I want to speak to you this morning
from a passage of scripture found in the book of Mark. If you'll
take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Mark, chapter
12, verse 34, my subject will be religious but lost. That's right. I want us to think
together on this subject, religious but lost. Now let me read the
text, Mark 12, verse 34. And when Jesus saw that he answered
discreetly, that is, intelligently, he said unto him, Thou art not
far from the kingdom of God. Thou art not far from the kingdom
of God. Here's a man who's interested
in the kingdom of God, but not in the kingdom of God. Here's
a man who is a student of the scriptures, a man educated in
the Bible, and yet he does not know the living God. He's not
far from the kingdom of God. Here's a man who is devoutly
religious, but who's never been regenerated. And here's a man
who is concerned about the law and morality, for his questions
to Christ Jesus were about the law. and morality. Here was a
man who's interested in the law and interested in morality, but
who has no righteousness and no holiness in the sight of God
Almighty. Religious, but lost. Religious, but lost. Now, I don't
know how to stress the importance of this message this morning.
I don't know how to get across to you just how important I feel
that this message is to me. and to you, and to every person
who hears this program. But my friend, notice the speaker
here is not a denominational fanatic. The speaker here is
not some religious radical. The speaker here is not a promoter
of personal priorities. The speaker here is the Lord
of heaven and earth. This is the Master himself talking. And Jesus said to him, Thou art
not far from the kingdom of heaven." This is Christ himself speaking. This is not some religious fanatic
or radical or denominational promoter deciding because a man
doesn't believe like he does that he's not in the kingdom
of God. This is not a man saying, because you don't see things
like I see them, you're not saved. This is Christ, the Son of God. And the Lord certainly knows
them that are his. And the Lord is saying to this
man, you are not far from the kingdom of heaven. Now I need
to listen to Christ. I need he that hath ears to hear,
let him hear. And I need to listen to the master
here as he deals with this religious man because I have an interest
in the kingdom of God. I have an interest in the law
of God. I have a concern about the scriptures and understanding
the things that are written. Don't you? And yet our Lord said
to a man similar to you and to me, you're not far from the kingdom
of heaven. I need to examine myself, whether
I'm in the faith. I need to give diligence to make
my calling and election sure. And my friend, you do too. You
do too. Don't take for granted this most
important thing in all the world, and that is your relationship
with God, the salvation of your soul. Now, I have four divisions
for this message, and this will make it easy for you to understand
and to follow and to remember, I hope. First of all, we're going
to look at the man himself, the man to whom Christ said, you're
not far from the kingdom of God. And then we're going to look
at this man's knowledge. What did he know? Did he know as much
as you know, as much as I know, or did he know more? And then
we're going to look at this man's attitude. What was his attitude?
Did he have a good attitude or a poor attitude? And then we're
going to, last of all, in closing the message, find out where he
failed. Where did he fail? Now, first
of all, look at the man. Who was the man? Christ said
to this man, thou art not far from the kingdom of God. Who
was this man? Well, now, this may surprise
you. This man, verse 28 says, was one of the scribes. Now,
we don't know a great deal about him, but we do know he was a
scribe, and we do know something about the scribes. What were
the duties of the scribes? You know what their duties were?
To preserve, to translate, to transcribe, and to interpret
the scriptures. That was the job of the scribes.
They were the men who sat down with pen and ink and translated
the scriptures. from other languages. They were
men who preserved the Scriptures. They were men who transcribed
the Scriptures. They were men who interpreted
the Scriptures. In other words, this man was
an authority on the Bible, the Old Testament Scriptures. That's
exactly what he was. He was a scribe. We have the
Pharisees who came to Christ, and the Sadducees, and then one
of the scribes. He was a man who was an authority
on the Bible. He knew by memory much of the
Word of God. He could quote the Scriptures
from memory. He had written the Scriptures
over and over and over and over again. And yet they didn't have
printing presses. The scribes wrote the Scriptures.
And yet Christ said to this man, you're not in the kingdom of
God, but you're not far from it. You're not far from the kingdom
of God. It's certain that the way of
life is to be found in the Bible. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. If you would know the way of
life, turn to the scriptures. But my friend, you can be a student
of the scriptures and not know the way of life. That's right. Our Lord said to the Pharisees,
now listen in John, is it chapter 5, verse 40, he said, you search
the scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life, but they are they which testify of me, and you
will not come to me that you might have life." I've often
heard people say, well, you know, he sure knows his Bible. This
scribe knew his Bible too, but he didn't know his Lord. And
it's possible to know the doctrines, and this man was an authority
on the doctrines and the traditions and all of these things, but
he didn't know the Lord. To know the Word of God is not
necessarily to know the living Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, that's the man. He
was a student of the Scriptures. He was a scribe. He was an authority
on the Bible. He knew the doctrines and traditions
and all of these things, but he did not know the Master. And Christ said, you're not far
from the Kingdom of God. Let's look at the second thing
now. That's the man. Now let's look at this man's knowledge.
What was the question he asked to begin with? Well, he looked
at Christ after the Pharisees and the Sadducees had dealt with
their questions and been put to silence and walked away, and
he kept standing there. And he looked at the Master and
he said, Master, what is the greatest commandment of all?
And the Lord Jesus Christ replied, thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul,
with all thy strength. And the second is likened to
it. Thou shalt love thy neighbors thyself." Now listen to the man.
He said, Master, thou hast well said the truth. That's the truth.
There is but one God, and there's none other but he. Now my friend,
I may shock you a little bit, but you listen. I'm preaching
the scriptures. Here was a man who was an authority
on the Bible. Here was a man who memorized
the scriptures. Here was a man who studied the
scriptures and translated the scriptures and transcribed the
scriptures and interpreted the scriptures, but Christ said to
him, you're not far from the kingdom of God. And here is a
man who believed in one God, not just any God, not a false
God. He believed in the God of David, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
the God of creation. He said, master, you've said
the truth. There is but one God. There is none other but he. In
other words, this man, it's evident, he believed in God. And yet Christ
said to him, thou art not far from the kingdom of God, but
my friend, to believe in one God, now listen to me, is not
to be saved. James wrote in James 1.19, you
believe that there's one God, the devil believes and trembles.
You believe there's one God, you do well. But the devil believes
there's one God, and the devil trembles at the mention of his
name. When Christ appeared to those,
that man who was demon-possessed and cast the demons out of him,
you know what those demons said before they came out of that
man? We know who you are. You're the Holy One of Israel.
Have you come to torment us before our time? They believed in one
God. They believed in Christ. as the Son of God, the Holy One
of God, and they believed in judgment. But they certainly
were not redeemed. And this man believed in one
God. He said, Master, you spoke the truth. There is but one God,
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And then he said, there's
no such thing as an idol. This man hated idolatry. Do you
take comfort in the fact that you believe there's one God?
Do you take comfort in the fact that you do not bow down to idols
and you do not serve false gods? Well, this man had a strong feeling
about idolatry, too, and he spoke it very emphatically. He said
there is but one God and there's none other God but He. Now, let
me show you something else. The next verse, verse 33. He
went a step further. What did this man know? He knew
there was one God. He knew there was no such thing
as an idol. Now, watch this. He knew that the condition of
the heart was more important in the sight of God than all
of the outward works and ceremonies of religion. Does that shock
you? But now listen to what he says in the next verse, verse
33. You look at it right there in your Bible. He says, You spoke
the truth, Master. There is but one God, and there
is none other but He. And to love God with all the
heart And with all the understanding that is the mind, with all the
soul and the strength, and to love one's neighbors himself
is more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices." That's exactly
what he said. Are you with me? And yet our
Lord said to him, thou art not far from the kingdom of God.
This is astonishing, especially in this man's day, because his
day was a day of works and ceremonies and sacrifices and burnt offerings. Most people trusted in these
things. He evidently didn't. Most people
depended for their salvation on these very things that he's
talking about. He was one of the few that understood
that salvation was not in these things. And yet the Master said,
you're not far from the kingdom of God. Now, this is interesting,
isn't it? And so applicable to this day,
when we have so much religion, and so much presumption, and
so much carnal assurance, and so much easy-believism. Notice
the third thing, the man's attitude. Now, we've seen the man. He was
a Bible scholar, a Bible student, a Bible translator, a Bible transcriber,
a man who had memorized Scripture. He was a man who believed there's
one God. He was a man who had no use for idols. He was a man
that knew that the condition of the heart was more important
than the bowing of the knee, was more important than burnt
offerings and sacrifices. And yet to this very man, our
Lord said, you're not far from the kingdom of God. Well, his
attitude must have been bad. Well, let's see. Look at the
man's attitude. He had a better attitude than
the Pharisees and Sadducees. They'd already been put to silence
and pouted and walked off, would have nothing to do with Christ.
But this man recognized the wisdom of Christ. Listen to him, Master.
He called him Master. He spoke well of Christ. He said,
you told the truth. Here was a man speaking to one
who was the enemy of the Pharisees and Sadducees and Scribes and
all that they stood for. And yet here he is standing,
talking with him and saying, you're telling the truth. What
you're saying is true. What you're saying is true. He
had an inquiring spirit. The others had gone away, but
he just kept standing there. He had an inquiring spirit. He
had some degree of spiritual perception. He spoke of loving
the Lord God. Loving the Lord God. The other
Pharisees spoke of tithing and fasting and giving alms and not
doing this and not doing that. He spoke of loving God. That's
spiritual knowledge. He talked about loving our neighbor. He talked about heart religion.
And yet our Lord solemnly declared unto him, thou art not far from
the kingdom of God. Wherein did he fail? Here's the
fourth point. Where did he fail? And I want
you to see this whole picture. And while I'm painting this picture,
and while we're asking the Spirit of God to speak to us individually,
that we might examine ourselves whether we are in the faith,
that we might give diligence to make our calling and election
sure, that we might answer the question, what think we of Christ? Wherein did he fail? Here's a
man, perhaps some of you have already Put yourself in this
man's place, a teacher, a Sunday school teacher maybe, a translator
of scripture, a believer in one God, always believed in one God,
never had any doubt that there's only one God. The heavens declare
the glory of God, the firmament showeth his handiwork, a student
of the moral law. I believe in what's right and
I hate what's wrong. Here was a man who was a perceptive
man, an inquiring man, who knew the truth when he heard it, a
man who spoke well of Christ. Well, wherein did he fail? Why
was he not in the kingdom of God? My friend, there's some
things missing here. And the first one is this. I
find no personal confession of sin. Now, I hear this man speaking
well of the law, talking about the law, conversing about the
law, inquiring about the law, studying the law, but I do not
hear any confession from his mouth or any acknowledgment of
the fact that he had broken that law, that in any way that he
had sinned against the Holy God, or in any way that he had not
personally in his heart, in his thoughts, imagination, words
and deeds, kept the law of God, that he had broken it and was
a sinner before God. Do you hear anything like that?
Go over his whole conversation, and there's not one confession
of sin. There's not one acknowledgment
of sin. You know, the Scripture tells
us this, whoso covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso
confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy. Doesn't
the Word of God say, if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. My friend, every person who has
ever come to Christ has come to Christ as a sinner. Not as
a moral man, not as a righteous man, for Christ himself said,
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And
Paul said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
I am cheap. And as I listen to this man talk
about there being one God and talking about the law and talking
about the truthfulness of the master's statement and talking
about no idols are to be served, I do not hear this man saying
one thing about his personal guilt before God. You know what
the law does? The law is the schoolmaster that
brings us to Christ. The law is that which God gives
to strip a man, to knock his fleshly foundations out from
under him, to convince him of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment. What the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law that every mount may be stopped
and all the world become guilty before God. I hear no confession
of sin here at all. I hear no acknowledgment of personal
guilt. Oh God, be merciful to me, the
sinner. I hear no acknowledgment before
God that I have sinned in thy sight and am no longer worthy
to be called thy son. Make me but a hired servant.
Have you ever seen your sins and actually before God acknowledge
them? David said, I acknowledge my
sins, my transgressions are ever before me. Secondly, I hear no
plea for mercy. Not in all this conversation,
I hear no plea for mercy. Or when the publicans stood in
the temple and cried, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, that's
a plea for mercy that was heard. When the thief on the cross hanging
there in death agony looked over at Christ and said, I'm getting
what I deserve. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. That's a plea for mercy. And
it was heard. Every invitation that Christ
ever gave in the Bible presupposes guilt. Did you know that? Oh,
everyone that thirsted come to the water. Come to the water.
That's the invitation. Come to the water of life. Who
comes to the water of life? A man who's thirsty. A man who
needs the water of life. Come unto me all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Who comes for rest?
The man that's weary and heavy laden by sin. All of these invitations
presuppose guilt. I want you to listen to David's
confession in Psalms 51 and his plea for mercy. a confession
of sin and a plea for mercy. And this is always prerequisite. This is always the condition.
These are God's terms for salvation, repentance and faith. Paul said,
when I preach the gospel, I preach repentance toward God and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I see neither of these in
this man's conversation. Have you ever felt it? in your
own heart and experienced it in your own soul, I mean genuine
conviction of sin and sorrow for sin and repentance over sin
and grief over sin and faith in Christ as your only hope,
a plea for mercy. Listen to David, now Psalm 51,
have mercy on me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according
to the multitude of thy tender mercies, O God, blot out my transgressions. You hear that? That's a plea
for mercy. Wash me from mine iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop. Create
in me a right spirit. Renew within me a clean heart.
For I acknowledge my transgressions. My sin is ever before me. The man was heard. The man was
heard. It can't be said of David, the
heart not far from the kingdom of God. He was in the kingdom
of God. It cannot be said of the publican of the temple, the
heart not far from the kingdom of God. He was in the kingdom
of God. It cannot be said of the thief on the cross, the heart
not far from the kingdom of God. Christ said, you will be with
me today in paradise. And I hear no plea for mercy
on the part of this scribe. No confession of sin. no acknowledgement
of transgression, and no plea for mercy. Now notice the third
thing. I hear no confession of the Lord
Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Oh, he speaks well of
Christ. He talks about Christ being a
master. He talks about Christ being a
teacher. He acknowledges Christ as a moralist. He acknowledges Christ as a man
of authority, but not as the Redeemer. not as the Redeemer. What think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? Scripture says, if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth Jesus to be a good man, a prophet,
a healer, a moralist, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God raised him
from the dead, that he was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead
by the power of God, Thou shalt be saved, crucified as a substitute,
buried as a scapegoat, raised as the justifier, ascended and
seated as the mediator between God and men at God's right hand. You know, our Lord said to the
disciples one day, whom do men say that I am? This is natural
men he's talking about. Men like this scribe, religious
men, but natural men. Whom do they say that I am? And
the disciples said, well, they speak well of you. Some say you're
Elias. Now that's quite a compliment,
because Elias to the Jews was a very great prophet. Some say
you're John the Baptist. Now John the Baptist was admired
of most all the people. Some say you're one of the prophets.
But Christ said, whom do you say that I am? And the disciples,
Peter spoke for them, and he said, We believe that thou art
the Christ, that is, the Messiah, the Redeemer, the one whom God
will send to redeem Israel, all Israel, believers from their
sins. Thou art the shepherd of our
souls. Thou art the chief shepherd,
the great shepherd, the good shepherd, the substitute, the
sacrifice, the sin offering, all these things. That's who
thou art, the Son of the living God. Now, my friend, I don't
hear that out of this man. I don't hear any confession of
sin, I don't hear any plea for mercy, and I don't hear any acknowledgment
of who is Jesus Christ. Now, who is Jesus Christ? Well,
the Scripture tells me he's the Redeemer, he's the Savior, he's
the Lord, he's the way of life, he's the bread of life, he's
the chief cornerstone, he's the door of salvation. He said, I'm
the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Now, notice last of all. And I do not see this man leaving
his crowd and going and walking with Christ. When our Lord came
before this crowd, there were the Pharisees and Sadducees and
scribes, and they began to ask him questions. And he answered
and put them to silence one at a time. He put to silence the
Pharisee and put to silence the Sadducee. And they left, got
angry and walked off. Here's this scribe, the man who
knew something about the Bible. a man who knew there was one
God, a man who knew that there was no idols, and he knew that
heart relationship with God was more important than ceremony
and sacrifice and all these things. And here was a man whose attitude
was better than the attitude of these other men. He did. He
said, Master, you tell the truth. You tell the truth. But here
was a man, when everybody walked off, he walked off with them.
And when Christ left, he didn't follow him. He didn't walk in
his footsteps. He didn't take up his cross and
follow Christ. He stayed with his crowd. He
stayed in his occupation. He stayed in his present environment.
He stayed in everything he was in when he met Christ at the
first. Our Lord said, take up your cross
and follow me. Be identified with me. Look to
me. Be one with me. be brought into
a saving, living, vital union with me. And where I am, there
the disciple will be. And what I am, that the disciple
will be. And this is the thing that troubles
me a great deal about present-day religion. They do not follow
the Savior. They look to Christ to receive
what they want. They look to Christ to meet their
needs and their particular goals. To make them what they already
want to be instead of becoming what he wants them to be, walking
in his footsteps. This is what's missing. Confession
of sin, a plea for mercy, a confession of Christ as Lord and Master
and Savior, and then to follow him. Take up my, put my yoke
upon you, take my yoke upon you and follow me.