Now let's turn again to the 10th
chapter of Mark. One of those great evidences
of the inspiration of the scripture is that it's so applicable to
every generation and to every man. And when Bobby read the
context a few moments ago, I thought now, There's some folks out there
that are going to feel like that I don't have anything for them
this morning because they're not rich. I'm going to show you from the
scripture this morning that it may be a rich man will enter
the kingdom of heaven and a poor man might be cast out. And you will be able, of God's
Spirit, and if you can't, I feel very sorry for you, but you You
may be led of God's Spirit this morning to see yourself more
in this man than you think. I saw myself. Very openly I saw
myself in this man. There are two questions that
are asked in this scripture. Two questions. One of them is
asked by a rich man, a rich moral man. He says, good master, what
shall I do? that I may inherit eternal life.
That's his question. The second question is asked
by the disciples of our Lord. When they heard the Lord's reply
to this rich, moral man, they asked this question, well, who
then can be saved? Who then can be saved? I read
this week about a man who read the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew
5, 6, and 7. And when he finished reading
it, he said, listen, this is either not true or there are
no Christians today. I tell you, I was sitting this
week reading that. That shook me up. He finished
reading the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord's message, and this
is what he said when he closed the Bible. He said, this is either
not true or there are no Christians today. We better get sober and serious. To miss Christ, to miss glory,
to miss salvation, whatever you gain is not worth it. And our
Lord, to answer to both these questions, this young man said,
what shall I do? What shall I do that I may inherit
eternal life? And the disciples said, well,
who then can be saved? And our Lord answered both of
them with one statement in verse 27. Look at it. And Jesus, looking
upon them, said, with men it's impossible, but not with God. This thing of salvation, with
me, you, the Church, the Baptist Church, the Catholic Church,
organized religion, the Pope, every human being, it's impossible. I read also about a young man
who went into the Pope, he finally wound up Pope, Pius Quintus or
something like Q-U-I-N-T-I-U-S. And when he said, when I first
went into the priesthood, he said I had some hope for the
salvation of my soul. He said when I became a cardinal,
I had very little hope when I became the Pope. This is his true statement.
He said I had no hope of salvation. No hope of salvation. This thing
of salvation, let's face it, with me it's impossible. It's
impossible. Christ said, they said, well
who can be saved? This young man said, what shall
I do that I may inherit eternal life? Christ said it's impossible.
With men it's impossible. Strive as you will. Seek if you
will. Work as you will. Labor as you
will. Punish your body as you will.
Give what you will. It's impossible. With men, salvation
is impossible. But not with God. But not with God. With God, all
things are possible. It's possible for God to save
you, Bobby Smith. It's possible for God to say,
I can't, and you can't, and your mama can't. But God just, He
can, and He's just mine. He doesn't have to. But it's
possible. That's what Christ said, it's
possible. With men, forget it. With God, it's possible. All right, let's look at this
young man. We can know several things about him. I see several
things about this young man I never saw before. Number one, you know
what I see? He was zealous. He was a zealous
young man. Undiscovered. It says, and when
he was gone forth, verse 17, into the way, there came one
running. He came running. He was a rich man. He was an
influential man. He was a moral man. I'll show
you that in a minute. He was a well-thought-of man. He was a prominent man. But he
didn't just slip around the outskirts of the crowd there and sort of
listen in a little bit, you know, to what the Lord was saying.
He came running. He was a zealous man. No indifference
here. A whole lot more zeal than some
of you show. He was zealous. He was running.
No procrastination here. He was, you know, since the Lord
looked on him and loved him, you're going to see some lovable
traits here. But one thing thou lackest. There's
some lovable traits here. He was a zealous man. He was
no hypocrite. He came running. This man Jesus was no popular
man. Everybody was anybody turned
thumbs down on him. This man wasn't going to enhance
his influence in the community by associating with this character,
Jesus of Nazareth, but he came running. Now wait a minute, not
only was he zealous, he was reverent and humble. What did he do? He came running and kneeled. and kneeled. Here was Christ.
I can see it in my mind. I can see Christ followed by
his disciples. And here, one of the most prominent
men in the community, moral, influential, prestigious, powerful. Here he comes running. And when
he gets to the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ is standing. He
falls on his knees in front of him. He's on his knees in front
of Christ. He got there on his knees. And
he was respectful. A nicotine was slipped in at
night. This man came running in the middle of the day. This man came running. He didn't
care who saw him. He was zealous, he was reverent,
he was humble, and he was respectful. He looked up and said, good master,
good master. Oh, I tell you this, would God
I could hear some people today speak that reverently where Christ
is concerned. I hear him call everything but
good master. Lord, God of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ. But he
said good master. But here's something else I see
about him. He was zealous, he was reverent, he was humble,
he was respectful, but he thought, he didn't, he was ignorant. He thought eternal life in heaven
was a prize to be earned. That's what he thought. He thought
eternal life was something that you earned by doing something,
by your morality or good works. He really did. For he said, good
master, what shall I do? You just name it. What shall
I do that I may inherit eternal life? What shall I do? He thought it was to be earned.
He thought it was to be sought by good works or morality. I'll
tell you another thing I noticed about him. He knew nothing. He
understood nothing of his inward corruption. He didn't. He really
didn't. I believe he was totally sincere.
He knew nothing of the incorruption of human nature because he said
to the Lord Jesus Christ, Good Master, and this is the very
first place the Lord dealt with him. This is the first era he
pinpointed. He could have let this go by,
but he said, why do you call me good? There's none good but
God. This young man felt that men
were good. He thought he was good. And he
thought Christ was even better than he. You see, he knew nothing
of inward depravity. He knew nothing of inward corruption. Christ said there's none good
but God. Don't you know what the Scripture says? The Lord
God looked down from heaven to see if there were any that did
understand. And he said there, none good,
no, not one. They've all become unprofitable.
Men are not good, Christ is saying. Only God is good. Christ is not
denying his deity, but he's saying this. He's saying, if I'm not
God, I'm not good. In other words, this young man
approached Christ as just another man. Oh, a prominent man, a righteous
man, an important man, a man who knew theology, but nevertheless
a man. And so he calls him good. And
Christ knew what he was thinking. He was thinking that Christ was,
even a man, good in God's sight. He thought he was good in God's
sight. He thought there were a lot of men who were good in
God's sight. And Christ rebuked him right there. He pinpointed
that error when he said, why do you call me good? There's
none good but God. If I'm not God, I'm not good.
Only God is good. And then Christ dealt with the
second problem. This young man did not understand inward corruption,
inward depravity. He did not understand the root
of evil. He did not understand the source
of evil. Out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts. Here's where we're
in trouble. It's not so much what we do as
what we are. What we do is because of what
we are. And then this young man did not
understand the spirituality of the law. He did not understand
it at all, as most men today do not understand. Listen to
Christ. He said, Thou knowest the commandments. 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.
This young man did not understand the spirituality of this law,
for he replied, When Christ read the law to him, he replied, All
these have I observed from my youth up. And as the Jews and
as the religionists interpret the law even today, that young
man, Bobby, was telling the truth. He was telling the truth. He
had never taken God's name in vain. He had never violated the
Sabbath day. He went to the synagogue. He
had not killed anyone, he had not committed adultery, he had
never stolen a thing in his life. As the law was translated and
interpreted, turn to Matthew chapter 5, and I'll show you
that. As the law was interpreted, the
law is interpreted today by the common religionists. by even some Baptists and particularly
Methodists and Nazarenes and Church of God and Church of Christ
people. As the law is interpreted, this young man was telling the
truth. He had observed those things
from his youth up. But now in Matthew chapter 5,
our Lord Jesus Christ says this, verse 21, You have heard it said
by them of old times, Thou shalt not kill. In other words, the
law is interpreted by the people of old as the only way to violate
this commandment is to actually take another life. And whosoever
shall take a life shall be in danger of the judgment. But I
say unto you, the true interpretation of God's law is this. Whosoever
is angry with his brother is guilty. Whosoever shall say to
his brother, Rake a vain fellow, is in danger, and whosoever shall
say, Thou fool, is in danger of hell fire. You've killed him.
We kill in our hearts. That's where murder starts. Malice
is murder in the blueprint. The will is there. We may not
be able to fulfill what we desire to do, but in the sight of God
we're already guilty by having the desire, having the will. And Christ said on down here
in verse 27, you've heard it said by them of old, I shall
not commit adultery. But I say unto you, whosoever
looketh to lust, male or female, is guilty already. It's in the
thought. This is the way our Lord, I could
go on and on with this, but our Lord, this young man didn't understand
the spirituality of the law as many religionists do not today.
And they talk about being good people. They're like the Pharisees
of old. They are morally, outwardly,
comparatively good people. But that's not the way God's
law is interpreted. There's a spirituality of the
law. That's the reason Saul of Tarsus says concerning the law,
I was blameless. And he was. He was telling the
truth. He said, I didn't know sin. I didn't understand sin.
I would not have known sin. I would not have known I was
a sinner until the law came and said, Saul, thou shalt not covet. And he said, I found out I did,
I lusted. And lust is covetousness, and
covetousness is idolatry, and idolatry is having another God. And the thought of foolishness
is sin. There are sins of omission as well as commission. There
are secret sins as well as open sins. There are sins of attitude
as well as action. There are sins of manners as
well as methods. There are sins of thought. Imagination. We see it in our dreams even.
We're so motivated by the passions and motions of sin within. You
don't dream holy things, you dream unholy things because you're
an unholy person. And that's what this young man
did not understand. He said, I've kept these from my youth
up. Tell you another thing about
him. Turn back to Mark 10. So Christ said to him, one thing
thou lackest. And you know what that one thing
is? Understanding. Understanding. You don't know
yourself. You don't know the law. You don't
know sin. You don't know God. And Christ
said, I'm going to meet you at your point of testing and rebellion. I'm going to meet you at your
point of idolatry. I'm going to show you now, young
man, yourself. Go sell what you have. and give
it to the poor. Thou shalt have treasure in heaven,
and come take up your cross and follow me." And he was sad at
that saying. He was genuinely sad. He was
genuinely sorrowful. If the Lord had told him to do
anything else, he would have done it. But he met him at his point
of rebellion. He met him at his point of idolatry. You don't
think you're an idolater. You know, two men are walking
down the road. There's a dog with them. There's a black-headed
man and a red-headed man and a black and white dog. And you're
following them. And you walk along behind them,
and they're walking along, and you're wondering. You turn to
you out and say, well, who's the man that dog belongs to?
Well, now, I'll tell you how to find out. When those men come
to a crossroads and the black-headed man goes to the left and the
red-headed man goes to the right, you know which one that dog's
going to follow? His master. His master. You'll find out whose
dog he is. And I don't know when Christ...
You might walk along with Christ in your idolatry. You may walk
along with Christ in your rebellion. You may walk religion, that is,
your profession of Christ. You may walk along with your
church and your profession and your religion for a long time.
And then after a while, Christ and the Scriptures go one way,
and your idolatry goes another, and then you'll find out whose
master, whose servant you are. That's this young man here. You
see, he wanted to win heaven. Now what? He wanted heaven. He
was zealous. He came running. He wanted heaven. He was humble and reverent. He recognized Christ's authority. He came kneeling. and called
him Master. And he wanted eternal life, and
he thought it was something to be gained by what he did. And he presented his petition. But he wanted eternal life in
heaven on his terms. On his terms. Here's the key
to this thing. When he heard the terms of Christ,
when he heard the true terms of Christ, He went away grieved and sorrowful
and sad. He wanted heaven. He wanted it.
But he wanted his possessions too. He wanted his idols too. He wanted the world too. He wanted
his way also. His terms and the Lord's terms
conflicted. That was the problem. His terms and the Lord's terms
conflicted. It troubled him. It troubled
him. He went away sad and sorrowful.
It troubled him when he did not find the Lord's terms in accordance
with his. Have you ever noticed people
get religion, and sometimes even they'll come to some sort of compatibility with true gospel
preaching. But after a while they're gone,
they part from the way, they depart. You know why? John said
they were not of us. There came a point of testing.
There came a point when the Lord laid down His terms and they
laid down their terms and they were different. And they departed. That's what this young—Herod
went through this problem. When that young lady danced in
front of Herod, how she appealed to him, how taken he was with
her. And he said, I'll give you anything
you want. She said, I want John the Baptist's head on a charger.
Uh-oh. Let's turn and read what Scripture
says about that in Matthew 14. Let's read what a wrestling match
Herod had with this thing. In Matthew 14, verse 89. Listen to this. Matthew 14, verse
89. And she, being before instructed
of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head and
a charger. And the king was sorry. He didn't
want to do that. He kind of liked John. You read the writings of the
apostles. Herod admired John, didn't he,
Charlie? He went to hear him gladly. He
won't do that. But, nevertheless, for the oath's
sake, and for them who sat with him, oh, we sure hate to be different,
don't we? Hate to stand alone. We like
that old conformity. You know, this non-conformist
generation is the most conformed generation I've ever seen in
my life. They're all dressed just alike, walk just alike,
talk just alike, act just alike, yet they're doing their own thing.
They're doing somebody's thing, but they're all doing the same
thing. Old Harry just couldn't stand alone. He was sorry, but
for the sake of them that sat at meat with him. He'd already
opened his big mouth, you know, and he had to fulfill it, and
he commanded it to be done. Let me show you now. Turn to
Matthew 27. Matthew 27. You see, the Lord's terms and
man's terms, it presents quite a problem sometimes. Look at
Matthew 27, 24. Pilate, here's another fellow,
he didn't want to crucify Christ, he really didn't. No, he didn't. His wife warned him. He did everything
except stand with Christ. He'd been washing his hands,
saying, I'm through with the whole thing. He tried to finagle
up something about that Barabbas, you know. And listen to verse
24 of Matthew 27. When Pilate saw he could prevail
nothing, he tried. But rather a tumult was made,
uh-oh, he took water and washed his hands and poured the multitude
and said, I'm innocent of the blood of this just person. You
just see to that. Simon Magus is another. He wanted
discipleship, but he wanted the world. And this young man loved
his positions more than he loved God. And when the two conflicted,
Christ saw his idolatry. Christ saw where his heart was.
Christ saw where his interest was. And he told him to go and
sell out. Take up his cross and follow
him. He was sad. He wanted both. He wanted salvation,
but he wanted it on his terms. He wanted eternal life, but he
wanted it on his terms. And he loved his possessions
more than God. Now I'm going to show you something
here that will help you. Look at verse 23 and 24. And Jesus
looked round about and said unto his disciples, How hardly shall
they that have riches, possessions, enter into the kingdom of God."
Now listen to me. We have many riches today. Compared
to our forefathers, you and I are rich. We live better than kings
lived 200 years ago. We're rich people. How hardly
shall they that are rich enter the kingdom of God. And he says
in verse 24, And the disciples were astonished at his words. And he answered them again and
said, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches? Somebody says, Well, why does
the Lord so harshly condemn riches? Aren't riches sometimes a blessing?
How could our missionaries be on the field if we didn't have
some way of supporting them? How would we pay? Today our television
broadcast goes on there and it costs $500 to put that thing
on there. How could it be done? How can
it be done? Aren't riches sometimes great blessings? Can we not do
great things with riches? And were not many of God's people
blessed this way with riches? Now listen to me. This is the
thing the young man missed, the disciples missed it. Abraham
was rich. Turn to Genesis 24-35 and it
is said here that really his riches and his prosperity were
the direct results of God's mercy, blessings. Look at Genesis 24-35. And he said, I'm Abraham's servant,
verse 34, and the Lord hath blessed my master greatly He's become
great. He has flocks, and herds, and
silver, and gold, and men's service, and maid's service, and camels,
and ashes. The Lord's blessed my master." You reckon Abraham went to heaven?
Christ said he was a friend of God. Christ said he was a pattern
of faith. Let me tell you something. The
false is not in the riches. It's in the abuse of them. The
poison's not in the flower, it's in the spider. It's in me and
you. Somebody says alcohol's a ruination
of our city. Ain't no such thing. Alcohol's
a blessing. It can be used to sterilize instruments,
to kill germs and bacteria. It can be used, the scripture
says, to make the heart merry. But we ruined it. It didn't ruin
us. Somebody says, sex ruined this society. It ain't so. God
ordained that. It was beautiful when God made
it in the garden. We ruined it. It didn't ruin us. Hmm? Riches. The ruination of our
society. No, ain't no such thing. Ain't
no such thing. We ruined riches. Turn to Job
chapter 1 verse 3. I'm telling you the truth. This
is where preachers get in trouble when they start telling the truth.
Don't make too good preaching, you know. It's not what Grandma
thought. But Job chapter 1 verse 3. Listen to Job. Talk about
Job here. Talk about riches. And his substance
also was 7,000 sheep, and 3,000 camels, and 500 yoke of oxen,
and 500 she-ashes, and a great household. This man was the greatest
of all the men of the East." Job, God's servant. God said
he's righteous and he hates evil. Well, the disciples were astonished. They were astonished. This rich man, this rich man
came running to Christ, zealous, fell on his knees, looked up
and said, good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
A lot of things he didn't know and didn't understand, and Christ
said there's nothing good but God, you're not good. He didn't
say that that way, but that's what he's implying, you're not
good, I'm no man, I'm God, I'm good, but if I'm not God, I'm
not good. And he said, all right, you want to earn eternal life,
keep the commandments. So I've kept them from my youth
up. I've kept them from my youth up. Proud, arrogant, self-righteous. But I'll show you Christ's thought
within himself. I'll show you your evil and your
greed. I'll show you your lack of love
for your neighbor. Go sell what you have and give
it to the poor. David was rich, Solomon was rich.
The false is not in riches. Christ said, how hardly shall
they that trust in riches. The false is not in the riches,
it's in our abuse of them. When men can't part with them.
Riches do not make us corrupt, they reveal our corruption. I've
often seen this happen. I've seen a man working as a
laborer. And he's kind and considerate
and compassionate. He gets along with his fellow
men. But they come along and make him a foreman. And he becomes
the most arrogant, proud, unbearable, unapproachable person in the
whole plant. Well, they say that office ruined
him. Ain't no such thing. He was ruined before he got it.
It brought out his ruination. It revealed his corruption. That's
right, Bob. He was already unbearable, but
he didn't have any place to exercise it. He was already greedy, but
he didn't have any place to show it. Same thing, you have a poor
man, and he's a generous man and a kind man, he gets along
with his neighbor, he gets along fine in the church with the pastor
and all that, give him an office. Give him riches, give him possessions.
And he becomes arrogant and proud and tight-fisted and wants to
dominate, wants recognition. You say, well, that new job ruined
old Bill and all that money he came into when his mother died,
left him all that money, it ruined him. No, it didn't. He ruined
already. It just showed his ruination. It revealed his corruption. There
are some men who can be trusted with riches. There are some who
can't. There are some men who can be trusted with authority,
who can place authority in their hands, because they have God's
grace and God's mercy upon them and in their hearts, and they
know how to use these things for God's glory. But some men
cannot. It reveals their corruption. You see what I'm saying? There
is no evil in things. The evil is in the flesh. And
when the flesh gets our hands on things, That's where the riches
do not corrupt, they reveal corruption. This is true of all earthly advantages. This is true of all earthly possessions.
That's the reason the writer of the scriptures says, Lord,
don't give me riches lest I curse thee. But Lord, don't lead me
into poverty lest I steal. I'm not to be trusted, Lord.
I can't be trusted. And don't expose me to it, because
I can't be trusted. And our Lord's showing this young
man the weakness and the armor. He's showing him the depravity
of the heart. He's showing him the frailty
of the flesh. There are a lot of poor men who
condemn rich men who would be worse than those rich men given
the same opportunity. They just never had that door
open. There are a lot of Josephs who've never met Potter for a
while. I hope they never meet her. because they might cease
to be Josephs, and I wouldn't want to shatter their confidence
in themselves, would you?" That's what he's saying to this young
man, one reason, but the disciples, now watch this, and the disciples
were astonished when he said that, and you know the reason
for their astonishment? Well, one reason for their astonishment
was their conception of Christ's kingdom. They visualized a wealthy
earthly kingdom with them in great power and great prestige
and great wealth. Well, there was an argument among
them one time, and they said, they were arguing about who was
going to be the greatest when Christ came in. Oh, I tell you,
which one was going to be the greatest? You know, this happens
to churches so often when a pastor leaves. Men start striving for
authority, leadership. I've seen many of it, many churches. And the disciples, they thought
the kingdom of Christ consisted in prestige, and advantage, and
power, and they wanted to know who was going to be the great.
Zebedee, the sons of Zebedee's mother came to Christ and took
him aside. Isn't this just like a mom? James
and John were her sons, and she said, Lord, when you come into
your kingdom, let John sit on your right and James on your
left. Isn't that something? Bless her heart. Oh, my, my. And then, you know, in Acts 1,
verse 6, after the Lord had been crucified and risen, the disciples
met Him and they said, Are you now going to restore the kingdom
to Israel? Is this when we're going to move into our power? How much of this is in all of
us? That's the reason Christ, and this is the point that I've
come to, and this is the point to which you must be brought,
and the disciples just, well, they said, who can be saved?
There's so much of this in us we can't be trusted. There's
no way that we can. We all have our idols. One, one
direction, this was this young man's idol. Christ knew where
it was. He was going to destroy the idol. His idol was his possessions
and his personal greed. And Christ met him at that point
of rebellion and would destroy that idol and he would not turn
it loose. Lord, I do want to go to heaven. I do want eternal
life. You know I'm sincere, but I just
Can't turn it loose. I just can't. I can't do it."
And he was sad and he went away clutching whatever it was to
his heart. Christ said, you've got to lay
it down. You've got to lay it down and take up your cross and
follow me. And he said, I can't do it. And
that's when he turned to his disciples and he said, How hardly
shall they that trust in riches and possessions, that trust in
the flesh, that trust in their religion, that trust in their
easy-believe-ism profession, that trust in any possession,
anything, how hardly shall they that trust and cling to anything
enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And they say, well, Lord, who
can be saved? We're human, we're flesh, we're so prone to evil. And he said, with me it's impossible.
And the three things I want to give you quickly to help you
on this, with me it's impossible. Why? Because of the strictness
of God's law. Because of the strictness of
God's law. I can't cut it. The holiness of God can only
receive those who are holy. The law of God knows no way of
justifying an offender. It's a holy law. You that would
be under the law, don't you hear the law? The second reason is
this, because of the corruption of human nature. Men cannot know. It says, the things of God knoweth
no man. Men cannot believe. Christ said,
no man can come to me except my Father draw him. Men cannot
obey. The natural mind is enmity against God, is not subject to
the law of God, neither in it can be. Men cannot think a good
thought. It's not It's impossible for
you to even think a good thing. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3,
5, men can't speak a good word. Christ said you can't even speak
a good word. Impossible. Men cannot do a good
deed. Without me you can do nothing.
It's impossible for a natural man even to meet the conditions
of the gospel. Men by nature can't even repent. How can I without a supernatural
work of the Spirit hate that which I love? How can I, without
a regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, love that which I hate?
I can't do it. Men in the flesh cannot believe without a work
of the Spirit. So with men it's impossible because
of the holy law of God, because of the corruption of human nature,
and because of the demands of God's justice. God's justice
says, the soul that sinneth must die. Somebody's got to die. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. It's got to be dealt with. Infinite
justice demands infinite penalty. Infinite justice demands infinite
hell. So with me, it's impossible.
But, wait a minute, but not with God. Is anything too hard for
God? Is anything too hard for God?
What did the angel say when Mary said, no way for me to have a
son, I don't know a man? And what did the angel say? With
God, nothing shall be impossible. God can put life in a dead womb
of a woman. God can put life where there
is no life. Nothing is impossible with God. Our God's sovereign.
But, all that he does is consistent with his character, his justice,
his mercy, his holiness, and his grace. And what this generation
wants God to do is be merciful without being righteous. They
want God. Jesus loves you. God loves you. God loves everybody. They want
a God of love, but not a God of righteousness. And that can't
be. Yes, God, with men it's impossible. With God, all things are possible,
but only as it is consistent with his character, for God can't
lie. Huh? That's right. God can't lie. Scripture says that. There's
something God can't do. You know what they are? They're
those things that are inconsistent with his character. God's going
to be love, but he's going to be love and holy. God can be
justifier, but only as he is just. So you see, that's the
reason Christ came down here and met his holy law and obeyed
it, so that God might be just and justified, so that God might
be merciful and righteous. God can't erase sin. That sin has got to be paid for.
Whoever's record it's written against. So Christ came down
here and took my sins. Here He is, the holy, perfect
Son of God, without sin, infinite in His deity, glory, love, mercy,
grace, truth, righteousness. Here I am with all the blackness
of my sins that have separated me from God. And God laid them
on Christ. And then God sent his sword of
justice. And Christ being who he was could
bear all our sins in his body and pay for it because of who
he was. He left me without him. And now God can do business with
me because Christ took my sin. See, it's possible with God.
It's possible. So let's get this thing in its
proper perspective. I wrote down something here,
Thomas Manton said, if salvation is impossible with me and impossible
with God, then cease from your efforts to save yourself. Cast
yourself on the mercy of God in Christ. The dearest idol I
have known, let it be laid down and look to Christ. It's possible
with Him. There's nothing worth going to
hell for. I still love that statement Brother Barnard made to that
dear girl. He asked her, she's a Christian.
She said, no. And he said, why not? She said,
well, if I receive Christ, I might have to go to China as a missionary.
Rock said, I'd rather go to China than go to hell, hadn't you?
I don't know anything that bad, whatever it is. But it's not. Take your battle. Take your battle out there, but
don't take it with the wrong weapon. It's not the riches. Somebody said drugs have ruined
this generation. No, it didn't. Drugs are such
a blessing. You wait until somebody gets
cancer and is lying on the bed, and pain, and those drugs are
so wonderful to keep that pain. But we've ruined them. It's not
the things. Don't go out preaching against
television. You're wasting your breath. And these other things,
you're wasting your breath. The trouble is in the heart. And there are things that can
be received with God's blessings if they're received with thanksgiving.
But if they're abused by a wicked heart, there's your trouble.
It's you, it's not the things. Adam said, if you hadn't given
me this woman, I wouldn't have sinned. It's sure convenient,
isn't it, to lay our blame on somebody else? Well, it's the
judgment that's going to lay it on us. That's where it belongs. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it
was laid on Christ in your place? Our Father, thank you for the
Word. Thy Word is so beautiful and
so clear and so convicting. It shows us, oh, how it reveals
our natures. Oh, how it puts the blame where
it belongs, upon the heart of the sinner. It leaves us stripped
before thy holy law and judgments, and leaves us crying for mercy.
Lord in Christ, have mercy. Don't deal with us as we deserve
to be dealt with, but deal with us in mercy through Christ our
Lord. Whatever it takes to bring us
down, break us, and humble us at the feet of Christ, O Lord,
do it for Christ's sake. And bless the service tonight.
Give us a good time together, fellowship in Christ. Bless Bob
Ezee. He brings us the Word, and Walter,
as we fellowship with him and hear about the mission work.
And bless those faithful ministers who preach Thy Word everywhere
today. Those men down in Mexico, those
native preachers, they're preaching right now. Give them the power
and liberty of Thy Spirit for the glory of Christ. Leave us
not to ourselves and our foolishness, but Lord, get glory. from us,
and in us, and through us, and by us, according to Thy will,
in Christ's name. Amen.