[SPEAKER_00]: Hello, my name is Madeline Inglend and I will be reading Mark 10 17 through 22.
[SPEAKER_00]: Please stand for the reading of the word.
[SPEAKER_00]: As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Good teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why do you call me good?
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus answered, no one is good except God alone.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know the commandments.
[SPEAKER_00]: You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, on your father and mother.
[SPEAKER_00]: Teacher, he declared, all of these I've kept since I was a boy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus looked at him and loved him.
[SPEAKER_00]: One thing you lack, he said, go.
[SPEAKER_00]: So everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then come follow me.
[SPEAKER_00]: At this man's face fell, he went away sad because he had, because he had great wealth.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the word of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks, Peter God.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not all right, thank you, Maddie.
[SPEAKER_01]: You guys have a seat.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you have a Bible with you, Mark, chapter 10, where Matthew is just reading for us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me put the reference up here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's Mark 10.
[SPEAKER_01]: This story is also in Matthew 19 and Luke 18.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to check out the other parallel versions from Matthew and Luke, but Mark, chapter 10 is where we'll be.
[SPEAKER_01]: This man that runs up to Jesus is elicely, passionately, and asks him a question.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you ever thought about this, but
[SPEAKER_01]: If you were alive at the time when Jesus was walking the earth, if you were there, and you could have seen him, if you could have gone up to him and talked to him, what would you ask Jesus?
[SPEAKER_01]: If you could ask him one thing, one question, you get one moment, one question asked you, what would you ask him, what would be your question?
[SPEAKER_01]: I need something to think about, you know, what would you care about enough to want to know Jesus' answer to?
[SPEAKER_01]: runs up to Jesus, kneels down before Him and asks Him a question.
[SPEAKER_01]: The problem is, seems like it wasn't the right question.
[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't the question that He should have been asking.
[SPEAKER_01]: He asked Him a question that, and Jesus kind of has to talk around it with Him for a second to get Him to the right question.
[SPEAKER_01]: um, he just wasn't asking the right thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: You ever have that moment?
[SPEAKER_01]: You ever have a moment where it meant you had an opportunity to ask a question to say something and you just said the wrong thing or just asked the wrong thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, when I was a kid, a little stupid story about me, I was 10 years old.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was 1998.
[SPEAKER_01]: 10 years old and we went to my baseball team.
[SPEAKER_01]: We won a tournament.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we got to go to the Braves game.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to go on the field.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was really cool.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to go down on the field and be there for the first pitch.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Danny Nagel, he was pitching for the Braves at the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was throwing out the first pitch.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to stand there with him like near the mound.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was pretty neat.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we got to bring baseballs down the field and he signed our baseballs.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so as we're walking off the field, we walked right by the Braves dug out.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is the 90s, Braves dugout.
[SPEAKER_01]: Think of the Hall of Famers who were in the Braves dugout in the 90s.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's Greg Maddox, a standing right here.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you don't know who Greg Maddox is, shame on you.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Greg Maddox, one of the greatest literally one of the greatest pictures in Major League Baseball history, certainly the greatest picture in Braves history, he's standing right here on the rail of the dugout.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm walking by him, I mean, me to the podium.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he's right here.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're walking by him, I've got a baseball in my hand, I've got a pin in my hand and Greg Maddox, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think to myself, okay, I want to ask him a question.
[SPEAKER_01]: And what do you think I'm going to ask him?
[SPEAKER_01]: Can I, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: What I asked him was, hey, gregmatics, where's Chipper Jones?
[SPEAKER_01]: And Greg Matt, this is absolutely cheering Greg Maddox goes, oh no, when he turns around and he leaves like you left and I was like, oh no, what am I doing?
[SPEAKER_01]: And a little bit later, when I got up into the seats and I told my dad, I was like, yeah, I walked right by Greg Maddox and asked him where Chipper Jones was and my dad wanted to punch me in the head and he was like, what?
[SPEAKER_01]: What you didn't get his autograph is like, no, I'm sorry.
[SPEAKER_01]: I did not get Greg Maddox's autograph.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, stupid moment, but just ask the wrong question, just ask the wrong question.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's exactly like he has a moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has, it's Jesus for goodness sake of all people to talk to, correct Maddox is one thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is Jesus, and he has a question he wants to ask.
[SPEAKER_01]: And here's what he asks, a man ran up to him, fell on his knees.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we see his zeal, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Mark 10, 17, we see his zeal, we see his passion.
[SPEAKER_01]: He falls on his knees.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good teacher he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, must I do it?
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, that sounds like a pretty good question.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sounds like a question a lot of people would ask.
[SPEAKER_01]: Turns out, it's not exactly the right question.
[SPEAKER_01]: So as we dig into this, let's pray.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's pray.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want the Lord just to speak to us in His Word.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's pray together.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord help us to hear your word today.
[SPEAKER_01]: Help me to, you know, get out of the way, communicate it just faithfully and well.
[SPEAKER_01]: But let Jesus speak to us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let Jesus speak to us, God, and let us hear what the ears and the ears of faith, and let us see what the eyes of faith, and just receive what we need to receive today from you.
[SPEAKER_01]: When Jesus name.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good teacher.
[SPEAKER_01]: What must I do to inherit eternal life?
[SPEAKER_01]: So he's confessing he knows Jesus is a good teacher.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, calls him rabbi.
[SPEAKER_01]: He understands at least something about who Jesus has.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's probably been around her.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is teachings.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this is in the context.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus has been going around giving a lot of teachings.
[SPEAKER_01]: Saying a lot of unique things.
[SPEAKER_01]: Interesting things.
[SPEAKER_01]: The crowds are following him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Something different about this guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this man, this rich young ruler.
[SPEAKER_01]: So
[SPEAKER_01]: Matthew and Luke kind of give us that dynamic of who this guy is Matthew calls him young It probably means a guy in his 20s the word Matthew uses a guy in his 20s Luke calls him a ruler So that means he's these influential he's got something he's got some pull in the Jewish community Probably a ruler in the synagogue this guy is influential and influencer right he's got authority of some kind But he recognizes Jesus as a rabbi as a teacher and I want to learn from him and seems to have an earnestness to learn from Jesus
[SPEAKER_01]: And he wants to know the answer to this question, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
[SPEAKER_01]: He asks about eternal life.
[SPEAKER_01]: That seems like a really good question, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Eternal life.
[SPEAKER_01]: We all want to know about eternal life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Eternal life, though.
[SPEAKER_01]: It can mean a couple different things, depending on what you mean by it when you say it.
[SPEAKER_01]: eternal can mean quantity, okay, life that never ends.
[SPEAKER_01]: It just has days of old days of old days that never stops going.
[SPEAKER_01]: It can also though man quality, can mean quality of life, the quality of eternal life when Jesus taught about eternal life and he did from time to time.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he was, he was mainly talking about the quality of life.
[SPEAKER_01]: The quality of life that is in right relationship with God Almighty.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's that kind of eternal life.
[SPEAKER_01]: This guy is asking about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is he asking, how can I be right with God?
[SPEAKER_01]: Or is he just asking, how can I live forever?
[SPEAKER_01]: Probably just how can I live forever?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is his understanding of it?
[SPEAKER_01]: Now the reality is we don't live forever in Christ without the quality of being right with God, through Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the truth of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't get the eternal quantity without the eternal quality in the kingdom of God, but whatever way he's asking it,
[SPEAKER_01]: But he wants to know, you want to know, how do I have that, whatever it is, eternal life.
[SPEAKER_01]: But his phrasing though, it's his phrasing that sort of betrays his heart here, betrays his intention, because here's how he asks it, what must I do, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all have the most shallow way of thinking about your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: to believe that my performance is the most important thing about me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then the determining factor in eternal life, or in my relationship with God, it's a legalistic point of view.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like the Jewish religious system that this guy came from.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can understand why he thought this way, why he was asking this way, what can I do?
[SPEAKER_01]: If I can do the right things, the right ways, at the right times, say the right words, then I will some way earn eternal life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now he uses the word inherit.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's sort of a juxtaposition of terms, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, how do I inherit eternal life?
[SPEAKER_01]: But inheritance is what?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a gift of grace, isn't it?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what inheritance is?
[SPEAKER_01]: You get in inheritance because someone above you gives it to you by their grace.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he's asking, what do I do to get the grace of God in life?
[SPEAKER_01]: I ain't gonna understand what he's asking.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so how does Jesus answer?
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus answers the question in the most Jesus way of answering your question.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you read the Gospels, I mean, Jesus loves to not really answer people's questions the way they think he's going to answer their questions if you're a parent or if you're a teacher or you ever have a parent or a teacher that did this to you, you asked them a question and they don't really answer it the way you want them to answer it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, the answer and some other way because what are they doing?
[SPEAKER_01]: They're trying to kind of lead you by answering it in a certain way so that you kind of get there on your own You understand what what we're talking about here.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what Jesus does.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, he just answers this question like Jesus answers questions Why do you call me good Jesus answered so it's like what man?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm asking you about eternal life Jesus backs it up and he goes why do you call me good?
[SPEAKER_01]: No one is good except God alone
[SPEAKER_01]: No one is good.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Jesus is kind of pausing this man's pursuit of, okay, I just want to know about eternal life.
[SPEAKER_01]: He backs it up to this point, I'm just going to hold on.
[SPEAKER_01]: Before we talk about that,
[SPEAKER_01]: Why do you even call me good?
[SPEAKER_01]: You came up here and you called me good teacher.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you mean by that?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what he's asking.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you mean by good?
[SPEAKER_01]: Who is good?
[SPEAKER_01]: What is goodness even?
[SPEAKER_01]: He's kind of trying to pick out like what this man understands about what is good.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is setting the foundation for the rest of this conversation.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is important.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why he asks that question and says no one's good except God alone now is is Jesus Hinting at his own divinity here.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says you call me good, but no one's good, but God We know Jesus is God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's the son of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is perfectly good.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is perfectly righteous and he says here No one's good, but God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's the only one that is perfect.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's just talking perfect And he's talking perfect goodness without spot wrinkle or blemish no one is like that
[SPEAKER_01]: except God alone.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he's again, he's sort of setting the tone for the rest of this conversation.
[SPEAKER_01]: But here's what he does.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, you know the commandments.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this guy asks, how do I get eternal life?
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus, why you call me good?
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody's good but God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, you know the commandments, though.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the guy is listening, and Jesus, of course, says, here's the commandments, do not murder, do not commit adultery, don't steal, don't get false testimony, don't defraud, defraud is kind of an inch anyways, probably a different way of translating the covetousness of the 10th commandment, don't defraud.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then honor your father and mother.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Jesus names six of the commandments, not 10, and we'll come back to that.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is important.
[SPEAKER_01]: He named six commandments.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, you know these commandments, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't do these things, you know, listen to the commandments.
[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 20, the guy responds, teacher, he declared, I like that where he declared this.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like there's probably people listening to the conversation, there's a lot of people around.
[SPEAKER_01]: This guy again, because he doesn't quite understand what he's asking or what goodness even is or what the foundation of our eternal life is.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's trying to justify his own goodness.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right to those around me trying to justify his own goodness to Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: He still thinks my internally inheritance has something to do with my own goodness.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so Jesus asked him, you know the commandments and the guy goes, I declare this all of these I have kept since I was a boy.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a good boy.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what you're saying.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a good guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus, I'm done good.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, you name those commandments.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've kept them.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm doing pretty good there.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you would think, okay, that's there, there it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: The end of the story, and everybody listening, I guarantee you the people who are around thought, okay, yeah, how do you use a good guy?
[SPEAKER_01]: We know this guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Rich young rulers, guys got it all together, guys got to figure it out.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a leader in our community.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's kept the commandments, check.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is gonna tell them, awesome, good job, buddy.
[SPEAKER_01]: He turned a life, you got it.
[SPEAKER_01]: What does Jesus do?
[SPEAKER_01]: says Jesus looked at him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't skip this verse.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus looked at him and loved him.
[SPEAKER_01]: That word looked there and in the Greek, it is a word that means to look very intently at somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: Kind of, it's kind of stare at them.
[SPEAKER_01]: It just looks, Jesus means to see, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: To really see somebody for who they are in the depth of them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Only Jesus can really look at somebody this way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, we can look at each other.
[SPEAKER_01]: This way, deeply, but I mean, Jesus can look, John tells us, Jesus knows what's in the heart of a man.
[SPEAKER_01]: He knows this guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: and he looks at him and it's easy for us to think at times too that Jesus didn't love the Jewish leaders.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus didn't love the Pharisees, he didn't love the sadgesies, he didn't love the synagogue leaders because he often got on to them.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we see that when you read through the gospel, he does.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has some pretty serious clashes with them, some pretty serious confrontations with them.
[SPEAKER_01]: He drives money changers out of the temple at one point, he calls them hip or crits and white wash tombs and vipers and all these things like he gets on these guys.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it'd be easy for us to think,
[SPEAKER_01]: love them, I don't think anything could be further from the truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now love that mark intentionally put this part in the story where he says, Jesus looked at him and he loved him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now listen, Jesus is about to tell this guy some really harsh truth that he knows is going to make this guy sad.
[SPEAKER_01]: But first, he loved him.
[SPEAKER_01]: look right here for just a second because this is sort of sideways, but I think it matters.
[SPEAKER_01]: When you know there's truth you have to say to a person, make sure you love them before you tell them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes you got to tell people truth, you know what I mean, and sometimes it hurts.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's necessary.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a part of life, but you can tell people truth without love.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think it's way better this way.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus, He loved Him.
[SPEAKER_01]: And He said, one thing you lack.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is a rich guy, a rich young ruler.
[SPEAKER_01]: This guy has not been told very often in his life that he lacks anything.
[SPEAKER_01]: I promise you that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because he doesn't.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got everything, you know, worldly sense in a religious sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is who you want to be.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, he doesn't lack things in their culture, and yet Jesus looks at him, loves him, and says to him the truth that nobody else would tell him you're lacking something.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he said, go sell everything you have, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and then come follow me.
[SPEAKER_01]: That word lack is the same word that the Apostle Paul uses in Romans chapter 3 verse 23 where he says, all have fallen short of the glory of God, all have sinned if I'll short.
[SPEAKER_01]: So lack to be deficient in the same word, Jesus uses here with this man.
[SPEAKER_01]: You lack something, you're deficient in something.
[SPEAKER_01]: You come up short here and he says, go sell all your things, give it to the poor and then come follow me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, this guy's rich, he's young, he's powerful, the worldly sense, the religious sense, he's got everything, but he's lacking that one thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is that one thing?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Jesus' point is you're lacking the biggest thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it just that this guy has stuff?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it just that this guy has money?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that a problem?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it a problem to be rich?
[SPEAKER_01]: Not in enough itself, no.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the point of this story, let me just go ahead and say this, is not exactly that if you want to go to heaven, you've got to sell all your stuff and give it to the poor.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's really not Jesus' point.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to get to this in a second.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because it's not, it doesn't even line up with the rest of New Testament scripture.
[SPEAKER_01]: We see that.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have faith in Christ Jesus for our justification and our right standing with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: You put your faith in Him.
[SPEAKER_01]: You trust in Him and you are made right with Him and you enter in to return life.
[SPEAKER_01]: So why does Jesus say this though?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like why does he say to this guy so interesting and strange and different produces to say to him, go sell everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sound like he's just saying, go do this thing, go check this box and you'll be saved.
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll have treasure in heaven and come follow me.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he said, you lack something.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what is he lacking?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the question.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is he lacking?
[SPEAKER_01]: What does Jesus response display about what he's lacking?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it displays this.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is lacking the desire for Christ above everything else.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's lacking the desire for God above everything else.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I can say that because we know Jesus is the Son of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's the Word of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is the will of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's the revelation of God to the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: John 118 says this.
[SPEAKER_01]: No one has ever seen God, but God, that's Jesus, the one and only who is at the Father's side has made him known.
[SPEAKER_01]: John 149 says this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyone who has seen me, this is Jesus speaking.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
[SPEAKER_01]: What does Jesus say?
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to know God?
[SPEAKER_01]: You know me.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to follow God.
[SPEAKER_01]: You follow me.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to trust God.
[SPEAKER_01]: You trust me.
[SPEAKER_01]: You love God.
[SPEAKER_01]: You love me.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we can easily equate those two things.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is lacking thing here in his life was that he didn't value and trust and love Christ above all things.
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't love God above all things.
[SPEAKER_01]: How do we know this?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because again, Jesus only asked him
[SPEAKER_01]: And the last six commandments are about, or about horizontal relationship, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: The last six commandments, the one Jesus names, don't murder, don't kill, don't steal those things.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're about horizontal relationships.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first four are about what?
[SPEAKER_01]: They're about this.
[SPEAKER_01]: And she's thinking to ask them about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: What's the first commandment?
[SPEAKER_01]: There is one God, you have no God's beforehand.
[SPEAKER_01]: What's the second commandment?
[SPEAKER_01]: You have no idols in your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't even name those two.
[SPEAKER_01]: He named the ones that this guy could easily check off the list and the ones that everybody else around him could easily see and go, yeah, that guy does.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's like, we don't think he's killing anybody, doesn't lie, he's not a thief, like he's a good dude.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a good guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he must have been lacking in the first four commandments.
[SPEAKER_01]: Namely, the first one, no other gods before me.
[SPEAKER_01]: The second one, no idols before me.
[SPEAKER_01]: How do we know that?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because when he said to this man, okay, go give away your money.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come follow me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Simple.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's go give away your money, come follow me.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got a lot to give, go give it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where did the guy do?
[SPEAKER_01]: A youngest head.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he went away sad because he had great wealth.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it wasn't that this guy was immoral.
[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't that this guy was overtly sinful in his behavior.
[SPEAKER_01]: Listen, he's not like Zacchaeus or Matthew.
[SPEAKER_01]: These guys were tax collectors.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were, they were a wretched people.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't like the thief on the cross.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't like the woman at the well.
[SPEAKER_01]: He went like Mary Magdalene.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't like the demon possessed man at the tombs.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't like Peter.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't like Paul.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those people were sinners with checkered past.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a pretty good guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a religious guy, but what's the difference between him and all of those other men and women?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's this.
[SPEAKER_01]: They all knew they were sinners.
[SPEAKER_01]: They knew they were.
[SPEAKER_01]: They understood that they didn't have a leg to stand on.
[SPEAKER_01]: They couldn't stand on their own goodness.
[SPEAKER_01]: If they wanted to enter eternal life, they couldn't stand on their own morality, they couldn't stand on their own righteousness.
[SPEAKER_01]: They needed Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the difference in all of them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this man, you remember the first time Peter met Jesus?
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus gives him that catcher fish.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's out in his boat and he comes back into shore and he falls at Jesus' feet.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he goes, oh, way from me, I'm not worthy of you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I'm a sinner.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the difference between that guy and Peter and Paul and the tax collectors and the sinners and the prostitutes that came to Jesus and bowed before Jesus and trusted in Jesus because they knew.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have anything to stand on before Him.
[SPEAKER_01]: I could only trust in his goodness, not my own.
[SPEAKER_01]: I could only trust in his holiness, his righteousness, not my own, this man.
[SPEAKER_01]: This man was good.
[SPEAKER_01]: This man was a good guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what?
[SPEAKER_01]: The scariest thing about this story is that this man was a good guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the scariest thing about this story to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: And depending on where you sit in this room right now, that might be the scariest thing about this story and it also might be the best thing about this story that that was a good guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: It might be scary to you and it is scary to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you like him, find yourself at times trying to trust in your own goodness and ability to measure up to God on your own terms.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you find that to be a struggling your life, this story should scare the bridges off of you because you should hear Jesus saying, you don't measure up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who's good?
[SPEAKER_01]: But God, you think you're good?
[SPEAKER_01]: You can be as good as you want to be, and I'm telling you, I love you, I know most of you are pretty well, y'all are good.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're only good people, y'all, and nice people, you're fine.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you don't measure up to him.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, what do we, what do we think we're doing?
[SPEAKER_01]: What do we think, what game are we playing?
[SPEAKER_01]: We're trying to climb some ladder and get to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: God had to come to us.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the point of the gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can't get to him.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you're trying to do that, if you're trying to work this religious system to believe that one day, when you stand before him face to face, you're gonna have something to bargain with, to enter in.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry, you lose.
[SPEAKER_01]: You will get nothing.
[SPEAKER_01]: That should terrify us, but it's also really good news if unlike this guy, you know that you don't have anything to bring before him.
[SPEAKER_01]: At you know your poor, Jesus said, blessed are the poor and spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: For theirs is the kingdom of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those who know, they come empty handed, pitiful poor blind and naked, I have nothing to give you, God.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have only to receive from you grace and mercy.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's good news, because this story tells us that even a guy like this, even a guy like this couldn't get in on his own merit, because it's not about that, it's not about his merit, it's not about his goodness, it's about Christ's merit, it's not his goodness.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, let's read the rest of the story.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus looked around, so this guy, his face fell, went away sad because he had great wealth.
[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 23, Jesus looked around, and he said to his disciples, how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, he says that not the pick on rich people, okay, that's really not his point.
[SPEAKER_01]: In their culture, this guy, this rich young man, and in your rich person would inherently by their perception be blessed by God.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what they would think.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just how they live.
[SPEAKER_01]: So a guy like this, when they see a rich person, I think man, he's got the favor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: If anybody could enter in, it's him.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's why Jesus is bringing this up.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's just challenging their perceptions of good.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's challenging their perceptions of who can enter into eternal life.
[SPEAKER_01]: The disciples, because listen, it says they were amazed
[SPEAKER_01]: They're confused.
[SPEAKER_01]: What?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's hard for a rich person to get into the kingdom, Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: That didn't make sense to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: But Jesus said again, children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man.
[SPEAKER_01]: to enter the kingdom of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: The disciples were even more amazed.
[SPEAKER_01]: They are so confused at what Jesus is saying.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they said to each other, who then can be saved?
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the right question.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the first time in the story.
[SPEAKER_01]: The right question has been asked.
[SPEAKER_01]: They are amazed that Jesus is telling them it's hard for even our rich person It's hard for a guy like this rich young ruler.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's difficult for him to get into the kingdom of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: How is this even possible?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so they ask the only right question.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who can be saved?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think so many of us we find ourselves at time being amazed that God wouldn't save somebody or he wouldn't save us.
[SPEAKER_01]: That shouldn't amaze you that God wouldn't save somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: It shouldn't amaze you that God would save anybody.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ever.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why we sing amazing grace.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not amazing me, not amazing my goodness, not amazing my amazing grace.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about him.
[SPEAKER_01]: He gifts it to us and we should be amazed that the disciples are amazed and they ask, who can be saved and so Jesus looked at him and he said, with man, this is impossible.
[SPEAKER_01]: But not with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: All things are possible with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right?
[SPEAKER_01]: All things are possible with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who can be saved?
[SPEAKER_01]: The answer is no one on your own merit, no one on your own goodness, no one on your own strength, no one on your own wisdom, no one on your own intelligence, no one on your own bank account, you cannot be saved, but with God, all things are possible.
[SPEAKER_01]: How are we saved?
[SPEAKER_01]: We look to him.
[SPEAKER_01]: We love him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus answered this question.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is the greatest commandment?
[SPEAKER_01]: To love the Lord your God?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all your heart so mind and strength.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why again, he asked this guy about the other six, but that's the greatest one.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this guy was deficient in this.
[SPEAKER_01]: He did not love the Lord, his God.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all his heart because it's treasure with somewhere else.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what his treasure was?
[SPEAKER_01]: His treasure.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's what his treasure was.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: his money.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Peter said to him, we have left everything to follow you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I tell you the truth Jesus replied, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much.
[SPEAKER_01]: In this present age, homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields and with them, persecutions and in the age to come eternal life.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're looking for eternal life on your own terms, you will not get it.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you look for eternal life in Christ and Christ alone, you will receive exactly that, because it's in him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Many who are first, he said, will be last and the last will be first.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were amazed.
[SPEAKER_01]: but all things are possible with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: So again, if you are like the man in this story, this should be a convicting story, this should come with it a little bit of fearfulness because you see and you understand that I'm trying to trust in my own goodness to merit eternal life and it's just not possible.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you understand this morning, that you cannot bring anything to God to earn his favor to earn salvation, and you would just cling to Jesus by faith and then be joyful and rejoice, because that was a good guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: And no matter what you bring, no matter how good you are, no matter if you think you're as good as the person sitting beside you behind you in front of you, no matter if you think you're as good as me or not, doesn't matter what matters is you're not as good as God, but he gave his son to die because we're not good, to pay the price for our not goodness,
[SPEAKER_01]: to bleed his own blood for our not goodness, to rise from the dead, to prove that he is good, that he is righteous, that he is holding whoever, whichever not good person would just come and cling to him by faith, would receive eternal life.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't do good to earn eternal life.
[SPEAKER_01]: It won't work.
[SPEAKER_01]: We do good as evidence that we have received Jesus as our treasure.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is your treasure?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's really the question today.
[SPEAKER_01]: What's your treasure?
[SPEAKER_01]: This man, this man went away sad because he was a wealthy and that different than the world, wealthy people aren't sad.
[SPEAKER_01]: wealthy people are happy because they're rich.
[SPEAKER_01]: This guy was sad because it said because he was wealthy and he knew now he knew that his wealth would not buy him eternal life, couldn't do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because he knew that God was not his treasure.
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't change in that moment, and he just went away, sad.
[SPEAKER_01]: My question, I guess, is, and we don't know this, we don't really know anything about what happened to him afterwards.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some scholars actually guessed that this was Lazarus, might've been Lazarus, the guy that dies later, and Jesus raises from the digs.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a rich guy, we know Lazarus was a rich young man.
[SPEAKER_01]: Might've been, maybe.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe not, but did he stay sad?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's my question.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did this guy stay sad?
[SPEAKER_01]: After he went away, where did he go?
[SPEAKER_01]: What did he do?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, what was his prayers like that night?
[SPEAKER_01]: When he prayed to the Lord later, because he seemed to be a good Jewish guy, certainly he's praying to God, what was he praying about?
[SPEAKER_01]: God could there please be another way I could get in?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, like what's he asking?
[SPEAKER_01]: Did he tell his friends the story?
[SPEAKER_01]: Did he tell his family about what Jesus said?
[SPEAKER_01]: Did he scoff at Jesus' words?
[SPEAKER_01]: What about when Jesus died?
[SPEAKER_01]: Later on, because certainly this guy was there, or certainly this guy knew about that in Jerusalem, Jesus has arrested, he's tried, he's crucified, what did this guy do?
[SPEAKER_01]: What did this guy do when Jesus was crucified on that cross?
[SPEAKER_01]: What did he think?
[SPEAKER_01]: What did he think when Jesus came back to life?
[SPEAKER_01]: What did he think when he heard the reports about his resurrection?
[SPEAKER_01]: What did he do then?
[SPEAKER_01]: When the disciples started going around and preaching Jesus' resurrection, preaching in the name of this rabbi that told him that he couldn't have eternal life because he was wealthy and he needed to do like what did he start thinking?
[SPEAKER_01]: When the Jews were coming to faith by the thousands was he one of them?
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope he was.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope we can ask him this question and he turned to the one day.
[SPEAKER_01]: Was he one of those, or did he stay sad?
[SPEAKER_01]: I just, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know about him, but here's what we can know.
[SPEAKER_01]: What about you, what about you today?
[SPEAKER_01]: Deep down in your heart, what is your treasure?
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus said this, Matthew 621, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus said, if you want to know where your heart is, you want to know what you love most, show me your treasure.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll show you your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is Jesus your treasure?
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you love Him above all else?
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you love God above all else?
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you follow Him?
[SPEAKER_01]: If it came down to Jesus or anything or anyone else, would you follow Jesus?
[SPEAKER_01]: One more scripture, this is Matthew chapter 10.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus says that, says that, very thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Matthew 10 37 he says anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a hard teaching, right there.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's not saying you shouldn't love your parents and your spouse and your kids or anything like that or your friend not saying don't love them.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's just saying those people are not good gods in your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look at your parents, your kids, terrible gods.
[SPEAKER_01]: Married people, your spouse, terrible gods.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ladies, you can say amen to that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Terrible gods.
[SPEAKER_01]: guys too.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's only one God and he has earned the right to be our treasure.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has earned that.
[SPEAKER_01]: He created us and he bought us with the blood of his own son Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is he not your treasure?
[SPEAKER_01]: rejoice in Jesus, rejoice that God has given His Son, rejoice that you have a God who loves you, rejoice that you can repent of your sins and trust in Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: rejoice, listen, rejoice that you're not good enough.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is, rejoice in that, because it takes the weight off your shoulders.
[SPEAKER_01]: Doesn't it, can everybody just breathe for a second?
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to be good enough.
[SPEAKER_01]: God's good enough.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: Rejoice in Him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Rejoice in Jesus and be glad or listen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know what?
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to have anything else in the world?
[SPEAKER_01]: You can have it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know that?
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want something else in the world, you can have it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can probably figure it out.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can go buy it on Amazon if you want it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you can go, I said, and you will.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't go away, sad.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's, don't go away, sad.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm gonna ask the band to come back up and listen, we're just gonna have a time and opportunity for the next 10 minutes, just to reflect on this a little bit more.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just want you to take this time, as we sing, if you wanna stand and sing, stand and sing, this is a great song to reflect on this truth today.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you want to stay sitting and just praying, if you want to come, I'll be down here if the prayer team wants to step down.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want somebody to pray with you about something.
[SPEAKER_01]: But here's my encouragement, listen, don't gloss over this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't just take it and now you shut your Bible up and you put it down and you go, okay, let's move on.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want you to really consider, is Jesus your treasure or is he not?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if you put something else on that throne, whether riches or children or other people or your job or your self or whatever it may be.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not a good God, not compared to Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I just want you to take a minute and be honest.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let God introduce you to yourself if you need that today, the way he introduced this man to himself.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just let him know.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're not who you think you are.
[SPEAKER_01]: Only God is good.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you trust in him?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is he your treasure?
[SPEAKER_01]: And if there's something you just need to lay down, lay it down.
[SPEAKER_01]: I promise you this, you won't go into eternity,
[SPEAKER_01]: because you're not taking it with you anyway, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: You're gonna go sad if you get in front of Jesus and you realize he's not my treasure.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's gonna be sad.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let him be your treasure, rejoice and Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let me pray for us.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll be down here if you wanna come or let prayer team, or we can stand and sing sitting prayless pray.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, thank you, thank you that you're good to us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you that you tell us the truth, truth that hurts and convicts when we need it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you that this story got put in the Bible.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need this story.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to be reminded that we're not standing on our own merit.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have anything on which to stand upon.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can't do it unless it's Christ the Solid Rock.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, Father, I pray that for myself and for all of us in this room, if there are things in our lives that have become idols, that have become gods to us that are on the throne that are our treasures above you, Lord, that you would buy your mercy and kindness to us, destroy those things.
[SPEAKER_01]: Burn them away, break them down, put us down if we need it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Remind us again today who the God of this universe is and who the God is that loves us enough to give us his son Thank you Lord Jesus name him