Download Sermon on Mark 12:34a

Sermon on Mark 12:34a
Rev. P. DenButter
(Original)
As an enemy he came, this lawyer, this doctor of the law. Matthew, who also records this
story which we find in our text, tells us that he came to tempt Jesus. That shows his animosity and
his hostility towards the Lord Jesus. If someone comes to tempt the Lord Jesus, to make him
stumble, to make him sin, this must be the result of an inward hatred. Tempting was done quite
often by many, especially in the last week of Jesus’ life. The Pharisees came, which we read about
in the eleventh chapter of Mark, and there it says that they came to him with the question that He
should tell them by what authority He did all those things. At another time, Herodians came, and
tempted Him. We read that in chapter twelve of the Gospel of Mark. The Herodians came and asked
Him, “Is it lawful to give tribute to Ceasar or not, shall we give or shall we not give?” And then
again the tempting came from the Saducees. We have read that also in Mark 12. They came to Him
with the question of the resurrection. And then again there is the tempting by this doctor of the law.
One from the circle of the Pharisees, who came to the Lord Jesus with the intention to tempt Him.
So he came as an enemy. But when the conversation ends, he speaks very favourably and very
friendly. He says, “Well Master.” Verse 32, “Well master, Thou hast said the truth for there is one
God and there is none other beside He. And to love Him with all the heart, and with all the
understanding and with all the soul and with all the strength and to love his neighbour as himself is
more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” So that man has been changed quite drastically.
As an enemy he came, and as a friend he left.
Why then did he come to tempt Jesus? This man, whose name we do not know, was
probably quite superior among his fellows. He was a man of great light and great discernment and
because of all of that, he was selected by his fellows to confront the Lord Jesus with a particular
question. The question we find recorded in verse 28, “Which is the first commandment of all?” The
Pharisees had listened very carefully as to how the Lord Jesus answered the Saducees when they
came to Him with the question of the resurrection. And the Pharisees were well pleased with Jesus’
answer. Because they believed in a bodily resurrection but the Saducees did not. So they were
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pleased with the answer. However, there was yet a concern. The Pharisees did not want Jesus’
influence with the general public to increase. They still wanted to get rid of Him. So once again
after the futile attempts that they have made, they decide to put Him to the test. After some
deliberation, they select this particular scribe, this law expert, to bring a question to the Lord Jesus
and so to tempt Him.
The overall idea we get from this man, is that he was not an unfriendly man. That’s why he
was chosen by his fellows to tempt the Lord Jesus, because they hoped that the Lord Jesus would
not suspect him, because of his friendliness. But on the other hand, this man may not have liked it
very much to be selected for this task. He might never had done so on his own accord.
The Lord Jesus may have discerned that this man did not like his task so much, because the
Lord Jesus is quite able to discern and to know the difference between a malicious adversary and a
man who has been manipulated into a certain situation. Jesus is also very able to correct such a man,
and to take him away from the entanglement of his surroundings, and to sever him of those who are
making a tool of him. And from an antagonist who tried to tempt Jesus, the Lord Jesus put him into
a position of being close to the kingdom.
He speaks a word of commendation recorded in our text. “Thou art not far from the
kingdom.” Not far from the kingdom. Not far. But the word of commendation at the same time
raises the question, Was he now in the kingdom? Can the Lord Jesus say at some time concerning
him, Thou art now in the kingdom? Congregation, let us first try to understand why the Lord Jesus
says that he is not far from the kingdom and secondly we will seek to answer the question whether
or not he was in the kingdom.
In the first place then, we hear the word of commendation by the Lord Jesus, “Thou art not
far from the kingdom of God.” Jesus speaks these words in reply to what the scribe himself first
said, when he came to Jesus with the question, which is the first commandment of all? Why did he
come to Jesus with that question? Well among the scribes in those days, it was a hotly debated issue
which of the commandments was the greatest. In their hairsplitting legalism, the Pharisees argued
whether a particular commandment was of greater significance than other commandments and as we
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know they recognized quite a number of commandments. 248 of them positive, 365 of them
negative. Well, which now of these many commandments are the most important? And among the
various schools between the Jews, different answers were given. For that reason they now ask Jesus
for His opinion. What is the greatest commandment of all? And without any hesitation the Lord
Jesus gives the answer. He doesn’t need any time of reflection, but He immediately replies in the
word prior to our text, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is
one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely
this, that thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than
these.” This is a very scriptural answer because the Lord Jesus first quotes from Deuteronomy
chapter 6, and then He also quotes from Leviticus chapter 19. He gives a very scriptural answer.
And in the answer to the question, which is the greatest commandment of all, He says, the greatest
commandment? That is love toward God and love towards our neighbour. Love directed only to the
true God. Love that involves the whole man. His soul, and his mind and his heart and his strength.
Love that uses all the powers that God in His creation has given to man. You must note in the
Lord’s answer the fourfold “all”, all his soul, all his mind, all his heart, all his strength. Why? The
love of God which He extends to His creatures is a whole-hearted love and that love of God must
not be answered by a half-hearted love from the part of man. So the Lord’s commandment, the great
commandment, can be summarized, all the tables of the law, all the commandments of the holy law,
can be summarized by one word – LOVE.
And by so answering the scribe’s question, the Lord has at the same time disarmed him.
And immediately, all the antagonism of this scribe disappears and promptly he reacts with the
words which you find in our text in verse 32, and in verse 33, which I quoted already. And it is
because of that statement that the Lord Jesus then replies, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of
God.” The Lord Jesus considers the answer of that man as that of a discreet one. It says in verse 34,
“He saw that he answered discreetly, which means that he answered as a man with a mind. By
giving this answer, he showed that he had a mind and that used his mind. We may also translate that
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Jesus saw that he spoke wisely. And that, according to the opinion of the Lord Jesus, proves that He
is not far from the kingdom.
What does the Lord Jesus mean then by this statement? Why does He consider this scribe to
be not far from the kingdom?
In the first place, because the scribe possesses a certain amount of knowledge of spiritual
matters. He has had his eyes and his ears opened. He has listened to teaching, probably from his
youth on. He has given attention to what his parents and his teachers taught him concerning the
word of God. And the instruction which has entered into his mind has stayed with him. So he knows
certain things. He possesses a measure of knowledge of spiritual matters. That is evident by what he
says, to love God with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the soul and with all
the strength. He knows that to love God is the main object of life. He knows that this love also has
certain characteristics.
It must be sincere love - love with the heart. God is not satisfied with lip service only. He is
not satisfied with love which is mere pretense. God is concerned that He receives the love from the
heart.
And furthermore the love toward God should be intelligent love - love with all the mind.
Not the blind love, but God demands that His creatures know Him, that they know His Word, and
that they know His claims upon them. Love with the understanding.
And once again the love of that God solicits the love from His creatures of an emotional
nature - love with all the soul, love with our feeling.
And then the scribe still adds that we should love with all the strength - love that is intense.
Love into which all the energy of the soul is thrown. The scribe even gives in full headings, a
description of what the true love to the Lord should be. Sincere love with all the heart, intelligent
love with all the understanding, emotional love with all the soul, intense love with all the strength.
This he knows. And this knowledge is a valuable knowledge. And it must have been a great
privilege of having been taught the Word of God in this way, and to so have gained an insight. It
must have been a great privilege for this man to receive what we call historical faith.
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For congregation, it is a blessed thing indeed when a man possesses a knowledge of God’s
Word and of God’s will. It will do nobody any good to be ignorant. To be ignorant of God’s law is
to be far off from the kingdom and to be ignorant of the Gospel of the Lord is also to be far off from
the kingdom. This is the sad situation of so many people in our days. Their ignorance. So many
people are completely in the dark as far as the most elementary truths of the Word of God are
concerned, and they do not even know how terrible their state is.
Do we realize how many of our fellow men are heading towards eternity without ever
giving any thought to the question, Where will I end up? And is there not a great task for those who
do know the Lord and His grace?
Are you aware of the great privilege of those who may have at least a historical faith by
which you do have a certain amount of knowledge of spiritual matters. No, I do not say that this
historical faith brings us into the kingdom, but it does bring us close to the kingdom. We certainly
need more than this sort of knowledge. But let us never despise it, and look down upon it, and
consider it to be of no value at all. We should rather improve upon it and make use of it, to the end
that we so may gain a saving interest in God’s grace.
The Lord Jesus says that this man is not far from the kingdom, not only because he
possesses a certain amount of spiritual things, but also because he gives proof that he knows the
superiority of inward religion over that which is external. That is the second reason why Jesus says
that he is not far from the kingdom. He knows the superiority of inward religion over outward
religion. And that is what he proves in his answer that to love God with all the soul, all the mind, all
the heart and all the strength is more than whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Does that mean that
he despises all the ordinances that God has given in the Old Testament, those ordinances of bringing
sacrifices at different occasions and different reasons? Does the scribe say that all these are of no
value at all, that they have no worth in God’s eyes? No, he does not say so. He does not reject all the
ordinances of the Levitical situation. And we should not do so either. We may not reject God’s
institutions. Whatever God has instituted in His church has value. We should never forget that the
Lord has something to say about our form of worship as well, and about the outward part of
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religion. It is not all the same to God how we worship Him. God’s Word makes it clear that God can
be very meticulous about forms and ordinances and ceremonies. Mind you, I am speaking about
God-given rules, God-given institutions, not rules that are man-made. In the days of the Old
Testament there were for instance, the precepts concerning bringing sacrifices, many more activities
all directed to the place of worship, to the time of worship. In the New Testament, although we
acknowledge by the death of the Lord Jesus that the Mosaic regulations have been abrogated, we
also have certain regulations given by the Lord and we do well when we closely adhere to them. For
instance, the positions of men and women in the church, and the way the sacraments are to be
administered, etc. They should not be discarded, as so many people today think as being formalism.
We have to abide by them, for the Lord is concerned also with the outward forms of our religion.
But the scribe is not rejecting the outward forms of religion, not denying that they do have relevant
value, but the scribe expresses that in his opinion inward religion is superior. Inward religion is of
greater value.
Let me put in a different way. The conversation with the Samaritan woman, Jesus once said,
God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Now this is
exactly what the scribe is saying. God must be worshipped. Forms of worship must be considered
and must be taken seriously, but it is of special importance when we worship the Lord, that we do so
in spirit and in truth. The inward worship, the inward religion, the inward experience are of greater
value then what is done outwardly. Only as the heart adores God, God excepts the homage which is
offered unto Him. Sure the scribe knows that there were institutions concerning whole burnt
offerings and sacrifices and they were all ordained by God. They were right, of course they were
right. But though the law has settled them, there is nothing that can be compared with loving God
with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the mind.
Put all the sacrifices together, and add to them rivers of oil and it still mounts up to nothing.
Is this what God demands from His creatures? That they will bring rivers of oil, or that they bring
morning sacrifices and even sacrifices without end? What does David say in Psalm 40, “Sacrifices
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and offering Thou wouldest not.” God is interested in our heart. A broken and a contrite spirit.
These are the sacrifices that are not being despised by God. And this is what the scribe knows.
Now a man who has come so far as to know these things, who has come so far as to shake
off the superstition and the confidence in the external religion, he is not far from the kingdom. He
who knows that if he will ever be saved, he will be saved not by just going to a place of worship or
by repeating prayers or by taking the sacraments or by being baptized or by any other ritual, but he
is changed inwardly. And if he knows that only such an inward change is required and is necessary
then he is not far from the kingdom. He who knows that loving God with all the heart is absolutely
needful for all His creatures, and that it is one of the most significant marks of being a child of God,
he knows more than many others. The sense of the value and the necessity of spiritual religion is a
most hopeful sign in a man. I do not say that it is a sure sign of having received saving grace, but I
am sure that it is a token of being near to the kingdom. And only one more step must be taken to
turn the knowledge into practice.
In the third place, I believe that Jesus has made that statement “Thou art not far from the
kingdom” because the scribe also plainly sees the supremacy of God over the whole of our
manhood. He see the supremacy of God over the whole of our manhood. He first admits that there is
one God. And in that, He fully agrees with what the Lord Jesus has said. He also admits that this
one God is to be loved and to be served with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all
the soul and with all the strength. He knows that it is the bounded duty of all God’s creatures to so
love Him.
Do you know that too? Do you recognize that you too, ought to love the Lord in the totality
of your being? Do you admit that? And apart from admitting it, do you love Him? Do you love the
Lord? If you must say that you have so many shortcomings and so many failures, do you then grieve
about these failures and these shortcomings? Do you feel your own inability to do as you ought to
do? And do you tremble before the Lord, when the Lord uncovers your many shortcomings? Do you
yet admit that God is right when He makes these demands? Do you except God’s supremacy over
the whole of our being? Do you really believe that whatever God has given you, the strength, power
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and ability, and all the treasures that have been stored up in your mind, in your body and in your
soul, that they all should be dedicated to God? That is what this scribe understands. When the scribe
confesses this, the Lord Jesus says, “You are not far from the kingdom”.
And fourthly, the Lord Jesus commends this man for being candid enough to say all of this.
His answer proves that he is a man of candor. And that he rises superior to party considerations. He
is a scribe. He belongs to the party of the Pharisees and naturally all of his life he has taken sides
with the Pharisees. He has always consented with them. But he has kept his mind open to conviction
and as soon as the Saviour gives an answer, a fitting answer to his question, then he fully agrees
with the Master, no matter what the other men of his party may think of his answer. He says “Well
Master.” That is how it is. That is the answer that I would have given. And he is not reluctant to say
so. This he can do only because he is a candid man. And thereby he proves that he is of a different
nature than his fellows. For the fellow Pharisees would have scrutinized Jesus’ answer. They would
have tried to pick holes in the answer to find some flaw in it, but this scribe doesn’t do that. And by
so conceding that Jesus is right, he disassociates himself from the party whose spokesman he was,
and that proves that he has a conviction of his own, a mind of his own. And for that reason he can
answer discreetly. He has a mind and he uses a mind and that’s why he does not care about the
opinion of his party.
When Jesus speaks these words that are Scriptural, he fully agrees with Him, though the
danger is there, that in this way he will probably lose the sympathy of his fellows. No, that doesn’t
mean that he is a disciple of Jesus right now, that doesn’t mean that he also confesses that he
believes in the Lord Jesus, though he does give the Master His due. And is there not hope for the
man who is candid enough to go against the grain and speak his own mind in religious matters, even
by doing so, he must disagree with the those of his party?
Do you have a mind? Do you use your mind? Are you listening to the word in a discreet
manner? Is your mind open to the Lord’s teaching? For congregation, church people are so often
preoccupied with preconceived notions, that they listen to the Gospel with closed minds. Never
willing to be corrected by the Lord. They have made up their mind, and they know the truths so well
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and with their historical faith they have mastered the truth. Is that so with you? You are in the need
of a radical change of mind. Have you never discovered that your mind is darkened by nature? Have
you never discovered that your darkened mind must be enlightened and that the Holy Spirit is the
only one who can give you that enlightenment? Let us be convinced of the fact, of however good
that historical faith may be, it is sufficient to bring us close to the kingdom. But it is not sufficient to
truly make us understand the truth. We need the Spirit’s work to be able to truly understand.
Now he was near the kingdom. And that was Jesus’ commendation. The scribe understood
that not the Levitcal tradition and not the outward ceremonies can bring a man to God, he knew that
what is required of man is heart-felt love, obedience to God. He knew that. And he knew it well. But
there is a difference between being near the kingdom and being in the kingdom.
Jesus says thou art not far. But the Lord does not say thou art in the kingdom. Not far, that
is close. That is near. But near, is not enough. We must be in. And why cannot the Lord Jesus say
that this man was in the kingdom? This scribe knows so well that a man is to love God with all his
heart and with all his strength and so on. But has he ever considered the question whether he does
love the Lord? Or is he content with the measure of his love that he extends to the Lord and his
neighbour? Does he really love God with all his heart and with all his mind and with all his soul?
Do you see where the problem lies? Congregation, he knows what God expects from man. But he
has no insight in the fact that he fails to meet these requirements. He has never stood in awe because
his lack of pure and undefiled love. If to love God is the greatest commandment of all, then to
withhold that love from God, is the greatest sin of all. But that the scribe apparently did not
understand. If he would have understood that, then I am sure that he would have fallen at the feet of
Jesus with the question “Lord what must I do to be saved?” I know so much, but I do not know
enough. Is there a way out for me yet? I must love the Lord with all my heart, and I cannot do it. I
must love the Lord with all my understanding, and I cannot do it. I have never done it. There has
never been a single day in my life that I have been completely devoted to the Lord, I have always
been pursuing my own things, and I have always been devoted to my own glory and by withholding
from God and what is due to Him, I have grievously sinned and I have laden myself with guilt. Oh, I
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am in a terrible condition. There is an ocean of guilt that separates me from God. That mass of guilt
will drag me down into perdition.
Do you see what a man will do when he truly understands, I means when he understands
with the heart, what things the Lord demands from us in His holy and inflexible law? What a man
will do when he understands what God’s law demands from him? What a man will do when he
looks into the mirror of the law of God, when he discovers what shape he is in. He begins to see
how lost he is, and he will begin to cry for mercy and to ask the Lord to deliver him. He will
beseech the Lord to be merciful to him, he will begin to see why it was necessary that the Lord
Jesus came down all the way from heaven to this earth to take upon Himself the cross and to die on
the cross and to take upon Himself the guilt of His people and all the offenses that they have
committed against the law. He will begin to see that there is a punishment due to his sins and he
begins to bow down under the wrath of the Almighty God and for that reason he begins to
understand that he needs a Saviour. A Saviour who is really able and who is willing to satisfy all the
demands of the law, that he by his sins and by withholding his love to God and to his neighbour has
broken.
If a man understands these things, then he knows more then the scribe knew. The man who
knows what are the demands of the law and who also knows his own failure to meet these demands,
a man who knows that God is worthy of all our love and devotion but who also knows that because
of his sins he has never been able, nor willing to love God with all the heart and all the soul, that
man is not only near the kingdom, but he is in the kingdom. The scribe has not come this far.
The Lord Jesus tells him, “You are not far.” And that word was meant to encourage him.
That word was meant to encourage him to take one more step. To kindle in the heart of this man the
question, “Lord, what must I do to come from near the kingdom, to into the kingdom. I must come
to the conclusion that there is still some distance between the kingdom and me and because there is
still that distance between me and the kingdom Thou sayest that I am not far from the kingdom,
Lord what must I do to come closer? What must I do, what must I do so that the gulf may be
bridged? Wilt Thou then undertake for me? And to so encourage him, the Lord says to him, “You
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are not far.” To so convict him in the same way. The scribe possesses light that goes beyond the
light of many of his contemporaries. He has more light then many of his fellow Pharisees. They
think that they have made it. They think that they are far enough. And Jesus says you are farther
then them. And still, you are not where you ought to be. Near. You are near. But near is not enough.
Now what do you think? What do you think? Did he enter? Or did he not enter? Well who
knows. God’s Word is completely silent about this. And it is only mere speculation if we would say
yes he did enter. It is also speculation if we would say, no, he did not enter. We simply do not know.
God knows. And yet it may be worthwhile for us to consider both possibilities.
Did he enter? Congregation, do you see any reason why he should not have entered? Do
you see any reason why he should have stayed outside? Having come so far, having come so far
where God’s given opportunities have brought him, and where the Lord’s Spirit has led him, might
he not have entered into the kingdom? Let me illustrate what I mean. I refer you to another scribe,
of whom we read in God’s Word. The scribe from whose pen the following words flow. And these
words indicate that scribe who also knew very well the significance of the law of God. We read,
“But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me
from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” He was also a scribe. He
was also a Pharisee. And that Pharisee, Paul, also seen the law of God to be a spiritual law,
demanding the obedience of the heart and of the understanding and the love of the soul and the love
of all the strength. And this apostle has also discovered that he was never able to keep that law. And
if he tries to keep that law and to abide by it and to obey that law, and to love God with all the heart
and with all the mind and with all the understanding, and so to fulfill the greatest commandment of
all, if he tries to do it, he finds something within him against which he struggles, but which
nevertheless brings him into captivity under another law. The law of selfishness. The law of sin.
And that was his problem. And who shall deliver me? For he cannot abide in that bondage. He
ought to keep the law, he can never be happy till he does love the Lord with all his heart because he
knows that this is God’s due, and that this is his bounden duty, and he loves the Lord so much that
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he would give all his love to the Lord and all the love of his soul and of his mind. He knows that
there can be no heaven in his heart when he does not love the Lord intensely. But how can he get at
it? And in these circumstances this scribe heard the invitation, “Come unto me all ye that labour and
are heavy laden.” And he did come. And he entered into the kingdom by Him who gives the weary
rest. Did the scribe in our text go that way? Let us trust he did. Why not? Why shall not the sinner
who has come so near make one more step. One step. One step only. And that is the step of falling
down at the feet of Jesus and begging Him for His mercy.
I will mention another door by which the scribe may have entered. He has stated that to love
God and to love his neighbour is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. Why then did God
prescribe all these offerings? What was their purpose? What did the Lord want to teach His people
with all these ordinances and all these precepts? For there must have been a purpose behind all the
precepts. What was the meaning for instance of the pascal lamb? And what was the meaning of the
daily sacrifice? What is the significance of the sin offering? What is the significance of slaying all
the bullocks and of sprinkling of blood and laying on of hands on the animals to be killed. What is
behind all of them? Do you know the story from Acts 8? From the Eunuch from the land of
Ethiopio? He listened to the Gospel explained by Philip from Isaiah 53, about the Lamb that was
brought to the slaughter. And he asked the question, “Who is meant by that Lamb? Does the prophet
speak about himself? Or does he speak about someone else?” He begins to understand that there
was something behind the revelation of that Lamb. Did this scribe also begin to understand that
there was something behind all the precepts of the Mosaical law? Was the fulfillment of all what has
been described, the fulfillment of the great sacrifice upon the cross of Golgotha is that the answer to
the question why all these precepts have been given? Did the scribe go in that way? Again, I say, I
do not see why he would not have done so?
What about us? Have we entered already? By whatever door? Have you entered? Putting all
your trust in the Lamb of God? Have you given up all your merits and all your efforts and all your
privileges and as a poor and needy sinner rest upon no other ground then the solid ground of Jesus
sacrifice? Have you so entered?
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Now suppose he did not enter? Suppose he lacked the one thing needful? Suppose that he
still would have been satisfied with being near? That would have been very grevious to have come
so far, so close, so near by. That even the Lord Jesus must say to him, “You are not far”. That was
not anybody’s opinion. That was the opinion of Jesus. “You are not far.” To have come so close and
then yet remaining outside. Now and eternally.
But you may ask, for what reason could he have stayed outside? Probably, because he was
swayed again by his fellowman, who spokesman he has been. Maybe they worked on him so much
that he turned away from believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe they made him afraid of losing
his leading position from the scribes. Is that far-fetched? No, this happens so often. That people
come so very close, that people are convicted, sitting in church, the Word comes so close to them, it
reaches their heart, the Lord Jesus calls, and they know that and they feel that the Lord Jesus knocks
at the door of their hearts. People that come very close. That have come under the influence of the
Gospel. They have begun to think very seriously of turning to the Lord and fleeing from sin. Then
they meet with old companions and these old friends begin to entice them to remain one of them
and they are swayed again. Fear of man lays a snare, and they are trapped in that snare. Maybe his
colleagues so worked on the scribe that he began to believe that obedience to the forms of the law,
is also pleasant in God’s eyes, and that the Lord will reward them that diligently seek to abide by
these precepts. Maybe even though he goes against his own convictions, he has been contempt for
the rest of his life, by being conformable to the outward rules of God’s law. Or maybe, and that is
what happens as well, maybe there has been a moment that he began to believe that being not far
from the kingdom will automatically result in entering into the kingdom. Just as there are many
people that believe that being in the covenant, will automatically mean that you will be saved,
without anything that should necessarily happen. There are so many traps. There are so many
snares.
Do I speak to people that are near and not yet in? Do I speak this morning to people whose
consciences have been awakened? Who to a certain extent have knowledge of spiritual matters?
You are not far. You are near. But near is not enough. Do you still hesitate? Does it seem to be a
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daring step to close with Christ? Let it look like a daring step to close with Christ now. It will look
much different when the great trumpet shall sound and when the dead shall rise, and when the
judgment seat will be set, and when the great white throne shall be unveiled. And then we will see
that it is a far more desperate daring step to deny the Lord. When these words shall come from His
lips, “depart from Me” and then it will be of no avail, when we say “Lord, I have been not far from
the kingdom”, then it will be of no avail, when we say, “Lord, I believed that I was in the kingdom”
and it will be of no avail, when we say “Lord, Thou hast preached in our streets, we have even done
miracles in Thy Name.” The Lord will say to them that were near and not in, “I never knew you.
Depart from Me.” And those that were near, and not in, will go to the same place where all the
public sinners will go. Congregation, take the place of a poor and a needy sinner and do so even
today. Take the place of a poor and needy suppliant at the throne of grace and renounce all and
everything and throw your guilty soul upon Christ and upon Christ alone. Jesus stands here inviting
sinners. And those near and far are welcome if they only fall at His feet and cry “Son of David, have
mercy on me”. AMEN.
28/06/2017
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