I've entitled this message, When
Inability Meets Omnipotence. when inability meets omnipotence. Look with me in verse 27 of Luke
chapter 18. And he said, the things which
are impossible with men. Now there we have the expression
of inability. The things that are impossible
with me are possible with God. There we have omnipotence. Inability meeting omnipotence. Now, back up to verse 18. And a certain ruler asked him,
saying, Good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Now we know from the other accounts,
particularly Mark's account, that he came running and he came
kneeling. This man was in dead earnest.
This man was respectful the way he came to the Lord Jesus Christ. He seemed sincere. But in this
statement he makes, he demonstrates the ignorance that all men by
nature possess. First of all, he demonstrated
a complete ignorance of the person of Jesus Christ, good master. You know, the Lord responded
to him, why callest thou me good? There's none good but one only. that is God. Now of course the
Lord Jesus Christ is good and he knows that, but he knew that
this man was coming to him as a mere man, a good man, but a
man. He didn't understand that Jesus
Christ was God, the creator of the universe, the absolute sovereign
of the universe. That's who Jesus Christ is, the
God-man. and this man had no understanding
of who he really was. And he really didn't have any
understanding of who he was. The other account says, what
good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And he
goes on to say, regarding God's holy law, all these have I kept
from my youth up. He demonstrated that he had no
idea of who he really was or how sinful he really was. And thirdly, this man did not
know what he needed. Good master, I need some information. He comes to Christ as a teacher.
I need to know what it is I need to know so I can do it. I need
right information. This man didn't understand that
he didn't simply need right information. He needed a savior. He needed
someone to save him from his sins. And this man did not know
that works and grace could not be mixed. He said, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life? Now, if you inherit something,
it's simply because of the will of him who decided you'd have
it. Isn't that so? You don't work to inherit. You
inherit something because of your relationship with somebody
else because they willed for you to have it. That's why you
inherited. And this man had no understanding that works and
grace could not be mixed. What shall I do that I may inherit
eternal life? Verse 19, and Jesus said unto
him, Why callest thou me good? None is good, save one, that
is God. Now, only God is good. Me and you aren't. And the Lord
knew why this man was saying this to him. He was saying, now,
you're a good man. I'm a good man, but I want to
somehow get to the level of your goodness. What do I need to do
to get there? And that's why the Lord rebuked
him with this answer. Why are you calling me good?
He knew he was coming to him as a man. There's only one good.
You know, the scripture says there's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Only God is good. Why callest
thou me good? There's only one good, save one,
that is God, verse 20. Thou knowest the commandments.
Now, the Lord's meeting this man on the ground he came. What
can I do? Well, you know the commandments.
Now, he's referring to the Ten Commandments, and you realize
the Ten Commandments is divided into two tables, the one law
concerning God, the other law concerning man. The law of God,
you'll have no other God before me. You're not to commit idolatry. You're not to take my name in
vain. You're to remember the Sabbath,
to keep it holy. That's the laws concerning our
relationship with God. And then the other table is the
laws concerning the relationship with men. And he names them in
verse 20, you know the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not
kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, don't lie, honor
thy father and my mother. Now, do you remember one that
he left out though? Thou shalt not covet. He doesn't
mention that one. Thou shalt not covet. Now my dear friends, Thou shalt
not covet is the last of the Ten Commandments. And in reality,
covetousness is involved in breaking every one of those Ten Laws.
But he doesn't mention to this man thou shalt not covet. Now look at his response in verse
21. And he said, all these have I
kept from my youth up. Now that's quite a man. All these. Everyone up. I've kept them all
from my youth up. And you know, I believe this
man believed this about himself. I can't grasp this, I can't really
enter in, but I believe this man really believed this about
himself. You know, I was thinking about,
I'm gonna preach tonight on love without dissimulation, love without
hypocrisy, is what the word means. I was just thinking about hypocrites.
And I was thinking, the one who's a really good hypocrite is the
one who thinks he's not. He's fooled himself. He's acted
so well that he really believes he's not a hypocrite. And that's
the way this fellow was. He said, I've kept the law. All
these have I kept from my youth up. Now, if you come to the Lord
on that ground, he'll meet you on that ground, if that's the
way you want to come. Turn with me to Luke chapter 10 for a moment. Verse 25, And behold, a certain
lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I
do to inherit eternal life? Now this is what everybody does.
They mix works and grace. What shall I do for this inheritance? And he said unto him, What's
written in the law? How readest thou? And he answered
and said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy
mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. And I can just see his chest
swelling a little bit at this time with his answer. I gave
the right answer. Look at the Lord's reply. And
he said unto him, Thou hast answered right. This do. This do. And thou shalt live. If you want to come into my presence
on the footing of your works, here's what you need to do. Keep
the law perfectly. Now, back to our text, verse
21. And he said, all these have I
kept from my youth up. And in making that statement,
he demonstrated a complete ignorance of the law of God. Paul said
regarding the law in Romans chapter 7 verse 14, for we know that
the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. He demonstrated a complete ignorance
of the character of God because he thought, I've kept his law,
he'd accept this, I would. He demonstrated once again a
complete ignorance of himself. He didn't know that he was sinful
and unable to keep God's holy law. And what wisdom the Lord
uses when he addresses this man after this statement. Now, verse
22, When Jesus heard these things, now this was a very sincere young
man. He comes to Christ running and
kneeling, and he comes desiring to know, what can I do to reach
your level of goodness? He had some kind of admiration
of Christ. And the Lord sees him in this state, and look how
he answers in verse 22. Now, when Jesus heard these things,
he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing. Sell... Whoever has it, go ahead
and turn it off. Nobody's mad. Turn it off. Okay. This, it happens in this,
in this day, you know, it does. I mean, I'm, one of these days,
well, I never carry my phone up here, but it's going to happen
to me one of these days, so I, I'm not going to get mad at anybody
when that happens. It happens, so. Verse 22, and he said, all these
things that I kept from my youth up, 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. Now what this man did not realize
was that he was eaten up with covetousness. He was a rich man. He was a covetous man. and he
was eaten up and controlled by covetousness. And the Lord met
him where he was. He met him exactly where he was. Verse 23, and when he heard this,
this rich young man, he was very sorrowful, for he was very rich. Now, that word very sorrowful
is the same word that our Lord used to describe his agony in
the garden when he said, my soul is exceeding sorrowful. This
man was very sorrowful when the Lord said this to him because
he was very rich. And he saw that he could not
obey the Lord's command. Oh, he was sorry. But he could
not comply with what the Lord told him to do. He could not
part with his riches. He lacked the ability to do this
because he was controlled by covetousness. Now, he was sorry. He felt bad. But there he stays. He could not obey. He could not part with his riches.
I guess he was a millionaire and he couldn't do this. He was
very sorrowful. Verse 24, and when Jesus saw that he was
sorrowful, he said, here's the Lord's comment about this man,
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, if you're rich, you know
what that means? It means you're not poor. Very simple. It means you're
not poor. Only the poor enter the kingdom
of heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of God. If you're a rich man, you're
not poor. Now, many material rich men have entered the kingdom
of heaven. Job was the richest man in the world. What about
Solomon? David? On and on. Many materially rich
men have entered the kingdom of heaven, but nobody who was
not poor. entered the kingdom of heaven.
Somebody that doesn't have anything to recommend them to God. They've
got nothing to bring to the table. Absolutely nothing. Only poor
people enter the kingdom of heaven. Now again, in Mark's account,
the Lord said, how hard is it for them that trust enriches? to enter into the kingdom of
heaven. The problem is not in the riches, but in the trust.
And then the Lord gives this impossible scenario in verse
25, 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, I think
it's almost strange how, if you're reading a lot of the commentaries,
they say in the walls of Jerusalem, there were these little openings
that the camels would have to get through, that they'd get
down real low and have to take everything off to get through
that hole in the wall, and it was with great difficulty they
entered in. Let me say this, first of all.
You never interpret the scripture in light of something that's
not in the scripture. Does the Bible ever say that there's these
little holes in the wall at Jerusalem that the camels had to get down
on their knees to get through? No. What the Lord is talking
about is the biggest animal they saw, a camel, and the smallest
point of entrance they knew of, the eye of a needle. Now, you
want to talk about an impossible scenario. How possible is it
for a camel to get through the eye of a needle? It is impossible. Under no scenario can a camel
walk through a needle's eye. Now, it would be easier for a
camel to get through a needle's eye. then it would be for a rich
man to be saved. Now, the disciples heard all
of this, and they saw this young man who seemed to be so sincere,
so promising, seemed to be such a fine young man. I guess this
guy is the best humanity has, this rich young ruler. And when
they see him turned away, They asked this question and when
they heard it, verse 26, they said, who then can be saved? Now, this passage of scripture
deals with two very important questions. Number one, is there
anything I can do to save myself? What can I do to inherit eternal
life? And the answer is, you got to keep the law perfectly. Nobody can do that. Nobody can
do that. Who then can be saved? And then the Lord answers in
verse 27. And he said, The things which are impossible,
not improbable, impossible, absolutely impossible. The things that are
impossible with men are possible with God. Now this is what happens
when inability meets omnipotence. Now, with men, salvation is impossible. Now, I want you to listen to
me real carefully. I want you to listen to this statement. Get it. If God leaves
me or you to ourselves, we will go to hell. You believe that? If God removes his hand from
you and leaves you to yourself, salvation for you is impossible. There is no way you will be saved. If God doesn't do something for
you, if he doesn't intervene, you will not be saved. Salvation
is not possible. If salvation is dependent upon
the ability of man to do anything, no one will be saved. Salvation is impossible. Now that stuff that's preached
in our day, God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody, wants
to save everybody, but salvation is up to you. You got to accept
what he did or you won't be saved. That's foolishness. There's no
truth to it. If salvation is left to you or
me, we will not be saved. Now what this is a reference
to is the inability of man. It's what's known as the doctrine
of the total depravity or the total inability of man. This
is a description of me and you. Now turn with me to Romans chapter
3. I want us to look at several
scriptures to see that the Bible does in fact teach this. Romans chapter 3, verse 10. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
If God doesn't reveal himself to you, you'll never understand
the gospel. There is none that seeketh after God. Do you know
that if God doesn't cause you to, you won't even seek him?
Oh, you may be religious, but you won't seek the living God.
They are all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Turn to Romans eight. Verse six. For to be carnally
minded, that's the way we're born into this world, is death. But to be spiritually minded
is life and peace because the carnal mind, the fleshly mind,
what we are by nature, is enmity against God, for it's not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. It lacks the ability
to be. It's unable to be. So then, they
that are in the flesh cannot please God. If God leaves me
or you to ourselves, we can't please Him. Look in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. Verse 12, Now we have received not the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God,
which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches,
but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness
unto him, neither indeed can he. know them. He lacks the ability
to know them. For the foolishness unto him,
neither indeed can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. Turn to John chapter 6. Look at the words of our Lord
in verse 43. Jesus therefore answered and
said unto them, murmur not among yourselves, Verse 44, John chapter
six, no man can come to me. No man has the ability to come
to me except the father which has sent me draw him. Look in verse 65 of the same
chapter. And he said, therefore said I
unto you that no man can come to me. except it were given unto
him of my father." Now that is what is known in the scriptures
as the doctrine of total depravity and total inability. I want to ask you a question. I'm not asking you if you believe
that the Bible teaches the doctrine of total depravity and total
inability. I dare say that when you heard
those scriptures read, you said, yes, the Bible does, in fact,
teach this. Here's the question I'm asking
you, and here's the question I'm asking myself. Are you totally depraved? And are you completely unable
to do anything to save yourself? Now that's the question I'm asking
you. I'm not asking you if you believe
the doctrine of total depravity. I'm asking you, are you totally
depraved? Now here is total depravity. All I do is sin. Doesn't matter what it is. If
I did it, it's sin. You see, you don't Become a sinner
when you sin. You sin because you're already
a sinner. And that makes everything you do sin. Total inability is I cannot not
sin. I cannot make it to where I do
not. I'm going to pull myself up by
the bootstraps. I'm going to grip my, I'm going
to be perfect. I'm going to be holy. You can't
do it. You cannot. You lack the ability to not sin. Now do you believe that about
yourself? Would that be you? Now if it is, Let me tell you
two things that are true of you. If you really believe you're
totally depraved and you're totally unable to do anything but sin,
if you really believe that, that means you really believe that
you can't sit in judgment on any fellow sinner for anything. You know that you have that log
in your eye and you can't look down in moral superiority at
anybody. Nobody. and you really believe that you
personally have no claims on God at all, you really believe
that your sin is all your fault, you don't say with Adam, the
woman that you gave me, she gave me the fruit and I didn't eat.
No, you know that your sin is your fault regarding my total
depravity and my total inability. If salvation, listen to me, If
salvation is in any way dependent upon me doing anything, I will
not be saved. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good that
are accustomed to doing evil. Now, if salvation is dependent
upon me doing anything, I will not be saved. And this is all
my fault. God didn't make me this way.
The devil didn't make this way. My mouth has been stopped and
I stand guilty before God. Now, if I don't take complete
responsibility for my sin, I'm ultimately putting the blame
on God, aren't I? Now, let me tell you two things
that are true of everybody. who really believes that they're
totally depraved and they're totally unable to do anything
to save themselves. You know, not everybody believes
that. Matter of fact, not many people believe that. But the
ones who do, let me tell you two things that are always true
of them. First, What we call the doctrines or
the doctrine of grace becomes more than that. They become the
doctrines of necessity. What do I mean by that? A lot of the doctrines of grace
are summarized by what the Bible teaches about men being dead
in sins. God before time began elected
a people unconditionally as an act of his own sovereign will.
Christ died for the elect and accomplished their salvation.
God the Holy Spirit's grace is irresistible and invincible and
God's people will persevere all the way to the end because they're
preserved by the grace of God. Now that, that's just the truth
and really it's logical isn't it? It's logical, it just makes
sense. But if all it is is logical, I don't really believe. If this
is just a logical system of theology to me that makes sense, I don't
really believe. Don't really believe I'm totally
depraved. I might see the Bible teaches this but If you really
see that you yourself are totally depraved before God, the doctrines
of grace become the doctrines of necessity to you. The only
hope I have is for God to choose me. The only hope I have is for
Christ to actually put away my sin so it's no more. The only
hope I have is that God will irresistibly cause me to believe
and give me life. That's all I've got. I won't
persevere unless God does that for me because I am totally depraved
and totally unable to do anything about it. Somebody says, you're
just trying to find an excuse. Yeah, I reckon I am. I need this. I need God to do something for
me. I need for him to reach down and do something for me. Now, if you have really dealt
with what you are, salvation is impossible for you and the
only hope you have is found in his omnipotence. Who then can be saved with men? Impossible. You ever found that
true regarding you? But with God, all things are
possible. I love what the Lord said to
Abraham. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? I don't care what the situation
is. Doesn't matter. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? With God, all things are possible. Now, God is omnipotent. You know what that means? It
means He's all-powerful. He's all-powerful. There's nothing
beyond the range of His power. Whatever he wills, he has the
power to perform. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth,
the scripture says. He is all-powerful. And because
he is all-powerful, he is able to write a book and keep it preserved. Now, I wouldn't believe the Bible
is the Word of God if I didn't believe God is all-powerful,
because I think there could be too many additions, too many
subtractions, men are going to do this, how can you trust it
if men wrote it? You have all those kind of objections.
But, if God is all-powerful, He can write in a book how someone
who is totally unable to save themselves can be saved. Paul said to Timothy, from a
child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. All Scripture. Now, with
that in mind, turn with me to Luke chapter 1. Verse 26, And in the sixth month the angel
Gabriel was sent from God unto 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. Verse 28, And
the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed
art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was
troubled at his saying, 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 shalt bring forth a son, and shalt
call his name Jesus. He shall be great, he 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 ever. Of his kingdom there shall
be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel,
How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? Now, there is a problem. She's
a virgin. How is she going to have a child?
That's a thing impossible with us, isn't it? Is it possible
for a virgin to have a baby? No. It's not possible with men. But let's go on reading. 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 own age, and this is the
sixth month with her who was called barren, for with God,
nothing. shall be impossible. Yes, it's possible for a virgin
to conceive a child. For with God, nothing should
be impossible. And that same child that is conceived
by the virgin is no one less than the eternal Son of God. For with God nothing shall be
impossible. The Word was made flesh. And
that One who is God, the Word made flesh, came as a representative
For with God nothing shall be impossible." This is how folks
who it's impossible for them to be saved are saved. This one,
the Lord Jesus Christ, came in the flesh and kept the law for
them. Those people who were totally
depraved and totally unable to do anything but sin. He kept
the law for them. For with God Nothing shall be
impossible. And that same one died on Calvary's
tree as a sin-bearing substitute. All the sins of God's elect became
his sins, and he paid for them and put them away. For with God,
nothing shall be impossible. And when he was raised from the
dead, every single one of them were justified. For with God,
nothing is impossible. And right now, he's seated at
the right hand of the Father, having ascended back, seated
at the right hand of the Father, preserving every one of his people. For with God, nothing shall be
impossible. And here's this, here's the deal. This fellow you're looking at,
in the very mind of God, is perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus
Christ. That's true of all God's people.
For with God, nothing shall be impossible. These people can't
believe, but with God nothing shall be impossible. They will
believe, because faith is his gift. He gives them life in time,
for with God nothing shall be impossible. Now I'd like to close
by looking at a impossible scenario. Turn with me to John chapter
9. Now this is when the Lord opened
the eyes of one that was born blind. It is impossible for a
man who was born blind to see. Look in verse 32. Since the world began, was it
not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born
blind? He was the first one to do it.
He did that which was impossible. Now, look in verse 39 after he
had given this man sight. Verse 39. And Jesus said, for judgment
I am coming to this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might
be made blind. And you know what the Lord just
said? He said, I've come for this purpose. that folks who
cannot see, they lack the ability to see. I'm going to give them
sight. And the folks who have the ability
to see, I'm going to blind them. Now do you see where it's a bad
thing to have ability? If you have any spiritual ability,
you're on your own. He's not gonna do anything for
you. And if you have no spiritual
ability, if you're blind, you can't see why God would have
anything to do with you. You're like Peter, you say, Lord,
depart from me, I'm a sinful man. Lord says, you're gonna have
sight. Verse 40. And some of the Pharisees, which
were with him, heard these words, and they said unto him, Are we
blind also? Jesus said unto them, If you are blind, you should have no sin. If you have no ability, You have no sin. You see, you're
somebody that looks to Christ only. But now you say, we see. You have ability. Therefore,
your sin remains. One other scripture, I want you
to see this, Romans 4. Verse 16, therefore, it is a
faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise might
be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the
law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all, as is written, I've made thee a father
of many nations. Now, I think this is glorious.
When the Lord said this to Abraham, he still hadn't had any kids
yet. But he says, I've made thee. Not I will make thee. It's already
done. before him whom he believed,
even God, who quickens the dead, and calleth those things which
be not as though they were, who against hope believed in hope
that he might become the father of many nations, according to
that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be, and be not weak
in faith, he considered not his own body, now dead, completely
unable, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness
of Sarah's womb, He staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully
persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. There's inability believing God's
ability. It's a glorious thing when Inability
meets omnipotence. What is that saying? What happens
when an irresistible force meets an unmovable object? Well, that's
an absurdity. There's no unmovable object to
an irresistible force. If the irresistible force comes,
that immovable object is going to move. And that is the power
of God. May the Lord by His power, give
every person in this room the grace to believe the gospel. He can do it. He can do it. That's
why I don't despair. I don't despair of anybody. I
don't despair of myself. I don't despair of anybody. Why? Because with God, all things
are possible. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
power, how we thank you for your omnipotence. Lord, we confess
that in and of ourselves, we're totally depraved, totally unable. And Lord, we confess it's all
our fault. And what we need is mercy. And
Lord, we ask that you would have mercy upon us for Christ's sake
and give us the ability to believe on thy son. Give us the ability
to repent. Give us the ability to love. Give us the ability to persevere
in the faith. Lord, these things are thy gifts. Have mercy upon us for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Stand and sing.