Betting on the Wrong World - Part 1

This podcast is made available by Vision Christian Media, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. Your donation today means great podcasts like this remain available to help people look to God daily. Please make your donation to Visionathon today at vision.org.au As a Christian, you're living in two different worlds. One that operates in man's economy, the other in God's economy.

Do you know the difference? Today on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah takes a closer look at the dangers of storing treasures on earth and the benefits of building treasures in heaven. From In Search of the Savior, here's David with today's message, betting on the wrong world. Well, In Search of the Savior is the title we have given to the third section of the book of Mark, which we are completing now during this time. Today, we're going to be in the 10th chapter, verses 23 through 31. We're talking about betting on the wrong world. Tomorrow, we'll finish up this discussion from Mark chapter 10, and on Thursday, we're going to celebrate Thanksgiving together in a very special one-day message program. Right now, let's get back to our Bibles and back to the discussion.

This is called Betting on the Wrong World. Do you remember when we met the last time we were introduced to a man whose only name was the rich, young ruler? A man who had everything money could buy, along with it prominence and prestige and position. But he came to Jesus longing for an answer to the ache that was still left in his heart. And the Lord Jesus heard him and conversed with him and then gave him some very troubling instructions. He told him to go and sell everything that he had and give it to the poor, come and take up his cross, and follow Jesus.

And as we left the story, we were told that when the man heard that, he went away sad. And as far as we know, became the only person in the Bible who left Jesus in worse condition than when he found him. And now, we read the rest of the story beginning at the 23rd verse. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, How hard is it for those who have riches 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. And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looked at them and said, With men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God all things are possible.

Then Peter began to say to him, See, we have left all and followed you. And Jesus answered and said, Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the Gospels, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life, but many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. One of the great challenges of being a follower of Jesus Christ in the world in which we live is the very fact that we are citizens of two different worlds all at the same time. We live in this world with all of its issues, and we're citizens of heaven where we're going to be for eternity. And I don't know about the rest of you, but many, many times during given week, those two worlds collide in my life.

And I have to stop and take note of what's going on. And I've discovered that it takes a proactive approach to the Christian life to make sure that you keep the right world in focus because we are constantly being in the garage with messages from this world through television, through the radio, through the internet, through Facebook, through Twitter, through all of the various means of communication today. The message in those is almost never about the real world. It's always about this world that we live in.

And as you know, these two worlds are totally different. The world in which you and I live is a world which is all about prospects and pleasures and possessions and perspectives and power. And the other world, the world which is ours because of our relationship with Christ, has a wholly different set of values. So that all the time I'm living for the Lord, all the time I'm walking with the Lord, unfortunately, the background music is sometimes the message of this world.

There's an unsettledness about that for all of us, if we're honest. Sometimes we wish we could just shut this world off and let the other world be our focus, but we cannot be so heavenly minded we're no earthly good. So here we are, followers of Christ. We have to live out our faith in a world that's antagonistic to what we believe, and we have to believe in a world that we have yet to see.

And every one of us, every day, makes decisions about which world will dominate and dictate our priorities. The Lord Jesus, in this passage that we have in front of us, helps us understand the uniqueness of each world. In the first part of the text that we have read, we get a little look at the wealth of this world. And we begin with Jesus looking around and saying to his disciples after the rich young ruler had walked away with his head down, how hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God.

And the disciples were astonished at his words. And Jesus answered again and said to them, children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches 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. Jesus' message is simple and it's clear.

In fact, he repeats the same idea three different times. How hard is it for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God? How hard is it for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God? And then, the blockbuster of all three, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. A more literal translation of verse 23 would read like this, how hard is it for those who have things to enter the kingdom of God? How hard is it for those who have stuff to enter the kingdom of God? The wealth of this world, our things, if we're not careful, can be a barrier to following Christ. Why is that so? Why is it difficult for the rich, for those who have a lot of money or possessions?

And by the way, don't be thinking of somebody you know like that because you are the person. Everybody in this room is rich compared to the average person in the world. And it may take a little imagination on your part to think about that, but you are rich. I want you to say it out loud, I am rich. I am rich. You are all rich. And the things that you have are the things that I have.

While they are a blessing from God, if we are not careful, they can get in our way. And for those of you who do not know Christ, if your heart is set upon achieving a certain lifestyle or a certain monetary number in your life, if you're not careful, you will put your trust in that and you will miss the most important thing in life. So, I want to give you some reasons why the wealth of this world does not work in the long run.

First of all, the wealth of this world is inadequate to all outward appearances. The rich young ruler did not lack for anything. I mean, he had money. He was a ruler. He had prestige. He was young.

He was in the bright glow of his youth, we believe, in his early 30s. He was respected, he was looked up to, but he was empty. And as you know, one day he came running after Jesus saying, Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

In other words, how can I fix this hole in my heart? He had everything, but he had nothing. And he didn't have what he needed because he couldn't afford it.

You say, wait a minute, I thought you told me he was rich. He was, but he had no idea what he needed and how much it cost. You see, the reason he couldn't afford it, and the reason it was inadequate, was because God is so rich. And if he had stood before heaven's door and said, I want to know what I can do to have eternal life, Almighty God would have said, you can't afford it.

Because what you want in order to have eternal life is the most expensive commodity that's ever been in existence in the history of the world. If you have one son, the Lord Jesus Christ, you can't afford him. He's too expensive. None of us can afford him.

He is way too expensive for any of us, or all of us put together, or all that you can imagine. The Son of God is worth more than all of the world and its riches put together. So, if you think you can go to heaven based upon your wealth, let me just tell you, you don't have enough.

It's inadequate. You're rich and you're way too poor. Let's consider once more the example of the rich young ruler.

He had it all, but he didn't have enough. The wealth of this world is not only inadequate, but the wealth of this world is insecure. The problem with the wealth that you have in this world is you might not have it tomorrow.

Can I get a witness? For all of you who used to have a 401K and now have a 101K, you know what I'm talking about, amen? We've been through some rather interesting times where what we thought we had, we don't have, and if we're not careful, we can look up one day and our treasure isn't there anymore. Jesus put it this way in a passage that we find in Matthew chapter 6. He said, "'Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on this earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.'"

Now, how many of you know that Jesus is just speaking the truth, using the vernacular of his day? I mean, we have moths today, but we've pretty much got a handle on that. We have rust. That's probably not our major problem, but how many of you know if you have stuff, it's always broken or it's always been updated by something better, amen? And if you're not careful, you look around, everything's cool, and all of a sudden, something breaks or somebody... Here's what happened to me. This happens all the time. Whatever stuff you have, there's something always wrong with it.

You need a full-time person just to take care of your stuff, amen? So, my wife tells me that the pool guy came by, and we have a pool behind our house, and he's checked out our pool, and he says, "'Your heater won't work anymore.'" And she says, "'Why?' She said, "'The rats have eaten the wires.'" Now, I was surprised. I didn't know that rats ate wires, but they did. They ate up all the wires on my heating system. Now, I've got to tear it all out and put it all back in.

The moths got my treasure. Isn't it interesting that that's pretty much the standard fare? Houses were out. Cars are out of service. Computers no longer are good enough. Every year, they come out with a new model. You've got to keep upgrading in order to stay... You guys got it.

You know what I'm talking about. Jesus says, "'The problem with the wealth of this world is you can't count on it. It's not secure.

It's here today and gone tomorrow.'" The wealth of this world is inadequate. It's insecure.

And here's the most difficult one. It's intoxicating. The wealth of this world is intoxicating. Here's what John Calvin said about that.

Old John Calvin, long, long time ago. Listen to his words. "'Because of the depravity of the human mind, it is almost impossible for those who have great abundance to avoid being intoxicated by them.'" Money is intoxicating. Money is always promising more that it can deliver.

Money is always, if you just have a little bit more, you'll be happy. And then when you get a little bit more, you find out that you're not happy, so you need a little bit more. So, it's almost like being addicted, isn't it? Addicted to more. And the question is, how much is enough? Well, how much is enough is a little bit more than I have. So, the intoxication of wealth continually is a struggle, not only for people who aren't following Jesus, but for all of us who are. I mean, we face situations in our lives as followers of Christ, do we not, where we have to sit down sometimes and say, okay, this is gonna be something that will have to do with the world to come, the salvation of souls, the life of missions, a new building to help people know more about Jesus.

And this is something I could use for myself to build my stuff. And then we have to weigh it and we have to decide. We're always doing that. We're always living in between these two worlds.

Everybody with me on that? Isn't that true? As believers, we're constantly living with the tension of two worlds. And the wealth of this world will promise us what it cannot deliver to us. Remember the story of Jesus that he told about sowing the seed, and he said some of it falls on different kinds of ground. Then he said sometimes the seed falls on ground where thorns grow up and choke it so that the Word of God is choked out. And in the gospels, we are given some of those thorns. In fact, in Mark chapter 4, verse 19, here are some of the thorns.

Listen to these thorns that the Bible says if you're a follower of Christ, can choke the Word out in your life. The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the Word and it becomes unfruitful. All three of those things fit into the realm of materialism, don't they? The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, that's the intoxication of riches, and the desires for other things. What are the disadvantages of being wealthy? Primarily that it can ruin your soul. It's easy for an earnest man or woman to become so attached to material riches that he forgets what is infinitely more important. Wealth naturally works at perverting your values so that soon you know the price of everything and you know the value of nothing. And that's why it's so important for us as believers to keep our head on straight when it comes to this matter.

It has the greatest possibility of getting its clutches around us and drawing us away from what really matters. And we see this all the time. I remember when I first started here and our family was young and I was trying to do my best to see the church grow and some things were happening outside and I had to come to grips with the values of life. I hear guys tell me all the time, well, I couldn't get to this game because I had a planning meeting and I had to be in this meeting for tomorrow. And you know what? You've been watching me for years. I come to all the games.

I don't miss any games, hardly ever. But what surprises me is so often how many kids never have their parents there. Well, they have to work. Well, everybody's got to work and I realize I have a little more freedom with my schedule than some.

But that's really where it is, isn't it? We have to weigh our values. Is it worth climbing another step in the ladder if you miss out on your kids while they're growing up because you never get to live that out again? It's all about values and price and what we do with our lives. And God wants us to make good decisions because he sees the end of it all. And as you know, you've heard this, he knows that nobody stands at the end of life and says, I wish I'd spent more time at the office.

Nobody ever says that. So, it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God because he has to give so much up and here's the irony of it all. We all have to give it all up anyway. Amen? So, you can give it up now for eternity or you can hang on to it now and you'll end up with everybody else. We all give it up. I've never seen a hearse with a U-Haul it.

I never have. The wealth of this world is inadequate, it's insecure, it's intoxicating, and it's insufficient. The Bible says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Now, what could that mean? Well, that's caused a great deal of imagination on the part of expositors over the years. Everybody wants to find a way to explain that away so it doesn't mean what it sounds like, it means. For instance, some people say that it means it's easier for a camel and they say the word for camel there is the word for rope.

So, let's read it that way. It's easier for a rope to go through the eye of a needle. Now, the problem with that is you can't put a rope through the eye of a needle either, so what difference does it make, right? Some people say that the word needle there is a reference to a gate in Jerusalem and you can't take a camel through the needle gate because it's too small, so the camel's got to get down on its knees and unburden itself before it can come through, but there's no evidence for that anywhere in the Scripture.

That's just somebody's fertile imagination. Let me tell you what it means. What it means is it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

What is Jesus saying? He's saying it's impossible. It's like putting an elephant through a buttonhole.

You can't do it. Jesus uses this as a way of saying to his disciples, don't try it. It's foolish.

It's useless. It can't work. It'll never happen.

You cannot go to heaven if you're trusting in your riches to get you there. It would be like trying to put a camel through the eye of a needle. It's impossible. In fact, he goes on to prove that. He uses the word impossible here. He uses the word of possibility. Almighty God is saying that if you want to go to heaven and you think you can get there because you've got a lot of stuff, it's as crazy for you to think that as to think that a camel could somehow be processed through the eye of a needle. Right in the middle of Jesus' interchange with his disciples, he gives us a clue as to how we can enter the kingdom of God.

The answer is wrapped up in one word. It's the word children. Notice verse 24. Children, how hard is it for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God? If the wealthy are at a disadvantage when it comes to salvation, the childlike are at an advantage. In fact, in the Bible, the opposite of disadvantage is not advantage.

The opposite of disadvantage is childlikeness. And Jesus says the way you get to heaven is not because of all the stuff you have, but through the humility that you have to realize you haven't got anything that God needs or wants, that all you have is open hands to receive the blessing that he wants to give you. Do you know that it takes a great deal of grace for somebody to receive a gift?

Have you ever noticed that? A lot of people are so proud that they don't want to receive a gift. They don't want to receive a gift from you or from God.

They want to make sure that they've earned it. And the Bible says if you want to go to heaven that way, it's as impossible to do that as it is to put a camel through the eye of a needle. It ain't going to happen. It can't happen.

It's impossible. So the wealth of this world, while it has some advantages and none of us wants to make a case for being as poor as we can be, the wealth of this world is going to leave you where it left the rich young ruler realizing there's something more that you need that you don't have if all you have is trust in riches. Hmm. Well, this is the series we have called In Search of the Savior. It is the exposition of the Gospel of Mark. We've had so much fun teaching you these lessons from Mark's Gospel, which I believe is the most exciting of the four Gospels, which testify of Jesus Christ. Certain topics that inspire an ongoing interest for many people, they're almost all in the Book of Mark. And the Book of Mark is that book that uses the word immediately over and over again, which means it moves fast.

You have to hang on with both hands if you're going to keep up with the story of Jesus in the Book of Mark. Well, we are moving toward the end of the month. It won't be long before we'll be starting a new month. As I mentioned to you earlier, we have a special Thanksgiving Day message coming up the day after tomorrow. And then we'll finish up our discussion of the Book of Mark in a few days. We'll be right back here tomorrow.

I hope you'll join us right here on this very good station. I'm David Jeremiah. Now, when you do, be sure to ask for your copy of O. S. Hawkins' new book, The Bible Codes, finding Jesus in every book in the Bible.

It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard Version, the New International Version, and the New King James Version, filled with helpful notes and articles by Dr. Jeremiah. Visit davidjeremiah.org forward slash radio for details. I'm Gary Hoogfleet. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series in search of the Saviour. That's here on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.