And now, if you will, open your
Bibles again to Mark chapter 12. I'm not going to preach a long
time tonight, but I'm going to say some things that I believe
the Lord has taught me on the subject, Thou art not
far from the kingdom of God. In Mark 12, 28, it says one of
the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together,
and perceiving that Jesus Christ had answered them well, he asked
him, which is the first commandment of all?" Now, we know very little
about this man, this scribe, very little. We know, first of
all, he was a scribe. You say, well, what's a scribe?
Well, the duties of the scribes in the Old Testament were of
great, great, great importance. The duty of the scribe in the
Old Testament days, and remember, this right here occurred in what
we call Old Testament days. John the Baptist, somebody said,
was the last of the Old Testament prophets. You see, the New Testament
had not been written. Christ had come. These people
were under the Old Testament law, the Old Testament what we
call dispensation. They were under the Old Testament
economy. This man was a scribe. And the scribes in the Old Testament,
their duty was the preservation of the Word of God. Their duty
was the transcriptions and even interpretation of the Word of
God. They were very important men.
It was their business to preserve the Scriptures. and to translate
or transcribe the scriptures and even interpret the scriptures. Now these scribes, these latter-day
scribes, increased in power, all the power they had. Somebody
said they increased in power and degenerated in spirit, for
they took on themselves to add things to the Word of God. Someone said oral traditions,
handed down traditions. They added these things to the
scriptures. Not that they added them in the
canon of scripture, but they added them in importance along
with the scriptures, and they interpreted the scriptures in
such a way as to destroy their meaning. Now this scribe, this
man we're talking about here in verse 28, This man was with
the Pharisees and Sadducees who were trying to trap our Lord
in his words. This man, the scribe, was with
them. One of them had asked him if
it's lawful for us to pay tribute to Caesar, pay taxes to Caesar. Of course, Christ answered him,
render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. And then a Sadducee,
and the Sadducees were the Bible teachers who did not believe
in a resurrection. And they had tested and tried
to trap him, and the Lord had answered them, and this scribe
came up. And we notice a lot of interesting
things about this man. First of all, he was an intelligent
man. He was intelligent because he
realized that Christ had put these people to silence. He realized
that. It said that here. He had heard
them reasoning, he heard the Pharisees questioning Christ,
and he heard the Sadducees questioning Christ, and he perceived that
Christ had answered them well. Put them to silence, another
scripture says. And so he came up and asked the
Lord a question. And here's the question he asked
Him. He said, which is the first commandment, or the most important
commandment? another one of the apostles writes,
which is the greatest commandment. Now the Lord Jesus answered him.
Christ said in verse 30 of verse 29, the first of all the commandments
is this, The Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart. Verse 31, and the second,
namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbors thyself. There
is none other commandment greater than these." Now then, listen
to this man, this scribe. In verse 32, he said, Master,
thou hast said the truth. Thou hast said the truth. There
is one God. There is none other but He. There
are no idols which have any power or deserve any worship. Verse
33, now listen, And to love God with all the heart, and with
all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the
strength, and to love his neighbors himself, is more than all whole
burnt offerings and sacrifices. And Christ answered this young
man, verse 34, and said to him, Christ heard him and realized
and knew that he answered discreetly and sincerely. And he said, you're
not far from the kingdom of God. Now then, I want us to look at
several things. What Christ said to this young
man is this. You're not saved. You're not in the kingdom of
God. But what you know and what you say, and Christ knew that
he answered honestly. He said to him, you're not in
the kingdom of God, but what you know and what you confess
puts you in a position that's conducive to entering the kingdom
of God. You're not far from the kingdom
of God. What you know is certainly necessary to you for entering the kingdom
of God. Let's look at several things about this man. This is
so interesting to me. Now, we can certainly base confidently
our belief on this statement because Christ made it. This
is the Lord Jesus dealing, this is not just another minister
dealing with a man, this is the Lord dealing with him. Christ
knew who was in the kingdom of God and who wasn't. And he told
this young man, the young man asked him a question and the
Lord listened to what he had to say. And he said, there's
one God, there are no idols, And a heart relationship with
God is more important than ceremonies and works, more important than
all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Now you get a
scribe or a Sadducee or a Pharisee to say that, you've got him to
say something. And Christ said to him, you are
not far from the kingdom of God. So let's look at this man and
see something about him. Maybe somebody is not far from
the kingdom of God. First of all, I look at his attitude.
In verse 32, when the master answered him, he said, this young,
this man said, which is the greatest commandment? And Christ said,
the greatest commandment is thou shalt love the Lord thy God,
and thy neighbor as thyself. And this young man said, that's
the truth. That's the truth. Master, thou
hast well said. He wasn't like the Pharisees
who sneered and walked away. He wasn't like the Sadducees
who mocked the Master and walked away. He wasn't like the religious
people who grew angry. But this young man just stood
there, and he admitted that what Christ had said was the truth. He said, Master, you've spoken
the truth. And Christ said, Thou art not
far from the kingdom of God. There are those today who close
their hearts and their minds to any doctrines or any scripture
that's contrary to their tradition. There are people today who turn
away in anger. They turn away in anger. I will
not have it. I will not believe it. You can
take the Word of God and you can open it and read the scripture.
And instead of like this young man, this young man said, it
certainly, it certainly didn't fit in with his theology. It
certainly didn't fit in with his pattern of religion. But
when the master told him this, he said, you've said the truth.
You've said the truth. I'm certainly encouraged when
I run into anyone who's willing to confess his ignorance. Who's
willing to sacrifice his tradition for truth. who's willing to declare,
I haven't heard this before, and I do not fully understand
it, but you have read it from the word of God, and my heart
is open to be taught. And that's seemingly the attitude
this young man had. Christ spoke to him and he said,
that's the truth. I may not understand it, and
I may not be able to fit it in with my religious pattern, but
at least that's the truth. Turn to Acts 17. Let me show
you something here in the 17th chapter of Acts. In the 17th
chapter of Acts, verse 10, listen to this. And the brethren, Acts
17, 10, And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night
unto Berea, who coming thither went into the synagogue of the
Jews. Now this is the hotbed of religion
and ceremonial religion. And these men, Paul and Silas,
went with the message of Christ right into the heart of this
thing. Now listen to the next verse. And these were more noble
than those in Thessalonica. They didn't throw him out. They
didn't throw Paul and Silas out. They didn't get angry. They didn't
shake their fists and say, we won't have it, we don't believe
it, we won't hear you again. in that they received the word
with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily
whether those things were so. When these people heard Paul
and Silas preach Christ and Him crucified, they said, we're going
to find out if that's so, and they began to search the scriptures.
Now that's the attitude to take. When we stand here in the pulpit
and preach to you and read something from the Word of God, don't be
like the Sadducees and the Pharisees and those Jews who mocked and
sneered and ridiculed and turned away in anger and said, we won't
have it because it didn't fit in with their tradition or their
pattern of orthodoxy. Be like this young man at least
here to whom Christ said, you're not far from the Kingdom of God.
You've at least got the right attitude. He said, Master, you've
told the truth. He certainly told the truth.
We see his attitude beginning to reveal itself here when he
listened to Christ talking to the Pharisees and he realized
that he'd put them to silence. And he heard him talking to the
Sadducees and he realized he'd answered them well. And then
he came with his question and the Master answered him well.
And he said, you've spoken the truth. Now the second thing I
want us to notice, we've seen the man's attitude. And attitude
is so important. Oh, how important attitude is.
Lord, I don't understand it, and it doesn't fit in with the
pattern of my previous religious commitments, but you read it
out of the Word, and I'm ready to listen. Christ said, you're
not far from the kingdom of God. And when you get ready to listen
to God's Word, you're not far from the kingdom of God. When
your heart has been smitten and And your ears have been opened,
and you've come to the place where you don't already know
everything, and you don't already have all the answers. And you're
not already satisfied with the position you're holding. When
you come to the place, Lord, you've spoken the truth. Well,
you're not far from the kingdom of God. You're not there, but
you're not far. Now look at the man's knowledge. Verse 32. He says, first of all, there's
one God. Verse 32, there this young man
said, You said the truth, there is one God. This man knew and acknowledged
there's one God, and the God he knew and the God he acknowledged
was the God of creation. I'm sure of that. I'm sure the
one God this young man's talking about is the God of Genesis,
the God of Moses, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the
God of creation. who made heaven and earth. This
young man said, there's one God, and I'm sure he was talking about
the God of Mount Sinai, who issued forth his law and his commandments. I shall have no other God before
me. And I know that when he said there's one God, he was talking
about the God who delivered Israel from Egypt, and the God who gave
the law, and who gave the tabernacle, who gave the priesthood, and
who gave the commandments and who gave the messages to the
prophets. But as in this man's case, it's
possible to believe there's one God and still not be in the kingdom
of God. This young man said, there's
one God. And Christ said, with that knowledge,
you're not far from the kingdom of God, but you're not in the
kingdom of God. You know what James 1.19 says, there's no need
turning there, it says, thou believest there's one God, thou
doest well. The devil believes and trembles.
You're not in the kingdom of God because you believe there's
one God, but I tell you this, you're not far from it. I didn't
say believe a God, some God, but believe there's one God.
And then secondly, this young man's knowledge, He knew there
was one God, and it was the God of creation, and the God of revelation,
and the God of his fathers, the God of the tabernacle, the atonement. He knew about the day of atonement.
He was an interpreter of scripture. He was a preserver of scripture.
He knew the scriptures. And then this young man's knowledge,
he didn't worship or acknowledge any false gods. Look at that
next line. There's one god and there's none
other but he. He refused to acknowledge the
god of the Egyptians, the god of the Romans, and the god of
the heathen empires. He wouldn't acknowledge there
was any other god. He was firm in his faith. No other god but one god. Turn
to Deuteronomy 5. This young man had written this
verse of Scripture many, many times in transcribing the law
and writing out the Scripture. He'd written it, I'm sure, with
quill and ink many times. Listen to it. Deuteronomy 5,
verse 7, Thou shalt have none other gods before me. Thou shalt
not make thee any graven image, nor any likeness of anything
that is in heaven above, that is in the earth beneath, that
is in the waters beneath the earth. Thou shalt not bow down
thyself to them, nor serve them. For I the Lord thy God am a jealous
God, vesting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
under the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." This young
man knew this one God. He had a strong conviction about
idolatry. But he was still not in the kingdom
of God. Christ said, you're not far from
the kingdom. He had the right attitude. And
the Lord saw he answered discreetly. And he saw he had a good knowledge. There's one God. There's just
one God. And there's none other God but
He. And here was the thing that astounded me when I studied for
this message. This is something that few people,
I mean, somebody said something scarce as hen's teeth, I don't
know how many teeth a hen has, but I know there weren't many
people in this day who believe this next statement this young
man made. This young man in the next statement
confessed that the condition of the heart before God was more
important than all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices a man
could offer. Now Charlie, you know there wasn't
a Pharisee in that day that believed that. Saul of Tarsus certainly
didn't believe it, nor the rest of them. But this young man,
this in itself is astounding. Listen to what he said. And to
love the Lord with all the heart and with all the understanding,
with all the soul, with all the strength, and to love his neighbors
as himself is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
I've been reading the Bible for years and studying. I never did
see that before, what that young man said. The very fact that he would acknowledge
before the Lord Jesus Christ that a man could not rest in
works for salvation. That's what he's saying here.
He's saying that the condition of the heart and the condition
of the soul in regard to God and his neighbor was more important
than all of these ceremonies that the Jews were going through
to make themselves acceptable to God. These people trusted
in their works to make them acceptable, but this young man knew differently
and confessed it. He knew that salvation was not
in burnt offerings. He knew that salvation was not
in sacrifices. He knew that salvation was in
a heart relationship with God. He knew that. He said that right
here. And yet Christ told him he was
outside the kingdom of God. Now then, the last thing, and
here's the key to this message, what this young man had not done,
there's some things he knew, there's some things he didn't
know, there's some things he had done, there's some things
he hadn't done. He had a good attitude, he didn't get mad,
he didn't walk away. He stood there, and he listened
to the Master, and when the Master got through, he said, you told
the truth. I know that. I know there's one God, and I
know there's none other God but He. And I know that to love God
with all your heart and love your neighbors yourself is more
important than all this rigmarole that we're going through and
all these burnt offerings and all these sacrifices that we're
going through and all these washings and holy days and all these other
things. I know that. And the Master said,
you're not far from the kingdom of God. of what he had not done. Now
here's where the problem is. And you're not going to be saved
by your knowledge. I think there are people to whom
we preach day by day that have good attitude toward preaching. You know, Herod had a pretty
good attitude toward John, but he cut his head off. The Scripture
said he loved John. He defended John. He did many
things. And you may have a pretty good
attitude toward preaching. You may believe there's one God.
And you may believe in not just a God, but the God of glory,
and not be in the kingdom of God. You may despise idolatry. You may despise heresy. You may
despise false cults and false denominations. And you may even have a knowledge
That salvation is a heart relationship with God. You may have a head
knowledge of these things and not be saved, not be in the kingdom
of God. You're not far from the kingdom
of God. It's for sure that a man is going to have to have this
knowledge if he enters it. But having it and entering the
kingdom of God is two different things. Having this knowledge
and entering the kingdom of God is two different things. A man
may be a Calvinist and be not far from the kingdom of God.
A man may be a Baptist, he may be an Orthodox, he may be an
Orthodox preacher, not be far from the King. He may know what
it means, what the atonement means. This young man was far
advanced from these other religious people of his day. He was different.
He was an odd number. He was talking about no salvation
in the sacrifices, no salvation in the burnt offering, salvation
in the heart. It's a heart relationship with
God. That's a good sermon there. But Christ said he wasn't far
from the kingdom of God. And I'm saying it's possible,
it's very possible, not only... Well, it's not only possible,
it's a dead certainty. Christ said it here, for a man
to have this knowledge of correct theology and doctrine and be
outside the kingdom of God. What had he not done? Well, number
one, he had not confessed to himself. He had not admitted
that he had broken that law. Christ said, the law is this,
thou shalt love God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as
thyself. And this young man didn't say,
Lord, alas, I have not done that. Alas, O Lord, that makes me the
chief of sinners. Alas, oh Lord, I certainly do
not love God with all my heart. I do not love my neighbors myself. And the scripture says we must
confess our sins if we're going to have forgiveness. That's the
reason David got forgiveness. He cried, I have sinned! I have
sinned! That's the first step towards
conversion, is confession. confession of sin. I have sinned,
I have broken that law. He that covereth his sin shall
not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find
mercy. The second thing that he had
not done, he had not confessed to himself that he had broken
that law. And secondly, he had not asked
the question, how can I be delivered? And that's what the jailer asked
the Philippian jailer. Paul and Silas were in the jail,
and the Philippian jailer came and fell on his knees, and he
said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? I want to be delivered. What must I do to be delivered?
This man had not asked that question. He confessed that this was true. What Christ had said was so.
But he did not confess the absence of it in his own heart, nor seek
deliverance. from that state of condemnation.
I have sinned, I have broken that law, therefore I stand condemned. Oh Lord, how can I be delivered?
And then the next place, he had not recognized and received the
Lord Jesus Christ as his righteousness and substitute. He had not received
Christ. Now brethren, I've given this
definition of faith so often, most of you know it by heart.
But it's good to review it again. The Apostle Paul, in stating
his faith, said this, I know whom I have believed. I am persuaded
he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him. Now,
salvation and faith is one, number one, a knowledge of the Lord.
You can't trust him whom you do not know. You can't call upon
him of whom you have not heard. So I know whom I have believed.
Secondly, there's got to be a trust. There's got to be not only a
belief of the record, there's got to be a trust of the ability
of Christ. Christ is not only willing to
save, but he's able to save. He's the only one who can. The
reason I don't trust baptism to save me is baptism can't save
me. The reason I don't trust good
works to save me is simply because they can't do it. The reason
I don't trust the Baptist Church to deliver me before God is it
never has been able to deliver anybody yet. And the reason I
trust Christ is because I'm convinced, I'm persuaded beyond a shadow
of a doubt that He can save me. That's His business, that's His
work, I'm persuaded of it. But now there's a third thing
here. Paul said, I know whom I have believed, and I know whom
I trust. I'm persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've what? Committed to him. And John said
in John 1 verse 12, as many as received him, to them gave he
power to become the sons of God. Now brethren, we can talk about
the Lordship of Christ all we want to, but until we bow the
knee, we haven't confessed his Lordship unto salvation. Now, we can talk about the ability
of Christ to save, but until we have committed ourselves to
him, we're not far, but we're not in the kingdom of God. That's
right. You can sit around all you want
to and talk about Christ, the just one, who has the ability
to save, who has the power to save, who is the only one who
can save, and still yourself never be saved. until you intelligently
and willingly and on purpose and lovingly receive Him as your
Lord. He ain't your Lord. He's not
your Savior. That's so. I don't care what
folks say. Doctrine never did save anybody.
It's Christ that saves. I can be a real good
theologian and still not be... This man was not far from the
Kingdom of God. You couldn't give a better answer
than that, and I couldn't either. But Christ said, you're not in
the kingdom of God. That's the reason in my message this morning
I was talking about, to me to live is Christ. A man's not saved
until he can say, to me to live is Christ. He can talk about
doctrine, he can love doctrine, he can be efficient and orthodox
in doctrine and know these things. I can know how deep a well is,
but I'm not going to be satisfied until I drink. There's a well
out back, you know, and I know it's 40 feet to the well. I know
the well's 30 feet deep. I know the well has a circumference
of, say, 20 feet and a diameter of 8 feet, and I know the wall
is so high, and I know who dug it, and I know the water's pure.
I know it's so much percentage of this, that, and the other
in the water, and I know the bucket'll hold a gallon and a half, and
I know all those things stand there and die of thirst. And I hear people talk with all
orthodoxy and efficiency about who Christ is, and where he came
from, and the covenant of grace, and he came to this earth, how
he died on the cross, how he was buried and rose again and
ascended to heaven, he's the only savior, he's just and justifier,
he's the redeemer, he's the mediator, he's all that. Have you ever
drunk? That's the question. Have you
ever tasted? Have you ever bowed? Have you
ever bit the dust? Has he ever broken your spirit?
Has he ever conquered you? Has he killed your love for the
world? Has he killed your love for selfish
goals and purposes? Has he slain you? Are you one
of the slain of the Lord? Not yet. You're bucking too hard.
The slain of the Lord can't lift their little finger. They've
been smitten. Are you one of his? That's a
whole lot of difference there. This young man, what I'm pointing
out is this, this young man knew more than anybody in his day
that I've encountered. Any one of these people, any
one of these scribes, he knew more than any preacher in town.
And he was willing to stand there and say it. He had the guts and
courage to stand there and say it. And Christ told him he wasn't
in the kingdom of God, but he wasn't far from it. That's shocking,
isn't it? But he had not received Christ. Brethren, he had not received
Christ. He had not bowed the knee to Christ. Christ was not his Lord. A lot of folks were more important
to him than Christ. A lot of things were more important
to him than Christ. A lot of things. evidence. And then the last thing
he had not done, and this is something folks ought not do
until it happens, but he had not openly confessed Christ as
his Lord. I don't hold out any hope for
secret disciples, not at all. I don't hold out any hope at
all for people who are secret disciples. I believe that a man,
if he Bronx to the Lord will be identified with the Lord.
I believe if he's one of God's people, he'll run with the sheep,
don't you? I believe he'll be identified
with them. I believe he'll kind of like
their company. They talk like he wants to hear people talk,
and they have part in the things that he is interested in, and
they're going in the direction he's going. I kind of believe
he'll want to be one of them. I really do. If he doesn't want
to be one of them, I just doubt that he is one of them. It says
here in Romans 10, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus
to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. Orthodox but lost. Orthodox but
lost. Theologically correct, but lost. Head knowledge, but lost. Lord, I believe we all ought
to pray, Lord, may it please Thee by Thy power
to give me not just a knowledge of the doctrines, but an experience
and a living union with the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to
go to hell defending doctrine, right or wrong. Thou art not
far from the kingdom of God." Our Father blessed the word. Let each one of us go through
a period of deep personal examination. Am I like this young man? I know
there's one God. I know there's none other God
but Thee. I know that salvation is a hard experience, but have
I experienced it? I know that salvation is not
in outward forms and ceremonies and deeds. It's in a personal,
living, vital heart union with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's Christ
the substitute, Christ the sacrifice, Christ the mediator, Christ the
great high priest, Christ in me, the hope of glory, But is
Christ in me, as He conquered my spirit, as He brought me unto
Himself, inseparably joined to Him? Is Christ my first love? Is Christ the beat of my heart
and the thought of my mind and the very gold of my soul? Christ
the Lord. O Lord, work in our hearts Thy
great salvation. In the name of our Master we
pray, Amen.