never,
never was persuaded as far as we know from scripture. This
man, perhaps like his friends, loved the praise of men more
than the praise of God. He had much, but he lacked one
thing. He lacked the one thing needful.
He lacked faith in Christ. Faith in Christ. That faith which
causes a sinner to confess his sin before God. God be merciful to me, the sinner. That faith which causes a sinner
to cast himself down flat on the merits of Jesus Christ and
Jesus Christ alone. He lacked faith in him. He would
not trust a crucified substitute. He would not cast away all his
righteousness. He would not cast away all his
imaginary goodness and take his place before God Almighty as
a hell-bent, hell-deserving sinner saved by mercy alone through
the merits of Christ. Will you? I tell you this, if you do not
enter in by Christ into the kingdom of God, I'll tell you exactly what'll
happen to you. Exactly what'll happen. I can tell you from the
word of God, and I can tell you from experience. I've seen it
over and over and over again. You will either depart, and you'll
go down the road here, across the road, down this way, or back
this way, and you'll find some preacher He'll prophesy smooth
things to you. And he'll tell you, you're not
that bad. You know, you're not really,
the center's a little rough. Vile, that's a little hard. Wretch, oh, you're not that bad. No, no, no, no, no. What you
need to do is just, you come join up with us. Everything will
be all right. You come down here and repeat after me and say a
little prayer, everything will be all right. You come down here
and get in these waters and everything will be all right. You're not
that bad. And salvation really, you know,
it is a cooperative effort between you and God. And you will walk
the apostate's road to hell or else. you will be content to
sit on the outside and admire the gates and the door and go
to hell just as though you were inside the door, inside the city. Spurgeon said, that which is
set in the sun, if it is not softened, will surely be hardened. And he was right. In the end,
you will be shut out of the kingdom of God altogether, cast into
outer darkness like those of whom our Lord spoke in the parable.
When the good man of the house has come and shuts the door,
folks will begin to knock and cry, open to us, open to us,
let us come in. And he'll say, depart from me,
you cursed, I never knew you. Religion without Christ is the
most damning thing in all the world. How can I persuade you
now, who are not far from the kingdom of God, to enter in? Enter in by Christ the door right
now. The only door is Christ. You can't come any other way. His blood, His righteousness,
you have no other acceptance before God. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. The Lord God has opened the door of entrance for sinners.
We're told that we have a new and living way into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus. And we're to draw near into God
himself with a true heart of faith and the full assurance
of faith. What? Can a sinner come to God
with Full assurance that God's going to accept him. Oh yeah,
absolutely. When Aaron went into the Holy
of Holies, I hear folks talking, Aaron's scared to death, trembling.
No, he wasn't scared. He had God's Word. And he had
God's law. And he had God's record. And
God required him to take the blood of an innocent victim.
God required him to take that blood with a censer in his hand,
with sweet incense to fill the room. God required him to go
in there with holy garments with the names of the 12 tribes of
Israel. God required him to go in there and sprinkle that blood
on the mercy seat. Now if you try to come any other
way, I'm going to kill you. Dead as a hammer. But you come this
way, Aaron, what are you doing? I'm fixing to go back there behind
the veil. Aren't you scared to do that? No. How come? I got
the blood. I got what God required. And
God said he'd meet me right yonder on the mercy seat. I'm telling
you, God requires of you the blood atonement of his son. And
you can't come to God any other way. Now I bid you now come to
God with the blood of his son, and you'll walk out that door
declaring, my sins are gone. My sins are gone. Christ took
them all away. Amen. All right, let's sing a hymn.