The Rich Young Ruler

the following message by Alistair beg is made available by truth for life for more information visit us online at truth for well I invite you to turn with me to the Gospel of Mark and to chapter 10 page 7 1 6 in the church Bibles if you would like to make use of one page 7 1 6 March after 10 let's read from verse 17 of Mark chapter 10 as Jesus started on his way a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him good teacher he asked 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 teacher he declared all these I have kept since I was a boy Jesus looked at him and loved him one thing you lack he said go sell everything you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven then come follow me this the man's face fell he went away sad because he had great wealth Jesus looked around and said to his disciples how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God the disciples were amazed at his words but jesus said again children how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God the disciples were even more amazed and said to each other who then can be saved Jesus looked at them and said with man this is impossible but not with God all things are possible with God Peter said to him we've left everything to follow you 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 reveal will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age namely homes brothers sisters mothers children and fields and within persecutions and in the age to come eternal life but many who are first will be last and the last first thanks be to God for his word now just a brief prayer make the book live to me O Lord show me yourself within your word show me myself and show me my Savior and make the book live to me for Jesus sake amen it is generally true that things are easier for the wealthy money opens doors a congregation like this ought not to have to be convinced of this nor should we be in any need of illustrations education health care travel leisure almost any area of life finds that the mechanisms are oiled by access to a superior amount of cash and that is why money is often regarded as being the universal passport to everywhere but here in this story this morning we discover that here is one door that is not opened to the wealthy because what we are continuing to ponder is this story of a rich young ruler and we learn that in his case when it came to seeking eternal life because that was his question in verse 17 when it came to his interest in entry into the kingdom when it came to the question of salvation for all of those phrases are used interchangeably his wealth proved not to be a benefit but actually a barrier and so mark along with Matthew and Luke record for us the story of this man who approached the right person Jesus who approached with what we might say is really the right question regarding eternal life but who left the conversation sad his way to life to eternal life that he was asking about was blocked by his unwillingness to surrender his possessions and to follow Jesus that's what Jesus had asked him to do as we said last time in the instance of this man the specific issue as well it might have been something else it may be something else in the life of another individual and that is not to mitigate in any way the challenging instruction in these verses concerning wealth as such but those of us who are tempted to say well this is an interesting story but I of course couldn't be included among the wealthy therefore it has nothing to do with me at all are immediately missing the point this man had in money in riches if you like a substitute God he wanted to make sure that he had eternal life Jesus said eternal life will only come by way of setting aside smashing your substitute god and then coming and following me now Jesus hadn't changed his tune in speaking to the man in this way this as we've seen in study in Mark's Gospel has been as tuned from the very beginning mark 1:15 the time is fulfilled the kingdom of God is near says Jesus repent and believe the good news he does that with this man I want you to repent he says in his case repentance involves turning from that which is representative of his covetous heart and faith and believing the good news is represented in his following the Lord Jesus Christ Mark is teaching his readers about entry into the of God and you will see that that phrase to enter the kingdom of God comes in verse 23 is the final phrase of 23 it's the final phrase of 24 and it is the final phrase of 25 so just a rudimentary understanding of how we should approach the Bible helps us to say well surely this is the theme that is part and parcel of this story what is mark dealing with here is dealing with this matter of how does a person get saved how does a person enter the kingdom of God how does a person find eternal life eternal life which is not simply quantitative but it's also qualitative eternal life which is not simply pie in the sky when you die as the Communists often used to say in the 50s and 60s but it is the reality now and then all of its fullness unfolding in the then and what mark is making perfectly clear is that salvation from start-to-finish is not a human achievement and if you get that clearly in your mind that that mark is addressed in the question of entry into the kingdom or being saved or finding eternal life and you and you understand clearly that salvation is not a human achievement then you're on track to being able to deal with the rest of the record clearly Jesus is not about to lower the requirements of entry just because this young man appears to be from a human perspective what we saw last time namely an ideal candidate after all he's rich he's young he's enthusiastic he comes he kneels and he's dealing in the realm of the right kind of question if following Jesus simply involved being concerned about eternal life and being an all-round good soul then this story would have ended with joy rather than sadness if Jesus preoccupation was as some want us to believe is the key if Jesus preoccupation was with making sure that this young man felt good about himself then this encounter by any standards must be regarded as a complete disaster if all that he had to do was give a cent intellectual assent to certain things about Jesus and then keep all of his baggage and simply add himself to the group then that would have been straightforward but the fact is the man went away sad it doesn't say that he went away defiant he doesn't go away angry it doesn't say that he went away in the huff it's just that he went away said in other words he went away with his shoulder slouched why presumably because Jesus had uncovered him Jesus had put his finger on the spot if you like if we go in surgical terms since we used medical terminology last time those of us who were present and the few who remember when that when the surgeon identifies the thing and then says now this can be dealt with but let me tell you what's involved and then he or she explains what you need to go through in order to have it dealt with now you know the problem now you know the solution now you say I am unprepared to put myself through that in order to have that eventualities you walk away from the consult in sadness because you know you've got a problem you know it can be fixed and you've decided you're not gonna have it done that is exactly what has happened to this young man this young man has now been uncovered for his covetousness his life is all wrapped up in his portfolio Jesus says what we're going to do is we're going to ditch your portfolio then you're gonna come follow me he might just as well have said to somebody who was in some kind of release ship with somebody says no what you've got to do is ditch this business relationship and then come follow me purchaser said I'm not gonna do that to follow Jesus I mean you know how much I've got invested in this business I'm not doing that well with all that buy we have introduction let's notice first of all that what we have here is a hard saying from Jesus actually a hard saying that is repeated verse 23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples now we know that this is recorded this incident is recorded in Matthew 19 and also in Luke 18 in the Luke inversion the King James Version translates this sentence and when Jesus saw that he was sorrowful here it says the mark says Jesus looked around and said look remember who committed himself to the the particular details of things look with with his own insight doesn't simply record that Jesus looked around but he records the fact that Jesus actually saw that the man was sad he saw the man was sad because remember mark has already told us that when Jesus looked on this young man he loved him he liked him he loved him this man all wrapped up in his stuff Jesus had affection towards him he didn't have a spirit of judgment in relationship to her and now seeing that the man was sad in fact we might meant bencher as much as to say that the man's sadness was more than matched by the sadness of Jesus the sadness of Jesus in recognizing how easy it was for the man to feel a sense of security in his stuff how easy it was for this fellow to rely on his possessions and in relying on his possessions to lose sight of what really matters after all here's my security now this is not a hard this is not a hard concept to grasp is that it is riddled in our culture either the acquisition or of stuff or the philanthropic giving of stuff but it's still stuff why are you so sure that you're going to gain eternal life well look at how much stuff I have why are you so sure that you're getting again eternal life well look at my stuff I've given away it's all about my stuff and Jesus looks at this man in a way that he's had to look at others I remember one occasion as he tells the story of the individual who tore down his barns and build bigger barns to build bigger barns which was an entirely legitimate thing for a farmer to do especially on the basis of his success Jesus actually says what profit is there for a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul because the man had said now I can rest and rest content in all my stuff you don't need to go to the Bible for this you can go to him you can go to hymns and songs for this you know that I hit my quota all the time the song of the sixties from Ray Stevens which I can now quote with freshness because the generations are passing and they never even lived in the 60s but but when he wrote the song mr. businessman it's either the second or the third stanza that begins spending counterfeit incentive wasting precious time and health placing value on the worthless disregarding priceless wealth placing value on the worthless disregarding priceless wealth and Jesus looked at the man when he went away said and I'm suggesting to you that the sadness of the man was matched by the sadness of Jesus because he said that's exactly what this fellow is doing he is placing value on that which is absolutely destined to perish and he is giving up that which is the very internal life that eternal life that he longs to inherit and loved ones that story is reproduced every day every day and what Jesus is doing is he's reversing human values once again he's showing that entry into the kingdom of God is entirely different from a human perspective that the evaluations are done the basis of the bank of heaven not on the bank of earth now the adjustments are made not on the strength of earthly values but on the basis of eternal values and this must have arrested these fellows as they listened because in Jewish society it was generally believed and you read the Old Testament you can see this to be the case it was generally believed that wealth was an indication of blessing wealth and indication of blessing sir here comes a fellow an ideal candidate presumably from the disciples perspective he's wealthy he's religious and he's concerned about eternal life and he goes away sad and not surprisingly mark tells us that the disciples were amazed they were amazed verse 24 the disciples were amazed at his words in fact says Jesus why don't I tell you just how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven it's impossible oh this is getting even harder to comprehend and he uses a vaguely humorous illustration an illustration that even the children here can understand if I had one this morning and I had a large stuffed camel with me and a small needle that I that could be used for stitching a button on your shirt I could ask one of the children to come up I'll give them the stuffed camel I'll give them the needle and I'll ask them to stick their camel through the eye of the needle and they will very quickly hand it back to say Pastor bag you're not a very clever man there is no way in the world it is entirely impossible for me to get that stuffed animal through the eye of that needle and it would be absolutely right that's the point that Jesus is making it is entirely impossible how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God and the disciples were amazed Jesus says let me tell you how hard it is it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven so the disciples said well that clears that up let's go no no verse 26 the disciples were even more amazed even more amazed Jesus is a masterful teacher isn't he what a teacher a simplest simple illustration that arrests the brightest mind the hard saying of Jesus is followed by the obvious question on the lips of the disciples verse 26 and a question that is not addressed to Jesus but actually is addressed to one another you can imagine I'm just looking round on one and saying well this is quite a pass isn't it who then can be saved who can be saved who can inherit eternal life who can enter the kingdom who can be saved that's the great question isn't it that's the question that runs through the entire Bible the Prophet Jeremiah says can a leopard change its spots can a leopard just become a zebra can a leopard just decide I'm not going to be a spotty Leopard anymore I'm going to be a zebra when I wake up tomorrow morning is that possible ask your grandchildren they'll tell you no no it is impossible leopards are leopards zebras are rivers even well then can a person entirely stuck on ourselves with literal interest in God all of a sudden one morning just wake up and say oh I think I'll become a follower of Jesus today can they well they can if salvation is a human achievement that's the way it's presented by many people today that's why there are so many unconverted people in church because they bought the idea that to be a Christian is simply to give assent to certain truths about Jesus and then try and do your best change your lifestyle as best as you can fix a few things quit blowing the horn of people in the traffic jams do do nice things and that's what you've that's what you've bought and you don't understand why it is that you are the way you are the possibility is that you're not converted that you're not converted that you're trying to turn your spots into stripes and it can't be done remember when we studied Romans 8 about the mind of man as man in other words man in his intrinsic being man by nature men and women by nature remember what Paul says is true of our minds that the mind the sinful mind is hostile to God it does not submit to God's law nor can it do so that is quite a mouthful isn't it the sinful mind man in our man in his rebellion having turned our backs on God having decided we're going to do this in our own way our minds are in enmity towards God they're hostile to God that's why we resent the intrusion of God that's why we we want to make if we're interested in Christianity we want to make a Christianity of our own we don't want anything that calls for us to give up our little God to deal with our little idolatry no we simply want to be able to have Jesus come and make us feel good about ourselves and some of our testimony is just that I used to feel pretty bad about myself but I begun to go to such and such a place and I'm now in a small Bible study and I feel so much better about myself well I'm glad you feel much better about yourself but what I'm asking you is are you converted are you a Christian are you saved are you a member of the kingdom of God entry which comes by way of a divine work not by way of a human invention that's the question and the problem is internal it is not external the Pharisees who were tied up in the religious drawers were always concerned not only with God's law but of all the additions that he'd added to the law we saw that in mark chapter 7 do the Pharisees come to Jesus and His disciples say you're not washing your hands properly you're not washing the cattles properly the utensils are all dirty and so on and Jesus says guys forget that stuff right now would you you've got preoccupation with this you're using that kind of notion to prevent yourself from actually looking after your parents so I don't want to hear your nonsense eventually the disciples get him alone in the house and they say can you really unpack this for us Jesus says are you so dull do you think that it's what goes into a person that makes them unclean he says what goes into a person can't make them unclean that eventually is is that the body deals with that it goes away again no he says it's what comes out of a man that makes him unclean adultery evil thoughts jealousy selfishness all of that is endemic he says all of that comes out it's not as a result of going in we have our granddaughter with us at the moment I guess one of the problems of being a new grandpa is that you you use it as illustrations all the time it will eventually pass but but I have been I have been reassured again about the nature of original sin this beautiful little bundle has within herself an immense capacity to convince me that she needs the party okay she does this when she doesn't need the party but in order to stop doing what it is that I would like her to be doing at the moment she did it to me yesterday in the mall she's not a frequently during breakfast experience and is masterful it's masterful it's a flat-out lie it's a flat out what bloody party party party party June it's all wait a minute hang on now I'm good where did that come from did my daughter teach her that before she left or at our house no honey let me teach you how to lie before we go because it's gonna be necessary to deal with him you know I'll check but I don't think so I think she's doing what comes naturally why because the Bible says these beautiful bundles are born in sin and they are fashioned in iniquity and that the out folding of things is the unfolding drama of the laying hold of that which is endemic in our nature and so what possibility is there for that to be changed the answer is in a heart transplant and only in a heart transplant for he says it is out of the heart to these things come therefore you're gonna have to get a new heart a new heart how are you gonna get a new heart where can you get a new heart well here's the key to understanding the dilemma in verse 27 the disciples look around and say well then who could get saved Jesus looked at them and said with man this is impossible but not with God all things are possible with God now we don't have time to work all the way through it but if you go to Ezekiel 36 you find there the promise of God saying that one day he's going to come and he will sprinkle them with clean water and they will be cleansed and he will put a new heart within them and he will remove the heart of stone and he will give them a heart that is that is fashioned fashioned just as he desires for it to be in order that that it might be the context in which all the unfolding drama of his purposes begin to move towards fruition so the prospect of the Old Testament is that there is coming a day when there will be this that is finally embodied somehow in the one who is to come you fast-forward to the darkness the night another religious leader comes from meeting with Jesus a good teacher he says he know that you're a teacher come from God because nobody could do the miracles that you were doing unless God were with him John chapter 3 Jesus says let's cut through it here's another heart saying from Jesus unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God I know you're here with questions about the kingdom of God you remember the interchange and Jesus says unless a man is born of water and the spirit he will never enter the kingdom of God water and the spirit what is that sound like sounds like Ezekiel 36 I will sprinkle you with clean water and I will put my spirit within you and I will give you a new heart Jesus says that's what the Prophet was on about and it is now found in me you must be born again in other words he says in verse 27 what man could never do God alone can do he takes those who are dead in their trespasses and sins and he makes us alive it is not that we're half dead or that we're dangerously sick it is that we're dead so what hope is there well it's not an external ISM it's not an ad in a little religion it's not an ascent into certain truths about Jesus and trying to clean up our act our only hope is for us to call and God to do for us what we are totally unable to do for ourselves let me give it to you in the words of syncher Ferguson listen carefully only when he that is God gives us new hearts only when he gives us new hearts to abandon everything for Christ will we be free from our personal forms of idolatry and yield to the principles of the divine kingdom only when he gives us a new heart will we then be willing to respond to the demands of Jesus to take up our cross and to follow him until then we may be intrigued we may be interested we may be sad we may be convinced we may be moved we may be stimulated we remain on changed finally Peter who likes to blurt out on occasions like this whether he does this presumptuously or not we have no way of telling but he says you know here we've had this thank you for telling us all about this man who who wasn't prepared to leave his treasure on earth in order they might find treasure in heaven he said but we've left everything to follow you he's presumably just trying to make sure that Jesus give him a little assuring words you know yeah yeah yeah you're okay Peter I wasn't talking about you at all because after all you know he he still had a boat it would seem otherwise I don't know where he was going fishing he's still at a house his mother-in-law's house he's still a lot of stuff so don't let's overstate this this is not this is not Marxism incidentally the people have turned this into Marxism they just don't understand the Bible at all that poor poor people are just as dead in their trespasses and sins you understand that just as dead the only thing the only advantage they might have if there is an advantage is that they can take the rich thing off the list as a barrier but they have all the other barriers they just don't have to worry about being rich but they got to worry about being just as dead as the rich guy next to them so Jesus finishes up he says well mentioning that Peter let me let me give you just a word of encouragement and a word of warning the word of encouragement is essentially threefold he says I tell you that anyone who has left home and brothers and so on for me and for the gospel will receive in the present age one hundredfold in other words we will look after you as you're going through but you need to know that you will also be on the receiving end of persecution and thirdly you should know that in the age to come you will rejoice in eternal life but verse 31 here's the sting in the tail here's the closed but he says many who are first will be last and the last first you can imagine Peter saying yes we understand that perfectly that's that's the story of the boy that just went up the road there the sad boy he came here you know with all his cash and everything he presumably you go to the front of the line he's premier elite you know he's the platinum card you know he's on the executive floor he's always at the front of the line so he showed up and he fair go straight to the front of the line so we understand the first thing we last last before us we look kind of last we're going to be first beautiful let's go some of the commentaries actually affirm that I don't think that is true I only found one fellow who agreed with me so that's the one I'm going to quote because I think IIIi didn't this is just a truism here many who are first will be last and last first geezers already dealt with that he's saying this to these guys be careful that complacency doesn't get you listen to Cranfield the Apostles mustn't become self complacent because unlike the rich man they have left all to follow Jesus such self complacence would be highly dangerous moreover one who has it present a refuser may in the future by God's mercy accept the call and even in the age to come be preferred to them while they're having left all is not in itself a guarantee that they will remain faithful after all Judas was one of the twelve Paul was not that's the story a young man perhaps smug but definitely insecure if he was settled and happy in his law keeping there was no reason for him to come and run up to Jesus and kneel before him asked how he could inherit eternal life so he clearly wasn't secure in that any more than some of you are secure in your newfound religious activities is there just one more thing that I can add to my portfolio he says to Jesus just to make sure that I'm on track Jesus says well apparently you've been doing very well in some of the second table of the law why don't you just sell everything you haven't given to the poor Jesus puts his hand on his covetous heart he calls him to repent to turn away from that to believe the good news and the man goes away sad is that your testimony is that your testimony that when finally push comes to shove and Jesus puts his finger on the place in your life that is the issue in your life he's not asking whether you're interested in eternal life that's clear he's not asking whether you've been doing a good job of keeping the commandments that's fairly obvious no when he puts his finger on that area and he says this is the area relinquish this and then come and follow me have you done that because if you have I'll tell you how you have because of God's amazing grace and mercy because the inclination of your heart is to do with this man doesn't that's to just go and say no that's too big a demand that's too big a cost if that's what it means to be one of these Christians I am NOT going to be one of those Christians and it's not that you're unaware your sadness is on account of your awareness is that your testimony or is your testimony the testimony of the little man at the tree who wanted to see Jesus as well and at the end of that story and recorded in Luke 19 I think it is Jesus comes out of them the zookie is his house and he says today salvation has come to this house here's my final question to you has salvation come to your house has salvation come to your house you cannot save yourself but it is no secret what God can do and whoever comes to him he will never turn them away it's impossible do it I thought you said it's impossible it is impossible do it remember the man with a withered head Jesus asked him to do the one thing he couldn't do and he did it stretch forth your hand he said what are you messing with me you're asking me to do the impossible and he did it why because the same voice that gave the command gave the grace and gave the power and enabled the response for which he called thereby affirming the fact that salvation from first to last is never a human achievement and therefore the believer should always be the most humble of all in relationship to these things that is pray Oh God our Father look upon us in your mercy we pray put your finger upon our lives and our hidden places shows ourselves show us Christ and grant us grace do for us what we cannot do for ourselves we cast ourselves upon your mercy today may the grace of the Lord Jesus the love of God the Father and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest upon and remain with all who believe now and forevermore amen this message was brought to you from truth for life where the learning is for living to learn more about truth for life with alistair beg visit us online at truthfortheworld.org

Channel: Alistair Begg

Views: 3,717

Rating: 4.8769231 out of 5

Keywords: Truth For Life, Alistair Begg, Gospel of Mark, Gospel, Money, Salvation

Id: EcR8AUFs9ow

Length: 37min 32sec (2252 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 05 2020