Now let's turn back to Mark chapter
12. In certain respects, all men are the same. They're
all fallen sons of Adam. No question about that. Everybody
here is the same. In that respect, we're all fallen
sons of Adam. We've sinned and come short of
the glory of God. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We all need Christ. We need a mediator. We need a
redeemer. We need a great high priest.
We need his mercy. We need his grace. We need to
be forgiven. We need our sins blotted out.
We need his atonement. In that respect, we're all just
exactly alike. We need Christ. And thirdly,
if we do not repent, if we're not led to godly sorrow and repentance,
if we're not led to faith in Christ, if we don't receive Christ,
it doesn't matter who you are, what your walk of life, your
age, your attitude or whatever, your knowledge, if you don't
believe on Christ, you'll perish. The Scripture says, he that hath
the Son of God hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Whatever that person might have,
profess, or be. If he doesn't have Christ, he
doesn't have life. Now, in that respect, we're all
just exactly alike. We're sinners, we need a Savior,
and if we do not come to a saving faith in Christ, we don't have
twenty Gospels, we don't have a hundred Gospels, we have one
Gospel. We don't have 20 ways of salvation,
we have one way of salvation. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. Other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid. There's none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Doesn't
matter whether Catholics or Jews or Protestants or whatever. Without
Christ, a man's lost. Though religious, though sincere,
Though knowledgeable without Christ, he's lost. If any man
love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. He that
honoreth not me honoreth not the Father. No man has seen the
Father at any time save the Son. He to whom the Son will reveal
it. At the same time, though in some respects all men are
just exactly alike, At the same time, we would greatly err if
we dealt with every person in the world in the same way. This
is what's wrong with your schools on soul winning. This is what's
wrong with your little recipes, ABCs of salvation, all of sin,
believe on Christ and confess him. This is what's wrong with
this giving every sinner the same pill. All men, in many respects,
are not alike. All human beings are different.
And you take in this scripture I read to you a moment ago, our
Lord spoke differently to all three of these people. He spoke
differently, and in His infinite wisdom, and I know our Lord is
infinite, In his infinite wisdom, our Lord knew how to meet a man
where he was. I need to learn at least some
of that. Our Lord dealt with people where
he met them. Our Lord knew where they were
coming from. He knew the foundation on which they were standing.
He knew their thoughts. I don't know their thoughts,
but at least I need a little of that wisdom to meet men where
they are. And that's the reason this thing
of witnessing and soul winning is important. I know that. And
we are to bear witness. You are my witness, as Christ
said. But it's not a frivolous, empty, spur-of-the-moment thing
that most people make of it. It's not a common pill or a common
cold pill that you go around giving everybody the same pill.
We need some wisdom. We need some prayer behind our
witnessing. We need for God to to enable
us to deal with each individual where he is and to meet his particular
need. Now, to the Pharisees, our Lord
had strong language, strong language of rebuke, ye generation of bipers. Well, he didn't talk that way
to everybody. Some preachers do. They talk the same way to
everybody. Some soul winners, they've graduated with a soul-winning
certificate and they've got all the answers and they meet everybody
on the same ground. And they meet everybody with,
if you don't believe, you're going to hell for your trouble,
you know. And our Lord spoke that way to the Pharisees. He
was sharp in His rebuke. He said, you're a generation
of vipers. You're hypocrites. Woe unto you. who make a pretense of prayer
and these things. But the woman at the well, if you knew the gift of God,
he said, and who it is that speaks unto thee, you'd ask of me and
I'd give you living water. A gracious, kind, and compassionate
word of invitation to Simon the Pharisee, Simon, I came into
your home. You gave me no water to wash
my feet. You gave me no kiss of greeting.
You gave me nothing. To the woman at his feet, go
in peace. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
Nicodemus was shut up to regeneration. Ye must be born again. Christ
knew his need. Are ye a master of Israel, and
know not the things of which I speak? If you don't know earthly
things, how are you going to know heavenly things, Nicodemus?
You've just got to be born again. You've got to be regenerated.
You need a powerful operation of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Your intellectualism won't get you there. It won't reveal to
you the things of God. Those come from the heart. The
rich ruler was shut up to humiliation. Sell what you have. He didn't
tell Nicodemus to sell what he had. He didn't tell Simon to
sell what he had. He didn't even tell Zacchaeus
to sell what he had. But he told that rich ruler to
sell all he had. Get rid of everything. Take up
your cross and follow me. Humiliation. Christ met his need. He knew his point of rebellion.
He knew where the man was. He and Nicodemus were as far
apart as the poles. They both were lost. They both
needed Christ. They both must come to faith.
but they're in different locations. This man had great possessions
and he loved those possessions more than he loved God. Nicodemus,
he was a religious man. He didn't have any possessions.
He loved his knowledge, his intellect. He loved his debates. He thought
he could understand the things of God in his own human wisdom
and mind. He needed regeneration. What
about solitarsis? Shut up to revelation. Who are
you, Lord? I don't even know who you are.
I'm Jesus of Nazareth. So, in some respects, everybody's
just a lie. But at the same time, they're
not all just alike, and we need the wisdom of God to meet them
where they are. And this is what Christ did in
this particular scripture. Here these Pharisees came to
Him, and it tells about them. Christ knew them. He said, Christ
knowing their hypocrisy, they came with oily, smooth words. And they said, we know you're
not interested in a man's person. We know that men don't mean anything
to you, whoever they are. We know you're not impressed
with riches, and you're not impressed with the things of the flesh,
and we know you speak the truth. And Christ knew they were hypocrites.
They didn't really believe that. They were trying to trap him.
They were bragging on him in order to ensnare him and catch
him in his words. They were trying to give him
enough rope so he'd hang himself. He knew them. They were hypocrites,
and he dealt with them that way. And that's when they brought
him. They said, is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar? And
our Lord told him to bring a penny, and then he dealt with them.
But then came these Sadducees, and they didn't believe in the
resurrection. And they were going to question him about the resurrection.
They wanted to present questions that he couldn't deal with and
couldn't answer as far as the resurrection is concerned. So
they presented him with a hypothetical case. I doubt that this really
happened. Seven men married the same woman.
None of them ever had any children. They all died one at a time. I doubt. But they were bringing
up a hypothetical thing. They were building a straw man,
you know. And that's the way the arguers, debaters of theology
will do. They'll present to you some way
out hypothetical what-if or so forth and so on, you know, and
Christ dealt with them. But now, here's a different kind
of man. He is different. Christ recognized
it. He sat down here in verse 34,
and Jesus saw that he answered discreetly. And I'll tell you something else
you notice about him here. In verse 28, before he ever said
anything to Christ, it identifies something about him. One of the
scribes, verse 28, Mark 12, having heard them reasoning together,
he heard the Pharisees and Sadducees, he perceived This young man had perception.
He had some understanding. He perceived that Christ had
answered them well. He knew that in his heart. Oh,
we've got a different situation here. This scribe came after
the Pharisees and Sadducees had been put to silence, after they'd
turned away in anger, sulking, regrouping their forces, But
his conversation was different. You're going to notice how different
it was. And the Master used a different tone with him, a different tone. But the Master finally said,
and this is what we want to look at today in verse 34, You're
not far from the kingdom of God. You're not far. I want us to try to learn how
that it's possible for a man to be not far from the kingdom
of God and yet not in it. I want us to see if we can find
out how a man can be not far from salvation and not be saved.
And I want us to examine ourselves. I want us to be sure that we're
not, like this young man, not far from the kingdom of God but
not in it. You're going to notice some unusual
things about him, and you're going to notice some things that
are remarkably characteristic of us. So first of all, let's
look at the man. It says here in verse 28, look
at the man, one of the scribes. What is a scribe? We know very
little about this man, but we know this, he was a scribe. Now
the duties of a scribe, I can give them to you just briefly.
The duties of a scribe were of great importance. Their duties
were the preservation of the Word of God, the transcription
of the Word of God, and the interpretation of the Word of God. The scribes,
as I could picture one in my mind, I'd picture him in a in
a temple or tabernacle or wherever, his office, and he's got all
of these scrolls and papers around him, and these are the books
of the Bible. And he has this pen and ink or
whatever they used, whatever paper, and he's copying this
Bible. He didn't have printing presses.
And he's copying this Bible. He's transcribing. He's preserving
the Word of God. Here's an old copy, and he's
making a new copy, and he's got to get it just exactly right. Just exactly. This is what it
says. Just exactly. It was like quoting
the Scripture. He hath made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be the righteousness of God.
And if you quote it this way, he who knew no sin was made sin
for us, the scribe would say, hold it, that's not the way that
reads. It's got to be just right. Every
jot, every tittle, every word. And that's important. And it
should be. As a scribe, it should be that way. But this man, in
reality, was a student of the Scriptures. No question about
that. He was a student of the scriptures.
He would be considered an authority, right, on the Bible. Well-educated,
well-read in the writings of Moses and the prophets, and I'm
sure could quote from memory much of the Bible. And yet it
was to this man that our Lord said, you're not far from the
kingdom of God. It was to this man. Now, it's
certain that salvation, a man's not going to be saved apart from
the Word, right? Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. Of his own will beget he us through
the Word of truth. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and it's profitable, and so forth. And I'm not ashamed
of the Gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the
Greek. But my friends, A knowledge of the Word of God will not save
you. This man knew the Bible. I hear
people say, Boy, he sure knows his Bible. Well, it's very possible
this man knew the Bible as well as any man in that city. He had
a head knowledge of Bible history, of law, of doctrine, of orthodoxy. And yet our Lord said to this
man, you are not far from the kingdom of God. Now that's shocking. But it's very possible, turn
to John 5, it's very possible for a man to be a diligent student
of the scriptures, the doctrines, to search it, to carefully search
it, and yet not be saved. Not be in the kingdom of God.
Christ said that of the Pharisees, verse 39, John 5. He said, search
the Scriptures. And I'm not a scribe, but I know
this. That means you do search the
Scriptures. That's what Christ is saying
to those men. You are busy searching the Scriptures. You do search
the Scriptures. You are students of the Scriptures.
For in them you think you have eternal life. And they are they which testify
of me, and you will not come to me that you might have life."
These men knew the scriptures but didn't know Christ. They
were students of the scriptures. So I encourage you to study the
Word of God. I encourage you to become a student
of the scriptures. Study to show thyself approved
of God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. Rightly dividing
the Word of Truth. Become a student of the Scriptures.
More power to you. But that's not salvation. It's
possible to be orthodox in your doctrine, and not in your heart. It's dangerous, and that's what
this young man, and I wish I could get this across to every one
of us, if he were here this morning, all of us put together, wouldn't
have his knowledge of the Old Testament. I'm just sure of that,
because a scribe is a man who transcribed and interpreted and
preserved the Word of God. And we owe a debt of gratitude
to these scribes who, by God's providence and grace, kept the
Bible recorded for us. All right, let's look. We've
looked at the man now. Let's look at his knowledge.
He says here in Mark 12, he says, Verse 32, And the scribe said
to him, Well, master, thou hast said the truth, there is one
God. Let's start with that. He knew
and acknowledged there's one God. There's one God. That's the Lord of heaven and
earth. That's the God of creation. That's the God of Moses, Abraham,
and David. That's the God of Sinai. He had
written many times this scripture in Isaiah. Turn over to Isaiah,
chapter 45, just a moment. I'm sure he had written this
scripture many times with his pen, and I'm sure he could quote
it by heart. In Isaiah 45, verse 5, I am the
Lord, there's none else. There's no God beside me. I girded
thee, though thou hast not known me. Verse 6, Isaiah 45, that
they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west
that there is none beside me, I am the Lord, there is none
else, I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create
evil, I the Lord do all these things. This man says there is
one God. But James tells us it is possible
to believe there is one God and perish. James says you believe
in one God? You believe there's one God,
you'd do well. The devil believes that, and
trembled. This man's knowledge, he knew
and acknowledged there's one God, and all that it implies,
one God. Secondly, he did not even acknowledge
the existence of any other gods. He said, and there's none other
but he. He knew that law, thou shalt
not make unto thee any graven image. Now shall have no other
God before me." He had a strong conviction about idolatry. But it's possible to have strong
convictions about idolatry and still not be in the kingdom of
God, according to Christ. Here's an amazing thing. This
man knew the condition of the heart, and this is shocking. Especially in his day, because
not many in his day knew this. At least they didn't acknowledge
it. Because they were wrapped up in forms and rituals and ceremonies. The people of his day were wrapped
up in ritualism. But he said this, look at verse
33. And to love God with all the
heart, understanding, soul and strength. To love your neighbor
as yourself. is more than all whole burnt
offerings and sacrifices. You'd have never got one of those
Pharisees to say that. You'd have never got one of those
Sadducees to say that. You'd have never got Saul of
Tarsus to say that. This in itself is most astonishing. For his was the day of ceremony
and works. Very few in his day, very, very
few in his day would dare to acknowledge this because they
rested in their works. That's what Paul said. They have
a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. They're going about
to establish their own righteousness and have not submitted themselves
to the righteousness of God. They rested in their works, their
sacrifices, their laws, their ceremonies. And here he comes
along and he says, that the condition of the heart is more important
than that bleeding lamb on that altar. I'm telling you, this
man's knowledge is astounding. It's astounding. It's more important
before God for my heart to be right than to fulfill all the
ceremonies and sacrifices. In other words, he's saying with
Samuel, to obey is better than to sacrifice. And you won't hear
any of these men saying that. That's his knowledge. And yet,
our Lord looked at him and said, well, you're not far from the
kingdom of God. You're not far. You're not in
it, but you're not far. Let's look at his attitude. Evidently,
he was different from the others. The Pharisees left Christ. In Matthew, you'll find this
same scripture recorded in Matthew, and it says they went away. They
went their way. When they asked him about that
penny, they went their way. And just as soon as they asked
him a question, they went their way. They went off and sulked.
They went off there and talked together, you know. But not this
young man. He stayed. He wanted to talk some more.
First of all, he recognized the wisdom of Christ, verse 28. One
of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together,
he perceived that Christ had answered them well. Thou hast said the truth, he
said. Evidently, it looked like he was teachable. After his question
was answered, he pursued the conversation further. When Christ
answered the Pharisees about the penny, they never said another
word. They didn't say, oh, I see that. Nope, they just walked
off. When the Sadducees, when he answered
their question about the resurrection, no further comment. Walked off.
But this young man, he kept the debate open. And he had something
to say. And then he had some degree of
spiritual perception. Not much, but some. He spoke
of loving the Lord God. He spoke of loving his neighbor.
He spoke of inward godliness. Like Isaac Watts, not all the
outward forms of earth nor rights that God has given nor will of
man nor blood nor birth can raise my soul to heaven. And yet, and
I bring this message down, a teacher and a translator of the scriptures
an authority on the word of God, an orthodox moral man, a religious
leader, a believer in one God, a moral student of the law, a
perceptive and evidently open-minded man, a man who evidently recognized
the truth when he heard it, A man who respected and spake well
of Christ, and yet when all of it was over, the Master looked
at him and said, you are not far from the kingdom of God. Now, that doesn't cause us to
be concerned, and I'm not willing that anything so vitally important
as my soul be left to the horrible state of presumption. I'm not
content. I'm just not willing. to presume. If Christ can say this about
this young man with all of this, all of these recommendations,
you're still not far from the kingdom of God, still not in
it. So here's what I want to ask
here, and here's what I want to look at, and here's where
I see the difference between this young man, this man, and
myself. Hopefully, that these things
which God has taught me and taught you are true. But here are four
things about this young man that are missing now. Number one,
and this is a difficult area, I know that. Trying to decide
whether anyone is ever saved or not is not my business. It's
like Spurgeon said one time concerning some of the people in the Scriptures,
Nicodemus, the rich young ruler, and this man here. He said, if
somebody told me these men were saved, I'd ask them this, read
it to me out of God's Word. It does not say they were saved
anywhere in the Scriptures. But, he said, if anybody says they're
not saved, he'd say equally, read that to me out of God's
Word. And that's not my business. My business is to examine myself.
When our Lord says in Matthew chapter 7, many shall say unto
me in that day, Lord, we did this, that, and the other. And
I say, I never knew them. I don't want to be with that
crowd, personally. And when Christ looks at this
young man, and this is my reason for bringing this message to
you, when he says, thou art not far from the kingdom of God,
wouldn't it be a most horrible thing this morning for Cecil
Roach, the elder in this church, and teaching the men's Bible
class of Christ to say of him, you're not far from the kingdom
of God, wouldn't you hate that? I don't know of anything more
horrible than that. But it's possible. So let's find
out about this young man. That's why we're studying this.
Take heed, lest they be found in you an evil heart of unbelief."
That's what Paul said, take heed, brethren. He tells us about Israel. He says they come to Kadesh Barnea.
They look at the promised land. They turn and walk off. Now you
better be careful, brethren, in the New Testament church,
that you're not one like that. When you get to your Kadesh Barnea,
you may not be there yet. I'm not content for any of us
to rest back with the fact, well, I'm saved, I saved old Pollard
Baptist Church, I saved when I was ten years old, I saved
this, that, and the other. You may not know God. You may
be on the brink of disaster, of eternity without Christ. You
may be not far from the kingdom of God. You may be standing by
the door but not inside. And this young man here, orthodox,
knowledgeable, believed in one God? Believing that there was
no such thing as an idol? Was a moral man, a righteous
man, a student of the scriptures? Was a man who knew something
about, he spake well of Christ, he called him master? Why, he
said, it's more important to be right in your heart than to
have all the sacrifices. That's what I preach. I've been
preaching that 30 years. But he said all that, and our
Lord said to him, you're not far from the kingdom of God. And that was it. And after that,
he never asked another question. Now, according to this, of what four things? I'll give
them to you. Wherein did he fail? And my message is a failure if
I can't come up with something here. Number one, I find no acknowledging
on his part that he personally had failed to keep the law of
God. I don't find any confession of sin here. I find him acknowledging
all these good things about Christ. I find him acknowledging that
what Christ said was so. I find him acknowledging that
a man ought to love God and ought to love his neighbor. I find
him acknowledging that the right relationship with God in the
heart is more important than burnt offerings and sacrifices,
but I don't hear him saying anything like David did in Psalm 51, O
God, let thy blood be propitiation for me. have mercy upon me. I've sinned. I've come short
of thy glory. I'm a wretch. I'm in need of
mercy." I don't hear that. I don't hear any confession of
sin. I don't hear any acknowledgment of sin. Turn to Psalm 51. Here is a confession of sin. Here is an acknowledgment of
sin in Psalm 51. I don't find this man saying,
I am a sinner. who needs a Savior. Christ came
to seek and to save the lost. In Psalm 51, David said, According
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine
iniquities. Cleanse me from my sin. I acknowledge my transgressions. My sin is ever before me against
thee, and they only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
Behold, verse 5, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my
mother conceive me. That's where a fellow starts.
It's not a knowledge of the law particularly, it's a knowledge
of myself. It's not just a knowledge of
Scripture, it's a knowledge of my sin. That's where I start.
I need a Savior because I'm a sinner. And so in this young man here,
I don't see, I see all this orthodoxy and intelligence and theology
and all of these things. I see these things, but I don't
hear, I am a sinner. All right, secondly, I hear no
plea for mercy. I hear no plea for mercy. When
our Lord said, hear the two great commandments, love God with all
your heart and your neighbors yourself, I don't hear the man
say, I hear him saying, yes, that's so, but I don't hear him
say, I haven't done it. I haven't done it. And because
I haven't done it, that law sits in judgment on me, and cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all points of the law to do
them. I'm under condemnation. O Lord,
be merciful to me, O sinner." You don't hear that. And that's
not there. And every place that that's written,
and every place that that's recorded, and every place that that plea
is extended, there's mercy forthcoming. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. All right, the third thing. I
find no acknowledging that he had failed to keep that law.
He acknowledged the law was accurate and true and beautiful, but he
didn't acknowledge he had broken it, and because he had broken
it, I hear no plea for mercy. And thirdly, I hear no reception,
no recognition, of Christ as Redeemer and Lord. There is no
confession of Christ here. In fact, turn to Matthew 22,
to the other place where this is written. Matthew 22. In fact,
our Lord raised this question with these names after the scribe
had spoken. In verse 42, verse 41. Now, this
same scripture right here is from Mark 12, but here's the
latter part of it. And he had spoken to this scribe,
and in verse 41, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus
answered them, Jesus answered them, What think ye of Christ? Jesus asked them, saying, What
think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? That's the question
that he put to that scribe and those Pharisees. And then over
here in Mark chapter 12, our Lord Jesus Christ demanded of
them that they answer this question. If Christ is David's son, then
how come David called him Lord and said to the Lord, said unto
my Lord, sit thou on my right hand? There's no recognition
of Jesus as the Christ. Now note that. Note that about
this man. Christ, he knew there was one
God. He knew that there was no idol. He knew that the law of God was
moral and holy and perfect, and the law of God reached to the
heart, not just to the outward deeds. He knew that. And he knew
that was more important than burnt offerings and sacrifices,
a right relationship in the heart. But he never acknowledged that
he needed it. You see, I find no place here
where he acknowledged that that law sat in condemnation on him. He says that's true. But he didn't
say, I haven't done it. Nor did he ask for mercy. Nor
did he recognize Christ as the one who brings mercy, the Christ,
the Redeemer, the Messiah. What think ye of Christ? And
he didn't recognize him, nor did he receive him. And here's
a clue too. In Mark chapter 12, verse 38,
and our Lord said in his doctrine, evidently turned to the people
and said, Beware of the scribes. Beware of the scribes. They love
to go in long clothing, they love salutations in the marketplaces,
in the chief seats in the synagogue, in the uppermost rooms at the
feasts. They devour widows' houses for pretense, make long prayers. They shall receive greater condemnation."
I notice this. This young man came with this
group of religious people. When they were asking questions,
he was still with them. And when Christ left, he left
without him. So he evidently went away with
them. I don't find any identification with Christ here. Now our Lord
said, if any man come after me, let him deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me. He that loveth mother, father,
husband, wife, brother, sister, his own life more than me is
not worthy of me. You go let the dead bury the
dead and you take up your cross and follow me. What our Lord
is insisting on everywhere through this scripture, now you listen
to me and you think about it, I'm not asking for an answer
from you, but I find everywhere in this scripture he insists
on identification with him. Wherefore Paul says, come out
from among them and be ye separate. Identification with Christ. And there's no way this young
man could continue to be a scribe and walk with Christ. Beware
of the scribes, Christ said. There's no way that this young
man could any longer be identified with those scribes and be one
with Christ. Because the scribes represent everything that Christ
is against. They make pretense, long prayers. He says here, they love salutations,
they wear the long clothing, they love the chief seats in
the uppermost rooms, they devour ridders' houses, they make pretense,
they are under great damnation. How can this man stay with that
outfit and be one with Christ? This is the thing I find about
some of these other fellows. They're always found still with
these people. And this is the thing that bothers
me about present-day church professors. How are they always found with
this other bunch? What communion does light have
with darkness? What fellowship does Baal have
with Christ? If a man believes in the Son
of God and Christ is his Lord and Master, he is not serving
other gods, and he does not find his relationship and social fellowship
and doctrine and church fellowship with people who deny this gospel. There ain't no way. This young man, this man here
with all of his complementary characteristics, Our Lord said
you're not far from the Kingdom of God. You're not there, but
you're not far. You know some things that a man
must know to enter the Kingdom of God. You know there's one
God, and you know there's no such thing as an idol, and you
know the Bible is God's Word, and you know that heart relationship,
you can know a heart relationship is the important thing, still
not have it. You know that faith is more important
than burnt offerings and sacrifice. You can know that and not have
it. And what indicates that a man has it is when he identifies
with it. And here there are four things,
and I'm thinking about them, you think about them. There's no confession of sin
here. There's no acknowledgment of transgression. It's an acknowledgment
of what's right, but he doesn't say he hasn't done what's right.
And there's no cry for mercy. When our Lord Jesus Christ dealt
with Zacchaeus, he hit the ground and said, Lord, have my goods,
I give to the poor. And when our Lord dealt with
Saul of Tarsus, he hit the dust. Acknowledgement. What would you
have me do? But this young man didn't. He didn't. No recognition of
Christ. And then the serious thing, our
Lord, after he said, well, thank you, Christ, no recognition,
no reception of Christ, thou art, listen to Peter, thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. This man didn't say that.
The thief on the cross said, don't you fear God, seeing we're
in the same condemnation, this man indeed justly. We indeed justly, this man hath
done nothing amiss. And then when it was all over,
our Lord turned to the people and He said, Beware of the scribes.
Beware of the scribes. You can't be identified with
that outfit and be identified with Christ. And I hear, and
I don't mean to be brutal and critical, but I hear people say,
I believe this and I believe that, but my preacher doesn't
preach it. The church I go to doesn't believe it. I don't ask you why you continue
to go, I ask you how can you continue to go. That's my question. I know why you go. Because you counted the cost
and it's too heavy to pay. That's why you go. My question
is, if you are one with Christ, how can you find fellowship with
the scribes and Pharisees? If you know the Son of God, How
can darkness appeal to you? How can idolatry appeal to you?
How can pretense? That's what I don't understand.
How can it? I know why, but how can it? You go ahead making excuses.
I can't afford to do it. I'm a preacher of the gospel. You can do that. I can't afford
to make excuses for people who stay in places like that and
walk in the direction they're walking and still, oh, they're
Christians, they just don't do this, that and the other. Well, see, I have an account to give
as those who must give account. And I refuse, God being my helper,
to give anybody the least bit of hope outside of Christ. Now,
if we keep it there, maybe, maybe, it may be that there are a lot
of people saved who know the Lord, and John Newton says, when
I get to heaven, there will be a lot of folks I didn't expect
to see. Won't that be wonderful? But we can't take anything for
granted, not our salvation. I'm not going to mine. I hope
you don't yours. Thou art not far from the kingdom
of God. I want to be not far. I want to be in the kingdom of
God. I want you to be. Desperately, I want you to be.