Rich Wilkerson, Jr. — Friend Of Sinners: More Than Pants

mark chapter 10 verse 17 this is how it reads it says this it says as Jesus started on his way a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him good teacher he said what must I do to inherit eternal life why do you call me good jesus answered no one is good except God alone you know the commandments do not murder do not commit adultery do not steal do not give false testimony do not defraud honor your father and mother somebody go and get my son put him in this service right now teacher he declared all these I have kept since I was a boy and Jesus looked at him and loved him I love that little verse right there in 21 Jesus looked and he loved one thing you lack he said go sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven then come follow me at this the man's face fell he went away sad because he had great wealth I will take a few moments today and I want to preach to you from this this concept this thought if you're titling your notes hopefully you take notes research shows us that 98% of people who take notes automatically go to heaven okay if you believe that come back next week I want to preach you from this thought more than pants more than pants and before we pray I just realized I keep forgetting this key critical announcement Oliver you got to come help us out I keep forgetting this announcement I'm supposed to announce and the people on the screens are helped me this is all of it Oliver he's our production director make some noise for Oliver ladies he's single loves Jesus it was getting very sacred in church and then all of a sudden I was like I looked over he was like we have an announcement can you make that critical announcement that I think is good because it's only happening tonight let's do it so if you by friend of sinners today at the resource corner you get $15 off your vous conference registration I think we have a slide for it there it is we planned that we planned all of this hey you guys in the back there you're doing an excellent job we love you guys so much and but but here's the thing because you guys never get thanked and nobody ever sees you and you're in the back somewhere hiding away but we are so grateful for you and so we just want to take a moment in this service right now in all of us people go crazy for you heroes in the back it's just it's wild punching buttons hitting screens our church would be nothing without you we love you god bless you over and out Roger and out code 3 we got a code 4 code blue rip whammy whammy Niner 6 6 4 3 2 land the plane let's go alright alright give it up for Oliver I love you so much I love you sorry isn't it amazing how the Spirit of God comes and goes so quick at vous Church I want to preach today from this subject more than pants and I believe is going to encourage you would you pray with me tonight today as we as we go to God's Word God we thank you so much that you brought us here thank you for a fun church Lord thank you God for a place that we don't have to take ourselves too seriously Lord that you already paid the price for us so today Lord we we inhale your grace that we might exhale Lord faith every step of this journey today God speak to your people change us from the inside out we love you we praise you and if you believe in all of God's people said all of God's people said come on 1230 service at itec make some noise this is such an interesting season for me in my life many of you know the big life change that recently took place for don sri and i and that is after eight years of believing and hoping that we would have a child God granted and God gave this wonderful blessing this Tuesday will be eight weeks that our baby boy why at Wesley Wilkerson was born into the world and it's funny because every day that he grows up the more more I realize I know nothing about children and any man in this place who doesn't have kids in his life they would silently they probably won't publicly but but they don't know about kids either we just don't know what you don't know and I was thinking about before I had Wyatt now that I have Wyatt like every mile marker every weeks a mile marker and he's doing something new and he's looking at me yesterday he said dad I love you so much I was like you're a prodigy it was amazing but it's funny cuz like before you have kids like there's just stuff you don't like you don't know like if you ever meet a woman who's got like a baby like you like oh baby's so cute how old is your baby like 14 months like what does that mean 14 months like I don't know what that meet 14 months such a strange thing to say imagine somebody asking me how old I wasn't like 369 months I'm doing good right now like when do you graduate from saying months and years it just things now like for instance my biggest problem kids like if a kid can say my name I assume that kid can cook clean and clothe himself a couple years ago we went on a family reunion there's about 40 of us from my mom's side of the family we went to Maui it was an incredible time and at the time my wife and I we didn't have any kids and so I was constantly nominated to be babysitter on that vacation and I loved babysitting all my nieces and nephews in fact on my mom's side the family I have 14 cousins all roughly around the same age as me so many of them have like little kids and so much fun hanging out with them and be with them and I just give them money so they like me and um I was uh I ran one day in particular I was with the kids out of eight or nine of them on like the playground were playing and this woman she walks by and she's like givin out free popsicles and she's like who wants a popsicle my boy I do you know and so I got all my nieces and nephews popsicles and we made our walk back towards the pool and all the moms were laying out on the recliners and one of the mama goes hey rich where'd you get those popsicles from I said some lady gave them to us [Music] the mama goes rich you cannot teach children to take things from strangers I would literally be the first babysitter to get kidnapped with the kids some creepy dude pulls up on an old rickety white van I lost my kitten come on guys we gotta find this cat for Jesus let's go you know we all get stolen the worst like the whole like trip came to this like culminating like disastrous moment I was once again on baby city duty but but slash life Guardian duty and my little nephew his name's Levi the time he's four years of age and he kept messing with me [Applause] like at that age joy is that is that a demon what what is that you know and so he's there foaming at the mouth and um I told him am i a hey knock it off he's a guy keeps he keeps going I'm like egg brah not cool quit messing with me I'm talking to this four-year-old like he's 30 years of age well he wouldn't stop he gets going so far I had it I grabbed him I threw him in the pool [Music] and he'd begin to die quickly right there in that moment if everybody cuz his mom was just like super chill she's just sitting on a chair and he was rich he doesn't even know how to swim obviously this is a mother with multiple children right you don't say that if you have one kid if you got three like he'll be fine you know I I jump into the water as fast as I kid as fast as I can to rescue this kid I pull him out of the what when I pulled out of the water his face is one of like terror fear anger yeah he's all mixed up I start to apologize you ever met somebody who doesn't know how to apologize correctly I got some me I'm like do I'm so sorry hey but you know you were wrong right [Music] cuz making me laugh because ultimately what had happened was is that I had overestimated this this four-year-old I think many of us in life this same thing happens to us in different departments different categories of life maybe someone or something we overestimated and it left us in a tragedy it left us in a failure it left us with a great disappointment what ends up happening in life is that we have this self defense mechanism that we put up that whenever we find ourselves being disappointed or letdown what we do in order to defend ourselves is we choose to lower our standard I'm not gonna let that happen to me again that was scary when I overestimated that person and they let me down and time and time again what happens in the church as many people they take the failures of this world and they project them upon a perfect God so many of us in this room what has happened to us is because this world has led us down we now have begun to live our lives in a small way not exercising our faith but putting God into a box and compartmentalizing him to our little perspective and our little paradigm you see the tragedy in 2018 is not that people don't think about Jesus know the great tragedy in 2018 is that people don't think enough about Jesus I came in here to remind some people today that you serve a God who is bigger than anything you could ever think or imagined and it is impossible to overestimate his supremacy centrality and sufficiency he's a great God come on if you believe he's a great big awesome gigantic massive awesome epic God give him some praise in this place come on he's bigger than you're probably giving him credit for I think this is outlined and illustrated in such a beautiful way in mark chapter 10 and I want us to walk through it just for a few moments and I want us to write some things down maybe I'm your notepad or maybe you just maybe you can write some things on your heart today because I think if you can shift your perspective you can leave here today understanding and knowing Jesus in a greater way mark 10 tells the story about this guy that has often just simply defined not by his name but rather his position in life he's he's known as the rich young ruler he's rich he's wealthy he's young and he's powerful and by the world standards that means he's doing pretty good he's got money in the bank he's got youth on his side he's got life in front of him he's got power and he's got authority yet even with all the money in the world and all the stuff of this world it will not quench the questions of your heart for he goes to bed at night like so many of us in this city of Miami that looks so beautiful on the outside yet as you get to its core it's hollow it's brittle its weak and people are projecting one thing but on the inside they're missing something and he lays his head down on his pillow at night he just goes why am i why am I not satisfied but why am I not fulfilled why does it always feel like something is missing have you ever been seduced by success have you ever begin to believe the lie or the propaganda of this world that there is this place that there is this position in life that if you reach then somehow you will find contentment let me just tell you there's a thing on the inside of you and money won't fill it won't fill in the world won't fill in contentment snot found in a place or position contentment found in a person and that person has a name his name is Jesus Christ he's the friend of sinners and only God can fill the god-shaped hole on the inside of you what must I do to inherit eternal life I'm doing good on earth but I know this life is coming to an end and what do I need to do to make sure that my life mattered in my life counted and so the Bible says in mark chapter 10 that one day Jesus is is passing through this rich young ruler he comes up to Jesus and he says good teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life he has this question that needs answering now Before we jump into text it's important that you read all the angles of the text because what you will see as you read mark chapter 10 is you discover this man's approach towards Jesus see rich what do you mean well the way you approach someone indicates how you perceive that person does this make sense to you so like for instance um you approach people differently based on how you perceive them like you probably approach your boss differently than you you approach your fellow coworkers let's use a better analogies to help some people for a minute um you probably or you hopefully do hopefully you approach your spouse praise God different than the way that you approach your your-your-your hangout buddies I approached my wife different than I approach my mom my workout buddies I perceive them differently does this make sense you following this I perceive my wife in a different way so therefore I approach my wife in a different way for instance like I've been married now for eleven years a lot of lessons I've learned come on praise God thank you Jesus it's like it's like three Hollywood marriages in one right there praise God ooh it's like rude rich I'm just playing okay so anyways my wife like I've learned a lot of lessons being married or but but here's one like critical lesson that I've learned being married it on sri it's not just what i say but it's how i say all the ladies in the house say hey man amen I wish my husband was here this is just you have to learn this is a lesson I get you that is what I say it's how I say it for instance Don Cherie she loves to take me shopping which I love by the way I mean it's already like off to like a bizarre thing because we'll go to a department store and Don she wants to apply a pair of jeans and so she'll come on rich let's let's buy some jeans and I'm like okay let's buy jeans and so she'll get like five pairs of jeans and then she'll lead me back into the dressing room area which is just even more bizarre and then she'll always sit me on that weird little stool in the corner then she goes behind a curtain I just have to sit out there all by myself looking like a predator mom's walked by and grab their daughters I'm like I swear I know somebody in there you know just creepy and this is this is the scenarios what happens Don Shree will then come out from behind the curtain she'll be barefoot never understood this she'll get up on her tippy toes and she'll walk out so babe babe babe babe you know babe babe you know pay babe babe babe babe babe how do they look how do they look now it's it's strange there's like I've never called my buddies of like a bro Saturday we go into Nordstrom's I'm trying some jeans off for you dude dude dude dude dude dude dude how's your boy look we just don't do it you know so she comes out she tries the jeans on and then I'll look at her now I like the jeans my response is babe those jeans look good why because good means good to a man [Music] if good was good for God in the beginning God created heavens and the earth and said it is good you would think good is good for girls but no good doesn't mean good to girls good means average good means mediocre good means are you saying I look fat in these jeans I have learned that if I like the jeans dawn Sheree wants me to lose my ever-loving mind so if she comes out babe babe babe babe you know babe babe babe how do these jeans look I have to go oh my god there's a guy somewhere my god they're not you guys you like them yes I love them it's not it's not just what you say it's actually how you say and so I approached my wife differently because I perceived my wife different now I want you to get this because this is this is vital today the way you perceive someone will dictate how you receive from that person how you perceive them dictates how you receive from them so in March chapter 10 when this rich young ruler who has this question of his heart this question that this common cosmic question that all of us deal with which is why am I on earth what's the afterlife about where am I going after all this I'm striving and putting all this effort out on earth does any of it matter when he comes and he approaches Jesus we see a whole lot by how he perceives Jesus just based on his approach he says good teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life now before you get me wrong don't you like Jesus yes he's good and yes he's a teacher but how many of you know he's so much more than just a good teacher see this man based on his approach perceived Jesus to simply be a rabbi see rabbis in this day and age were very very common they would go around rabbis had memorized the tour the tour is the first five books of the Bible Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers in Deuteronomy they had memorized it then their whole life was spent interpreting the scriptures so people would come to them with their questions about life then they would take the scriptures interpret the Scriptures apply them to their everyday life so this man he's coming up to Jesus going oh Jesus like I know you a rabbi and I know you can answer some life's questions and so you're a good teacher I think you're a rabbi can you tell me what I have to do to inherit eternal life and the problem with this approach is that yes Jesus is good and yes Jesus is a teacher and yes Jesus is a rabbi but fresh he is so much more than that Jesus isn't just some rabbi he's the son of God he's the savior of the world he's God in the flesh yet here comes the point of contention for so many people because so many people go yo I'm down with Jesus I think he was a good guy I think he was a teacher I think he might have been a prophet but I don't believe him to be God and everyone is entitled to their own opinion however you have to understand when it comes to Jesus you can't have him both ways he's either Lord of all or he's not Lord at all CS Lewis the great Christian apologist he categorized Jesus this way he said Jesus is one of three things he's either a liar he's either a lunatic or he is Lord well I think he's good really but you don't think he's God no I think he's good but I think he's got it can't be he was lying do you know how many people millions of people have given their life for this message nothing about that is good he was a liar I don't think he's a liar then you must think he's a lunatic no I think he was a teacher I think his principles were nice do look once again there's no way that this guy who was teaching stuff who would lead people to their death there's no way on earth he can be good that's some crazy talk right there so maybe just maybe you think that when he was preaching and teaching maybe Jesus never considered the ramifications of his words maybe he never considered the consequences of his message so maybe he was crazy no I don't think he's a liar I don't think he's a lunatic well then you have one option left maybe just maybe he is who he said he is maybe just maybe he actually is God and maybe just maybe he came on a rescue mission to save your life good teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life notice the world is fixated on what they must do what do I got to do people come to church this way every week what do I got it tell me what I need to do to make sure I'm good and we look at God as if there's a formula to God what's the three-step plan to God friends there's no formula there's no three-step there's a man his name is Jesus if there was a formula you wouldn't need Jesus Jesus is a one-stop-shop he's not the answer to everything he can't be the answer to anything he's God so this man he sees Jesus and he approaches Jesus and he perceives Jesus to be a good teacher to be a rabbi and notice what Jesus says back to in response Jesus replies I love this he says why do you call me good only God is good now there's many people that are outside of faith they go here it is Jesus he's telling the world that he's not God actually it's the complete opposite he said if you're calling me good don't you know that only God and God alone is good so if you think I'm good you must be thinking I'm God and if I'm God address me the right way come on 12:30 I feel like preaching a little bit up in this place today if I'm God then address me the right way so watch what Jesus does Jesus looks at man here's a key line because you know the commandments you know you know you know I love when people come to me sometimes in the courtyard and they'll want to confess like something is people think if you're a pastor that means your life's perfect and so they one of two things happens on an airplane when I tell someone my pastor one they're like I can't stand this guy I don't mind that the seconds worse they start confessing every sin they ever committed if people will come through is like go and they we behave like we have questions but come on you are do you know what's right you know what's wrong Jesus doesn't know me because he is you know the commandments and what he's do he starts going through the list of all the do's and don'ts do not murder do not commit adultery do not lie young Wyatt do not dishonor your mother and father now watch the response of this man the man says oh Jesus I've been doing all of these things since I was a young boy I've been doing this I'm good Jesus okay good you're good it's checking to see if I'm good now we're good what time again next week should I check in to make sure I'm good again Sunday's 12:30 yeah I'm gonna come back making sure I'm good one more time I've been a fool whoa okay I was worried for a minute I'm good you're good I'm good we're all good been doing this since I was a kid I've been keeping those Commandments never broke one of those Commandments I'm good you're good we're all good we good here's what the scripture says the scripture says that the law what's the law the law is is really the Old Testament it's it's the beginning of this entire book the law the Bible says is like a mirror okay and so how does a mirror world a mirror you look into a mirror and what is the mirror do the mirror reflects and shows you the truth you can't escape the mirror the law God's Word is is the nature the character of who God is that we serve a perfect God let me use another metaphor this would be more helpful in Miami the law is like a scale you ever tried to cheat your scale one foot Hey let me weigh myself in the morning you know like whatever doesn't matter right like like the scale tells you the truth it always tells you the truth and ultimately whenever you look into the mirror called the law what happens is is you compare yourself to God's law and what you discover is you see every blemish you see every one of your wrinkles oh my goodness my hair is receding because us compared to a perfect God we will always always show every imperfection every issue every challenge the law never quits making demands I'm good I've been doing that since I was a young boy really did I mention there's one more thing you could do what yeah there's more what do you mean well yeah if you're trying to like complete the law let me let me tell you there's more to do but I thought you just I thought you just gave me the list right there's more to the list okay well once I do that will I be good no there'll be more to the list okay but rim is the list and oh it doesn't ever end so you think you're good yeah I've been doing it since I was 12 no there's more to do I want you to go and I want you to sell all your houses I want you to empty your bank accounts I want you to sell everything you have and give it all to the poor then come follow me and the Bible says that this man because he had great wealth hung his head and walked away there's always more to do when you view life through the law see here's the challenge of this sin doesn't make you bad sin makes you dead imagine you were drowning and you didn't know how to swim help how and I threw you a swimmers manual you but oh you're done if you're drowning and you don't know how to swim you don't need a swimmer's manual you need a Savior you need somebody to rescue you you need somebody to do for you what you can't do for yourself I remember I was getting certified to be a scuba diver and I was doing this my last Beach dive is about a group about 15 or go off the beach and we're going out there into the water and as we're getting into the water or about twenty-five to fifty yards away there's this man and he's drowning and nobody sees him my instructor it was incredible he made this beeline right to the guy he gets over to the guy and starts to rescue the man but I'll never forget what I witness and what I saw because this man as he was being rescued he's he's putting his hands everywhere and he's panicking and he's fighting back and literally both of them start going under the water and I can hear the instructors say quit fighting let me swim for you to me it's a picture of what so many people in 2018 looked like because we come to church and we still think that Jesus is a supplement to our life friend he's not a supplement to your life he's the savior of your life and the only way you're gonna be rescued is when you receive his help when you receive His grace when you understand you can't swim he's got to swim for you come on somebody give God a shout of praise in this place you can't do it oh Jesus I've been keeping those commands since I was a young boy classic religious response because religion will always make you proud of yourself while the gospel will always make you proud of Jesus [Music] see this is just fundamental it's just basic you can't go to Jesus until you quit going to yourself I want us to be a church that when we leave here you don't leave here alone I'm good I want you to leave you're going I'm good because of his grace he forgave me again he loved me again he extended mercy again he accepted me Here I am again good good teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life why do you call me good only God is good that's who I am I'm God you should address me the right way you know the commandments don't do this don't do that don't do this don't do that well I've been doing that since that was young boy I'm good no there's more to do it's funny because I grew up in church and this passage would be preached at youth camp and the invitation will be made who's ready to sell everything and follow Jesus now I would run to the altar I'd weep how to walk out of there I wouldn't sell nothing because what if there's more to the story there's no doubt you got to read on of course Jesus is talking about greed Jesus will challenge greed absolutely like the world that we live in America 2018 listen you don't have to be rich to be greedy some of the poorest people I know are greedy this is actually not a message about stuff nothing wrong with having stuff what's wrong is when stuff has you there's no doubt that Jesus is teaching about greed he's going to talk about greed but I think there's a deeper message going on see this man he approached Jesus and the way that he approached Jesus dictates and indicates how he perceived Jesus he saw Jesus as a supplement he saw Jesus as good advice he saw Jesus as three principles to live by he sought Jesus as a rabbi and because he perceived him as a rabbi he received the rabbi answer the rabbi answer would have been you got to do more because the law never stops making demands the law is full of demand but grace is full of supply I believe that if this man approached Jesus properly I believe like every other encounter in the New Testament Jesus would have been full of he would have been rich in mercy he would have extended grace I believe this man came with a religious heart saying what do I need to do what can I do I need to do this you're a teacher speak to me give me some good advice so Jesus said cool if that's how you see me here's some good advice quit doing this do more that that will make you more morally decent that will make you more awesome in society that will help your perception here's some more good stuff to do but had this man come and fallen on his knees and said you are the son of God I need to be rescued I need to be saved only you and you alone can give me eternal life I believe Jesus Christ would have given him mercy right on the spot right on the spot you do understand if the man would have sold everything and followed Jesus he still would have had to do more because God is perfect and we are imperfect all I want our church to get this the law is not bad the law is good but the law was designed to point you to Jesus that's why the Bible says in verse 21 that Jesus looked at the man and loved the man see if you read that verse out of context it seems bizarre how could he love this man and then give him such a harsh answer he gave him the harsh answer because the law is meant to be a burden on your back and the whole point of this message is whatever's gonna drive you to your knees and ask for mercy if that's the law so Ben or you can make a decision and a choice to recognize who it is is in the room and you can fall into your knees and say I am no match for the law I need you to say the law is designed to drive you to your knees that you would cry out and say I can't do it if you're here today and the pressure of this world and the pressure of religion is overwhelming I want to encourage you there's good news because Jesus he didn't come to abolish the law he came to fulfill it he did it for you you see this man in mark chapter 10 yes he is guilty of greed but he's guilty of a greater crime and the greater crime of greed is that he's simply underestimated who Jesus was I don't know what happened to him in life maybe he had overestimated some stuff maybe it was a project maybe it was a person that thing disappointed him he said all right now I'm in control let me just lower my standards so I can make sure that my heart doesn't get hurt and maybe you're here today maybe today you - you have just underestimated Jesus it's the thing I do on Sunday Jesus you can have an hour and twenty minutes of my life but then I've got to get back to real business you're under estimating him you're you're reducing his message you're putting him into a box he's not a supplement he's a savior when I was a little kid my mom used to tell me this story about this missionary his name was Charles Greenway and in the 1950s he took his family and move them to a remote part of the Congo in Africa and his mission was to spread the gospel you can imagine the space that he was in it being a remote area of village most of the people would wake up every day living in huts and doing life completely naked not having clothes on one occasion they were having a church service and Charles Greenway had some friends from America in town and they went to the church service and during the church service the friends from America they they looked at the men that were in the worship service and they began to be appalled as they watched men worship God completely naked in the sanctuary when the service ended they they grabbed mr. Greenway and they said sir how is it that you can let the men worship without any pants on mr. Greenway he responded because I don't want the message of Jesus to be reduced down to a pair of pants last time I checked he's more than pants he's more than hands and friend today I don't know what you walked in here with but I'm telling you if this god is real he deserves so much more than a morally decent life [Music] you see calculation and crucifixion we'll never agree you don't give Jesus a percentage of your life Jesus says you got a fold on your knees and you got to recognize that I am God and in recognizing that I am God I will extend grace I will extend mercy I will lift the law off your back and I will swim for you I want us to be a church I want us to be a church that we live continually attempting trying striving if you will to overestimate who Jesus is I'm telling you what it's impossible I refuse I refuse I refuse to play Church I refuse I refuse to simply build a program in Miami if you want a program there's some other places they got better programs I'm not giving my life for a program I'm not giving my life for a sunday gathering I'm giving my life because I was dead in my sin and a Savior named Jesus Christ the friend of sinners he came and he brought me back he took the burden off my back and he paid the price and today I'm forgiven I'm a child of God and he has the most powerful name come on church sing it out come on

Channel: VOUS Church

Views: 12,785

Rating: 4.5706215 out of 5

Keywords: rich wilkerson jr, friend of sinners, fos, fos book, book, more than pants

Id: EkAeJ26SNPk

Length: 39min 36sec (2376 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 19 2018