The Difference Maker

I was driving down the road at about 75 mph on the interstate the other day and something happened that happens a lot unfortunately. There was a fly in my car. You know how annoying that can get with the fly just buzzing back and forth in the car. I was annoyed at first but than I became intrigued. I began to think that how lucky this fly was. You know it’s impossible for that fly to go 75 mph no matter how hard it flaps. The fastest fly ever clocked was going 24 mph. So this fly is going 3 times as fast as it ever could but the funny thing is he’s not doing anything in fact he’s playing and having fun in my car oblivious to the things around it.

That’s just like us with God when we get inside of Him we can do things we never thought we could’ve done.

Now it was interesting thinking about that for a while but than he became annoying again so what I did was roll down my window and push him out. Do you ever wonder what happens to a fly when it is going down the road about 75 mph and than all of a sudden stops.

Well we don’t have to worry about that with God because He has no windows that can roll down once your inside Jesus you can’t get out.

We finally made it to May 2020! It seems as though it took three years to get through April! The current COVID crisis has caused many to fall into fear, anger, frustration, and hopelessness. It almost seems impossible that we will ever return to sanity and normalcy. That is the subject of today’s message… impossibility. You see even though mankind tends to be problem solvers. Even tough we have managed to do many things… there are some things that are just impossible.

Facing impossibility is not the same thing as apathy or giving up. It is recognizing the laws of nature and the universe and learning to live within them. There is another thing we can do when we confront the reality of an impossibility. Once we realize we have hit a dead end we are able to surrender control enough to seek the face of God. With God nothing is impossible. He is the Difference Maker.

In our opening passage we read about a rich man who thought there was a special law he could keep in order to merit Heaven. He was pretty sure that he had kept the 10 commandments and thus secured his eternal destiny. Jesus exposed the weakness of the law by telling him to sell everything and give it to the poor, his covetousness was exposed. The rich man went away sad and lost, not because he didn’t do what was required, but because he did not have the power on his own to merit eternal life.

Jesus goes on to muse how impossible it is for folks who have riches to enter the kingdom. The disciples were amazed and frightened… who then can be saved? Jesus answered with the gracious words that echo a principle through out scripture.

Luke 18:27 KJV

And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

There are things that indeed are impossible with man, but God is the Difference Maker!

There Are Things That Are Impossible With Mankind.

Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words Impossible

1. adunatos (ἀδύνατος, 102), from a, negative, and dunatos, “able, strong,” is used (a) of persons, Acts 14:8, “impotent”; figuratively, Rom. 15:1, “weak”; (b) of things, “impossible,” Matt. 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27; Heb. 6:4, 18; 10:4; 11:6; in Rom. 8:3, “for what the Law could not do,” is, more lit., “the inability of the law”; the meaning may be either “the weakness of the Law,” or “that which was impossible for the Law”; the latter is perhaps preferable; literalism is ruled out here, but the sense is that the Law could neither justify nor impart life

It is impossible to be saved my works.

James 2:10–11 KJV

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

Romans 3:19–21 KJV

Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

Romans 8:3 KJV

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

D.L. Moody was an American evangelist (February 5, 1837 - December 22, 1899 - 62 years). Moody said: "Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live. The law tells me how crooked I am. Grace comes along and straightens me out."

He also said: "It is well that man cannot save himself; for if a man could only work his own way to Heaven, you would never hear the last of it. Why, if a man happens to get a little ahead of his fellows and scrapes a few thousands of dollars together, you'll hear him boast of being a self-made man. I've heard so much of this sort of talk that I am sick and tired of the whole business; and I am glad that through all eternity in Heaven we will never hear anyone bragging of how he worked his way to get there."

Create Something From Nothing

Romans 1:20 KJV

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Circumvent the Laws of Nature to Provide Healing

Matthew 11:3–5 KJV

And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Please God Without Faith

Hebrews 11:6 KJV

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

When Facing Impossibilities, God is the Difference Maker

Deliverance is Possible

Matthew 17:18–21 KJV

And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Salvation is Possible

Luke 18:26–27 KJV

And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

All Things Are Possible

Matthew 19:26 KJV

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Mark 10:27 KJV

And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

There is Nothing That is Impossible.

Luke 1:35–37 KJV

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Your loved one hopelessly lost can be saved… God is the difference maker

Barren wombs can bear fruit… God is the difference maker.

The Unemployed and unemployable can find work… God is the difference maker.

The fearful can be brave,

The anxious can be calm

The wayward can be found

The impossible is not as impossible as it sounds! God is the difference maker!