Mark 10:17-31 (The Rich Young Ruler)
Notes
Transcript
Question:
Question:
What must a man do to be saved?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Now the question is, “How did Jesus answer that question in tonight’s passage?
Let’s look at Mark 10:17-22
17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 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 mother.’ ” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Mark 10:17-22
Mark 10:17-22
As he was setting out on His journey…
Mark just finished telling us about the children coming up to Jesus - the disciples rebuking them - and Jesus saying,
14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
And now, we have a man who had to have been watching this - is moved by this - and runs up to Jesus and say, “GOOD TEACHER…”
Good Teacher - This is a sign of respect
This is a proper way to show honor for a rabbi, and he even kneels down before him…
And he asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Now, in the church, we train to be able to answer that question…
Have any of you ever had classes on Evangelism Explosion?
It’s the Evangelism method made famous by Dr James Kennedy at Coral Ridge Church in Ft Lauderdale, FL.
In it, you are given 2 diagnostic questions that you ask when you are talking with someone about Christ.
If you were to die tonight, are you certain that you would go to heaven?
If God were to ask you why He should let you into His Heaven, what would you say?
These questions help to root out what a person believes about how they get to heaven and how they are justified before a holy God.
So this rich, young, respectable ruler, asks Jesus, Good Teacher, What must I do to inherit eternal life?
How does Jesus respond?
Why do you call me good?
Is this Jesus saying He is NOT good?
Not at all
Jesus is getting at the assumptions - the foundation - of what this young man believes
Ultimately, he’s beginning to unravel this young man’s worldview from the very first word that he uttered.
How do you get to be good?
How do you define good?
By what standard are you calling be good?
What is the standard of God’s goodness?
It is God himself. He is good. “No one is good except God alone
Everything else falls short of that standard
The man rightly called Jesus good, but he had no idea why he was actually right.
So Jesus begins to answer his question - but not in a way that we would expect.
He says, Mark 10:19
19 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 mother.’ ”
Jesus quotes the law to him
Now there are a couple of ways that we could interpret this…
One way that I have been taught in the past is that Jesus is saying that it IS possible to be saved by completely obeying the law
But I don’t think that is what Jesus is teaching here…
And here’s why….
Look at the the young man’s response to Jesus
Mark 10:20 “20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.””
Do not murder…. check
Do not commit adultery… check
etc…
The man assesses his life and says, I’ve done that
And how does Jesus respond?
Mark 10:21 “21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.””
Here’s why I don’t think Jesus is teaching that someone can get to heaven by perfect obedience…
Jesus says, “Ok, let’s assume your standard of good is right. You believe that one is good based on obedience to the law… and you say that you’ve kept all of these from your youth… “One thing you lack…go, sell everything that you have and give to the poor…”
4 Answer not a fool according to his folly,
lest you be like him yourself.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own eyes.
What are these verses saying? (Wait here…)
They seem contradictory… but it is a method of assessing someone’s worldview, not buying into a false worldview, and at the same time, showing the inconsistencies within it.
You don’t answer a fool according to his folly, because you’re buying into what they’re saying and ultimately becoming like them.
Good Teacher - Jesus is not letting the man define good by his own standards
You do answer a fool according to his folly so that you can show the error within it.
Obey the commands…I have… “But you lack one simple thing… sell all that you have….”
Jesus was using his own standard of good to show that the rich young ruler didn’t even live up to that standard.
“You think that you’ve obeyed the second table of the law - you know - the easy ones… but do you have any gods before me?”
And convicted the man went away devastated…
What do we learn from this section?
What do we learn from this section?
Jesus is looking at us and saying, “Do you have any gods before me?”
You can try to live according to standards that you have made, and Jesus will let you to a certain point… but only as far as we begin to see that our standard will fail us every time… and we don’t even live up to the standard that we’ve set for ourselves.
What things are we holding on to that are keeping us from fully trusting Christ?
It might be that we…
don’t really trust him with our finances
are anxious about the future
worry about our spouse’s health
or our kids’ salvation
It could be any combination of these or a million other things that we are holding on to and unwilling to let go of…. turning it over to Jesus…
But he says, Matthew 11:28–30 “28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.””
Mark 10:21 “21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.””
Jesus loved him… That’s why he tore down the tower that the man had built.
The man was trying to build a tower to heaven of good works
And Jesus destroyed it - because he loved him.
And he loves you and me
And he will not let us continue to build towers of good works
He won’t let us think that His love for us is based on how well we’ve done today, or yesterday, or how well we obeyed our own standards.
Jesus loves us - that’s why we can turn to him in faith, knowing that he is good.
So how are we saved?
So how are we saved?
By trusting Christ and him alone…
Mark 10:23-31
Mark 10:23-31
23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 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.”
Why is it difficult?
Because our hearts - rich and poor - want to worship something…
And if we have wealth - it is so easy to turn the blessing of God into a god.
That’s why it is so difficult
It is just as difficult for a large animal to go through the smallest of holes known to the people.
26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?”
This is exactly where we all should be when we see how impossible it is to be saved by our own standards… even by the standard of the law of God.
When we finally see that there is nowhere else to turn, that is when Jesus comes in a still small voice and says, “Come to me all who are weary, and I will give you rest.”
And then Jesus gives us these great lines in verse 27…
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
Our salvation is not only possible, it is assured. What is impossible with man is possible with God.
We can’t build a tower to God… instead, Christ took on human flesh and lived the perfect life that was impossible, paid that debt that we couldn’t and defeated death, hell and the grave.
What is impossible with man in possible with God.
28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Here Jesus ends with this glorious truth to those who have forsaken what the world has to offer and turned to Christ…
He says, you may have lost houses, family, fortunes…but in the family of Christ, you have received 100 fold brothers and sisters and mothers and children - even through and in persecutions… but in the age to come - eternal life.