Mark 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God… Suppose you stop where you are, and go no further? Suppose you perish at the gate? Suppose I tell you that multitudes have come just where you are, and got no further? Do you know that to be almost saved is not to be saved at all? Suppose a man is going up a ladder and he slip, from what round had he better slip? If he slip from the bottom rung it is not half so perilous as if from the top. Suppose you are making an effort for eternal life, and you have come almost to the kingdom of heaven, and you fall — not quite saved, almost saved, very near the kingdom of God, not quite — but lost! A vessel came near the Long Island coast, and was split amid the breakers in a violent storm. They were within a stone's throw of being saved, when a violent wave took the boat and capsized it, and they perished — almost ashore, but not quite. And there are men who are pulling away towards the shore of safety. Nearer and nearer they are coming. I can say to them tonight: Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. But you have not quite reached it. Alas! if you stop where you are, or if a wave of worldliness capsizes your soul, and you perish almost within arm's reach of the kingdom! O do not stop where you are. Having come so near the kingdom of God, push on! push up! Will you tantalize your soul by stopping so near the kingdom of God? Will you come to look over the fence into the heavenly orchard, when you might go in and pluck the fruit? Will you sit down in front of the well curb, when a few more turns of the windlass might bring up the brimming buckets of everlasting life? (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question. |
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