So we're in Mark chapter 10 and
verse 17. And it says, And when He was
gone forth into the way, our Lord, when He was gone 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? And Jesus said unto him, Why
callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that
is God. Thou knowest the commandments.
Do not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do
not bear false witness. Defraud not. Honor thy father
and thy mother." He answered and said unto him, Master, all
these have I observed from my youth." If you notice the man's
initial response to hearing that Jesus is passing by, he runs
unto the Lord to find out information on eternal life. He is interested
in knowing how to have eternal life. He's interested in finding
out knowledge or having insight. And men do that by nature. They
want to gain knowledge. The Scripture says, ever learning
and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Church
is where people will run to for affirmation of what they already
believe. This man already had a righteousness
We'll find that out as He continues to talk to him. Here you'll see.
This man obviously had his own righteousness and was looking
for affirmation from the Lord in order for Him to say to him,
well, you already have done everything you need to do if you've kept
the law. But that's not what the Lord says to him. Men and
women are still going today to church every Sunday, every Wednesday,
looking for affirmation for what they already believe. They're
basing what they believe off of what somebody else believes,
and they're weighing themselves against each other to determine
whether or not they're righteous or not. God's ways are not our
ways, and we can't look at one another to determine if we're
saved. We look unto Christ, and we trust and believe that He
finished the work, that He is salvation for His people. Most of the time, when somebody
comes up and asks you a question, they've already made their mind
up, and they're looking for affirmation. I find this to be so true in
all walks of life, whether it be something humanitarian, something
physical, something spiritual. It doesn't matter. Normally,
when somebody comes up and asks you a question, they've already
made their mind up, and they're not looking to learn anything.
They're just not. So why do we come to church? Why do we come unto the Lord? We come unto Him to taste of
Him, to see Him, to drink from the fountain of living water,
to be saved again and again and again. I had the privilege of
spending time with Al and Steve this week already, and we were
talking about salvation being a continual thing where you literally,
every single day, Somebody was talking to Al and made the statement
that he was saved. And Al said, well, I'm saved
every day. And the man said, well, that's
not what I do. I've already marked that down.
I've already checked that box. I'm good to go. But the believer
sees himself as sin. And every day we're crying out
for mercy that the Lord would save me again and again and again. The Lord hath saved His people.
He is saving His people and He's going to save His people. That's
the best way I can put it. Salvations of the Lord. Now notice
he acknowledged Christ as a master. A master would be a teacher of
God. He recognized that he had some
godly affiliation. He had heard rumors and different
things like that, and his fame had been so broadcasted that
the man knew that if anybody could tell him how he could get
to heaven, Jesus Christ could tell him. But up until this point,
he had not seen that God is God in the person of Jesus Christ.
Otherwise, he would have confessed to the Lord as such. The Lord has this man come to
Him according to His providence, and this man asks Him the question,
what can I do? What can I do? What must I do
to inherit eternal life? Men by nature believe that there
is something they can do. The Lord Jesus Christ is very
clear on this. There's nothing that you can
do, but there's one thing that you must do, and that's be perfect.
I want to say that again. There's nothing that you can
do, but there's something you must do, and that's be perfect.
Well, somebody would say, well, that's impossible. Well, that's
the point. We're going to find out later on that with man it's
impossible, but with God all things are possible. All things
are possible. The Lord makes His people perfect. It's nothing that we can produce.
It's nothing that we merit. It's not by works of righteousness
that we have done, but according to His mercy hath He saved us. I was looking, I saw an article, and it was about
Mr. Rogers. Do you know the show
Mr. Rogers Neighborhood that aired many, I think there was
905 episodes. It was on a public broadcasting
station network. And it was his last, he was on
his deathbed, and it was the last thing that he was asking
his wife. He asked her, am I a sheep? Am I a sheep? Have I done enough? Have I done enough? Now, this
article was a religious article that I was reading, and the man
literally said that no one is good enough, so this was the
wrong question for Mr. Rogers to ask. And I thought,
okay, well, he's piqued my interest in saying that. He literally
said it's all by grace that we're saved. I'm like, okay, now I'm
really interested in this guy and what he has to say. In the
next quote, I lost total interest. He said, those who offer up their
works on judgment day, many of them will be turned away. Well,
all of them are going to be turned away. So I totally lost interest
in what the man had to say. And it was the same mentality
that Mr. Rogers had. And it's the same
mentality as our brother here in Mark chapter 10 had when he
first approached the Lord. I have affirmation by the Lord's
love towards this man that he is our brother. It's that simple
to me. It was all the same mentality. Have I done enough? What else
do I need to do? What must I also work? And there is nothing that
a man can work. in order to merit the salvation
of the Lord. The Lord immediately addresses
the fact that this man called him good, meaning that there's
some men that can be good, there's some men that can work the work.
Good master, he called him. He immediately said, I'm not
interested. The Lord said, there is no common ground here. There
is none good, no not one. That's the common ground among
men. There is none good, no not one. The Lord is not a respecter
of persons. Think about this. If the Lord
did not have respect upon His Son, in that when He saw sin
upon His Son, He executed His Son, do you think He's going
to acquit the guilty? Do we think that He's going to
set those that are guilty free? No. He saw sin upon His darling
Son, and He executed Him for His people's sake. And the Lord
saved His people. Therefore, when we approach a
holy God, there is no sin that we bear. There is no sin that
we bring before Him. It's been put away. That's our
hope. He immediately tells this man that there's none good. And
the first thing He does for His people is He makes us sinners
by the preaching of the Gospel. And that's exactly what He did
to this man. There's none good. Don't be thinking that you're
good. There is none good, no, not one. The second thing He
does is He strips us of our righteousness. And that's what He does here
for this man. He told him that he was using the law as his righteousness. In verse 19, He says, Thou knowest
the commandments. You know the commandments inside
out and upside down. He tells him what they are. Do
not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. And
so on. And this man acknowledged. I can imagine that this man was
excited when he heard that. I remember being in religion
about men getting excited whenever they were talking about what
they had already done for the Lord and what they were doing
for the Lord in a self-righteous mindset. And they would get puffed
up. I can imagine that this man's mentality at this time He's cautious
unto the Lord, but I would imagine when the Lord starts bringing
up the law, he really thought he had that box checked. That
he was good. I believe he was puffed up at
that time and thought, all these I've observed from my youth.
That word observed means kept. He really thought he had kept
the law of God. All these have I kept. I've observed
them from my youth. He knew the law inside and out.
He knew all about the law. And he believed he had kept it.
But physical knowledge does not merit eternal life. You can know
that there's a God, but unless you know Him and the power of
His salvation, unless He's given you faith and repentance towards
God, just knowing about Him is not enough. The demons believe
and tremble, and they're not saved. The demons know that there's
a God, so obviously knowledge is not enough to save a man.
It must come through and by the Lord. The Lord's standards are
so much higher than ours. His ways are above our ways.
The Lord observes lust as being adultery. Not the physical act,
but what's in the heart. Lust is adultery in the Lord's
eyes. Hate is murder in the Lord's eyes. Coveting is literally stealing. And what do men covet the most?
It's God's glory, isn't it? Men covet God's glory more than
anything. Men want to strip God of His glory. Men want the Lord's
glory for their own in salvation. Whenever he starts talking about
do not bear false witness and defraud not, brethren, the very
best prayer that we pray is still sinful. There is enough sin in
me right now in trying to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to
send me to hell. That's how sinful we are. So
as I speak, it's nothing but sin. The Lord has to take it.
He has to wash it in His blood. He gets all the glory and salvation
by the preaching of His Gospel. When we pray, He has to take
that prayer, wash it in His blood, and then present it unto the
Father. And He does that for His people. After the Lord meets him in the
place that he approached the Lord, which is keeping of the
law, he leaves off good the second time whenever he asks the Lord.
He just says, Master, the second time. Verse 20, He answered and
said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
The Lord let him know that there's none good. Second, the Lord then
says, then Jesus, beholding him, loved him and said unto him,
One thing thou lackest. 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. And he was sad
at the saying, and went away grieved, for he had great possessions.
Men honestly believe that they have their own righteousness.
Now, their own righteousness simply means that there is something
that they have done. Maybe they've given their heart
to Jesus, they believe. The Lord doesn't want our heart.
Our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked,
says the Lord. The Lord doesn't want our heart. He gives us a
new heart. Anything that we produce or anything that we could give
would be utterly sinful. We have to have the Lord give
us something to please the Father. And that's what He did in the
person of Jesus Christ. He pleased the Father. The best way I can put it is
man's righteousness literally says you have to do something,
but the Gospel says done. It's finished. That's the difference
between the law and grace. That's the difference between
salvation and man's self-righteousness. You remember the woman at the
well? I mentioned this I think the last two times I spoke with
you. But the woman at the well, she had her own righteousness,
didn't she? She met the Lord, didn't know it was God speaking
to her. You and I wouldn't know it was God speaking to us unless
it was by faith that He gives to His people. As He's speaking
to her, the moment that she realizes, He tells her, Go call your husband.
And she said, Sir, I have no husband. He said, Thou hast well
said. You've had five husbands and the one you're with now is
not yours. And she said, well, I perceive you're a prophet. Well, we worship
in this mountain. So here's her righteousness just
broadcasted immediately. She puts her wall up and says,
here's my righteousness right before him. I can perceive you're
a prophet. And that's what men do by nature. If you meet a Baptist,
you meet a Pentecostal, you meet a Catholic. As soon as you start
talking anything religious, they're going to give you what their
righteousness is. And it'll be a righteousness that is of the
law. It will not be a righteousness in Jesus Christ. So what transpires? Well, the Lord reveals himself
to her, doesn't he? The Lord reveals himself. She said, well,
when Messiah comes, he'll let us know how everything is supposed
to be. He'll reveal all things according to his will. And the
Lord said, I am, I am the Messiah. And she left her water pot, her
righteousness. She left her water pot behind. Men and women believe that the
reason that she was justifying herself about that mountain is
she was saying, well, we're not as bad as the Jews are because this
is the mountain that Moses blessed. And so she was trying to justify
herself literally before God right then. And men will say
that in religion. Well, I'm not as bad as they
are and we haven't done this. We taste not, touch not, handle
not. And that's our righteousness. But the truth is the Lord shows
His people The Lord shows Himself to His people always. He will
always reveal Himself to His people in time. That's the way
He has purposed it. He will reveal Himself that He
hath saved His people from their sins. And the Lord only uncovers
sin unto His people. The Lord only uncovers His people's
sin. He doesn't uncover everyone else's
sin. Yes, he's given the law, but
men have not been given faith to see that they're sinners.
If you see you're a sinner, it's because you've been given repentance
towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So if he's
revealed that you're a sinner, as soon as he uncovers it, he
gives you repentance, which is the uncovering of the sin. Then
he gives you faith in Christ, which is the immediate covering
of the sin. Do we see that? Uncovering and covering happens
just like that at the same time. He takes your righteousness and
strips you naked and puts a robe on you. and a ring on your finger
just like the prodigal son. Our Lord got right to the root
of this man's sin. There's one thing that he lacked.
One thing. Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou
hast, and give to the poor. This man's treasure was on earth.
He valued his possessions. He valued his position. He valued
His family perhaps, and He was afraid of forsaking all of that.
He would no longer have the friends that He had before. The Lord
met Him right where the root of His sin is, and that's what
He does for His people. He shows us our unbelief, doesn't
He? People are unwilling to come and let go of their own righteousness,
or the people that they love, or the possessions that they
have. He says, you will not come to Me that you may have everlasting
life. But he says, I will make my people willing in the day
of my power. Men will say that what we're
saying right now is that we're condemning everyone to hell.
Well, I didn't condemn anybody to hell. I'm literally just declaring
unto you what the Lord said. You notice that when he finds
this information out, the way is too narrow for him at this
time. We're not certain when the Lord gave him repentance
and faith, but we know He did because it says He loved him.
So later on, the Lord would give him that. This man went away
sad and grieved. Do you remember the first time
that you heard the Gospel? Do you remember ever being sad
and grieved? Perhaps you were grieved over
your sin. Perhaps the Lord revealed Himself immediately to you and
you were ready to forsake everything. But me personally, I wrestled
for a while because my righteousness was the position I was in with
my father and with the community. My father is a pastor. It's not a church that we affiliate
with. They're a non-believing church.
And so, my concern was losing my position with my father, with
my family, with the loved ones that I had. It was a difficult
conflict inside of me. Ultimately, when the Lord reveals
Himself, you will come to Him. He will bring you unto Him. And
you will forsake father and mother, sister, brother, houses, land,
and you'll get it back in this life, He says, a hundredfold.
and in the life to come, eternal life. He also says you'll have
persecutions, doesn't he? The Lord will bring you to Him
if you are His. There are only two kinds of people
in this world. And the glorious part is not
that we boast in ourself in believing that we're the believer and everyone
else is not the believer. We are literally crying out,
Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner, every time we meet. There's only
two kinds of people in the world, us and them. us and them, the
elect and the non-elect, the loved and the unloved. It says
when Jesus beheld Him, when He beheld Him, He loved Him. There
are only the saved, those that are called, justified, sanctified,
glorified, they are His sheep. And the others are those that
are damned, they are lost, they are self-righteous, and they're
glad to be self-righteous. They're the goats. Who makes
the difference in all of this? Well, it's the Lord, isn't it?
It's not the works that we work. He said in Isaiah 43, verse 4,
since thou was precious in my sight, and the way that God sees
it is the way that it is. If you're precious in His sight,
you're precious. That's just the way that it is.
Since thou were precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable.
I'm honorable? Me? No, He sees us in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ and hath made us honorable because
we're in Him. He said, I have loved thee, therefore will I
give men for thee and people for thy life. Brethren, there
is nothing more damning to the soul than to believe that God
loves everybody, that Jesus died for everybody, and He's trying
to save everybody. There is nothing more damning
to the soul. It's just not true. The Lord didn't try to do anything.
He saved His people. The two kinds of people are evident
in that the ones that are redeemed from the foundation of the world,
the ones that are bought, the ones that are purchased by His
blood, the ones that are loved. And all those who are left to
themselves are the opposite. They're polluted in their own
blood. They hate God and are hated by God. Now, God doesn't
hate and love the way that we hate and love. He hates with
a perfect hatred, and He loves with a perfect love. And we get
no comfort in knowing that God hates. We know that. We know
that He's holy, that He's high and lifted up. Our comfort comes
whenever he says, Jacob have I loved. Our hope is that beholding
us, he would love us because we're put into the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our hope, even though we've been
steeped in religion and we tried to kept the law throughout all
those years, now we've been brought to a knowledge of Christ that
we crucify this flesh by not looking unto ourself, but looking
into the person of Jesus Christ. That's what that means. That's
our hope is that he would behold us and he would love us as his
own. He's seen us polluted in our
own blood. He saw us dead with no hope and trespasses and in
sin. And Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 80 says, Now when I passed by
thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love.
And I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea,
I swear unto thee I entered into a covenant with thee, saith the
Lord God, and thou becamest mine. So here we are dead and trespasses
and in sin. polluted in our own blood with
no hope of salvation, no hope of getting to God, no hope of
eternal life, and yet the Lord sees us in our fallen state and
spreads His skirt upon us, over us, His covering. That's the
train we heard about Sunday. He spread His skirt over us.
He purchased us by His own blood and He says, you're mine. I bought
you at the price. I've paid for you. This is our
hope that we have a righteousness by His own blood, that He would
spread His skirt over us and we would become His. Our hope
is that Jesus would behold us and love us. The Lord said He
beheld this man and loved him. He knew everything about him.
He said, you know the law. He already knew that. The Lord
knew what this man already knew. He knows everything about us.
He knows the thoughts and He knows the intents of our heart.
He knows everything about us. And yet, beholding this man in
His own righteousness, He loved him. He loved him. And He gave
him a new heart eventually. I promise you, if He loved him,
He's going to change his heart. He's going to change his mind,
isn't He? He's going to give him faith in Christ. When did
He do all this? When did God love us? When did
God love us? Romans 5.8 says, but God committed
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners. not when
we were righteous, not when we were good, while we were sinners. Christ died for us. God sees
His people and loves them because He's beholding His Son. He sees
His Son. You know the story of Mephibosheth.
I've spoken it to you before, and I know that it's a very precious
story, not a story, account, I guess I should say. Very precious
account. causes David to enter into a covenant with Jonathan
sometime before Jonathan died. And the Scripture says their
hearts were knit together. Their hearts were knit together. And
the covenant was simply this, that you'll look after my kin
and I'll look after yours all the days of our life. Jonathan
had a son named Ephibosheth. And after Saul and Jonathan died,
David became king. And he asked, is there any left
of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's
sake? He said, there's one. There's
a man that's lame on both of his feet, and he's down in Lodabar. And he says, go fetch him. Now,
you can imagine being the king's son, being Jonathan, being bloodline,
Mephibosheth thought, well, this is it for me. I'm going to die.
The king's found me, and he's going to kill me. By the way,
he said he's down in my car in Lodabar. That's the land of no
bread. He was down in the land of no bread. He didn't have any
hope at all. But the Lord came to him, didn't
he, and brought him back to the palace. And that's the Holy Spirit
fetching His people, isn't it? We're lame on both of our feet
from our father Adam. What does he do when he comes
into the room, into the presence of David? He falls on his face,
didn't he? And David said, fear not, for
I surely will show thee kindness for Jonathan's sake. Why do you
think that is? Who do you think David saw when he looked at Mephibosheth's
face? Do you think that he saw Mephibosheth
or do you think he resembled Jonathan? He resembled Jonathan,
didn't he? When the Lord looks at His people,
He sees the face of Jesus Christ because of substitution on the
cross of Calvary. Our substitute literally became
us that we could literally become Him in the righteousness of God.
When He sees His people, all He sees is perfect, righteous,
spotless, and He loves us because He's beholding His Son. The word love here is the same
word. It's called agapajo in the Greek. and that literally is the same
word as Ephesians 5 verse 25, husbands love your wives as Christ
loved the church and gave himself for it. So when he said he loves
them, it's the same word that you use when it says husband
love your wife. The Lord loved him as his bride. He loved this
man. We know that he was a believer
later on because of this, the Lord made him to be so. If he
loved him, see the Lord's love is not It's not that he loves
and then falls in and out of love. We have several different
loves, don't we? Remember back in high school
and middle school, we had puppy love. You'd see somebody new
and you'd think you loved them forever and ever, right? At the
end, and that's definitely not the case. The Lord's love is
not like that. It's a perfect love. It doesn't change. It is unconditional. It actually
is not unconditional. It's conditioned on being given
to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the condition. The Lord's
love is conditional based upon what Christ has done. But because
of that towards you and I, it is everlasting. Meaning it never
had a beginning and will never have an end. So if the Lord loves
you, it's because you're in the Lord Jesus Christ. When did the Lord love us? When did this love, when was
it bestowed upon us? Well, turn with me to Ephesians
chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2 and verse 4 says,
But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved. Verse
6 says, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come
He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, in that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of
word, lest any man should boast. When did He love us? When did
He love us? Even when we were dead in sin. Before the foundation of the
world was ever laid, the Lamb slain, the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world, the Lord saw us in Him. There
has never been time where He has not seen us. There's never
been a space in eternity that the Lord has not seen us in the
Lord Jesus Christ. If He did, He's immutable. Does
that make sense? That means He changes. He's always
had to love us if He loves us now. If He loves us right now,
He's going to continue to love us. He can't change His mind.
He's God. He doesn't have a new thought.
That means I can't mess it up. I can't get out of it. That's
a glorious hope. If He loves me now, He's always
loved me. Jesus, beholding Him, loved Him
because He saw the blood. When we were dead in trespasses
and in sins, when we were lifeless, He said, When we were in our
polluted, sinful blood, He washed us in His own blood. Men want to promote themselves.
And that's what we did whenever we were in religion. We were
just promoting ourselves. But to the believer, when He
washes you in His own blood, the only thing you do is cry
out, whatever you say, Lord, is truth. I'm false and full
of sin. Thou art full of truth and grace. use the law to try to justify
ourselves, man does. But the very thing that we're
trying to offer up unto the Lord our works and keeping the law
is the same thing that's crying out, justice must be satisfied.
We're literally offering up, whenever we offer up the law
unto the Lord, we're offering up the very thing that's crying
out for justice. But you know what the law says
to the elect of God? Peace. Peace. Because Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness' sake. to them which are in Christ.
The law can't speak against the believer, the elect of God, because
they were in Christ and their sin was put away. Their sin was
put away. Romans 3.20 says, Therefore by
the deeds of the law there shall be no flesh, no flesh shall be
justified in His sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. We know, we now love God's law
as a believer. We now love God's law. David
said it like this. Thy law I delight in. He delights
in the Lord's law. We love the Lord's law. But we
worship Christ because He's the end of the law. We don't worship
the law. We worship Christ. We see the difference there?
Men in religion worship the law. Really, they're worshiping themselves
because they believe they're keeping the law. We worship the
Lord Jesus Christ and we love the Lord's law. He leaves us
there if he leaves us there thinking that we are good enough to keep
the law, that we are perfect. Think about this. If we believe
that we are good enough for salvation, that means we are perfect because
that's what God demands is perfection. He says the stars are not perfect
in His sight. We heard Sunday that the seraphims
had to cover their face and their feet with two wings apiece and
then they flew with another two. They couldn't even look upon
the Lord. We know that we are false and full of sin. And the
Gospel enters in by saying that He loves us, His people. He beholds
us and sees Christ. And when the Lord sees us now,
He sees us as perfect. If He's seen us this way once,
He's always seen us that way. If He's seen us one time as being
righteous or one time being in Christ, He will forever see us
that way and always have. He's immutable. His love is eternal. in Hebrews 10, verse 12, But
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering
he hath perfected..." Hath. That's past tense, isn't it?
"...hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." So he's
telling us that we've already been made perfect and we've already
been sanctified. Now, I can't see it and you can't
see it, but we believe it because God said it. He's given us faith
to believe it. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. He told this man, one thing you
lack, one thing you lack, you have to be perfect. You have
to be perfect. The good news to the believer,
brethren, is that the Lord looks unto us and says, fear not, for
I have. I've made you perfect. I've made
you perfect by the death of My only begotten Son. I have put
away your sin. Fear not. You can't be perfect.
You can't keep My law, but fear not, for I have. I've done it
for you. We're just the benefactors. We're
just the ones that receive it. Hebrews 10, verse 16 says, This
is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put My laws in their heart and in their minds
when I write them I will put my laws in their mind and in
their hearts when I write them and their sins and their iniquities,
I will remember no more. I will put the law in their heart
and their minds and their iniquity, which is what we do trying to
keep the law. I won't remember them anymore. If the Lord doesn't
remember them, it's because they're not there and they've never been
there. That doesn't mean he forgets. That means he made them go away.
He cast them as far as east is from the west. He put them away
by the death of Hisself for His people. And now it will make His soul
an offering for sin. Thou shalt be satisfied. The
Lord put away the sins of His people. Fear not, for I have. Then Jesus, beholding Him, loved
Him. He loved His people unto death,
didn't He? The death of the cross. He endured the full wrath of
God for the elect of God. God blacked out the universe.
We were not allowed to look upon what was transpiring in that
hour. When the Lord poured out His
wrath, when the Lord made His soul an offering for sin, we
could not see it. We could not enter into it. He
was bearing all the sin of His people, all the shame, all the
iniquity, all the unbelief, all the trespasses that we have committed.
He bore every one of them in His body. He had the scourge
of all the evil compassing Him about. You better believe that
He was hearing all the whispers, the same whispers that we hear
in our ear from our adversary. You better believe that He heard
them. And all those men that were mocking Him and scoffing
at Him and everything that was transpiring was nothing to be
compared to the agony of His soul as God was making it an
offering for sin for His people. We have this hope. We have this
hope that He died for His elect in our stead. And through all
the blackness, He cries, it is finished. And He hangs His head
and He gives up the ghost. It is finished. Jeremiah chapter
31 verse 3 says, the Lord hath appeared. Now if the Lord hath
appeared, it means He's revealed Himself. He hath appeared of
old saying, yea, I have loved thee, With an everlasting love,
therefore the loving kindness, with loving kindness will I draw
thee, have I drawn thee." Everlasting means it never had a beginning
and it never had an end. It goes both directions forever
and ever and ever. We can't even enter into that
in any way, shape or form. Everything around us is temporary
except for the Word of God. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but My Word shall not pass away. Everything else around us is
going to burn up. We don't understand because we've saw death, and
we've saw destruction, and we've saw pain, and we've saw suffering.
But the Lord said, I've loved you with an everlasting love.
I don't understand it, but I believe it because He said it. The Lord
hath said it. The Lord said, I have appeared. I
have drawn thee with cords of love. In the Song of Solomon,
she talks about her beloved. She said, my beloved's mine and
I am his. She said, I'm sick of love with
him. She didn't mean that that she was sick and tired of it
like we may get with our loved ones. She meant that she was
so full up with it that she was sick. She was love sick. And that's the way the Lord looks
at His people. What do you think about that? Ain't that wonderful?
He looks upon us in love. No more wrath. No more judgment. He looks upon us in love, the
same love with which He loved Christ. Now in closing, look
with me in verse 23 of our text in Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10 and verse 23. This man had just left very grieved,
it says. He went away grieved and sad
because he had great possessions in verse 23. And Jesus looked
round about and said to His disciples, how hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God.' And the 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? 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 they were astonished out
of the measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them,
saith, With men it is possible, but not with God. For with God,
all things are possible. If left to ourself, we would
be left to our riches. Now the rich man, when we're
talking about a rich man, that may be rich physically speaking
with wealth. Most of the time, man's riches
are in their own righteousness, their own self-righteousness.
Men are rich enough to where they don't need the Lord Jesus
Christ. Do we see that? That's the riches
that He would leave us to if left to ourselves. But thankfully,
He says in Revelation 3, verse 17, talking to the church of
Laodicea, He said, you're rich, you're increased with goods,
and you have need of nothing. But you don't know that you are
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. The
Lord does not leave His people in that state. He clothes them. He gives them His righteousness.
He hath saved His people from their sin. The Lord does not
leave us to our riches, to our devices, to our ways. He does
not leave us to ourselves. He calls us unto Himself and
saves us. When the Lord talks about a camel
going through the eye of a needle, I remember in religion they were
talking about it being some kind of a gate and the camel had to
get down on all fours and go through the gate and whatnot,
trying to explain the Word of God. No, it literally means a
camel going through the eye of a needle. And it's impossible.
It can't happen. But with God, all things are
possible. The only way you can believe
that God saves a sinner is to believe that a camel can go through
the eye of a needle. The only way you can believe that has
been given faith by God. Do you believe God can put a camel through
the eye of a needle? Yes, I do. Because He's God. If He can save
us, you better believe that He can put a camel through the eye
of a needle. That's a little thing to Him. But He saved His people
from their sin. These things are impossible with
man, but they are not impossible with God. The mercy is that the
Lord hath made us a sinner and gave us a Savior. The mercy is
that He beholds us and loves us. With men, all these things are
impossible, but not with God. With God, all things are possible.
Then Jesus, beholding Him, loved Him. How? How did He behold Him? He beheld Him because He is just
and the justifier of sinners. How did he love Him? Because
He's just and the justifier of sinners. The justifier. No wonder
Paul said in Romans 8, verse 38, For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate you from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. That's pretty persuaded,
isn't it? That covers all the bases, doesn't it? There's no
way that we could not be in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why? Why can we not be separated?
Because when Jesus beheld him, He loved him. He loved him. And if He loved him at any one
time, and if He loved you, He's always loved you. And He's always
going to love you. Amen. Father, behold Your Son
when You look upon us. Please put us in Him. Give us
faith to believe Him. Thank you for this great love
for which you've loved us. We ask that you would be with
us and cause us to look unto Christ for all these things.
In his name we pray, amen.