Good afternoon. It's great to be back once again
for another worship service, another opportunity to learn
from God's word together. I just want to say thank you to
the congregation for the invitation here and thank you to
all the brothers and sisters who helped with our potluck.
This is my first potluck here and I've just enjoyed spending
the day and sharing the day together.
With that being said, I want us to make a deal.
You and I know something crazy happens after a potluck.
We were blessed with really good food and right now we're all
battling the food baby. We're all battling the food
coma. My deal with you is this.
We're going to get through this quick, but not too quick and I
need your help as listeners. This is going to be a Co-op and
just know we're all in this together.
So I'm excited for our study for just a little bit.
We're going to talk about the man Jesus couldn't save.
I was talking to dude and you guys may know him as Darren, but
I was talking to him and I asked him, who do you think we're
talking about? And he said you could be talking
about anybody. You could be talking about the
scribes of the Pharisees, the guy from this morning, Simon.
We're going to be talking about a young man, and we're going to
be talking about a young man each and every one of us can
learn from today. The thing is, what I want us to
learn is what was good from him. We want that.
But where he fell short or fell short, we're going to learn not
to do that. That's our whole goal.
We want to talk about the rich young ruler.
We're going to jump around from different scriptures and
harmonize each of the accounts. We want to start in Mark chapter
10 and verse 17. In Mark chapter 10 and verse 17
the Bible says Now as he was going out on the road, one came
running, knelt before him and asked him good teacher, what
shall I do that I may inherit eternal life.
As I said a second ago, in this verse we are introduced to a
young man that scholars refer to as the rich young ruler.
This man was very young. We're not told exactly how
young, but we're also told that he was rich.
He had a lot of possessions. We're going to talk about that
some more. But he is a ruler, and what
scholars believe this means is that he was a ruler in a local
synagogue. He's a spiritually minded young
man, and he sees Jesus, and a lot like the woman of our study
this morning, he runs to Jesus. He falls down before Jesus and
he asks him a very important question.
What must I do to inherit eternal life?
This man, we see, he's got some attributes, you and I, you and I
need to possess. He's respectful, He's spiritual
and he's teachable. It's very rare that you find
someone that's got all three. Some people they want to learn,
but they're not really respectful.
I've had studies with people. The man I was talking about this
morning, we would study and we would study at the church
building and be me and him and his wife and this other brother,
and he would throw the Bible on the seat.
He would curse. He'd do all sorts of things when
he just didn't like something. At first he was respectful, but
when people find disagreements, they teeter off.
He was This man is respectful, he's spiritual, and he's
teachable. We need to possess all three as
children of God, people who seek to please God.
Watch out. Jesus responds to this man's
question in Matthew's account and Matthew chapter 19 and verse
17. The Bible says so.
He said to him, Why do you call me good?
No one is good but one that is God.
But if he wants to enter into life, keep the commandments, We
want to focus on this underlying phrase here.
Jesus asks this man. This man comes to Jesus.
He asks a question. Jesus asks a question back.
He says, why do you call me good?
Only God is good. And this verse right here has
been misused and misapplied time and time again.
This is a favorite verse of skeptics and atheists, people of
all different backgrounds 'cause you know what they say, silly
Christians, Jesus never even claimed to be God.
What you guys are doing is attributing Jesus as the as
being God. He never even claimed to be God
himself. We're all here believing and
worshipping based off a lie, based off based off of something
that Jesus never even intended. We ask is that true?
Of course we know the answer. Jesus claimed to be God.
The Bible says he's God. Here are just some verses that
teach against this idea. We want to start with in John
chapter 20, verses 30 and 31. Brother Frank and I, we were
talking during Pollock. I wouldn't say I have a favorite
gospel, but the gospel that reaches out to me the most, or
I'm the most susceptible or it's just the easiest to follow, is
the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John, we learned
the whole goal is to preach Jesus's deity and John 20 and
verse 30. It says.
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his
disciples which are not written in this book.
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in
his name. #2 Within the first few verses of John's Gospel,
Jesus is said to be God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. So the beginning of John says
Jesus is God. The end of John says Jesus is
God, but watch what it says in the middle and watch who says
what in John chapter 5 and verse 17 Jesus answered them.
My Father has been working until now and I have been working.
Therefore, the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he
not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his
Father, making himself equal with God.
So throughout John's Gospel, Jesus says I am the Son of God,
God is my Father, and the Jews knew what that meant.
He's not saying we're all from God, we're all born of God,
God's all our Father, and I'm his kid too.
No. Jesus was claiming a
relationship that you and I do not have with God.
He was claiming divinity. He was claiming deity.
All you and I have is humanity and the Jews.
They sought to kill him for that.
Another verse proving this point comes from John 103333.
I and my father are one. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. Jesus answered them.
Many good works I have shown you from my Father.
For which of those works do you stone me?
There's sarcasm in the Bible, he goes on to say the Jews answered
him, saying for a good work we do not stone you, but for
blasphemy. Watch this.
And because you, being a man, make yourself God.
So the Jews of the 1st century understood.
Jesus calls God his father. He's making a claim that he's
gone. We got to kill him because they
thought he was lying. They thought he was blaspheming,
but he was telling the truth. So here's a question, or here's
a thought I have for skeptics and atheists today.
At best, they're ignorant. At worst they're stubborn
because the scriptures teach repeatedly, Jesus is God.
He claimed to be God. To say or teach otherwise is
just not true. It is false.
So we ask ourselves this question.
Why do you call me good? Only God is good.
What does this mean? What was Jesus getting at?
Was he trying to get the rich young ruler to doubt?
Was he trying to correct the rich young ruler?
No. What he was saying is this.
You call me good, but only God is good.
Do you understand that? You are calling me God?
And do you truly mean it? And do you truly mean it?
You're calling me God right now, and unless you truly mean it or
understand what you're saying, there's nothing I can tell you.
There's no way I can help you. That's what Jesus was getting
at. Do you understand what you're
saying? And the reason why this is
important is because unless the rich young ruler believes and
understands Jesus is God, Jesus can't help him.
The same is true of us today. Unless we believe and understand
Jesus is not a man. He's not just a man.
He is God. He is Savior.
He is Lord. There's no reason to expect us
to change. There is a difference between
calling Jesus good versus God. Many people call Jesus good, but
very few treat him as God. It's kind of like when Jesus
says in Matthew Chapter 7 and verse 21, not everyone who says
to me Lord Lord shall enter the Kingdom of heaven, but he who
does the will of my Father in heaven.
So there's calling Jesus Lord saying and recognizing he's the
master of our life and it's a whole nother thing to treat him
as such. A lot of people want Jesus as
their Savior. Very few people want Jesus as
their Lord. Jesus is exposing this idea or
this thought with this rich young ruler.
You call me good, but are you going to treat me like God?
That's what your statement. That's the implication from your
statement right there. So Jesus tells this man, if you
want to enter into life, keep the commandments.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God. Matthew, chapter 4 and verse 4.
This is not a new command. This is nothing new.
The way to eternal life is obeying God's word, keeping
God's word. I love this question.
This is such an interesting question.
The rich and ruler, he comes up, he goes, which ones?
I want eternal life. But which commands do I got to
keep? You know why this is such an
interesting question to me is because there are Christians who
have the same attitude today. Which commands do I have to
keep? Well, that would imply there are
commands you don't have to keep, right?
There are Christians today that believe you don't have to keep
all of God's Word. Now they'll never tell you that.
They won't ever just say that outright.
They'll say it like this. You know how many times in my
short year and a half as a preacher, someone tells me this,
Isaac, do you really think if someone doesn't do XY or Z,
they're going to go to hell? What that thought or statement
expresses or exposes is an inner belief that there is a hierarchy
of commands and there are lesser commands and there are greater
commands. This is kind of similar to the
point we talked about this morning.
Are there greater sins? Are there lesser sins?
Some people believe there are more important commands and
there are less important commands, commands.
We're going to find out if that's true or not.
But before we go further, Jesus replies in Mark chapter 10 and
verse 19, he says, you know the commandments.
I'm not going to teach you or tell you something you don't
already know. You actually already know the
answer. Rich young ruler, Do not commit
adultery. Do not murder, do not steal, Do
not bear false witness. Do not defraud.
Honor your father and your mother, Jesus.
Then just pick these commands out of a hat and just try the
fortune cookie style. Let's just try these ones.
No, he got these from the 10 commandments.
He got these. He's quoting the second-half of
the 10 commandments found in Exodus chapter 20, verses 3
through 17. But he also adds Love your
neighbor as yourself in Matthew's account.
And he quotes from Leviticus 19 and verse 18.
Now here is a list of the 10 commandments in their totality.
The reason why I have the left side in black and the right side
in red is because the first four of the 10 commandments deals
with man's relationship with God.
Jesus doesn't quote these commands to the man.
He quotes the right side, the right side with you, with man's
relationship with other men, Man's relationship with other
men. Now the question is why didn't
Jesus command the man to love God?
Why didn't he tell him? Do not do not follow or worship
false idols or graven images? Why do you skip the first four?
Number one? It's implied in his question.
I don't know about you. People who don't love God don't
ask questions about how to please God, right?
This man is running to Jesus. He falls down before Jesus.
He's got a spiritual question. It's already a given.
He loves God to some degree. We're about to find out how much
he loves God though. And #2, he tells this man or
this is going to be revealed in his response.
He tells him to love fellow man, but he will only do so if he
already loves God. Here's what first John chapter 4
verses 20 and 21 say. If someone says I love God and
hates his brother, he is a liar for he who does not love his
brother whom he has seen. How can he love God whom he has
not seen? And this commandment we have
from him that he who loves God must love his brother also.
Now why did Jesus command the man to keep these six commands?
Are these the six most important in the 10 commandments?
And what people don't realize is there's actually 613 commands in
the Law of Moses, much more than the 10 commandments.
We got the same question Are these six commands greater than
the others? It would, it would seem so,
appear so. But this is not true.
This is not true at all. When we compare the list Jesus
gives in Mark chapter 10 and with a list that Paul gives in
Romans 13, they're eerily similar.
They both say you shall not commit adultery.
They both say you don't, you cannot murder.
They both say do not steal. They both say do not bear false
witness. One says do not fraud, honor
your father and your mother. The other one ends with you
shall not covet. Watch what Paul says at the end
or Romans 13 and verse 9, if there is any other commandment,
are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love
your neighbor as yourself. Now Paul helps us understand
that the commands Jesus gives are not the most important
commands. The commands that both Jesus and
Paul cite are specific ways to fulfill the general command of
loving your neighbor as yourself.
So the question remains, what's the most important command?
In Matthew chapter 22 and verse 36 Teacher, which is the great
commandment in the law, Jesus said to him you shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with
all your mind and with all your strength.
Another account says this is the first and great commandment and
the 2nd is like it. You shall love your neighbor as
yourself. On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets. Christians today they say this.
I think there are more important commands.
We just read them. The most important command is
love God seconds to love man. We all just read that.
We all just heard that. The question is this, what does
that mean? What does that mean when you
apply it? Jesus, when he's asked this
question, he's asked by a lawyer.
These weren't lawyers like you and I think of today.
These were experts in the Jewish religion, in the Law of Moses.
So this was an extremely technical question that Jesus is
being asked. Now we want to look at two
different ideas. Some Christians view this
command in this way. Right here there is love God and
love your neighbor. They're the most important.
We got this line that differentiates.
These are less important, less important.
Air quotes, one loaf and 1 cup. That's whatever.
No instruments, that's whatever. No.
Attending the worship of the church.
That's whatever. Lying, stealing the hair, the
covering, drinking and modesty. That's not important.
All you got to do is love God and love your neighbor.
That's what they teach and what they preach when you summarize
this view. They believe this loving God is
the most important command and the rest are less important.
The idea is that the command of love God excludes the others
other commands and excuses us from breaking them.
This promotes A lawless attitude.
Some people believe this. Maybe you believe this.
We're going to see if this is true or not.
Other people believe that when you love God and love your
neighbor, all the commands become equal.
They're on an equal playing field.
Love God is the most important command in the sense that it is
where you start. But it is it is not where we
stop. The rest of the commands are not
less important. In fact, when we love God, the
opposite is true. The command to love God does not
exclude the others, it includes them, elevating them to a
position of equality and encourage us to keep them all.
It promotes A lawful attitude. So when you actually and truly
love God. You'll do everything God says.
It might not make sense, you might not understand it, but
you'll do it. And when we truly love God and
love our neighbor, there's nothing we'll overlook.
Nothing that will overlook. This is the correct command and
my understanding of the scriptures.
There we go. All commands are equal.
Here are five points that I think are going to establish
this truth that the second view is true. #1.
Jesus says the 1st and 2nd command.
He does not say the first and last.
He does not say all you got to do is love God and love man.
He says first and second, which implies there are more commands.
And there's a sequence. You start with loving God, and
then you go to loving man and the rest fill in from there #2
Some believe there are more important commands, but that you
should keep them all. The very idea of should implies
optional. There is no such thing as an
optional command by definition. That would be a suggestion, not
a command. It's contradiction of terms #3.
If you have to keep all of God's word, namely the New Testament,
then how could any command be identified as less important?
We're going to read a verse for that #4.
How would you know which commands are less important
unless the Bible said so Specifically #5, Which commands
can you break and not sin in so doing and not risk eternal
punishment in hell? Look, I'm so confident in this.
If you can show me a verse that you can break and not sin, I'll
do it with you. We could do it together.
Here's what Jesus taught. Life is found in keeping the
commandments. All must be obeyed.
And Matthew, chapter 28 and verse 19.
We got a new sister today. She was baptized.
This is a reminder for all of us, of God's plan.
These are Jesus's words before he left for heaven.
Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. We did that.
Praise be to God. Here's the next step.
Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you
and lo, and with you always, even to the end of the age.
Amen. Can you do any less than all?
No. Jesus commands.
He wants disciples who they don't cut corners with the
Bible. They don't cut corners with his
commands. We have to have the Spirit and
the disposition to do all, to do all, the young man said to
Jesus. All these things I've kept from
my youth. What do I still lack?
Sounds arrogant at first glance. He's not.
This is a very sincere man. He's not saying I've never
sinned, I've never broken the commands of God.
He's not saying he's sinless. He's saying he's blameless.
When he messed up, he fessed up and he fixed it.
This is exactly what Paul says in Philippians 3.
He talks about his former conduct in Judaism and he's
bragging about how good of a Jew he used to be.
And he says there concerning zeal, persecuting the church,
concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
This rich young ruler, he's doing the same thing.
He's not bragging that he's like Jesus.
He's saying when I mess up, I fix it.
I already do all these things now.
I love this man. He says this.
What do I still lack? He's got the heart.
Am I missing something? Am I overlooking something?
I don't want to leave one stone unturned spiritually.
And that's how you and I need to be today.
He was zealous. He wanted to.
He could not stop at any point. And pleasing God, he was curious
and he wasn't going to let anybody get in the way.
Look at Jesus's response and Mark's account.
Then Jesus looking at him, loved him.
Mark's the only account that puts that detail.
He loved him and said to him one thing you lack go your way.
Sell whatever you have and give to the poor and you will have
treasure in heaven and come take up the cross and follow me.
Matthew's account says if you want to be perfect, sell all
that you have and give to the poor.
Now what we're noticing in this verse is that God Jesus says if
you want to be perfect then do this.
Well, not every Christian wants to be perfect.
Some are OK with being average or OK or good.
But in the Scriptures there is an expectation of perfection.
Watch what I mean in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 48.
Therefore you shall be perfect just as your Father in Heaven is
perfect. And Colossians one and 28 Jesus.
We preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom
that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
The goal for everyone in this building is perfection.
Now we ask, what does it mean to be perfect as a Christian?
That's the $1,000,000 question. Being perfect does not mean
flawless. It does not mean sinless.
It means mature, fully grown, not lacking anything.
Here a few verses to back this up and 1st Thessalonians Chapter
3 and verse 10. Night and Day.
Praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect.
What is lacking in your faith. There is that relationship once
again, and James one and four. But let patience have it's
perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking
nothing. This is the same idea in our
story. Mark's account says one thing
you lack. Matthew says if you want to be
perfect, if you want to be perfect.
Now, I understand when I say our goal is perfection and Jesus
demands perfection. That's intimidating.
I'm not perfect. Let's just make that clear.
My my nickname back home with my family is Perfecto.
I don't know if he knows Spanish.
That means perfect. And I know what you're thinking.
There's no way you're not perfect.
I know, but I have flaws. There are things I'm working on.
There are things you're working on.
None of us in here are perfect. There's always an area I can
improve and you can improve and I understand being 25 years old,
I've been with myself long enough to understand I'm weird,
I'm different. So when I hear you got to be
perfect, that's encouraging to me.
That doesn't deter me or cause me to be discouraged.
But I understand there are people, when they hear you got
to be perfect, that's very intimidating.
And some people go, well, I'm surely not perfect, so I don't
even know why. Don't even try.
Have you ever felt that way? Me too at times.
Here is a quote from a legendary basketball coach, John Wooden.
He says this. I am not as good as I ought to
be. I am not as good as I want to
be. I am not as good as I'm going to
be. But I am thankful that I am
better than I used to be. When we understand this
commandment to be perfect. Yes, the goal is perfection, but
our mindset needs to be direction.
I'm better than I used to be, but I press on.
I press upward. I am not already been perfected.
I am not already attained, the Apostle Paul would say.
I press upward and onward when we view.
I have a Christian growth mindset of direction, upward and
higher, holier than we've ever been.
All the discouragement goes away from this command.
You can find joy in being perfect and striving for that.
So don't get bogged up in being flawless.
No, it's just being fully grown. And in order to be fully grown,
you got to make mistakes. The goal is to not make
mistakes. But we will.
We will and mark chapter 10 and verse 21.
The story quickly ends. Then Jesus looking at him, loved
him and said to him one thing you like go your way, sell
whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have
treasure in heaven and come take up the cross and follow me.
But he was sad at this word and went away sorrowful for he had
great possession. He read.
He was joyous. He started.
He had this question. He fell down, He kneeled down.
He was all gung ho. Didn't get the answer he wanted.
You see, Jesus can read hearts. We learned that this morning.
He didn't say what he said by accident.
Now don't get it twisted. Being rich is not a sin.
It's not bad to be taken care of, but what is bad is when we
treasure earthly treasures more than heavenly treasures and we
let that get in the way of God. That's what this man's problem
was. And Jesus knew there was one
thing keeping him back. That was his earthly treasures.
So Jesus, when he said this answer, he gave this answer.
He knew he touched a soft spot. This was the real test.
You call me good? Only one is good.
That is God. You call me God.
Are you going to treat me as God?
And He didn't. He runs away.
He leaves. And this story does not have a
happy ending. I believe this with all my
heart. Each and every one of us in
here, you've got one sin or temptation that's worse than the
other ones. This is the one you pray for,
and I pray for more than any other one.
This is one. No one may even know this about
you, that you struggle with this on a daily basis.
Just like the rich young ruler. We got that one thing and God
knows it. When Jesus said you got to give
this up, what you don't want to give up, you got to give up.
This guy threw in the towel and he teaches us it is possible for
an individual to follow instructions without truly
possessing a heart for God. He was going through the
motions. Yeah, he didn't steal.
Yeah, he didn't kill people or murder or lie, but he was just
checking boxes. He wasn't truly transformed or
changed. Today we met here first day of
the week like God says one loaf 1 cup, no instruments.
The brethren led the services. Were we checking boxes off
today? Or do we do this because our
heart is changed and being changed and we're here out of a
love for God? We might not be so different
from the rich young ruler. Only you or I can ascertain our
own thoughts and hearts in this. Jesus commanded the man to give
up the one thing he was unwilling to surrender his
riches. I will leave you with two
questions. What are you willing to give up,
and what are you unwilling to give up?
Whatever it is To the second question, whatever the answer,
that's what's going to keep us out of heaven.
That's what's going to keep us from serving God to our ability,
the best of our ability, as He demands, as he deserves, and as
he desires. Jesus ends this sermon in
Matthew 19 and 29 everyone who has left houses or brothers or
sisters, or father or mother or wife or children or lands.
For my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit
eternal life. I've been homeless because of my
beliefs. I've been kicked out at home
because of my beliefs. We've all suffered in this
building because of what we believe to some degree.
I'm not the preacher to tell you this is easy.
I'm going to tell you it's worth it.
Jesus has every right to demand everything, and every anything
short than everything. Is not good enough.
We have to be willing to give up everything in our life.
What is it with you? How is it with you this
afternoon? This is the man that Jesus
couldn't save because he wouldn't let Jesus save him.
Will we let Jesus save us? Maybe you are here and they're
not yet a Christian, as we did with our new sister earlier
today. The steps are simple.
All we got to do is hear God's word, believe that Jesus is the
Son of God, repent, confess, and be baptized.
And that's not the end. That's just the beginning.
That's the start of the race I'm looking forward to.
When Jesus comes, I pray I don't get cheated out of 40 years of
serving God. Yes, I want Jesus to come back,
but I want to be able to be elderly, an older Christian.
That's the goal. That's the dream.
How is it with us in this earthly walk?
Have you fallen astray? Do you need prayers?
We'd love to help you. Please come forward as we stand
and sing the song of imitation we thank you for.
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