Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

The Impossibility of Salvation For Man

Mark 10:23-27; Matthew 19:23-26; Luke 18:24-27 NKJV

Mark 10

23 Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”

24 And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!

25 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 they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, “Who then can be saved?”
27 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”

The Scriptures are unrelenting in their description of man’s inability to please God. This is stated without qualification. For even the believer when left to himself will only produce the “works of the flesh.” It is only as the believer acts in faith in Christ that he pleases God. “For whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”

Christ’s disciples had a preconceived understanding of what it was to be blessed of God. It was to have wealth. Wealth meant one was blessed both materially and spiritually.

How easy it is to condemn those men for their evidently false understanding of God’s ways. But think of how many ways we equate spiritual favor with present status. We are at least as guilty of this as those in the Scriptures.

1. Vs 23-24 The advantages of this life furnish no qualification for Kingdom citizenship.

The occasion of our text is a man who comes to Christ to inquire about eternal life. This man presents a very favorable appearance. a) He is sincere Vs 17; b) He is knowledgeable and moral Vs 19A, 20 c) He has an abundance of worldly possessions. But he went away distraught without what he came to get Vs 22.

This furnishes the occasion for Jesus to teach His disciples and us a great truth about Kingdom Citizenship. There is no worldly advantage or qualification which grants any help toward Kingdom Citizenship.

2. Vs 25-26 The real issue is stated clearly in Vs 26. It is salvation. “Who then can be saved?” If that one who should have had the greatest advantage faces an impossible obstacle, how then can any ordinary person expect to be saved?

And Jesus does state this man’s salvation as an impossibility. I take this illustration to be a graphic illustration of something we easily see as impossible in the natural realm. And in Vs 26 this seems to be exactly how His hearers understood it; an impossibility was stated.

3. Vs 27 The nature of salvation is plainly put before His disciples and all who read this verse. It is impossible with men, but not an impossibility with God.

This needs to be considered in its plainness. In the light of the questions, “Who then?” and the answer, “No one” except God can do the impossible. A careful consideration of John 1:12-13 finds John stating this same truth. a) Believers alone receive the blessing of being a child of God. But this is not left without explanation. B) Vs 13 states the impossibility of human contribution and the single means of god’s giving life in the face of human impossibility, “but of God”.

Every claimant of Kingdom life must face this question. From what source is your spiritual life derived? From you?, from you with the help of man and sacraments?, or is it in the purest sense from God and comes to you without the taint of human interference?

I have found the farther I can get from any personal contribution in my salvation and the more I can find it coming from God, who is the God of impossibilities, the safer I am, with God receiving all the glory for the salvation of a poor lost sinner.