The world may think that different segments of human society are more fit for Heaven than other segments. If you believe that rich men have been blessed by God, then it might be assumed that they will eventually end up with the Lord in Glory. And if you believe that religious people – priests and preachers and regular church-goers – are closer to God than any others, then you might incorrectly assume that these people will eventually be saved. On the other hand we all that know that “publicans” and “sinners” are unfit for eternity with the holy God. Such are the confused, pre-conceived notions of men. They have not heard Paul say, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” Christ came into the world to save the worst, most wretched, chiefest of all sinners. He “came not to call the righteous, but (terrible) sinners to repentance.”
The idea that I originally had in mind when I began my preparations last week, was to focus on the Lord. So perhaps I shouldn’t have given that message the title “Who then can be saved?” That title lends itself to the message which followed it. But to guarantee that I reach my desired goal today, our title is “The God of the Impossible.”
Let’s start by considering once again, THIS MAN who came to Christ and walked away.
But this week, let’s ignore all that we know about him in the flesh. It doesn’t matter if he is rich or poor; it doesn’t matter if he is secular or religious. It doesn’t matter if he is intelligent or as dumb as a rock. He might be a Pharisee or a Sadducee – a Democrat or a Republican. He was probably a Jew, but it wouldn’t have mattered if he was a Greek or a Roman. And in this way, he is a representative of all the rest of humanity – including you!
I hope that I sufficiently dealt with the fact that the man was spiritually dead – as all of us are by nature. In John 6 Jesus told us all that if we are not united to Him by the grace of God, “ye have no life in you.” Paul tells us that by nature we are “dead in trespasses and sins.” Is that the cause, or is that the reason, “there is none righteous, no, no one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God”?
If no one ever seeks after God, then how is it that anyone is ever saved? “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” This man walked away with the same thoughts as some of you, “I will not have this man to rule over me.” He came to Christ with his question, but he was not being totally honest. As Jesus said to some others, “ye will not come to me that ye might have life.”
Is there a person on earth who can say with a straight face that Titus 3:3 has NOT been true in their lives? “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.” Who can say that Ephesians 2 is not, or has never been, true in their lives – “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” I Corinthians 6 lists some characteristics which might not be properly applied to our man in Matthew 19. And most of them can not be charged to your account either, but I am sure that SOME of them can. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” It is true of all of us that “in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”
The disciple’s question should not have been “how can a man so blessed by God with wealth and power not also go to Heaven.” Their question should have been, “how can ANY ONE – any child of Adam – ever be saved.” Your question shouldn’t be, “why should I not spend eternity in glory?” Nor should it be “what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life.” Rather it should be, “how can a wretched person like me ever be saved?” “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Christ replies, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Now let’s CONSIDER THIS GOD with whom nothing is impossible.
Many of you would correctly guess that the Greek word translated “God” is “Theos.” Today, “God” is one of those words which has been dumbed down – in this case to almost human depths. But it means and always shall mean – “supreme deity.” The word “Theos” speaks of highest entity in and beyond the universe. There is no being greater, higher, more powerful, with more majesty than “God.” We might use other names and titles, but they cannot make the Lord God, any greater. “Theos” is used 1,343 times in the New Testament. Of those 1300 times, only 1% – 13 verses – speak of anyone other than Jehovah, the eternal God. And each of those 13 are referring to efforts by imposters and interlopers to steal the glory of Jehovah. I refer to scriptures like II Corinthians 4:4 where we are told about Satan deceiving the unbeliever. “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” The word “God” – as used by Christ, and as ought to be used by any of us — refers to the sovereign, omnipotent, almighty God And that is just the point – “with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Christ suggests that in some way God’s omnipotence is the key to the salvation of any man. Of course Jehovah is omnipotent – as I say, He is God. “God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.” Jehovah has also said, “Yea before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand; I will work, and who shall let it?” The Hebrew word for “let” is “shuwb” (shoob) and it speaks about reversing something. “Who will undo, erase, what God has done?” “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” “He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.” He “by his strength setteth fast he mountains, being girded with power.” Job testified, “I know that thou cast do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.” “Our God is in the heaven, he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.”
We could fill up the rest of this hour listing things which only the Almighty, omnipotent God can do. “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” We might to start with the creation of the universe out of nothing. God didn’t use the elements to create everything else – He created the elements out of nothing and everything else. The Lord didn’t use a spark of energy to ignite the flame – He said “let there be light” and it was so. And then He created life – out of the absence of life. Must we talk about God’s ability to stop and reverse time? Some people think that water is an unstoppable force, but God stopped it. And He made it appear when there was no logical reason for it to be there. And He changed it’s properties from clear and refreshing to red and perhaps even more refreshing. With men it is impossible to heal certain diseases and reverse the decay in some people’s bodies, ”but with God all things are possible.” As I say, we could go on for hours, but if someone doesn’t want to be convinced they will not be convinced. If someone refuses to believe that Christ Jesus gave dead bodies life again, then they will not believe, no matter how many examples and how many scriptures will be read.
If we continue to pursue this theme we’d never get to Christ’s primary point. “When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” How can those wretched people – which the Bible described so clearly as dead– be saved?
They are saved only by the SOVEREIGN, almighty POWER OF GOD.
The man in our scripture, came to Christ looking for another trophy to place on his mantle. He had so many others, but there was one missing – the greatest of them all. “Good Master, what good thing shall I DO, that I may have eternal life.” He didn’t want to be saved by the grace of God; he wanted to leap another hurdle and save himself. When he didn’t hear what he wanted to hear, he walked away empty.
But as Acts 13:48 says, “as many as were ordained to eternal life believed,” received Christ and were saved. Why were those people saved and this man was not? Because before the foundation of the world God made a choice, a selection; He elected to save some. Remember that there is not a single person on earth who deserves to be saved. Before His omniscient eye gazed out on Adam’s race, He singled out certain individuals. Those people “whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” – says Romans 8:29. “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” And as Ephesians 1 says, He “predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.”
Not a single person on earth is worthy of salvation or worth saving. And certainly no one has ever been able to save himself from his sins. “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” The implied answer is – “no one; not one single person.” “There is none righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” But God, in infinite mercy, has reached down into the morgue of humanity and graciously given life to a few spiritual corpses – thereby bringing glory to His name.
Again Acts 13:48 says, “as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” Notice that the verse says that faith to believe is the RESULT of God’s ordination, not the CAUSE of it. Second, notice that only a certain number are ordained to eternal life. And third, this, God’s most important ordination, has nothing to do with earthly riches and power, such as the man in our scriptures might have had. God greatest ordination is all about eternal life. Then finally, “as many as were ordained” believed and were saved. Not a single one of the foreordained were not saved and did not repent and believe. “Who then can be saved? With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible”
Paul wrote to the Christians in Thessalonica and said, “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for YOU, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” Why were some of the people of that city saved from their sins, while others were not? Because God had chosen to save those people from the beginning – even from before the beginning. They were not saved contrary to their wills; they chose to believe the truth, just as the man of Matthew 19 chose to reject it. But how were those people who had been dead in sin, able to understand their need and to trust Christ? They had been regenerated by the grace of God – quickened – made spiritually alive. And for that reason, the salvation of those few Thessalonians was worthy of fervent praise. “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” Praise God, “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” – II Timothy 1:9.
How can the wicked – the spiritually dead – be saved? ”With God all things are possible.” Of course, deliverance from our sin required the payment of our sin’s debt. That was the work of Christ Jesus, who “gave his life a ransom for many” – not for “all,” but “the many.” Christ died for those whom He intended to save. He didn’t give His life on the cross to make salvation possible, but to actually save a few worthless sinners.
Matthew 20:28 and other scriptures say that “the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” If Christ bore in His own body on the tree the sins of all men, then Hell will be empty – apart from Satan. If Christ was “made a curse” for all of Adam’s children, then none of them will finally be condemned. An honest and holy God could not possibly demand the payment of a debt twice – once by the sinless Christ and then again by the sinner. No, Christ was made a curse, and paid the price for the salvation of everyone of those whom He intended to save. His death was not wasted on those would not eventually be saved.
In Isaiah 53 God tells us concerning His Son, “He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare His generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgress of my people was He stricken.” He was “cut off” – He died for – God’s people – His elect people. And so when the angel spoke to Joseph he said, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.” Who were those people? Those whom the Father hath given to the Son. “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” – John 6:37.
When Christ said that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,” the disciples responded with, “WHO then can be saved?” The Lord didn’t answer their question, but taught us all – Forget about the type of person whom the Lord might save. Just remember that “with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” If it was not for the grace, mercy and omnipotent power of the Almighty God, no sinner would ever be delivered from his sin. If it was not for the mercy and grace of the Almighty God, no sinner would ever repent of his sin or believe and trust Christ. Everyone of us would walk away – just like the man in our scripture. But with God the impossible is possible.
Prove God’s grace in your heart – prove your salvation – won’t you repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?