February 19, 2025 • 37 mins
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Can true fulfillment be found beyond wealth and success, or is there a deeper longing that only a divine relationship can satisfy? Join us as we explore the rich young ruler's quest for eternal life, a story that mirrors the human experience of yearning for more, despite having everything the world offers. Through the lens of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, we unpack His profound teachings on spiritual fulfillment, challenging the notion that adhering to the Ten Commandments is enough without a heart transformed by love for God and neighbor.
Witness the powerful stories of transformation that illustrate the incredible power of faith and surrender. From the healing of the man with a withered hand to the spiritual rebirth of Nicodemus and Zacchaeus' decision to forgo his wealth, these narratives reveal how letting go of worldly desires can lead to an intimate relationship with God. Jesus' teachings push us to look beyond the surface, emphasizing that true goodness stems from a deeper change within, a change that can only be achieved through divine intervention and genuine love.
Finally, we reflect on Apostle Paul's journey as an emblematic tale of spiritual surrender, echoing the rich young ruler's story and driving home the significance of valuing one's relationship with God above all else. Paul’s realization that knowing Jesus is greater than any worldly accomplishment serves as an encouragement for us to open our hearts to God's guidance. Through these discussions, we're invited to prioritize spiritual growth, trusting the divine path over the fleeting allure of material success. Let this episode inspire you to embark on your own transformative journey towards a fulfilled life.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
Mark 10, 17 will be where we start.
All right, well, you know wherewe've been in the gospel.
We have been heading from thenorthern part of Israel down
toward that midpoint.
It's Jerusalem.
Really, it's the cross.
Now, that's where Jesus' lifehas been taking him this entire
(00:33):
time.
But I think we have thistrajectory that he's on from the
highest point, there on themountain where he's transfigured
and seen in his glory, to umthe lowest point, in a sense,
the cross, right and, and that'swhere he's going.
(00:53):
But as he's going, he'steaching his disciples, and
that's sweet for us toexperience today, just Jesus
teaching his disciples andteaching us.
Now, today we look at a ratherfamous account from the Gospels
Matthew, mark and Luke all coverit.
(01:15):
It's the rich young ruler, thisman known as the rich young
ruler, and really, in the end,this is about real life and the
miracle of it.
That's kind of what we see herewith the rich young ruler is
this real life and the miracleof it.
So in the three gospels, thesynoptic gospels, matthew, mark
(01:40):
and luke they all cover this InMark 10 and Matthew 19, we're
told that he has greatpossessions In Luke 18 and 23,.
We see that he's very rich.
So that's kind of where we getthis idea.
He's rich, he has greatpossessions, he is a rich, young
(02:05):
.
Matthew 19, 20 says that he isyoung.
Now, that's all relative, isn'tit?
You know, sometimes my kidswill say something like oh yeah,
you know, did you know thatthis celebrity is 50 years old?
And I go young, right, and he'syoung, younger right, and he's
young, younger right, and inLuke 18, 18, we see that he is a
(02:29):
ruler, has some kind ofinfluence in his world.
So he's a rich, young ruler,right?
That's how we kind of sum thisguy's life up the rich, young
ruler.
Now we see that, along withthese things being rich, young
(02:49):
and a ruler, he's also desperate, as we read in verse 17.
Now, as he that's Jesus wasgoing out on the road, one came
running, knelt before him andasked him Good teacher, what
shall I do that I may inheriteternal life?
So here we see this guy he'srich, he's young, he's a ruler,
(03:10):
but he's desperate for something.
You've got to be desperate ifyou're going to be running,
right, I mean, in my world, youdo right.
There's no other reason to berunning unless you're desperate,
you know, being chased by alion or something I could see
running or trying to run forthat, but much else I don't know
in my life.
This guy comes running to Jesusdown the road you see the dust
(03:32):
cloud behind him, you know.
And he falls down in front ofJesus and asks him good teacher,
what shall I do that I mayinherit eternal life?
He's desperate for life,eternal life.
Now we look at his life.
He's rich.
(03:53):
That sounds good, right,nothing wrong with that.
That sounds like a great idea.
Rich, he's young, he's got hislife ahead of him, it seems.
We go wonderful, he's a ruler,he's got some kind of influence
and power.
We go man, the guy's goteverything.
But we see that he still felt alack in his life.
(04:13):
Solomon is such a trip when itcomes to this, isn't he, solomon
?
He writes the book ofEcclesiastes Now, he's got
everything, and then some.
He's got so much stuff, so muchmoney and gold, that you can't
stop even counting it after awhile.
You know he's got power in theworld, all these different
things.
And he writes in Ecclesiastes 1, verse 2, solomon writes vanity
(04:39):
of vanity, says the preacher.
Vanity of vanities, all isvanity.
In verse 14 of chapter one,solomon says all is vanity, like
grasping after the wind.
So we may not understand whatthe word vanity means, but he
gives us a picture here.
What is vanity?
It's grasping after the wind.
It's going outside with a youknow, a fishing net and saying
(05:01):
I'm going to catch some air, notin a skateboarding sense, I'm
going to catch some air and outthere with a net, with my hands,
my bare hands, trying to grabafter the wind.
And Solomon compares the way hefelt in life to that.
This is what it feels likehaving everything.
It's empty vanity.
(05:22):
It's like trying to get ahandful of air.
That's pointless, you can't doit.
And so we look at this and wesee people like this rich young
ruler and solomon and we go howin the world does that work?
Uh, in fact, I think, uh, mywife and I were having this
discussion.
Um, you know celebrities thatfind no hope in life, and you go
(05:46):
, man, they got everything,bless you.
They got everything they couldimagine, and yet they still feel
empty.
Right, and that was Solomon,and that was this guy.
Everything, and he still comesrunning Now.
Everything, and he still comesrunning Now, this isn't really
about satisfaction.
(06:14):
I don't think right, because wecould sell this point and say he
wasn't satisfied.
And what you need is God.
For satisfaction in life, youneed God Now.
That's true.
But it's not just this feelingof satisfaction that we're
looking for.
I mean, that would really be tokind of use God, in a sense, if
I was giving a lesson on here'show to find satisfaction in
life.
Come to God Now.
(06:35):
I think it's probably true, butthat's kind of a lousy motive,
isn't it?
Like we're going to just getsatisfaction, that wonderful
happy feeling in life, and theChristian life is full of joy
and happiness and goodness, realgoodness.
But that doesn't mean we alwayshave that happy feeling.
You know what I mean.
(06:55):
That doesn't mean we always go.
I could want nothing more inlife.
I'm satisfied, you will besatisfied.
But it's not just about thefeeling, it's about eternal life
, and that's really what thisman asked.
Check it out in verse 17 again.
He comes running, he kneelsdown Good teacher, what shall I
do that I may inherit eternallife, real life, that's what
(07:19):
this man knows he needs is somereal eternal life, not just a
quantity of life, lots of years,eternal life, but a quality of
life.
How is it that I haveeverything and I'm still wanting
?
I need eternal life.
Now, first off here, this ishis need eternal life.
(07:44):
And Jesus is going to show himhow to get there and how not to
get there.
But notice Jesus' responseEternal life can't be found in
being good.
Look at verse 18.
So Jesus said to him why do youcall me good?
No one is good, but one that isGod.
(08:05):
Now you know the commandmentsDo not commit adultery, do not
murder, do not steal, do notbear false witness, do not
defraud, honor your father andmother.
The man answered and said tohim teacher, all these things I
have kept from my youth.
Then Jesus, looking at him,loved him and said to him Now,
(08:34):
let's stop there.
The first thing Jesus pointshim to I think for good reason
is you can't find eternal lifeby being good.
And he starts it here byshowing what real goodness is
all about.
Now he's playing off what theman says in verse 17, good
teacher.
It's not a bad thing to say toJesus right, you're a good
(08:55):
teacher, you're a pure teacher,you're an upright and just moral
teacher, you're all thosethings.
But Jesus asked him a questionwhy do you call me good?
There's no one good, but God.
Now, real goodness now follow.
Real goodness is not found injust being good.
(09:19):
We have a way of gauginggoodness.
Let's talk about dogs, shall we?
Because I like dogs, right?
How often do we say, oh, gooddog, good dog, good boy, right,
I say good boy all the time tomy dogs.
But you know, if I were to behonest, hunter, our oldest dog,
he's a good dog, right, I lookat him, I'm a good boy, right,
(09:42):
you know.
And you just look at him and hespends 90 percent of his day
laying by the back door and helooks up at you half the time
and just looks up.
Good boy, hunter.
He stays out of trouble.
Now he does get in front of meand so for that I got to dock
him some points, because he'salmost killed me by tripping me
a couple of times.
But he's a good boy.
You look in his eyes and you goHunter, good boy, you don't do
(10:05):
much bad around this place,you're a good boy.
Then there's Smokey.
Right, I'm going to go throughall the dogs, no, I'll leave a
couple out.
But then there's Smokey.
Now I often tell Smokey goodboy, right, because he comes up
and he looks at me with thoseeyes.
Right, because he comes up andhe looks at me with those eyes.
We're good friends.
(10:25):
Good boy, smokey, right NowSmokey, though, he does have a
tendency to go next door whenweddings are on, and I get a
call from the neighbor who saysyour dog is over here greeting
everybody.
He just jumped in the pond andnow he's running around greeting
people.
And I go he's not my dog, Idon't know what you're talking
(10:47):
about.
And I have to say Smokey bad,you're a good boy, but not right
now.
Sometimes he gets in trouble.
Then there's Luna.
Oh, luna, the puppy.
I very rarely tell Luna goodgirl, because she's not, she's
(11:08):
not a good girl at all, right,she jumps on me, she tries to
knock me down.
We're horrible parents of dogs.
I don't teach her anything.
She grabs me by the wrist andjust starts gnawing on my wrist.
She goes to the door, thewindow, and just looks in and
then starts scratching thewindow.
(11:30):
I go Luna, bad girl, you're notgood at all, right.
And I tell her that often, andyou know, you look at this, it's
like a gradient.
You know, hunter, good boy,Smokey good boy, but you know.
And then Luna, just not good atall, good for nothing.
You know, one day I keep saying, though listen, no, that's okay
(11:53):
, she's all right with it.
One day, I keep saying one dayshe's going to save my life.
Leela's like why do we evenkeep her here?
And I go, one day she's goingto save my life.
I just know it.
That's how this movie ends andyou know that there's this
gradient Some good, some bad,depending on how well they act.
(12:14):
Now we look at this list and wego a person is good by how much
good they do and how much badthey don't do.
But Jesus tells us otherwisehere and it's important that we
see it.
As we're looking at this thingof eternal life, jesus brings
him to the law, right, and theTen Commandments.
(12:39):
Let's just go to the TenCommandments.
You don't have to turn there,but they're found in Exodus,
chapter 20, the Ten Commandments.
And don't have to turn there,but they're found in Exodus,
chapter 20, the Ten Commandments, and you know them.
Everybody in the world knows theTen Commandments, I think, and
it's a list of thou shalt andthou shalt nots, and it's not
meant to be a way to be perfect.
(12:59):
If you look at that list andyou go well, I don't do those
things, I'm good, it's really.
Its purpose is to show us thatwe don't do good right?
So Jesus mentions some of theTen Commandments here and it's a
partial list of the TenCommandments.
Now, if you can just pictureten somethings, we'll say
(13:22):
they're the Ten Commandments,but just picture ten somethings.
Jesus mentions part of those,but the first four commandments,
and possibly the tenthcommandment, have to do with our
relationship with God.
The second four and possiblythe tenth commandment, well, the
(13:46):
second half has to do with ourrelationship to people, right?
And Jesus sums it up when he'sasked by a guy at one point you
remember the, the I think it's ascribe or a Levite comes to him
and and says what's thegreatest commandment?
And Jesus says in Mark actually, you can turn there, mark 12,
(14:07):
29.
It's only a couple pages later.
Let's turn there, mark 12, 29.
Verse 28, actually.
Then one of the scribes came and, having heard them reasoning
together, perceived he hadanswered them well, asked him
which is the first commandment?
What's the greatest commandment?
(14:28):
Verse 29,.
Jesus answered him.
The first of all commandmentsis Hear O Israel.
The Lord, your God, is one.
Now check it out, verse 30.
And you shall love the Lord,your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, with allyour soul, with all your mind
and with all your strength.
This is the first commandment.
The second is like it, and it'sthis you shall love your
(14:51):
neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandmentgreater than these.
So Jesus sums up those 10commandments and says this is
the greatest.
Greatest commandment is loveGod.
Love God with everything.
And that is the first set ofthe commands in the 10
commandments.
Then he says and second, if youneed a second, it's love your
(15:14):
neighbor as yourself, loveothers.
So put those all together, alltogether, we've got love God
with everything and love others.
Now Jesus back in chapter 10,verse 19,.
(15:37):
He mentions a group of themhere.
He says don't commit adultery,that's the seventh commandment.
Don't murder, that's the sixthcommandment.
Don't bear false witness,that's the ninth commandment.
And don't defraud or don'tsteal right, and that's the
eighth commandment.
Then he puts at the very end,the fifth commandment honor your
father and mother.
Now, these are solidly thoselove your neighbor commandments.
(16:01):
This is how we treat otherpeople right.
If you love your neighbor,you're not gonna kill him, right
?
That's an easy one, you know,kind of works that way.
And so Jesus puts these groupof commandments out there and
look at verse 20.
I think he's feeling confident.
Verse 20, the man answered andsaid to him teacher, all these
(16:23):
things I have kept from my youth, I've done it.
I've done all these things.
Now he hadn't accomplished allthose things.
Especially when you look at theheart of the law.
Right In the Sermon on theMount, jesus he says look, if
you've looked at someone to lustafter them, you've broken that
(16:46):
command of adultery.
Right, the heart of the law isdeeper than that.
If you've been angry at someonewithout a cause, you've
essentially committed murder.
Now, you haven't committedmurder.
But Jesus wants to say here it'sdeeper than that, it's our
heart.
We break commandments becauseour heart's messed up.
(17:09):
We generally don't kill people,but we do hate them, right.
And Jesus says this all showsyou're a sinner and all have
sinned.
Right, paul would tell us inRomans 3, 23,.
All have sinned and fall shortof the glory of God.
So this whole thing is to showhere's how you're righteous, but
(17:30):
really to prove once againyou're not gonna be able to do
it.
We all mess up.
None of us is good as far asfinding eternal life.
Goodness won't do it.
Now come back here.
One thing to notice is whatJesus doesn't tell this man.
(17:51):
He doesn't talk about the Godword commands.
He doesn't talk about nothaving another God before him or
idols, or Sabbaths honoring Godwith your time.
He doesn't talk about that.
He doesn't talk aboutcovetousness, which again is
like the blows them all away.
(18:12):
Right, the 10th commandmentdon't covet what you don't have.
Right, we all go, oh, man, youknow.
And there Jesus doesn't mentionthose things.
Because I think those are thethings this guy really struggled
with Loving God with all ofyour heart.
We'll see he had a problem.
But notice, jesus is going to.
(18:37):
If you kind of read ahead here,jesus is going to drop the bomb
on him.
Right, you don't have it alltogether in verse 21.
But before we see this bombcome down from Jesus, I want to
notice one more thing in verse21.
Everybody, let's look at it,verse 21,.
Then Jesus, looking at him,loved him, and I believe that's
(19:02):
one of the most important thingsthat we can see in this whole
thing.
Jesus looks at him, man.
When Jesus looks at you, hesees everything, right.
He sees hypocrisy in our hearts, he sees what we did in secret
and he sees all the things thatare just going on in our hearts
that are ugly, right.
(19:22):
So Jesus looks at him, butnotice, he loves him.
Now, peter, I think, was thesource for the book of Mark.
Maybe others put someinformation in there too.
But somehow when they saw Jesusat this point the man comes up
and he's excited.
I've done all these thingssince I was a kid.
(19:44):
What else do I lack?
I got it.
Jesus looked at him and lovedhim.
Man, I wish I could see whatthat looked like.
You know, maybe it was just asmile on Jesus' face.
You know that kind of look ofcompassion when you're busted
and somebody just goes.
I get it, you know.
And just Jesus looked at himand loved him.
(20:06):
When God tells us hard things wehave to understand he still
loves us.
He demonstrates his lovetowards us that while we were
still nasty, stinky sinners,christ loved us.
He died for us.
He demonstrates it.
Romans 5.8 is the verse on that.
But whatever it was, it wasobvious Jesus really loved this
(20:30):
guy.
He wasn't just trying to showhim up, he wasn't just trying to
make him look dumb.
He was trying to get to thebottom of this thing of eternal
life for this man.
Now, notice, that's important,most important thing to see.
Jesus loved him.
But he said to him one thingyou lack, go your way, sell
(20:51):
whatever you have and give tothe poor and you will have
treasure in heaven.
And come, take up the cross andfollow me.
But he was sad at this word andwent away, sorrowful, for he
had great possessions.
So Jesus here says it's onelittle thing, man, one little
(21:14):
thing.
Go and sell everything you haveand give it to the poor and
then come follow me.
And we see this story, one ofthe saddest accounts in the
Bible.
Right, this rich young rulerlooks at him sell everything I
have and give it to the poor.
Poverty.
You want poverty from me.
And he weighs it all in hismind and he walks away,
(21:39):
sorrowful because he had a lotof stuff.
Man, he can't expect me to getrid of all my stuff.
Right, that's a lot to ask.
And he goes away sorrowfulbecause he had a lot of stuff.
His excitement shrivels up andwe just go.
Huh, I mean we leave this guyand he just walks away.
That's all he seems to do.
Is walks away and says, well, Iguess it's not for me Wasn't
(22:02):
worth it to him.
Now we don't really have agreat ending to this story.
Now I will say and it's notworth much of anything this is
what I'm about to say is notworth much of anything.
But there is some speculationthat this is Joseph of Arimathea
, a rich guy, a powerful guy,who comes in secret and takes
(22:24):
care of Jesus' body after thecross, along with a guy named
Nicodemus.
He's a rich guy and some peoplein tradition would say maybe
this guy got it right.
Now, I like that, right,because I like a happy ending to
a story, right, I like that.
But the thing I do know aboutGod is that he doesn't just give
up on us.
He never does right we go.
(22:47):
Well, not for me, I guess.
And you know that God justcontinued to work on that guy's
heart.
He did not stop.
God never stops.
Now, again, tradition there'snothing.
It's just speculation.
So it's not worth much, butmaybe.
But here it is real life and wesee that real life takes a
(23:10):
miracle.
That's what we see coming uphere in verse 23.
Then Jesus looked around andsaid to his disciples how hard
it is for those who have richesto enter the kingdom of God, and
his disciples were astonishedno kidding at his words.
Jesus answered again and saidto them, children, how hard it
(23:33):
is for those who trust in richesto enter the kingdom of God.
Look at verse 25.
It is easier for a camel to gothrough the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter thekingdom of God.
They were greatly astonished,saying among themselves who then
can be saved?
Verse 27, jesus looked at themand said With men it is
(23:57):
impossible, but not with God,for with God all things are
possible.
So Jesus follows up thisteaching with his disciples and
the man goes away, sorrowful,and he says you know, it's
really difficult.
It's hard for those who haveriches to enter the kingdom of
(24:18):
God.
The trade-off right To let goof riches and make sure that
riches let go of you and to walkaway from it.
It's difficult.
Notice verse 24,.
His disciples kind of add tothis and they go whoa, if rich
people can't be saved?
Now, being rich was always seenas a blessing.
(24:39):
It was God smiling down on you,right, you must have been good,
god's blessing you.
That's not necessarily the case, right?
But here his disciples go.
Well, who can be saved?
And Jesus basically says it isimpossible.
With man this is difficult,impossible.
(25:01):
Look at the example he gives inverse 25.
It's easier for a camel to gothrough the eye of a needle.
Right Now, of course, there'ssome debate.
Is this eye of a needle maybe asmall gate in the city wall of
Jerusalem, the eye of the needle?
And camels had to get down lowto go through that gate.
So a rich person can go through, but man, it's difficult.
(25:21):
No, not a chance.
Jesus is saying the eye of aneedle.
Have you ever tried to do that?
To thread a needle?
It is impossible for someonewith my eyes to thread a needle.
I have no idea where it's going, right, younger eyes.
But imagine then that eye of aneedle and a camel going through
(25:46):
it.
What does it take to get acamel through the eye of a
needle?
You've got to grind it up.
That's the only way I canfigure that you're going to get
it through there.
There's lots of grinding ofthat camel.
You've got to break it down.
It's not possible, though.
A live camel cannot go throughthe eye of a needle, and that,
of course, is what Jesus isgetting at here.
(26:08):
It's impossible.
And verse 26, the disciples areastonished, right, well, okay
then what's the point?
And Jesus said notice verse 27,.
With men, it is impossible.
But with God.
But not with God, I keepgetting that wrong.
But not with God, for with Godall things are possible.
So who can be saved?
(26:29):
Check it out.
Who can be saved?
Only through an act of God cana person be saved a rich person
into the kingdom of heaven orany person.
It's impossible, but with Godall things are possible.
Miracle, it can take a miracle.
Now check it out.
We look at that and go well,that's not right.
(26:51):
So a person can only be savedthrough a miraculous act of God?
Yes, but God does want peopleto be saved.
We'll go back to it in a minute.
But Mark 3,.
We saw a miracle happen in theGospel of Mark A man with a
(27:11):
withered hand, right, a witheredhand, whatever it was, it had
no power and check it out.
Jesus came to this man with thewithered hand and he said
stretch out your hand.
Now, that's impossible.
That's his whole problem.
He can't stretch out his hand,he has no power in his hand.
(27:33):
And yet Jesus says stretch outyour hand and check it out.
He stretches out his hand andit works.
Jesus told him to do it andthen God empowered him to do it.
And we go that's a miracle,right?
If you haven't figured that outyet in the book, that's what
God does.
God can do miracles.
(27:53):
Nothing is impossible with God.
But we see other people in theGospels who have similar things
going.
On John, chapter three, just acouple examples.
There's Nicodemus.
He's a ruler of the Pharisees,he's got power and prestige.
And he comes to Jesus and hedoesn't actually ask him what do
(28:17):
I gotta do to get eternal life?
But Jesus answers that question.
Nicodemus just comes and goesgood, teacher, we know you come
from God, because nobody can dothe things you do unless God had
sent him.
And Jesus answered him and saidtruly, I tell you, you must be
born again.
You got to be born again,nicodemus.
And he answers that question ofeternal life to Nicodemus.
(28:40):
And Nicodemus goes how can I beborn again?
That's impossible.
Now you know Christianese,right, being born again is
something that happens in ourheart.
You're saved, you're born again.
And Jesus tells Nicodemus Nick,you've got to be born again.
And you know what?
Nicodemus was born again.
We're not told all thespecifics, but he came to the
(29:03):
cross in one sense when Jesussaid as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, somust the sin of man be lifted up
, that whosoever believes in himwould not perish but have
everlasting life.
And Nicodemus had to come tothat same cross and go.
I'm dead.
I'm dead, but I see what you'redoing for me on that cross.
(29:23):
I believe in you.
And Nicodemus, somewhere downthe road, was born again An
impossible thing, but Jesusenabled him to be born again.
Now check it out.
Luke, chapter 19, verses 1through 10.
Take a deep breath.
I know it feels like it's beena long time, but we'll get
through it here.
Luke 19, verses 1 through 10,we see a guy named Zacchaeus
(29:48):
right, our good friend Zacchaeus.
And Zacchaeus is a rich guy,he's got lots of money and Jesus
has a great conversation withhim.
As Zacchaeus different guy isup in a tree.
Jesus calls him down from thetree and says Zac, I'm coming to
(30:11):
your house for dinner.
I love that Jesus inviteshimself over for dinner.
In Luke 19, verse 8, jesus comesover for dinner.
Then Zacchaeus stood and saidto the Lord look, lord, I give
half of my goods to the poor andif I have taken anything from
(30:32):
anyone by false accusation, Irestore it fourfold.
And Jesus said to him today,salvation has come to this house
.
So here Zacchaeus has some ofthe same issues Money, power.
(30:53):
He was a tax collector andZacchaeus says here's what I'm
going to do.
I'm going to give half ofeverything I have and give it to
the poor.
Now, jesus never told him togive half, but I think God told
him.
The Spirit told him in hisheart you got to get right with
this thing, zacchaeus, and helistened to it.
Oh, it's so hard for a richperson, for a lost person, to
(31:14):
come to eternal life, but it'snot impossible with God.
God can work a miracle in ourhearts.
So what happened with this guy?
I think he was confronted Selleverything you have and give it
to the poor.
I can't do that, but Jesus toldyou to do it.
And there's some hard thingsthat we do in life.
(31:37):
And Jesus says look, give it upyour dream of riches, give it up
your dream for power.
Give it up your idea of what arelationship should look like.
Give it up your dream for power, give it up your idea of what
you know a relationship shouldlook like.
Give it up.
And Jesus says give it up.
And we go.
I can't do that.
That's too painful.
I just can't do it.
I can't give it up.
(31:58):
But he told us to do it.
He'll give us the ability to doit.
What was necessary for this guy?
Go and sell all you have andgive it to the poor Can't do it.
He can't Go do it and therewould have been no regrets.
Now, who knows what God wouldhave done.
But the man just didn't stepforward.
(32:20):
He didn't reach out his handlike the guy with the withered
hand.
Right, the guy with thewithered hand could have said I
can't reach out his hand likethe guy with the withered hand.
Right, the guy with thewithered hand could have said I
can't reach my hand out, don'tyou understand?
It's withered.
And yet he did it and God gavehim the ability to do it.
Obviously, maybe money isn't ourthing, right, there's so many
(32:43):
more powerful things that keep,keep us.
But.
But God will always say and Idon't know, does it happen all
at once in our lives, all atonce that salvation is that part
of sanctification we're.
Just, little by little, hechips off things in our life and
says look, give it to me, trustme with it.
I know you're obsessed with it,I know you don't want to give
(33:05):
it up, but open your hands andgive it up.
But for each one of us it couldbe something different.
But let's finish our time here.
In Philippians, chapter three,it's Paul.
Philippians, chapter three.
You can turn there.
Philippians, chapter 3 Paul's adifferent story altogether.
(33:31):
He was a Pharisee.
He enjoyed his position ofpower.
There's a lot of things thatPaul gave up the respect of
people, whatever it is.
In chapter 3, verse 7, paul'stalking a little bit about his
life before Christ and he saysthis and it's so beautiful,
(33:57):
verse 7, but whatever thingswere gained to me, these, I have
counted loss for Christ.
Yet indeed I also count allthings loss for the excellence
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things.
I count them as rubbish, trash,dung, right that I may gain
(34:22):
Christ and be found in him, nothaving my own righteousness,
which is from the law, but thatwhich is through faith in Christ
, the righteousness which isfrom God, by faith that I may
know him, and the power of hisresurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings beingconformed to his death.
So Paul had the same kind ofexperience with God.
(34:45):
So Paul had the same kind ofexperience with God.
Paul, your reputation and youknow your ability to keep the
law.
Everybody looks at you.
Oh, he's so pure, he's so holy.
And God said to Paul I thinkPaul, give it up, open your hand
.
And he did by a miracle.
(35:06):
Paul opened.
It opened.
Now, he was stubborn, right.
He got kicked off a horse acouple times, you know at least
once, and you know God knockedhim to the ground.
He was stubborn, right.
God has his ways.
But check it out.
Paul opened his hands and seewhat he says.
He says you know what?
I've given it all to God and Icount all of it.
(35:30):
All those things I thought wereso important.
I count them as loss forknowing Jesus.
I count it as rubbish, I countit as a big pile of poop.
Honestly, is what the Greeksays.
He says when I look at justwhat it's like to know Jesus,
(35:52):
everything else is trash.
And so obviously we can look atthis rich young ruler and say
poor guy, didn't get it.
But each one of us has a life,just life in general.
God says here's salvation, butfirst you've got to give up your
own love, first you've got toopen your hand, and the thing we
(36:16):
learn is it will always beworth it.
If God asks us to do it, he'llgive us the ability to do it.
To do it.
He'll give us the ability to doit.
God, I know that your wordapplies to each one of us here
today.
And to come to you, we give upour own righteousness for sure,
(36:38):
but you do have a way of showingus in our lives these things
that we just we love so much, wewant so much, and how you look
at us and you love each one ofus.
You proved it.
You say would you just openyour hands, god, help us those
things that we value so much,that we would just be able to
(37:02):
open our grip and trust you withthem.
Not whatever you do with thosethings.
Nothing is worth more thanknowing you.
That's true, god.
I pray that you would takethese things and work them into
our lives, even today.
In Jesus' name, we pray, thankyou.
Mark 10, 17 will be where we start.
All right, well, you know wherewe've been in the gospel.
We have been heading from thenorthern part of Israel down
toward that midpoint.
It's Jerusalem.
Really, it's the cross.
Now, that's where Jesus' lifehas been taking him this entire
(00:33):
time.
But I think we have thistrajectory that he's on from the
highest point, there on themountain where he's transfigured
and seen in his glory, to umthe lowest point, in a sense,
the cross, right and, and that'swhere he's going.
(00:53):
But as he's going, he'steaching his disciples, and
that's sweet for us toexperience today, just Jesus
teaching his disciples andteaching us.
Now, today we look at a ratherfamous account from the Gospels
Matthew, mark and Luke all coverit.
(01:15):
It's the rich young ruler, thisman known as the rich young
ruler, and really, in the end,this is about real life and the
miracle of it.
That's kind of what we see herewith the rich young ruler is
this real life and the miracleof it.
So in the three gospels, thesynoptic gospels, matthew, mark
(01:40):
and luke they all cover this InMark 10 and Matthew 19, we're
told that he has greatpossessions In Luke 18 and 23,.
We see that he's very rich.
So that's kind of where we getthis idea.
He's rich, he has greatpossessions, he is a rich, young
(02:05):
.
Matthew 19, 20 says that he isyoung.
Now, that's all relative, isn'tit?
You know, sometimes my kidswill say something like oh yeah,
you know, did you know thatthis celebrity is 50 years old?
And I go young, right, and he'syoung, younger right, and he's
young, younger right, and inLuke 18, 18, we see that he is a
(02:29):
ruler, has some kind ofinfluence in his world.
So he's a rich, young ruler,right?
That's how we kind of sum thisguy's life up the rich, young
ruler.
Now we see that, along withthese things being rich, young
(02:49):
and a ruler, he's also desperate, as we read in verse 17.
Now, as he that's Jesus wasgoing out on the road, one came
running, knelt before him andasked him Good teacher, what
shall I do that I may inheriteternal life?
So here we see this guy he'srich, he's young, he's a ruler,
(03:10):
but he's desperate for something.
You've got to be desperate ifyou're going to be running,
right, I mean, in my world, youdo right.
There's no other reason to berunning unless you're desperate,
you know, being chased by alion or something I could see
running or trying to run forthat, but much else I don't know
in my life.
This guy comes running to Jesusdown the road you see the dust
(03:32):
cloud behind him, you know.
And he falls down in front ofJesus and asks him good teacher,
what shall I do that I mayinherit eternal life?
He's desperate for life,eternal life.
Now we look at his life.
He's rich.
(03:53):
That sounds good, right,nothing wrong with that.
That sounds like a great idea.
Rich, he's young, he's got hislife ahead of him, it seems.
We go wonderful, he's a ruler,he's got some kind of influence
and power.
We go man, the guy's goteverything.
But we see that he still felt alack in his life.
(04:13):
Solomon is such a trip when itcomes to this, isn't he, solomon
?
He writes the book ofEcclesiastes Now, he's got
everything, and then some.
He's got so much stuff, so muchmoney and gold, that you can't
stop even counting it after awhile.
You know he's got power in theworld, all these different
things.
And he writes in Ecclesiastes 1, verse 2, solomon writes vanity
(04:39):
of vanity, says the preacher.
Vanity of vanities, all isvanity.
In verse 14 of chapter one,solomon says all is vanity, like
grasping after the wind.
So we may not understand whatthe word vanity means, but he
gives us a picture here.
What is vanity?
It's grasping after the wind.
It's going outside with a youknow, a fishing net and saying
(05:01):
I'm going to catch some air, notin a skateboarding sense, I'm
going to catch some air and outthere with a net, with my hands,
my bare hands, trying to grabafter the wind.
And Solomon compares the way hefelt in life to that.
This is what it feels likehaving everything.
It's empty vanity.
(05:22):
It's like trying to get ahandful of air.
That's pointless, you can't doit.
And so we look at this and wesee people like this rich young
ruler and solomon and we go howin the world does that work?
Uh, in fact, I think, uh, mywife and I were having this
discussion.
Um, you know celebrities thatfind no hope in life, and you go
(05:46):
, man, they got everything,bless you.
They got everything they couldimagine, and yet they still feel
empty.
Right, and that was Solomon,and that was this guy.
Everything, and he still comesrunning Now.
Everything, and he still comesrunning Now, this isn't really
about satisfaction.
(06:14):
I don't think right, because wecould sell this point and say he
wasn't satisfied.
And what you need is God.
For satisfaction in life, youneed God Now.
That's true.
But it's not just this feelingof satisfaction that we're
looking for.
I mean, that would really be tokind of use God, in a sense, if
I was giving a lesson on here'show to find satisfaction in
life.
Come to God Now.
(06:35):
I think it's probably true, butthat's kind of a lousy motive,
isn't it?
Like we're going to just getsatisfaction, that wonderful
happy feeling in life, and theChristian life is full of joy
and happiness and goodness, realgoodness.
But that doesn't mean we alwayshave that happy feeling.
You know what I mean.
(06:55):
That doesn't mean we always go.
I could want nothing more inlife.
I'm satisfied, you will besatisfied.
But it's not just about thefeeling, it's about eternal life
, and that's really what thisman asked.
Check it out in verse 17 again.
He comes running, he kneelsdown Good teacher, what shall I
do that I may inherit eternallife, real life, that's what
(07:19):
this man knows he needs is somereal eternal life, not just a
quantity of life, lots of years,eternal life, but a quality of
life.
How is it that I haveeverything and I'm still wanting
?
I need eternal life.
Now, first off here, this ishis need eternal life.
(07:44):
And Jesus is going to show himhow to get there and how not to
get there.
But notice Jesus' responseEternal life can't be found in
being good.
Look at verse 18.
So Jesus said to him why do youcall me good?
No one is good, but one that isGod.
(08:05):
Now you know the commandmentsDo not commit adultery, do not
murder, do not steal, do notbear false witness, do not
defraud, honor your father andmother.
The man answered and said tohim teacher, all these things I
have kept from my youth.
Then Jesus, looking at him,loved him and said to him Now,
(08:34):
let's stop there.
The first thing Jesus pointshim to I think for good reason
is you can't find eternal lifeby being good.
And he starts it here byshowing what real goodness is
all about.
Now he's playing off what theman says in verse 17, good
teacher.
It's not a bad thing to say toJesus right, you're a good
(08:55):
teacher, you're a pure teacher,you're an upright and just moral
teacher, you're all thosethings.
But Jesus asked him a questionwhy do you call me good?
There's no one good, but God.
Now, real goodness now follow.
Real goodness is not found injust being good.
(09:19):
We have a way of gauginggoodness.
Let's talk about dogs, shall we?
Because I like dogs, right?
How often do we say, oh, gooddog, good dog, good boy, right,
I say good boy all the time tomy dogs.
But you know, if I were to behonest, hunter, our oldest dog,
he's a good dog, right, I lookat him, I'm a good boy, right,
(09:42):
you know.
And you just look at him and hespends 90 percent of his day
laying by the back door and helooks up at you half the time
and just looks up.
Good boy, hunter.
He stays out of trouble.
Now he does get in front of meand so for that I got to dock
him some points, because he'salmost killed me by tripping me
a couple of times.
But he's a good boy.
You look in his eyes and you goHunter, good boy, you don't do
(10:05):
much bad around this place,you're a good boy.
Then there's Smokey.
Right, I'm going to go throughall the dogs, no, I'll leave a
couple out.
But then there's Smokey.
Now I often tell Smokey goodboy, right, because he comes up
and he looks at me with thoseeyes.
Right, because he comes up andhe looks at me with those eyes.
We're good friends.
(10:25):
Good boy, smokey, right NowSmokey, though, he does have a
tendency to go next door whenweddings are on, and I get a
call from the neighbor who saysyour dog is over here greeting
everybody.
He just jumped in the pond andnow he's running around greeting
people.
And I go he's not my dog, Idon't know what you're talking
(10:47):
about.
And I have to say Smokey bad,you're a good boy, but not right
now.
Sometimes he gets in trouble.
Then there's Luna.
Oh, luna, the puppy.
I very rarely tell Luna goodgirl, because she's not, she's
(11:08):
not a good girl at all, right,she jumps on me, she tries to
knock me down.
We're horrible parents of dogs.
I don't teach her anything.
She grabs me by the wrist andjust starts gnawing on my wrist.
She goes to the door, thewindow, and just looks in and
then starts scratching thewindow.
(11:30):
I go Luna, bad girl, you're notgood at all, right.
And I tell her that often, andyou know, you look at this, it's
like a gradient.
You know, hunter, good boy,Smokey good boy, but you know.
And then Luna, just not good atall, good for nothing.
You know, one day I keep saying, though listen, no, that's okay
(11:53):
, she's all right with it.
One day, I keep saying one dayshe's going to save my life.
Leela's like why do we evenkeep her here?
And I go, one day she's goingto save my life.
I just know it.
That's how this movie ends andyou know that there's this
gradient Some good, some bad,depending on how well they act.
(12:14):
Now we look at this list and wego a person is good by how much
good they do and how much badthey don't do.
But Jesus tells us otherwisehere and it's important that we
see it.
As we're looking at this thingof eternal life, jesus brings
him to the law, right, and theTen Commandments.
(12:39):
Let's just go to the TenCommandments.
You don't have to turn there,but they're found in Exodus,
chapter 20, the Ten Commandments.
And don't have to turn there,but they're found in Exodus,
chapter 20, the Ten Commandments, and you know them.
Everybody in the world knows theTen Commandments, I think, and
it's a list of thou shalt andthou shalt nots, and it's not
meant to be a way to be perfect.
(12:59):
If you look at that list andyou go well, I don't do those
things, I'm good, it's really.
Its purpose is to show us thatwe don't do good right?
So Jesus mentions some of theTen Commandments here and it's a
partial list of the TenCommandments.
Now, if you can just pictureten somethings, we'll say
(13:22):
they're the Ten Commandments,but just picture ten somethings.
Jesus mentions part of those,but the first four commandments,
and possibly the tenthcommandment, have to do with our
relationship with God.
The second four and possiblythe tenth commandment, well, the
(13:46):
second half has to do with ourrelationship to people, right?
And Jesus sums it up when he'sasked by a guy at one point you
remember the, the I think it's ascribe or a Levite comes to him
and and says what's thegreatest commandment?
And Jesus says in Mark actually, you can turn there, mark 12,
(14:07):
29.
It's only a couple pages later.
Let's turn there, mark 12, 29.
Verse 28, actually.
Then one of the scribes came and, having heard them reasoning
together, perceived he hadanswered them well, asked him
which is the first commandment?
What's the greatest commandment?
(14:28):
Verse 29,.
Jesus answered him.
The first of all commandmentsis Hear O Israel.
The Lord, your God, is one.
Now check it out, verse 30.
And you shall love the Lord,your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, with allyour soul, with all your mind
and with all your strength.
This is the first commandment.
The second is like it, and it'sthis you shall love your
(14:51):
neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandmentgreater than these.
So Jesus sums up those 10commandments and says this is
the greatest.
Greatest commandment is loveGod.
Love God with everything.
And that is the first set ofthe commands in the 10
commandments.
Then he says and second, if youneed a second, it's love your
(15:14):
neighbor as yourself, loveothers.
So put those all together, alltogether, we've got love God
with everything and love others.
Now Jesus back in chapter 10,verse 19,.
(15:37):
He mentions a group of themhere.
He says don't commit adultery,that's the seventh commandment.
Don't murder, that's the sixthcommandment.
Don't bear false witness,that's the ninth commandment.
And don't defraud or don'tsteal right, and that's the
eighth commandment.
Then he puts at the very end,the fifth commandment honor your
father and mother.
Now, these are solidly thoselove your neighbor commandments.
(16:01):
This is how we treat otherpeople right.
If you love your neighbor,you're not gonna kill him, right
?
That's an easy one, you know,kind of works that way.
And so Jesus puts these groupof commandments out there and
look at verse 20.
I think he's feeling confident.
Verse 20, the man answered andsaid to him teacher, all these
(16:23):
things I have kept from my youth, I've done it.
I've done all these things.
Now he hadn't accomplished allthose things.
Especially when you look at theheart of the law.
Right In the Sermon on theMount, jesus he says look, if
you've looked at someone to lustafter them, you've broken that
(16:46):
command of adultery.
Right, the heart of the law isdeeper than that.
If you've been angry at someonewithout a cause, you've
essentially committed murder.
Now, you haven't committedmurder.
But Jesus wants to say here it'sdeeper than that, it's our
heart.
We break commandments becauseour heart's messed up.
(17:09):
We generally don't kill people,but we do hate them, right.
And Jesus says this all showsyou're a sinner and all have
sinned.
Right, paul would tell us inRomans 3, 23,.
All have sinned and fall shortof the glory of God.
So this whole thing is to showhere's how you're righteous, but
(17:30):
really to prove once againyou're not gonna be able to do
it.
We all mess up.
None of us is good as far asfinding eternal life.
Goodness won't do it.
Now come back here.
One thing to notice is whatJesus doesn't tell this man.
(17:51):
He doesn't talk about the Godword commands.
He doesn't talk about nothaving another God before him or
idols, or Sabbaths honoring Godwith your time.
He doesn't talk about that.
He doesn't talk aboutcovetousness, which again is
like the blows them all away.
(18:12):
Right, the 10th commandmentdon't covet what you don't have.
Right, we all go, oh, man, youknow.
And there Jesus doesn't mentionthose things.
Because I think those are thethings this guy really struggled
with Loving God with all ofyour heart.
We'll see he had a problem.
But notice, jesus is going to.
(18:37):
If you kind of read ahead here,jesus is going to drop the bomb
on him.
Right, you don't have it alltogether in verse 21.
But before we see this bombcome down from Jesus, I want to
notice one more thing in verse21.
Everybody, let's look at it,verse 21,.
Then Jesus, looking at him,loved him, and I believe that's
(19:02):
one of the most important thingsthat we can see in this whole
thing.
Jesus looks at him, man.
When Jesus looks at you, hesees everything, right.
He sees hypocrisy in our hearts, he sees what we did in secret
and he sees all the things thatare just going on in our hearts
that are ugly, right.
(19:22):
So Jesus looks at him, butnotice, he loves him.
Now, peter, I think, was thesource for the book of Mark.
Maybe others put someinformation in there too.
But somehow when they saw Jesusat this point the man comes up
and he's excited.
I've done all these thingssince I was a kid.
(19:44):
What else do I lack?
I got it.
Jesus looked at him and lovedhim.
Man, I wish I could see whatthat looked like.
You know, maybe it was just asmile on Jesus' face.
You know that kind of look ofcompassion when you're busted
and somebody just goes.
I get it, you know.
And just Jesus looked at himand loved him.
(20:06):
When God tells us hard things wehave to understand he still
loves us.
He demonstrates his lovetowards us that while we were
still nasty, stinky sinners,christ loved us.
He died for us.
He demonstrates it.
Romans 5.8 is the verse on that.
But whatever it was, it wasobvious Jesus really loved this
(20:30):
guy.
He wasn't just trying to showhim up, he wasn't just trying to
make him look dumb.
He was trying to get to thebottom of this thing of eternal
life for this man.
Now, notice, that's important,most important thing to see.
Jesus loved him.
But he said to him one thingyou lack, go your way, sell
(20:51):
whatever you have and give tothe poor and you will have
treasure in heaven.
And come, take up the cross andfollow me.
But he was sad at this word andwent away, sorrowful, for he
had great possessions.
So Jesus here says it's onelittle thing, man, one little
(21:14):
thing.
Go and sell everything you haveand give it to the poor and
then come follow me.
And we see this story, one ofthe saddest accounts in the
Bible.
Right, this rich young rulerlooks at him sell everything I
have and give it to the poor.
Poverty.
You want poverty from me.
And he weighs it all in hismind and he walks away,
(21:39):
sorrowful because he had a lotof stuff.
Man, he can't expect me to getrid of all my stuff.
Right, that's a lot to ask.
And he goes away sorrowfulbecause he had a lot of stuff.
His excitement shrivels up andwe just go.
Huh, I mean we leave this guyand he just walks away.
That's all he seems to do.
Is walks away and says, well, Iguess it's not for me Wasn't
(22:02):
worth it to him.
Now we don't really have agreat ending to this story.
Now I will say and it's notworth much of anything this is
what I'm about to say is notworth much of anything.
But there is some speculationthat this is Joseph of Arimathea
, a rich guy, a powerful guy,who comes in secret and takes
(22:24):
care of Jesus' body after thecross, along with a guy named
Nicodemus.
He's a rich guy and some peoplein tradition would say maybe
this guy got it right.
Now, I like that, right,because I like a happy ending to
a story, right, I like that.
But the thing I do know aboutGod is that he doesn't just give
up on us.
He never does right we go.
(22:47):
Well, not for me, I guess.
And you know that God justcontinued to work on that guy's
heart.
He did not stop.
God never stops.
Now, again, tradition there'snothing.
It's just speculation.
So it's not worth much, butmaybe.
But here it is real life and wesee that real life takes a
(23:10):
miracle.
That's what we see coming uphere in verse 23.
Then Jesus looked around andsaid to his disciples how hard
it is for those who have richesto enter the kingdom of God, and
his disciples were astonishedno kidding at his words.
Jesus answered again and saidto them, children, how hard it
(23:33):
is for those who trust in richesto enter the kingdom of God.
Look at verse 25.
It is easier for a camel to gothrough the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter thekingdom of God.
They were greatly astonished,saying among themselves who then
can be saved?
Verse 27, jesus looked at themand said With men it is
(23:57):
impossible, but not with God,for with God all things are
possible.
So Jesus follows up thisteaching with his disciples and
the man goes away, sorrowful,and he says you know, it's
really difficult.
It's hard for those who haveriches to enter the kingdom of
(24:18):
God.
The trade-off right To let goof riches and make sure that
riches let go of you and to walkaway from it.
It's difficult.
Notice verse 24,.
His disciples kind of add tothis and they go whoa, if rich
people can't be saved?
Now, being rich was always seenas a blessing.
(24:39):
It was God smiling down on you,right, you must have been good,
god's blessing you.
That's not necessarily the case, right?
But here his disciples go.
Well, who can be saved?
And Jesus basically says it isimpossible.
With man this is difficult,impossible.
(25:01):
Look at the example he gives inverse 25.
It's easier for a camel to gothrough the eye of a needle.
Right Now, of course, there'ssome debate.
Is this eye of a needle maybe asmall gate in the city wall of
Jerusalem, the eye of the needle?
And camels had to get down lowto go through that gate.
So a rich person can go through, but man, it's difficult.
(25:21):
No, not a chance.
Jesus is saying the eye of aneedle.
Have you ever tried to do that?
To thread a needle?
It is impossible for someonewith my eyes to thread a needle.
I have no idea where it's going, right, younger eyes.
But imagine then that eye of aneedle and a camel going through
(25:46):
it.
What does it take to get acamel through the eye of a
needle?
You've got to grind it up.
That's the only way I canfigure that you're going to get
it through there.
There's lots of grinding ofthat camel.
You've got to break it down.
It's not possible, though.
A live camel cannot go throughthe eye of a needle, and that,
of course, is what Jesus isgetting at here.
(26:08):
It's impossible.
And verse 26, the disciples areastonished, right, well, okay
then what's the point?
And Jesus said notice verse 27,.
With men, it is impossible.
But with God.
But not with God, I keepgetting that wrong.
But not with God, for with Godall things are possible.
So who can be saved?
(26:29):
Check it out.
Who can be saved?
Only through an act of God cana person be saved a rich person
into the kingdom of heaven orany person.
It's impossible, but with Godall things are possible.
Miracle, it can take a miracle.
Now check it out.
We look at that and go well,that's not right.
(26:51):
So a person can only be savedthrough a miraculous act of God?
Yes, but God does want peopleto be saved.
We'll go back to it in a minute.
But Mark 3,.
We saw a miracle happen in theGospel of Mark A man with a
(27:11):
withered hand, right, a witheredhand, whatever it was, it had
no power and check it out.
Jesus came to this man with thewithered hand and he said
stretch out your hand.
Now, that's impossible.
That's his whole problem.
He can't stretch out his hand,he has no power in his hand.
(27:33):
And yet Jesus says stretch outyour hand and check it out.
He stretches out his hand andit works.
Jesus told him to do it andthen God empowered him to do it.
And we go that's a miracle,right?
If you haven't figured that outyet in the book, that's what
God does.
God can do miracles.
(27:53):
Nothing is impossible with God.
But we see other people in theGospels who have similar things
going.
On John, chapter three, just acouple examples.
There's Nicodemus.
He's a ruler of the Pharisees,he's got power and prestige.
And he comes to Jesus and hedoesn't actually ask him what do
(28:17):
I gotta do to get eternal life?
But Jesus answers that question.
Nicodemus just comes and goesgood, teacher, we know you come
from God, because nobody can dothe things you do unless God had
sent him.
And Jesus answered him and saidtruly, I tell you, you must be
born again.
You got to be born again,nicodemus.
And he answers that question ofeternal life to Nicodemus.
(28:40):
And Nicodemus goes how can I beborn again?
That's impossible.
Now you know Christianese,right, being born again is
something that happens in ourheart.
You're saved, you're born again.
And Jesus tells Nicodemus Nick,you've got to be born again.
And you know what?
Nicodemus was born again.
We're not told all thespecifics, but he came to the
(29:03):
cross in one sense when Jesussaid as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, somust the sin of man be lifted up
, that whosoever believes in himwould not perish but have
everlasting life.
And Nicodemus had to come tothat same cross and go.
I'm dead.
I'm dead, but I see what you'redoing for me on that cross.
(29:23):
I believe in you.
And Nicodemus, somewhere downthe road, was born again An
impossible thing, but Jesusenabled him to be born again.
Now check it out.
Luke, chapter 19, verses 1through 10.
Take a deep breath.
I know it feels like it's beena long time, but we'll get
through it here.
Luke 19, verses 1 through 10,we see a guy named Zacchaeus
(29:48):
right, our good friend Zacchaeus.
And Zacchaeus is a rich guy,he's got lots of money and Jesus
has a great conversation withhim.
As Zacchaeus different guy isup in a tree.
Jesus calls him down from thetree and says Zac, I'm coming to
(30:11):
your house for dinner.
I love that Jesus inviteshimself over for dinner.
In Luke 19, verse 8, jesus comesover for dinner.
Then Zacchaeus stood and saidto the Lord look, lord, I give
half of my goods to the poor andif I have taken anything from
(30:32):
anyone by false accusation, Irestore it fourfold.
And Jesus said to him today,salvation has come to this house
.
So here Zacchaeus has some ofthe same issues Money, power.
(30:53):
He was a tax collector andZacchaeus says here's what I'm
going to do.
I'm going to give half ofeverything I have and give it to
the poor.
Now, jesus never told him togive half, but I think God told
him.
The Spirit told him in hisheart you got to get right with
this thing, zacchaeus, and helistened to it.
Oh, it's so hard for a richperson, for a lost person, to
(31:14):
come to eternal life, but it'snot impossible with God.
God can work a miracle in ourhearts.
So what happened with this guy?
I think he was confronted Selleverything you have and give it
to the poor.
I can't do that, but Jesus toldyou to do it.
And there's some hard thingsthat we do in life.
(31:37):
And Jesus says look, give it upyour dream of riches, give it up
your dream for power.
Give it up your idea of what arelationship should look like.
Give it up your dream for power, give it up your idea of what
you know a relationship shouldlook like.
Give it up.
And Jesus says give it up.
And we go.
I can't do that.
That's too painful.
I just can't do it.
I can't give it up.
(31:58):
But he told us to do it.
He'll give us the ability to doit.
What was necessary for this guy?
Go and sell all you have andgive it to the poor Can't do it.
He can't Go do it and therewould have been no regrets.
Now, who knows what God wouldhave done.
But the man just didn't stepforward.
(32:20):
He didn't reach out his handlike the guy with the withered
hand.
Right, the guy with thewithered hand could have said I
can't reach out his hand likethe guy with the withered hand.
Right, the guy with thewithered hand could have said I
can't reach my hand out, don'tyou understand?
It's withered.
And yet he did it and God gavehim the ability to do it.
Obviously, maybe money isn't ourthing, right, there's so many
(32:43):
more powerful things that keep,keep us.
But.
But God will always say and Idon't know, does it happen all
at once in our lives, all atonce that salvation is that part
of sanctification we're.
Just, little by little, hechips off things in our life and
says look, give it to me, trustme with it.
I know you're obsessed with it,I know you don't want to give
(33:05):
it up, but open your hands andgive it up.
But for each one of us it couldbe something different.
But let's finish our time here.
In Philippians, chapter three,it's Paul.
Philippians, chapter three.
You can turn there.
Philippians, chapter 3 Paul's adifferent story altogether.
(33:31):
He was a Pharisee.
He enjoyed his position ofpower.
There's a lot of things thatPaul gave up the respect of
people, whatever it is.
In chapter 3, verse 7, paul'stalking a little bit about his
life before Christ and he saysthis and it's so beautiful,
(33:57):
verse 7, but whatever thingswere gained to me, these, I have
counted loss for Christ.
Yet indeed I also count allthings loss for the excellence
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things.
I count them as rubbish, trash,dung, right that I may gain
(34:22):
Christ and be found in him, nothaving my own righteousness,
which is from the law, but thatwhich is through faith in Christ
, the righteousness which isfrom God, by faith that I may
know him, and the power of hisresurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings beingconformed to his death.
So Paul had the same kind ofexperience with God.
(34:45):
So Paul had the same kind ofexperience with God.
Paul, your reputation and youknow your ability to keep the
law.
Everybody looks at you.
Oh, he's so pure, he's so holy.
And God said to Paul I thinkPaul, give it up, open your hand
.
And he did by a miracle.
(35:06):
Paul opened.
It opened.
Now, he was stubborn, right.
He got kicked off a horse acouple times, you know at least
once, and you know God knockedhim to the ground.
He was stubborn, right.
God has his ways.
But check it out.
Paul opened his hands and seewhat he says.
He says you know what?
I've given it all to God and Icount all of it.
(35:30):
All those things I thought wereso important.
I count them as loss forknowing Jesus.
I count it as rubbish, I countit as a big pile of poop.
Honestly, is what the Greeksays.
He says when I look at justwhat it's like to know Jesus,
(35:52):
everything else is trash.
And so obviously we can look atthis rich young ruler and say
poor guy, didn't get it.
But each one of us has a life,just life in general.
God says here's salvation, butfirst you've got to give up your
own love, first you've got toopen your hand, and the thing we
(36:16):
learn is it will always beworth it.
If God asks us to do it, he'llgive us the ability to do it.
To do it.
He'll give us the ability to doit.
God, I know that your wordapplies to each one of us here
today.
And to come to you, we give upour own righteousness for sure,
(36:38):
but you do have a way of showingus in our lives these things
that we just we love so much, wewant so much, and how you look
at us and you love each one ofus.
You proved it.
You say would you just openyour hands, god, help us those
things that we value so much,that we would just be able to
(37:02):
open our grip and trust you withthem.
Not whatever you do with thosethings.
Nothing is worth more thanknowing you.
That's true, god.
I pray that you would takethese things and work them into
our lives, even today.
In Jesus' name, we pray, thankyou.
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