YOU CAN'T SAVE YOURSELF

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:25-26

The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

Mark 10:26-27

Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”

Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

Luke 18:26-27

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The disciples had witnessed the whole thing. They were fully present when the rich ruler came up to Jesus and asked the question:

“Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

You may remember from yesterday’s devotion that Jesus didn’t give him a thing but rather things that he should do, things that centered around commands God had given.

“If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

 “Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

The point Jesus was trying to make is that no one person had ever kept God’s commandments perfectly and so no one could find their way to eternal life through them. Perhaps the disciples knew this as well but we don’t know because the scriptures don’t clue us in to what they were thinking at that point. Rather, the focus of God’s word is on the rich ruler who had this to say regarding Jesus’ call to keep the designated commandments:

“All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”

It was an unbelievable statement to make, the ruler failing to confess one failure to keep one of the commands Jesus had given. Sure it was highly probable that the ruler had never murdered, committed adultery, or stolen from anyone but could he really say he never told a mistruth, never did anything dishonorable in regard to his parents, or never had failed to love another? It was very unlikely if not nearly impossible but Jesus didn’t call his bluff. Instead, He challenged the rich ruler to one more deed, one that was hard for him to swallow.

“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

The test Jesus administered to the rich ruler was simple. He gave the man a choice to make between his possessions or God. There was no third option presented.

It was either treasures of the earth or treasures of heaven. He could serve God or money and sadly, the rich ruler chose money.

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.  

As mentioned, the disciples had followed this whole exchange and as they watched the ruler walk away in dismay, unable to part with the worldly possessions which had in essence possessed him, we see them ask a question out of their astonishment:

“Who then can be saved?”

In other words, they were wondering how any person could do anything to gain their own eternal life. They saw it as a likelihood that was non-existent and thus their question to Jesus who validated their thoughts saying:

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Or in other words, Jesus was saying, “You can’t save yourself.”

Indeed, no man or woman can do anything to bring themselves salvation. Sin will always be the separator between them and God unless they have an intercessor, someone who can serve as an atonement and bring pardon from transgression.

Enter God, the One who makes the impossible possible and the improbable probable.

For Jesus tells us that:

“God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus was trying to tell the rich ruler (and His disciples too) what was needed for salvation. All he had to do was leave the world behind and follow Jesus instead, to believe in Him so he would not have to perish but have eternal life. It was the one good things the ruler needed to do but he was unwilling to. Thankfully, the disciples had chosen otherwise. They had opted to believe in Jesus and allow God to do the impossible, to save them through Jesus when they were unable to save themselves.

Friends, today the same holds true. No one can save themselves but rather salvation is gained only by believing and trusting in Jesus, who is not just the way and the truth and the life but the only One who can bring us to God the Father (John 14:6).

Indeed, salvation is an impossible feat for mankind to achieve on its own but for God, anything is possible. He showed us so through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus, the bridge to spend life with Him forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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