The Lord said to the lawyer,
Thou art not far from the kingdom of heaven. I've entitled this
message, How Far is Not Far? Thou art not far from the kingdom
of heaven. Now did this mean he was almost
there? Just a nudge and he'd be in the
kingdom of heaven. Just a small amount he lacked
and if he could just get that, everything would be fine. I think
of what the Lord said to the rich young ruler. Yet lackest
thou one thing. And that one thing was everything. How far is not far? What is the difference, the distance
of how far is not far? Now, the only way the scripture
can be interpreted is by other scripture. That's so important. You know, I can show you verses
of scripture where it could be said to be a good thing to be
far off. The publican in the temple stood Not near, like the Pharisee,
but he stood afar off, beating on his breast, crying, God be
merciful to me, the sinner. The prodigal went to a far country,
didn't he? When Peter was preaching on Pentecost,
he said, the promise is to you and to your children, even to
all. that are far off. The promise
of God is to all. That's a broad statement, isn't
it? The promise is to all that are
far off. And the Lord says to this man,
you are not far from the kingdom of heaven. Now, the story begins
in verse 28. And one of the scribes came and
having heard them reasoning together, speaking of the Pharisees and
Sadducees who tried to trip up the Lord and they both failed
miserably, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked
him, which is the first commandment of all? Now hold your finger
there and turn back to Matthew chapter 22 for just a moment.
Let's read Matthew's account of this same story. Verse 35, then one of them, which
was a lawyer, called a scribe and marked the lawyer here, asked him a question, tempting
him. So this man did not have a good
motive when he asked this question. like everybody else was, was
trying to trip up the Lord, try to find some inconsistency in
what He was saying. When He was asking about which
is the greatest commandment His intention was to, well what about
this one? Are you showing favoritism? Are you setting one law above
the other? He was looking for a contradiction in the Lord's
words just the way everybody else was during this time when
they are bringing Him these questions. And this man had an evil motive in asking these questions. Let's go back to Mark. And one of the scribes came,
and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that
he had answered him well, asked him, Which is the first commandment
of all? Which is the most important commandment? And Jesus answered
him, And instead of giving the answer
he was looking for, he gave a different kind of answer. He gave the commandment
that comprehends all of the commandments. What he said, and Jesus answered
him, the first of all the 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 commandments
greater than these. As a matter of fact, In Matthew's
account, the Lord said, on these two commandments hang all the
law and all the prophets. Now, this is how significant
these commandments are. They cover everything. Now, there's 613 laws written
down in the Old Testament, and every one of them are summarized
by these two laws. Love God with all your heart,
soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. And then he quotes from Deuteronomy. This is from Deuteronomy. Hear,
O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Now, there's one Lord. There's one
God. And this one God is revealed
in three distinct separate persons. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. One God in three distinct persons. Somebody says, explain that to
me. That can't be explained. It can
only be believed. It's brought on by revelation.
We would never guess anything like this. If somebody said,
describe God, I wouldn't say, well, he's one God in three different
persons. If I hadn't read the Bible, the Bible reveals this
with regard to God. He's one God in three distinct
persons. Now, all three persons are equal
one to another. It says the Lord Jesus Christ
that he thought it not robbery. He thought it not a thing to
be grasped for or reach for to be equal with God, equal with
the infinite, omnipresent, omniscient, immutable, eternal, holy God. Jesus Christ is equal with the
Father. Amen. and God the Holy Spirit
is equal to God the Son and God the Father. God the Father, God
the Son, God the Spirit, one God in three distinct persons. I think one of the scriptures
that makes this, I hesitate to say understandable, but you certainly
see the Bible teaches this. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God And the Word was God. Now, did you
hear that? He was with God as a distinct
person, distinct from the Father. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. And in the Godhead, the Son submits
Himself to the Father. Now, He's equal to the Father.
I love that passage of Scripture in Revelation chapter 5 when
he came up and took the book from him that sits on the throne.
He didn't ask for it, he took it as equal with the father. Yet the son submits himself to
the father. He's equal, but he submits. GOD
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS EQUAL TO GOD THE FATHER AND GOD THE SON, YET
THE LORD JESUS TELLS US WITH REGARD TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, HE
SHALL NOT SPEAK OF HIMSELF, BUT WHAT HE HEARS THAT SHALL HE SPEAK. HE SHALL RECEIVE OF MINE AND
SHOW IT UNTO YOU. IF YOU HEAR SOMEONE TALKING A
WHOLE LOT ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT, A PREACHER, WRITE THIS DOWN.
THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO THE HOLY SPIRIT IS. The Holy Spirit
speaks of the Son and glorifies the Son. The Lord said, he shall
glorify me. That's his office. That is his
purpose. Now listen to this statement
real carefully. The gospel is not preached. Let me say that
again. The gospel is not preached. if
the work of all three persons of the Godhead in salvation is
not breached. The triune God, God the Father
elects. HE IS THE ONE WHO CHOSE WHO WOULD
BE SAVED BEFORE TIME BEGAN. THEY WERE CHOSEN IN CHRIST, ACCORDING
AS HE HATH CHOSEN US IN HIM. SOMEBODY SAYS, YOU SAY YOU'VE
GOT TO PREACH ELECTION BEFORE YOU CAN PREACH THE GOSPEL? YEP.
YOU HEARD IT. THERE'S NO GOSPEL PREACHING WITHOUT
THE GLORIOUS TRUTH OF GOD'S ELECTING GRACE. AND THE GOSPEL IS NOT
PREACHED IF I DON'T GIVE THE WORK OF THE SON. I love the summary
of his work. In his own words, it is finished. Everybody he represented, he
put away their sins and accomplished their salvation. The Bible knows
nothing of a savior that can be frustrated and his work not
done. Everybody he died for must be
saved. And if I don't preach that, I
do not preach the gospel. And the WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN
REGENERATION MUST BE PREACHED. YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN. NOW, IF A PREACHER DOESN'T PREACH
THIS, HE DOESN'T PREACH THE GOSPEL. IF A MAN DOESN'T BELIEVE THIS,
HE DOESN'T BELIEVE THE GOSPEL. YOU SEE, ALL THREE OF THESE ARE
ESSENTIAL IN THE SALVATION OF THE SINNER. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT? They're all three essential,
absolutely necessary in the salvation of the sinner. Now let me ask
you a question. Are they essential to you? Is it essential to you
that God choose you and you know you won't be saved if it doesn't
begin with his choice? Is it essential to you that Christ
pay for all your sins and your salvation was accomplished by
what he did without any reference to what you do? Is it essential
that God the Holy Spirit comes to you and gives you spiritual
life because you're dead? Essential. Now, it's essential,
there's one God. One God in three distinct persons
and there's no earthly illustration that can teach us this. Somebody says illustrate this,
it can't be illustrated. One God and three distinct persons?
This is just who he is and it's something to believe. God reveals
it, it is to be believed. You see, God is other. I love
saying that about him. He's unlike anything me or you
can even imagine. Who is like unto me? No one and no thing. There is one God revealed in
three different persons, and here is the great commandment.
Verse 30, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God. This is more important than anything
else. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. with all thy soul, with all thy
mind, and with all thy strength, this is the first commandment. Now that commandment comprehends
all other commandments. And then he says in verse 31,
the second commandment is like, namely this, thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself. Who's my neighbor? Everybody. Everybody. That's who my neighbor
is. Everybody. And thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself, all things whatsoever you would that
men do to you, do ye even so to them. This is the law and
this is the prophets. That's what God said. This love is not a feeling. It's
not really a feeling of affection even. It's doing to them what
you would have them do to you. Now, this is the great commandment. Now let's go on reading verse
32. And the scribe said unto him, after he gave the two great
commandments, one God and loving your neighbor as yourself, this
covers everything. And the scribe kind of throws
us a curve at this time. He said unto him, well master,
well master, that's a good answer. I agree with that. But notice
what he calls him, teacher. He thought the Lord was a great
teacher. He thought the Lord was brilliant. Look at the way
he shut us all up. We've all given him these questions
that we thought would trip him up, and he's tripped us up to
where we can't say anything about him. Well, Master, what you said
was good. I agree with it. Thou said the
truth. For there is one God, and there's
none other but he. Now, I couldn't help but thinking
also of what James said. You believe there's one God,
you do well. The devils believe the same thing. And they tremble. You do well. Just having your
theology accurate here is not really going to do you any good. But he said, you said, well,
there really is one God, as if he's now instructing the Lord.
There really is one God. I agree with that. Thou said
the truth, for there is one God, and there is none other but He,
and to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding,
with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love His
neighbor as Himself is more. than all whole burnt offerings
and sacrifices. If you get all the ceremonies
down right, if you have the right this and the right that and do
it all right, loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself
is much better than having all your ceremonies and sacrifices
and so on right. That's so. If I speak with the tongues of
men and angels and have not love, it profits me. What? Nothing. Nothing. God is love, and he
that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. He that loveth
not knoweth not God. He that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
The answer is he can't. If any man say I love God and
hates his brother, he's a liar. Now this man obviously had some
sort of light, didn't he? He saw that this was more important
than having the right order of your ceremonies and your sacrifices
and so on. Verse 34, and when Jesus saw
that he answered discreetly, prudently, wisely, the Lord saw
that. He said unto him, Thou art not
far from the kingdom of God. Now, once again, the title. How
far is not far? What is the distance? Now, one of the things that I
think is very telling about this man is when the Lord said, you're
not far from the kingdom of heaven, he didn't say, what do I need
to do then? What am I missing? He just shut
his mouth at that time. After that, no man dares to ask
him a question. Now, if the Lord told me you're
not far from the kingdom of heaven, I'd want to know, well, what
do I need to do? Tell me, but not this man. He
did not ask him any questions at all. But how far is not far? How far off is not far? What's
the distance? I think of Herod. Scripture says
Herod heard John the Baptist gladly. He was so impressed with
the preaching of John the Baptist, And he did, the scripture says,
many things. Many things John said to do.
He responded, he was certainly impressed with the preaching
of John the Baptist and with the person of John the Baptist.
Scripture says he feared him, for he knew he was a holy man
and just. And he did many things. How far was he after doing many
things? How far was he? Well, you know
that he had John the Baptist's head cut off. What about Felix? The scripture says he trembled
at Paul's preaching. He heard Paul preach and he trembled.
He knew it was so. And he said, go thy way for this
time when I have a convenient season, I'll call for thee. How
far off was he? What about Agrippa? Agrippa said
to Paul after he heard Paul preach, almost. Persuadest thou me to
be a Christian? I'm almost there, you've almost
got me there. How far were they? The same distance
this man was. Now, if this man had any understanding,
now he didn't reply, But if this man had any understanding of
what the Lord was saying, he would have seen that he was in
a constant state of breaking both of these commandments continually. He would have seen that, he would
have known it was so concerning him. Now, somebody says, what
is the worst sin? What's the worst sin? Everybody's
thought that at one time or the other. What is the worst sin? Well, I suppose the worst sin
would be breaking the greatest commandment. Loving God with all your heart.
To fail to do that is to commit the worst sin. To fail to love
your neighbor as yourself is to commit the worst sin. Now,
you know what that means? That means me and you are in a state
nonstop, continually, of always committing the worst sin. all
the time, no stop, no break. There's no intermission. At all
times, I've never loved God as he ought to be loved. And I've
never loved my neighbors myself. And that is the commission of
the greatest sin. And I am in the constant state
of committing the greatest sin. Now, do you believe that about
yourself? Believe it whether you feel it or not. It's God's
testimony concerning you. And all I gotta do is point to
the cross and you'll find out how bad you are, not by looking
within yourself and in your own heart, but by looking at what
you would do if God took his hand off you, you would have
murdered his son just like everybody else. Now, if this man would
have understood what the Lord was saying, he would have said,
I'm in a continual state of committing the greatest sin all the time. Now this man had a sort of respect
for the carpenter from Nazareth and even believed him to be a
great and a brilliant teacher that nobody was able to trip
up. But did he believe that he was
the Christ? The answer is no. He believed
him to be a great Teacher, much like Nicodemus. Teacher, master,
teacher. We know that thou art a teacher
come from God, because nobody can do what you do, except God
be with him. We know that. And I love the
Lord's response. I appreciate your affirmation.
No, nothing like that at all. He said, you don't know anything
except a man be born again. He cannot enter the kingdom of
God. How far off was this man? Well,
he'd not been born again. And without the new birth, without
God causing life to be in you, a heart that was not there before,
not just changing your old heart, but giving you a new heart, a
heart of life, you can't enter the kingdom of God. The Lord
said that, except a man be born from above, he cannot enter the
kingdom of God. Not far will not bring you in. Not far is a long way. Turn with
me to Luke chapter 13. I want you to look at this with
me. Verse one, there were present
at that season, some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood
Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. Now these people
were offering up sacrifices and Pilate had been put to death
and mingled their blood with the blood of the sacrifices they
were offering. Now these people must have been really bad. I
mean, why'd God let this happen to them? They must have been
really bad people for this to take place. And Jesus answering
said unto them, he knew what they were thinking. Suppose ye
that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because
they suffered such things. They're the subject of the special
judgment of God. I tell you, no, no. Now there's no difference between
men, no difference, no difference between the most moral, the most
immoral. Bible says that. Somebody says,
how can you say that? Because the Bible does. There
is no difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There is no difference. There's
no difference in Him. Look what he says in verse four,
those 18 upon whom the tower in Siloam fell. He talked about
a current event at that time. There was a construction project
going on with a tower and something went wrong and it fell in. 18
people working on it were killed, a current event. And then he
asked this question, do you think they were sinners above all men
that dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but except you
repent. You shall all likewise perish.
Now remember what this thing of repentance is. Religious people think it's a
change of behavior. I've repented of my sins. I've straightened
up and I'm flying right. I've turned over a new leaf.
I'm all for everybody straightening up and flying right. Don't get
me wrong, but that ain't what repentance is. Repentance is
a complete change of mind about God. You've had low thoughts
of God, wrong thoughts of God. Your mind's changed with regard
to those. You've had too high a thought to yourself and your
own opinion and your own ability when you repent. You repent of
that. And you repent of any thought of salvation that is in any way
contrary to Jesus Christ being everything in salvation. You
repent. Except you repent. You shall
all likewise perish. And then the Lord said this in
Matthew chapter five, verse 20. He said, accept your righteousness. Now you listen to this real carefully.
Don't just let this go by you. Accept your righteousness, your
personal righteousness. exceed, surpass, be better than
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no
case, under no circumstance whatsoever, enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Now, listen to me. This man didn't have the righteousness
that our Lord is speaking of. If the righteousness of Jesus
Christ is not your personal righteousness. Now don't let that just go over
your head, think about it. If the righteousness of Jesus
Christ, his merit, his law keeping, his life before God, if his righteousness
is not your personal righteousness, YOU SHALL IN NO CASE ENTER THE
KINGDOM OF GOD." THIS MAN WHO WAS CLOSE, IF HE DIDN'T HAVE
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF JESUS CHRIST, HE IS NOT GETTING IN. MATTHEW CHAPTER 18 VERSE 3, THE
DISCIPLES WERE ARGUING over which one of them would be the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven. You know, that argument came
up a lot with these fellas. I mean, even right after the
Lord's table, they were having this argument. Which one of us
is gonna be the greatest? Me, not him, I know that. It wouldn't
be me, but I'm dead sure it wouldn't be him. I mean, I can see all
the arguments they're having. And the Lord made this statement,
and I feel like I've got more light on this statement than
I have in the past. He said, except you be converted and become as little children,
you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, what is this
thing of the faith of a little child? Now, a little child, you
all know my trick. You know, I mean, kids believe
it. They believe it, how'd you do that? I've even had adults
say, how'd you do that? That's my trick. And a little
kid is gullible, and they believe it? Whoa, how'd he do that? How'd
he do that? You know why? The kid's gullible. A child is gullible, they have
a tendency to just believe what you tell them. And that's part
of having the faith of a little child, that's part of it, but
understand this. We don't believe what Jesus Christ said because
we're gullible. We believe what He said because
He said it. No other reason is needed. We believe what He said because
He said it. It's not gullibility. It's knowing
that whatever He says must be true because of who He is. That's why we believe. Not because
we're gullible, but because he said it. I think it's interesting,
it's not the right word, but people, I mean, you all have
heard this statement, God said it, I believe it, that settles
it. Oh no, no. God said it, that
settles it, whether you believe it or not. Except ye be converted
and become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom
of heaven. And then in John 6, verse 44,
the Lord said, no man can come to me. Don't miss that. No man can come to me. Well, I can come to Christ whenever
I get ready to. No, you can't. No, you can't. You know, somebody says, well,
I'll get this taken care of tomorrow. No, you won't. No man can come
to me. No man has the ability to come
to me except the father which has sent me draw him. Now that word draw, let me tell you what it means. It
means drag. Really? Really. Remember the
way James uses it when he says, do not rich men draw you before
the judgment seats. That doesn't mean they're bringing
you in gently, they're yanking you in, and you're gonna be judged
because of that. You will not come to Christ unless
you're irresistibly dragged and drawn by the Father. And you know what? When he does
it, you're gonna come to full consent. You're going to come
because you want to. You see, He changes the want
to, and you want to come to Him. Now, the Lord said, except the
father, you won't. And this fellow here that was
so close to the kingdom of heaven, he's not coming in unless the
father draws him in and then he'll come in. He'll come in
then, ain't no doubt about that, but not until the Father draws
him. That's the irresistible, invincible
grace of the Holy Spirit. I remember hearing a man say
one time, I don't like that term, irresistible grace, I do. I do,
I got no problem with it at all. That's the only kind of grace
that'll save me, is grace that is irresistible and invincible.
I love the irresistible grace of God. Now this man, he wasn't
far, He didn't have the Father drawing him in. John chapter three, verse 27,
the Lord said, a man can receive nothing except it be given him
from above. Now, you may not be far, but
if you haven't received of the Father, as many as received him. Now, if you haven't received,
what do you have that you didn't receive? Nothing. Nothing. Everything you have, you received.
Now, if you don't receive of the Father, then like this fellow,
you might be close, but you're oh so far away. A man can receive nothing, except
it be given him from above. And if you haven't received anything,
let me say this. If you haven't received the gift of his grace,
he never gave it to you. Everybody that he gives his grace
to, you know what the evidence that he gave it to them was?
They receive it. They receive God's way of saving sinners.
They receive Christ as all. Why, even the faith they have
is a gift of grace they received. And they know it. The repentance
they have, the perseverance they have is a gift of grace they've
received. What do you have that you didn't receive? And the Lord said in John chapter
six, verse 53, except ye eat the flesh of the son of man and
drink his blood, you have no life in you. You might be standing
outside the door, seemingly pretty close, but except you eat the
flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in
you. Now, That is the precise same
thing as the just shall live by faith. That's what it is to
eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood. The just,
the justified shall live. That's that life in you shall
live by faith, looking to Christ only as everything in their salvation. The Lord said, abide in me and
I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except
it abide in the vine Neither can you except you abide in me. Now, it's not enough for me to
be close like that fellow was. I've got to be in the kingdom
of heaven abiding in Christ. Now, what does it mean to abide
in Christ? Here's a real simple illustration. All God's favor,
and I know it's not, I'm using this as an illustration, all
of God's favor is in this room. Outside of this room, there's
no favor where you want to abide. I wanna stay right here. All
you could ever want or desire is in this room. Where you wanna
stay? Right here. Don't wanna go anywhere else.
Every believer only wants to be found in Christ. When God
comes looking for me, I don't want him to see my prayers. I
don't want him to see my understanding. I don't want him to see how well
I've battled against sin and overcome. No, all I want is for
to be found in Christ. not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith. And the last scripture I want
to give you is Romans chapter nine, verse 29, except the Lord
of the Sabbath, Sabaoth had left us a seed, we'd been like Sodom
and like unto Gomorrah. Now, You are familiar that the
great sin of Sodom, according to the scripture, was where they
were wanting to know the angels. These men were homosexuals. The point is, they were looking
for something that could not produce life. And all this pictures
is human religion. It's got the act, but it cannot
produce life. And the Lord said, except the
Lord had left us a seed, we'd been just like them. We'd be
in a religion that cannot produce spiritual life. So close, yet so far. May the Lord enable me and you,
by faith, to enter in to the kingdom of heaven. Let's pray. Lord, we would be in your son. And Lord, the only way we can
be in your son. Is if you put us into your son. We think of that scripture of
Him, are you in Christ Jesus? Lord, we want to be in Christ
Jesus of you. Bless what was said for your
glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.