Amen, so we'll be back there in, actually we're going to be in Mark 10 in a minute,
but I'll just draw your attention to Matthew chapter 19 verse 22. Of course you have the
story of the rich young ruler here, a parallel passage where we've been going through Mark 10,
which is where we'll be here in a minute. But the reason why it's called the rich young
ruler is because you get some of those details out of the corresponding passages.
For example, here in verse 22, but when the young man heard that saying,
he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. So you're getting some of these details that you
don't necessarily get in Mark, and it says that he was a young man. Then if you want to go back
to Mark chapter 10 verse 17, we just read Matthew because Mark's such a long chapter,
so just wanted to get that parallel passage in there. We'll get there, get that small detail
out of it, why we're calling it the rich young ruler. Because often you'll hear that
this story referred to as that, the story of the rich young ruler.
Well, it's because all the gospels, you know, you put those parts together,
and that's where you get that title, those details. Luke 18, I'll just read to you,
and a certain ruler asked him saying, good master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life? So in Matthew, we learn that he's a young man, and in Luke, we learn that this
young man is a ruler as well. Now there in Mark chapter 10 verse 17, we're going to
look at the story. It's going to take out quite a bit of this chapter, verses 17 through 31.
I don't know that I'm going to break down every single one of these verses, but I do think there's
a few things we can learn from this chapter tonight, this portion of scripture, rather,
in this chapter. It says in Mark chapter 10 verse 17, and when he was gone forth into the
way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked him, good master, what shall I
do that I may inherit in eternal life? So I think it's important going into the story
and understanding this, that this rich young ruler is not a bad guy. You know, he's not
somebody, of course, that has salvation, right? He hasn't figured it out. He's got some issues.
He needs to get worked out, but, you know, he's well-intentioned, right? Notice there,
he hears that Jesus is coming into the way, and he's running to Jesus, right? He's not
beckoning Jesus to him. He's not saying, you know, if he wants to talk to me, you know,
he can make an appointment with my secretary or something like that. He's going to Jesus.
He's making an effort. He's going the extra mile. He wants to get to God. He wants to,
you know, get this answer, right? He has a real genuine, sincere desire to know what it is to
inherit eternal life, right? So he's running to him, and notice also it says, and he kneeled to
him, right? So he's not just walking up to him, throwing an arm around him, you know,
being real casual with him. He's being very respectful. He's being very, you know,
proper, if you want to put it that way, right? He's mining his P's and Q's, as it were.
So he's coming and running, putting forth the effort and kneeling, showing that he has some
level of respect for God, for the Lord Jesus Christ. And he asks him, you know, good master,
right? He's complimenting Christ. He's saying the right things right here. And he says,
what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And really that's where the problem is,
right? What shall I do that I may inherit internal life? What kind of work do I have to do?
What more can I do? What kind of effort can I put forth in order to obtain eternal life
for myself? This is the problem that he has. This is the problem that a lot of people have
today. They want to do something in order to inherit eternal life. That does not make them
bad people. That does not make them people that we should write off, okay? A lot of good
people, you know, they just have that wrong. They just are, and you can't really blame them
because we're just, we have that drilled into us from childhood. Do good, be rewarded. Do bad,
be punished, right? That's kind of how the world works. And so we can't really blame people
when they take that same philosophy, that same mentality into salvation, because that's really
how the world is set up. The better you are, the better you do, the more rewards typically
you'll have, okay? So again, this isn't a bad guy. I don't think. I think this guy is
well-intentioned. He's obviously respectful. He's obviously putting forth the effort in order
to get to God. He has the desire, right? And he's even complimenting Christ. He's even having
some reverence for him, calling him master. You'll notice here in a minute he drops the good,
which is another point that he has wrong. But he's saying to him, you know, what do I have
to do to inherit eternal life? You know, he has a burden to go to heaven. You know, there's
a lot of really well-intentioned, you know, respectful, kind, and people that would put
forth any effort that was necessary to earn heaven out there today. But unfortunately,
you know, they're on their way to hell because they don't understand the gospel.
Now, does that make them a bad person? I don't believe so, okay?
Look at verse 18. And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good,
but one, that is God, right? So before he answers his question, you know, hey, let me tell you what
you got to do to go and inherit eternal life. Jesus, knowing his heart, knowing all things,
kind of deals with this guy a little bit and kind of starts to expose him and shows him
what's wrong with him. Because the one thing that is wrong with this guy, which is the thing
a lot of people have wrong, especially when there are people who have power and money,
such as this guy, is that they have a lot of pride, okay? Even if he's sounding religious,
even if he's, you know, doing everything that seems proper, you know, the fact is this guy
has pride in his heart. And again, that doesn't necessarily make him a terrible person. We all
have pride. We all have pride in our hearts that we have to deal with. Pride is one of
those things that just never goes away. We're constantly having to battle against pride,
some of us more than others, obviously. But you know, that seems to be the deal here.
With this guy, is this pride, his desire to add something to salvation, to take pride in his own
efforts, right? So Jesus, I believe, wisely begins to break this guy down and expose him,
right? He says, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God.
So he's kind of saying to him, are you calling me God right now? Are you admitting that I am
Lord and Christ? Are you admitting that I'm the savior? Because now we're getting you a step
closer to eternal life if that's what you're doing, right? And it's kind of subtle in the text,
right? He says, hey, first of all, are you admitting that I'm God? But if you notice,
in verse 20, he answered and said unto him, master, right? He's saying, oh, you're calling
me good? Well, there's only one good and that's God. Are you calling me God? And then the
next time the guy addresses him in the next verse, he drops the good, right? I don't think
that's a coincidence. I think, oh, I guess I shouldn't call you good then. And what's that
showing us about this guy? That he doesn't really believe that Jesus is God. That he's
not ready to put his faith in him, right? And Jesus knows this. And Jesus knows that
this guy has some things to work with and, you know, to work on rather. In verse 19,
you know, Jesus kind of plays the game a little bit with him, right? He has this little bit of
back and forth. He's saying, hey, what do we got to do to inherit eternal life? He says,
thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not
bear false witness. Defraud not. Honor thy father and mother. And he answered and said to them,
master, I have observed, excuse me, master, all these I have observed for my youth. He's saying,
I've done all that, right? And again, you know, it's very possible and obviously several
of these things he could have very well have been, have done, right? And perhaps he has kept
all these commandments that are listed here anyway. He's saying, do not commit adultery.
You know, hey, success. You know, we could probably all raise our hands that we haven't cheated on
our spouse. You know, at least I hope that's the case. Let's not actually do that. Okay.
I don't want to get that personal tonight, but, you know, let's, you know, hopefully we
can all say that, but that's not really some moral bar that we're, we're aiming for,
right? You know, do not kill. Now this one, I, I do want to know, is anyone here can,
you know, murder? Has anyone killed anyone that we, because we need to get the whole of the
authorities, right? You know, some of you make me a little nervous. It's like,
now you have a look in your eye, like maybe you've never done it, but I think you could,
right? He's saying, don't kill anyone. Oh, okay. Yeah. All right. Got that done,
right? Do not steal. All right. That one might be a little bit more common, but I,
I'm sure there's people that could live their whole life without, without stealing things. If
they're real careful and conscious of the different ways in which theft can take place,
they could probably get it, pull that off. Honor thy, defraud not, you know, don't be a liar,
right? That one I'm a little bit more skeptical of. That's a difficult one. Honor thy father and
mother. You know, he's rich, he's young. Maybe he listened to mom and dad, obeyed them,
and now he's taking care of them in their old age. He's honoring them. He's able to do that.
You know, he, he might be telling the truth when he says, hey, I've observed all these
things through my youth. I, I've worked hard at that. You know, he's, I, I've, I've been,
that's exactly what I've been doing, God. You telling me I'm good? And what Jesus is doing
here is he's exposing this guy's reliance upon his own works, right? He's trying to get,
I believe, trying to get him to see that he's trusting in, you know, himself and not,
and not Christ. And he starts by saying, hey, are you calling me God? Are you calling
me good because you believe I'm God? And it's exposing this guy. And, you know, the guy in
verse 20 is saying, hey, I've observed all these things. I've done all these things.
And then notice verse 21, right? Because we could read this story and go, pfft, this guy,
what an arrogant, puffed up jerk, right? You could kind of maybe get this impression of
this guy. Oh, some privileged, you know, rich young ruler who's kind of had a silver spoon
in his mouth his whole life. And, you know, he's just, he had everything kind of handed to
him and, and now he's, you know, wants to get religious and he's coming to God. Now he's just
kind of this, this, this braggart saying, oh yeah, I've observed all these things,
you know, and he, and he's not given Jesus his dues as far as being God,
you know, but that's not the attitude that Jesus took towards this guy. Okay.
And this is an important thing for us to remember when we're dealing with unsaved people
is that we don't want to get cold or hardhearted towards them simply because they're not
getting the gospel just because they don't understand it. It's because there's some kind of
barrier, you know, something that's preventing them from understanding and believing the gospel.
That's not, let's not write them off. Let's not treat them poorly. Let's be like Jesus
here, right? Because in verse 21 it says, then Jesus, beholding him, loved him. I mean,
he's looking at this guy and this guy is just coming up short, right? He, he's well
intentioned, right? But he's completely missing the gospel and Jesus doesn't go, well, you had
your chance, you know, good luck. You know, he actually loves this guy and he said unto him,
one thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor and
thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and take up the cross and follow me, right?
So what's he start to deal with? Like he couldn't get him on murder. Okay. We probably couldn't
get a lot of people that he couldn't get him on the adultery or stealing or the,
the lying or, you know, the dishonoring his parents. He, you know, Jesus couldn't get him
on those, but what could he get him on? Covetousness. Thou shalt not covet, right?
So that's where he starts to expose him. He says, well, you've got a problem with covetousness.
And what he's showing us is that, you know, we're all sinners. Every single person has,
if we might have something down, there's something else we don't have down. You know,
there's some area we really are really strong in, we excel at. There's probably some other
area where we're really lacking. Okay. And that's the case out in the world today. You know,
there's a lot of people that maybe are very good moral, upstanding people, but they do have,
they're not sinless. Okay. But again, that's not a reason to just write them off.
We should love them and try to help them to understand and know and believe on Christ.
If you would, well, look at verse 22, first of all, what's the result, right? He says,
hey, one thing thou lack is, sell all that thou hast, take up thy cross and come follow me.
And you would think this guy'd be like, oh, that's it? Perfect. Right. But again, Jesus
is exposing him here, right? He's showing him his sin. Because if you notice in verse 22,
and he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions, right?
So he's not willing to do that. He's not willing to give up these things. And he's
basically being exposed as a covetous person. And the reason why I believe Jesus is doing that
is trying to show him, hey, you're a sinner, buddy. You're no better than anybody else.
Even if you have kept all these and observed all these things from you, you still have sin.
You still have to believe on Christ the same as anybody else. Your wealth and your privilege
and all of that isn't going to merit anything in heaven. You're not going to earn your way
there. And Jesus did this after it says that he loved him, right? And Jesus kind of exposes
this guy after he says he's beholding him, he loved him, and then he hits the nail on the
head, doesn't he? This isn't Jesus trying to be mean. This isn't him trying to let me
make this guy squirm, let me send this guy away grieved. This is Jesus trying to get
across to this guy, right? Because he loves him. And what we can take away from this is that
if we really love people, we're not going to ignore sin. We'll deal with sin when it's
appropriate. Obviously, we're not going to go around like a bunch of jihadists or something
like that or the Muslims or something and start citing people for not wearing a burka or
something. I don't know. When they take over and they have Sharia law and things like that,
there's like literal civil government that goes out and enforces their religious standards.
We're not doing that. But when we're out soul winning, if we're dealing with someone who's
unsaved, they got to admit they're a sinner. If they're not willing to admit they're lost,
then how are you going to get them saved? They have to understand their need for
salvation. That's step one. And obviously, a lot of people don't have a part time with
that. But you know what? There are people out there that do. They think that they're
just good enough. They're like, well, I'm a good person. We're all sinners,
but I'm good enough to get to heaven. And if we love those people, we'll be patient. We'll
be kind with them. We'll deal with them. And we'll try to help them to understand that
actually, when it comes to the righteousness of God, you come incredibly short
and try to get them to understand that. What we don't want to do
is just write off whole groups of people. And particularly, we don't want to write off
wealthy people. Because that is a trap a lot of people fall into. Even in churches where
we're on fire for soul winning, we always go to the poor. And I get that because that's
the receptive area. It's much harder to win souls in wealthy, well-to-do areas.
Because there is something to be said about people who have a lot of wealth. They're
trusting in their own riches. And a lot of times it's because those are the same people
that have worked hard and been diligent in life and kind of lifted themselves up
and climbed the ranks. And they think that makes them a good enough person.
And they probably are good people. Having money doesn't necessarily make you a wicked,
evil person. It might make you a covetous person, but I know plenty of poor people that are
covetous too. It's just that they don't get it. They don't get to get the stuff they want.
The rich people, they're covetous, they get it, and then they go get something and they're
covetous about something else. And they just start collecting things. We all have
covetousness. It's not like that's exclusively just for rich people. That can affect anybody
of any financial strata, wherever you are on that scale, whatever class you're in.
So we don't, but here's the thing. We don't want to write off rich people and say, well,
you know, why even bother going to those places? And look, I get it. We're going to go
there last, but we're going to go there. And I've, and I've done some soul winning
in some wealthy places. We really haven't touched any of it much here in Tucson because
there's just so much more that needs to get done first. But up in Tempe where we've
done a lot, like I've spent a lot of time in some pretty wealthy neighborhoods,
you know, the upper class, and it's not receptive, right? But if you go, if still we get people
saved, you know, we go out with a van load of people on Wednesday nights. I'm sure they
still are. When I was still going up there all those years, driving up every Wednesday
night, we would take a van load of 15 people or more and go on these neighborhoods.
And yeah, you know, it was an hour. It was, you know, like seven man hours, you
know, because if you divide that in half, about seven and a half, right, give or take.
And it took about seven and a half man hours, give or take, to get a salvation. But you know,
we used typically would get at least one, you know, and, and honestly, that's not,
I would not consider that receptive, right? When you have 15 people, seven teams or so,
soul winning, and you come back with one salvation, that's, that would be kind of
considered unreceptive. Receptive, if you're curious, what I think I've heard and what I
agree with is that one team getting one salvation per hour, that's receptive.
That's pretty good reception right there. Like, I would, I'd say that's above average, okay.
But you know, you go in these wealthy neighborhoods, a lot of times the receptivity
is below average. So let's just not go then, right? You know, nuts to those rich people,
they can all burn in hell. Should that be our attitude? No, because that's not the attitude
that Christ had. You know, he beheld this rich young ruler who had a lot of pride and
covetousness and loved this guy, right? So we should do the same, right? We should try to
love these people. You know, the Bible says that if our gospel be hid, it is him to
them that are lost, right? And the lost are the lost. It doesn't matter, you know,
what their background is, you know, what their financial standing, it doesn't matter
where they fit in society. In God's eyes, it's the saved and the lost, okay. And we don't
want to hide the gospel from people that are lost, okay. Now if you would go over to,
we'll go over to Luke chapter number 12, Luke chapter number 12.
So that's kind of the first lesson we can get out of this, is that
we don't want to meet people who just write off certain groups of people for whatever reason, okay.
But, you know, specifically tonight what we're applying it to is to wealthy people,
to rich people, to people who are well-to-do, okay. They need to hear the gospel just as
much as anybody else. Now, are there chances of them getting saved as high? Probably not.
But they're out there. You know, what if that one wealthy person you know is the one that
would get saved? Well, I'm not, you know, if you have the attitude of, well, I'm just
not going to preach to them. You know, that's, or can we say we love those people at that point,
okay. You know, the Bible does, the other point I want to make tonight, though, is the warning
about covetousness, okay, because covetousness has an effect on people. You know, that's what's
keeping this guy out of heaven, right, is he's not willing to acknowledge his own sin. He's not
willing to acknowledge the fact that he's covetous. And if you know what, he wasn't covetous,
you know, he'd have something else to deal with, but, you know, we need to take heed to this, okay.
Jesus said in Matthew 6, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and
rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break
through nor steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And this is the
problem that this guy had, is that his treasures were on earth. That's where his heart was.
Okay, because again, Jesus, you know, you could say, oh Jesus was asking him to give up a lot when
he said, sell all, you know, give away your possessions to take up that cross and follow him.
You could look at that as like some great sacrifice you would have made, but the reality
is, is what Jesus was doing was making a great offer. I mean, what price would you pay
to walk with the Lord Jesus Christ on his, during his earthly ministry?
You know, I, I would, I dare say if I was within my means, I'd pay any price.
I mean, to walk with God, to see, to be with the Lord Jesus Christ on earth while he's in
his earthly ministry. I mean, this, you could say, oh, you know, he was asking him to give
up a lot. No, he's actually making him an incredible offer. And the price in my book is cheap.
All his possessions, it's cheap because all those possessions that he had, all those riches,
look, moth and rust is going to corrupt them. Thieves will break through and steal.
And the warning is to us, the application is don't be people that are given to covetousness.
And this is something that can creep into our hearts and take over and spoil us for, for heaven.
Not in terms of salvation, we all understand, you know, that it's once saved, always saved,
but you know, storing up riches on this earth will rob you of eternal, eternal riches.
You set your affections on the things of this earth and not on things of heaven,
you're going to get to eternity with nothing to show for it. That's what he's telling us here
in Matthew six. You know, if we lay up for treasures ourselves in heaven,
you know, that's where our heart will be. And, you know, I've seen this in ministries
and it's unfortunate when you have, when you have good, you know, saved people who
I believe even love God, love the Bible, love their church,
and yet they have no intention of ever doing any soul winning. That's sad.
That, you know, they're, and the thing is, you know, it's like they're the ones that are missing
out more than anybody. Well, other than the people maybe that they're getting saved,
the people that they could actually lead to the Lord that maybe somebody else couldn't,
you know, obviously it's costing that person far more. There's something to think about.
But, you know, you say, well, why are you so adamant about people going soul winning?
Is it just so we can, you know, pump up our numbers? You know, is it just a need to
persuade so I can feel like, you know, what we're doing matters or something like that?
No, it's because, you know, one, we need to get people saved, period, right? I don't know
why we need more motivation than that, but I guess it's not enough for some people.
But two is that, you know, if we don't invest in heaven, you're going to regret it.
You know, and it won't take long to get there. And, you know, it's kind of hard to
understand that on this side of eternity, people kind of, oh, yeah, yeah. But I'm telling you,
when you're in heaven, when you wake up in heaven, you die and you open your eyes in glory,
you're going to go, oh, man, whoops. You know, when you see all those other brothers
and sisters show up eventually in heaven, or maybe they're waiting for you there,
and they've just got a stack of crowns, they've got this reward and that reward,
and they got this great mansion, and they're this much closer to Jesus than you'll ever be,
it's not going to matter what your bank statement says.
And you're not going to pull out your bank register and go like, yeah, but look,
you know, you're not going to pull out your portfolio, and no one's going to care how
diversified your funds are or what the returns have been. And again, I'm not necessarily against
any of those things, okay. But the problem is, is a lot of times those things, those creep
into people's hearts and it chokes the word and they become unfruitful. The cares of this life,
you know, people who get entangled with the affairs of this life, they cannot be the soldier
that God has called them to be, okay. And it robs them. And I'm always trying to help people
to see this, always trying to help keep this on people's minds, especially the day and age
when we live, where we have such an abundance, where there's just so many things that we can
have, and there's so much opportunity to go out and just build wealth. And again,
I'm not against people working hard and building wealth,
but don't make your life all about money, because it'll cost you, ironically.
Did I have to go to Luke 12? If you look at verse 13, it says,
And one of the companies said unto him, Master, speak to my brother,
that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man,
who made me a judge or divider over you? I love Jesus' response.
I can appreciate this being in the ministry. People sometimes will come to you and be like,
hey, who's right or who's wrong here? And it's just like, who made me a divider among you?
Who made me a judge? I'm just a preacher. People always want someone to take their side.
And he said unto him, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth
not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. The man doesn't that fly in the face
of the culture today, where it's just whoever has the most toys when they die,
wins. That's kind of the attitude that's out there, where people just make their lives all
about the abundance of the things that they possess. And look, this affects everybody of
every economic standing. It doesn't matter how much they make. This affects everybody.
You know, I remember years ago thinking about how ironic it was when we'd go into these,
we'd go bus calling in these neighborhoods where they're living in just these single
wide trailers, and there's nothing wrong with living in a single wide trailer, okay?
But if you're living in a single wide trailer, chances are you're probably not making a lot of
money, right? That's kind of typically how that goes, okay? Maybe you're living within your
means, right? And that's just what you have to do. There's no shame in that, okay?
I've known plenty of good people who've lived in single wide trailers that love God and
were blessed by God. I mean, I knew a family that literally when the wind would blow hard
enough, the wall came away from the floor, and they lived in that. And there was little
literal holes in the floor from people chopping firewood in the living room who had lived
there previously, okay? And I don't look down on those people. Those are good people, okay?
But what I found ironic is a lot of times you go in these kind of neighborhoods, you
go to these rundown kind of low income neighborhoods, and they'd be in this kind of a very modest
trailer, okay? Which I don't think anyone aspires to live in, just being honest. And
yet they'd have a vehicle parked out in front of their car with the big 32s all
chromed out, and they're just spending all their money on the car. And look, I'm
not against that. I've got to clarify that because I'm in Tucson, right? And every
other guy is driving around in a lifted truck with chrome wheels on it, and that's fine,
okay? I'm just using it as an example because I always, it kind of dawned on me
that people want to have the appearance of wealth, right? And it affects people from
every strata, from every economic background. It's like, why don't you sell your rims
and get your family out of the trailer, okay? I don't know, but that's what they did, okay?
But it just shows us that covetousness affects us, right? Covetousness creeps in and affects
people's hearts, and it'll cause them to just make bad decisions. And it can affect the
Christian's heart. It can affect the child of God's heart, where they'll just get so obsessed
with the things of this earth. They'll just get so preoccupied with finances and money and wealth
and profit that they'll forego, you know, a relationship with God, a walk with God, an
opportunity to serve God. That's what this guy did. He's just given this golden opportunity.
Look, there were other people that Jesus healed that said, take me with you, the, you know,
the demoniac of Gadara, right? He put that guy back in his right mind. He got him clothed,
and he's ready to set sail and go back across the sea. And he says, take me with you.
And he said, no, go back to your hometown and tell people what great things God has done
for you. He denied him a place in his ministry, right? He said, you have a testimony
somewhere else, and I'm sure that's what that guy went and did, okay? But then you have this guy
who shows up, you know, who's trusting in his own good works, who's not even willing to admit
that Jesus is God and Jesus is giving, because he loves him, is just giving this beautiful
opportunity to just pay a small price, really, in the scope of eternity and join his ministry
and walk and talk with God and see the earthly ministry of Christ firsthand. But you know what?
He forsook all that, and he went away grieved because he was more concerned with his wealth.
He was more concerned with his possessions because he was covetous. Covetousness will rob
every single one of us if we're not careful. It'll rob the child of God even.
Saved or unsaved, none of us is immune to covetousness and the effects of it, okay?
I mean, I'm pretty sure, I don't know if this guy got saved later. I sure hope so.
But, I mean, let's just say he did. This rich young ruler, let's just say he went later and
he kind of figured it out, right? Maybe one of the apostles kind of came around later
and watered that seed or whoever, and he gets saved, okay? But by the time he gets saved,
you know, that window to go serve Christ is already closed. I mean, how would you admit,
talk about regret. Man, you know, imagine him coming to the conclusion that, you know what,
he is good. He is God. He is the Christ. It is all by grace through faith. It's not, you know,
it's nothing that I did. It's what he did. And him getting saved and saying, man, I had a chance
to serve God, to walk with him, and to have treasures in heaven. And I missed it.
I mean, what, I mean, that guy would be filled with regret. How would, how could you not,
I'm sure he's grateful to be saved if that's the case. But look, I don't want to just get
to heaven and just be, well, at least I'm saved. Look, I'm glad I'm saved.
But knowing what we know about what the Bible says, about, you know, eternity and eternal
rewards, about, I mean, it's Jesus that's saying it, right? He's the one that's saying,
thou shalt have treasure in heaven. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. I mean,
that's, is he just, you know, being eloquent here? Is this hyperbole? Is he just, you know,
just talking? Is this really mean anything? No, it's literal. He's talking like,
like there's rewards in heaven. We know that. That's why, I mean, for me, just like,
well, at least I'm saved, isn't good enough. Because, you know, and if we have that attitude,
that's how we're going to feel when we get to heaven. It's going to sting, my friend.
Let's move on here through Luke chapter 12. I know we're in a different gospel now, but
he gives this, you know, warning, hey, take heed and beware of covetousness in verse 15.
You know, there's more to your life than the things that you own.
And he spake a parable unto them saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth
plentifully. And he thought within himself saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room to
bestow my fruits. Give it away. Give it to those that don't have any of that. I mean,
you could think of a lot of different answers, couldn't you? But what's this guy say? This
will I do, verse 18. I will pull down my barns, which are more than sufficient.
They've gotten me this far. It's not like he's hurting, right? Because it's the ground of
a certain rich man, right? The things that he has has already made him very wealthy.
These old barns, right, these barns that already exist, you know, I need to pull these down
and build greater, right? And this is in the context of covetousness. This is what the Bible
is showing us, the dangers covetousness is. You will never have enough. And say,
if I could just get this much money, if I could just make this much, if I could just get this
one thing, you'll get it, and you'll say, it's not enough. And you say, prove it. Look at
the cell phone market. iPhones, okay, right there. I mean, what's the difference between
last year's model, the one they're about to release? They're probably going to release
another one. It used to be every two years, now it's like every year.
Well, the camera is just, it's just a little bit better, like anybody can tell.
Like everyone, all the millions of iPhones are being sold to professional photographers.
There's a lot of professional photographers out there. Newsflash, professional photographers
don't use iPhones. I mean, I know they do in the ads to sell you the, to sell you the phone,
right? But they, but it's like, how do they get away? How's Apple a billion dollar corporation?
How do they get away with it? Because they know someone will go, well, you know,
iPhone's so old, I got to have the new one, right? Even though they're going to back up
for eight years, you know, I got to have the new one. It works.
We're always, you know, that's just an example. We're always, and look, and then we, and I've been,
I've been guilty of this. I've experienced this firsthand. You get the new one and like
a week later, you're like, nah, it's not much different than the old one. It makes calls,
it texts, you know, you can take pictures. It does everything my old one did, except now,
you know, it's just another $2,000 or whatever it is, it's going out the window, right?
And look, I'm just using as an example that that's, that, you know, that's a small example of, of,
of a broader, you know, more dangerous thing. People can fall into this trap of covetousness
and just sacrifice their entire spiritual lives for the sake of money or things, okay?
That's what this guy is doing here. He's already a rich man and he's being blessed and he's
and he's being blessed and he's like, well, I've got so much more of these old barns that made me
so much money aren't good enough. I need to add another, you know, a thousand square feet here.
Let's tear those things down. He doesn't even want to do an addition. He's like, tear them
all down, start all over again. And there I will bestow my fruits and my goods and I will say
to my soul, soul, I love that, that has much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease,
eat, drink, and be married, retire, right? Now the guy's already rich. Do you think,
do you think that maybe he's already kind of had a life of leisure at this point?
He's probably, he's probably already doing a little bit of the eating and drinking and
being married, right? But God said unto him, thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required
of thee. Then who shall those things be which thou has provided? So is he that layeth up
treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. And you know, how is, how are we like this guy
if we're not rich toward God, right? Because that's what he says. So is he that layeth up
treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. How, how can we be like on this guy?
We can end up investing our lives in things that are just going to go to somebody else.
They're just, it's going to be someone else's someday. You know, all the things that we
just get so obsessed with, all the wealth we try to build up, all the things that we own,
it's either going to end up in a dumpster somewhere. It's going to end up in a landfill.
It's going to be in some dusty box. So it's going to be recycled or, you know,
somebody else is going to own it. You know, if we live long enough,
eventually my home is going to belong to somebody else. You know, assuming it doesn't
get burned to the ground or something, right? You know, the home, and I'm not saying,
hey, let's not have homes and take care of these things, but let's not get obsessed about these
things. But people make their whole lives about houses sometimes too, don't they? If I could just
build my dream home on a side of the mountain, overlooking the ocean, and you know what,
you could get it, but one day it's going to be somebody else's. And then, you know, and then,
and then what are you going to have to show in eternity? Can't take it with you, right?
Job said, naked I came, naked I shall go. You're not going to take all these nice things and
possessions with you. That's what Jesus is getting at here, I believe, in this parable.
That if we're not rich toward God, when we die and go to heaven, we'll have nothing to show
for it. Except a bunch of stuff on earth that eventually is going to burn anyway.
Go back to Mark chapter number 10. We'll move on here through this,
the story, because then Jesus makes this very bold statement, right? And sometimes it's kind of
hard to understand why he would say this in light of the fact that he loves this guy.
But I think it's because he loves this guy that he makes this statement. He says,
and Jesus looked round about, remember the story, the guy goes away grieved because he had
much possessions. And Jesus looked round about and saith unto his disciples, how hardly shall
they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God? And there's an exclamation point there.
So he's proclaiming this, right? He's saying this very emphatically, right? He's saying,
you know, those that have riches, you know, how hardly shall they enter the kingdom of heaven?
And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answered again and saith unto them,
children, how hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God.
And they're astonished at the saying. They're trying to understand, like, how could that be?
But really the answer is right here in the text. In verse 23 it says, they that have riches,
then you compare it to verse 24, trust in riches. They that have riches, trust in riches.
People think that they can earn their way to heaven, that they can, you know, buy people
out of purgatory, or they can give enough money away or do enough good with their wealth
that somehow they're going to warrant heaven. People who have riches tend to trust in those
same riches. And the irony is that those same, those riches that they're trusting in
are the very things that are going to lead them to hell, because that's what they're trusting in.
If you would, go over to 1 Timothy chapter 6.
Well, let's wrap up here in Matthew, or excuse me, in Mark 10. He says in verse 25,
it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God, which is impossible, basically. I've never tried it, but I've seen
a camel. I rode a camel in Phoenix with my daughter. It was scary, okay? For the camel.
And I've seen a needle, and I've compared the two, and I thought, there's no way that camel's going
through that needle, right? And people have all these cute things about, oh, you know, what this
meant back then, that there was the eye of the needle door, which was a smaller door that
camels would have to bow down, and they'd unload it. I just like, okay, if you say so.
You know, Jesus, you know, uses some obscure reference back then,
so we won't get it all these years later without some theologian, you know, coming around and
explaining it to us. I believe he's just being, he literally means a needle and a camel. Doesn't
work. But he's saying it's impossible. Because, I mean, and the disciples get it,
and they were astonished, first of all, because they got a message saying, who then can be saved?
You know, if you're saying these, if people that trust in riches can't be saved,
if the rich can't enter into heaven, who then can be saved?
How is that possible? You're saying it's impossible.
And again, you know, the application is like, that's not cold-hearted towards people. Let's
not write them off, because Jesus says in the next verse, verse 27,
and Jesus, looking upon them, sayeth, with men it is impossible,
but not with God. For with God, all things are possible.
You know, and that's a great lesson for us if we know somebody rich or not.
We might have people that we think never going to get saved. You know, our family member,
you know, our relation, some person we know, whatever it is, and I've seen people do this
all the time. They're just convinced, oh, you know, they're practically reprobate.
I've preached the gospel so many times, they're probably reprobate if they haven't believed it
by now. It's been six months since I got saved, and I've preached the gospel every week
since then, and they haven't gotten saved yet. They're probably just annoyed. They probably
just wish you would shut up for a bit, and look, I get our burden to get other people saved,
especially close family members, but they're the hardest ones often to get saved,
the people that know us, but it doesn't mean it's impossible, because with God,
all things are possible, you know, and I've experienced that firsthand. I, you know,
my mother, it took her 10 years to get saved, you know, and I wanted her to get saved,
and eventually I just had to back off, and just said, you know, I'm just going to be consistent. I'm
just going to live for God, and be a testimony to her, and pray that God does whatever He's
got to do, and she got saved. I mean, she had to go through some suffering to get there,
but you know what? God got her there at the end. You know, I wish it wouldn't have had
to go that way, but that's what it took, okay, but so let's not write people off.
Let's not write off the wealthy. Hey, it's possible with God. It's highly unlikely,
you know, that they're going to get saved, but with God, it's possible. God could get through
to them, and this isn't like a Calvinistic teaching, right? You know, God could break
through and minister to people's hearts in ways that we can't. Never write people off.
They can't get saved. God can visit them in the night. God can speak to them in ways
that we can't. God can bring things to their remembrance. God can put things on their mind.
God can cause things to happen in engineering circumstances that we can't, and bring people
around to a place of decision, you know, and if we've been faithful in preaching the Gospel,
you know, they'll get saved. I believe that. They'll at least be given the opportunity. It is possible.
Then I like Peter, right? Of course, Peter's got to pipe up here and kind of change the subject
a little bit, right? Lo, we have left all and followed thee. It's like, well, we were talking
about this guy, Peter. Well, what about us, right? I love Peter. He's kind of looking out
for himself here. Yeah, great teaching, Jesus. Appreciate that. However, you know, what about us?
How does this apply to us? What do we, you know, what, how should we take this?
We have left all and followed thee. Jesus answered and said, verily I say unto you,
there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother,
or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the Gospels, but he shall receive in hundred
fold now, in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands,
with persecutions, that's the part we don't like, and in the world to come, eternal life.
You know, and I believe this was probably a lot more applicable to the disciples and the apostles
back then, because they did forsake all these things quite literally. They left families,
they left houses, they left businesses, they left lands for the Gospel, and for Christ's sake,
to follow him. And he's saying, look, you guys, everywhere we're going, people are taking us in.
People are constantly ministering to us of their substance. People are putting roofs over
our heads. He's telling them to go out and to preach the Gospel, to take neither script nor
purse, but to just go out with the clothes on their back, and to just, whoever, you know,
bids them to dwell in their home, let their peace abide upon it. And he's saying, you're making
eternal relationships with people as you go and serve me.
He says in verse 31, but many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first. You
know, there's a lot of people that are going to think that they're going to be the first ones
in, and they're not even going. They're going to be last, if at all.
But I had you go to 1 Timothy 6, okay? I want to wrap up there in 1 Timothy 6.
He gives us, Peter, this answer, you know, if you've forsaken these things,
you're going to have all of that tenfold, you know, you're, excuse me, hundredfold,
in this time, with persecutions, there's a clause, and in the world to come, eternal life.
And that sounds like a pretty good deal.
He's saying, you can have all of this. You'll have so much more if you serve God, right?
But again, it goes back to, well, what if that's not good enough for him?
What if he's saying, that doesn't sound like a very good deal? I mean,
I appreciate eternal life, but, you know, having spiritual relations here on earth with people,
having, you know, spiritual brothers and sisters and things like that, having
all of this a hundredfold in this life, you know, eh, take it or leave it.
Well, it's the same thing with that rich young ruler. You're missing out again.
You're missing out. You know, people that forsake church are missing out.
They're missing out on the relationships you can make at church.
People who don't want to come to church and serve in church and attend church,
they're missing out on spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ.
You know, sometimes I don't know if that's, you know, how can I put this? Let me just put it this
way. This kind of strikes home for me because I don't have family here.
You say, what familiar relations do you have in Tucson? None. How many do you have in Arizona?
None. How do you have in the Southwest, you and your wife? None. There isn't a single blood
in the West of the Mississippi, as far as I know. I mean, I think I might have some
cousins up in Colorado, but I haven't talked to them in decades. I don't have any of those
relationships. You know, I don't get, I don't get to go to the family reunions. I don't get,
you know, Christmas, you know, we're not, and we used to have all that, you know, not,
and I'm not saying, you know, like, poor me, but I'm just saying, you know, I, I don't
I'm missing out because I have y'all. I have you guys as my spiritual family.
And sometimes we act a little too much like a family, let me tell you.
You know, that's what, that's what I have. Do you think I'm going,
missing out so much? No. I feel rich, right? And I have eternal life.
Because, you know, a lot of times, what do I even have in common with those people back in Michigan?
You know, we share half of the same genetics. You know, that's it. A lot of times, they don't
care about the things of God. A lot of, you know, vast majority of them, they're not saved.
Some of them are reprobate. That's a fact. You know, but I, I, I think that, you know,
for that reason, you know, we're ahead of the game being down here.
And we have, you know, you know, all these things. We have an abundance of people
that we know and love. We have relationships, friendships that I believe will last a lifetime.
Now, it comes with persecutions, but it's worth it.
And all I'm saying tonight is this, is that if you let covetousness creep in,
it'll rob you of that stuff. For sake, church, you know,
forsake, church, you know, then all you have is your drunk uncle
or whatever. You know what I mean? All you have is the family reunion. All you,
all you have are the family relations. And look, I'm not saying those are bad,
but they're not. A lot of those relationships aren't eternal.
But hey, we forsake church. We get covetous. We don't have time for the things of God.
We're going to miss out on the hundred-fold more, sisters and brothers. You know, I have
zero brothers, zero brothers. I am the middle child of three kids, and I have an older sister
and a younger sister. My son's got it even worse. He's me times two, right? He's got two
older and two younger. I only had to put up with one older and one younger. And they,
I don't mean it that way, but let me tell you, I got some brothers. I got brothers in Christ,
you know, a hundred-fold. All I need is one to make it a hundred-fold. Okay. But you know,
I've got like a thousand-fold brothers in Christ that I know by name,
that people that know me and that I know them, and we're brothers in Christ.
I'm winning. You know, I've got sisters in Christ. I had two blood sisters,
but ask me how many sisters in Christ I have. Hundreds.
You know, and I have a network of people spiritually that would be there for me. I believe
that. You know, that if I was destitute or had some great need, I could just start going
through my contacts and call, yeah, what do you need? You know what I mean? I have that.
And so do you, right? If you're serving God, but the Christian that just gets covetous,
just gets all concerned about the things of this world and forsakes God, it says,
no thanks. They miss out on all that. And what do they have to show for it? A bigger barn,
you know, a newer car. I don't know. I don't know what you have to show for it.
But whatever it is, it's not worth it. Whatever you're going to give in exchange
for the rewards of serving God in this life and the world to come, it's not worth it. How
could you put a price on that? And yet people do it. People do it all the time. And not just
the unsaved. God's own people do it. They'll look at eternal rewards in heaven and just say,
not going to do it. I'm not going to go soul hunting. I'm not going to try and win souls
to Christ. I know people like that have just flat out said, I know I should do it,
but I'm not going to. That's sad. They'll regret it one day. And you wonder why. You say,
why is that? What price did you just put upon it?
And the truth is there's no price that should, that can, you know, is worth it.
This rich young ruler should have just said, yeah, you can have everything.
All my possessions. You want the shirt off my back? You can have that too.
Let's go. He'd been saved. He'd had eternal rewards. I mean, we might know his name,
but all we know him as today is the rich young ruler. I'm not saying we should despise that guy.
I feel sorry for him. Jesus loved him. The dude missed out big time because of covetousness.
So take heat and be aware of covetousness. Let's go ahead and close in the word of prayer.