One Thing You Lack (Part 1 of 2)

There are many people who are expecting they will be in heaven because they think they are good enough relative to the rest of the population. But contrary to that popular assumption, Jesus makes it clear that God is not simply seeking the brightest and the best or the nicest and the most generous. As Alistair Begg points out today on Truth for Life, we have only one true source of assurance. I invite you to turn with me to the Gospel of Mark and to chapter 10, and we'll read from verse 17.

I invite you to follow along as I read. 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 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. "'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 have 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 fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age—homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields, and with them 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. Brief prayer before we look to this passage. Father, help us now to concentrate, to think, to be aware of the fact that we turn to the living Word so that we might hear from you.

Help us, for Jesus' sake. Amen. I was just talking with one young fellow before I came in here. He was telling me, I said, Are you back to school yet? He said, Oh yes, I've been back to school since the seventeenth of August.

And I thought, Dear, oh dear, where has the summer gone? And everywhere I go, I see them coming and arriving, and we're delighted that students are arriving here in Cleveland for a variety of opportunities. And as soon as the students arrive into a college or a university, pretty quickly on their heels come the recruiters—individuals from large companies, representatives of American business and technology. And they descend, sometimes surreptitiously, on the campuses in order that they might discover the brightest and the best students so that they might add them to their team.

I know this not by experience but simply by observation. Some of you are recruiters, and some of you have been recruited, and some of you are recruiters who have previously been recruited. But this was on my mind, because as I read this story, I thought to myself, you know, thinking along these lines, if Jesus were looking to add to his team, as he was and as he is, then the fellow to whom we're introduced in verses 17–22 is surely one of the best candidates that Jesus ever encounters in all of the gospel records. And interestingly, this particular scenario is recorded not only by Mark but also by Luke and also by Matthew. And in each case, this young man is introduced as a prime candidate for becoming a follower of Jesus. Now, he had none of the baggage, for example, of a character like Zacchaeus, who had been a miserable little cheat. He had none of the encumbrances of the woman at the well, who had, of course, been pressed down by all kinds of interest in apparently looking for love in all the wrong places.

Now, there's none of that in this fellow's life. We're told that he is young. You say, Well, I don't see young there in Mark.

No, because he's not there. It's Matthew that tells us that he's young. We're told that he's rich or wealthy in each of the synoptics. And it is Luke who tells us that he is a ruler—probably a ruler in the synagogue.

Furthermore, we discover from just looking at the text in front of us that this young man is keen. That's why he ran up to Jesus. He is sincere as he kneels before him, and he is concerned about issues of eternal life.

I suggest to you that's quite a combination. Young, wealthy, religious, keen, sincere, and asking all the right questions. Wouldn't have been any surprise if Jesus had said, at least under his breath, This is the kind of fellow I'm looking for. Not like these clowns that I've already added to the group, always arguing about who is the greatest, where they're gonna sit in the kingdom of heaven, all that kind of thing. No, here's a superfellow running up like that and kneeling down and addressing me as good teacher and asking about eternal life.

This is a terrific day. But actually, we discover that this is the only man in the whole of the New Testament—the only individual in the whole of the New Testament that I could find—of whom it is ever said that he went away sad from the person of Jesus. Now, when you read the text, it's quite surprising, isn't it? He makes a tremendous arrival, and he makes a sorrowful departure. What's going on?

Why does this happen? Now, we're trying to teach each other that when we read the Bible and we're searching it out, we ask ourselves, What is surprising about the way in which this is set before us? Matthew is explaining many things. Mark, I should say, is explaining many things. And as we look into the text, it should be immediately troubling that this unfolds as it does, and particularly for a certain kind of person. Let me tell you who that person is.

It's the person whose view of things—religious, biblical, Christian—essentially goes like this. If there is a God, and he is good, then I'm sure that he will reward nice people as long as we do our best. A good God rewarding nice people for doing their best. Now, why do I say that? Because I encounter it all the time. I encountered it at least twice this week in conversation that went along these entire lines. Not prompted by me in any way, but somebody said to me, Well, here's the deal. I'm a religious person. I try to be nice to everyone.

I give as much as I can. And that's my confidence. This fellow, says one of the commentators, is part of a special group scarcely touched by the gospel. A special group scarcely touched by the gospel. Not that they don't know the gospel, but they're not touched by it.

And we're going to see just why that is. They are, if you like, the people in this special group—and I don't want to be unkind to you, but some of you are here this morning—described by C. S. Lewis in one of his books, maybe The Four Loves, in which he describes these individuals as nice people lost in their niceness. Nice people lost in their niceness. It is their very niceness, their very goodness, their very religious interest, which prevents them, stumbles them, from entry into the kingdom of God. Now, the punchline to verses 17–22, I think, comes in verse 23. It's really the bridge between the incident and then the conversation with the disciples. Look at it in verse 23.

Here's the punchline, or the introduction to the next section, whichever way you choose. Now, without going all the way back through Mark's gospel, let me remind you that Mark has been introducing us to this question of the kingdom of God. He has presented Jesus immediately in the opening chapter as the one who stands up and says, The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is near, repent and believe the good news.

That's his message. The time is fulfilled. All of the expectations of the Old Testament find their fulfillment now in me. The kingly rule of God, as seen in embryonic form in some way in the Old Testament, which was always going to be personalized, which is why the people of God were looking for a Messiah, that kingdom is now fulfilled in me, he says.

What a dramatic claim for an individual to make. If you want to know God, meet me. If you want to enter into the kingdom, come to me. And I want you to repent, to turn away from your selfishness and your sin, and I want you to believe the good news that I'm proclaiming to you. And on that basis, you may enter the kingdom. Now, you fast-forward all the way to chapter 9. The issue of entering the kingdom is so significant that Jesus says, If you had a bad eye that was causing you to sin, you'd be better to pluck your eye out so that you could enter the kingdom of God with one eye than go to hell with two eyes.

That's heavy duty. That's not like, Hey, take it or leave it. No, he says, this kingdom business is big business. And in verse 15, in the context of little child, he says, And I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. So you might say that one of the themes that runs through the gospel record, and certainly here in Mark, is this question of entry into God's kingdom. And what Mark is making clear is that the entry points into the kingdom of God are not just as we might expect. When we think in terms of God's kingdom, we're thinking of his rule over his people and over his world. And when Mark introduces us to Jesus, he shows us that Jesus is the King and the Lord of creation. Hence, the winds and the waves are subservient to him. That's why he's able to feed the five thousand with the five loaves and the two fish. That's why he walks on the water.

That's why the lame walk. That's why the blind see. They're not there to titillate us.

They're not there just to intrigue us. What Mark is doing is saying the King has come. He created the whole universe. If the King of the universe arrived, you'd be surprised if he didn't do these things.

Somebody who would create a world out of nothing can surely walk on the water that he has established. All the miracles are illustrations of the reign of God. And so it is that Jesus is calling men and women to submit to his kingly rule.

That's a different way of thinking about things, isn't it? You talk to the average person and say, What do you think Jesus came to do? Well, I think he came to make me happy. I think he came to make me good. I think he came to make me feel good about myself.

All kinds of answers given. You need to go to the New Testament to find out exactly what it is that Jesus came to do. He says, I am a king, and I command you to bow down underneath my authority, and I will accept nothing other than one hundred percent allegiance to me.

Wow. Well, it's in that context that this young man comes. The kingdom belongs, he has told us, to those who are like little children, who are helpless, who are needy, and who are lost. The kingdom of God belongs to those who, like little children, are helpless, needy, and lost.

That makes it a hard sell, doesn't it? To this special group. It's very hard to get people to acknowledge that they are helpless, needy, and lost. You go tomorrow morning and say, I've got great news for you. The kingdom of God has come in the person of Jesus, and entry to it is yours, if you will just admit that you're helpless, needy, and lost. So, well, I'm not helpless, and I'm not needy, and I'm not lost. I didn't get where I am today. I didn't drive my car and park it in this garage to let everybody know that I'm helpless, needy, and lost.

Say, well, that's fine, but there'll be no entry to the kingdom for you. No, in fact, I'm wealthy. I'm religious. I'm good.

I'm well thought of. If you have a God, surely he honors this kind of thing, doesn't he? That's the way the dialogue goes when I'm talking. So the underlying theme, the underlying question is, who is fit for entry to the kingdom of God, and on what basis? That's really what Mark is addressing here all the way through. And on the surface, this simply appears to be a conversation between a good man and a good teacher.

And that's why Jesus immediately twists his nose just a little bit, metaphorically. A good teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said, well, why don't we talk about good for just a moment? Why don't we talk about what good is? And we could stop for a long time and talk about what good is. When I grew up as a boy, good was defined in moral terms. Good was either right or it was wrong. Now good is defined in emotional terms. Whatever makes you feel good is what is good.

But that's not our conversation for now. What Jesus is doing is he's forcing this man to consider the question of his identity. That is the identity of Jesus. Why did you call me good? The rabbis were not referred to as good. Jewish teachers were not referred to as good. You didn't go up and refer to the rabbi as good rabbi or as good teacher, because they knew there was only one who was good, and that was God. So you didn't call anybody good.

There was only one who was good. God. So Jesus says, why are you calling me good?

Do you think I'm God? That's very important, because only God can bestow the eternal life that is the focus of this young man's approach to Jesus. What must I do to inherit eternal life?

What do I have to do to get entry into the age to come? How do I get into this kingdom? Jesus says it was interesting he would start with good teacher, because there's only one who's good. That's God. Not only does the fellow need to come to a knowledge of who Jesus is, but he needs to get a clear view of who he is. And that's the work of the Spirit of God when we read the Bible. But not until we come to an understanding of what we really are before God does the notion of Jesus as a wonderful Savior hold any appeal.

You see, as long as you and I are sufficiently satisfied with being wealthy and religious and good and of no interest ever in entering the ranks of the helpless and the needy and the lost, then people can stand up here and talk to their blue in the face about a Savior who comes for the helpless, the needy, and the lost. And you walk out the door going, I don't know why he keeps on about that every Sunday. I don't know who he's talking to. I think he's got the wrong congregation.

I think he should move somewhere. It's amazing the way he keeps talking about these people. Who are these helpless, needy, lost people? I don't know any of them.

They're not exercising in my club, I'll tell you that right now. No, you see, it takes the Spirit of God to show us what we are, and that's what Jesus then does. He says, You want to know what to do? Let me tell you what to do. Keep the commandments. You know the commandments. Then he gives a little selection of them. A little selection of the commandments from the second tablet of the commandments, from the ones that work out the principle of love your neighbor as yourself. He says you could have a go at these.

And then look at verse 20. You've got to love this guy. Teacher—he's dropped the good now.

He stopped that. He's a quick learn. Smart guy.

I tried that once, I'm not doing it again. Teacher, all these I have kept since I was a boy. I believe him. I absolutely believe him. He says, I was brought up in the context in which goodness was held up to me, righteousness.

In fact, he's a lot like somebody that we meet later on in the Bible in the Acts of the Apostles, a Pharisee of the Pharisees with a great background and a wonderful education, who was able to say when he wrote to the church in Philippi that when he looked back on his life in terms of living as a religious unbeliever in Jesus, he says, when it came to the issue of legalistic righteousness, I was faultless. Legalistic righteousness faultless. In other words, I had it all buttoned down. If you were supposed to tick it, I ticked it. If you were supposed to exit, I exited. If you were supposed to do it, I did it.

If you were supposed to leave it alone, I left it alone. But then it's in that section in Philippians 3—I mentioned it to you, you can read it for yourself—where he says, but all of those things, all of that stuff, I just can't even tell you what I call that now, in comparison to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ as my Savior and as my King. What had happened to the fellow? Well, he had seen Jesus, and he had seen himself. Now, when we teach the Bible, as we seek to do, we seek to say, look into the Bible, and here is Jesus. Examine the Scripture. See if this is exactly what it says in the Bible.

But when it comes to the issue of you seeing yourself as yourself before God, I cannot do that. Who knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of a man that is in him, the spirit of a woman that is in her? It is only the Spirit of God.

Only the Spirit of God. That's why the disciples, when they heard this—and this is going forward to next week's study—but when the disciples heard this, they said, well, who in the world can ever get saved? How does anyone get saved? Jesus says, Listen, the only way anyone ever gets saved is because of God. Because of God.

It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor. It's only God who opens blind eyes. Has he opened your eyes, member of this interesting group? Now, it's at this point that Jesus does the masterful work.

He's terrific at this, isn't he? You remember, for example, when the lady came to him—two of them I referred to earlier—in John chapter 4, it's recorded for us, and they're into the discussion about living water and getting a drink of water and so on. And eventually Jesus says to her, he says, Why don't you go and call your husband and come back? And she says, You remember, I don't have a husband. And Jesus says, You're dead right there, because you've had five husbands, and you're living with a guy, right?

She said, Yeah. Why did he do that? Why does Jesus do that? How does he do that? Because he knows. Why does he do it? Because he loves.

Because he loves. You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life. We'll hear more about this parable on Monday. Now, if you enjoy studying the Bible along with Alistair, this September he's going to be teaching while touring New England from aboard a Holland America ship, and you're invited to join him. This tour is hosted by Salem Media Group. Alistair will be the guest speaker. He'll be opening the Bible to study First Peter throughout the seven-day trip.

The cruise departs out of Boston, Massachusetts in late September, stops for visits in Maine, Nova Scotia, and Quebec City, to name a few. To find out more or to book your cabin, visit deeperfaithcruise.com. And if you're looking for some summer reading that will deepen your faith, let me suggest to you the book, A Hundred Proofs That Jesus is God. This is a book that methodically examines the life, ministry, and teaching of Jesus to conclude that undeniably he is the living God in human form. As you read this book, you'll dive into what has been a timeless debate about the divinity of Christ. There are scriptural references for each proof to help support this claim.

For example, you'll learn how Jesus sustains the universe, how he defeated Satan, how he is the only savior, and so much more. Request 100 Proofs That Jesus is God when you donate to the Ministry of Truth for Life today using the Truth for Life mobile app or online at truthforlife.org slash donate. Now our offices are closed today as we continue to observe the Independence Day holiday weekend here in the United States. We'll be back in the office on Monday. In the meantime, you can request books, make purchases in our online store, or donate at truthforlife.org. Thanks for joining us this week. Hope you have a wonderful weekend and are able to and are able to worship with your local church. On Monday, we'll look at what Jesus has to say about Christianity and wealth. Is it wrong for Christians to be wealthy? Are we expected to rid ourselves of everything we don't absolutely need? We'll find out Monday. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.