Jesus said that things that are impossible with men are possible with God. If we fully believe this truth, we will cry out to Him with great faith to do impossible things in our own lives.

Host: Kathy, thanks for coming in. Good to see you again.

Kathy: It's good to see you.

Host: Kathy, as we continue our discussions in Absolute Surrender, we want to look at a truth that is so true and so wonderful to learn and most of us learn it the hard way. The chapter is titled, “Impossible with Man, Possible with God.” Andrew Murray starts out with a verse from Luke 18:27, “And he said, the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” (KJV) Let’s talk about what Jesus said here, “It is impossible with man.” What do we really know about what's impossible for man?

Kathy: Salvation. Man can't save himself and that's the story Andrew Murray started this chapter off with. He was talking about the rich young ruler and Jesus told him what he needed to do which wasn't, “If you go sell your stuff, you're going to get saved.” But he was trying to make a point to this young man about following Christ and what it meant, and he turned away sad and he left. Those who were there asked Jesus at the end of that, “if it is so difficult to enter the Kingdom of God, who then can be saved?” And Jesus said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” (Luke 18:27b, KJV) And we get a lot of confidence in God when we come to the place where we know we can't, but He can.

Host: You started off by saying that man cannot save himself. I think that's probably pretty obvious to most of us who have given any consideration to it that we can't save ourselves. But what I really got out of this whole teaching is not only can we not save ourselves, but once converted, we can't even keep ourselves on the right path.

Kathy: Right. A lot of us think that what we do helps the Lord save us. Now the Church is divided on this I think, because a lot of people believe that they don't need to lift a finger. They think they can do whatever they want and it's all covered by God's grace. That is a perversion of the truth. But there's the other side and I would put myself in this class, people that think they have to do something to keep themselves in the faith. And you can get just as perverted in your “religion” as the other group. We don't earn our way. We don't work our way, or fast and pray our way into fellowship with God. And if that's what religion is to you, then all it will be is “religion” and not a relationship with the Lord. And I think a lot of Christians are not enjoying their walk with God. They’re not joyful. They're doing all the work. There's no trust.

Host: I want to approach this from the perspective of our ministry here, the men that come into our Residential Program, some percentage of them have tried to get free from the power of sin. They've gone to the Sunday School classes. They spent time in their Bibles. Yet they find it impossible to get free from the power of sin and they come here and they are confronted with the reality of how sinful they really are. That's probably the first stage that God has to bring us into is, “Hey, by the way, you don't just have this little problem. You're totally a mess.”
       And it is natural to us that as we get a sight of that then we just want to try harder. “I'm not going to do this thing anymore. I’m not going to think this way anymore.” And it lasts for about 3 weeks and then we fall on our face again and we are still not free from the power of sin. And part of what Andrew Murray is describing here in this chapter is that we keep thinking that we can do it. Our thinking can be that it is either that we haven't done enough of something, or we haven't done the right thing, or we haven't learned something. We may think we need some new doctrine or some new theology.  But the problem is that it keeps coming back to the fact that we’re trying to do it in our own strength.

Kathy: Right. And in the process what we're doing is pushing out God without really knowing that's what we're doing, that's exactly what we're doing, because you have to embrace the fact that you are utterly and completely fallen. And really a lot of Christians stumble on the fact that they are corrupt through and through. There is no good thing in them. And all that effort that we put in to trying to prove to God that we're worthy of forgiveness and His acceptance shuts Him out. There is no way to come to the Father except through the Son. Not through your good works and not even through your repentance alone can you come to the Father. You come through Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life.

Host: Yeah. It's like going back to one of the possible responses of these men in our Residential Program. “Okay, I'm going to try harder, and I really need God to help me.” If that’s your response then you've missed it again. The point is that even the desire to do what is right, God has to put in me. I don't even have that in me. The truth is, the sin that I do, I do because I want to.

Kathy: Yeah, the ugly reality is you love your sin. I love my sin.

Host: Yes. And the point that Andrew Murray is making is that I can't generate in myself the will to do the right thing. It's God that must do that and I think this is where we see the disciples. They've gotten a picture of it. When they're saying who then can be saved, they're starting to get the picture here that our heart is so corrupt that we don't even desire in our nature to serve God and we can't change that in ourselves. So I'm left with the second point of Andrew Murray's teaching here. With God, all things are possible. He can give me a new heart. I must have something that I don't have, and He's the only place I can go to get it.

Kathy: The Holy Spirit is what we're missing. That is why there is no victory. The Holy Spirit is not ruling and reigning. All these things happen over the course of a lifetime, but this is an important truth. We have to surrender to the Holy Spirit living His life out through us. I'm not going to overcome the sin in me. I'm not going to get better. Jesus is not into self-improvement. He's not going to make me a better version of me. The self-life has to die. Even all your good efforts to put to death the thing that you do, it has to come from God living in you. God gives you the power to do that. You're not going to have what you need to overcome your sin.

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Host: Also, one of the things he brings out here is the omnipotence of God. When we talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit, we're talking about the omnipotent God indwelling us, changing us and empowering us to be overcomers. So, when we say that it's impossible with us, but possible with God, we're saying a huge thing. There is nothing impossible to Him. I don't quite understand how we somehow can get in the way of God accomplishing what God wants to accomplish. I don't have all that figured out, but there's nothing impossible for Him.

Kathy: Remember in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came and filled them with tongues of fire? Peter became a new man. There were 3000 saved that day. I don't know how many he preached to, but 3000 responded and the life that he lived after that was a miraculous life. It wasn't Peter anymore, it was God living his life out through him and that is for us now. He is giving His Spirit to those who want him, who will humble themselves, who crave Him and ask for that hunger if they don't have it. And He is going to perform that in those that are humbled before Him and hungry for Him.

Host: Yeah. He's going to bring us to absolute surrender. Everything that Peter didn't have, God gave Him. Everything that Peter was, He took away and gave Him Himself. He did it all. He brought Peter to absolute surrender. It wasn't in Peter and it's not in us. And I know there are so many Christians in the church today that are just hungry. They're in the church and they just feel like they're starving to death because they're not surrendered.
       They haven't gotten a sight of the fact that they just don't have it. O if they do have a sight of it, they don't want to admit it or acknowledge it. In the church we think we’ve got to be strong. For those listening that are in that place, they need to admit, “No, I'm not strong. I'm weak. But in Christ, I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”