would for our lesson today be
a mark chapter 10 mark 10 beginning verse 17 The Lord is gonna be met with
a young, rich ruler, and this man's gonna ask a question, a
question that we've probably all asked at one time or another.
What must I do to inherit eternal life? And this boy's gonna come
thinking he's got some ground to stand on with his works. But
what he doesn't realize is that's self-righteousness, He happens
to be standing before an omnipotent God who knows everything about
this young man. Things this young man doesn't
even know about himself. He knows every thought, he knows
every sin he's ever committed, and this man's gonna stand in
front of him and claim to be perfect. The Lord's gonna set him straight,
and I hope he sets everybody straight. There's no salvation
by the deeds of the law. No salvation. Look here at verse 17. Mark 10, verse 17. And when he
was going forth into the way, there came one running and kneeled
to him and asked him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit
eternal life? Now, The first thing I wanna
point out here is some things about this young man. He's asking
about eternal life. So right away we know that this
guy's not a Sadducee. They do not believe in the resurrection,
Sadducee. But he is wondering about what
kind of work he can do to inherit eternal life. You don't get any life by doing
works. So he's probably a Pharisee.
He's dependent on his good works to gain favor with God. They thought that if they would
keep the law, that would secure their salvation. And that's what
they were doing. This young man probably tried
really hard in his life to keep the law and to be a good boy. The Lord's gonna show him that
that's not, he's missing the point. the Lord about eternal life turn
with me to John 17 John chapter 17 the Lord defines eternal life for
us in his high priestly prayer here John 17 verses 1 through
3 Eternal life is what we're looking
for here. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal. He's
going to define it for us. that they may know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. That's eternal
life, to know God, the true God. That's the problem with a lot
of people in our day. There's a lot of blind preachers
out there telling people how to be saved, but they're not
guiding people on knowledge. It's just their own, vanity that
thinks God is going to bow to our will and let us choose if
we'll let him save us. I ask all of this. To know God, the only true God,
and his son is eternal life. When God starts working on his
elect, and starts to reveal to them that they were saved from
eternity. This isn't something that we
come into, this salvation, on our own. This was done long before
this world was ever created, and it was secured in our representative,
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's eternal life, to know
him, to know what he's done for us. Salvation is of the Lord. These are the things that people
need to know about God and how he saves his people. Salvation
is of the Lord. For by grace are you saved through
faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. And that's what this rich young
ruler's gonna be doing. in our lesson today back in Mark
10. But the second, one of the other things, who possesses this
eternal life? You still in John? Look at 17
verse two. Who possesses eternal life? As
thou has given him power over all flesh that he should give
eternal life. Now here's who they are. To as
many as thou has given him. God in eternity past chose his
elect. He put them in His Son to be
predestinated and conformed to His image. Excuse me. Put us in His Son to be conformed
to His image. Another thing, back in our text,
Mark chapter four, Mark chapter 10, sorry. He's wanting to inherit this.
Now the guy, this kind of sounds like an oxymoron. What do I do
to inherit, right? This salvation doesn't come that
way. It's an inheritance. God gives
it to who he will. And all you do is receive it.
Unbeknownst to you, before the foundation of the world, he was
already busy on your salvation. That's good news for a sinner.
Not so good news for a Pharisee, is it? Not such good news for
this boy, he's gonna be disappointed bad. But now here in verse 18,
now hang on, hold on a second, I'm getting ahead of myself. If he truly believed that eternal
life come by inheritance, why would, that he would have known
that it doesn't come by works? You see, Romans 4.14 says, for
if they which are of the law be heirs and that's what he's
wanting an inheritance through the law then he would have then
faith is made void and the promise made in none effect Galatians
3 18 for if the inheritance be of the law it is no more of promise
but God gave it to Abraham by promise he promised to do these
things to Abraham to give him to be the father of All these
nations, all these people. He gave it to him by promise. Romans 420, therefore by the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. No flesh is going to be justified
by the law. And here comes this young man,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin. That's all the law does. It does not tell you how to save
yourself. It doesn't tell you of Christ,
our savior. It just says what you have done
is wrong. It's a sin. That's the only purpose
of the law. Without the law, there's no knowledge
of sin. The law was given so that we
would have a good understanding of what we are. Here's a young
man coming to the Lord with the law. He's judged himself as being
able to keep the law. From his youth, I might add.
We'll get to that in a minute. Now, verse 18. Verse 18 here. Jesus said unto
him, why callest thou me good? There's none good but one, and
that's God. You see, This man thought so
highly of himself that he was good. He used this term loosely
with others. Good sir, good master, I'm sure
these Pharisees loved to be called good. But the Lord is going to
take his own words and show him exactly who the Lord is. This
man doesn't know he's talking to the Son of God, but the Lord's
gonna tell him Exactly who he is, and he's not gonna set this
boy straight. He said, he called him good,
and the Lord said, why do you call me good? There's none good
but one. Let me read this for you, Romans 3, 10 through 12. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They're all going out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable.
Here it is, there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Not even this young man here.
He thinks he's kept the law. And I bet he tried real hard
to watch himself, to make sure that he kept this law. Paul tells
us in Romans, he talks about his pedigree. He was a Hebrew
of Hebrews, tribe of Benjamin, circumcised on the eighth day.
They brag about that because it shows that their parents,
when they were unable to keep the law, their parents got in
there and they kept that law. If someone was sick, they didn't
have to circumcise him on the eighth day. I think it could
have went up to 14 days, that if the baby was sick, you could.
Well, to show that you were circumcised on the eighth day means you exactly
followed that law, and it wasn't you. It was your parents that
did that for you. Everybody in this boy's life
was keeping the law for him as a child, and he couldn't do it.
And now he's grown up, and he's keeping it for himself. or so
he thinks. There's none that doeth good.
Nope, not one. Now, let me read this to you
from Philippians 2, 9 through 11. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, him being Jesus Christ, and given him a name
which is above every name. that at the name of Jesus, every
knee should bow of the things in heaven and the things in earth
and the things under the earth. And that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. This young man just bowed and
confessed with his own mouth that this was God. What did he
do? Come right up to him and he kneeled. Did he kneel or did
God make him kneel? God made him. The Lord made him,
Neil. And he confessed with his own
mouth, good master. The Lord didn't correct him.
He didn't say, don't call me good master. He allowed it. He just brought it to this boy's
attention. There's none good but one. Are you calling me God?
If you are, you're right. He didn't correct him, did he?
This boy bowed the knee, just like the Bible, like the scripture
says, and he confessed with his mouth who this was. Even though
he didn't know, he did go through those motions, and the Lord used
that to show him who he was. He says, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, the one that prophesied all through this book
of who he was, and this young man, was looking for the Messiah. But here he stood, and he didn't
know who he was. He's busy worrying about himself.
He's looking at himself to see how good he looks in other people's
eyes. He's only worried about self-righteousness. In verse 19, Lord said, there's none good
but one and that's God. But this young man came asking
a question about the law. That's all this young boy did
in his life was worried about the law, keeping the law to achieve
salvation. So the Lord takes him right to
the law. He's going to take the law and
he's gonna prove to this young man and show him that no, he
is actually not keeping the law. As I read Exodus 20 earlier,
I said that the first four dealt with our love to God and the
last six dealt with our love to other men. He is looking at
the law. Read this here, verse 19. Thou
knowest the commandments, do not kill, do not commit adultery,
do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, Defraud
not, honor thy father and thy mother. Why'd he go to the commandments? He probably hasn't committed
any one of these. You realize that? I mean, this
guy is really trying to be good. Most likely, he never committed
adultery, physically. I'm not talking about inside.
I'm talking about on the outside. clean ourselves up pretty good
in the eyes of other people. I'm sure he didn't kill anyone.
He probably didn't steal and he probably told the truth and
probably honored his father and mother. But if you remember the
laws that we read that dealt with other men, the Lord left
one out. He didn't mention covetousness. He mentioned the ones that this
boy probably was doing a good job on the outside of keeping
these laws. Lord says, if you hate someone,
you've already committed murder in your heart. You can read a
lot about these Pharisees and they had an awful lot of hate
in them, didn't they? Just about like our modern day
Pharisees. If you're not like them, if you're
not bound to the works of the law, you're an infidel in their
eyes. They don't, you're stupid, you're
dirt. But the Lord left out that 10th
commandment, thou shalt not covet. You see, here's a young man who's
rich. He's a ruler in Israel. Rich, young. This young, and
they made him a ruler. This boy must have stood out
above all of his equals. All the other young boys probably
weren't as wise, as knowledgeable as the law, And they probably
weren't keeping the law as well as this young man, so they make
him a ruler. That's a lot of social status
for a young person's big head. He don't want to lose that, does
he? And he's rich. Sounds like the
Apostle Paul, don't it? He was all like that. Galatians
4.21 says, tell me ye that desire to be under the law. Do you not
hear the law? This man's putting himself under
the law. And the Bible verses say, do you not hear the law?
Do you have the desire to be under the law? Do you not hear
it? Here's something that says. Galatians 3.10, for as many as
are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. This boy, no doubt, was
very strict on himself when it came to keeping this law. but
he didn't know the love of the law. He didn't know how to fulfill
the law through love. It's impossible for us to do
that, but not impossible for our Lord Jesus Christ to do it.
How did the Lord Jesus Christ come down here and the devils
tempted him for 40 days and 40 nights? He was wanting the Lord
to bow down to him, Satan was. And he wouldn't do that, why?
He was gonna give him the whore if he just bowed down to him.
The Lord loved his father. He was never gonna bow down to
Satan, but he loved his father. He was not gonna have anyone
else above God. He wasn't gonna make any graven
images and bow down to that. The law demands 100% perfection. And this boy thought he had that.
But the Lord's gonna leave, he left one law out, that's not
covet, because that's what this boy's doing, and he don't know
it. And the Lord's gonna present it to him. Here you stand with
your self-righteous works. in front of an omnipotent God.
And it makes me think of when people on judgment day, the Lord
says on judgment day, he's going to take his sheep and put them
in his right hand. He's going to take the goats and put on
his left hand. And he's going to say, many of these people
are going to come to him and say, Lord, did we not do many
wonderful works in your name, casting out devils? And then
the Lord's going to look at them. When they're standing there with
their works, He's going to look at him and say, depart from me,
you workers of iniquity, you workers of sin. Why? Why are they going to? He never
knew them. He didn't have any love for these people. Jacob
have I loved. He's over here with the sheep.
Esau have I hated. He's over here with the goats,
along with everybody that was outside of the ark. when it rained
for 40 days and 40 nights. All those people that you hear
people in false religions, God loves everyone. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't. But you know,
God loves this young man here. It says it here. We'll get to
it. Excuse me. The law of desert demands 100%
protection. Here, you have to keep it 100%.
That is impossible for any man to do. Verse 20. Now this boy answered and said
unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth up. Turn with me to Romans chapter
10. Romans chapter 10. Y'all turn quick don't you? Romans
10 verses 1 through 4. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear
them the record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness." That's this young man we're talking about in our
text. He's ignorant of God's righteousness
and going about to establish their own righteousness. They
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Christ Jesus is the righteousness
of God. He's our righteousness. They
haven't submitted to that. They're still looking to themselves.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. If you've got your bulletin,
turn inside the first page here, the one by John Gill. I want
to read this. I study a lot from John Gill, and he's very thorough
with the things he says. The first one inside here says,
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. And John Gill says, The law requires
and insists upon a perfect righteousness, but gives not the least hint
of the righteousness of Christ. The law doesn't tell you about
Christ. Nor does it in any form direct
into it. By it, the law, is the knowledge
of sin, but no knowledge of a savior from sin. Not the law, but the
gospel. directs and encourages sensible
sinners to believe in Christ and be saved. On the contrary,
the law is a killing letter and the ministration of condemnation
and death. Do you not hear the law? Why
do people put themselves under the law? Listen to the word of
God. Back in our text, Mark chapter
10, 21. Then Jesus, beholding him, loved
him, and said unto him, one thing thou likest, go thy way, sell
whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow
me. Now, The Lord Jesus is written here. Mark records this. So do Matthew and Luke. And Mark
records that Jesus beholding him loved him. This boy gonna
run away here after bed. Sad. Heartbroke. Because the
Lord told him this right here. You gotta sell everything you
have and follow me. Give it away. But it says he beholding him
loved him. Folks, I am convinced that if
the Lord loves someone, they're gonna end up in heaven. They're
an object of his love. I don't believe that anyone the
Lord loves will end up in hell. I believe this was one of God's
children, and he comes to them like many of us do. When we first
hear, we've been taught something wrong. We've been taught that
the way to salvation is through our works, But then he opens
our eyes and reveals to us the truth. It's only through him,
salvation. One thing thou lackest, go thy
way, sell whatsoever thou hast, give to the poor, and thou shalt
have treasure in heaven. Now, this is not a common, It's
not a requirement for all of God's children. But if you read
in the early church that in Acts, they were told to sell everything
and give it to the church, and they did. But this isn't the
typical thing that you have to do. You don't have to do anything
for your salvation. This is showing that his love
is to God and not for his temporal earthly possessions. take our wealth, our works. These are riches, man's riches. Works, thinking that he can somehow
save himself, his free will. But the Lord tells him, he said,
if you're truly gonna inherit eternal life, then you must love
me above all of these earthly possessions. And this boy didn't
like that. He had a lot to lose. Money,
his social status. He's a judge. He's young. He got a whole lifetime of being
a judge. He could be in some body. And you know, the judges
back then were crooked like our, about like the mafia nowadays. Some of them were. You could
pay them off and get what you wanted. Rich people always seem
to get what they want like that. But the Lord's dealing with covetousness. And that was one of the laws
that dealt with the love of others. And that's what this young man's
biggest problem was. He didn't love like he was supposed
to. When the Lord tells us to love
your neighbor as yourself, it doesn't just mean don't cause
them any trouble. Don't blow your grass clippings
over, you know, in their yard. It doesn't mean, yes, don't do
those things, but it means Love your neighbor like you love yourself.
Dave, if you're hungry, what do you do? You feed yourself.
What if you see your neighbor? We had a neighbor, had four little
kids. Her and her husband, they get
divorced. She's got these four little kids. Boy, we just love
them. They're a wonderful family. And if I knew them kids were
hungry, I was to feed them according to the word of God. My love,
for everyone else should equal the love I have for myself. If
I feed myself when I'm hungry and I see these little kids hungry
and I don't feed them, that's no love. You're not fulfilling
any of God's laws. You're committing sin, you're
breaking them. It isn't just not, it isn't just
being a good neighbor, it's loving. You see someone in need, you
love. And don't do those things because
you think you have to. That'll ruin it. Love's pure. Love doesn't have to be prodded. Love should just pour out of
someone. It should pour out of us. But we don't. Galatians 5,
14 says, for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. To love your neighbor as yourself
Fight for them when you see them in need. Remember, whosoever shall keep
the law, those who put themselves under the law, you're going to
have to keep the whole law. If you offend in one point, you're
guilty of all of them. This boy thought that he had
this law under control. He thought he was keeping it.
He asked the Lord, I think it was Matthew, He said, what more
do I lack? I've kept all these in the next
verse. He said, I've kept all these
from my youth. What more do I lack? The Lord says, one thing thou
lackest, you don't love. You have a love of your earthly
possessions above the love you have for God and his son and
the Messiah. You don't love. You don't love
like you should. Sell everything you got. Give
it away. You're not going to miss anything.
God took everything from Job. And what did Job say? The Lord
giveth, the Lord taketh away. Bless the name of the Lord. And
what did God do to Job after he brought him through that great
trial? He replaced everything and then some, didn't he? Job
wasn't asking for it, and he didn't say those things to be
so perfect to hope that God would be good to him because he was
good. No, he loved God. He knew who God was. He saw God's
hand in his life. He felt the presence of God in
his life. And he loved God. He knew who
he was, because God revealed himself to him, and God gave
him faith to look to him and believe. Excuse me, verse 22. He was sad at that saying, and
went away grieved, for he had great, great possessions. Remember when the Lord told us
about the sower and the seeds? Some seed fell among the thorns. This man's one, his seed was
sowed among thorns. His heart was among thorns. The
care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and
he becomes unfruitful. That's who this man is. The word
of God was preached to this man from his youth. The word of God
wasn't spared from his life and yet, deceitfulness of riches. He had great wealth and the cares
of this world. He did not want to lose his status
among the people of Israel. He was somebody. He wasn't willing
to give that up. The Lord says, give up all that
stuff and follow me. Pick up your cross and follow
me. You're not going to miss anything. The Lord told his disciples,
when he sent them out to preach, he said, don't take money. One
coat. If people accept you into their
house, good. If they don't, wipe off the dust from your hands
and leave. Don't worry about your earthly possessions. God
knows what you need and he's gonna provide. The more and more
you try to stockpile, the more your heart is on your treasure,
and that treasure is all these earthly possessions which won't
buy you salvation. Turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter
6. 1 Timothy 6 verses 17 through 19. Rich people think a lot of themselves.
They think they can buy everything, including salvation. Timothy. 1 Timothy 6, 17 says, charge
them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded,
nor trust in uncertain riches, uncertain. Lord giveth and the
Lord taketh away, right? That's general. But in the living
God, trust in the living God, who giveth us richly all things
to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works,
ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in
store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that
they may lay hold on what? Eternal life. That's what this
boy was asking about. The Lord dealt with the law.
He thought he was keeping it. The Lord proved to him he was
lacking. You don't keep the law because you have all these things
selling. Oh, he went away. He's unhappy
about that. He didn't want to lose it. Charge them that are rich in
this world that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches. Now, our riches just isn't money. People think they have their
works. Look at false religions. These
people are an honor for shame to tell you how good they are.
They'll tell you about their good works, won't they? They're
rich in their own self-worth. which is nothing in the eyes
of God. Your best righteousness is filthy
rags in the eyes of God. Filthy rags. Lord told him exactly how to
lay hold of eternal life, didn't he? Your love for me has to be
more than the love that you have for your earthly possessions.
Those things are going to fade away. You can't take them with
you when you die. You wouldn't want to take them
with you if you're going to heaven. The best thing we have here on
earth and one of the most precious things we have on earth is gold.
You know, they're going to pave the streets within heaven with
gold. It's going to be so the least
valuable thing to walk underfoot in heaven. All the precious things
that are precious to us will amount to nothing. Paul said
I counted all but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Back to mark chapter 10 Verse
23 Jesus looked around about and
said to his disciples, how hardly shall they that have riches enter
into the kingdom of God. Now hardly kind of makes me feel
like there's a possibility, you know, very slim chance. No, no,
no, no. That word means impracticable, which means impossible. Look
at it now. How impossible shall they that
have riches enter into the kingdom of God. Now, this isn't just
talking about money. God has many people that he blessed
with great amounts of money. And if you look in the Old Testament,
Abraham, he was very rich. He was so rich, he even had a
private army. Job was rich. David was rich. Solomon was rich. Just because
you have money doesn't mean you're not going to heaven. These men
all had money that I just named, but they didn't care. They loved
God. Of course, God loved them first,
made them love him. They didn't care for these earthly
possessions. They were very thankful for them, I'm sure, as we all
would be. But money, money don't get you
that. The love of money is the root
of all evil. Love Christ, not your earthly
possessions. I look at verse 24 here. Disciples were astonished at
his words, but Jesus answered again and said unto them, children,
how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into
the kingdom of God? Let me read this to you from
Psalm 49, verses six and seven. They that trust in their wealth
and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them
can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for
him. This boy's trusting in his riches.
Not just his money, he's trusted in the riches of his self-righteousness. Standing before an omnipotent
God in the flesh, and he hadn't got a clue who he's talking to.
Isn't that weird? Isn't that funny how that happens?
We go to God the first time. Did you go to God ever? You're
a hypocrite when you first go there. You don't want to confess
that you're such a bad person. God brings you to that. Just
like he's bringing this young man. He loved this young man.
I believe eventually this young man got saved. That's what I
think. But he has to bring his children to this knowledge. We
come out of the womb speaking lies. We're coming out of the
womb sinners. God's got to reveal to us who
he is and who we are and what he does for sinners. We're thankful
for that. Children, how hard is it for
them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God? 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. Now, a couple thousand years ago,
it was a popular saying around the world that when you wanted
to show the impossibility of something, they would say, it's
more likely that a elephant would go through the eye of a needle
than before that would happen. But Muslims actually say in their
Quran that us infidels, we will be allowed in heaven only after
an elephant goes through the eye of a needle. The Lord took
that phrase and changed it to camel, probably because the people
of Israel at that time didn't know what an elephant was. It
could be that. And the camel, they did know.
But it shows the impossibility of salvation by your works. It's impossible for that to happen. If you look at that verse closely,
the Lord's telling you just how you can be saved. We are the
camel. The Lord is the eye of that needle. Only through him is salvation. Do you understand that? Only
in Christ Jesus, the eye of that needle. What an impossibility. Man cannot grasp it to save his
life, that you gotta believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that
the blood of Christ saves you. That's hard for people to believe,
isn't it? It's easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than to believe that nonsense, huh?
But yet, that's the way. You see what he says? It's easier
for a camel. Well, that seems Verse 26, they were astonished
out of measure, saying to themselves, who then can be saved? These
disciples, if the rich man can't do it, if the self-righteous
Pharisee can't do it, who then can be saved? Who? Who believes that they're a camel
and can go through the eye of that needle? I can't do that.
If I'm a camel and I'm to go through the eye of the needle,
I'm not gonna be able to do that. But with God, it's possible, isn't
it? With me, with you, salvation
is impossible. But not with God. Who then can be saved? Jesus,
looking upon them, saith, with men it is impossible, but not
with God. You see, salvation is of the
Lord, not of men. Salvation is of the Lord. Bow
to God's sovereignty in salvation. Don't come to him with your own
works. It's not gonna be accepted. His son had to die and shed his
blood to save people. And you're gonna stand there
with your works and say, Lord, accept me. Look at what I've
done in your name. Look at how good I was. Look
at how much I sacrificed. I never drank a beer. What a
pitiful shame. Poor guy never drank a beer.
You know how people are. Never smoked a cigarette. I don't
really particularly care for cigarettes, but if that's your
thing, I don't have a problem with it. That's not anything to do with
salvation. That has nothing to do with salvation.
When I was a little boy, I went out here to Free Will Baptist
Church. Man, they scared the daylights out of me. They tell you all these things
that you gotta do, and I'm a little boy, and I just got saved. I
didn't ask to be saved, they saved me. Church can't come out.
I think I've told you that. But I used to go up on my hill
and play, and I'd sit and think about these laws and how they
told me I was to do this and don't do that. Well, I was a
little sinner. I was doing everything they told
me not to, and there wasn't nothing I could do about it. It just
seemed to flow out pretty easy, don't it? Sin just seems to come
natural. How could a sinner save himself? Folks, I'm here to tell you that
is impossible. Don't even try. It's not gonna
be accepted. You wanna save yourself? Go to
God. Ask him, Lord, am I one of yours?
He'll show you. I promise he'll show you. You
may be, you may not be. You may not like what you find. And I'm sorry to you if that's
the way it goes for you. That's the way God does it. If
you don't like it, take it up with him. But that's the truth. Your works will never save you.
Your self-righteousness will not save you. That way is impossible. Jesus says, I'm the way, the
truth, and the life. I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. And I wrote my notes, got them
mixed up there. He is true. He's telling you
the true way is through him. That's the only way for us to
have eternal life in Christ Jesus. Not in your works. Don't trust
in your riches. And we'll end it with this last
verse. Turn to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 32. We're talking about the power
of God. Is God able? Actually, I wrote down verse
24, it was actually 27. Jeremiah 32, 27. Look at this. Behold, I am the Lord, the God
of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for
me? Is salvation too hard for God? It's taking a sinner like this
young rich ruler who's standing there with his self-righteousness,
is it too hard to save that man? Mm-mm, follow God. Why, everyone he saves is self-righteous. Everyone he saves has been self-righteous
at some point or another in our lives. We can't help but look
at ourselves and think, wow, look how good you are. Salvation is of the Lord, not
your works, not your riches. No man can buy salvation. You can't save your brother that
way. You can't save yourself with your money. Your self-righteousness
isn't gonna save you. It doesn't matter how you've
kept the law. Even if you did, what do you
get? The righteousness of men. Will that save you? The righteousness
of God is what saves us. And it's through his death that
we're saved, not through our works. A man had to die and shed
his blood to save sinners from their sins. I wish the whole world could
understand that this book does not teach salvation by works. It's obvious. but it's only obvious
to those who God reveals it to, to those who God gives faith
to see and believe. We can get upset with people
for being so dumb for not seeing it, but we were all there at
some point or another. We were all there. God, bring
these people out of this false idea that they could somehow
save themselves. Open the eyes of our loved ones.
How many of you have family that you'd love to see set? These
pews could be full if God would save our loved ones. You can't
save them, only He can. Pray for them. We pray for our
loved ones, don't we? That's the only way you're gonna
get salvation, is through God and what He has done. Salvations
of the Lord. All right. Brother David, would you lead
us in prayer?