Truth Matters-14 Final Moments 2

Thank you for joining us for Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Today, Dr. Davis continues her teaching on the story of the rich young ruler and how he lost sight of what was truly important on his spiritual journey to find righteousness.

Here's Dr. Davis in part two of Final Moments, finding real life in Jesus and letting go of the material world. Human beings are born with an innate sense of transcendence and longing for ultimate reality experienced only in the presence of God. This spiritual desire is at a minimum secretly desired by every person on this planet. Our entire culture is centered around this pursuit of happiness in order to curb this restlessness. This spiritual desire at a minimum is secretly desired by every person on this planet. When this longing is not fulfilled, it creates restlessness in our souls that we try to calm or satisfy. Our entire culture is centered around this pursuit of happiness in order to curb this restlessness.

Our country spends billions on materialism trying to soothe their restlessness. Oftentimes, you can get an idea of someone's restlessness by their sin burden. The more restless we are, the deeper in sin we go and the more bound we become. Notice in Mark 10, verse 17, when it says, There came one running. He was the rich young ruler who was an upright man for all standards at that time, but still came to the Lord running. He came running out of his own restlessness. A key question in this passage is why was he running?

Why was he restless? He was a good man by the current religious standard because he kept the law. When he asked the Lord what he had to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus answered him and said in verse 19, You know the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness.

Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother. The rich young ruler answered in verse 20, Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth. This scene is a perfect example of how the Pharisees and Sadducees believe that their righteousness was held in their ability to keep the law. That was the understanding of his time, and I'm sure the rich young ruler thought the same. But at this point, he was provoked to ask Jesus, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? The Spirit drew him to Jesus to ask this question. Otherwise, in his own mind, he was righteous. The rich young ruler was a keeper of the law, but he was still empty and incomplete. He had a religion and not a relationship. Religion will always leave us lacking and will always depend on works. The rich young ruler was still lacking because he came running to Jesus.

We run to Jesus because we are designed to search for him from birth. My question to you is, Are you restless? In your alone time, with just you and your thoughts, are you asking, Is there more to life than this? Do you have deep feelings of emptiness, brokenness or misery?

Or are you just not happy? Sometimes you cannot put words on the deep longing for God that rests within our soul. This is your soul yearning to be further clothed with the heavenly things. I want to take some time here on his approach to Christ. Notice he kneeled to him. This says a lot about the Holy Spirit's revelation to the rich young ruler in this exchange with Jesus.

In Romans 14-11, Jesus quotes Isaiah 45-23, For it is written, As I live, said the Lord, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess to God. Notice the rich young ruler called him Good Master. He was well informed. He was a keeper of the law, but he knew who Jesus was and what he had to offer. The Spirit revealed to him so that at this moment he could make an informed decision. The Spirit does that for us today. He reveals to our spirit, our heart and our minds, the absolute truth of the gospel, which is Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the better covenant than the law.

I'm going to say that one more time. The Spirit reveals to our spirit, our heart and our minds, the absolute truth of the gospel, which is Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the better covenant than the law. This young man's restlessness was a symptom of his anxiety because his soul could not relax or find rest because his heart was torn between his love for God and his love for money. A divided heart will ruin your spiritual walk as it did the rich young ruler. He wanted to follow Jesus, but he couldn't depart from his possessions.

He was conflicted in his faith. If you would like to contact Dr. Davis, you can email her with your questions or prayer requests at CherylDavis at ProjectTruthMatters.com or follow her on Facebook at Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Listen to a podcast of today's message on ProjectTruthMatters.com or listen to this station for the next broadcast of Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Truth Matters is a production of The Truth Project.