Matthew chapter 19, we'll read from verse 16 down through the end of the chapter. And the title of the message this morning is, Who Then Can Be Saved? Who Then Can Be Saved? Matthew 19 and verse 16 says, And behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good, but one, that is God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, which Jesus said, thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto him, all these things I have kept for my youth up, what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, 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 these are the verses I want to focus on. When His disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them and said unto them. Just think about that, how He would have paused. Who then can be saved? And it's as though Jesus looked at them and said, and He beheld them. It doesn't just say, and Jesus said. There must have been a pause and he looked at each one of them and he just said, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold we have forsaken all and followed thee. "'What shall we have therefore?' And Jesus said unto them, "'Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me "'in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit "'in the throne of his glory, you shall also sit upon 12 thrones, "'judging the 12 tribes of Israel. "'And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, "'or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, "'or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold "'and shall inherit everlasting life. "'But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first. As I mentioned before, I want to focus in on these verses where the apostles, well it wasn't the apostles specifically because he mentions the 12, they were exceedingly amazed at the statement of Jesus concerning this rich man and how Jesus had said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven. And As we think about that, think about how the apostles must have just looked at this interaction with Jesus and this young man. The young man was a good man. He had kept the law. He had done everything to the best of his ability. It wasn't just that he was rich. He was a law abiding citizen. He wasn't a fornicator and an adulterer. And he was rich. He had everything that he needed. And if he can't get into heaven, then who can? And so it says they were exceedingly amazed. It said, who then can be saved? And I find that interesting because they were saved. But yet Jesus had presented such an impossibility. He had presented such a picture of impossibility, and ultimately, salvation is always intended to bring glory to God. And when you think about how Jesus concluded, and He said, and this is really the hope of this message, with men, this is impossible. He did create an impossibility. With men, and I'm going to point out, salvation, period. Not just for rich people. With men, salvation is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. This is not a passage that is to discourage rich people from ever believing that they can go to heaven. This is actually a message of hope. This is a message that the richest of the rich and the most wicked of the wicked get to go to heaven, because with God, all things are possible. I want to begin by way of introduction. This isn't the main part of the message, and many messages have been preached from this passage. I've preached several passages, and I even went back and looked. It's so familiar. I was like, I'm pretty sure I've preached three messages from this in the last couple years, and I hadn't. I preached out of this in this church in 2019, but it was before sermon audio was even a thing for us and half the church wasn't even here at the time. And so, but it's such a familiar passage. We're all very familiar with this story of the rich young man that came to Jesus. Oh, but I want to review once again, this conversation that took place between Jesus and this man. The key to this passage, is that this man was seeking a good thing that he could do that he might inherit eternal life. He was very specific in his question. He didn't come to Jesus. He had a preconceived idea of what salvation entailed. He had a preconceived idea that he could earn salvation. He wasn't coming to Jesus, this good master, just with an open ended question. How is one saved? How does one get to heaven? What must I do to be saved like the Philippian jailer? But he said, he came to Jesus, he asked a very good specific question. He said, what good thing must I do? Verse 16, and behold, one came and said unto him, good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? Well, that's never going to happen. That is an impossibility. You will never do enough good things to have eternal life. But I find it interesting. Let's look at this young man. He was well-to-do. Probably came from a good family. He was a good man. He was a nice young man. We might say he's a nice young man. He treated the elderly properly. He had respect for people, and he was not immoral. If anybody's gonna go to heaven, it's probably this guy. I mean, most young people are reprobate. But here's the thing. Evidently, this good kid, good young man, knew that he did not have eternal life. because he was in search of it. And there are a lot of people in this world today that are in search of eternal life. There's a lot of people going to church today, right now in Pulse Falls, while we're having church, sitting in our chairs, there are hundreds, if not thousands of people in Pulse Falls this morning, whether it's the Catholic Church or the Mormon Church, or the, I almost said the Resurrection Fellowship, but that's another town, but real life, or the church up the street, you name it, Lutheran churches. This town is full of people in search of eternal life. But they want to do it on their terms. They don't want a Lord. Too many of them don't want a Lord down here, but they want heaven. They want their good works. They want to, maybe if I pray enough to Mary and do the rosary enough, maybe if I confess to the priest enough, maybe I'll eventually get out of purgatory and I'll get to heaven. But everybody is in search of eternal life. And this young man would have fit right in in our society. Here's Jesus. A guy with a different flavor on things, preaching a new kind of teaching. And so he comes to Jesus and he's like, well, good master, what good thing must I do to have eternal life? He knew he needed eternal life. He believed in eternal life. If he wanted eternal life, he probably believed in eternal damnation. And so he wanted eternal life. He believed that there is good in everyone. He believed that there was good in everyone, especially himself. Or he at least did not believe in total depravity. He didn't believe in total depravity. And he comes to Jesus and says, good master, what good thing must I do to have eternal life? He believed that there was a spark of good, at least some kind of good, in everybody. And Jesus had to correct him and said, there's none good but God. There's none good but God. None. And so Jesus had to start just correcting this good young man. Immediately, there's none good, you can earn it, and Jesus just began dealing with him so directly. He did not call Christ good master because he saw Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God come in the flesh in all his perfection. This young man was just using flattery. Good man, good sir, good master. What good thing must I do to have eternal life? Just flattering him. And so he assumed that the key to having eternal life was in himself. And he just needed to be pointed in the right direction. And isn't that where so many are today? They're looking for answers and they just want to be pointed in the right direction so they can finish the work. They can please God. I just want to live a life that will please God. But they haven't ever been born again. And if you've never been born again, if you've never repented and turned completely from your life of sin and even realized that you're a sinner, he thought he was a good person. then there's no salvation for you. You can't even begin the process of pleasing God until you realize, I'm lost, I'm a sinner, I'm condemned, and only God can save me in the person of Jesus Christ. And so he was like most Christians today, who as pastor mentioned, I think it was your message, I heard a message. from somewhere, there was a preacher recently, yeah it was your message last Sunday about so many are going to be in hell, and they're like, Lord, didn't we do this in your name? And it was in Jesus' name. We're not talking about Jews, we're talking, for the most part, we're talking about Christians. Didn't we not do this in Jesus' name? And we did this in Jesus' name. They were like this man. They went to heaven doing all these good works in Jesus' name that they might have eternal life. The problem was they never saw themselves as lost. And they're justifying themselves. Isn't this interesting how blind lost people are? These people who have been resurrected from hell before they're cast in a lake of fire, standing before the judgment throne of God, and they're still trying to justify themselves by their works. Isn't that amazing? Even at the Great White Throne, spiritually lost and blind men, it is impossible for them to be saved without the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Because even at the Great White Throne, they're still going to be saying, Lord, didn't I do this? The problem, man, if you're here this morning, I hope that 0% of your faith is in your works. I hope that absolutely none of your eternal security is resting in the prayer that you prayed or the works that you performed while you were here on earth. It better be in what Jesus did. Jesus did 2,000 years ago on your behalf. And consider Jesus' response. He addressed the unholiness of man, including this particular man. There is none good, but one that is God. He sets out to prove this man's unworthiness, and he proves two things. He proves this man's unworthiness and his unwillingness to have eternal life. He went away sorrowful. In other passages, it mentions he went away sorrowful. He was unwilling to have eternal life when he was told Now he either just didn't believe Jesus and Jesus is a liar. He's just the next fraud. Or he gave up on eternal life because he was too in love with what he had here on earth. But he had a major problem and it was unbelief. This man was unworthy of eternal life. We all are unworthy of eternal life. We're all unworthy. And this man's like so many people today, even when they know that they're lost, they know that they are going to hell and they're unwilling. And this man, Jesus points out to this man, his unwillingness. In verse 17, Jesus said, but if thou will enter into life, keep the commandments. Does keeping the Ten Commandments get one into heaven? No. Paul says in Galatians 3, 4, if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise of faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster in bringing us unto Christ. The reason Jesus is telling this young man, he had already said there's none good. And the reason he's telling him, you think you're good, you think there's a grain of good in you, you think you can earn eternal life, well keep the commandments. He couldn't, because the law is a schoolmaster. He couldn't keep the commandments. And so the law was showing this young man that you're a failure. The man lied. He said he had kept them all from his youth up, but that's a lie. One of the quotes from the commandments is, love thy neighbor as thyself. He wasn't willing to sell what he had and give to the poor. He's a liar. So he broke the law of selfishness and covetousness, and he had broken the law right in front of Jesus when he lied and said, I've kept all this from my youth up. He's a liar. And so doesn't the law say that you're not supposed to lie? And, you mean to tell me this kid had never lied when he was a... Come on man. He never disobeyed his parents? He's like, I've kept the law. You're a liar! You're a liar! Jesus said unto him, well, it's almost sarcastic, but he's like, if that will be perfect. Jesus is saying this tongue in cheek. If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. And here's the main problem that people have. Here's the main problem that people have. Jesus was requiring that this man be Lord in his life. Because it wasn't just that he was to sell all that he had and give to the poor. There's a lot of people that think they're going to be in heaven because they sold all that they had and gave it to the poor. There's going to be people like Mother Teresa that are in hell. There's going to be people who give to charity all day long. and live an ascetic life, and they turn their back on society, and they go and they sell all they have, give it to the poor, and go off out in the woods and try to be spiritually holy and so forth, and they're gonna die and go to hell. The problem with this, that this man's hang up, was that Jesus had told him, go and sell what you have and give it to the poor. If Jesus would have left it at that, he might have, he might have. Jesus did say, it does say he couldn't do it because he had much possessions. But I'm telling you, there's a lot of people in this world that have possessions, and if you could convince them, especially from the Bible, twist scripture and show them, that if you sell all that you have and give to the poor, then you're being like Christ, and you will earn eternal life. Man, people would sell all they have, and people will do, people are willing to do anything. to get eternal life, as long as they can take, because man is just that ungodly by nature. Reject Christ, find some way that I can earn eternal life, and man will do anything. It's proven over and over through all kinds of religions. People will torture themselves, whip themselves, do all kinds of things for their God, that they might please that God and have eternal life. And so the problem with this man, though, is Jesus said, come and follow me. Now we're talking about lordship salvation. No, he wasn't gonna sell all that he had give it to the poor and follow Jesus That put it over the top. He was not trying to live for Jesus And so, he wasn't trying to be like one of the 12, or any of the other 70, or any of the other apostles that followed Jesus. And the result was this man went away sorrowful. Now, say that by introduction, this is what had happened. The apostles had seen this. The apostles had seen this interaction. And when Jesus said, it's easier for a rich man to enter into heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom. They marveled and were exceedingly amazed and said, who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." We know that a camel has never gone through the eye of a needle and never will. It is an impossibility for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Does that mean then that a rich man will never enter into the kingdom of heaven? Has there ever been a rich man who has lived on earth and died and went to heaven? Lots, lots actually. Will Job be in heaven? He's what we call filthy rich. I mean rich rich. He was Jeff Bezos or whoever is the biggest billionaire right now. At that time he was the most wealthy man on the planet. And then after God dealt with him and he overcame the temptations and God blessed him greater than he was blessed before. So he died the richest man on earth and went to heaven. Abraham will be in heaven. I believe he was a man of means before he ever left earth. Isaac was born wealthy. Silver spoon in his mouth. He inherited his father's wealth. Jacob wasn't poor. Joseph became wealthy and politically powerful. Second in Egypt. Died and went to heaven. David was well off. And Solomon is what we would call rich. I mean, who could compare to the riches of Solomon? People actually would come from around the world to check out the wisdom and the riches of Solomon. He was rich. Zacchaeus. It's so interesting. Here we have a passage like this where Jesus said, 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 then you turn a few pages over, and you come to Luke 19 too, and it says, and behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. And he was chief among the publicans, and he was rich. It actually says, and he was rich. And so, oh, he was a crooked white collar criminal, basically, and he was good at it, and he was rich. And man, how hard was it for Jesus to save Zacchaeus? It was so easy. It was so easy. I mean, the guy just said, He said, Zacchaeus, come down. I'm going to your house today. He said, okay. And he went down, went to his house. The Lord dealt with him. And within just a short time, he's saying, Lord, I'm going to sell. I'm restoring what I've stolen. I mean, he's just had a regenerate heart. It was not a big thing. Because with God, all things are possible. With man, The Pharisees were looking at Zacchaeus and going, there's no way, man. Jesus sits with sinners. He eats with sinners. And this guy's a rich crook. And Jesus is sitting with him. It was so easy for Jesus to save Zacchaeus. Not a problem at all. Because with God, all things are possible. Lydia was a rich businesswoman when she was saved by the ministry of Paul. Barnabas was wealthy and sold all his land and gave it to the church. The Ethiopian eunuch was a wealthy political type figure. Don't know exactly what he was, but he was carried in a chariot. I mean, he probably pretty well off. And so the purpose of this statement by Jesus was not to make a social, economic statement about who's good or bad in society or who is more likely to be saved than another class of people or more capable or incapable of being saved. But he said this to cause the disciples to consider and then ask their question that he might be glorified. He said what he said so that the apostles would ask this question. Well, here's a righteous man, self-righteous, good man, and he's rich, and if he can be saved, then who can be saved? So that Jesus could give us the answer that he might be glorified. As I already mentioned, this man was not just rich, but he was good from what the disciples could see. No matter. Poor or rich, no matter what state a man is in, it is impossible for him to be saved. Except God do the saving. It's impossible. It doesn't matter how poor you are, it doesn't matter how rich you are, it doesn't matter how good you are by man's standards, or how wicked you are. No man is more capable or more deserving of being saved than another man. Oh, and so what if Jesus had continued and said, it is easier for a mouse to go through the eye of a needle than for a poor man to enter the kingdom of heaven? It's still really not a possibility, right? I mean, it's just impossible. And so the real issue is not about which men are more qualified or more capable of entering the kingdom of God. But what Jesus really wants us to consider is who does the saving? John 3, we're familiar with this. Except a man be born again, he cannot see nor enter the kingdom of God. In that passage, Jesus presented an impossibility. Except a man be born again, he cannot see. Well, a man can't be born again himself. And the person here, it doesn't say, except a rich man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. It doesn't say, except any kind of person, except a man, amen. It's that simple. Except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. I have several passages that I could read. I'll just read this one, Ephesians 2,1. Go ahead and turn there, Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2 in verse 1, he's writing to a church, save people. And he says, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom we all had our conversation in time past, in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God Here's the wonderful part. But God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, that's an impossibility when people are dead in sins, but God loved us. It's the love of God and the mercy of God. God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are He saved. And hath raised us up. Notice this is what has happened to us. And hath raised us up together. And hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. There you have the kingdom of heaven. Jesus, in our main passage, is talking about entering the kingdom of heaven. In John chapter 3, it's talking about entering the kingdom of God. And here, our position, who we are in Christ, He has made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Though we're here on earth presently, we sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Listen, a man cannot do that for himself. A man, a man, I don't care what kind of man, he cannot do that for himself, make himself sit together with Christ in heavenly places. It's an impossibility. And a man cannot do this for another man. I would love it, I would like to be able to wish and will people into heaven. When people tell me that they're lost and they know they need to be saved, I wish I could just make it happen. I can't. You can't. Nobody can do that for a person. Nobody can save another person. It's frustrating. Paul said, he would sacrifice himself if Israel would be saved. He says, I would be paraphrasing and probably mess it up, but he says, he would wish himself accursed for Israel's sake. But you can't! No matter what our desire is that a particular person be saved, we can't make it happen. We can pray to the God who can make it happen, and we can keep preaching the Word to them, because the Word of God is sharper and quicker than any two-edged sword, and it can pierce and discern the thoughts of that person's heart, but we can't do anything. Only God can do it. And so all men are dead in trespasses and sins. Who's more easily saved, Donald Trump or a heroin addict in downtown Spokane? Which one is more easily saved? We think, Liz, I know we do. We think that it's easier, God's way more likely to save a heroin addict in downtown Spokane than he is Donald Trump. We think that. I know every one of us in here thinks that. It's not more likely that I mean, God can save anybody. What? God saved Nebuchadnezzar. God saved Manasseh, the worst king that Israel had ever seen, who killed two of his sons by sacrificing them to idols, and Jerusalem ran red with the blood. I mean, he was a ruthless dictator, and God saved him. And God can save anybody. And so God saved Saul, who hated him and was killing other people, and God just saved him. And was it hard for God to save Saul? How difficult was that? We were joking about Zacchaeus, but I mean, God dealt with Saul pretty handily, and it was pretty quick. It was pretty quick. And by the way, God might work on a person for a long time, but when God saves that person, He's saved. It's done. He's regenerated. It's not a two year, three year long process. It's like, yeah, you know, I got saved in the last decade. You know, I just kind of came to Christ. No, that's not what happens according to the word of God. And so, who is more easily saved? Who was more easily saved? The thief on the cross or Zacchaeus? Which, I mean, one is rich. That's hard. Eye of the needle, camel. You know, he was rich. Zacchaeus. Or the thief on the cross. Who had been mocking Jesus with the other thief? And God saved him in the last hours of his life. Neither one was more difficult than the other. Oh, all things are possible. Who is more easily saved or more likely to be saved? A self-righteous grandmother? Married and loyal to her family and husband? Or a poor prostitute? Which one is easier or more likely for God to save? Here's an example. Was it more difficult for God to save Rahab, the harlot, and her family? Or, let's just compare her with the Shunammite woman of Elisha's time. God saves everybody from all walks of life. I mean all walks of life. And so we can't ever underestimate when we're dealing with people who God can save and not save. We shouldn't be afraid of witnessing to rich people. We shouldn't be afraid of sharing the gospel with, we might share the gospel with a politician or a lawyer, but when we're doing it, we know this ain't happening. That is ungodly. It's absolutely ungodly. There's no faith in that. And so we have to understand that it is God that saves and he saves whosoever. He will. Skip a couple passages for the sake of time, but except a man repent and forsake all that he has, he cannot be Jesus' disciple, rich or poor. We think in this passage that this man would have had to give up what he had. And it was true. This man did not, the scripture says, He did not, where is that verse? But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. That was the reason why this man did not turn to Christ. He had great possessions. But what's your reason? If you're here this morning, you're not saved. Is it because you're rich? But yet there's something keeping you from Christ. Right? And when we're witnessing to people that are out in the world and we've witnessed and we've witnessed and we've witnessed. I mean, think about yourself. What kept you from coming to Christ the first time you heard the gospel? There's always something. This man, it was possessions. But for others, it's other things. It was just, that was his problem. His hang-up. But what's your problem? Why can we not come to Christ when we hear the gospel? A man must repent. and turn from his sin. Whatever his idol is in his life, he's got to turn. He's got to leave it. And so I've preached on this recently, and it's probably seeming redundant, but it's just a theme in the Word of God. Luke 14, Jesus said, it says in Luke 14, 25. Now go ahead and turn there. I'll give you time to turn there. Luke 14, 25. And there went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." That's always just stood out to me. It's such a clear statement from Jesus Christ Himself. He cannot be my disciple. If he's not willing to leave whatever it is that he's clinging to, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And so later in the passage, verse 33, so likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, Whatever it is, it's just open-ended. Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my disciple. When it comes to being saved, there can't be anything standing between you and come unto the Lord. The problem with so many professing Christians today is they've been misled to think that they can still hang on to whatever it is that they love, and they can just add Jesus into their life. And they'll live a better life. But there's no repenting. There's not repentance preached in churches most of the time. And so, oh, you just... Jesus loves you as you are. You just add Jesus to your life to, you know, give as much of yourself as you can to Him and so forth. And there's no repentance. In this passage that we just looked at in Luke 14, there's not a mention of wealth in the entire passage. It's some of the things that people love more than wealth. More than life. These are some things that people will die for. People will die for their children. People will die for their wife. People love their parents. And Jesus is saying, that can't come first. I mean, things you're willing to die for, it can't come first. Love them, take care of them, but they can't come first. And so, whosoever forsaketh not all they have, he cannot be my disciple. There's no mention of wealth in this passage. And you can't love your own life more than you love Christ. There's been a lot of people in history that have had to literally, knowing, if I trust the Lord as my Savior, there's a really good chance that I'm going to lose my head. I'm going to lose my life. And yet they do it. They do it anyway. And they don't recant. And when they're brought before and they're facing persecution, and they're told that, well, you just need to reject your faith and you need to recant, and they refuse to do it. Because they love Christ more than they love their own life. And that's pretty valuable. Are there varying degrees of easiness for men to forsake all and come to Christ? The problem with sin is it has such a hold on people's life that a homeless man who has no family or friends anymore, he's still a slave to his sin. He's still slave to his sin. It's not any more easy for a man who has lost everything to come to Christ than it is for someone who seemingly has everything. I've given this example before, but there was a biker that I knew very well in prison who admitted that he knew he needed to be saved. But he wanted to go back to his former life when he got out. And I'm like, but that's what puts you in here. I mean he's always complaining about prison and these guards and the man and all the stuff and this food and all this. He's just constantly complaining about how his life is, right? And how he's been done wrong. And he rejects eternal life. We look at this rich man. who went away sorrowful, and rejected Christ because he had much possessions. This man has nothing, he's in prison, but he liked that selling meth, and he liked being in a biker gang, and he liked the immorality, and when he got out, even though he was miserable right now, when I get out I want to go back to doing what put me in here. He's a slave. Unless God intervenes right there, it's impossible for that man. Why? Because he, in the passage Jesus said, because he had much possession. In this guy's case it could be because he had much sin. because he had no sin that he loved. He's a slave, he's dragging around all his baggage and he just wants to go back to it. Even though he knows it's self-destructive. Is it easier for a teenage boy whose father beat him and his mom is a drunk to be saved, than for a teenager raised in a Christian home by loving parents? I mean, sometimes it seems like the first is easier. But with God, all things are possible. I mean, oh, so there is a lesson as we conclude. There is a lesson here in these passages for those of us who are saved. And one of the challenges should be, this man was hesitant. to come follow me. Jesus said, come follow me. Sometimes, I'm afraid, too many times, after we're saved, maybe at one point we forsook all and we followed Jesus. But then, after we're saved, sometimes the world can begin to creep back in and those weeds start coming in, the vines, and we start getting pulled down and it becomes harder and harder to forsake, to be the proper witness that we're supposed to be, and so forth. What is standing in the way of you selling out for God? Perhaps years ago, when you were born again, you had a zeal, but over the years, things in the world just crept back in. There are things in life just as powerful as money that prevent even Christians from serving God fully. The passage that we read in Luke 14 deals with big obstacles for nearly everyone. As I've already mentioned, family, spouse, and children. That can be a problem for Christians after they've been saved. It can begin to be a real problem. Where are we? Consider Peter. In this passage, if you look in this passage, go back to Matthew 19 and look. After Jesus deals with this man, Peter took it to heart. And he's like, well, this rich man wasn't able to forsake all. But these apostles had. Notice, in Peter's mind, he had forsaken all. In verse 27, then Peter answered and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee. What shall we then have therefore? And Jesus didn't just rebuke him harshly or anything. Jesus just answered his question. He said, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye shall also sit upon the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone And this is where it goes beyond just the apostles. Everyone that has forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. For those who are holding on to whatever it is, that they don't want to follow Christ because of that something, whatever it is. Jesus says, For all those who are forsaken, whatever it is, I'll give you a hundredfold." Think about that. Everyone that forsaketh houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life. Isn't that amazing? You're hanging on to whatever it is that you're hanging on to, or we as Christians hang on to whatever it is that we're hanging on to, and Jesus is like, if you just forsake that, live by faith, I'll give you a hundredfold. Do we ever really think about that? That we don't do what we do for rewards, but man, God is a great rewarder of those that diligently seek Him and who want to serve Him and so forth. Did Peter, so speaking of Peter, Peter asked this real question. We have forsaken all and followed Thee, what shall we have? Did Peter have to miss out on his son's soccer practice or his daughter's harp recital because he was now traveling around with Jesus? There's a lot of people that don't serve the Lord because of what's going on in their family. I got this going on, I can't go to Wednesday night, I got that going on, I can't go to whatever, because of family and so forth. Oh, did Peter and his wife have some heated discussions maybe about finances and how this is going to work now that he gave up his profession and sold the fishing business? there were probably some real discussions. They had families and wives, and I mean, we know that he was married, Jesus healed his mother-in-law. How did they make it? When Peter said, we forsook all, they forsook all. They really did. They're running around the country with Jesus and they got families at home. And I'm pretty sure that they had some, he had a discussion with his wife about how this is supposed to work. And he probably just said, well, we're just going to probably have to live by faith. You're going to have to trust Jesus to take care of us. I don't know how this is going to happen. Did Peter make sure it was acceptable? When Jesus came and said, come follow me and I'll make you fishers of men, did he go home and have a sit down with his wife and say, this is what the Lord is asking me to do. I just want to make sure that you're cool with it. And you know, because we got to think about the kids and From what we read in the Bible, when Jesus would walk by and say, come follow me, they just got up and followed Him. Right? Talk to the family later. So when Peter said, we have forsaken all, they really did. I don't think I'm being ridiculous in making these parallels. These are real men with real lives no different than yours. And it didn't change when Jesus ascended and went to heaven. It continued. And through persecution, they were scattered and they had to forsake all and live for the Lord. Matthew 19, once again, consider the question of the apostles, who then can be saved? This really is a message of hope. It's not of doubt and frustration and futility. It's of ultimate hope. Jesus answered with men, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. Christian, never give up hope on the lost that God can and will save. All things are possible, Jesus said. It's impossible, but with God, all things are possible. And what a ray of hope. We witness and evangelize knowing that men, with men, this is impossible. Yeah, but the guy's an atheist. I mean, what are the odds of this guy? Hey, with God, all things are possible, right? Well, this guy's been in Buddhism for, I mean, he's just Hey, with God, all things are possible. But this person is so self-righteous that, I mean, it's just like impossible to witness to this person. But with God, all things are possible. And here's the ultimate hope. If you're here this morning and you're lost, you've never really trusted the Lord, never been baptized, followed scriptural baptism, not a member of the church, the message is, Even you can be saved. Even you can be saved. Because with God, all things are possible.