Matthew Pt. 73- The Rich Young Ruler

Turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 19 as we listen to the

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

world's cutest hiccups. Don't apologize, no apologies,

and don't leave just 'cause I mentioned it.

Yeah, what's going on? My babies would have never

hiccuped like that in sermon. In chapter 19, of course, we've

already hit where the Pharisees come.

They're saying, hey, let's talk about divorce.

And Jesus says, I want to talk to you about marriage.

And then from there the disciples are corrected.

Jesus says, let the children come to me.

And now here we are. So it's kind of interesting we

go from, we talk about marriage, we've talked about children, and

now we're going to look at possessions as what's often been

called the the rich young ruler. So another passage here where

three gospel writers recorded this account.

So the Holy Spirit really wanted to emphasize this and mark this

moment, the rich young man in verse 16.

And behold, a man came up to him saying, teacher, what good deed

must I do to have eternal life? And he said to him, why do you

ask me about what is good? There's only one who is good.

If you would enter, if you would enter life, keep the

commandments. And the man said to him, Which

ones? And Jesus said, You shall not

murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal,

you shall not bear false witness, Honour your father and

mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The young man said to him, All these I have kept, what do I

still lack? Jesus said to him, If you would

be perfect, go and sell what you possess, and give to the poor,

and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me.

When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he

had great possessions. And Jesus said to his disciples,

Truly I say to you, only with great difficulty will a rich

person enter the Kingdom of heaven.

Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the

eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of

God. When the disciples heard this,

they were greatly astonished, saying who then can be saved?

But Jesus looked at them and said, with man this is

impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Then Peter said in reply, See, we have left everything and

followed you, What then will we have?

Jesus said to them, Truly, I say to you in the new world, when

the when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who

have followed me will also sit on 12 Thrones judging the 12

tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses

or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands

for my name's sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit

eternal life. But many who are first will be

last and the last first. Heavenly Father, thank you for

your word. Thank you for recording this.

Thank you for telling us the truth, because you love us so

much. God, I pray that you would build

our affection for you and that You would help us to kill idols,

that we would be jealous for your glory, that we would be

jealous for your credit, that we will be jealous for your

delight, and that we would seek to please You more than anything

and anybody else, and most importantly, ourselves.

Holy Spirit, minister through us and among us today.

I pray that your anointing would come and flow freely and

powerfully. God, your word is anointed, so

it will divide, it will clarify, it will accomplish everything

you send it out to accomplish. I pray that our hearts would be

tender. I pray that the hearts of your

flock would be tender and soft, eager to receive, joyfully ready

to obey for your glory and for their good in Jesus name, Amen.

As you can already see here, what we've read is a tragedy.

What we've read is a nightmare of a story for this man, this

rich young ruler, as he's often been called.

This is a moral man. Let's let's talk about what's

good about this guy. You would want this guy as your

neighbor. This is a good guy in the

community. He's honoring to Jesus.

Luke even tells us that he comes and he kneels before Jesus.

So as we put all the accounts together, we get the fullest

picture. He comes and kneels before the

Lord Jesus and still he is shut out of the Kingdom of heaven

because he's not willing to surrender his life to God.

This man would be a great neighbor.

This man is thinking about eternity.

This man would be appointed as a leader in many churches and

still he shut out of the Kingdom of heaven.

Why is he shut out of the Kingdom of heaven?

Because he loves the world more than he loves Jesus.

The same reason any of us would be shut out of the Kingdom of

heaven. That's why.

Because Jesus is the ultimate prize.

He refuses to be the sprinkle on top.

He is the bowl, He is the ice cream, He is the everything.

But he will not be a supplement. This is why the scripture says

that God is a jealous God. He will not share His glory.

He will not share his love. A loving husband understands

this. He will not share his wife. 0

point 0.0% I would rather die than share my wife in any

degree. And God, How much more does he

love His church? How much more does He love you?

How much more is he unwilling to share your ultimate love and

ultimate affection? He's not, not at all.

So you can have the ultimate prize, or you can have all the

things that you wanted and everything that they lead to.

Jesus gives this man the same invitation that he gives us.

Come and die, lay it all down. Lose your life and you'll find

it. Why?

Because I'm worth it. But of course, the passage ends

in tragedy. The man walks away from a

personal invitation from the King of the universe, not

because Jesus asks too much, but because the man loved Jesus too

little. That's the issue.

And Jesus just asked for so much.

No, he doesn't, because Jesus is the ultimate reward.

And that's the thing we have to continue to renew our minds for.

So on, on. On one hand, yes, the Scripture

says that we are to be a living sacrifice.

So it's very plain that the Bible says we are to sacrifice.

And on the other hand, as I've told you before, how in the

world could we ever sacrifice? What in the world could we ever

give up? We give up our dog turds and the

Lord says here's a treasure and here's a Kingdom.

Well, but I held those closely and they were precious to me.

Yeah, I know. But compared to Jesus, Paul said

it's all dumb, it's all refuse, it's all waste, it's all

excrement. He used probably stronger

language than that at the time to communicate the idea.

But I won't offend your sense. I won't offend your

sensibilities this morning. But Paul, what?

Paul was wanting to emphatically make the point.

He's like all the things that I am.

He begins to brag about who he is and what he's done and he

says all of that. And right about the time his

audience is gone. Paul's pretty impressive.

Paul says all that is trash compared to the greatness of

what knowing Jesus, and Jesus knows that about himself.

So let's look through here together in verse 16.

Behold, a man came up to him saying, Teacher, what good deed

must I do to have eternal life? So first of all, this guy knows

that there's something missing from his life.

He realizes that, he feels that, he senses it.

Everyone who hasn't come under the grace of God lives with this

fear and lives with this constant insecurity.

It's a terrible way to live. What a nightmare.

What a scary way to be. I feel like I'm doing the right

religious things. I think I'm doing the right

religious things. But in this man's spiritual

insecurity, he comes to Jesus not to throw himself at his feet

for mercy, not to throw himself at his feet for grace, but to

kneel before him. Go.

Good teacher. I've got a pretty good checklist

going, but something in me tells me it's not enough.

What good thing must I do to be saved?

What do I have to do to inherit eternal life?

Have I done enough? Let me make sure that I've met

the standard. It's a haunting question that

people live with. It drove this man of prominence

to seek Jesus out this way and to ask him about it.

People still live with this burden.

People still live with this torment.

Am I secure? What must I do?

This concern, this conviction should be enough to bring

somebody to realize there's nothing they can do to save

themselves. That's what it's supposed to do.

The weight of perfection does crush people.

The weight of perfection is supposed to crush people.

The law of God is supposed to crush us and go.

I've got to keep all this perfectly.

Yeah. And if you kept it all

perfectly, you would go to heaven.

Why? Because you were perfect,

because only perfect people can be in the presence of God.

So if you can keep the law perfectly, then you'll go to

heaven. But the problem is you can't.

And already you haven't. And already you were born in

sin, so your very nature desires wrong.

Even if you can manage the external presentation, which is

what this young man had focused on, which is what the Pharisees

focus on, the external presentation.

The Lord always goes to the heart of the thing, the last

command he gave and he said, and love your neighbor as yourself.

No one has ever kept that perfectly except for one.

And this man certainly hadn't done it.

Why haven't technically committed adultery?

OK, well, I haven't technically killed anybody.

I've I've got hatred in my heart, which Jesus says is

murder. I've lusted, which Jesus says is

adultery, but I haven't actually gone out with the external

deeds, so I'm still good. Jesus says love your neighbor as

yourself. You might take care of some of

the don't do the commands. Oh, I'll never rob the bank.

I'll never do this thing. Fine.

But what about the positive commands like love the Lord your

God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength?

What about loving your neighbor as yourself?

Have you always loved your neighbor as yourself?

How far is far enough? How much love should I give?

How much blessing? How much sacrifice?

How, How, How much should I truly care for them?

Jesus is getting to the heart of the matter.

He knows this man is not perfect, even though this man

might think that he's close. Lord, is there just one more

thing that I need to lock in? Is there just something else I

should do? All that burden, all that weight

should crush us so that we would throw ourselves under the mercy

of God and seek the grace of Jesus.

That's what that should do. It should just be, Oh my

goodness, Oh my, I'm just overwhelmed.

This is so heavy, I can't do it. I know what I'll do.

I'll run to a merciful God. I'll run to a gracious God who

can actually help me. Like in Luke 18 where Jesus

tells the parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector.

He said two men come to pray and the Pharisee goes in and prays

and he says, Lord, I thank you. What's he about to thinking for?

I thank you that I'm not like this man.

I thank you that I'm not like that man.

I thank you that I'm not like all these dirty yucky Sinner

people. That's it.

Just came to thank you for that God self righteousness.

He is looking at himself and his own standards and his own

accomplishments and he's comparing himself to others,

which is always a bad idea compared to the tax collector.

So even when remember every time Jesus, a Jewish audience heard

about a tax collector, they would bristle.

This is worse than the IRS because they're a traitor to the

Jewish people. They have now sided with Rome.

Remember, this is what Matthew was.

But the tax collector, when he comes into the temple to pray,

he doesn't say, God, I'm doing my best out here.

He stands far off. He won't even come near.

He beats his chest in his shame and he says, forgive me, God, a

Sinner. And then Jesus clarifies for all

of his listeners. He says, one of these men went

away justified. Spoiler alert, it's not the guy

who said, God, I'm so great and I just wanted you to know about

it today. It's the one who humbled himself

and said I need mercy and I need to receive grace.

That's the one who can receive it.

The one who knows that he is poor in spirit.

That man shall inherit the Kingdom of heaven.

Jesus is testing the rich young ruler here to see, is this man

humbly coming to God for grace or is he just trying to justify

himself? Hey Lord, what else do I need to

do? Do you understand what you're

talking about? Keep going.

Verse 17 And then he said to him, why do you ask me about

what is good? There's only one who is good.

If you would enter life, keep the commandments.

So sometimes folks get stumped on this verse because it seems

as though Jesus is trying to put distance between himself and

God. Those who don't understand the

Scriptures, frankly, have used this to say Jesus is not divine,

which is just laughably stupid because we've already seen over

and over and over why Jesus calls himself the Son of man.

And we've understood the significance of that as we

looked it up in Daniel, just throughout Matthew alone, not to

mention all the other places in Scripture that reveal who he is.

What's happening here is Jesus is testing this man.

Do you really understand who I am?

It's a test for him. Jesus isn't saying don't call me

good. I'm just another rabbi out here

just trying to teach folks. That's not what Jesus is doing

at all. He's not putting distance

between himself and God. He's testing this man to see if

he actually knows who he's talking to.

The man calls Jesus good teacher.

It's a polite title, but in Jewish thought, good in the

ultimate sense can only apply to God himself.

So Jesus is pressing him. Do you really understand what

you're saying? If you're calling me good, are

you acknowledging that I'm God? Or are you just tossing out

compliments? You call me good, but do you

realize what that means? Because if I'm good in the way

that only God is good, then I'm not just a teacher.

You owe me your life. This is a test to this man.

This is a challenge to this man. Oh good teacher, I got a

question of about what I should do.

Why do you call me good? Well, because you know, you seem

like a good guy. Ah, you don't know who I am.

You don't understand who you're coming to.

You're just a self-righteous guy instead of a humble guy coming

to the king looking for help. Who do you say Jesus is?

That's the question Jesus asks to his disciples.

Who do they say that I am? They say you're Elijah.

They say you're John the Baptist.

Who do you say? And be thoughtful How you answer

church, because how you answer is what you'll answer for.

Your revelation of Jesus is what you're expected to live in

accordance to. Your revelation of Jesus matters

and your understanding of Jesus matters.

Peter said you're the Son of the living God.

Jesus said flesh and blood hasn't revealed this to you, but

my Father in heaven and that revelation and that confession

is what I'm building my church on.

Jesus is building you up on the revelation and confession of who

he is. So we want to continually

declare who he is and who he is to us.

If you would enter life, Jesus says keep the commandments.

That's all you got to do. If you want to enter eternal

life, just keep all the commandments perfectly and

Florida State and you're in and this man goes all right, I'm up

for the task all 400 and some of the the law of Moses.

We're going to start walking this out.

Just walk me through the list. Lord, tell me what I need to

accomplish. But that's, oh, the, the the

response of the man is funny now, because Jesus keep the

commandments and the man says which ones, which is like, which

ones do you think all of them? But that's exactly what someone

who is missing the greatest commandment would say.

He's going, what's like the minimum I can do?

What's like the smallest way I could go by and maybe pass this

test. That's not a question that love

asks. Love doesn't ask that, right.

If I was marrying, if I was officiating a wedding and and

the two were at the altar and I was leading them through vows

and they were going, Hey, could we get like a pared down version

of the vows? I would say, hey, everybody,

wedding's off. These two aren't getting married

today or ever, potentially not by me anyway, because they're

like, what are the what are the minimums we can do?

Does love think that way? A couple on their wedding day,

as they should be, are excited to exchange their vows and

they're going they're they're committing to the maximums in

sickness and in health. If we're rich or if we're poor,

if it's good or if it's awful, I'm all in because that's what

love does. Love says I'm committing to the

maximum. I'm not saying how do I get out

of this thing with the minimums. That's what the loving heart

towards God always does. What's the minimum?

That's a question asked by somebody who would be happy to

have eternity without Jesus. And there are plenty of people

who would be happy in eternity without Jesus.

Hey, how do I get to heaven? Well, let me tell you about

Jesus. I'm not.

I just, I'm just interested in in heaven.

Well, everybody who has Jesus knows that a heaven without

Jesus would be hell. A heaven without Jesus is a kill

me now put me to sleep. Like give me oblivion.

What else could there? Jesus is the treasure.

Jesus is the reward at the right hand of God the Father.

No, I was I was thinking like there's going to be clouds.

I was thinking there's going to be delicious food.

Well, we know that he spared not his own son.

So sure along with him he'll freely give us all things.

But you know that the all things are lesser things, right?

You knew, though, that the all things were lower things, right?

You knew those were not needs. Jesus is the only need that you

have. You were built this way by your

creator to love him, to want him and to and to care for him.

So you can go without anything and everything else and God

expects you to be willing to. This isn't new, this isn't brand

new. This isn't some like extreme

Christianity. This is old school Jesus

Christianity. This was the invitation that he

gave that day. The heart that loves Jesus knows

that heaven without Jesus is not heaven at all.

Jesus gives him these commands. Keep going to verse 20.

The man said to him, All these I've kept, what still do I lack?

He says he's kept those perfectly, which he hasn't

'cause if he did so, even externally, he had not done so

internally. His heart is still far from God.

But now Jesus shows him what's really needed.

In verse 21, Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect.

So he doesn't take him to task on all of his detailed broken

theology. Like I'd be tempted to, I'd be

tempted walking through like, hey, sit down, I'm going to

learn you something here. Like give me a minute and let me

cook and we'll get to it. But it's going to be good.

It's going to help you. Jesus just sidesteps his

stupidity and says, all right, I'll Jesus actually plays along

with this man's broken framework.

He goes, Lord, what's the one command I need to obey that I

haven't obeyed yet? And once Jesus realizes where

this man's heart is and he goes, oh, I've done the things, I just

need one more thing to do, Jesus goes, this guy doesn't love God.

He doesn't love God with all of his heart and soul and mind and

strength. That's the command that he's

broken, which is the command that everyone's broken.

But Jesus in his perfect wisdom, the Scripture says, I think it's

in Luke or Mark, it says Jesus loved him.

He loved him. And then Jesus dropped a nuclear

bomb on him. That's how he did like he, he

says Jesus loved him and said to him, what a strange way to put

it. He doesn't do that often.

He doesn't say Jesus loved him and said he said Jesus loved

him. You know, like, what was it?

What was it that was seen there? What was it that was understood

there? But Jesus knows what's really

needed. Total perfection, and

specifically perfection with obedience to the greatest

command, which none of us have kept perfectly.

So now the command to sell all he has and give his money to the

poor isn't a thing that's going to make him righteous.

It's just a thing that's going to reveal that his heart really

is all out for God. So this isn't a prescription for

every single person who's ever lived.

This is clearly a man in a in a moment.

Could the Lord ask you to do this?

Of course he could. 1000% yes, absolutely no doubt.

Why? Because he'll ask you to do

anything. He wants you to be willing to

give up everything. So whatever you're thinking

right now, well, I hope the Lord wouldn't ask me to.

There, you have found something that you love more than God.

I hope the Lord would never ask me to.

There you have an idol that you need to put on the altar of the

Lord to reveal to yourself who you love more.

No, I love God more. I'm just also going to hold on

to all this stuff. What evidence would there ever

be of that in the court of law? How would we convict you?

Would we say clearly he loved God more or would we have to say

the evidence spoke otherwise? So Jesus loves him shows him

what he really needs. The selling and the giving to

the poor isn't really the issue. Loving God is the issue and the

man knows that. He loves his money more than he

loves God and this is the idol that he must kill.

So what would you not give up if Jesus asked you to give it up?

You just found something that you love more than God.

What would you not give up if Jesus asked you to give it up?

He went straight for the heart with this man, but he goes

straight for the heart with everybody.

This guy doesn't get some unfair treatment.

He got the same treatment that Matthew got.

The tax collector who's writing this very gospel.

Matthew, come follow me. And Matthew walks away from it

all. They had all walked away from it

all. That's what Peter's point was.

Peter watches a man who he's like, he's like, Jesus is

inviting this guy. Cool.

I like this guy. I hope he joins the group and he

walks away. And then Jesus says it's

difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom.

And we'll get to that part in a second.

But Peter's going, we've walked away from everything we've done.

We have walked away from everything.

Well, that's what a disciple of Jesus does.

You're not special if you've walked away from everything to

choose Jesus. Congratulations, you have a

brain in your head and you recognize that Jesus is the most

valuable treasure ever. I walked away from dog turds to

choose $1,000,000. Do you want a Gold Star?

Of course you did. Why wouldn't you?

That's that's the grace of God working in your life.

And of course you made the best decision for yourself possible.

You stored up treasures. God's not opposed to you storing

up treasures, Saints, He's not opposed to you storing up great

amassing incredible wealth. He's saying just prioritize

where you put it. Make sure you're make sure

you're prioritizing incredible wealth and eternity.

Pastor, are we allowed to have money here and now?

Yeah. I want you all to be just crazy

wealthy financially, literally, like I would love.

I would love that for you. The danger, though, is that

wealth along with it brings a temptation to trust in it.

So on the other hand, I go, I don't, I want whatever is best

for you, whatever you can handle and whatever you can manage.

You know that everybody who wins the lottery loses it all, right?

They destroy their lives. It's a sad thing.

It's a tragic thing. Those people are stupid.

If I had it, if you had it, you do the same thing with it that

you do with your money now. Your level of stinginess, your

level of greed, your level of generosity.

It would travel with your degree of income.

This is the safety of the tithe as well.

The tithe always travels with you.

The tithe is always the tithe. 10 percents, always 10%.

That's a lot of money. No, it's just 10%.

It's always been 10%. It's never changed and it's a

starting point. By the way, it's not, again,

it's not a pat on the back like Pharisees would do because

that's one of the things the Pharisees pray God.

I tithe, I fast twice per week. I'm not like this man.

That was one of the things he was stacking up for his

righteousness. So don't get it confused.

Loving God is the heart of the thing.

We can easily get distracted with all the externals.

We can easily focus on all the externals.

But what would I not give up if Jesus asked me to.

That's the thing that should really scare you and then simply

that's the thing you should go drive a stake right through the

heart of it. What's the way that the Holy

Spirit would have you do that man if he asked me to this OK,

we'll take that to him in a humble merciful I'm throwing

myself at your feet grace filled prayer.

Don't be like the rich young ruler who went you just stabbed

me in the you stabbed you got me with that one pastor.

Don't just stay there, carry it all the way to Jesus and be

like, help me like wring that out in prayer.

Don't just be condemned by Oh no, I wouldn't give up this and

this and this and this. If you just feel bad right now,

if you just feel sad because you just got found out on something,

you're you're being the rich young ruler.

He went away sorrowful. Why?

Because he knew Jesus was right, but he wasn't willing to change.

Why do you go away sorrowful? You're rich, you're young,

you're healthy. Why is he going away sad?

Disagree with him, right? Just disagree.

Oh, that rabbi's an idiot. I'm going to go live my happy

life because I'm hashtag blessed.

But he knew Jesus was right. That's why he goes away sad.

Because he goes, he had, he got to the heart of the thing and

God has just cut me and I'm not willing and I'm doomed.

And that settles it. And he walks away.

You fool, Throw yourself more deeply on his mercy.

God, I can't do all of that without your help.

Because here's the thing. He can't go and sell everything

he has and give it to the poor without grace to go do it.

This, and I want to clarify, this is not a test.

Jesus is. Well, it is a test, but Jesus

literally wants him to sell everything.

I want to clarify that point. He meant it.

It wasn't like a hey, let me check and see, and then the guy

was going to go do it. This isn't like Isaac on the

altar, right? This is literally the real

invitation. Just like it was literally the

real invitation for Matthew. Hey, come follow me.

He shuts down the tax booth. He just runs through.

No, no, no, Finish up your business.

You got to meet answer the Romans.

You got to give a report for this week.

No, no, no, no, no. Whoever puts their hand to the

plow, your pastor's quoting Jesus.

Whoever puts their hand to the plow and then turns back from

the work is not worthy of the Kingdom.

I don't know how it got in there, but it's been in there a

long time. I didn't invent any of this

stuff. This is how Jesus talked about

following Jesus. God tested Abraham and asked him

to offer his son as a sacrifice. The very son that God promised,

the son Abraham waited for for years.

Abraham did it because he loved God with all his heart, soul,

mind and strength. And this guy gets a personal

invitation and come follow me. Sweeter words have never been

spoken. It seems like Jesus is putting a

massive standard on him. It's the standard we all get.

If you don't love God with all your heart, soul, mind and

strength. If you don't love your neighbor

as yourself, then you're not worthy of Him and His Kingdom.

I can't do that on my own. So glad that you recognize that

point. That will throw you more deeply

onto the mercy of Jesus. That will throw you humbly into

prayer and go, God help me, God help me.

Apart from you I can do nothing. It's the prideful heart that

thinks, how can I do that in my own strength?

You can't. Welcome to the point.

It's almost like you have to be made a new creation.

It's almost like the old you has to die and there has to be a new

you. Jesus loves him and he gives him

a standard. Jesus loves you and he gives you

a standard. When you love others, you will

also give them a standard. Jesus still says hard things to

people like stop living with your girlfriend.

He still tells people forgive your father.

He tells people confess the abortion.

He tells people repent of bitterness, confess the porn,

submit to your husband with joy, get off the couch and lead your

family. Those are heavy.

Welcome to the point. Run to Jesus for mercy and

grace. God, I can't do any of this.

I I know you're right. So I walk away sorrowful because

I'm unwilling and I'm hard hearted.

Then you are doomed. But when the burden and when the

law, when the command crushes you, if you throw yourself at

the feet of Jesus and say, God help me, I'm weak and I need you

and I can't do anything apart from you, He goes, we can work

with this and I'm going to strengthen you and I'm going to

give you the grace to do the thing that I do require of you

because make no mistake, I do require things of you.

Love requires things that loving husband and wife do.

They require things of one another.

They should. There are standards there,

Expectations. I require things of Natalie.

Natalie requires things of me. We don't do this as bratty

children, but there are expectations because that's what

a loving relationship looks like.

So God has requirements for his people.

Jesus creates the standard. Jesus sets the standard.

Jesus is the only one who fulfills the standard, which is

why you and I need the grace of God.

But I failed them so many times. I know.

Welcome to the cross and welcome to the point of the story.

Welcome to the gospel all over again.

You need to hear it. I need to hear it.

And if you ever get bored with it, you're in big trouble.

Jesus loves you. So Jesus tells you the truth

about what's needed. And your love for people will

not make loopholes for them either.

It will not make exceptions for them.

It will always call them to love God.

Would you have told the rich young ruler that that day?

I wouldn't have, You know, he's new.

He's like, let's you know, let's be a step.

Like, let's be gentle with it. And like, there's all kinds of,

there's all kinds of ways I could have weaseled out of

having to say the strong thing and the true thing to him.

I don't want to confuse you. This isn't to say that for those

who are less mature in their walk and for those who are less

mature in Christ, this isn't to say that you need to crush them

with law constantly every time you see them slip.

What we're looking for in a in a persons life is an awareness of

the grace of God and a humility to grow if that's present.

There are many things that I can say.

I don't have to put my finger on that right now.

You understand that. I don't have to put my finger on

that with every single thing that I see.

Chris sees some things in my life.

He doesn't have to put his finger on every single thing

that he sees, as long as he sees the one most important thing, A

genuine desire to keep following Jesus, knowing that the Holy

Spirit will will bring off some rough edges.

And Chris knows that he's not the Holy Spirit.

But Chris also knows he's his brother's keeper.

So he still has to look out for me.

He still has to speak up. And yet he doesn't have to put

his finger on every single occasion.

So what do we need? We need the wisdom of God again.

We need the grace of God again, which always drives us back into

prayer so that we would be wrung out and we go, God, there's,

there's gross stuff in here. That's, that's what that's what

was supposed to happen next in the story.

Jesus crushed him with the biggest weight and then he was

just supposed to go. God help me.

And Jesus is going to go on. I will, I will.

I don't know what it would have looked like next.

We'll never know, unfortunately, because the story ends in

tragedy. But you've got to also tell

people the truth, the truth that weighs them down.

And they say you're judging me and you say I'm loving you, and

I also want to take you to Jesus who will empower you.

That's what we feel when we feel big weights and we feel heavy

standards. That's the problem and that's

the pride that rises up in it. So we go, that's impossible.

And you go, well, hang on, I wasn't finished.

That was the bad news. There's good news too.

God will give you grace to walk out your obedience.

So whatever crazy obedience you think is that the Lord is

calling you to good news. He's drawing you to follow him.

He's drawing you to fellowship. He's drawing you into the prayer

closet so that you can actually crucify that flesh, so you can

actually grow into the place he wants you to grow into.

Welcome to what Christian discipleship was always supposed

to look like. Not I'm the same Christian I

have been for the past two decades, going to heaven when I

die, I think because I got good theology.

But what new idols have you been killing?

Because the human heart is an idol factory.

By the way, you don't get to just win this battle once and

then live free. We're not free of this stuff

until we breathe our last breath, until we return our

borrowed breath to the Lord. And then finally, finally, then

at that point, we are completely delivered.

In the meantime, the Holy Spirit is with us to strengthen us, to

make much of Jesus, to remind us who the greatest treasure and

the biggest prize is. Jesus doesn't give a message to

the rich man that he's going to further bless his already

blessed life. To the man who comes to God and

says I've got everything. Jesus simply says, and that's

all I ask for, I've got everything all together.

And the Lord says I'll take it. I'll take it all, give it all to

me. Well, no, Lord, I, I have it.

Well, but you're, I thought you thought you loved me, right?

What I meant was, and the truth has been revealed, the Lord

already knew the truth, but now I have to face it.

He puts the mirror right in front of me and goes, here's

what you're dealing with and go, what's your response in this

moment, Church, walk away sorrowful.

That is a hard word. That is a heavy word and I am

unwilling to obey it. Congrats on His honesty.

First of all, because most folks in our modern moment won't admit

it. They will argue with the Lord of

glory. So that's the one thing I can

respect. Again, a moral man.

He wasn't about to deny the Lord's truth and the Lord's

accuracy. That's why he went away sad.

That word sorrowful means grieving.

The Lord loved him, loved him and invited him.

I can't do it, I'm not doing it. Those are the options.

Think you got to do it in your own strength and go away sad.

Or Lord help me, help me, help me.

Lord help me. I don't have a fancy prayer.

Lord help me. It's a real gut wrenching prayer

that would come out in those moments.

It's a real honest prayer. It's like the Psalms.

It's something that's true. It's not trying to sound real

Christian. It's oh God, help me.

I'm scared. I don't want to let this thing

go. I can't even believe I'm saying

this out loud. That is what the Holy Spirit can

work with. Because finally we're being

humble. We're finally being honest

instead of just throwing the prayers up.

They come out of your mouth, but they, they, they were never in

your heart to begin with. Look how different this all is

from the lukewarm message many so-called Christians carry

today. But he's inviting the rich man

to the same what? The same way he invited Matthew,

the tax collector. Matthew's like, I've seen this

before, seen this story. Matthew's watching.

He's going man, this guy missed it.

He missed the mark. Matthew left it all same

invitation to all of us. Lose your life and you'll save

it. Come follow me.

But this man goes away sorrowful.

He came looking for reassurance and instead he left being

exposed. He thought he was doing great,

but Jesus revealed the command that he couldn't keep.

He wouldn't love God most. I'm not going to give you Isaac.

You can't have Isaac. My life is yours, Lord.

Can I have Isaac? No, not Isaac.

Anything and anyone but Isaac. You can't have that part of my

life. You can't have that part of my

heart. It's too precious to me.

OK, Jesus taught the blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs

is the Kingdom of heaven. If you think you're somebody,

you're in big trouble. If you know you're nobody.

I'm poor in spirit. Humble before you, Lord.

Theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. I can always work with that.

So you can have a gajillion dollars and if you're poor in

spirit, you're good, you're safe, but that's what's needed.

Verse 23 and 24, he said to his disciples, truly I say to you,

only with difficulty will a rich person enter the Kingdom of

heaven. Again, I tell you, it's easier

for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich

person to enter the Kingdom of God.

So there's been much said and and some commentaries over the

years. They are inaccurate.

I heard this growing up as well, but it is definitely inaccurate.

It's been said that they were inside of the main gates of

Jerusalem. There was like a smaller gate

you could open to pass through and that was often called the

eye of the needle. That is false.

That is not true. There was no such gate.

The concept, the idea or those gates might have existed, but

the concept was the idea was that a, that a camel could fit

through these things. So the idea is that the camel

could be stripped of all of its baggage and then you could force

the camel to kneel and then you could press on its hindquarters

and it could travel through the gate.

We know this is not true. And in fact, this is a softening

of what Jesus, the point he was trying to make.

The point is it is actually impossible.

It's impossible. Impossible.

It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

And the word needle that Jesus used, there was an actual

needle. He wasn't referencing a gate.

He was referencing actually a camel can't go through the eye

of a needle. His point is it's impossible.

That was the point he wanted to emphasize For all of these guys,

without God, it's impossible. Apart from grace, you have an

impossible task. You're not a camel who can shed

some baggage and still make it through.

You're a dead man who has to be made alive.

Something has to change in a in a, in a miraculous way.

You must be perfect to get into God's presence.

Let me tell you this church, only perfect people are going to

heaven. Does that mean people who only

lived a perfect life? No important distinction there,

right? Because it's also, it's often

been said, no perfect people go to heaven.

Only forgiven people go to heaven.

That's also true in the way that that's meant.

But what I'm telling you is only perfect people go to heaven.

How can I be perfect in Christ? Whoever has the perfection of

Christ placed upon their life, whoever has the blood of the

Lamb put on the doorposts of their heart, that is the

perfection that's given to us. And that is why Christianity

always stands apart from every other world religion, every

other false philosophy, every other cult and twisted

perspective, because Jesus always gets the glory and nobody

else does. I don't get any credit for

anything. Nobody's going to be impressed

with me in heaven. Nobody's going to be impressed

with you in heaven. The thief on the cross in heaven

got there the same way the apostle Paul did.

Those two could stand there and go, how'd you get here?

The name in the blood. How'd you get here?

The name in the blood. That's it.

Thief on the cross talking to Paul and tell me, what was your

life like on earth? He starts to sound like, well,

I'm kind of planted the whole church and, you know, did a lot

of work. Wow.

Is there a reward? Absolutely.

There's a reward for faithfulness.

The thief on the cross came in in the last minute.

Not a good plan, not a way that we want to live, but God's grace

accomplished the work. In verse 25.

When the disciples heard this, they they realized it's

impossible to make it into the Kingdom of heaven.

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished

saying who then can be saved? But Jesus looked at them and

said with man, this is impossible.

But with God, all things are possible.

The reason they're shocked at what he just said is because

Jewish thought was that if a person was rich, then they're

blessed by God. This their, their wealth shows

the favor and blessing of God upon their lives.

So they're going like, if the rich can't make it in, blessed

by God, who can make it in? And Jesus doesn't even take the

time to correct all their stupidity there.

He just goes with man, everything's impossible.

But with God, all things are possible.

And we're closing verse 27. Then Peter said in reply, see,

we have left everything and followed you.

What then will we have Jesus said to them, truly, I say to

you in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his

glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on 12

Thrones judging the the 12 tribes of Israel.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father

or mother or children or lambs, for my name's sake will inherit,

will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Peter's question might sound self-serving.

I don't think it is. I just think it's honest.

He's seeing this thing happen in front of them.

They have left everything. This guy wouldn't leave

everything. And it's kind of like the right

time to ask it, Hey, we left everything for you.

What? What does that mean for us?

Jesus doesn't rebuke it. He just wants to know what's

going on. And Jesus tells him, following

me is not a loss. Following me is a gain.

Following me is a net positive. It is an exponential multiplier

for your future. But it actually requires a

person to live like eternity is real.

It actually requires a person to live like there is life after

death. And plenty of people don't and

won't. Yeah, I believe I want to go to

heaven when I die. But why?

Then why aren't you storing any treasure up for there?

You're working hard as some temporary treasure.

Hard. Yeah.

Well, I want to go to heaven. So what treasure are you storing

up? As long as I get in.

Interesting. Because we're told to store

treasure there. We're told that there's reward

there. We're told there's rulership and

blessing. You're 80 years.

You're banking on this instead of banking on your thousand 1000

Thousand 1000. Lord build my faith.

You who have followed me will sit on 12 Thrones.

He promises reward that was again specific to those

disciples. This is not you and I are not

going to sit on the 12 Thrones and judge the tribes of Israel.

That will specifically be the 12 apostles of the lamb.

Mine is Judas plus Matthias. They, they were literally going

to be the ones judging Israel, and they will have a particular

place as the apostles of the Lamb that we will not have.

But to all of his people he promises reward, authority,

eternal inheritance, not for earning anything, but for

trusting, for loving, for following.

And then he widens it. He widens the, the whole

promise. Everyone who has left houses or

brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for

my name's sake will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal

life. The rich man walked away.

Peter's walked away from everything else and walked

towards Jesus. Jesus tells you the same thing.

He's always told everybody. Whatever you lay down for me,

you will never regret it. I will always give you back more

than you lose, because I give you myself.

If that sounds like a good deal to you, you're right.

But many who are first will be last in the last.

First. What's he mean?

Those who have the priority here, many of them will be last

in the Kingdom. The rich man, I had it good

here, but eventually is thrown into the lake of fire.

Or those who had it poor here because they were poor in

spirit, maybe poor in status, but mighty in the Kingdom.

And then in the Lord's eyes, he says they'll be first.

They'll be prioritized like his apostles, for example.

Those who love God most will be honored forever.

What Jesus required of the rich young ruler, he requires of all

of us total surrender. Not just polite religion, good

teacher, not respectable morality, not surface level

interest in eternity, But love. Love that's deep.

Love that is exclusive. Love that is loyal for the

living God. Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

The Kingdom does not belong to those who have it all together.

It belongs to those who come empty because they know that

Jesus is the treasure that will fill them.

I'm the fool who found the treasure in the field.

I went and sold everything and I just bought this field.

It doesn't look like much to everybody else.

Look at all he had. And he bought a field.

Like, I know, I know it doesn't look like much to you.

I know I look like a fool dancing in a field.

But please, come, let me show you the treasure.

It's not visible to you right now, but it's here.

It's here, and it's worth more than everything that you think I

gave up, everything you think I sacrificed.

I assure you I didn't sacrifice. In fact, I was very clever.

I was very shrewd in my business dealings.

I gave up trash to get the King of Kings.

I did well, it was quite wise. It was very Serpentine of me.

So remember Lot's wife? She looked back, but Jesus told

us, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit

for the Kingdom of God. Don't turn back.

Don't walk away sorrowful. Oh, this is heavy.

Then run to the Lord for His grace.

It's almost like you need His grace all the time, Christian.

It's almost like you keep needing it.

It's almost like you didn't just need grace to get saved.

You need grace to say saved. It's almost like you didn't just

need grace to come into the Kingdom.

You need grace to stay into the Kingdom.

It's almost like you didn't just need grace to repent once, but

you need grace to repent constantly.

We need grace for our full sanctification.

And you should be having some gut wrenching prayers throughout

your life as a believer. If you haven't had one in a

while, you're probably stale. You probably need to break up

the fallow ground of your heart and go, man, this thing has

gotten hard. This thing has gotten dead.

My my daily bread has gotten stale and I need freshness.

What's the key? What's the gateway?

Heart wrenching, real prayer, real faithfulness, real

humility. God help me, I believe, help my

unbelief. God, I want to obey, but I don't

want to obey. God help me to obey.

Taking all that and saying and I need grace.

Beating your chest like the tax collector.

Forgive me. God a Sinner.

God can work with that. God can mature that.

Don't walk away, lose your life and save it.

Don't cling to idols and forfeit Christ.

Come to Jesus Christ joyfully and never wonder about your

eternity again. Never let the fear get you again

of have I done enough? Let that be buried forever.

Lay everything down, your pride, your plans, your possessions and

take up the invitation. Come follow me Jesus, we love

you, we come and we follow you. Lord, I pray that we will be a

people who will wrench out our hearts and continue to submerge

them back into Your grace. Help us to wrench out sin and to

just soak in Your presence where we can be strengthened, where we

can receive the grace that we need.

The help in the time of need, not to just overcome

difficulties of life, but to crucify this flesh that seems to

want to be revived at times. A living sacrifice.

We have to keep getting on this altar, Keep humbling ourselves

before You because You really are worth it.

God, bring that revelation, Open our eyes that we would see

Jesus. God, if we would, if you would

just open our eyes that we would see Jesus.

It gets so simple. What an easy thing if you would

just reveal more of him to us, reveal more of Jesus to us so

that we would see the trade and that we would even then be more

blown away that you would even care, that you would even accept

our our measly offerings. What is our life that you would

even care about it? But you are so full of grace and

so full of love. God, help us.

Help us to grow, help us to follow, help us to be like the

faithful. May your people be strengthened

today by you their Father, by the presence of the mighty God

in them, and by a deep love. But I pray for for all those who

you revealed something to them today that they wouldn't walk

away sorrowful, but that they would come to you and say, God

help me with it, help me with it, help me with it.

Don't let me walk away. Don't let me postpone it another

five years in my Christian walk. Help me to come to you today.

I will give up the world, I'll keep my soul, and I'll gain the

treasure of all treasures. We love you Lord, we thank you

and now the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face Shinedown upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you great

peace in Jesus name, Amen.