Sunday, March 2, 2008

Sunday Snippet - Not Far Enough


Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." Mark 12:34

This morning's sermon was about the scribe who came to Jesus to ask Him which commandment was the greatest. This is the scribe who agreed with Jesus when the Lord replied that we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves. This same scribe even agreed with the Scriptures that teach that God wants our hearts more than outward sacrifices. Think about how far this man had gone in religion, which we can think of as a good thing, but the sad part is that he had not gone far enough. As Pastor John said, not far from is not good enough. God didn't come back and give us indication that this scribe, who had come so far, had eventually repented and believed the whole gospel of Christ. It's sad to think that someone who had come so near had not entered in. Pastor reminded us that greatly mistaken and slightly mistaken are both tragic.

I hope no one reading this post has stopped short of the kingdom. I hope no one is just almost persuaded, like King Agrippa. If you've not gone far enough, see Jesus whose atoning blood was spilled at Calvary for sinners. Embrace this Jesus, repenting and believing in His glorious gospel, being fully persuaded and you will have entered into the kingdom. Nothing can be better than that.

9 comments:

Jodi said...

Oh Maxine ~ what an excellent post. Almost persuaded is not enough.

Mimi said...

Maxine, what a meaningful sermon you had Sunday...It is important to realize that Almost persuaded and slightly mistaken both fall short of the kingdom of Heaven...so very sad...a wonderful post...
thanks,

Susan Skitt said...

I'm fully persuaded :) God's been teaching me that loving Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength covers every area of my life. Oh there's so much I still need to learn about obedience to Him. Praise God Heaven is a gift and nothing or nobody can take it away or I'd lose it for sure.

Anonymous said...

Amen and amen!!! I'm thankful that I did not fall short of the kingdom of heaven!! I was saved on April Fool's Day, 1980!! I have never looked back and I am so thankful for my salvation!!! Wonderful blog you have here!

Kate

Mishel said...

What a blessed thing to be fully persuaded! Thank you for sharing this snippet from the Sunday sermon.

Hugs!

sparrow's song said...

We are either in Christ or we are not. There is no in between such as for the spiritual mugwump who sits undecided on the fence with their mug on one side and their wump on the other.

Anonymous said...

Hi Maxine,

I am just stopping by to say hello. Have a blessed day!

Scotti

RitasRavings said...

Thanks for the reminder, Maxine. Great lesson . . . I think we don't realize how far yet near we are to the truth if we truly want to know.

Vicki said...

A vitally important truth. Oh, the precious blood of Jesus that took away my sin...

Sparrow is right. We're either in Christ, or we're not. We either have the Son, or we don't have the Son. May those who hear Christ preached this Easter for the first time (or the 100th) come to finally know Him as Savior.

Much to be thankful for this Easter and every day!

with sweet hallelujahs,
Vicki