The Two Rich Young Rulers - Part 2

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Please make your donation to Visionathon today at vision.org.au Clinging to Jesus means letting go of everything else. Now sadly for some, like the rich young ruler in Mark Chapter 10, they see the sacrifice as too significant. Today on Turning Point, Dr David Jeremiah continues his look at this encounter with Jesus, which vividly illustrates how worthy he is to receive our trust. Listen now, as David introduces the conclusion of his message, the two rich young rulers. Well friends, we are studying the book of Mark.

We're in the last words of Mark in the last few chapters. And today we're going to finish up what we talked about on Friday, as we talk about the two rich young rulers. The rich young ruler from the earth, and the rich young ruler in heaven. The encounter between the two. Mark Chapter 10 verses 17 through 25 is our passage.

Right now let's get back to our story. The two rich young rulers. These two men meeting that day represent the two ways open to all men today. The rich young ruler had made this earth and his possessions the reason for living. The rich young heavenly ruler had left all of his riches behind in order to come to this earth and do the will of his father. His whole life was about the future. The young human ruler had only his past and his present.

He had nothing going in the future at all. Two men standing face to face representing the broad way and the narrow way. The way of life and the way of death. The way of works and the way of grace.

The way of man and the way of God. In the beginning of the story this man was searching out Jesus for answers to his emptiness. Now Jesus is going to search out the heart of this young man for the truth about his life.

Watch Jesus work as he talks with this young ruler. First of all he begins to search him for truth about Christ. In verse 18 Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good?

There's no one good but one and that is God. Even though he did not acknowledge that Jesus was God in the flesh, he had come to the right person. Jesus then begins to search him out with regard to the commandments. In Matthew's gospel we are told that when Jesus said to this young man, You know the commandments, the young man asked Jesus, What commandments are you talking about? Jesus quoted the commandments which were the basis of the decent respectable life. Don't commit adultery, don't murder, don't steal, don't defraud.

Without hesitation this man said he'd kept them all. Now note one thing, with one exception they were all negative commandments. In effect the man was saying, I never in my life did harm to anyone. But of course the real question Jesus wants to get at is not, What bad have you avoided but what good have you done? And the question to this man was even more pointed for it was, With all your possessions, with all your wealth, with all that you could give away, what positive good have you done for anybody?

How much have you gone out of your way to help and comfort and strengthen others as you might have done? Respectability on the whole consists in not doing things. Christianity in the whole consists of doing things, doesn't it?

What we do is followers of Christ. That was precisely where this man was and so many of us where we are. We look at being acceptable to God on the basis of all the bad things we don't do and we never stop to think, that maybe there's something more to it than that. Now Jesus wasn't examining this man's works so that he could determine whether he was fit for heaven. He was examining this man's works to help him understand that he wasn't fit for heaven. Because in his own mind he probably thought that he had done enough with maybe one little exception and he thought Jesus could fix that for him. When he had said he had kept all the commandments from his youth and up, Jesus didn't correct him. On the surface, you see, he was a very good man. His statement that he had kept the commandments since his youth would have meant that since the age of 13, he had practiced Judaism rigorously. He had superficial goodness and external respectability. He was a lot like the Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road who recorded for us all of his pedigree that he had before he met Jesus. So, the Lord Jesus is asking him these questions to help him begin to see where he really stands in his relationship with God. Money, you see, was his God.

That's pretty evident. So, we already know he blew up the first commandment, you shall have no other God before me. The first commandments, he'd already messed those up. Thankfully, Christ didn't ask him about the first four commandments.

He just settled on the last six because the most evident commandment that he was not keeping was he had put a God before God, and that God was his money. He had trusted in it. He had worshiped it.

He had gotten his fulfillment from it. His morality and his good manners were just a front for a covetous heart. And that's the reason Jesus asked him about the commandments because one of the purposes of the commandments is to show us our sin. Romans says, "'By the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.'" If we didn't know that God said, this is right and this is wrong, we wouldn't know what's right and wrong. But this man is being confronted with the fact that though he claims to have been a good person, down underneath the exterior of his life was this broken heart that did not have any relationship with God at all.

He was good at posturing, but he did not have reality. The Bible tells us that the law is a mirror that shows us who we are. The law can bring the sinner to Christ, but, of course, the law can't make the sinner like Christ. When the law brings you to Christ and shows you how desperate you are, then you're standing in the need of grace.

Only grace can take you the rest of the way. This man was right at the precipice of understanding this, I believe. Jesus had carefully crafted these questions and brought him to this place where he was beginning to understand that his outward goodness was not sufficient.

And maybe that was a part of the question he was asking. Maybe that was why he didn't have this inner peace that he wanted. And finally, Jesus begins to search for truth about the condition of his heart. Jesus, we're told, looked at him and loved him and said to him, one thing you lack, go your way, sell whatever you have, give to the poor, you will have treasure in heaven, come take up the cross, follow me. And he was sad at this word and went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. Now, let me just stop here and say, this particular passage has frustrated a lot of Christian people because it looks like, on the surface, that Jesus is telling this guy he can buy his way to heaven.

Isn't that what it looks like? I want you to walk through this with me and understand where Jesus is taking this man. First of all, note his compassion. Jesus looked at him and he loved him. Sometimes we think when Jesus is confronting us, he's mad at us, but usually it's because he's loving us, like we love our children when we confront them with things they're doing that are wrong. Mark is the only gospel that speaks of Jesus' compassion for this man, and he describes Jesus looking right into his soul and loving him. Why was Jesus' heart suddenly so filled with love for this very rich and pretentious man?

One writer has explained it. Jesus, who at this point is about 31 years old, looks at this man and identifies with him. Jesus, too, is a rich young man, far richer than this man can imagine. But Jesus has lived in the incomprehensible glory, wealth, love, and joy of the Trinity from all eternity.

He has already left that wealth behind him. Paul says that Jesus Christ was rich, and for our sakes, he became poor. Here is Jesus looking at this man.

He's already made the transition, and he realizes that what he's asking of this man is of similar nature, and I believe in his humanity. Jesus looked at this young man, and he realized the torture he had in his heart because he was so committed to his wealth, and he wondered where that was going to happen in his humanity. Of course, he was the Son of God, so obviously knew where this was all going. Now, notice Jesus' critique of him. Jesus said to him, "'One thing you lack.'" And I think that must have been the only moment of hope in the whole conversation.

I think the young ruler probably thought, okay, finally I'm going to get this. I'm going to find out what it is I need in my inventory that I don't have. He's going to tell me what it is.

I'm going to put it in my inventory, and then I'm going to be fine. "'One thing you lack.'" By the way, the word lack is the same word that is used in Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned and come short, or lack the glory of God. And then Jesus gives him a command, and here's where we wonder what this is all about. He said, "'Go your way, sell whatever you have, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Come, take up the cross, and follow me.'"

Now, it gives him five commands, and you've probably noticed that. Go your way, sell what you have, give to the poor, take up your cross, follow me. Remember, the rich young ruler has asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, so in keeping with his question, Jesus gives him a to-do list. And many followers of Christ who read this passage are greatly troubled by Jesus' words. Is Jesus' teaching salvation is obtained by distributing one's wealth?

We know better. Jesus has been trying to help this man see that even though he has kept the commandments, he does not understand them. The young man has succeeded at living a life focused on what not to do. He has not committed adultery. He has not murdered.

He's not been a liar. He's been very good at avoiding sin, but now Jesus is challenging his friend to give all of his considerable wealth and success away to help the poor. Jesus is not coaxing this man into poverty for poverty's sake. The goal is not to become poor, but to be with Jesus, and Jesus is saying to this man, listen carefully, you have put your faith and your trust in your wealth and accomplishment, but your efforts are leading you to doubt and insecurity about the most important question in your life. I want you to imagine, Jesus says, all of it gone, no inheritance, no inventory, no servants, no mansions, all of that gone, and all you have is me.

Can you live with that? Our Lord's directions here in Mark chapter 10, we can't apply those to everyone who wants to become a disciple. Jesus is using these questions particularly because those are the questions that are gonna penetrate this man's sinful heart.

This man was trusting in his riches, trusting in his wealth, trusting in his prominence, for his standing before God. And Jesus is trying to help him understand that will never get him to where he wants to go. He says, if you put that all away, if you send that all away, if you help others with what you have instead of hoarding it for yourself, and all you have left is me, will you be satisfied with that?

Because men and women, in reality, that's what salvation is, isn't it? It's saying that nothing else we have is sufficient to have a relationship with God. I found a little statement in some of the things I've been sharing with people, and it goes like this. Before you can say, thy kingdom come, you have to say, my kingdom go.

Isn't that true? This man wanted to say, thy kingdom come, but God was saying, if you want my kingdom, you gotta let yours go. You gotta quit trusting in your riches. You gotta quit trusting in your possessions because there aren't enough riches or possessions or position to get you to heaven. This man's problem was not his possessions, it was his priorities. He had elevated his accomplishments in life to the place where that's what he worshiped. This man had the wrong God.

That was his problem, and these penetrating questions by Jesus were to help him understand that he had the wrong God. He was a man of great wealth. So Jesus said, okay, sell everything you have and give it to the poor.

He was a ruler. So Jesus said, take up your cross and follow me. Jesus just undercut those things he had trusted in. He is saying, if you want to follow me, you have to get rid of the gods you already have. You can't have me and your other god. The Bible says you can't trust in mammon and in God at the same time. It doesn't say you can't have money and you can't have mammon, but you can't trust in it.

You can't make that the goal of your faith because if you do, you will fall short. You will never accumulate enough to arrive at the place you really want to be, and that's where this man was. He'd accumulated it all, but down in his heart, he knew it wasn't enough. And he had this ache in his heart to be fulfilled, and he couldn't figure out what he had to do. Jesus is helping him with this. He loved this man, so here he is, confronted with two choices. He's at a fork in the road. I can keep going where I'm going and continue to have the emptiness I have, or I can listen to this man from heaven, but the Bible says in verse 22, he was sad at this word and he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions.

What does this mean? Well, the word for sad is the same word that is translated by the word grieve. He wasn't just having a momentary sadness. The Bible says he grieved. The storm clouds gathered.

The storm was coming. This man walked away with a heavy heart. He walked away, I'm sure, with his head down and his shoulders bent. He grieved.

He went away crushed. He went away depressed because money was the center of his life. If he had given away his money, he would have given away the most important thing in his life. He would have had to give away his God. If you want Jesus to be your Savior, you have to give away all your other saviors.

You can only have one. Jesus will not share the throne of your life with anything or anyone. He's either your Savior or he has nothing to you. Because this man was married to his possessions, he went away from Jesus. He went away sorrowful. He went away. You don't want to be going away from Jesus. You want to be going toward Jesus. And there's no other record of him found in all the Bible. You can search through the Gospels. He's never mentioned again. So we don't know if he ever came back and got it right, but the probability he didn't.

The Bible says of him that he tried to save his life in the here and now, and he lost the future. Now you say, Pastor, that's really an interesting story, but I don't consider myself wealthy, and I'm not prominent. So I'm glad I heard this, but what does it mean to me?

Let me just tell you something. Everybody trusts in something. One of the things we used to do when we would ask people about their faith, their relationship, you know, you can ask a person, you could walk up to somebody and say you're a Christian, and about 90% of the people in America are gonna say yes because they have no idea what it means.

But ask them this question. If you were to stand before God tonight and he were to ask you, why should I let you into my heaven, what would you say? And I've asked that question hundreds of times, and most of the time, especially from men, I've gotten this answer, somewhat similar to this man. I'm a good husband. I'm a good father. I think I'm pretty good in the community. I'm a part of the PTA. I try to do good things for people.

I've never harmed anybody. So then I would say, so you believe that if you're going to go to heaven, your way in is on the basis of the life that you've lived and how good that is. Is that correct?

And then they get a little tentative, but yeah. Well, do you think you've sinned? Well, I've made mistakes. That's a little nicer than sin. Well, do you think you've sinned a lot?

Not really. Would you say three times a day? Oh, yeah. Well, do you want to do the math on that? I mean, three times a day times 365 times however many years you're going to be alive and you stand before God and say, I haven't sinned much, but here's what I got.

You see, that's the problem. Whatever we trust in has to be able to produce, and this man was face to face with the fact that everything he had, all that he had accomplished, it was an enormous amount, but it wasn't enough. He had placed his trust. If this Bible is trust, he had placed his trust in himself and everything he had accomplished. He wanted to have eternal life, but you can't get eternal life that way because, as you know, God doesn't grate on the curve. You have to get it all right, and the only one who's ever gotten it all right is Jesus Christ, God's Son, and if you don't put your trust in him and let him take your test for you, you can't go to heaven, and Jesus was doing surgery on this man's heart, literally trying to help him understand that all the things he thought were enough, they weren't enough, and that's why he was so empty, and all that man needed to do was to transfer his trust from himself and put it in Jesus Christ.

That's all any of us have to do. What are you trusting in to go to heaven? Whatever it is, if it's not Jesus Christ, it won't get you there.

You say, well, that's pretty narrow. I have to tell you, that's what the Bible says. I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father except through me, period. No exceptions, no clauses underneath.

The unvarnished truth of the gospel is if your trust is in anything else, except in Jesus Christ, you will miss heaven. So what should this man have done? If we could write a new ending to the story, what would it look like? Oh, I get it. I was just doing what I thought I should do, and now I realize I've spent my life building up things for myself, and I've missed the truth of your plan. Lord, please forgive me for not acknowledging your wonderful grace for me. I've been gifted to do this. I'm good at raising money. I'm good at business, and I've let that become my God, but I want to put that all aside now. I want you to be my God. I want to put my faith in you. I want to transfer my trust, and I want to believe in Almighty God. I want to put my faith in Jesus Christ as the only one who can get me to heaven. Somebody would say, if you look back on that story five years from then, and this man has become a Christian, would he be poor?

Oh, no. He would probably still be knocking the ball out of the park, in the industry, wherever he was in, only now would we be all focused on his new love, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the story isn't about you got to become poor to become a Christian. The story's about you got to become committed to Jesus Christ as opposed to being committed. You can't have two thrones in your life, only one, and Jesus Christ is the only one that'll get you to heaven.

Put him on the throne, and then subjugate all of this other stuff under him, and watch God use you in a way you've never thought possible. If you do that, you won't walk away sad. You'll walk away with the greatest hope in your heart you ever had in your life. Because Jesus said, I have come to give you life and life more abundantly. He's not coming to make your life miserable. He's trying to help you understand that if you will put your trust in him, you can become a Christian, and until you do that, no matter what you try, it's gonna leave you feeling empty, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

That's what it says. So today, whether you're rich or poor, man or a woman, young or old, it's the same truth for all of us. If you want to go to heaven someday, you better put your trust in Jesus Christ and in him alone. Watch what he does with your life. He will take you places you never dreamed you could ever go.

He will make you the person that down deep in your heart you really always wanted to be, and he'll set you loose on an adventure in life that's like nothing you ever could experience without him. Hallelujah. And the good news is the adventure doesn't end when life ends here on this earth. It continues.

It goes on forever and ever in the eternal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Tomorrow, we're going to talk about betting on the wrong world. I hope you'll join us then for the next edition of Turning Point. We'll see you next time right here on This Good Station. The message you just heard originated from Shadow Mountain Community Church where Dr. David Jeremiah serves as senior pastor.

Let us know how Turning Point keeps you spiritually strong. Write to us at Turning Point, post office box 3838, San Diego, California 92163. Or visit our website at davidjeremiah.org forward slash radio. Ask for your copy of O.S. Hawkins' new book, The Bible Code, finding Jesus in every book in the Bible.

It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also download the free Turning Point mobile app for your favorite smart device or search in your app store for the keywords Turning Point Ministries for instant access to our programs and resources. Visit davidjeremiah.org forward slash radio for details. I'm Gary Hooke Fleet. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series in search of the Savior. That's here on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.