D.J. Gorena

Many things are impossible to do. For instance, I remember when I would have discussions with friends in elementary school where we were speaking about the strength of our dads. It would start with: “My dad can lift 100 pounds!” “Well, my dad can lift 200 pounds!” “Well, my dad can lift a car with his bare hands!” “Oh yeah? My dad can lift up our entire house with his bare hands!” It would go on and on like this for some time before someone finally gave up the argument. So the question arises in my mind this morning, “Is there anything truly impossible for man?” The answer is unequivocally ‘Yes!’

What are some impossible things for man? One thing that is impossible is to know everything that there is to know. In order to know absolutely everything, one would have to be omniscient, that is, all-knowing without limitation and that knowledge would have to be a perfect knowledge. No man, no matter how intelligent they are or may seem, will ever attain full knowledge of everything that there is to know in this thing called life. We still do not know or understand how the brain itself works. How can we then understand everything else in this world? Especially when we are still discovering new and wonderful things in this creative order.

Another impossibility is the strength of man. Men (and women nowadays) challenge themselves physically to the point that they break capillaries in their eyes as they are straining with everything in themselves to lift the greatest amount of weight they can. I remember seeing a young man who was a heavy weightlifter in high school that actually popped blood vessels in his eyes from straining to receive the medal he did in a State competition for weightlifting. And although he won first place, had you added just one or two more pounds to the amount of weight he lifted, he would not have been able to do it. In order to have the physical strength that you would need to uphold all the weight in the world as we know it, you would have to be omnipotent, that is, all-powerful without limitation and that power would have to be a perfect power to uphold and sustain the weight of the world. Atlas is a made up man who holds the world on his shoulders, but what about the entire universe?

Another impossibility is to bring the dead back to life. Now I understand that there have been people who have died on the operating table in surgery, or perhaps from other complicated situations and that EMT’s have brought people back to life or doctors have. But the difference is that these people will still end up dying of one thing or another. In fact, all of us will most likely face death at some point in our lives if not once, maybe on multiple occasions as some have. But to bring someone back from death to life is an impossibility in the sense that the person will not live forever. In order to bring someone back to life, you would have to be the source of life that breathes into the nostrils of man to bring him to life.

Another impossibility is saving one’s soul from the grips of hell. Sin has put all of us on a direct pathway to hell according to the Bible. Romans 3:10, 23 says:

There is none righteous, not even one…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

No one is righteous enough in and of themselves to save themselves because we have all sinned, whether in thought, word or deed. And there are wages to be paid for our sin according to Romans 6:23:

For the wages of sin is death…

If this case against humanity is correct–and I believe with all my heart that it is–then as people asked Jesus Christ in Luke 18:26:

Then who can be saved?

I like to think that the impossible can be made possible. It is not a Pollyannaish idea of which I am thinking. On the contrary, it is possible for One who is all-knowing to save those who cannot save themselves because they would know the way for salvation. And it is also possible for one who is all-powerful to save those who cannot save themselves because He would have the power to do such a thing. And it is certainly possible for the Source of Life to breathe life into the nostrils of man, therefore, it stands to reason that He would also be able to bring a dead spirit to life.

The question that Jesus’ hearers asked is a very legitimate question: Then who can be saved? If man is incapable of saving himself, and he has not the strength or the knowledge to do it within himself, then there has to be an outside force that will have to save him. But who could that be? Listen to what Jesus Christ said in response to their question in Luke 18:27:

That things that are impossible with people are possible with God.

You see, the impossible can be made possible but it is not by human endeavor. In fact, John the apostle put it like this in John 1:12-13:

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

So who are you dependant upon today? Yourself? I would encourage you to consider turning to the Source of Life Himself: the Lord Jesus Christ who is fully capable of saving you today. When you receive Him and believe in His name He gives you the right to become a child of God and this is His will that you would be saved today.

What are you waiting for? The impossible made possible!!