I really have two scripture texts
today. The first one is found in Jeremiah
chapter 13. Jeremiah chapter 13, verse 23. Jeremiah 13, 23. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin, or the leper his spots, then may you also
do good that are accustomed to do evil." Now Jeremiah had preached
to the people of Israel for many years, and they would not hear
him. Jeremiah was a faithful prophet. Jeremiah was God's There's no
question about that. God called him, God ordained
him, God anointed him, God gave him the message, and he faithfully
delivered that message to Israel. But they wouldn't hear it. And
Jeremiah was a sincere prophet. If you look at the ninth chapter
of Jeremiah, you'll get some insight into the character of
this great preacher. Now, I regret, and I know you
do, because, and I'm not being critical, but it's so obvious,
there aren't many truly sincere preachers of the gospel. I don't
know what's happened. It always may have been that
way. But you can detect insincerity
and hypocrisy in the ministry. It's like one bank president
told me several years ago that the poorest credit risk in the
world are preachers and lawyers in that order. And many banks
will not even lend money to churches. They don't trust them. They won't
pay their bills. That's what this man told me.
And then so many other things let us know that There's many
in the ministry who are insincere people. They're in the ministry
for gain, or for glory, or for recognition, or for praise, or
for popularity, or for a thousand other reasons than the glory
of God. But that's not true of Jeremiah.
These people of Israel were hearing a sincere prophet. Now you listen
to Jeremiah 9, verse 1. "'Oh, that my head were watered!'
and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night
for the slain of the daughter of my people." That's a sincere
prophet. Oh, that my head were waters
and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night
for the slain of the daughter of my people. His cries and his
prayers and his sermons came forth from a dedicated, devoted,
and sincere heart. And then even the judgments of
God. Jeremiah came to the people of
Israel one day, and he had a yoke of wood about his neck. An object
lesson, if you please, but God told him to do it. He put a yoke
of wood about his neck and came before the wise men of Israel
and before the leaders of Israel, And he said, now God is going
to put a yoke upon Israel. The king, Nebuchadnezzar, is
going to conquer Israel and take away your liberty, take away
your freedom, and take away your children. And when he said that,
the false prophet, Hananiah, walked up and took the wooden
yoke off Jeremiah's neck and broke it. And turned to Jeremiah
and he said, you're not telling the truth, old man. God is not
going to put a yoke upon the people. He's going to break the
yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. And Jeremiah went back into the
presence of the Lord, and God told him, said, Jeremiah, they've
broken the yoke of wood. Now give them a yoke of iron
instead. And Jeremiah came back to the
people and told them. He said, you've broken the yoke
of wood. Now then, God's going to give
you a yoke of iron, which you'll not be able to back. But even
these judgments did not turn the hearts of the people to God.
They endured the judgments and continued in sin. And that brought
on the words of my text in Jeremiah 20, 13, 23. Jeremiah finally
stood before them and he said, Can the Ethiopian, the black
man, the Cushite, can he change his black skin? Can the leopard,
can he change his spots? Then may you do good that are
accustomed to doing evil. Neither can you walk in the way
and the will of God, whose hearts are turned toward evil. Salvation,
as far as you are concerned, is impossible. Now then, let's
go to Matthew. Here's my second text in Matthew
19. Now this is most interesting. Matthew 19. Now there is the
Old Testament version. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? No, sir. Can the leopard, by willing,
change his spots? No, sir. Can you please God in
the flesh? Can you save yourself by your
works? No, sir. You'll have to go on
in rebellion. Now in Matthew 19, verse 16. Now listen to this, and I'll
develop this verse by verse. Because I know, since I read
this a moment ago, some of you perhaps have said, well, I've
read that scripture a number of times and I've never been
fully satisfied about it. I hope Brother Mann comments
on it fully so that I can get some help. All right, let's see
if we can. I wanted some help and I think I found it. And behold,
one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall
I do? Now there's a key right there,
what good thing shall I do that I might earn, that I might have,
that I might buy eternal life? This young man believed in a
future state. You do and I do. You know, even
the poet Longfellow said, life is real, life is earnest, the
grave is not its goal. dust our art, to dust returneth,
was not spoken of the soul." I've never had any problem with
that. When I look into the face of one who has died and they've
placed the body in the casket, I don't have any doubt whatsoever,
but that person is somewhere. I don't believe that person,
that life ends when we die on this earth. I think there's an
eternal life somewhere, don't you? And this young man did too. He believed in a future state.
He was a serious young man. Don't you doubt that for a minute.
He was not playing games. This young man was concerned
how that he could enjoy eternal life. That's what he wanted.
That was his concern. But, now watch this, but entirely
on a legal basis, that's what he had in mind, how he could
gain eternal life. He could earn eternal life what
he could do to marry eternal life. He expected eternal life
by doing some good thing. That's what he said. What good
thing shall I do? If it's joining the church, I'll
join the church. If it's being baptized, I'll
be glad to be baptized. If it's crawling downtown on
my hands and knees, and prostrating myself before God, I'll do that
too. You just tell me what to do,
and I'll do it. If it's walking down the aisle,
shaking the preacher's hand, joining the church, quitting
certain sins, I'll be glad to do it. If that's the way you
get eternal life, I'll do it. All right? Now watch the next.
Watch our Lord's reply. And He said unto him, Why callest
thou me good? That's a strange question for
the Lord to ask that young man. Why not particularly listen?
The reason for this question was because this young man considered
Jesus Christ only as a mere man. That's the reason he asked that.
He did not consider Jesus Christ at all to be God. He considered
Him to be a good teacher, a good man, a miracle worker, any of
these things, but not God. And therefore he called him good
master. But Christ reminds him that the
word good doesn't belong to man. It belongs only to God. Now watch
that line. And Christ said, Why do you call
me good? There is none good but one, and
that is God. The word good doesn't belong
to man. No man is absolutely and perfectly
and infallibly good. No man. There's none good, no,
not one. Now, he sought to straighten
him out on that to begin with. Why do you call me good? There's
none good but God. If I'm not God, I'm not good.
You see, that's the issue we run into here if Jesus Christ
is not God. If I say, well, I don't believe
Jesus Christ is God. I believe He's a good man. He
wasn't a good man. He was a liar. He was an imposter. He was the worst kind of reprobate
because He led men to believe He could save them. He deceived
people. And that's what Christ is saying
to this young man. The word good doesn't belong
to a man. It belongs only to God. Now what's the next line?
But if you will enter into life. Now here's what Christ is saying.
If you hope to enter into life by good works, here's what you
must do." That's exactly what he said. This young man came.
This is the proposition. I want eternal life. Now what
can I do to get it? Christ is going to tell him.
Exactly. He's going to deal with his question.
He's going to answer it. He's not going to tell him how
eternal life comes. He's going to tell him how he
can get eternal life. He's not going to tell him how
God saves sinners, because this young man doesn't think he's
a sinner. He's going to tell him exactly what he asked him.
What can I do to inherit eternal life? Christ said, all right,
if you want life based on law, if you want to enter into life
by your good works, here's what you must do. Keep the commandments. Keep God's commandments. It's
just that simple. That's what God said to Adam
when He created Adam, put him in the garden. He said, Adam,
do this and live. When He led Israel to Sinai and
gave them the law, do this and live. It's just that simple. And He said, the young man said
to Christ, which? Which? Now, our Lord is showing
this young man the impossibility of obtaining life by the law.
But he told the young man, said, keep the commandment, and surprisingly
the young man said, which one? And Christ said, well, thou shalt
do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not
steal, thou shalt not bear false witness. You want to inherit
eternal life by doing something? Here's what you do. Honor your
father and mother and love your neighbor as yourself. And here's
another surprising thing, the young man said to him in the
next verse, I've kept all these from my youth up. Now then, turn
to Matthew chapter 5. Now here's a problem that everybody
has with the law. I don't imagine there are a whole
lot of people here this morning who feel like that they've broken
the law of God today. or even this week. And that's
what this young man felt. This young man was a devout young
man. He was a religious young man.
He was a moral, clean-cut young man. And he just didn't feel
that he'd broken any of the laws. But this young man had no conception, as most of us do not have, of
the strictness of God's law. of the internal and spiritual
requirements of the law. And Christ gives that. He makes
that perfectly clear in Matthew 5.21. Look at this. You have
said it, you have heard it said by them of old times, thou shalt
not kill. But I'm not a murderer. You're
not a murderer. I've never shot anybody down
willingly, on purpose, in cold blood, and you don't feel like
you're a murderer. Well, let's see. I say unto you,
Christ said, verse 22, that whosoever is angry with his brother, without
a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall
say to his brother, or neighbor, or anybody for that matter, raca,
that is vain fellow, so angry that you just spit fire, shall
be in danger of the counsel. But whosoever shall say thou
fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." In other words, this thing
of murder The law of God, the commandment of God in reference
to murder goes also to the thoughts of the heart and to anger. A man is a murderer who hates,
who has malice, who wishes a man evil. He's a murderer. Now look
down at verse 27. The next thing Christ said to
the young man, thou shalt do no murder and then thou shalt
not commit adultery. Now verse 27. of Matthew 5. You have heard it said by them
of old times, thou shalt not commit adultery. Now most of
the people in this congregation feel like that you've never committed
adultery. You grew up and you married and
you've been faithful to your wife or your husband all through
the years, and you've never actually been unfaithful, therefore you're
no adulterer. Well, I see. But I say unto you
that whosoever looketh on a woman Now, the Bible is written, as
you know, to men mainly, and I don't want to say it that way,
but it uses the man, the masculine. But anything that's said to a
man is also said to a woman in the Word of God. And now that
we're in woman's lips, maybe you ought to read this thing,
Whosoever looketh on a person. But I'm not going to do that.
I'm going to read it like it is, and you'll have to apply it to
your own heart. But it goes for both of them. Whosoever looketh
on a person, or a woman, to lust after her or him, desire, unlawful
desire, imperfect desire, in any way, whether you look on
them, whether you think of them, whether you consider it, or whether
it enters your mind or your heart. Christ said He's already committed
adultery, or she's already committed adultery. Even the thought of
sin, even the thought of evil, even the thought of unlawfulness,
is seeing in God's eye. That's breaking the commandment.
Now, if this young man had known the strictness of the law and
the internal requirements of the law, he would not have said,
I've kept this law from my youth up. You haven't kept it. You are a murderer. That's right,
and I am too. You are an adulterer, and I am
too. Read on. He's committed adultery
already in his heart. Now then, verse 33. You have
heard it said by them of old times, Thou shalt not forswear
thyself. In other words, thou shalt not
take the name of God in vain. Thou shalt perform unto the Lord
thine oath, I say unto thee, swearing on it all. Neither by
heaven, which is God's throne, nor earth, which is God's footstool.
Verse 37, you don't need to enforce your words. Surely to God I'll
do it, or I swear to God I'll do it, or sure as God is my witness
this is true. You don't need to do that, God
said. Let your communication be yes and no. Now watch it now. Whatsoever
is more than this comes from evil. He said, what are you trying
to do, preacher? Make all of us feel how rotten
we are? Well, that would be a start, wouldn't it? This article I have
here says, he that desires to be saved, let him know this day
that the first step toward heaven, first steps are a deep sense
of sin and a lowly estimate of ourselves. And that's Christ
gave this young man. He said, I've kept all these
from my youth up. It's clear he had no conception. Let's read verse 38. You have
heard it said by them of old time, an eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth. I say unto you that you resist
not evil. If a man hits you on one cheek,
turn the other cheek. If any man sues you at law to
take away your coat, let him have it, and throw in your cloak
too. And if a man makes you walk a
mile, go with him too. And give to him that asketh,
and from him that would borrow thee, never turn him away. That's the law. All right, now
let's go back to the text, Matthew 19. Now this young man, get the
picture. What shall I do? that I might
inherit life." Christ said, all right, if you're going to enter
life by the law, by good work, here's what you must do. No murder,
no thought of murder. No murder, no malice. No murder,
no hatred. No murder, no anger. You must
absolutely be in a state of perfect attitude and love toward every
person all the time. No adultery. You must never even
think or imagine or desire or consider in any way anything
but absolute holiness before God. In your communication, you
must never in any way use God's name, even in your thoughts,
except in a way that will bring Him absolute glory. Never in
any way let your conversation ever be anything but yes and
no. Yes and no. There must be no
emphasis given to it at all that would involve God. And then when
anybody asks anything of you, you must give it. And if he sues
you at the law, you must let him have it and go get something
else and give it to him. That's the law. All right? Read on now. The young man said,
Well, I've kept all these laws. What do I lack yet? And then
the Lord Jesus said, if you would be perfect, if you would be perfect. Now the answer of Christ in verse
21 serves a twofold purpose. Christ said, if you would be
perfect, you must love your neighbor as yourself. You must give away
to the needy everything that you have. The law requires you
to empty yourself for the good of the one you love. Secondly,
and you must, as one of the other apostles interprets it, take
up your cross and follow me. Follow me in perfect resignation
to the will of God. Christ owned no property. Christ
had one piece of clothes, the cloak that was on his back. Christ
Jesus had no place to lay his head. Christ Jesus had absolutely
nothing. He went about always ministering
not to himself, but to minister to others, and to give himself
for the blessings and benefits of others, and in absolute surrender
and submission and resignation to the will of the Heavenly Father.
If you would be perfect, Christ said, that's what you'll have
to do. If you want life by works, here it is. Verse 22, But when the young
man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great
possessions, faced with life through the law, faced with eternal
life by good works. Faced with eternal life by human
merit and human righteousness, this young man did what you'll
have to do and what I'll have to do. He turned his back on
Christ and walked away. He didn't, he wouldn't, and he
couldn't love anybody that way, God or man. So Christ said to
His disciples when the young man walked away, He said, Verily
I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom
of heaven." And again, I say unto you, it's easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle. And somebody says, somebody said,
that's a needle's eye. It's a, it's a, it's a, a gate
over in the city of Jerusalem that's real low and for a camel
to get through. He can get through, but he has
to scoot down. That's a lot of baloney. Christ
is talking about a needle's eye right here, the eye of a needle.
And He said it's easier for a rich man by his own works and by his
own good works and his law and his morality, it's easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a man by his
works to enter into the Kingdom of God. That's what He's saying.
The rich man can no more enter heaven by works than a camel
can go through the eye of a needle, or an Ethiopian can change his
black skin, or a leper can change his spot. That's what Christ
is saying. And boy, when the disciples heard
this, they said, well, who can be saved? You see, the disciples
were still basing eternal life on human righteousness, just
like all these Jewish people. were basing eternal life on human
merit, on serving God in an acceptable manner. And Christ said, it can't
be done. And when the disciples heard
this, they said, well, who can be saved? And Christ replied just what
Jeremiah said over in the Old Testament, with men it is impossible. There's nobody in this congregation,
there's nobody in this state, there's nobody in this nation,
there's nobody in this world, nobody has ever lived on this
earth who can justify himself before God or earn a place and
a position and a way into the kingdom of God by human works
and human merit because none of us can fulfill, satisfy, honor,
and keep God's perfect law. It can't be done. The Ethiopian
can't change his skin. The leopard can't change his
spot. The camel can't go through an
eye of a needle, and neither can men by good works gain eternal
life. It can't be done. You look at
Matthew 5, friend, and you look hard at it. And when you think
about in that verse 21, 27, 33, 38, and 43, Listen to verse 43 of Matthew
5. You heard it said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine
enemy. You won't believe this, but I heard a sermon teaching
that same thing not too many months ago. I heard a man preach
a sermon on the subject of love, and he called it brotherly love.
He said, We are obligated and required by God to love our brothers. and nobody else. But now you
let me tell you something. Christ says here in verse 44,
I say unto you, love your enemies. You pick out the person that's
done you the most dirt, who's been the most inconsiderate,
who's been the most wicked, who's stolen from you, who's cursed
your name, who's lied on you, you pick him out And you love
him. And you love him as much as you
love your brother, your wife, your sister, your daughter. Or
you'll go to hell. That's right. If you're depending
on good work, you'll go to hell if you don't love him like you
love your wife. And if your husband or your wife
does you evil, and you divorce them, I had a discussion on this
not long ago. Somebody says love turns to hate.
Yeah, that's human nature. That's the reason people go to
hell. You're supposed to love them just as much now as you
ever did. That's what Christ said. Love
your enemies. Bless the man that curses you.
Do good to the man that hates you. Pray for the person that
despitefully uses you and persecutes you, that you may be children
of your Father. If that's the way you want to
gain heaven, then that's what you better do. The silliest thing I ever heard
anybody say is that somebody's a good person. And none good,
no, not one. They're all sinful. Why can't
the Ethiopian change his scheme? Because it's the Ethiopian's
nature to be black. He's born black. He'll be black
when you put him in the grave. And sinners are born sinful.
We're born with a nature to do evil. Just as black flesh comes
from a black father, sinful flesh comes from a sinful father. born
in sin, born in the flesh, born an enemy of God, going astray
from the womb, speaking lies. Why can't the rich man give all
that he has to the poor? Why can't we empty ourselves
and perfectly submit to the will of God? Because we don't want
to, that's why. We don't have any desire to do
that. We don't have any pulsating desire
to give everything we've got to somebody else. Man's nature
is to take care of himself. Man's nature is to love himself.
Man has no will to do these things, and he must be forced unwillingly
to do it. And if he's forced unwillingly
to do it, that's a sin too, because he does it against his will.
Why can't the natural man do good? I'll tell you why. Because
of the pleasures of sin. The Bible says there is pleasure
in sin for a season. But let me tell you something.
The flesh has appetites that are only quenched and satisfied
by flesh. And that which is born of flesh
is flesh, and in the flesh no man can please God. Now, one
of the things that makes a change from evil to good impossible
is that a natural man doesn't know the difference. That's his
problem. Just like this young man, Christ
presented the law to him. Why? He said, I've kept those.
I've kept those. Why, from my youth up, what do
I lack now? A natural man says, I thank you,
Lord, I'm not like other men. And he may be dead sincere in
that. He's not like other men. The
Apostle Paul said, I did not know sin until the law came. Now, let
me ask this question as I close. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? No. Can his skin be changed? Can the leper change his spots?
No. He can't do it. Can his spots
be changed? Can the rich man, can any mortal
man do enough good to enter heaven? No. Can a mortal man enter heaven? Well, the answer is given by
our Lord with me, and it's impossible. The Ethiopian, the black man,
the Cushite, can't change his skin. And the leopard can't change
his spots, and the rich man cannot do enough good to enter heaven.
But with God, with God, with God, all things are possible. The black skin of the Ethiopian
can be made as white as snow. And the spotted flesh of the
leopard can be as clean and as white as wool. And that rich man God can save. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world for the very purpose, He said, to save
sinners. He said, the Son of Man is come
to seek and to save that which is lost. that which is helpless,
that which is weak, that which cannot by its own strength please
God. For he hath given to us a perfect
righteousness, and he hath satisfied the divine law, and he hath paid
our debt. By his stripes we are healed.
Turn to Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36. Listen to this. Verse 24 through 27. In Ezekiel
36, verse 24, the Holy Spirit of
God has power over the human heart. God says, I'll take you
from among the heathen, I'll gather you out of all nations,
I'll bring you into your own country, and I'll sprinkle clean
water on you. You can't do it, but I can. I'll
sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all
your filthiness. From all your idols will I cleanse
you, and a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit
will I put within you. I'll take away that old stony
heart that hates, is filled with malice and rebellion and evil,
and I'll give you a heart of flesh, and I'll put my spirit
within you, and I will cause you to walk willingly. lovingly
in my statutes, and you'll keep my judgments, and you'll do them. But I've got to do that for you."
Herein lies the answer. John F. Kennedy said, ask not
what your country can do for you, but what you can do for
your country. That's good. That's excellent. That's great, as far as the country's
concerned. But when it comes to spiritual
matters, That's not what you can do for God. But you ask what
God through Christ can do for you. You're as helpless as a
babe. You're as helpless as an infant
in its mother's arms. You're as helpless as a newborn
infant cast out into the wilderness, neither wrapped, nor swaddled,
nor salted, nor cared for. God will have to come by you
in the time of love, and say unto you, live, and cleanse you
from your filthiness, and give you the strength, eyes to see,
ears to hear, feet to walk, a heart willing to do his will. God will
have to do that for you. You say, I'm thirsty. Come to
the water, says grace. I'm hungry. Eat that which is
good, and let your soul delight in fatness, says Grace. I'm poor. I have nothing to pay. Come buy
wine and milk without money, without price, says Grace. I'm
weary. I'm heavy laden. Come unto me,
I'll give you rest, says Grace. I'm staggering under the burden,
says the trapper on life's highway. Cast your burden on the Lord.
And he will sustain these, says Grace, I'm guilty, I'm a sinner. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow, says Grace. But I'm bound and
helpless under the power of sin, and I cannot free myself. If
the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed, says
Grace. But I'm old, and I'm helpless,
and life on earth is nearly done. In my Father's house are many
mansions. I go to prepare a place for you.
You believe in God, believe in me, says grace. With me, and
it's impossible. If I could just pound that into
the head of this congregation and the people to whom I preach.
Give up, sinner. Throw up your hand, sinner. Surrender, sinner. You cannot
save yourself. I don't care what you know, what
you do, what you give, how far you walk, how long you serve.
Somewhere there'll be a flaw in what you've done. Somewhere
there'll be a spot in what you've said. Somewhere there'll be a
taint in what you have served. Somewhere God'll have to, in
His infinite holiness, find some shortcoming. And to offend in
one point is to be guilty of the whole law. One point. Don't trust it. Don't trust it. You can't throw up your hands
like Peter did as he sank beneath the waves and said, Lord, I'm
yours. You save me or I'll go to hell. It's totally in your
hands. It's up to you. What you do with
me will depend on what I do with you. God was shed for me, and at the
bit we come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am and waiting not
to rid myself of God I come, I come.