It Is Possible
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Our sermon will be in Luke 18:18-27
We have a website: https://tahlequahworshipcenter.com/
We are going through the book of John on Wednesday Nights
We need to have another work day before long maybe 5/28?
We will be having Church Camp this year
Prayer requests
Gerald
Georgey
Dorcas
Cristy’s Grandparents
Sandra
Donna
Ukraine
Barbara’s Family
Barbara S. Son
Joe
Nita’s cousin
Songs
I’ve Got The Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy
Where He Leads Me
His Name is Jesus
It Is Possible
It Is Possible
I like watching Magic.
I went to see Penn & Teller many years ago and I remember just being in awe of there magic.
It’s one thing to see magic in person, it’s another to see it live.
It’s another thing to see Penn’s massive size.
There are thing in magic that makes you think, how did they do that?
Penn & Teller have a show called “Fool Us” where they try to figure out how they do it.
I often try to figure out how do it.
But some things just look impossible.
These are the ones that look supernatural.
What Jesus did was supernatural.
The kind of thing that was impossible to us.
Today, we are going to talk about what is possible with God.
18 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.
20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”
21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”
22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
23 But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.
24 And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!
25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?”
27 But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
None Are Good
None Are Good
So, somebody comes to Jesus asking about eternal life.
This a perfect time for Jesus to talk about the gospel.
But he doesn’t.
Instead, he asks why the young man is calling him Good.
He says that only God is good.
He doesn’t deny that he’s good, he just asks the question.
He then talks about some of 10 commandments.
The man doesn’t skip a beat and I can almost detect his pride.
He saids I’ve done that since my youth.
Before we go further, I need to explain this young man’s age a bit.
From his youth is more than likely talking about since his Bar Mitzvah.
That word literally means the son of the commandments.
Now the word for young man is a range from 21 - 29.
That means he’s a few years younger that Jesus.
What Jesus says next stopped the man (and it should us) in his tracks.
It should stop us as well.
Good Deeds Won’t Help
Good Deeds Won’t Help
He says in Luke 18:22
22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
He’s asking this man to give it all up.
It says in our text that he was very rich.
My guess is that this guy would have been something like a multi-millionaire.
Let’s look at verse Luke 18:23
23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
Do we have to give all in order to be saved?
Well, I think it depends.
We need to understand that Jesus is talking to this man directly.
This is not commanded anywhere else in the Bible.
However, we do know that the early church did give all they had.
It could be that Jesus was looking ahead to what the early Christians would face.
It also could be that Jesus knew this man’s heart.
He knew that things would get in the way
Jesus then gives us context for this.
He says in verse Luke 18:24-25
24 And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!
25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
So what is this eye of a needle?
I don’t think it really matters.
He’s probably using hyperbole.
So who can be saved then?
Jesus ends this discussion with verse Luke 18:27
27 But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
and that tell us that:
God Is Good
God Is Good
Even the rich man can make it to heaven.
Some traditions and commentators say that Mark of the Gospel of Mark is this rich man.
Part of that is because of the parallel passage in Mark 10:21
21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
It says “Jesus, looking at him, loved him ...”
None of the other accounts record this.
We do know that Mark was younger than the others and he was rich.
So, it is possible.
We may not understand it, but we don’t have to.
All we need to understand is that God can do anything.
We have another promise
12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
Let me tell you - Our church and many others are in trouble.
I saw this morning where a large church in America - one of largest churches in America announced this weekend that they are laying off 30% of their staff.
If we lay off 1/3 of our staff, I’d be losing an arm and a leg.
But here’s the other side of that: God can turn our church around.
We need to come together and beg God to help.
We need him to intercede.
And God will use us.
I know, you think God can’t work through you.
Some might say, “I don’t have that kind of gift.”
Listen, If God can speak through Balaam’s donkey, he can speak through you.
And listen, Balaam is listed as someone with error in his teaching.
Many of us in the churches of America have it too comfy.
We sit here in a padded pew, in our air-conditioned and heated, and we drive out thousands of dollars vehicles and most people aren’t coming because they have a little sniffle.
Or whatever their complaint of the day is.
Listen, after the day I had yesterday, I could have said that I wasn’t coming.
I could barely walk.
I had to use a cane because my right knee and especially my ankle were hurting.
I’m talking about 8s or 9s on the scale.
But God commissioned me to preach the gospel.
And he commissioned you to go and tell, to go and teach.
There is coming a day when we will be judged by Jesus.
If we don’t believe in Jesus as our Savior, then we’re in trouble.
You see there is none good according to what Jesus said.
It is impossible.
But with God, all things are possible
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
We can’t get to heaven on our own.
But God can give us a new home.
We can’t get to heaven on our own.
But God can give us a new home.
We can’t do it, but God can
We trust in him, we trust in his plan
That’s the key that unlocks the door
Do you believe?
It is Possible