Turning your Bible again to Mark,
10th chapter. 10th chapter of Mark. The title of the message today is
taken from verse 21. You see verse 21? One thing thou
lackest. One thing thou lackest. The one thing that this sinner
in this story lacked was the essential thing in salvation,
which every sinner, every unbeliever lacks, which is everything in
salvation. He lacked life in Christ Jesus,
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He lacked being in union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is life? Who is salvation? The Lord beholding Him loved
Him and said unto Him, One thing you lack, which is the essential
thing, salvation in Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is the only essential in salvation. He is the vital. He is the critical
issue. What think ye of Christ? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only factor in our salvation. The Father loved the Son and
given all things into His hand. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him. All things are in His hand. This is the one to whom we have
to do bow before Him. Now in this story today of this
young rich ruler coming to the Lord Jesus Christ and seeking
salvation not by grace, not seeking salvation by the doing and dying
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but seeking salvation by His deed,
His doing. Now the Lord in His sovereign
purpose is pleased to preserve this record for us, this story
for us. This young man came to the Lord
in zeal, with a good question, But he came seeking salvation
upon what he had done, or what he thought he had done, and presenting
that before the Lord, just maybe needing the Lord's acceptance
of what he had done. So he was trying to merit salvation
by his doing, rather than the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, I tell
you, my friend, how deceitful is our wicked heart. How deceitful is our wicked heart. Our Lord told him, In verse 21,
you sell out, give everything you have away,
take up the cross and follow me. But when he went away sad,
he went away sad and grieved in his heart. He refused to depart
with his idols, his works and his riches. He refused to bow
to the Lordship of Christ. And it says there, He went away
grieved and sad. He had great possessions. Now let us not be deceived. Let
us not be deceived. Were it not for the overpowering,
invincible, sovereign grace of God, we too We too would walk
away without believing the gospel and perish clinging to our own
idols of self-righteousness and our morality rather than trusting
Christ alone. Let us not be deceived. Let us
not walk away from the gospel clinging to the idols of our
heart. Let us be willing and ready to throw everything away.
our tradition, our feeling, our ceremony, and come to Christ
now and rest in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not trusting ourselves,
but Christ alone. Now there are many vital lessons
taught in this story about the way of salvation in Christ, and
I pray that God would be pleased to teach us I pray that God the
Holy Spirit would take His Word and drive it home to our heart. And may we hear this message
as if it may be the last message we hear from God. And it very
well could be. Let us pay attention and give
heed to the Word of God. Now here's
the first point. A religious zeal does not produce
a righteous salvation. Look at verse 17 in our story.
The Lord Jesus was about the father's business. He was gone
forth into the way, the way of grace, the way of mercy. And
there came this young man who was so eaten up with self. He
was just eaten up with his goodness and so eaten up with with himself
and there came this one young rich man running with zeal kneeling
to the Lord acknowledging His ability to teach and ask him
good master What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? A religious zeal does not produce
a righteous salvation. Now, as I thought about this
young man and contemplated his attitude and his heart and the
zeal he had, I thought of another young Jewish man named Saul of
Tarsus. This young man was a whole lot
like old lost Saul of Tarsus. A zeal. but not according to
truth. A zeal, but ignorant of the truth. A zeal, but ignorant of God.
Notice this man's actions. He came to the Lord boldly. He
came running. They didn't even need to give
an invitation. He came running. He came running. He came with
respect. I don't think he bowed in kneeling
here in worship, an attitude of worship. But at least he came
with respect. He bowed to the Lord. He acknowledged
the Lord in his teaching character. He came to the Lord with a title
of honor and said, Good Master, you are a teacher in Israel.
He came to the Lord with a serious question. He said, I have an
interest. What shall I do? Good Master,
what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? He came with a
serious question. He had an interest in Life, eternal
life. It's recorded in Matthew 19,
16. What good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Now let us be careful we don't
make the same religious, let us be careful we don't make the
same mistake. Religious excitement is not salvation. Salvation is to know the true
and the living God as He's revealed in the Word of Truth. This man
had all kinds of religious excitement. He came to the Lord lost and
he went away in the same condition. I want you to find John 17. John
17. This is life eternal. This is life eternal. Not religious excitement, not
religious zeal, not religious ceremony. This is eternal life. John 17. Look at verse 1. These words beg 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. Verse 2. As thou has given him power,
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as the Father as many as thou hast given him. And this is life
eternal. Now mark it down. This is life
eternal. Do you want life? Do you want
to know what it is? This is life eternal. That they might know
thee, the only true God, Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Preacher, you missed a word there.
I did on purpose. The only true God where salvation
is revealed and had is the Lord Jesus Christ. The one sin of
God. Not a phony, not a counterfeit,
the one sin of God. The one who finished the work.
Look at verse 4. I finished the work. I glorified
thee on the earth. I finished the work that you
gave me to do. And now, O Father, he's a victorious Christ. He's
the eternal Christ. He's the eternal God. Look at
verse 5. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self,
with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. This is eternal life. That we
might know the only true and living God, the Christ of God. Let us not be deceived. One of
the sermons that we worked on last week and transcribed by
Pastor Mahan, he had this statement. Eternal life is not to get religion. I think you sent this to me as
well. Eternal life is not to get religion. Everybody got that. Eternal life is to know the only
true and living God and Redeemer. Eternal life is not just to reform
a person's life or lifestyle. Reformation is not salvation.
Eternal life is to know the only true and living God. Eternal
life is not just to attend church, or the right church, or a certain
church, or to adopt some tradition or doctrine. Eternal life is
to be joined with a vital union to the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is in a person. It's not to do what some preacher
or some church says that you are supposed to do. It's to know
God, the true and living God. Eternal life is to know God,
to love God, to trust Him, to believe God who is God. Not some peanut God. Not some
God who wants to and can't. Not some God who tried and failed. I'm talking about trusting God
who is God. Who is the absolute sovereign
in all things in creation, providence, and salvation. This is eternal
life that you might know the true and living God. Not just
to be religious. Not to have some profession.
Not to join the church. to know God as He's revealed
and known only in the Lord Jesus Christ. What shall I do that I may have salvation? Salvation
is not by you doing. Not at all. Salvation is in Christ
Jesus. Here's the second thing, verse
18, the Lord declares all men are sinners. He said, why are
you calling me good? If I'm not good, if I'm not God,
I'm not good. Why do you call me good? There
is none good but one, and that is God Almighty. Now here's what
the scripture declares. Turn back to Psalm, the book
of Psalms, and find Psalm 14. Now I believe this is where the
Lord is quoting from. There is none good. Why are you
calling me good? There is none good but God. He's
declaring that all men are sinners. Psalm 14, verse 1. The fool has said in his heart,
Psalm 14, verse 1, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works.
There is none that do it good. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. Our Lord said they're
all gone aside. Does this sound familiar? Same
thing that's recorded in Romans 3, isn't it? They're all gone
aside. They're all together become filthy. Stinking is the reference. There
is none that doeth good. No, not one. None good. You see, we're all
sinners. Can you identify with that? You
say, well, you know, I'm not that bad. Wait a minute now.
It's not what you think. It's what God says. He said,
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is
not, here's what the word of God says, there's not a just
man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. In himself. Romans 3 declares, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Now it's an important lesson
for us to understand what's being said here. As long as we are
not totally convinced that we are wretched sinners and guilty
before God, we'll always go about to try to manufacture a righteousness
by our own doing. Rather than submitting to the
righteousness revealed in the gospel in Christ Jesus. Do you know that? Turn to Romans
10. I can make good on it. Until
God convinces you that you are a sinner, you will always go
about to try to manufacture a righteousness of your own, never submitting
to the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel. I must have a
righteousness. I must have a justifying righteousness
to stand before God who is holy. And I know this, I can't produce
it. And you can't either. Look at
Romans 10. Verse 1, Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel, if that they might be
saved. Oh, they're religious, but they're
lost. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, they being ignorant of God's character, he's holy,
and going about to establish their own righteousness. They're
ignorant of the character of God, therefore they're going
about to establish the righteousness of their own. Their own righteousness.
And have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness that's
of God. Not of Tom. The righteousness
that's of God. Not the righteousness by your
hand. The righteousness that's of God. What is he talking about? That's the righteousness in Christ. in the gospel, his doing, his
dying, his obedience to the law, his faithfulness, for Christ
is the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone that believeth, believeth
him. Here's the third lesson, back
to the text. Our Lord wisely deals with this man on the ground
upon which he chooses to stand, his obedience. Doing and obeying
the law. Look at verse 19 and 20. Thou
knowest the commandments. You want something to do? Do
it all. Do the law. Thou knowest the
commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not
kill. Do not steal. Do not, do not,
do not defraud. Honor your father, your mother. And he answered and said, Master,
well, I've done all that. That's no problem. I've accomplished
that. All these I observed from my
youth. Well, what seems to be the problem here? You see, he
was seeking salvation by what he thought he had done. Now, our Lord wisely deals with
him on the ground that this man chooses to stand. If you're desiring
salvation by the law, by doing the law, then keep it. Keep it. Matthew 19, 17, our Lord says
this, if you would enter into eternal life, keep the law. And he says in verse 20, all
these have I observed from my youth. This man, he deluded,
he deceived. This man, like many, sinful people,
they naturally think they can merit salvation by something
they do. Now, left to ourselves, that's
exactly what we think. We think we must do something
in order to earn or merit or gain God's favor or get His attention. That's what we naturally think. People left to themselves always
seek salvation by something they do. That's why work salvation is
so popular. Now there are many problems with
seeking salvation by the law, by your obedience to the law.
One big problem is this, with seeking salvation by the law,
is that the law of God demands absolute perfection in word,
motive, thought, and deed. And be assured of this, no sinner
can meet that rigid, strict, holy demand. None. Our Lord said, you've heard it
said of old time, thou shalt not kill, And then he gives the interpretation
of that law. To be angry or to have an ill
thought toward another is to be guilty of murder. I tell you my friend, we are
guilty before God. Life by the law, salvation by
the law, only will come by you keeping the law perfectly. Listen to this scripture. Galatians
3.10. You want to go that way? The
law way? The law route? Salvation by your
obedience? Listen to this. Galatians 3.10. As many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse of the law. Cursed is everyone that
continueeth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. I know a lot of people put that
sign in their yard, the Ten Commandments. What are you going to do about
the other 790 of them? Now if you've got a rebellious
son, and he's picking up sticks on the Sabbath day, you know
what the law requires you to do? Kill him. You obeying that one? You've
got a disobedient son? The law demands Death. You see
the strictness of it? To offend in one point, to offend
in one point the least jot and tittle of God's holy law is to
be declared by God guilty of all. That's what the law of God
says. Let every mouth be stopped and
all the world guilty, guilty. Stop your mouth. Don't justify
yourselves. Come clean before God and declare,
I am guilty. That's charged. By the deeds
of the law. That's why the scriptures declare
plainly. By the deeds of the law. Find Romans chapter 3. By
the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in the sight
of God. Romans 3. Verse 19, Romans 3, Now we know
that what things whoever the law saith, it saith to them that
are under the law, those who are seeking salvation by the
deeds of the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world become guilty, guilty before God. Therefore by the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin, but now the righteousness of God without the law, There's
that same phrase, the righteousness of God, without the law. What? Being manifest. Without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness
of God, which is by the faith, faithfulness of Jesus Christ
unto all and upon all them that believe, there is no difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Salvation is not by doing. Salvation
is by believing Christ and resting in Him. Now back to the text. My friend,
salvation as it's revealed in the Word of God is by grace alone,
not law, not works. Grace. Grace. Grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith in that not of yourself. It is a gift of God, not of works. lest any man should boast. Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy he saved us. Now this man in this story here
in Mark chapter 10, he revealed his ignorance didn't he? He revealed
his ignorance by declaring he observed the holy law of God. You know what? By saying that
I observed the law, In saying that, he broke the law. Thou shalt not bear false witness
when he already lied. You see what I'm saying? This
man revealed his ignorance by declaring he observed the law
and he already broke the law by bearing false witness before
God. Let God be true and every man a liar. Those who are ignorant
of the spiritual demands of God's holy law are also ignorant of
the very character of God. How would you sum up the character
of God as he's revealed in scripture? And sum it up in one word. What
one word would you choose? I know what most people would
say. They'd say love. You know all through the book
of Acts, check me out on this. All through the book of Acts,
all the preaching goes through the book of Acts. You know how
many times the apostles mentioned the love of God in all the preaching
through the book of Acts? Zero. You know what they talk
about? The holiness of God. The holiness
of God. Our God is holy. Those who are ignorant of the
spiritual demands of God's holy law are ignorant of God himself,
the ignorant of the holy character of God. Psalm 95, Psalm 99 verse
5 declares, Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool
for the Lord our God is holy. Secondly, those who seek salvation
by the deeds of the law are ignorant of their own sinful There is
none righteous, no, not one. Those who seek salvation by the
deeds of the law, ignorant of the character of God, ignorant
of your own heart, the deceitfulness of the sin of your own heart,
and thirdly, they are ignorant of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ and that righteousness that is freely provided in Christ.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without
work, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute charged
sin. That's the blessed man. Which way are you going? You seeking salvation by your
goodness? You're a fool. You're a fool. The fool hath said in his heart,
Know God for me. Here's the fourth lesson. Our
Lord deals with this man at the point of his rebellion. In verse
21 and verse 22. Our Lord deals with this man
at his very point of rebellion. Then Jesus beholding him loved
him. And said unto him, One thing
you like, go your way, sell whatever you have, give it to the poor,
and you'll have treasure in heaven. You'll have an eternal inheritance.
Come! You take up the cross. Follow
me. Take up the gospel. Stand for
the gospel, and you follow Christ. Follow me, our Lord said. Now
let the theologians debate about whether this man was a true object
of God's eternal sovereign love. It says there the Lord loved
him. I'll let the theologians debate about that. I just know
what it says right there. Somehow God had pity on this
poor sinner. I do know the Lord had pity on
this poor sinner who was groping about in the darkness of his
depravity and groping about in his sinful nature and the Lord
confronted him at his point of rebellion. He is idle. His wealth, His works. Our Lord said, one
thing you lack, which was everything, which is everything in salvation. He lacked life in Christ. He
lacked union with Christ. He lacked love for Christ. He lacked righteousness in Christ. The Lord looked into the window
of his heart and knew that the riches he had accumulated and
the great possessions he had hoarded up was the idol of his
heart. Look at verse 24. Our Lord said in verse 23, how
hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God.
And again, verse 24, children, how hard it is for them that
trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God. Now this
man's problem wasn't that he had wealth and riches. That wasn't his problem. His
problem was that his riches had him. And he made his riches his
idol. He trusted in his riches. He
trusted in what he accumulated. He trusted in what he had...
trusted in his hard work. You know, I'm a hard worker.
I'm glad you are. But in the realm of God's salvation,
that accounts for nothing. When he was confronted with the
command to sell out and give way and take up the gospel cause
and follow the Lord Jesus Christ, his religious zeal soon melted
away into grief. And he went away. He was sad. He was sad at that saying. He was sad at hearing the word
of God. And he was grieved in his heart
for he had great possessions. His religious zeal soon melted
away. Was he really interested in eternal
life? I don't think so. Let us examine our own hearts. whether we be in the faith, whether
we have forsaken all our idols, all our works in self-righteousness. Is there any false delusion that
we are clinging to? Any false refuge that we are
resting in? Or have we given up all our idols
and are we resting in the Lord Jesus Christ Him crucified alone
for all salvation. I know this, if you truly belong
to the Lord in that covenant of grace and given to the Lord
Jesus Christ way back in eternity, If you belong to the Lord Jesus
Christ in that eternal covenant of grace, He'll cross your path
with the truth of the gospel. He'll meet you at your point
of rebellion and cause you to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He'll cause you to submit unto Him and receive the Lord Jesus
as everything in salvation. If you're His, whatever your
point of rebellion may be, He'll meet you at that point and He'll
break you and He'll conquer your heart. I guarantee it. He will strip you of self and He will clothe you with Christ
Himself. He will wound you with the sword
and the word of truth. Then he'll heal and operate upon
you with the power of the gospel. He will kill out any hope of
salvation apart from Christ. And he will reveal the truth
of salvation in himself, in Christ alone. May God be pleased to
do it right now. Here's the last thing. Salvation
is only by the almighty power of God. Verse 23, following. Jesus looked round about and
said unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches
enter into the kingdom of God. And the disciples were astonished
at his word. But Jesus answereth again, and
saith unto them children, How hard is it for them that trust
in riches to enter into the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel
to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich man, trusting
in his riches, to enter into the kingdom of God. And they
were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Well,
who then, who then can be justified before God? Who then can be saved?
And the Lord looking upon them, saith with men, Impossible, but
not with God. But with God all things are possible.
Salvation is only by the almighty power of God. Salvation is of
the Lord. Upon hearing the declaration
of the Lord to this religious lost man, and seeing this man
walk away from the truth of the gospel, the disciple stood in
utter amazement, astonished at his word, astonished out of measure,
saying among themselves, Well, who can be justified then? Who can be saved? Who can be
justified before God? How can any sinner be clean before
God? Now here's our Lord's answer.
Powerful, truthful answer. Two things. With men, impossible. With God, all things are possible. With men, by your merit, your
works, your deeds, salvation from sin, is indeed, what would
you say? Impossible, isn't it? You see
it? Impossible. Impossible as it
would be for us to naturally push a large humpback camel through
an eye of a needle. Try that one. It's impossible. Salvation by your doing is impossible. The scriptures declare that it
is impossible for God to lie. Salvation by your works. It's
impossible. Impossible as it would be for
a dead man to give himself life. Impossible as it would be for
God to lie. Impossible as it would be for
a leper to make himself clean. Can a dead man give himself life?
All of you have done this. You have stood over a coffin
of a departed friend. family member dead, cold, lifeless. Can that dead man give himself
life? Possible. Can God give him life? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Lazarus has
been dead four days. Lazarus came forth. He that was
dead came forth. Our Lord asked Jeremiah this
question. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? No. Can a leper change his spots?
No. Then you may also do good that
are accustomed to doing evil. All a sinner can do is stink.
All a sinner can do is sin before God. Everything I do, think,
and touch is contaminated with sin. That's what I am to myself. Here's the second thing. But
with God, with God the impossible is possible. With God all things
are possible. With God by His purpose and His
grace. With God by His mercy and His
merit. With God by His righteousness
and redemption. All things are possible. He who
spared not his own son. but delivered him up for us all.
How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who
can lay anything to the charge of God-delect? It is God who
is justified. Who is he that condemns? It is
Christ that died, yet rather is risen again, who is even at
the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Now
who can separate us from the love of God? which is in Christ
Jesus. Salvation in Christ is certain
and definite, ordered in all things, and sure. With men? Impossible. Not with
God. With God, all things are possible. Now listen to these scriptures
in closing. God said to Abraham, remember? Abraham, you're going to have
a son. His wife was old, dried up and
barren, 90 years old. God said, Abraham, you're going
to have a son. Sarah heard and she laughed. And God said, anything too hard
for God? Jeremiah 32 17 declares all Lord
God the whole Taoist made the heavens and the earth by thy
great power and stretched out arm There is nothing too hard
for thee He's able to save to the uttermost all that come to
God by him You remember the angels came to Mary? And said you're gonna have a
special child He's going to be great. He's going to be the Son
of the Highest. He's going to be God Almighty
in the flesh. How can these things be? I don't know a man. I'm a
virgin. The angel said, for with God
nothing shall be impossible. Now be sure you understand this
great principle. But the gospel salvation is always
purposed, accomplished, and determined, and applied by grace alone, in
Christ alone, through faith alone, for His glory alone. With men? Possible. With God? Never despair of any sinner's
salvation. With God, all things are possible. Let me give you this. Old John
Newton, you remember the writer of Amazing Grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. John Newton had this observation. He said, when I get to heaven,
by God's grace, I'm sure three things will simply astonish me. Number one, I'm sure very many
will be there whom I never expected to be there. Secondly, I'm sure
that there will be many who will not be there whom I fully expected
to be there. And thirdly, the most astonishing
thing of all will be the fact that old John Newton will be
in God's presence. Later, just before his death,
old John Newton said, I'm an old man, and I can't remember
much, but I do remember two things. I'm a great sinner. He's a great
Savior. There's an article in today's
bulletin, I believe the title of it is Hymn. Hymn. You read it and look at it sometimes.
May our great God and Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, may He
be pleased to reveal Himself unto us and save us by His grace
and stop us in our rebellion. And whatever that point of rebellion
may be, may God be pleased to stop us, unhorse us, put us in
the dust before His throne, convict us of our sin. and show us salvation
in Christ Jesus.