Three Strikes and You're Out | Part 1

Can our human goodness save us?

We'll be right back. If you have your Bible, turn now to Mark chapter 10. We'll begin in verse 17 as Adrian Rogers begins part one of Three Strikes and You're Out. Find God's Word, Mark chapter 10, and in a few moments we're going to begin reading in verse 17. There is a problem, a real problem, and that is that people attend church. They listen to sermons, they join churches, but they are never radically, dramatically, eternally changed. They have religion, but they've never met God. Many churches today are filled with baptized pagans. They have been vaccinated.

Are you listening? Vaccinated with a mild form of Christianity, and they've never caught the real disease. And so the church may be full, but the people are often empty. They come, they go through the motions, they try to live outwardly a good life, but they have never really, truly found a new life.

They've never been converted. Now, with that in mind, I want you to look at the passage of Scripture here in Mark chapter 10, and I begin in verse 17. And when he was going forth into the way, now the he refers to Jesus Christ himself, there came one running and kneeled to him. And by the way, Matthew tells us that this was a rich young ruler. There came one running and kneeled to him and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good?

There's none good but one. That is God. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness.

Defraud not. Honor thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him and said unto him, One thing thou lackest. Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he, that is the rich young ruler, was sad at that saying and went away grieved, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again and saith unto them, Children, how hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God. 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. And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus, looking upon them, saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God, for with God all things are possible.

Now, there are four things I want to lay on your heart that come directly out of this passage of Scripture. Number one, proud men at their best are sinners at their worst. You may not see it on the surface, but this man was quite proud of his achievements and outwardly had much to be proud of. As a matter of fact, outwardly he had very much that we would admire. First of all, I like his eagerness.

The Bible says he came running. He's full of the strength and the vigor of youth. And I like enthusiasm.

Some folks who come to church on Sunday morning, I can see a sign hanging around your neck right now that says, Please do not disturb. You are not enthusiastic about the things of God. I love people like this man who had this vibrant enthusiasm. And not only was he enthusiastic, he was humble. I mean, he comes and he kneels before Jesus. Now, Jesus was a peasant prophet from Galilee. This man was a rich, young ruler.

He had position and he had possession and he had power and he had prestige and he had it at a young age. And yet there he is out there in the broad, open way kneeling before the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, I like that. There are a lot of people and some perhaps in this building today who are going to go to hell because of their abominable pride.

They don't want anybody to know that they have any needs in their life. And so when the invitation is given, they'll look around to see if any of those old sinners are going to go forward and give their heart to Jesus Christ. Another thing I like about this man is this, that he was discerning. He knew there was something about Jesus that was different. And so he said to Jesus, Good Master. Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? He knew worth and he knew goodness when he saw it. Now we have a lot of people who cannot even discern goodness, even in the Lord Jesus Christ.

They're cynics who know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Something else I like about this man was that he had his mind on spiritual things. He didn't say, What must I do to make a killing in the stock market?

What must I do to have pleasure and ease? He asked this question, What must I do to inherit eternal life? What are you interested in? I mean, really, what are you interested in? Most of us are not interested in going to heaven or trying to miss hell. We're just interested in tomorrow and the humdrum round of life. Here was a young man who asked a very vital question.

I want to know about eternal life. And I'll tell you something else that's very admirable about him. Outwardly, he was morally clean.

Jesus said, Do you know the commandments? He said, Lord, I've kept them from my youth up. He would have made a wonderful neighbor. This was the kind of a man you could trust when you go away on vacation to look over your things.

He was a man that you would not be afraid for your children to be around. He's morally clean. He'd have made a great associate in business.

If you were looking for a business partner, you'd say, Boy, this is the young man. He's got it all. He knows how to manage things. And he has morals.

He's trustworthy. But Jesus did not praise him or pet him or flatter him. Jesus seems to treat him kind of roughly. Look in verse 18 and see what the Lord says to this man in verse 18. He says, Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good?

There's none good but one, and that is God. Now, Jesus is teaching him in this one sentence two things. Number one, Jesus is teaching this young man that he himself is not good. Jesus is teaching this young man that he himself, the young man, is not good.

This young man thought he was a good boy. And Jesus said, Look, there's none good but God. The second thing Jesus was teaching this young man is that Jesus himself is God.

Now, those of you who just want to tip the hat to Jesus and not bow the knee to Jesus, let me tell you this about Jesus. Jesus is God. And if Jesus is not God, Jesus is not good.

How do I know? Jesus Christ himself said so. Jesus said there's none good but one, and that's God.

Put it down big, plain, and straight. Don't just flatter Jesus. Don't just tip the hat to Jesus and say Jesus is a nice fellow.

You don't tip the hat. You bow the knee because Jesus said there's none good but one. That is God. And what Jesus was saying in this one sentence, I am God, and you're a sinner. I am God, and you're a sinner. There's none good but one, and that is God.

And by the way, you might want to put in your margin. Verse 3, verses 10 through 12, as it is written, there's none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way.

They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Now, I want everybody to say silently, but in your heart, not even me. Not even me. I am a sinner. Nobody, nobody, nobody has ever been saved until he has seen that he is a poor, lost sinner in the sight of a righteous and a holy God. Now, this man is talking about eternal life, and Jesus shocks him and says there's none good but one. That is God. You know, there are people who join churches today like they're doing God a wild favor.

They come down the aisle and join churches. They are religious, but they have never seen the holiness of God and their own sinfulness and the wrath of God against sin. Here's another verse, keeping mercy for thousands, thank God for that. Forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, thank God for that.

But now listen to this, and will by no means clear the guilty. God is a God of mercy. God forgives, but the Bible also says that he will by no means clear the guilty.

You know what that means? That means that God is love and God is justice. Now, we hear much today about the love of God. God is love, God is love, God is love, and that is true. He is a God of mercy.

But that's not all of the truth, and if you take part of the truth and try to make that part of the truth all of the truth, then that part of the truth becomes an untruth. God is a God of mercy. God does forgive iniquity, but the Bible says that God will by no means clear the guilty. Don't think that somehow when you stand before God, God is going to look at your sin and God's just going to say, well, that's all right. That's all right. Listen, friend, if God were to clear the guilty, God would become guilty.

I hope that sinks in. If God were to clear the guilty, God would become guilty. God would topple from his throne of holiness. If God were to overlook sin, if God were to bypass sin, then God becomes a sinner. Do you know what they say in the court of law? When a guilty man is acquitted, the judge is condemned. When a guilty man is acquitted, the judge is condemned. God himself would become a sinner if God let sin go by. And so what is Jesus teaching this young man? Jesus is teaching this young man that proud men at their best are really sinners at their worst. Now, why did I say that good men at their best are sinners at their worst? Why didn't you say that bad men are sinners at their worst? Because the worst sin, the sin of all sins, the worst form of badness is human goodness when human goodness becomes a substitute for the new birth. The worst form of badness is human goodness. Jesus said that prostitutes and crooked tax collectors were going to heaven before the Pharisees because they had their self-righteousness as a substitute for God's mercy. And so I want to say to any person in this building today, no matter how nicely you may live, none of you live as well as this rich young ruler, and yet Jesus looked him straight in the face and said in verse 18, there is none good but one, and that is God. The worst form of badness is human goodness when human goodness becomes a substitute for the new birth.

Have you got that? That's the first thing I want you to see. I want you to see this, that proud men at their best are sinners at their worst.

Now here's the second thing I want you to see. God's perfect law condemns man's sinful pride. Look, if you will, now in verse 19 of this same chapter again. Mark chapter 10 and verse 19, thou knowest the commandments. Jesus now is beginning to talk about commandment keeping to this man to help him to see that he's a sinner. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do fraud not.

Honor thy father and thy mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him and said unto him, One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come take up thy cross and follow me. Now if God is a holy God, it follows, as night follows day, that that holy God will have holy laws.

Now listen to me very carefully because if you're not listening carefully, you're going to miss the whole thing. Jesus is not, underscore that, is not teaching salvation by commandment keeping. He is teaching just the opposite, but you have to pay attention to see what Jesus is teaching. You see, the Bible teaches that you're not saved by keeping the commandments, but yet this young man said, How do I have eternal life? And Jesus begins to refer him to the commandments.

Now what Jesus is teaching this young man is he is not keeping the commandments like he may think that he's keeping the commandments. Now commandment keeping has never saved anybody. Put in your margin Galatians 2 verse 16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. The law, the Ten Commandments, cannot save anybody.

While the Ten Commandments do not save you, they are an essential element in evangelism and salvation. What is the purpose of the law? Why does God give us the law?

To let us know that we're sinners. Romans 3 verse 20, listen to it, Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. God gave us the law to let us know that we're sinners. And Jesus is using the law right here to teach this young man that he's a sinner.

And so Jesus begins to talk to him about the commandments. Now you may think that you're pretty good until you come up hard against God's law. After all, what is sin? There are many definitions of sin.

Let me give you one of the best in the Bible. 1 John 3 verse 4, Whosoever committed sin transgresseth also the law. For sin is the transgression of the law. That's what sin is. Sin is just breaking God's law. Now why did Jesus give this young man an illustration? Why did Jesus talk to this young man about keeping the commandments?

I'll tell you why. God's mercy, God's grace will mean nothing to a man until first of all he sees himself a sinner in the sight of a righteous and a holy God, and God gives the law so that we might see that we're sinners. Remember this. By the law is the knowledge of sin. Romans 3 verse 20. And by the way, those of you who have little boys and girls who want to come forward and be baptized, you say, Pastor Rogers, when is my child ready to be saved? When is my child ready to give his or her heart to Jesus Christ when they see that they're sinners in the sight of a righteous and a holy God?

You know, sometimes parents will make a big mistake. They'll get a little child and they'll say, do you believe in Jesus? Do you love Jesus? Yes, I do. Are you willing to trust Jesus as your personal Savior? Yes. To believe he died for your sins on the cross?

Yes, I do. Well, Pastor, my child is ready. Not necessarily. You can get a child to give a cent to all those propositions without ever seeing that he or she is a sinner in the sight of a righteous and a holy God. You ask a little child if they love Jesus, they'll say yes. You ask them if they love Bambi, they'll say yes.

No, no. When a child sees that he or she is a sinner, not just naughty, not just simply as disobeyed dad or mom, but a sinner in the sight of a righteous and a holy God, that there's none good but one and that is God, then that little child's heart will cry out for a Savior. They don't have to have a PhD in sin or theology in order to be saved, but they have to see themselves as a sinner in the sight of a righteous and a holy God, and so must you. And so the law is given that we might see in the sight of God that we are sinners because nobody is saved until they see this. Jesus said in Luke chapter 5 and verse 32, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The law doesn't save us, but friend, we know one thing, that the law gets us ready to be saved. So many don't have any concept of salvation because number one, they've never seen the absolute holiness of God.

There's none good but one, that is God, and they have never seen themselves therefore as a sinner in the sight of a righteous and a holy God. And when a man has been wounded by God's law, then he's ready for the healing balm of salvation. Now this young man had a superficial knowledge of the law, and Jesus said, you know the commandments?

He said, well, I've kept them from my youth up. But let me give you a verse that's interesting. In Romans chapter 7 verse 14, the Bible says the law is spiritual. That is, everything that you do in the material or the outward way may look all right, but the law is spiritual.

It deals with the heart. For example, Jesus said, the law says don't commit adultery, but I say that when you look on a woman to lust after her, you've committed adultery with her already in your heart. Now there's some people that say, don't commit adultery, but God may have written down adultery in his records in heaven. The law says thou shall not kill. But Jesus said, if you're angry with your brother without a cause, you're guilty of breaking that commandment.

See, the law is spiritual. Now this young man had not seen that, so he said, yep, I've kept them all. I've had no other gods before me. I have not had any idols.

I've not made any graven images. I have, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy? I've not taken God's name in vain.

I've honored my father and my mother. I'm not killed. I'm not committed to adultery, da-da-da-da-da-da. Now Jesus, like a skilled surgeon, watch this, he's about to take a scalpel and lance a putrefying boil.

Jesus said, okay, all right, young man. Here's one other thing. Here's the one thing. Sell everything that you have. Give it to the poor. Come and follow me.

You'll have great riches. One of the commandments says what? Thou shalt not covet. And this man was covetous. This man had an idol in his life.

His God was gold. His creed was greed. Actually, you see, he said he kept the whole law.

He had broken the whole law. On an occasion, a lawyer came to Jesus and he said, Jesus, what is the first and great commandment? And Jesus said, love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. And the second is like unto it, love your neighbor as yourself. And what Jesus did in that sentence, he just summed up the whole Ten Commandments. Love God and love your neighbor. That's what the Ten Commandments are all about. And now when Jesus said to this rich young ruler, okay, you're a lawkeeper. Sell everything you have. Give it to the poor.

Come and follow me. He wasn't willing to do that. Number one, he loved his money more than he loved God. And number two, he loved his money more than he loved his neighbor.

Do you see it? I mean, in reality, the spirit of this young man had broken all Ten Commandments by failing to do this one thing. He's not teaching that you can buy your way into heaven by selling everything you have and giving it to the poor. What Jesus is doing is giving this man a revelation of his heart. Jesus is showing this man that he's guilty of the sin of covetousness and really whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all. What Jesus is showing this man is the futility, the futility of trying to behave himself into heaven.

All he had was a superficial knowledge of his own goodness. And so Jesus is revealing that this man to this man that no one is kept or saved by commandment keeping. He's not teaching salvation by keeping the commandments. He's teaching the impossibility of salvation by keeping the commandments.

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