The Simplicity of the Gospel

Now, the hardest thing to get across to people about the gospel is the fact that they cannot save themselves. The Bible says the human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked — who can know it? A man’s heart will do anything in this world to get out of admitting that there’s nothing he can do to merit righteousness with God.

There’s something about the human heart that’s incurably wicked. When we say wickedness, of course, we used to think of drunkards and harlots and thieves and bad, rotten people, but that is not the sense in which wickedness is used in the Bible. Wickedness in the Bible refers to people who try everything they can to keep from admitting that they cannot merit favor with God by their works. The Bible says all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and the most wicked people in your town are the people that think they please God and can get to heaven by their works.

That’s why people don’t read the Bible. The Bible hits the root, it doesn’t hit the symptoms. The symptoms may be drunkenness, envy, greediness, or bad temper, but the root of human wickedness is pride, self-preservation — one of the basic instincts, which of course is a rotten, godless instinct. Christ said, “If you want to preserve your life, lose it. If you lose it, you’ll save it.”

Alright, here’s a man. I’m going to draw you a picture of a man trying to meet God’s standard. God has a standard. Now, by the standard of your neighbors, you’re pretty good. By the standard of the average preacher, you make out alright. By the standard of most people you know, I guess you think you’re pretty good, fella, and you might be. But let’s see how you measure according to God’s standard. God does have a standard, and that standard is found in the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments have never been revoked or surpassed by any laws for men as a superior set of laws to live by. The Ten Commandments are the highest set of laws a man can live by. You don’t live by them, but they’re still the highest you can live by.

Alright, what is the first commandment? Christ said the first and great commandment is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind.” This, He said, was the first and great commandment. There are commandments, and then there are commandments, but the first commandment — Jesus Christ called it the first and great commandment.

And people who profess to follow His teaching must admit that the first and great commandment is: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.” That’s the standard. That’s the T-square. That’s the rule to go by. That’s the slide rule — that’s God’s measurement. The first commandment.

Now, do you see how far short this man falls of that? You never met a man in your life who loved the Lord God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his strength, and with all his mind. He reserves some of it for himself. The Bible says the best man, or every man at his best state, is altogether vanity.

Now, look at this man trying to meet the standard. He joined the church. Well, it’s a fine thing, but he still isn’t anywhere near the standard. The standard is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.” He gets baptized — that’s fine, but notice, he isn’t anywhere near it. He doesn’t even come close to it. He supposes that he does. Somebody told him that if he’d do these things, he’d meet the standard, but that doesn’t come anywhere near it.

Alright, not only that, he takes the sacraments. Somebody said that the means of grace and all that kind of nonsense… Well, it may be the means of grace to save people, but people who have never met this standard are not saved people. There’s God’s standard.

Now, do you see how far you’ve fallen short of the glory of God? Well, the fella said, “I think I do pretty well.” Of course, you do, big boy, but you’re short a mile. You say, “Well, I think I’m not as bad as…” Come on, come on, you’re still short. You’re still short.

Oh, well, yes, you say, “I’m short,” but that’s what I’m talking about — the human heart. The human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. The human heart will do anything except admit the truth. The truth is, you’re short. That’s the truth. You say, “Well, I think I do pretty well.” But you’re short. You say, “Well, I get along as well as…” But you’re short, and you won’t say it, and you won’t admit it. And that’s what the Bible means, for the Bible says, “The human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” The human heart will do anything to keep from admitting there’s nothing it can do to make favor with God.

Maybe this fellow reads the Bible. I suppose that’s a good thing, but of course, that has nothing to do with meeting the standard. There’s the standard. Well, you say, “I believe it.” The fellow reads the Bible, shows he loves God. Yes, but that is the standard. The standard is: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, with all thy mind.” This is the first and great commandment.

What? This fellow prays because I think you can show that you love God through prayer. Yes, that’s fine, but it doesn’t come anywhere near the standard, and so forth and so on. This man may be a good man. He may be the best man in his community. Maybe you’re the best man in your community, but I would call your attention to the fact that you’re short. You never make it.

Suppose a man was trying to be a member of the police force, and the requirement to be a policeman was to be five foot nine, and the fellow, for whatever reason, was five feet eight. He would not make a policeman. But the standard was five foot nine. The fellow was five feet eight and a half, he still wouldn’t make it. But you say, “I’m five feet three quarters.” You are five feet eight and three quarters. You’re only a quarter inch from five foot nine, and you are fine. You’re missing a mile. You’ll never make it.

That’s something people can’t get through their head. I remember one time when I was in the Philippines, an officer had his hand blown off with a Japanese parachute bomb. He was trying to get the fuse off it, and it blew off and blew his hands off. The GI that was with him tried to get him to the hospital, and that GI went tearing down a mountainside in the jeep. That lieutenant was sitting there with his hands blown off, and the stumps of his arms dripping blood in the bottom of the jeep, and he was saying, “Hurry, Bill! Hurry, Bill! Hurry, Bill!” And old Bill was driving that jeep like a house on fire.

All the way down to the hospital, he laid down the horn, and when he got down to the hospital, every doctor and nurse at that place was standing there at the door, trying to get that poor fella into the hospital. They got him in, but just as they got him in the door, he died.

They don’t misunderstand me. They tried to get him in. But they didn’t make it.

Now, I’m not being harsh with the fella. He tried his very best to get the man there in time. I don’t criticize him. I’m not being critical. He made a good effort, but he didn’t make it.

And you won’t make it either. You never make it in your own righteousness. You never have been, and you never will be.

What’s the answer? Well, the answer is: I’ll show you a man who did meet it — the Lord Jesus Christ. He met the standard. He loved the Lord God with all His heart, with all His soul, with all His strength, with all His mind. There’s only one man that ever lived that kept the first commandment, and that’s the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you receive Him as your Savior, you will have kept the first commandment through Him.

You’ll never make it yourself. You never make it in your own righteousness. You don’t have a chance. But if you receive Him as your Savior, you’ll have a chance, because He kept it.