Turn with me in your Bibles to
Matthew 19. Matthew chapter 19. And while you're turning, so
many of you ask of the health and welfare of my parents, and
I appreciate that. They send their greetings, but
both of them are doing fairly well considering their age. Mother
just turned 90 years old. and dad is 88, and they're getting
old and frail, but they're in every service, Sundays and Wednesdays,
every service. And you know what a preacher
Henry Mahan was, and he's the most childlike hearer in that
place. Every message to him, Bruce,
is the best he ever heard. Many times said, I hope that
when we get that old, the gospel will still be so precious, even
more so. But there's such an encouragement
to me and to everyone there. Matthew 19, read with me three
verses. Verse 23 through 26. It's four
verses. Matthew 19, 23, then said Jesus
unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you that a rich man shall
hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you it is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And when his disciples heard,
they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, looked
at them, gazed upon them, and he said unto them, With men this
is impossible, but with God all things are possible. The Lord had been talking to
a rich, young Pharisee ruler of the synagogue. I'm quite sure
the disciples knew this young man. He was known for his devotion. He was known for his morality.
And the disciples heard our Lord speaking to this young man, and
up in verse 21, the Lord said to this young man, if thou wilt
be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, give it to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow
me. And then when the young man left,
the Lord turned to his disciples and said this, that a rich man
shall hardly enter the kingdom of heaven. How hardly shall a
rich man enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, this should give everyone
in this room pause. What our Lord said there, shouldn't
it? There is not a poor person in here, materially. Not one. There's no one in here who has
really suffered hunger. We have been hungry, but we haven't
suffered hunger. We've never really been poor
to the point of not having anything. Poor means not having anything
and no prospects of having anything. These disciples saw poor. They
saw Bartimaeus. They knew what poor was, a man
who was completely and totally dependent on others for a handout.
These disciples had not sold everything that they owned. They
left everything. Peter still had a home, didn't
he? His mother-in-law stayed with him, with his wife, and
the Lord was in that home often, but they had not sold everything.
They left it, they forsook it. Comparatively, they were rich
compared to the truly poor. And our Lord said for emphasis
in verse 24, He said, Again I say unto you, it is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man
to enter the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. And the disciples, it says they
were exceedingly amazed and Mark's gospel says they were astonished
out of measure. They were speechless and they
said among themselves, they said this among themselves, Who can
possibly be saved then? And you know, this is the question,
isn't it? Who can be saved? Everyone should
be asking this question. Every son of Adam born in sin,
dead and trespassed in sin, blind, halt, lame, wretched, miserable,
poor, a sinner through and through, should be asking this question,
who then can be saved? How can a man be saved? He that
is born of woman, how can he be cleaned? Isn't this the question?
In order to enter the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven,
the holy abiding place of a thrice holy God, who then can be saved? And our Lord tells us plainly,
in no uncertain term, couldn't be clearer, could it? With man,
it is impossible. A camel can't go through the
eye of a needle. That's just not possible, is
it? It's not physically possible. Nor is it possible for a man
to get himself into the kingdom of God. It's impossible. How clear could he be? But with God, and only with God,
Is this possible? Only with God. This is a message
to hopefully make us all give up all hope in ourselves, all
confidence in ourselves, all confidence in the flesh, in any
man, in anything we do, or anything anyone does for us. And only hope in the one who
can say, who must say, hope in God, hope in Christ. And to give
us hope for the impossible. Because he said, there are no
impossible cases with God. To give us hope for the utterly
impossible with man. Those that we think are absolutely
beyond reach. That's not possible for God. So I hope this will give us some
encouragement. Now, to be saved, the very term means that you're
lost, doesn't it? It implies that you are lost.
If you're lost, really lost, that means you don't know the
way, you can't find the way if you knew the way, couldn't you?
That's exactly what lost means, doesn't it? Lost means lost.
To be saved means that you are dead in trespasses and sin. And
if you're dead, that means dead, doesn't it? Barnard used to call
it graveyard dead. How dead can you get? Graveyard
dead. And if you're dead, you can't
give yourself life, can you? If you're lost, you can't find
yourself. People say that all the time,
don't they? He needs to find himself. The Lord plainly said with man
it's impossible. He's lost. Somebody's got to
come find him, don't they? He's dead. Somebody's got to
give him life. How plain could he be? His brother Walter Groover one time
was out hunting, wasn't he, down in Mexico. And the men warned
him, this was early on, when he was just down there a little
while, and he went out hunting. And they warned him, don't go
out alone. Well, he did anyway. You know Walter. And he went
anyway. And he got thirsty and got hot
and almost sunstroke, and he lay on the ground. And he would
have died if somebody hadn't come and found him. The men went
looking for him and they found him. That's what lost means. Somebody's got to come find you. Now, to be saved requires two
things. To be saved, something has to
be done for us and something has to be done to us or in us. To be saved from sin, The wages
of sin is death. To be saved from wrath, to be
saved from the penalty of sin, the punishment of sin, the power
of sin, and the presence of sin, something has to be done for
us by someone else. And that someone is God. That
someone is the Lord Jesus Christ. With man this is impossible.
For any son of Adam to be saved It took the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, He had to come to this earth as a man. Now,
when I was writing this down and thinking about this, I thought, We sometimes sound like a broken
record, don't we? We say these things over and
over again. We want to be able to declare
them from the heart to the heart of men. We want them to touch
men's heart. But even if that doesn't happen, just the stating
and declaring of the fact of this is a blessing for you to
hear. You know that? You know how few people hear
this? You know how few people even care? You know how few people
believe this? We're so blessed to hear this
over and over and over again, aren't we? I wish it touched me more. I
wish I could preach this in such a way as it needs to be done.
But what it took, nothing more and nothing less than the Son
of God to come to this earth and live a perfect life for His
people. He didn't do this for everyone,
but he did it for his people, his chosen people. None deserved
it, but he in mercy and grace and in love chose a people. And lest anyone argue against
that, he chose a number which no man can number. He's got them
numbered, but no man can number them. And he came down here and lived
a perfect life according to God's law. He told this rich young
ruler, if you will be perfect, you know the law, and have you
stopped to think about that he did not deal with the first four
points of the moral law concerning God? He didn't even deal with
that, did he? Why is that? He's just going
to charge him on lesser charges. If he can't meet the lesser charges,
how much less the greater? If he can't love man, his neighbor
as himself, how can he possibly love God? He doesn't even bring
those things up, Joe, does he? We're guilty on the lesser charges,
if that can be said. Have no other god? This man had
other gods. Money was his god. The Lord calls
covetousness idolatry, doesn't he? Is there a person in here
who's not guilty of that? He calls that idolatry. Have
no other gods before me. Guilty. Guilty. You will be perfect. The Lord had to come here and
be a perfect man. A holy man. Only one holy man
ever lived. That's the reason it's such an
abomination to call any man a holy man. The only perfect man in
thought, word, and deed. God looks on the heart. He looked
on the heart of his son and he was well pleased for his righteousness. Perfect in thought and word and
deed and motive. Selfless. The only selfless man
who ever lived. The only man who really was completely
consumed with the glory of God. And in love and service to his people. The only man ever. Ever. Why did he do that? Not to show
us how, although he did. But he did it for his people.
He did that on their behalf. He's a substitute. He's a covenant
head. In Adam all died. We inherited
his sin. Well, in Christ he made alive.
We inherit his righteousness. He imputed that righteousness
to his people. Charged it to. Would you give
anybody... This is just not the way of man.
Would you work all your lifetime and give someone else the credit
for it? That's just not man. That's what Christ did. Isn't
that amazing? Scripture calls it the unspeakable gift. You ever received a gift that
you were at a loss for words for? Why would he do this? To the praise of the glory of
his grace. his love to his people. Then,
to be saved, the Lord Jesus Christ had to be made sin. Would you
take the blame of someone? Would you take their blame? Someone
that hated you? That's exactly what he did. The
most glorious words, and really the first words I believe the
Lord used to break this proud heart was our Lord's first words
from Calvary's tree when he was hanging there. He said, Father,
forgive them. They know not what they did.
They don't know what they've done. Would you do that? That's exactly what he did. He was made sin for his people,
he became sin for us. Our sins were laid on him, the
iniquity of us all, God's people. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree and he was punished and he bore the wrath of God
against me. He died that I might live, that
I might go free to pay for my sin. That's something. Nothing more, nothing less. That's why self-righteousness,
when anyone, any kind of self-righteousness that man comes up with is such
an abomination to God, so odious and hateful to God. Because the
only thing that could save wretched sinners was the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. The only thing that could save
wretched sinners is the blood of God's Son. And for someone
to say that they had a part in it. Paul said if righteousness come
by the law, anything we do, Christ died in vain. Didn't need to
send his Son. See how serious that is? This thing of salvation is impossible
with man. It's not a cooperation, it's
an operation of God, a work of God, a work of God, the Triune
God, Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Now, I said two things
have to be done, something done for us and something done in
us. Something miraculous has to be
done in us, an impossible work has to be done in us, to us, in us. You must be born
again. The scripture says, be born,
not get born. Be born, that's what the old
country preachers say. I got born again. You must be
born again. Just as we have no part in our
first birth, none whatsoever. We have no part in the new birth,
do we, David? None. It's impossible. Nicodemus
didn't understand that, did he? Can a man enter into his mother's
womb a second time? And you're teaching people and
you don't know this? This is the first thing in salvation
that you must be born again, born up from above. These men
and I were talking on the way over here about these men who
are trying to make salvation how much you know. Salvation
is who knows you. Isn't that right? Who knows you? who foreknew you,
who predestinated you, who purchased you, who chose you, who called
you, isn't it? That's salvation of the Lord.
An impossible salvation with man, but not with God. The blind
have to be made to see. The salvation of God, the blind
have to be made to see. The deaf have to be made to hear,
and some do. It's amazing, isn't it? It's
impossible with man. You can't make a man see God,
like you were saying. The heavens declare His glory
and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day others
speak. They don't hear it. But I have. They don't see it,
do they? They don't see His hand in everything.
Though it's clearly seen, His eternal power in Godhead by the
things that are made. He's clearly seen, isn't He?
But man is blind. He can't see. And you can't make
him see. And you won't make him see with
logic or reason. You won't do it. Only God can
make him see. It's going to take God revealing
Himself to him. With man, it's impossible. The dumb have to be made to call
on the Lord. Men won't call on the Lord, will
they? They won't call on the Lord. Whosoever shall call on
the name of the Lord shall be saved. But they're dumb. They
won't call. But lo and behold, some people
do, don't they? And you can't make them calm.
This thing of preaching, every preacher in here will attest
to this being the most exasperating, frustrating, impossible thing
to do. Impossible. like Ezekiel when
the Lord told him to preach to those bones. We can't convince
ourselves of anything, that's what you were saying, we can't
convince ourselves of anything let alone convince other people.
But God amazingly has used this means of preaching To take nothings
and nobodies, fishermen and coal miners like Brother Scott, and
stand up before doctors and lawyers and kings, who look down on them
and scoff at them as nothings, and suddenly shut their mouths
and open their ears and break their hearts through these...
Paul said, we have this treasure in earthen vessels. Why? That
the excellence of the power might be of God, that it might be clear
God's doing this. Can you convince dead sinners
of anything? Can you convince the people that
are wise in their own conceit? Can you convince them of anything?
No, you can't. But God does. Yes, He does. He's got some doctors sitting
out here. Boy, you better be thanking God because
not many wise men have the flesh to call. That's a fact. The lame have to walk by faith. These feet that are swift to
mischief, run to mischief, walk by faith. Turn them 180 degrees. Turn them from that path that
they love, that way of destruction and that's their running headlong.
Clare, to turn them. It's impossible for us to do,
isn't it? I see our young people headed that way, headed the way
I was headed. and I want to grab him, I want
to shake him, I want to war him, but I can't do a thing. We can't
do anything, can't we? We've got lost children, we've
got lost spouses, we've got lost parents, we've got lost friends
and neighbors, and we can't do a thing, can we, Donny? We'd
like to be able to, can't we? But God can, and God must, and
God does. This is an impossible salvation
I'm talking about with man. But thanks be unto God which
always giveth us the victory and causes us to try. Preach
Ezekiel! Just preach! Is that it? That's it. And stand back and
watch. Behold the salvation of the Lord.
That's how you know God did it, don't you? That's how you know. It's easy to see what man produces,
doesn't it? With all his gimmicks and tactics
and tricks and bribery and convincing people, it's easy to see. But
when God does the impossible, you know, that's a blur. The
unwilling have to be made willing. Christ said, you will not come
unto me that you might have life. But watch this, Christ said,
come! And they come. It's amazing,
isn't it? Oh, I want our children to come
to cry. A couple of kids that I'm so burdened about and I can't
do it. God's got to make People that
love themselves hate themselves. It is impossible for a man to
hate himself. A man to hate himself and love
God with man, that's impossible. Have you ever thought about why
the Lord used a camel for this illustration? Look at verse 24
again. Verse 24. He said, It's easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter in the
kingdom of God. You know good and well it's impossible
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle in. It's just
human, physically impossible, materially impossible. Has anyone
ever been around a camel? Why did the Lord use a camel?
You know, the Lord didn't just pull things out of the hat. I
love the thought that everything our Lord did, the Lord never
made a useless gesture with his hand. Every step he took was divinely
ordained in the direction of saving his people. Every word
was profound, had eternal consequences, life and death. Not one idle
word, everything about him. He didn't just choose this. Why
didn't he choose a horse? Why didn't he choose an elephant
or something? Have you ever seen a camel? Have
you ever been around a camel in person? You'd know it if you
had. That's about the ugliest, stinkinest,
filthiest creature on earth, isn't it? They are. Stinking bee. We have a man in our church,
he said he was somewhere around some camels and they spit on
him. They spit on him. They couldn't believe it. Stinking,
ugly, vile, wretched creature and they've got this big hump
on their back. It's the only one I know of,
it's got a big hump on its back. Now how are you going to get
this big, ugly, stinking, filthy, wretched, vile creature with
this huge hump on its back through this straight and narrow way? You get the picture? It's impossible
with man. You would have to reduce this
big ugly creature to nothing. And what a picture that is of
us, isn't it? Self. Pride. We've all got this
big hump on our backs called me. Pride, don't we? With man it's impossible. The
pride of life. They were all beset with. We're going to have to be reduced
to nothing. It's impossible with man. Only
God can do that and he does it to every one of his people to
bring them into this kingdom. Everyone. You see, this whole
life for God's people is spent in reducing us to nothing. You say, you don't want to People
don't want to wreck their self-esteem. That's our whole problem. Self-esteem will keep us out
of glory, isn't it? Only those that esteem themselves,
nothing are going to be in God's kingdom. And this is impossible
with man. You can't make a man not love
himself. Because everyone that comes into
Christ's kingdom, into God's kingdom, is going to have to
be a nothing that Christ may be everything. Christ is only everything to
those who are nothing. Christ is only beautiful to those
that are ugly. Christ, His righteousness imputed,
is only wonderful to those that don't have one. His blood shed
for the remission of their sins. That's precious payment. God's
people. Everything about salvation is
impossible with man. You know that? Everything. But
it's not only possible, it's certain with God. Listen to me.
This is how you know the salvation that's of the Lord. Blind see,
the deaf hear. It's impossible. to make, as
I said, a man who loves himself begin to hate himself. And yet,
that's what every single child of God, every single one of God's
elect are brought to that point, aren't they? In Ezekiel 36, the
Lord said, I'll give them a new heart. And they're going to loathe
themselves. They're going to loathe themselves.
Hate themselves. It's impossible to make someone
who thinks they're good, they're moral, they're someone who's
self-righteous, it's impossible to make them feel guilty, to
make them repent. It's impossible. Saul of Tarsus
is a good example of that, isn't it? And we'll give you two striking
contrasts here. This self-righteous Pharisee,
and Todd, you and I believe this rich young ruler was Saul, don't
we? And we're right, Todd and I. Aren't we, Tom? As your pastor
said. But Saul of Tarsus, he said,
concerning the righteousness which is of the law, he said,
I'm blameless, didn't he? Nobody could convince him of
sin. No man could convince him of sin. But buddy, when he met
the sinless one, The Holy Son of God on that road to Damascus
and the Lord Jesus Christ put him in the dirt. After that confrontation,
after he's met holiness personified, now what's he saying about himself? Oh wretched man that I am, in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Now who could do that but God?
With man that's impossible. The other extreme, got a man
who lived his whole life in murder and robbery and thievery, lived
his whole life as a wretched, guttered, dwelling, outwardly, openly wicked and
immoral man. And he's on death row. He's about to die. Talking about
the thief on the cross. He's never done one good thing
in all his life. Everybody there knows it. It's impossible to save that
man. They tried to reform him. They
couldn't do it. No one and nothing could do it.
They changed his environment. That didn't do it. Until finally
he's hanging on the cross. And in his dying words, he looks
and sees God of glory, his hope of salvation, and he calls on
the name of the Lord. The Lord saves him. It's impossible
with man. It's impossible, but with God.
Don't give up hope. As long as Christ lives, there's
hope. Is it possible to take away everything
a man has, everything in this world, all of his earthly possessions,
all of his loved ones, all of his family, everything that he
has, and make him bow and submit to the sovereign will of God
Almighty? Is that possible? Not with man. But ask Job. Job said, the Lord
gave. The Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
In all this, Job sinned not, but charged God foolishness. This is one of the most amazing
statements in scripture, isn't it? Though he slay me, I'll trust
him. What he's saying is, I deserve
to be slain. And if he did it, he'd be just. But I'll trust him anyway. Isn't
that amazing? That's impossible with man. That's
impossible. Is it possible to make a man
love God more than he loves himself, more than he loves his family?
You know, our Lord said, Brother
David, the Lord said, He said, except you hate father and mother,
son and daughter, husband and wife, your whole life. You cannot. He didn't say you'll be a weak
disciple, did He? He said, you cannot, didn't it? That's just
not possible with man. It's just not possible. Eli. Eli was sitting in the temple
one day and they came to him and said, your sons are dead.
He had two sons. They were worthless sons. They
said, your sons are dead. It's the Lord. And then they
came and said, the ark is taken. I can't take that. He died. Is it possible for a man to be
more concerned with the gospel of God than his own family? It's an absolute necessity. Absolute necessity. These disciples
dropped everything, didn't they? Verses 27 and 28. They, Peter, finally, bless his
heart. Behold, we've forsaken all and
followed thee. And they had. Don't come down
hard on Peter. They had. More than we have. The Lord didn't rebuke them.
He commended them. Yeah, he did. And he said there's no man that
hath forsaken houses or brethren or sister or fathers or anything
for my sake that won't receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal
life, didn't he? He commended them for that. But
they had. Well, it's impossible for a man
to forsake everything for Christ. But you watch Christ come by
and take possession of one of his own. Matthew, he'd been sitting
at that receipt of customs all his life counting his money.
That money was his life. His head, if the Lord hadn't
come by, his head's going to drop over in that money, he's
going to die right there. That's his life, making money. And buddy, when Christ came by,
he dropped it. Simon Peter and Andrew, James
and John, fishing and boats were their lives, weren't they? That
was their life. When the Lord came by, what'd
they do? I forsook all and followed Him. That's impossible with man.
But with God, it's not only possible, it's certain. It's absolute. It happens every time. Every
time. It's impossible with man who
loves himself, who chooses himself, who prefers himself over all
others, who thinks if God ought to choose anybody, He ought to
choose me. It's impossible for that man
to be content to be last. You see, everyone in glory is amazed that
the Lord would choose them. Everyone in glory is absolutely
amazed that the Lord, that they're there. But they're
there, everyone. They said there's going to be
silence in heaven in the space of 30 minutes. That's because
everyone's supposed to be dumbfounded. I'm here. And as they see Him,
as they behold Him, there's going to be a speech or something. There's going to be a speech. But the Lord would choose us.
The Lord in this last verse of this chapter It's not the last
part of this. He went on in chapter 20. And
I'm going to listen to your message on the way home on this, because
I'm going to deal with it Sunday. But the rest of the next parable,
the Lord tells how that everyone that's in heaven gets the same
thing. Penny. But in the last verse, it says,
our Lord said, many that are first shall be last. The last
shall be first. Many of the first should be last.
Disciples haven't learned this yet. We haven't either. We haven't either. Not long after
this, they are arguing on who's the great... The Lord... The Lord told them again and
again and again how he was going to go to Calvary and suffer for
their sake. The unthinkable. And it was right after that that
they got into an argument about who's greatest in the king of
heaven. None of them should have been in there, should they? None
of them. Isn't it ironic that they all
argued about who should be the chief apostle when none of them
were? Who was? Paul. What did Paul say of himself? I'm less than the least. I'm
not fit to be called an apostle. So God said, you're the chief. You're the last, you'll be first. I did something years and years
ago back in grade school, elementary
school, that's haunted me to this day, something I'm ashamed
of, but I think maybe it happened for the sake of this illustration.
You know how you choose up sides in grade school to play a game
or sports or something? And they usually have a captain
on each side, and somebody nominates, the people nominate the most
popular. They nominate the sports, you know, whoever plays sports.
And I was captain on one side. I played basketball. It was the
only sport we had. I was about four foot two. but fast. But I was one of the captain.
So we started choosing up sides. Now who do you choose? You want
to be on your side. Who do you choose? The big ones.
I sure chose the big ones. The strong ones. The popular
ones. The beautiful ones. I chose cheerleaders. The beautiful ones, you know.
popular woman. And we did this, went back and
forth, choosing side, choosing side, till finally came down
to one girl. Her name was Leanne Ratcliffe. And she was overweight all her
life, ever since I'd known her. Went to school with her. She
was overweight. And I remember it like it was
yesterday. She's on one limb, and it's my
choice, and I have to take her. And I remember doing it kind
of reluctantly, kind of rolling my eyes, you know, oh, okay,
Leanne, come on. She died the next year of a brain
tumor. I believe she went to be with
the Lord. I really do. I know children do. You can argue
with me if you want, but I don't care. I think she went before
I did. See, God doesn't choose. You see your calling, brethren? Not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called. God hath chosen the
foolish things of the world, the weak things of the world,
things that are not, things that are not hath God chosen. Why? And according as it is written,
he that glorieth. Let him glory in the Lord. Everybody
in glory is glorying in the wonderful, sovereign, electing love of God
and choosing Him. Why would He choose me? Why would
He choose me? Let me read this to you in closing.
John Newton wrote this. He said, I asked the Lord that
I might grow in faith and love and every grace, might more of
His salvation know and seek more earnestly His faith. It was He
who taught me thus to pray and He I trust has answered my prayer,
but it's been in such a way that almost drove me to despair. I
hoped that in some favored hour at once he'd answer my request
and by his love's constraining power subdue my sins and give
me rest. Instead of this, he made me feel
the hidden evils of my heart and let the angry powers of hell
assault my soul in every part. He ate more. And with his own
hand, it seemed, he aggravated my woe, crossed all the fair
designs I schemed, blasted my gourds, and laid me low. I said, Lord, why is this? I trembling
cried. Wilt thou pursue this worm to
death? Tis in this way, the Lord replied. I answer prayer for grace and
faith. These inward trials I employ
from self and pride to set you free and break the schemes of
earthly joy that thou mayest seek thine all in me." Who then can be saved? With man it's impossible. Can
a camel go through heaven even? It must be so. And only God can
and must do it. And it's all to the praise of
His salvation. May the Lord bless His Word.