The Attitude of a True Believer

If you have your Bibles, look with me to Mark chapter 10, and we're going to read verses 17 through 22.

Mark 10 · chapter mention

And I'm going to preach about the attitude of a true believer.

Before we get into that, let me just say next Sunday, I hope you'll be here.

I think you'll want to be here.

I'm going to preach on heaven, and I always love doing that.

It's just one of those messages that leaves you feeling great.

And so I hope you'll come and be with us as we think about heaven next Sunday morning.

And while you're thinking about that, next Sunday is Friend Day.

We're going to invite our friends this week.

We've had an emphasis every week for the last four weeks.

And this coming week, the emphasis is on calling a friend, phoning a friend, and asking them to come to be with you.

That can be a family member, a neighbor, somebody you work with.

But just try to bring someone with you to church next week.

I don't have a lot of friends in this area that I know, you know, other than you folk who are already coming here.

And so it's going to be hard for me, but I'm going to try to bring a friend next week as well.

So I hope you'll get on the phone and call some folk, and we'll have a good crowd next week as we come to think about heaven.

I want to talk this morning about the attitude of a true believer.

And let me tell you what I mean by that.

I'm thinking about when a person comes to know Christ, what does their attitude regarding the gospel have to be in order for them to truly believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?

I see folks who have this notion in mind, well, you know what?

This is just totally on me.

And so I can understand the gospels.

I hear the gospels.

I kind of believe them.

I believe there was a Jesus.

I believe he came and he died on the cross and he rose from the dead.

Don't have any problem with that.

And I kind of believe that there's life after death.

Not altogether sure, but I kind of think there is.

But, you know, right now I'm in the middle of life and I'm having a great time.

And I'm just not ready to settle down and become a believer.

So what I'm going to do is this.

I'm going to file all that stuff away in the back of my mind.

And then when I get closer to the end, when I get out of that time where I'm going to sow my wild oats and I'm ready to settle down,

I've got kids and grandkids maybe, and maybe I'm even near death.

I'll just at that point when it's more convenient and more in keeping what I want to do in my life,

I'll give my life to Jesus.

But I'm not ready to do it today.

I'm just going to put all that stuff on the back burner.

And they kind of have this notion, I can just come to Christ anytime I jolly well feel like coming to Christ.

So, man, if they tell me I've got cancer and I've got two months to live, that'll be a good time to get saved, right?

I want you to know I think there are folk who genuinely, genuinely, I'm not just saying this,

genuinely come to Christ in the last moments of their life on their deathbed.

They come to the Lord Jesus and they're sincerely saved.

But I want to tell you something.

I've got a problem with a person who knows about Jesus all their life and thinks, you know,

I can just put this off until it's convenient time.

I don't think that's the kind of attitude someone has who genuinely trusts Jesus.

And I want to show you that.

It's not a matter of what I think, what my feelings are, what my opinion is.

It's a matter of what the Scripture tells us.

And so I'm going to show you two stories this morning.

One of these stories, everybody, virtually everybody here,

unless you've not had a chance to read the Scripture much,

virtually everybody here knows this one story, the story we're going to begin with.

The second story is just a single verse.

It's a story wrapped up in just one verse.

It's a parable that Jesus gives.

And to be honest with you, it's one of those parables that preachers often overlook.

We don't often turn to that and say, I'm going to preach a whole message on this.

We usually just throw it in at some point in a sermon, okay?

But this morning, I want you to know, it's the real focus of our message today.

So go with me to Mark chapter 10, and let's begin our reading in verse 17.

Mark 10 · chapter mention

And I'm just going to read this story and then make some comments,

and then we'll look at that other one, and we'll be done.

Look with me to verse 17.

Now, you may or may not know this story right off the get-go.

If you look down at the heading above where we just read,

probably your Bible has something like this, the rich young ruler.

And you don't read that he's a ruler in this particular passage,

but if you look at all the synoptic Gospels,

you'll find that one Gospel writer says he was a ruler,

and then Luke says he had great wealth,

and here we're going to see he had great possessions as well.

So here's what we know about this guy right out of the gate.

He's a young fellow.

He's a guy who's a ruler, which means he enjoyed a certain fair amount of popularity.

He has some status in the community, no doubt.

And he's a guy who's got a lot of money.

So when you think of all those things,

and you picture this guy coming running up to Jesus,

here's Jesus and his disciples,

and they're going on this journey,

and right in the middle of their leaving to go on this journey,

this guy comes running up out of the crowd,

and he just kneels right there at Jesus' feet,

and he looks up and he says,

what must I do to inherit eternal life?

You've got to kind of say, man, didn't see that coming.

It's not the kind of person you typically even read about in the Gospels

who comes running up to Jesus and kneels

and asks such a question, especially as directly as this man asked it.

You find on another occasion a guy by the name of Jairus,

he's a big shot.

He's the leader of the synagogue in Capernaum.

He comes up, he runs, he kneels, does the same thing,

but you find out there he's an older guy who has a daughter

who's at death's door.

And so he's, I get it.

I understand why.

He'd come and beg Jesus for a miracle.

We see of others who come, and they ask Jesus,

but always they've got in the back of their mind,

there's something they need.

This man's not asking for any kind of physical miracle.

He's not asking for any kind of help in the physical realm.

He's got that covered.

You understand?

He doesn't need financial help.

He doesn't need a physical miracle.

He doesn't need anything from anybody else.

He's wanting spiritual help.

So it makes it all the more unusual.

And look at the question he asked Jesus.

Master, tell me, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Well, that's a great question, right?

Can I tell you, for years and years and years,

in fact, even to this day, but especially when I pastored,

every day I'd pray.

When I'd get in my office, I'd begin the day,

and I'd ask the Lord.

I'd look over my calendar and say,

Lord, would you help me with this and this and this?

And I'd always say, Lord, would you lead somebody here today

just right off the streets?

They'll just pass by our buildings,

and they'll just see our sign out front,

and they'll just come in here,

and they'll just want to know how can they be saved?

Would you just lead somebody to me today

who's looking to know Christ?

I'm sure lots of you in this room have prayed

that kind of prayer as well.

Lord, just lead me to somebody who's looking to be saved.

I want to tell you, in the evangelical world,

this guy lobs Jesus a softball, right?

I mean, it's the evangelical softball of the year.

Could you tell me, Son of God, who better?

Could you tell me, how could I inherit the kingdom of God?

What can I do?

So you know what you would expect, don't you?

That Jesus just kind of goes in the wind up

and all right and pow, knocks it right out of the stadium.

That's what you would anticipate.

But that's not what Jesus does.

I mean, I'd have been on him, to be honest, like ugly on an ape.

If he had said that to me,

I'd have just jumped in, gone right to the Roman road,

or I'm not going to get him lost again

because he already knows he's lost.

He wants to be saved.

He wouldn't have come to me

unless he knew something was lacking in his life.

He would have never raised that kind of question.

So I'm just going to go jump right in and say,

here's how you can come to know God.

But that's not what Jesus does.

I've got to be honest with you.

If you didn't already read this story,

you'd never guess what he says.

Look at Jesus' response, if you will, to that question.

Verse 18.

Why do you call me good?

Why?

I mean, if I'd been one of his disciples,

and I'd been standing there, and I'd heard that.

I mean, this is what we've been looking for all the time,

somebody to come, and they want to have their hearts right,

and they want to go to heaven.

They want to inherit the kingdom of God.

And he says, good teacher, good master.

It's not an insult.

It's a good thing, right?

And Jesus says, well, now, tell me.

Why do you call me good?

I'd be going, huh?

What?

What are you doing, Jesus?

Don't let him get away.

I mean, give him the gospel.

Jesus says, why do you call me good?

Can I tell you?

It was a wonderful thing to say,

because Jesus knew what's going on in this guy's mind,

and in his heart, and how he's thinking.

Did he think that Jesus was God?

Absolutely not.

There's not a question in my mind.

He believed that this man, Jesus, was God.

He thought just what he said.

He was a good teacher.

He was a good man.

And Jesus wants to capitalize on that

and send him a message about what's going on in his own life,

in the man's life.

We all use that expression, don't we?

We say, he's a good guy.

She's a good guy.

You go to a funeral, you always hear the preacher say,

he was a good man.

She was a good woman.

And they're not lying about that.

They mean that compared to a lot of folk,

they're really a good, good, good person.

Or even if you look at them individually,

he treated his family well, she treated her family well.

They were good citizens.

They were good members of First Baptist Church.

They're good people.

But notice what Jesus says in response to that.

Why do you call me good, Jesus asked him.

No one is good but one, and that is God.

No one is good but God.

And you may be wondering, well, why did Jesus pick that apart?

Why did Jesus make a point of that?

Because he knows what this guy's thinking, not about him, Jesus,

but about himself.

When he calls Jesus good, he's not saying you're good as in perfect, as in God.

He's saying you're good as in I'm good.

You're good.

You're good.

We're all pretty good.

We have our good moments.

But Jesus is going to show this man something about himself from this point going forward

that he's not prepared to see, and I don't know that he ever saw.

I don't know that he got it, to be honest.

I think he walked off, and he never understood what Jesus was saying.

And here's the point Jesus is making.

Look at what he says next.

You know the commandments.

Do not murder.

Do not commit adultery.

Do not steal.

Do not bear false witness.

Do not defraud.

Honor your father and your mother.

You know what he's done?

Jesus has now skipped to the Ten Commandments.

He's gone to Exodus chapter 20 and verse 12 and following.

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

And he cited six of the Ten Commandments.

And get this now.

These six he cited are the six that theologians call commandments on the horizontal plane.

He's omitted the first four, which are commandments on the vertical plane.

And by vertical plane, I mean this.

They're the ones that relate to our relationship with God.

Keep the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

He says,

Worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Don't have any graven.

He skipped all those.

And he's gone to these that are on the horizontal plane that deal with man's relationship with other men.

And so Jesus says,

Well, you call me good.

There's no one good but God.

You know what you need to do.

You need to keep the Ten Commandments.

And he says,

How you relate to men.

Is that okay?

Have you been keeping those about how you relate to men?

And you know what the man says?

Look at his response.

The man says,

Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth.

Well, yes, Master.

Of course.

I'm a good Jewish boy.

I've maintained all these commandments.

Now, I want to just show you something.

Most of us in this room,

if you say to them,

say to folk,

You been keeping the Ten Commandments?

What do you think?

We think to ourselves.

Well, sure.

Yeah.

Right.

Right.

But have you?

Have you?

You ever gossiped?

You broke that one.

Ever lied?

Ever lied?

Ever failed to report some cash you got?

On your income tax?

Nobody knew about?

Ever hurt somebody?

Ever stole anything?

And on and on and on.

You see, we think,

Well, if I just don't break it all the time,

I'm not guilty of breaking it.

But you know what James says?

James says,

If you break it in one point,

you're guilty of breaking it all.

You get that?

If you're guilty at one point,

you're guilty of breaking all of them.

And Jesus knew,

and that's the reason he makes such a big deal

about this thing of being good.

Buddy,

you're delusional.

You're not as good as you think you are.

Right?

And none of us are.

We convince ourselves,

try to convince ourselves

that we really are great, good people,

and we just,

we're not that bad.

I mean, I'm not,

I'm not the worst guy in the world,

and so I'm pretty good, right?

Jesus says,

No, truth is,

you're not.

You're a sinner,

just like everybody else.

And so,

you're not that good.

Well,

Jesus is going to tell him what he needs to do.

Look at what he tells him he needs to do.

Look at the very next verse.

This is going to shock some of you.

Then looking at him,

Jesus loved him.

He's not angry with him.

He's not put out with him.

He loves him.

You lack one thing.

Go sell all you have

and give to the poor,

and you will have treasure.

Look at that word.

Treasure.

I want you just to remember it for a minute.

You will have treasure in heaven.

Then come follow me.

Now, this guy wants eternal life.

He wants eternal life.

You know why he's coming to Jesus?

Because he knows he doesn't have it.

He knows deep in his heart

when he looks at his life,

he's got a lot of stuff.

He's got material things.

He's got popularity.

He's got status.

He's got the respect of the community.

But what I don't have is God.

And I believe this all over my heart.

God has given us an ability

when we'll get real honest with ourselves

and stop being delusional

and look inward,

we know if we're right with God or not.

Doesn't matter what our parents think,

what our pastor thinks,

what our deacons think,

what our wife or husband thinks,

we know if we're really right with God.

I think most every one of you,

if not every one of you,

right now under the sound of my voice,

you know today,

regardless what anybody else in this room thinks,

you know whether or not

you are really right with God,

whether or not you're really ready to die

and stand before God in judgment

this very moment.

And that young man took inventory of his life

and even though he says,

I'm keeping all these commandments

and I want you to know,

I think he is a moral guy.

And I think for the most part,

he did keep all those commandments.

I'm not saying he,

you know,

he was a rotten sinner.

I'm just saying,

he was a sinner.

But I believe this,

when he looked at his life,

he knew this,

there's something missing

or he would never have come

and knelt before Jesus

and said,

tell me,

what must I do to inherit eternal life?

And I want to tell you,

that's where some of you in this room today,

even though your name's on the roll of this church,

that's where you are.

You're perfectly honest,

you know that's where,

because I'm not ready to meet God.

When I was a young man,

living in Anderson,

another young guy who was my age at that time

and good friend,

he went on to be a pastor of church here in South Carolina,

a large church and just a good, good guy.

But he looked at me one day,

we were in a locker room and he said,

Ralph, do you think we're ready to meet God?

And it shocked me when he said,

and I turned to him and I said,

I know I'm not.

I was in church every Sunday.

I'd been baptized.

My name was on the roll.

I was a leader among the youth.

And I knew I wasn't ready to meet God.

I knew I'm not right with God.

And I just knew that.

Innately, I knew that.

And I think this young man,

he knows that I'm not right with God.

So Jesus wants him to see where he really,

but he don't think he's that bad.

He's just not right with God.

So Jesus says,

here's what I want you to do.

If you want to be right with me,

go sell everything.

Every last thing.

And give it to the poor

and come take up the cross

and follow me.

And you will find treasure in heaven.

The young man's thinking to himself,

I got treasure right now.

I got lots of treasure.

I'm not hurting for money.

And this is what I know.

And that thing you talk about,

eternal life that I've asked you about,

I'm wanting to hedge my bets

in case it really is so,

but I'm not certain it's so.

And you see,

that's the problem with some of us

in this room again today.

We're never going to say that out loud in church.

We're just all going to say,

yeah, we believe that the heaven's out there

after this life is over.

But the truth of the matter is,

we're not so sure.

And that's why we hedge our bets

by making sure we keep holding on to this life.

Because we know this,

I know what I got here.

I can see my car,

I can see my house,

I can see my family,

I can see my relationships,

my friends,

I can see my money in the bank account,

and I can breathe,

I'm alive now.

But once I breathe my last

and the doctor says he's dead,

and he put me in the cash,

I don't know if I'm going to live then or not.

I hope so.

I think so.

Maybe so.

But that's uncertain.

So Jesus wanted to point out

how uncertain it is to him,

and he says,

here's what you do.

You go sell everything you have

and come take up the cross,

and you'll find treasure in heaven,

and you follow me,

and you'll get eternal life.

Now,

we're just going to get eternal life

because he sold what he had?

No.

Because it doesn't come to us by works.

But by his selling everything,

he was indicating Jesus,

I have complete confidence in you

and in God,

and I believe there's life after death,

and I want that.

And that was the importance

of his selling everything.

Now, I want to tell you,

I've heard some preachers and lay people

get this all mixed up and all wrong.

I've heard preachers even say,

well, you see,

he really didn't have to sell everything.

Jesus just wanted to see

if he was willing to sell everything.

There's not a shred of evidence

to hold to that idea.

I believe Jesus meant

go sell everything

and come take up the cross

and follow me,

and you'll have life in heaven.

And I'm going to show you

why I believe that

because of what Jesus said

on yet another occasion.

Before we see that,

though,

look at the man's reaction.

Look at verse 22.

But he was stunned

at this demand.

I love

how the Holman translates that.

I don't know what your translation says,

but the Holman says,

but he was stunned

at that demand.

You know what it is

to be stunned, right?

You're not anticipating something.

It takes you back.

It takes your breath away.

You just,

what?

I mean,

usually when we're stunned,

what?

We're stunned by news.

We're stunned by something

that happens in our life.

It's not what we thought

was going to happen.

This young man,

what was he thinking

when he said,

tell me,

how can I have eternal life?

I'll tell you what

I think he was thinking.

He was saying,

Jesus would say,

get more faithful

to the Son of God.

You got to stop

doing those few bad things

you're doing.

You got to give some money.

You got to give 10%,

20%,

25%.

Got to make a huge donation.

Got to start a ministry.

Got to get involved in something.

And I believe with all my heart

that man would have done that.

Whatever Jesus asked him

that seemed reasonable to him,

okay,

that's what I'll do.

But when Jesus said,

sell everything,

everything.

What did you say?

Huh?

Everything?

That's stunning.

Just as stunning

as it would be

to any of you

in this room.

If Jesus looked at you

and said,

you want eternal life?

Here's what?

Give it all up.

Your house,

your cars,

your family,

your job,

your 401k,

give it all away.

He's stunned by it.

And so here's what he does.

Look at the last verse

in this passage.

He was stunned at this demand

and he went away grieving

because he had many

possessions.

Simply say,

here's what he does.

He just looked at the ledger sheet

and says,

here's all I got

and here's what Jesus

is offering.

I wanted that

as a backup plan

but I got this

and this is real.

I know it's real

because I'm seeing it right now.

I'm living this.

Yeah,

can't give up this

for that.

I wanted it.

I don't want it that bad.

You follow what I'm saying?

Now go with me

to one other verse

and work through.

Look with me

to Matthew chapter 13

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

and verse 44.

And here's what it says

and I'm going to read it

just a phrase at a time

so just hang with me.

Don't jump ahead too much.

The kingdom of heaven.

Jesus is going to give us

a parable.

The kingdom of heaven.

And then he's going to say

here's what it's like

because he does that a lot

in the Gospel of Matthew.

Now look up and listen.

This is really important.

You'll get this

if you don't hear

what I'm saying.

The kingdom of heaven

in the Gospel of Matthew

is not talking about

a physical kingdom.

Geographical barriers

and limitations

and boundaries.

He's not talking about

that kind of kingdom.

When he says

the kingdom of heaven

in the Gospel of Matthew

or the kingdom of God

you'll read that as well.

He's saying to us

here's the manner

in which God rules.

Here's how God rules.

That's what he's saying to us.

Here's how God operates.

Here's how God rules.

Here's how God reigns.

He says

the kingdom of heaven

is like

a treasure.

You like that word?

Like a treasure.

Jesus told this other man

this same man

in the story we just read

you go sell everything

and come take up the cross

and follow me

and you'll have treasure

in heaven.

So now he talks

about treasure.

He says

the kingdom of heaven

the way God rules

is like

a treasure.

You ever wonder

what it'd be like

to find a treasure?

Don't you like movies

where they're searching

for a treasure?

I like this.

Indiana Jones.

Didn't y'all see

Indiana Jones

100 years ago

when it came out?

Didn't you love that movie?

I mean

he's searching

so hard

for the Ark of the Covenant

in one of those movies.

I mean

he's willing

to go through

anything

through fire

and snakes

and near death experiences

to put his life

on the line

because he wants

that treasure

that no one else

has found.

Well that's what

treasure is.

It's what floats

your boat.

It's whatever

you prize

more than anything

else in the world.

And Jesus says

the kingdom of God

is like a

treasure.

Then he says

buried in

a field.

You see that movie

The Pirates of the Caribbean?

They're looking for

treasure

and it's

buried out in the Caribbean

and they're searching

for it.

Well this

treasure is buried

in a field.

Let me just take

the time out

and tell you about

my little nephew.

My nephew

David

my sister's boy

she's got two boys

they're both preachers

Daniel and David

one of them's in Texas

at Waco

one of them's in

Wichita, Kansas

David's in Wichita, Kansas

he's the younger

when he was always

short for his age

and just full of energy

wild imagination

brilliant

brilliant

kid

and when he was

in that

five, six

and seven

year old stage

he went through

about three years

of living in

a fantasy world

where he was

this character

at one time

and this character

another time

he went through

about six characters

I'm not kidding

my wife could tell you

my whole family

could tell you

this story

and not one word

I'm going to tell you

is made up

this is all truth

okay

he would stay

in character

24 hours a day

seven days a week

until he got out

of that character

he did it for

months

on end

he was Clint Eastwood

at one time

got him in some trouble

he used a little

profanity

one time

his mom about

killed him

over it

but he became

he became Clint Eastwood

he'd wear the guns

he'd have the hat

he'd talk like him

he'd look like him

he'd put the straw

in his mouth

like him

right

yeah

he was Clint Eastwood

in his mind

he was a farmer

at one time

wore bib overalls

straw hat

he went through

a farmer phase

he was a military

officer at one time

went through all that

he had a bunch

of these different

characters

one of his characters

was a pirate

he had a little patch

over his eye

had a pirate's hat

and he'd just do this

I mean they couldn't

get him out of it

he'd go to school

he was a pirate at school

he was just

wherever he was

wherever he was

that's how he was

you know

well when he was

in the pirate phase

my dad lived

across the street

from my sister

and so my dad

just loves

adores this boy

because he's so much

like my dad

and so

my dad would

at night

draw up these

little maps

he'd get out

in the yard

in the dark

my dad would

and he'd count

off so many steps

to the back

of the house

and then he'd

turn right

and go so many steps

then he'd come

to this tree

and he'd see

something about the tree

and he'd go

in another direction

toward a neighbor's house

and then he would

come to a doghouse

and turn left there

and then he'd dig

a hole about

a foot and a half deep

and he'd get a shoebox

and put my mama's

costume jewelry

in that shoebox

and he'd bury it

then he'd go

across the street

to my nephew's house

and he'd put

a thing on the door

like a pirate

we'd expect to find

and he'd come out

the next morning

and there'd be a map

with hidden treasure

in it

the promise of hidden treasure

so my nephew

would spend the whole

morning or afternoon

out there

traipsing through

these different steps

and he'd find that

shoebox

and he'd dig holes

he'd miss it sometimes

and he'd dig a hole

and then he'd just

leave that

and go dig another

hole somewhere

right

until he'd find

that shoebox

it was the coolest

thing you ever saw

so

Jesus says

the way God rules

is like this

it's like a treasure

that

is buried

in a field

that a man

has found

that really

gets intriguing

I mean

he's found

this treasure

he spent

all this time

looking for it

and finally

he's found it

and then he says

a startling thing

and

reburied it

what

who goes

looking for a treasure

and once they

find it

they rebury

it's like the

pirates of the Caribbean

they come up with this

gold and silver

and rings

and all this

and they say

okay we found it

and they throw it

back in the ocean

can't imagine that

right

or in Raiders of the Lost Ark

that they find the ark

and suddenly say

well we found it

let's just leave

they don't do that

but that's what

Jesus says

this guy does

he looks and looks

and looks for this treasure

and he finds it

and when he finds it

he reburies it

wait a second

story's not over

then

in his joy

he's so tickled

he goes and sells

everything he has

well that's weird too

isn't it

he's found this treasure

he reburies the treasure

now he says

I need to go home

and sell everything

I've got

and he goes home

and he gets out

the deeds to his house

and the deeds to his land

and if he'd had a title

to his car in those days

he'd have got his title

to his car

and he sells everything

he has so that

he's liquidated

his entire estate

what in the world

is he thinking

well

next verse tells us

and he goes

and buys

that

field

boy now

I get it

now I get it

you see

he knows

if he takes this treasure

and he goes

and talks about it

somebody's going to come

and say

where'd you find

that treasure

well it's out here

on highway 9

and

wait a second

you don't own any land

on highway 9

that belongs to so and so

and so what he does

he knows he wants

that field

he sells everything

he has

so he'll be prepared

to pay the ultimate price

and he goes to this man

who owns the field

and he says

what would you take

for your piece of property

and the guy says

I don't know what you got

he says

well I got this much

he says

that's what I'll sell it for

and he buys this field

it cost him everything

when he's through

he doesn't own a thing

except the treasure

but he's so elated

over his purchase

it doesn't matter

because he's found

his treasure

he's gotten

what he wants

you get that?

do you get that?

the apostle Paul says

this in Philippians 3

8

what is more

I consider

everything a loss

because of the surpassing worth

of knowing Christ Jesus

my Lord

for whose sake

I have lost

all things

I consider

them garbage

that I may gain

Christ

I'm going to tell you

I'm going to tell you something folks

a lot of evangelists

and preachers

and people

got this notion

of how you come to Jesus

all wrong

we almost act like

you're doing God a favor

would you please come

and receive Christ

well what do I have to do

well

just pray this prayer

okay

I can do that

I'll pray

would you be baptized

yeah

I'll be baptized

maybe

and you've got

eternal life

and Jesus tells about

this man who comes

and he's kind of like

he says

I want eternal life

but I want it on my terms

he walks away sad

because he's not willing

to pay the price

but here's this guy

Jesus tells this parable

he says

here's how it really is

when somebody comes

to the kingdom of God

and how God

expects it to be

it's like a guy

who wanders into a field

and he finds this treasure

and when he finds it

he's so enthralled

by this treasure

he so wants

what this treasure is

that everything else

is of no consequence

he doesn't care about

anything

he doesn't care about

his cars

doesn't care about

his money in the bank

he doesn't care about

his house

he doesn't care about

I want that

I want that above

everything else

and so what does he do

to get it

means he has to rid

himself of everything else

and he takes his money

from that which he's

liquidated

he goes

he buys that field

because that's all

that matters

anymore

to him

you see I'm telling you

coming to Christ

doesn't do God a favor

it gives you the gift

of eternal life

and you should be so

enthralled by that

that nothing else

matters

just nothing else

matters

but that I'll live

eternally with God

when this is over

that's what's real

this is illusionary

illusionary

this just

is here today

but it may be gone

tomorrow

it could be gone

before we get out

of this service

today

but that's what's real

when I was 14 years old

I was in

Varenas Heights

Baptist Church

my name was on

the roll of the church

I was leader

among the youth

but I knew

I wasn't right

with God

I knew that all along

I knew I wasn't a real

believer

I'd pray the prayer

the preacher led me

to pray when I was

nine years old

he'd baptize me

dunk me

but I knew some folk

who had a relationship

with him

and I knew I didn't

have that

and at 14

I sat on the next

last row

of Varenas Heights

Baptist Church

and heard a gospel

message

and I knew that

God wanted to save me

and I was resistant

because you see

I want to tell you

I'm unusual

I know this about myself

unusual in this sense

nothing special about me

but all my life

I've known

what I wanted to do

all my life

from the time

I was

eight

nine years old

I had a plan

and that plan

was I was going

to West Point

my dad was a career

soldier

and that's all

I ever talked about

anything about

West Point

I read

I just wanted

to go to West Point

I just wanted

to be a soldier

I just wanted

to be an officer

in the army

that was going

to be my life

and so

what held me back

was this

and I can't explain

this but I just knew

I somehow knew this

that if I ever got

truly right with God

he would call me

to preach

I just knew that

and I didn't want

to do that

this is the last

thing I wanted to do

I didn't even

particularly like

preachers to be honest

with you

even as a kid

I thought

they were a bunch

of sissies

the last thing

I wanted to do

was be a preacher

and so

I can remember

sitting right back

at the very

next last row

and just struggling

and all I could

think about was

I want this

but I want my life

too

I want to fulfill

this dream

and I knew

I can't have both

I'm either going

to take the one

or lose the other

or lose the one

and take the other

and at 14 years

of age

I did exactly

what that

man in the parable

did

I sold everything

I had

and took that

treasure

and embraced

that treasure

because it

in the moment

was all that

mattered

and that's how

you come to

Jesus

you don't come

on your terms

you come on

his terms

that's why

some of you

never had it

because you've

you've tried

to come on

your terms

okay God

I'll give you

this much

of my life

if I can have it

it won't cost me

too much

it'll cost you

everything

everything

there's no other

way to get it

than to give

everything

you just got to

recognize

I'm going to put

all my chips

in that pot

I'm going to

believe that

that's the only

thing that matters

and that's what

I want

do you want it

like that

this morning

have you ever

had it

if not

I want to tell

you

it's the treasure

to end all

treasures

would you take

it this morning

would you

just receive

it this morning

let's see

Salz Werk��

doing

another

thing

to die

Bei

l

have you

to say

to die

entrée

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