When Jesus instructed a rich young ruler to sell everything he had and give it to the poor, was he teaching that it is somehow wrong to be wealthy?
Are we as Christians expected to rid ourselves of everything that we don't absolutely need? We'll hear the answer today on Truth for Life as Alistair Begg is teaching from Mark chapter 10. We're studying verses 17 through 22. 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 to 22 is surely one of the best candidates that Jesus ever encounters in all of the gospel records. 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. This fellow, says one of the commentators, is part of 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. It is their very niceness, their very goodness, their very religious interest, which prevents them, stumbles them, from entry into the kingdom of 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 why Jesus continues. You often hear me pray.
I pray a little chorus routinely from Sunday school days in Glasgow. 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. And that's the work of the Spirit of God, when we read the Bible. That the Spirit of God shows men and women who Jesus is, and shows men and women who we are, and then shows us why it is that Jesus is such a wonderful Savior when we realize what we're really like. 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 have 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.
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. 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 too, you can read it for yourself—where he says, but all of those things, all of that stuff, I 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, then 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, to whom I referred 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.
Look at what it says here. Jesus looked at him and loved him. He loved him. And because he loved him, he told him the truth.
Because he loved him, he said, Listen, I've got to tell you something. There's one thing that you lack. In other words, Jesus is the master physician. When you go to the doctor and you go into the long explanation of what it is you're there for and so on, and the poor physician sits there, he or she, waiting patiently for us to finish our prolonged excursus, and then they'll say, You know, well, why don't you let me take your shirt off and let me sound you? And then they come with that thing, and then they go, Mm. Uh-huh. Mm. Mm.
Once again, Mm. And then when they go back the second time, you don't know whether this is good or bad, right? Maybe it's good. He's just verifying.
Maybe it's bad. He found something. And you never know whether the mm-hmm is a mm-hmm or it's a mm-hmm, whatever it is. And then somehow or another, masterfully, they finally put their finger on it, you know? And you wince. And you say to yourself, How did he know to put his finger there? How did she know that was where it was? It was skill.
It's an understanding. Jesus does this. He puts his finger right where it needs to go. He doesn't put his finger on the same place in every individual.
Any more than the doctor cures by offering the same recipe for success, no matter what the condition is. No, Jesus is far too skillful for that. So he says, One thing you lack, one thing you lack, go sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. What is Jesus saying here?
He's simply saying what he's been saying from the beginning. The kingdom of God is near. Repent.
In this case, go sell everything that you have. Turn away from your present allegiance. And come, follow me. Have faith. Repent, believe.
Repent, believe. In this man's life, this is representative of it. And we mustn't go wrong here, and there are many sermons that are out there that go along lines which are immediately wrong. Jesus is not here calling this young man to do a meritorious work, as a result of which he will then be rewarded with eternal life. It's not uncommon to hear this passage taught in that way. Jesus says you should do this, and also all of you should do this as well. So I want you to go home, and, you know, if you're making one sandwich, make two sandwiches, take one to the lady up the stairs.
If you were thinking of getting a summer cottage, don't get a summer cottage, but get something else and give it to, you know, somebody that needs a cottage, because you don't need a summer cottage. And if you will finally be altruistic in this way and do these things, then you will discover what this man discovered, that your meritorious deeds will earn you this response. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Nothing could be further from the truth. What Jesus is asking this man to do is to smash his idol. Smash his idol! You see, what has happened is that this man, when he was asked about adultery, he goes, No, I'm good on that one. Defrauding.
No, I haven't been doing defrauding. He goes down the list, and he says, I kept all these. Jesus says, Well, let's talk about the one you haven't kept.
In fact, let's talk about the two you haven't kept. Commandment number one, love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength. And commandment number two, don't make any idols, and don't bow down and worship them. Suddenly the man said, Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute.
Oh, oh, oh, I didn't get that. No, you see, because Jesus is revealing the truth about this man. This man's life was all about the now, it was all about stuff, and it was all about himself.
He would have been a perfect twenty-first-century Western man. All about now, all about stuff, and all about himself. In fact, he's the kind of individual that would have loved to hear sermons that made him, quotes, feel good about himself. Because his whole life was set up to feel good about himself. In fact, he just comes to Jesus now to make sure that he's dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's. And that in itself is interesting, it is to me at least. Because for all of his goodness, he's still here with the question. Why does he even come and ask the question?
Isn't that interesting? I mean, he's got it by the tail. I'll tell you why. Because all of that external religiosity cannot deal with the soul of a man. All of the procurement of that which makes life in the now apparently really life does not answer the longings of a man.
And that's why, despite his opinion of himself, there he is looking for an answer to the question. How do I get eternal life? It must be because I'm doing this and I'm doing that, but tell me, is there something else I'm supposed to do?
Because you know there's something missing, and you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones? I mean, I've been a good guy for most of my life. I've tried to keep the commandments. I've been as religious as most of the people.
If you've seen some of my friends, I mean, I'm way out on the far end with that stuff. This man represents the individual, be they male or female, who is of the opinion that the path to life with God is the path of doing good in some form. That the path to life with God is the path of doing good in some form.
Tell me, what am I supposed to do? And what Jesus is letting him know is this, that the commandments of God do not represent a ladder of which a man or a woman climbs to acceptance with God, but the commandments of God are like a mirror in which a man or a woman looks and realizes the condition of our own lives. It's like an X-ray. It's like a CAT scan. This man comes, and ostensibly it is as he describes. He's honest enough to say he has questions.
I like this man. I'm here to ask you, good teacher, how can I be sure that I'm in the kingdom here when you wrap this up? Well, just keep the commandments. What is Jesus saying there? That if you keep the commandments, you'll be fine? No, he's saying, go ahead and keep the commandments, because as soon as you start to keep the commandments, you'll know how needy you actually are.
He says, well, I'm doing well on the ones you mentioned. I understand that, but what about this one? You see, what Jesus is saying—and this is the strength of the parable, and with this I will stop—the kingdom of God demands a man or a woman's first allegiance. The kingdom of God demands a man or a woman's first allegiance before my wife, before my children, before my business, before my career, before my money, before my whatevers. The kingdom of God demands a man's first allegiance. And a rich man's first allegiance is to the acquisition and to the maintenance of wealth.
That's how you become rich. And Jesus says, in your case, sir, this is the one thing. This is the one thing. You're asking me what to do? If I'd told you, if I had invented another fifteen commandments, you would have been fine with that.
But here's the one thing. I want you to sell what you have, and I want you to give it to the poor. And then I want you to come follow me. And you look down at the text, and you're looking for a great end to the story, and it says, He went away sad because he had great wealth.
He comes to Jesus, and he's got the notion that life in the kingdom is his, if it's within his grasp, if only he just can find out how to go about it. I'm a good guy. You're a good teacher. Let's get together. You give me a few pointers. We can both feel good about ourselves.
You as the teacher, me as the pupil, we can get on. Jesus says, Well, sorry to have to tell you this. And the man went away sorrowful. And the man went away sorrowful. I don't know whether that's the end of the story. Maybe we'll meet him in the kingdom.
This is the end of the story for here. We don't know what happened afterwards. I like to think that his sorrow led him to repentance. I like to think that he got home to his house, and he thought about it some more, and he said, It's so good that Jesus made me sad.
It's so good that he made me sad. If he just affirmed me. If he just said, You know, you're a great guy. You don't need to worry about this. We've got a place for you as an elder in our church.
I mean, we love young guys like you—keen, wealthy, rich, so on. We'll put you in leadership within 15 minutes. Oh, that's wonderful.
That's what I was hoping for. I knew there was just something necessary just to cap my kingdom position off. And Jesus says, No, I'm sorry. This is what you're going to have to do. And I said, No, I'm not going to do that. What about you?
What about you? You think you're going to enter the kingdom just sliding in? Do you think Jesus is altering the allegiance to the entry to the kingdom just to make you feel good about yourself? He's not going to do it.
He's not going to do it. So the only way in is the same way for everyone—on bended knee, like a little child. And whatever idolatry, immorality, relationship, unforgiven sin, whatever it is that we hold onto, that we worship, must be relinquished, must be turned from, if we're going to follow Jesus. See, Jesus didn't simply give him a directive. He gave him an invitation.
Go sell all you have and give it to the poor. And then, come and follow me. No, I just want to follow you. Can do.
Sorry. And the man went away sad, part of a special group, scarcely touched by the gospel. Members of that special group sit and listen to me and my colleagues every single Sunday at Parkside Church, and some of you are within earshot of me now. Members of a special group, scarcely touched by the gospel. It's like water on a tin roof. One of the great mysteries to me is how you can continue to come and listen to the same story and walk out. Surely, we are as blind as bats until the Spirit of God reveals our blindness. And then, in seeing Christ and in seeing me ourselves, then everything changes. Are you going to go away sad? That's the question. You don't need to.
He didn't need to. You can trust Christ right where you sit—a transaction between you and the living God, under the jurisdiction of the Spirit of God, in submission to the kingly rule of the Son of God. You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life, with the message he's titled One Thing You Lack.
Alistair, we'll be back in just a moment to close today's program. Like the wealthy young man we read about in Mark's gospel, there are many people who believe that they can somehow earn their way to heaven through their good works. Well-meaning people make this mistake because they don't take time to read or to understand the Bible. And that's why we teach the Bible every day on Truth for Life in a way that is clear, understandable, and relevant. We trust that, by God's grace, he will work through the teaching of his Word to move people from merely having an interest in religion to enjoying a saving relationship with Jesus. Every time you pray for the ministry of Truth for Life or make a donation, that's the work you're supporting.
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Again, you can request the book when you sign up to become a Truth Partner or when you give a one-time gift at truthforlife.org slash donate. Now here's Alistair with a prayer. I have a verse of a hymn in mind I just quoted and then the benediction. I heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto me and rest. Lay down that weary one, lay down your head upon my chest. I came to Jesus as I was weary and worn and sad, and I found in him a resting place, and he has made me glad. Father, help us, bring us to the place of necessary sadness about our need, our helplessness, our idolatry, our substitute gods. Bring us to the place of genuine sadness in order that you might introduce us to the gladness that is the experience of all who, like little children, receive your kingdom by grace through faith. And may that same grace, the grace of the Lord Jesus and the love of God our Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, rest upon and remain with each one who believes today and forevermore. Amen. Amen. Thanks for listening today. Tomorrow we'll find out what a fruitless fig tree has to do with God's coming kingdom. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.
