Is not that I did choose thee? Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyberg. In Luke chapter 18, verse 27,
the Lord says to His disciples, the things which are impossible
with men are possible with God. I've entitled this message when
inability, things that are impossible with men, when inability meets
omnipotence. All things are possible with
God. Now, this is the story of what
is known as the rich young ruler. In verse 18, we read in a certain
ruler, Luke chapter 18, verse 18, and a certain ruler asked
him, saying, good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life. Now we know from Mark's account
that he came running and he came kneeling. He seemed sincere,
respectful, and in dead earnest. But this question good master,
what must I do to inherit eternal life, exposes three or four things
this man was completely ignorant of. First, he was ignorant of
the character of Christ, who he really was. He didn't have
any idea that this one he was speaking to was the God-man.
Now that's seen in our Lord's response when he said, good master,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life? The Lord says, why callest
thou me good? There's none good but one God. Now, the Lord knew that this
man was coming to him simply as a man, a good man, but a man
nonetheless. A good man, what can I do to
reach your level of goodness? He didn't understand who Jesus
Christ was, the God-man. And he demonstrated an ignorance
of himself. What can I do? He actually thought
there's something that he could do to inherit eternal life. He didn't understand that he
was nothing but sin. He had a very high opinion of
himself, as we're going to go on reading in this passage of
Scripture, but he was ignorant of the person of Christ. He was
ignorant of himself. He didn't realize that all he
was was sin. He thought there was some good
thing he could do. And he was making the mistake of mixing
grace and works. Notice the question, what good
thing can I do to inherit eternal life? Now there's nothing you
do to inherit anything. If you inherit something, it's
because of the will of somebody else. It's not because of what
you do, it's because of the will of somebody else. But this man
didn't understand that. He said, what good thing can
I do to inherit eternal life? Verse 19, And Jesus said unto
him, Why callest thou me good? None is good save one, that is
God. He knew this man, didn't really
know who he was, and he was coming to him as a man and saying, that's
why the Lord says, why you call me good? There's none good. There's
none, as far as men goes, there's none that do it good, no, not
one. Only God is good, but he meets him on the ground he comes. If you want to come on the ground
of works, what good thing you can do, Christ will meet you
there. Now look what he says in verse 20. He says to this
man in answer to his question, what good thing can I do to inherit
eternal life? He doesn't immediately say nothing.
He meets him on the ground he came. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not
kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false
witness. Honor thy father and mother. Now he mentions the second
table of the law, the first table You'll have no other gods before
me. That's the first commandment.
The second is the commandment against idolatry. The third is
the commandment against taking his name in vain. The fourth
is the commandment regarding the Sabbath day. That's the first
table, the commandments regarding God. And the second table are
the commandments concerning our neighbor. And there are six of
them, but the Lord only mentions five of them. He leaves one out. he leaves out covetousness. This young man, as sincere and
good as he appeared, did not have any idea that he was eaten
up with, controlled by, and dominated by covetousness. So let's keep
that in mind as we read our Lord's response to this man when He
said, What good thing can I do to inherit eternal life? He said,
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. And He said, All these have I
kept from my youth up. I believe this man really did
think he had kept all the commandments from his youth up. But once again,
this man demonstrates such ignorance. The Apostle Paul made this statement
with regard to the commandments, the ten commandments of God. He said, For we know that the
law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Now, if you believe
that you've kept even one commandment one time, You don't really have
any understanding of God's Ten Commandments. You don't have
any understanding of your own sinfulness because you wouldn't
say something like that if you had any idea of God's holiness,
your own sinfulness, and the requirements of those commandments.
But this man was in the dark. He was totally ignorant. He said,
all these have I kept from my youth up. Now our Lord continues
to deal with this man. Now when Jesus heard these things,
he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing. Sell all that
you have, and distribute it unto the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. What was that man's response?
When he heard this, he was very sorrowful, for he was very rich. Now, I've heard preachers use
this passage of Scripture and say, you've got to be willing
to give up everything to follow Christ. You've got to be willing
to give up everything. Now, I want to be willing to
give up everything, but that's not what this passage is teaching.
What our Lord is doing is showing this man that he was eaten up
with covetousness, and he was unable to comply with the Lord's
command. He was a millionaire. Scripture
says he was very rich. And he was very sorrowful because
he didn't want to do that. Perhaps he thought he'd worked
hard for his money. But he didn't really care about
people. All he cared about was himself, and he didn't know that.
He was ignorant to his own soul being eaten up with covetousness.
So he is very, very sorry. He can't comply with the Lord's
commands. He's unable to. He's unable to. If he was able, he would have
done it, but he was completely unable to. Now, look what our
Lord says in verse 24. And when Jesus saw that he was
very sorrowful, he said, how hardly shall they that have riches
enter into the kingdom of God, for it's easier for a camel to
go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of God. Now, the Lord looked at this
rich young ruler And he says, men that have riches, it's so
hard for them to get into the kingdom of heaven. And here's
how hard. It's easier for a camel to go
through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of heaven. Now what did the Lord mean by that? You know, I've
read in commentaries on this passage of Scripture that this
is a reference to these very small gates in the walls of Jerusalem
where a camel would have to get down on its knees and squeeze
through, and it was with much difficulty they could get through.
Now, I don't believe that for a second. The Bible doesn't say
anything about that. A camel was the largest animal
they knew of. And a needle's eye was the smallest
point of inference they knew of. And it was completely impossible
for a camel to go through a needle's eye. It's something that could
not be done. But that being said, it would be more easy for a rich
man to enter the kingdom of heaven than it would for a camel to
go through a needle's eye. You know what that means? It
would be absolutely impossible. not improbable, but impossible
for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, there are many
men who had material riches that entered the kingdom of heaven.
David was very wealthy, Solomon was very wealthy, Job, Abraham
was wealthy. These were men who had wealth
and they entered the kingdom of heaven, but it's still true
that not one rich man has ever entered the kingdom of heaven.
Well, what is a rich man? Somebody who's not poor. poor
in spirit before God. The only people that enter heaven
are those who are poor in spirit. That means they have nothing.
They have nothing to bring to the table. They have nothing
to recommend them to God. They're poor. They have nothing. Those are the only people that
will enter into the kingdom of heaven. Those who have nothing,
absolutely nothing to recommend them. Now, look at the disciples'
response to this. Verse 26, And they that heard
it said, Who then can be saved? They were very discouraged. They
didn't really understand what the Lord meant when they saw
this young man that seemed so promising, that seemed so moral,
that seemed so sincere, so zealous, so earnest, who seemingly wanted
to please God. What good thing can I do to inherit
the kingdom of heaven? And the Lord tells them, Nothing. Salvation is impossible for this
man. The disciples, I can almost hear their frustration and their
fear when they said, who then can be saved? If this man can't
be saved, if salvation is impossible for him, who then can be saved? What a question. Now, two questions
of vital importance are dealt with in this narrative. What
shall I do to inherit eternal life? Well, if you're going to
go that route, you have to keep the whole law perfectly. No sin. Well, that's impossible. Well,
who then can be saved? With men, salvation is impossible,
but not with God. For with God, all things are
possible. Now, what is being dealt with
here is what is known as the doctrine of total depravity and
total inability. The total depravity of man, his
complete inability to be saved, Now I want to show you that the
scripture teaches this, then I want to ask you a question.
Now remember the Lord said with men salvation is impossible. Now what is meant by the total
depravity and the total inability of man? Well the first scripture
I want to quote is Genesis chapter 6 verse 5, and God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And did you hear what's said?
When God looked at man, this is every man, and this is what
he sees, that the thoughts of his heart, not even talking about
the actions now, but the thoughts of his heart, every single one
of them, were only evil continually. Now that's God's testimony. In
Romans chapter 3, verse 10, we read, as it's written, there
is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way They are together become unprofitable. There's none that
doeth good. No, not one. In Romans chapter eight, we read
this testimony concerning man. The carnal mind, that's the mind
we're born with. It's what we are by nature, the
fleshly mind. The carnal mind is enmity against God for it's
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. It lacks
the ability to be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. They utterly lack the ability
to please God because their mind is enmity with God. It's not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. We read these
words in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, but the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them. because they're spiritually
discerned. He lacks the ability to know
them. This is total depravity, total
inability. Our Lord put it this way in John
6, verse 44. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. My dear friend, this
is God's testimony regarding you and I. We're totally depraved,
totally unable, Unable to believe, unable to repent, unable to love,
unable to come to Christ. If God leaves me or you to ourselves,
all he's got to do is let us alone and we will go to hell. We'll never call on his name.
We'll never seek him. If God leaves us to ourselves.
Now this is what is known as, first of all, total depravity.
Total depravity means that all I do is sin. If I did it, it's sin because
of who I am. Total depravity means all I do
is sin. Total inability means I cannot
not sin. I can't change myself. Can the
leopard change his spots or the Ethiopian the color of his skin?
The answer is no. I can't change myself. I cannot
not sin. I'm totally depraved. I'm totally
unable. Somebody says, you ought to think
higher thoughts of yourself. These are scriptural thoughts.
And if I don't come to see this as true about myself, I'm never
going to believe on Christ. I'm not able to. Now, because
I'm totally depraved and because I'm totally unable, I cannot
look down my nose in moral superiority at anybody. Paul said in Romans
2.1, therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that
judgest another. For you that judge do the same
things. Anything I have judgment on you
about, I do the same thing. Now if you're honest, you'll
admit to that. If you're dishonest, you won't admit to it. But if
you're honest, that's the truth regarding you. And that person
who's totally unable and totally depraved, they have no claims
on God. Now I'm not asking you if you
believe that the Bible teaches the doctrine of total depravity
and total inability, because that's undeniable. The Bible
does teach it. I just read those scriptures.
The very notion of free will is ridiculous. Your will is chained
to an evil nature. The Bible teaches that all men
by nature, choice, and practice are totally depraved and totally
unable to do anything toward their salvation. Now, I'm not
asking you if you believe the Bible teaches that, but I am
asking you this. Are you totally depraved? And are you totally unable? Boy, I'd like to find somebody
who is. because then I could preach the gospel to them. Are
you totally depraved? Are you totally unable? Now regarding my total depravity
and my total inability, if my salvation is dependent in any
way to any degree on me doing something, or stopping doing
something, I will not be saved. And my friend, neither will you. If salvation is dependent on
me or you doing anything, we will not be saved. And this inability and depravity
that we have is all our fault. God didn't make me that way.
He created man upright. I can't blame the devil. It's
all my fault. I don't blame the sovereignty
of God. I'm not like Adam when he said, the woman that you gave
me, she gave me of the fruit. Now, did he imply that if you
hadn't given me this woman, it wouldn't have happened? No, all
my sin is all my fault. I'm totally depraved, and I'm
totally unable, I'm disabled to do anything spiritually, and
that's the only, and it's all my fault, and that's the only
person who will cry for mercy. You can write that down. That's
the only person who will cry for mercy. Now, let me tell you
two things that are true regarding that man who believes He's totally
depraved and totally unable. Two things about that man. First,
to that man, what is called the doctrine of grace becomes not
just a logical system of doctrine that the Bible teaches, but it
becomes absolutely necessary for my salvation. Now, somebody
may be wondering, what do you mean by the doctrine of grace?
Well, the doctrine of grace is the teaching of scripture. It's
not man-made. It's the teaching of scripture
that salvation is by grace. The doctrine of grace says that
men are totally depraved, totally unable to save themselves, but
God, because He's gracious, before time began, elected a people
unconditionally in His Son. He didn't choose them because
He saw they would be good. He chose them simply because
He willed to do it. And He gave those people to Christ,
and when Christ died on Calvary's tree and said, it is finished,
He was representing those the Father gave Him. The Bible does
not teach that the Lord Jesus Christ died for all men without
exception. If it did, all men without exception
would be saved because their sins would be blotted out. It
teaches that He died for the elect, those who believe, those
who come to Him. And when He said it is finished,
their sins were blotted out. Salvation was accomplished. And
God the Holy Spirit in time comes to those sinners that God chose
and Christ died for and irresistibly and invincibly causes them to
live. gives them spiritual life. He
says, live, and they live, and they believe, and they repent,
and they love because of this life given to them. And they,
by the grace of God, persevere all the way to the end. They
don't stop. Now, the Bible teaches this.
And somebody who does not teach this does not teach from the
Bible, because this is what the Bible teaches, salvation by grace,
the sovereign grace of God. And you know, it does make sense.
It does make sense. If we're totally depraved, then
we're totally dependent upon God to elect people, and Christ
to die for those people, and God the Holy Spirit to give them
life, and for God to cause them to persevere all the way to the
end and not fall away. That makes sense. But it's more
than that to somebody who really believes they're totally depraved. I need God to choose me. I don't argue with the fairness
of election. I know the only hope I have is for Him to freely
choose me. I need for Christ to put away
my sin completely. I need His efficacious, effectual
death that puts away all sin. I won't be saved without it.
I need His irresistible grace to cause me to believe, to cause
me to repent. I need this. I don't argue with
it. I need it. I need to be preserved because
I know I'll fall away if He doesn't preserve me. The doctrine of
grace is more than just a logical system or something that I agree
the Bible teaches it. I need this. I need that. I can't be saved without this. I love what the Lord says. He
said, who then can be saved? With men it's impossible, but
not with God. With God all things are possible. Now this is when inability meets
omnipotence. With God all things are possible. In Luke chapter 1, beginning
in verse 26, we read, And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel
was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to
a virgin, a spouse, to a man whose name was Joseph, of the
house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. Now notice she
was a virgin. Somebody says, do you believe in the virgin
birth? Absolutely. Absolutely. If it's not a virgin
birth, that would mean that Christ has a sinful nature, like me
or you, and couldn't save anybody. Yes, we believe in the virgin
birth. Well, how could that be? Well, with God, all things are
possible. Verse 28, And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail,
thou highly favored, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou
among women. And when she saw him, she was
troubled, let us say, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation
this should be. And the angel said unto her,
Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold,
thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt
call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob for ever and of his kingdom. There shall be
no end. Then Mary asks a very reasonable question. Then said
Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a
man? I don't understand how this could happen. It would seem impossible. And the angel answered and said
unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power
of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God, and behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived
a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her which
was called barren. For with God nothing shall be
impossible." You see, it is possible for a virgin to have a child
who is nobody less than the eternal Son of God, the God-man, because
with God all things are possible. Now, it is possible for God,
being omnipotent, to preserve a word to tell us how God saves
sinners. That's why I don't have any trouble
believing the Bible is the Word of God, because God's omnipotent,
and He's able to preserve this Word that tells us of His Son,
born of a virgin, who came into the world as a representative
man, and it's possible for this man to actually keep the law
for those people He came to represent. Oh, because with God, all things
is possible. It's possible for Him to actually
put away sin by His work on the cross where I don't have any
sin. It's possible for God to be raised from the dead in the
person of His Son. And it's possible because with
God, all things are possible for everybody that He died for
to actually be justified before God, to be without sin, to stand
perfect and blameless in His sight. And because with God all
things are possible, it's possible for him to take those sinners
that God chose and that Christ died for and that God the Holy
Spirit calls and make them perfectly conformed to the image of Christ,
to preserve them all the way to that time when they'll be
made just like Christ and everything between now and then is working
together for their good and his glory. This is possible because
all things are possible with God. I tell you what, when inability
meets omnipotence, here's what we find. Salvation. With God, all things are possible. That's why it's possible for
you to be saved or for me to be saved. Because with God, all
things are possible. To request a copy of the sermon
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