effectually witness or effectually teach and preach
for the glory of Christ in order to speak for God, we're going
to have to learn how to listen. We're going to have to find out
where people are, where they're coming from, in order to effectively
talk to them about Christ and meet their own particular needs. Now in certain respects all men
are the same. Number one, they're all fallen
sons of Adam. That's so. All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we've turned Everyone to his own way, and that's the same
way, the way of rebellion and sin. All men are fallen sons
of Adam. And all men need Christ. They need Christ. All men need
the Redeemer. Brother Ed Stevens told me an
interesting and amusing story today. He said he was down in
Florida a few weeks ago, walking on the beach. I may, I hope I
tell this exactly right. If I don't, Ed, you can straighten
it out after the service, but there was a fellow out there
flying kites. Grown man, older man, flying
kites. And Ed was watching him, and
he said, uh, give you a million dollars if you guess what I do
for a living. Ed said, well, I wouldn't have
any idea. He said, well, think about it. I'll be back in a minute.
And he walked with his kite down the beach, you know, and he came
back and he said to Ed, you guess what I do yet? Ed said, I hadn't
thought much more about it. He said, well, I'm a priest.
And Ed said, well, howdy. Something like that. He said,
where are you from? Ed said, Kentucky. He said, I've
been on the campus. Is that what he said at Eddyville?
Eddyville ain't no campus. It's a prison, what it is. But
he called it a campus. He said, I've been on the campus
at Eddyville. Now, he says to Ed, he says,
those men need psychological help. Those men need psychology
and adjustments. They've got problems. Ed said,
well, I said, They got problems, but I disagree with you. They
need Christ. They don't need psychology. They
need Christ. And Ed said the kite man looked
at him kind of funny and went on down the beach with his kite.
Well, that's what men need, whether they're in Eddyville or Eastern
University. They need Christ. Everybody here
needs Christ. Every one of your neighbors need
Christ. All your family, your children, they need Christ. We have that in common. Thirdly,
they all need to repent before God and believe on Christ. They need something done for
them and in them, and they need a response. They need a true
heart broken over sin and a heart knitted to Christ. Now, those
three things are so. But at the same time, If we tried
to deal with every person alike, every person alike, they'd make
a mistake. You'd have to deal with that
kite-flying priest a little bit differently. Your language and
conversation would have to be a little different than one of
his inmates on the campus at Eddyville. They're different.
I'll show you that. Our Lord Jesus Christ in his
infinite wisdom listened to people. Even the Lord God asked people
questions, not for information, but to hear them speak, to hear
what they had to say. He said, Cain, where's your brother? Let's hear what you've got to
say. Adam, where art thou? See those questions he asked?
Our Lord Jesus Christ Ask those men, those Pharisees, whose image
is on this Cohen. He knew whose image was on that
Cohen. And just hear them speak. And you watch him. It is infinite
wisdom how he met people, how he knew how to meet people where
they are. This is one of the reasons for
our ineffective preaching and witnessing today. We're going
out here trying to give everybody the same pill. That's exactly
right. We're going out here with our
little ABC, you know, Roman Road, and we're trying to treat everybody
in the same fashion, and it's just not that way at all. Now,
for example, the self-righteous Pharisees received from our Lord
stern, severe rebuke. He called them, he said, Woe
unto you scribes, Pharisees, you hypocrites, you generation
of vipers. But our Lord at the well, He
didn't call that woman a viper, nor did he call her a hypocrite.
He, in compassion and tenderness, said, if you'd ask me, I'd give
you living water. That's a whole new ballgame,
isn't it? Old Nicodemus came to our Lord, and our Lord shut
him up to regeneration. Regeneration. You must be born
again. The rich young ruler came to
our Lord with all of his worldly goods and the Lord shut him up
to humiliation. Go sell what you have and give
it to the poor. He didn't tell anybody else that. Nobody else
did he tell that but that rich young ruler. He knew where he
was coming from. He knew his basic problem, solitarsis. The Lord shut him up to revelation. He said, so why persecutest thou
me? And he said, who are you, Lord?
Who are you? Told him who he was. So wise
physicians, and I don't know whether we can take that term
to ourselves or not, but wise physicians don't give everybody
the same pill. Men who are taught in the Word
and men who know something of this monumental responsibility
of witnessing for Christ and ambassadors of the King and who
are taught in the Word of God will find out where a person
is, will keep our mouths shut and our ears open and our prayers
ascending to God for wisdom and find out where a man is and deal
with him right there. Deal with him right there. We
don't have to always be talking. We don't have to always have
an answer. I think sometimes an answer delayed
is a more effective answer. I'll tell you about that tomorrow. I'll tell you about that tomorrow.
Well, in our scripture tonight, I want you to watch this man.
This is interesting. In our scripture tonight, first
the Pharisees came to him to entrap him. You see here in verse
13. I won't read it all again, but
they asked him, is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar? In
verse 14, our Lord dealt with that problem. And then the Sadducees
came and they tried to confuse the issue regarding the resurrection.
They didn't believe there would be a literal resurrection. They
believed a lot of things about the resurrection, but not that
the dead would rise. And they tried to confuse the
issue. They created a straw man. And then in verse, if you will,
in verse 28, here's where I want to come. And one of the scribes
came. And they had a conversation.
And this man's conversation and manner and attitude His whole
conduct was different, totally different from these other men.
Totally different. And yet, when our Lord finished
talking to him, he said to him, you're not far from the kingdom
of God. You're not far. You're not in the kingdom of
God, and you're not saved. But you're not far. And I'll tell you that statement
interests me greatly. And one of the reasons it interests
me is this, I don't want to be not far from the Kingdom of God.
I don't want any of you to be not far from the Kingdom of God.
I want to be in the Kingdom of God. I want you to be in the
Kingdom of God. So let's look at this tonight,
and perhaps someone here who is not far from the Kingdom of
God will recognize his need and perhaps those who are in the
kingdom of God will be reassured and comforted. The message helped
me in preparing it. All right, four things for you
who are taking notes. Number one, we're going to look
at the man. Number two, we're going to look at his knowledge.
Number three, we're going to look at his attitude. And number
four, we're going to try to find out what's missing. There's something
missing. Our Lord, like the rich young
ruler who came, it said the Lord looked on him and loved him.
And loved him. And watched him walk away. And
here the scribe came, and our Lord listened to him and talked
to him and said, well, you're not far from the kingdom of God.
Not far. Maybe just outside the door.
But you're not in it. Alright, look at the man. Now,
it says here in verse 28, underline this, one of the scribes came.
One of the scribes came. Who were the scribes? We don't
know a whole lot about this man, but we know something about the
scribes. And I'll tell you what they were, who they were. The
duties of the scribes, the duties of the scribes were the preservation
of the Word of God. Their duty in the temple and
in religion was the transcription. You see, they didn't have printing
presses like we do who flip these things out by the thousands every
minute, but these men tediously wrote, they transcribed the Word
of God. They looked at the original language
and they wrote it over here. They were scribes. Theirs was
the responsibility also of interpreting the Word of God, preserving,
transcribing, and interpreting the Word of God. So you can be
sure about this. This man was a student of the
Scriptures. He was a diligent student. He
would be considered today an authority on the Word of God.
An authority. He was well educated. Had to
be well educated to do what he was doing. He was well read. He was well taught in the writings
of Moses and the prophets. And I'm sure that he spent much
time in the Scriptures and he could quote the Scriptures. Now,
you can be sure of that. But, our Lord looked at him and
said, you're not far from the Kingdom of God. Which ought to reveal unto us
that while salvation is revealed in the Word and faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, I don't need to
tell you that a head knowledge of this Bible and a head knowledge
of religious history and a head knowledge of law and doctrine
only leaves a man not far from the Kingdom of God. Not far. It's necessary. It's beneficial. It's to be coveted. But a man
can know all these things and be not far from the Kingdom of
God. That's the reason I know a lot
of people who are intimidated by people who have a lot of Bible
knowledge. They're really intimidated. You
get somebody who can stand and quote scripture and has read
a lot of Bible or read a lot of books, a lot of people are
intimidated by those people. Well, to be frank with you, I'm
not. Because a man can be able to quote the scriptures, he can
be, as one man says, a walking Bible and still be not far from
the kingdom of God. Like I told you about that little
bird, that little bird can sit on the telephone wire, have a
firm grip on the telephone wire, be supported in his position
by the telephone wire, and be totally ignorant of the message
going through the wire. And a man can be well-versed
in Scripture and memorize it and have a head knowledge of
it, of its histories and laws and all these things, and still
be Not far from the kingdom of God. Our Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees,
you search the scriptures. You search the scriptures. You
say that you's not in there. It is in there too. He's not
telling them to search the scriptures. They did search the scriptures.
He's telling them they are searching the scriptures, for in them they
think they have life, but there they would testify of me, he
said. Let's look at the man's knowledge. Now, this will shock
you. In verse 32, well, he asked the
Master, which is the greatest commandment? You heard it. So
he spoke in verse 32. Now, I want you to look at this
man's knowledge. And the scribe said unto Christ, Well, Master,
thou hast said the truth. There is one God. The first thing
about this man's knowledge, he knew that there was one God. One God. He acknowledged that
there's one God. One God and none other but He.
Sound like Isaiah. Listen to Isaiah over here in
Isaiah 45. He sound just like Isaiah. He
said, I know there's one God. And Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 45,
verse 5, I am the Lord, there's none else, there's no God beside
me. Isaiah chapter 45, look unto
me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, I am God and there's
none else. Isaiah 46, verse 9, remember the former things of
old, I am God and there's none else. He must have been quoting
Isaiah. He said there's one God and none
other. One God. One God of creation,
God of Moses, Abraham, Isaac. But did you know this? It's possible
for a man to believe there's one God. and be not far from
the kingdom of God. James wrote, Thou believest there
is one God, thou doest well. The devil believed that and trembled. Well, let us see what else about
this man. Mark chapter 12 verse 32, he said there is one God
and there is none other. He hated idolatry. He despised
idolatry. He would have nothing to do with
idolatry. He resisted all idols and all
false gods. He said, there's one God and
none other. Oh, I like that. I'll tell you,
sounds like a good Calvinist. Master, one God. One God. The God of heaven and earth.
And there's none other but He. Here's something else about it.
Something else about him. He knew that the state of a man's
heart was more important to God and in the sight of God than
to fulfill all the works and ordinances and ceremonies. This
is amazing, Bill, especially in his day. You wouldn't find
a half a dozen people in his day that would say this, because
in his In his day was the day of ceremonies and sacrifices
and works. And Paul said about those Jews,
he said, I bear them record, they have a zeal for God, and
they're going about to establish their own righteousness. And
all these fellows were. And listen to this man. He said
there's one God and another, verse 33. And to love God with
all your heart, with all your understanding, with all the soul
and strength, and to love his neighbors himself is more than
Charlie, all burnt offerings and sacrifices. Can you believe
a Jew would say that? That's astonishing. That in itself
is the most astonishing statement in this entire Scripture. This
man with those Pharisees and Sadducees and religionists and
legalists and ceremonialists and ritualists all about him,
He said, how a man thinks in his heart is more important before
God than all these ceremonies and sacrifices. I can't believe he said that, but
he did. But he did. And our Lord said to him, you're
not far from the kingdom of God. You're not far from the kingdom
of God. But I'm not through. Look at
this man's attitude, thirdly. Verse 34, and when Jesus saw
that he answered discreetly, he answered differently from
the rest. He answered prudently and respectfully. That's exactly what he said.
He didn't get angry. He didn't go up and pout. He
didn't argue. He answered carefully and calmly
and discreetly and prudently and most respectfully. In the
first place, he recognized the wisdom of Christ. Back there
in verse 28, he perceived, see verse 28, one of the scribes
came having heard them reasoning together. He heard them arguing.
He heard them trying to trap him in his talk. He listened
to the conversation and he perceived that Christ answered them well. Not only that, but in verse 32
he said, Master, you've said the truth. You've said the truth. You've spoken the truth. That's
recognizing the wisdom of Christ. But not only that, he appeared
to be teachable. When he asked our Lord the question,
Which is the greatest commandment? Our Lord said the first was to
love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and
your neighbor as yourself. And he said, you're right. You're
right. He said there's one God, and
there's none other. And to love Him with all the
heart, mind, soul, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself,
that's more than all of baptisms, and ordinances, and Lord's tables,
and walking the aisle, Rituals and ceremonies and Sabbath days
and laws that have ever been written and all the sacrifices
that have ever been offered He made that statement and proceeded
no further He didn't argue he said you're
right You're absolutely right. Oh how many people I've heard
say to me you're preaching the truth You're right, that's what
he said to Christ He had some perception. He spoke of one God. He spoke of loving God. He spoke
of loving his neighbor. He spoke of inward godliness
as opposed to outward form. And then he hushed. And our Lord
said, you're not far from the kingdom of God. You're not far. What was lacking? What was missing? Where in did he fail? And I've sat and looked at that
a long time. And I see a lot of people I know
in that passage right there. I see a lot of preachers right
there. I see a lot of religionists.
Students of the Scripture. Highly educated and well read. How ranking in religious circles?
Perceptive, prudent men. Perceptive, prudent men. Who
speak respectfully of Christ, who recognize, thou hast well
said, you spoke the truth, he said. Men who recognize the truth about
heart worship. and heart obedience as opposed
to outward form, yet not far from the kingdom
of God. I'll tell you three things, Missy,
prayer four. Number one, and this encourages
me because I find this, I find this related to me very closely. I find in all that I read about
this man and listen I find no confession of sin, none whatsoever. I find him acknowledging the
truth about God's law, but I don't find him acknowledging his failure
to produce it. Do you? Do you hear any confession? Do you hear any acknowledgement
of his own failures? He acknowledges that that inward
heart relationship is the most important thing, but he doesn't
say, I don't have it. He acknowledges that a man must
love God with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength, but
he doesn't say, I can't do it. He acknowledges that a man is
to love his neighbors himself, but he doesn't say, I don't. I'll tell you this, a man may
acknowledge what is required But until before God he acknowledges
that he has not done it, he hasn't commenced to get started to begin
to come to Christ yet. Listen to David over in Psalm
51. Now here is the one they talk so much about, the Messiah
being the son of David, but listen to David. You know, in 1 John,
John wrote, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And here is the one of the greatest examples of true heart confession
before God. David said in Psalm 51, Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according
to the multitude of Thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions,
wash me truly from mine iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin, for I
acknowledge my transgression. My sin is ever before me against
thee, and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight."
Yes, sir. This man is not far from the
kingdom of God because this man has no confession of sin on his
lips, no acknowledging of sin, no repentance of sin, no grief
over sin, no humiliation in the presence of God over his sin. I find no confession of Christ
as Redeemer and Messiah. I find Him calling Christ Master. I find Him telling Christ that
He's speaking the truth. I find Him admiring the wisdom
of Christ, but I do not find any confession like this. Whom
do you say that I am? And Peter said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. On another occasion, our
Lord said to the disciples, will you also go away? And they said,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and assure that thou art that Christ. That
Christ. What did this man do? He stood
there and talked with Christ prudently and discreetly and
acknowledged His wisdom and the truthfulness of His words, but
that was the end of it. That was the end of it. He was
not impressed with His glory. He didn't bow to Him. You know,
in the same account of this incident in Matthew 22, our Lord asked
those fellows, what think ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He? Now is the time
for that scribe to speak up directly to Christ. Like the woman at
the well, is not this the Christ? Is not this the Christ? All right,
but no questions. This is the thing that bothers
me all the way through this thing. It says here in verse 34, the
last line, listen. And no man after that asked him
any questions. I just kind of believe I'd been
full of questions. I kind of believe you would. But they didn't ask him any questions.
They matched wits with him. And this particular young man,
of whom our Lord said, you're not far from the kingdom of God,
had something about him different from the rest. He had a little
more perception, a little more spiritual understanding, knowledge,
and perception, and a better attitude than they did, but like
them, he wasn't in the kingdom of God either. But he didn't
ask anything. And then the third thing, I find
no plea for mercy. and no identification with Christ.
I find no plea for mercy and no identification with Christ. Like Nicodemus, he walked away. He came with the Pharisees and
he left with them. If he had loved Christ, he would
have stayed with him. If he had loved Christ, he wouldn't
have left with that crowd. Because true salvation includes,
number one, a confession of sin, a realization and understanding
of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus as Messiah, Redeemer,
and Christ, and a positive confession of that and identification with
Christ, like the Ethiopian eunuch He told Philip, he said, here's
water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? I want to go on
record as being one with Christ. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God hath raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. But Christ said, you
deny me before men, I'll deny you. Turn to 2 Timothy 1.12. Listen to this. Now stay with
me and listen to me. Listen to me. Information won't
save. A bare religious knowledge won't
save. A denial of outward ritualism
won't save. A knowledge of the importance
of inward holiness won't save. This young man stood there and
all these things were true of him, and Christ said, you are
not far from the kingdom of God. And he turned around and walked
right off. Just turned around and walked off. He would not
be identified with Christ. Now Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12,
listen, here is a former Pharisee, for the which cause I suffer
these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed. I am not ashamed
of the gospel. I am not ashamed of the testimony
of our Lord. I am not ashamed of Christ crucified. I am not ashamed of the doctrines
of grace. I am not ashamed of the gospel
of glory. I am not ashamed of the people
of God. I am not ashamed of the church of my Lord. I am not ashamed
to be identified with Him. For I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded He is able to keep that which I have committed,
lock, stock, and barrel. to him against that day. That's
what's missing. There's no acknowledging of sin,
there's no recognition of Christ as Messiah, and there's no identification
with the Son of God. He walked off. And I'll tell
you why he walked off. Turn back to the text. Our Lord
tells us why he walked off. Our Lord tells us why there was
no identification. Our Lord tells us why he didn't
stay. Our Lord tells us why he wouldn't count the cost. Our
Lord tells us why he wouldn't stand up and be counted with
Christ. Our Lord tells us in verse 38, and he said to them
in his doctrine, beware of the scribes. They love to go in long clothing. They love salutations, not obscenities. They love salutations. Not criticism. Down there in St. Kitts, I told
you the people know Brother Danny Shanks. They all know him. They all know
him. He's made himself known through
that television program, his loudspeakers and his little blue
truck. But we ride through town sometimes, there'll be a gang
of young men over here in the corner And they'll start shouting
obscenities at Danny. There goes Danny Shank! Save
us, Danny! Save us, Danny! I said, do you
ever answer him back? No, he said, I never answer.
He said, I'll drive down the road and he'll be standing along
the road and he'll start shouting things at me, you know. Jesus,
man! All these... I can't tell you
what they say. Can't tell you. But these fellas,
they don't love Criticism, they love salutation. Oh, Reverend
Jones. Good morning, Father. Good morning. Just glad to see you. We all
agree. And verse 39, they love the chief
seats. They don't love the cross. They
love the chief seats. They don't love those things
that come with persecution and trouble for the word's sake.
They love the uppermost rooms at the feast. They love to sit
at the speaker's table. And they devour widows' houses.
I thought about these television preachers and I read that. And
for a pretense they make long prayers. That's the reason he
didn't stick around. He's going to have to give up
his flowing robes He's going to have to give up his salutations
in the marketplace, hail fellow well met, all of his old religious
buddies, he's going to have to give up his chief seat in the
synagogue, going to have to give up his influence and recognition
and power and prestige at the feast, and he's going to have
to tell God the truth. He just couldn't do it. He just
couldn't do it. And our Lord said, And this is
because, my friend, because of that knowledge, he's going to
receive the greater damnation. For he that knoweth to do his
master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many strife.
Knowledge is dangerous. And I'll tell you, someone sitting
right here may say, I know Christ tells the truth, and I know that's
the wisdom of the Word, and I know there's one God, and I know there's
none other. And I know that salvation's an
inward work and not an outward washing. I know that to love
God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, I know these
things, but I just cannot, because of the high cost, be identified
with that hated gospel. We are not far from the kingdom
of God. Not far. How far? I'll tell you how far. Down,
sinner. Bow. Bow to Christ. Receive the yoke. Take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. That's how far. That's how far. That ain't far, is it? But that's
the difference. And that's the reason so many
people are so confused today. They see all this religion on
television, religion on the street, religion everywhere. It's a popular
religion. It's a glorified religion. It's
a people's religion. It's a religion of unity, ecumenical,
and all these things. And they say, isn't that good?
No, it's not Christ. It's not substitution. It's not
satisfaction. It's not the truth about God. Because the gospel of Christ
is a hated gospel. And the Christ of God is a hated
Savior. Not so. He said, the world hates
you. They cast you out of the synagogue. And to be identified
with that substitute, that sacrifice, that sin offering, that redeeming
blood, that sovereign mercy, that gift of grace, to be identified
with that, Sinner is nothing, does nothing, knows nothing,
has nothing, contributes nothing, gives nothing. It's a gift of
God, whom he gives it to. And he gives it to whom he will,
for his own glory. I don't want any of that. They'll put me out if I go preaching
that. They'll put me out. You spoke the truth, but they'll
put me out. Yeah, Master, that's well said.
That's right. That's right. But they'll put
me out. That's sad, isn't it? Well, you
tell them what the Lord told that young man. You're not far
from the kingdom of God. But you're not there. You're
not there till you wear the cross and follow Him. Whatever it is. Well, let's sing a closing hymn.
Mike, you come and lead us in a hymn, would you?