In this sermon, Pastor Babij looks at Jesus’ evangelistic encounter with the rich young ruler. As Pastor Babij explains, this account is a powerful depiction of several key truths: the need to expose man’s sin in evangelism, the folly of loving wealth, and the great mercy of God in saving sinners (since salvation is otherwise impossible).
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morning let’s take our bibles this morning and again turn to the gospel of mark we are looking at mark chapter 10 verse 17 through 27.
of course uh the most profitable way that you look uh study the scripture is if you’re following along with me in your bibles and uh looking at the passages uh along with me so you’re making sure that i’m not saying things that are not there all right and then you’re learning also but as we come to this passage of scripture i was doing um just thinking about what is being said here uh this is about the rich young ruler as it’s called and um i looked up some articles on um actually one man wrote named chris chris york who wrote an uh op-ed piece on the horror of lottery stories in fact i was amazed to find out that um they actually have lottery winners anonymous because of how money wealth has actually destroyed people uh and some of the people wrote uh actually chris york said we all dream of winning the lottery of course we as christians we shouldn’t be playing the lottery uh we need to trust god for those kind of things but he says that uh you think that there’s no more debt there’s endless holidays and a ridiculous large and unwarranted collection of whatever takes your fancy and he says but one winner said everybody dreams of winning money but nobody realizes the nightmares that come out of the woodwork or the problems and so he cites some stories from california to pennsylvania to texas to new jersey and he said one story he wrote uh he said now now there is a story of uh justice actually he called it karmic justice uh where in 1996 denise rossi won 1.3 million on the california lottery instead of informing her husband of 25 years thomas she applied for divorce instead denise then kept her winning secret during the entire court proceedings three years later though the truth came out and the court ruled that she had violated the state asset disclosure law her punishment she was to or be ordered to pay every single penny of her winnings to her ex-husband then of course william budd post won 16.2 million in a pennsylvania lottery in 1998 which is about as he said everything started to go wrong first all uh a former girlfriend sued him for a share of the winnings and then his brother hired a hit man to kill him he didn’t it didn’t help matters when he fired a shotgun at a man who was trying to collect a debt and then of course everything rapidly deteriorated and post died broke in 2006.
and then even right here in new jersey uh evelyn adams hit the jackpot in 1985 and 86 bagging a total of 5.4 million fast forward 20 years though and she was living in a trailer completely broke and then um abraham shakespeare won 17 million a lump sum in 2006 at the age of 40.
he was deluged by people asking for financial help and he couldn’t say no to them even when he bought a new home he had the homeless live in his home and then he met a woman named doris dungan called dee deeb and she soon uh met him and started going with him and then shakespeare all of a sudden disappeared his body was found under a slab behind a home owned by d d moore shot two times moore was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison and then one last one happened in texas texas billy bob harrell won 31 million on a texas lotto and at first he thought his problems were over he quit his job gave as much money as he he could to help the poor and the needy and eventually he became more and more hassled by people demanding money from him having to change his phone number several times the pressure of this combined with separating from his wife were just too much for him and he was found dead by his son with a self-inflicted head wound just two years after his winning now all these stories conclude with really a sad ending but the one recorded right here in our text this morning is sadder than all of them because this man let’s slip away eternal treasure for temporal wealth so this morning i want you to take a look at the man in our story who rejected the key to eternal life for earthly riches and that’s where we’re at today in mark chapter 10 verse number 17 onward and before i go there let’s pray lord this morning as we look at the word of god we realize that in it lord is contained the wisdom that comes from above it is not tainted with earthly wisdom and so lord it is your truth lord help us today to take it to heart help us to put ourselves in this equation and lord i pray that we would be cautioned by it and that at the end lord we would actually turn and be thankful for all that you have given to us and be content with the lot that you have placed us in in this world so lord let us learn the key to eternal life today in christ’s name amen so let us look first at jesus inquirer in verse number 17 of chapter 10 of mark it says as he was setting out on a journey a man ran up to him and knelt before him and asked him good teacher what shall i do to inherit eternal life now the gospel of luke tells us that this man was a ruler he was a ruler in the synagogue an official that manages the affairs of the local synagogue he was a young man somewhere between the ages of 24 and 40 some place him at around 28 years old he’s wealthy and he is often referred to in scripture as the rich young ruler i want you to notice also the inquirer’s thoughtful question he comes with a question i say that he comes with the question hoping of course to obtain the needed information to satisfy his quest to get his question answered and notice what his question is in verse number good teacher what shall i do to inherit eternal life now you have to say wow talk about an evangelistic prospect don’t you want people walking up to you saying excuse me uh i have a question for you uh what shall i do to inherit eternal life to any christian that would be yes prayers answered right this is this is an easy one well if we take a closer look at what the young man asks and i want you to notice he is not asking how he may obtain eternal life he’s asking what shall i do to inherit eternal life in fact the word inherit here because of the context could mean something that a person receives that is due them because of the good behavior or the good things they did to that person while in this life that in the inheritance they get something because of what they gave what they did so he thinks he’s on the right path he has been following the moral law with strict behavior and obedience he is asking what else must i do that’s key to the text he has a knowing sense that he’s missing something but at the same time he thinks he has the ability to reach the goal to enhan inherit eternal life and he sees the good teacher jesus that possibly he can tell me what else i need to do the young man wants eternal life and he thinks he can obtain it by doing something else by doing something good this young man is really an analogous to many young men who have come after him expressing similar uneasiness for example here’s a a take a young man who has it all together he has degrees from the right places he’s on a track to be a partner in a company and he’s already made millions by the age of 28. yet to his surprise he finds himself seeking out gurus and rabbis and religious teachers asking them am i missing something do you know of anything i’m missing i’ve accomplished a lot but i sense that there is more one more thing that i need to do i’m willing to make some changes so tell me what to do obviously in many of these cases wealth doesn’t seem to satisfy the uneasy uneasiness people have in their heart there’s a restlessness that’s still going on there no matter how much money that they obtained in this world so what is the enquirer’s sincere attitude towards jesus notice in verse number 17 he says good teacher what shall i do to enter inherited eternal life so his approach to jesus seems admirable because he because he comes eagerly he comes respectfully he comes with an attitude of great reverence for jesus and jesus reply to him in verse number 18 is this jesus said to him why do you call me good no one is good except god alone now so jesus is not saying here that he’s not good that he himself is not good the word good is used in a common sense and it can be applied to all kinds of people see our definition of goodness in other words is different depends on what context you’re you’re looking at people say well he’s a good person well why is he good because he gives to the poor or he’s a good person why is it good because he is good to his family so if we can’t apply the common sense goodness to jesus that would be a cheap application to him it would not fit him goodness in the true sense of the word can only apply to god that’s what jesus is saying god is good god is the very source of life and salvation god is the standard of what one who is truly good would be understood in this way jesus is actually affirming his deity just in my bible reading this past week i ran across psalm 136 verse 1 and it simply says this give thanks to the lord for he is good right and matter of fact whole psalms are given to the very character of god’s goodness in fact when we grow in respect to our salvation and peter we are to grow to the point where we see the goodness of god in our life it’s the goodness of god that brings someone to repentance so it’s all over the place it applies to god very nicely but when we switch it over to humans the definition becomes dubious now jesus method of dealing with this thoughtful inquirer is very interesting it’s fact in fact it is a method we ought to use in our evangelism all right so what did jesus actually do to this young man he actually brought his attention upon the law of god so he directed him in other words to the law why did he use the law because the law is like shooting at someone’s conscience it goes right to the very heart of the matter in fact this rich young ruler had a flawed understanding of goodness he is understanding goodness as a moral achievement a moral attainment some moral accomplishment that he has to do in his life he has been successful at doing good things moralism actually today is the new gospel moralism produces sinners who are of course better behaved but not saved but call themselves christians to the gospel of jesus christ transforms sinners into the adopted sons and daughters of god and makes them different the church then must never evade or accommodate or revise or hide the law of god because it is the law of god that shows us our sin it is the law of god that makes our inadequacy inaccurate inadequacy and our righteousness lacking before a holy god so jesus starts with the law and he does that for this reason in order to lead that person to the gospel and so look what he says in verse number 19 this is what he says to the young man look you know the commandments he already knows the man knows the commandments so jesus wants this young man this successful wealthy man to have a real understanding of the purpose of the law so jesus cites five negative commandments and one positive commandment for a total of six commandments from the second tablet of the law remember there’s two tablets the first tablet and the second tablet the first tablet was more directed towards god in worshiping him and the second was more about the sins of man that condemned them all right so by referring to several of the ten commandments jesus asks him some implicit questions he says you know the commandments so what does he do he starts out in verse number 19 and he says do not murder that’s commandment number six but if you think about that commandment he’s asking here have you ever not only killed somebody but have you ever been angry with anyone because murder starts in the heart with anger and then commandments seven do not do not commit adultery all right have you ever looked on a woman to lust after her you ever done that and then in commandment number eight do not steal have you ever stolen anything even petty theft and then commandment number nine do not bear false witness have you ever given false testimony lied once have you lied once and then in commandment number 10 he says it’s interesting there’s a change here the way it’s recorded because commandment number 10 is thou shalt not covet but notice what’s recorded here it says inc it says in the passage do not defraud now that of course is directly connected to because most people believed that if you you were wealthy somewhere down the line you defrauded someone so in other words it’s like saying it does it does also mean thou shalt not covet that is in there but this is specific to this man jesus is getting right to the heart of the matter have you ever misrepresented the facts in business dealings have you ever taken from people things that are by right theirs have you ever had a jealous deci desire for what is not yours and then of course he gives a positive command and it’s commandment number five honor your father and mother have you always obeyed and respected your parents so he lays it out before him and so the law is designed to expose the man to himself and to his deficiencies that’s what the law does to all of us right when the law is applied to us we can’t get away from on the law because everybody is guilty of something and that’s exactly why god designed it that way but i want you to notice in verse number 20 after he lays out the commandments to him the response of the man he said to him teacher i have kept all these things from my youth up would you say there’s a problem in that statement well i don’t think the man thought there was a problem in that statement because that’s exactly what he’s been doing since he’s been a kid he heard the law he said okay i’m supposed to obey the law i’m supposed to keep the law so that’s what i’m going to do but what happened is that as it happens to many of us he got caught on just one side of the law see the young man is sure that he has kept these from his youth but what he did not see is that he was actually established establishing himself as a self-righteous person and he thought in his mind god is satisfied and god is pleased with what i’m doing now just think for a moment just think for a moment this young man is outwardly an exemplary young man he could easily be praised or taken as an example by others employers are looking for men just like him moral religious a proud son a leader among the gathered assembly a wealthy person in the community that can help out who wouldn’t like a young man with these qualities to marry their daughter or to be an employee in their business or to be an elder and deacon in their church see the point being is this the young man outwardly kept the commandments but failed to grasp that the law is also spiritual is what does paul say the apostle paul say in romans chapter seven this is what he said when he’s dealing with that complex passage of scripture but he says this for we know that the law is spiritual and then he says this but i am of flesh sold into the bondage of sin that the law is put out there for it to expose our heart to bring everything that’s going in our heart on in our heart to the surface especially the sin that’s offensive to god so here’s the man of a clear proclamation of self-righteousness has no problem with it and you would think let’s see what jesus attitude is toward that rich man rich young ruler look it says in verse number 21 here’s the first thing that jesus how jesus responded to him he says in verse 21 looking at him jesus felt love for him now that’s interesting that is that is a very interesting we we really all should be taken by how jesus replied to this rich young ruler and in this passage it really the it says that he felt compassion he felt loved that means there was compassion there and remember from the gospel of mark compassion always sees a need and then plans to take care of that need that’s what jesus is doing here all right there actually are several words in the koine new testament greek that could be translated with the word love however the term used here is a word that we’ve often heard before agapata agapato or agape which means a divine love or a godly love so in other words jesus is expressing towards this man a divine godly love and of course you may have thought that jesus would have come down on him for his self-righteous response but he didn’t but at this point it says jesus felt love for him it’s in a similar way paul says in the epistle to the romans in romans 5 8 but god demonstrates his own love toward us that while we were yet sinners christ died for us it’s interesting that god’s love is most clearly demonstrated at the point of our sinfulness and our ungodliness and our unholiness and usually under the shadow of the cross the cross being the greatest demonstration of god’s love to humanity that he died in their place for their sin not for his own so he felt love but then in the rest of the passage it told it tells us how he expressed that love remember love is an action word it’s a verb here that means there’s going to be action involved with that it’s not just i loved him i felt loved no he did something and what does he do and sometimes this is where we think it’s unloving to tell somebody that they’re sinners well how does jesus express love to them by telling him what he lacks right by telling him what he lacks by telling him what he must do because that’s what he wanted so what he does is he applies the law to expose his sin god applies the love of god applies the law and after he had done what was required then he will prove it by following christ so jesus wanted this man by the application of the law first as i believe he the scripture wants us to understand also to understand that you cannot obtain eternal life by the law or by keeping it all right you can’t do it and secondly to understand all that the law can do for you is to show you you’re a sinner under god’s condemnation so see the law brings to the surface of the heart that which you cannot see or fail to recognize as again paul the apostle paul said in romans because by the works of the flesh no flesh by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in this sight for through the law comes what the knowledge of sin all right paul said in romans how do i know if i covet unless the law tells me i covet right how do i know that this is wrong unless the law told me it was wrong and not pleasing to the lord and brings its own just condemnation sees the law makes demands upon our thoughts upon our feelings upon our attitudes and upon our intentions upon our will the law brings pain deep within the soul the law places its weight on the most darling sins of the heart don’t we have darling sins we have sins that are secret and we cherish we we like them we don’t even let other people know about them it’s only our private little thing and we think that as long as we do something in private we don’t hurt anybody else wrong because we’re already offending god all sin offends god whether it’s actually lived out or just thought it’s still sin before god so in other words jesus in love places his finger on the rich man’s most darling sin and applies a spiritual application from the ten commandments specifically saying to him you shall not covet and of course recorded here in the scripture do not defraud so jesus applies really four imperatives to bring the man’s heart and what’s going on in it to the surface because if you notice in verse 21 it says this looking at him jesus felt love for him and said to him one thing you lack and this is what he says all imperatives go and sell it’s a command all your possess all you possess secondly give to the poor and you will receive treasure in heaven and then when you’re done with that follow me now you say well why did he do that he’s not asking us all to give away our wealth that’s not the point the point is that this man’s sin is preventing him from having eternal life the question that he originally asked so jesus is taking practically the law and applying it to that one sin the sin that’s really preventing him from going forward see this application of the law brought to the surface the filth and the ugliness of sin see in other words covetness has ruled this young man’s soul that’s what he lives his life for the practical test of the ten commandments which jesus applied to the rich young ruler is the demand to abandon his riches to give it to the poor and then to follow him follow jesus the rest of his life had jesus simply said to him do not covet the rich man probably would have said i have sad i’m satisfied with the lot you gave me the situation you’ve given me in life i’m satisfied but that’s not what jesus did jesus put his finger on the man’s chief sin and jesus pressed his finger there and when jesus and jesus went for the heart of his problem because the heart of his problem was his devotion to his wealth instead of his devotion to god see to be saved from covetousness people must turn from the all-consuming passion after wealth love for money in other words must be removed his affections for that particular thing and trust in it must be removed if he’s to be saved this fine prospect of a man was called out by the law and the law found him to be a rebel against a holy god and dreadfully sold out to satan in covetousness if he repented if you notice in verse number 21 there’s a promise then he would find true riches look what it says you will have treasure in heaven so if you do this if you give go and sell if you give it to the poor and if you follow me you will have treasure in heaven the lord is offering to him eternal treasure that doesn’t rust or decay or get lost now you would think a man of this stature would say yes that’s what i want but there’s a condition placed on having treasure in heaven and that condition is repentance repentance is a change of mind towards sin self and the savior it’s like when the gospel went to the thessalonians it says it was reported about them and how they turned to god from idols to serve the living and true god so he must turn his back on his green god to have treasure in heaven all his works righteousness are vain they’re empty they mean nothing what he needs is a complete inward change so the young man is so attracted to jesus yet so far away from how he should enter the kingdom of god he didn’t see past his earthly treasure he didn’t see heavenly treasure more desirable than earthly treasure nor did he see the need to continue to follow christ which would have been evidence of true saving faith see confession of sin for this man and anyone is really not enough there must be also a full purpose of heart to turn from the formal life of sin and to walk in new righteousness to walk in newness of life in christ jesus so for salvation the young ruler must be determined to forsake as well as confess his sin so here we we see he is quite willing to have christ he’s quite willing to have eternal life but he’s not willing to forsake his riches you can’t have both now looking at it in this way from scripture then we we see that how does the rich young ruler actually respond to the felt love and the practical love of christ where christ showed him what was wrong well in verse number 22 it tells us but before i look at that see salvation actually eludes this successful young man so he didn’t want to turn from that which he loved even though now he was no longer blinded he wasn’t blinded to his own sin anymore of covetousness the law of god had made it known to him he was well aware of what jesus was saying and so he actually gives a wrong response not the response that an evangelist wants to hear when somebody comes and asks you the question what must i do to inherit eternal life this is not the answer after you presented the goss the law and then the gospel to that person this is not the answer you want to receive so how could this prime evangelistic candidate slip away we would think we can’t let this person slip away we got to say something to him he came to the right person he came with the right question how do i i inherit eternal life so but he got it and look at the response to jesus application of the law verse number 22 but as these word but at these words he was saddened and he went away grieving for he was one who owned much property in other words this man was extremely wealthy he turned away from jesus with a sad gloomy grieved heart jesus exposed what he really loved and worshiped he loved his riches more than he loved god or his son he was not only guilty of violation of the commandments or specifically commandment number 10 you shall not covet or you shall not defraud he was also guilty of the first commandment which is not even listed in our text you shall have no other gods before me see in other words he was deficient in love for god therefore guilty of breaking the whole law and you know what james chapter 2 verse 10 says and whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point has become guilty of it all that means nobody’s going to get away nobody can slip out of that one you’re guilty i’m guilty under the law we are guilty and under the laws condemnation for the wages of sin is what death not only physical death but spiritual death and eternal death if we don’t believe in christ so he was deficient of the love of god but he was also deficient in keeping all that the law depends everything that the law hangs on what is that well remember in matthew 22 where it’s a a question was asked to jesus teacher what is the great commandment in the law and he said to them you shall love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind this is the great and foremost commandment and the second like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets see so soon as a person walks away from god they are also committing an eternal sin that’s the sin that is unpardonable that’s the sin in which the person can’t be rescued unless of course unless they have they have breath in their lungs and the blood still flowing through their veins then there’s a possibility that the spirit of god may convict him again but see when somebody walks away see our lord was urging the young rich man to abandon his philosophy of life but he did not this goes to show one great obstacle of salvation in this world is the love of riches not riches themselves but the love of them and you don’t need to be wealthy to love money you can be poor’s dirt and love money the whole life matter of fact your whole motive of living is to get money but you never got it in proverbs it tells us that sometimes god allows people to be rich and not have the joy to enjoy the riches and some people god allows to be poor and enjoy it because they’re content with what the creator had given them so there’s ample admonition in scripture concerning the power money has to entrap us because all people have a secret longing for riches of some kind don’t they would you say that all people have a longing for riches of some kind in this life i would say they do right oh if i only won the lottery if i only had this amount of money i can do this and i could do that and i would give to that person of course i would be but you know what the richer people get the less they give that’s a that’s a proven fact the apostle paul told young pastor timothy for the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many a pang but flee these things oh you man of god and pursue righteousness and godliness and faith and love and perseverance and gentleness see the same apostle also gave us a heads up to those who will live in the last days because those days that we live in now full filled with the foolish mindset of atheism and false teaching people’s affections are being pulled in all kinds of directions and their affections are on certain objects and one of the objects that men’s affections are on is money wealth for he says in timothy second timothy two three and two to four but it says listen for men will be lovers of self lovers of money and then he says they’ll be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god and then the epistle of hebrews this is the council that’s given to us in hebrews 13 5 let your character be free from the love of money be content with what you have for he himself has said i will never desert you nor will i ever forsake you in other words christ is enough he is our wealth well in saying all that the rich man walks away from christ he walks away because his love for his possessions and his wealth is he sees it as greater than what christ offered him and not only that he missed christ he missed christ as the one who is the one who gives wealth and so now jesus turns to his apostles he turns to his disciples and he has some comments about what just happened and this is his comments and i want you to notice first first uh verses 23 to 27 he makes comments on the really the rich young ruler’s response and notice what he says this is what he says to them listen getting into the kingdom of god is harder than you think that’s what he says to his disciples look at how he says it in verse 23 and jesus looking around said to his disciples how hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of god now the lord did not deny the possibility that the rich person can be saved jesus simply said that it was difficult and remember the term kingdom of god refers to the present spiritual kingdom composed of the regenerate people of god when it’s using the kingdom of god those who believed in christ and have entered who’ve seen the kingdom and who have entered the kingdom right and they have done it through christ they had to go through christ so salvation is very desirable eternal life is very desirable and it’s necessary but how difficult it is to obtain right the difficulty really lies in the pride in people’s hearts they don’t think they need it they got their own plan i’m doing all right i’m fine your religion’s just a crutch you just go on you’re happy in your little thing i got my little thing over here all right so it’s pride that keeps them from it the difficulty lies in the area of falling in line with god’s way of saving us see salvation by grace as a free gift troubles us that just seems too simple receive a free gift i don’t do anything for it no work not to pay for nothing see it troubles sinful humanity the difficulty lies in complying with god’s terms of salvation we don’t believe it’s true we don’t believe it’s true that we can be saved that we can have eternal life that there’s even a quality of life after this life we don’t believe it people are very getting very cynical in that area today more than i’ve ever seen in my life i just die like a common animal this life is over so enjoy as you can and then you’re dead that’s it they forgot that they have a soul created in the image of god that lives for eternity that’s who they really are and they’re gonna have to stand before god and and give an account of their life and god keeps accurate records and the law is out there the laws are written in their hearts they already know they’ve done things wrong they’ve already know they sinned against the creator they know that without even reading the bible or hearing the law it’s there they have a conscience conscience is going to be part of how god judges us the law of the conscience the word jesus christ himself are going to be the standard of judgment of all people see so the difficulty lies in the seeking and accepting such a salvation that god offers they think there’s many ways to god you have one i have one we all make it to the same place the difficulty is in in the power of sin and what sin delights in and people think that salvation crucifies all the sinful delightful desires that they would ever live out which it does but paul says in romans 8 verse 7 it does not because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward god for it does not subject itself to the law of god for it is not even able to do so and those who are in the flesh cannot please god so he’s saying to the disciples after the rich man walks away listen getting into the kingdom of god is harder than you think but he goes one step further and notice what he says in verse 24 and 25 and here’s what he says to them in a nutshell getting into the kingdom of god is not just hard it’s impossible it’s impossible it’s impossible now of course remember mark is writing as if you’re there and you’re listening to jesus so you the whole thing went on you saw what happened with the ritual you ruler said and why i walked away and how the law was applied they saw all that and now they’re they’re waiting for the teacher to say something and the teacher says to them turns to them and says listen the kingdom of god is harder than you think and then he says to them listen the kingdom of god is not just hard it’s impossible to get into you cannot get into it look what he says in verse number 24 and he gives an illustration and he says this verse 24 and 25 the disciples were amazed at his words but jesus answered again and said to them children that’s a term of endearment he’s now really looking to them as his children and he says how hard it is to enter the kingdom of god and then verse number 25 he seals it and he says this it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of god and believe me some people have said the eye of the needles is is called the you know the needle gate where camel couldn’t fit through it this is this is a regular needle the needles were bigger because they sewed uh leather tents together but obviously a camel can’t fit through the eye of a needle right in other words it is impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle in other words getting into the kingdom of god is humanly an impossible mission the rich man even with all the resources of his wealth cannot mustered enough to get into heaven in other words he can do nothing toward being saved or entering the kingdom of god so the illustration of the camel is absolutely true with men this thing of being saved an entrance into the kingdom of god is impossible you can do nothing for it man can do absolutely nothing toward his own salvation natural ability if he had it he cannot work for it not with wealth he cannot buy it not works of charity charity cannot gain him eternal life not moralism can’t try to be good enough to get into it how much good can you be to be entered the kingdom of god when god says in romans there’s none good no not one not synergism that means you cannot even cooperate with god for your salvation in other words we can do nothing that’s the point we can do nothing but by prayer by repentance and faith in christ and receive the free gift of eternal life see the king doesn’t sell his flowers the king gives them out freely only to be received freely not to be paid for i always loved this passage of scripture in john chapter 1 where it says but as many as received him to them he gave the right to become children of god even those who believe in his name who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of god we’re born again by imperishable seed that comes from god it is an astonishing thing to think to realize that the reality of salvation and the process of it is a gift of god alone including of course the grace of god and our choice even to believe in that grace is a gift of god for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of god not a result of works that no one should boast real christians are persuaded that the finished work of christ is sufficient and nothing else is needed you believe that today that this salvation that god’s offering cannot be worked for you can do nothing for it except god’s prescription that salvation then we must conclude is a supernatural work of god eternal life is life that is in christ that’s why we must come to christ and salvation was never ever intended to be man’s work never in all of god’s word it was never that intention that’s the intention we give it so the key to eternal life is the miraculous intervention of god alone that’s the key and that’s what’s said in verse 26 and 27 notice what it says in mark 10 in verse 26 it says they were they were even more astonished and said to him then who can be saved that should be our question after what was said and then notice what it says looking at them jesus says with people it is impossible but with god but with god for all things are possible with god see god is the agent that makes what is impossible possible and of course we know that anyone who comes to jesus christ and repentance and faith he will in no wise cast out because that’s his remedy that’s his prescription on how we do come so then who can be saved certainly not those who neglect the means of salvation certainly not those who prefer other things before it and love other things before god certainly not those who think to attain it any other way than god’s appointed way will get in who can be saved certainly those who have been appointed to it certainly those who do not neglect the means of salvation certainly those who desire his offer certainly those who do not prefer other things in its place certainly those who attain it the way god appointed it anybody who comes in that way can be saved because remember the human obligation was to hear the gospel and obey the two imperatives that we started out with in mark chapter one when the preaching of the gospel comes and that the time of the fulfillment of the kingdom of god is at hand the bible says there’s two things repent and believe the gospel turn from your sin turn from something and turn to someone and that is jesus christ hebrews tells us that he’s able to say forever those who draw near to god through him see christ is god and consequently sovereign lord over all things and as such is the object of saving faith romans 10 tells us that if we confess with if you confess with your mouth jesus as lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead you shall be saved for with the heart man believes resulting in righteousness so this scripture this morning really should do several things to us number one it should humble us humble us to know that we can’t offer anything to god to save us secondly it should caution us and caution us in this sense we should not rush to bring someone to faith if they don’t know yet they sinned against god and the only way to show them that is to present the law to bring the law to press upon their hearts so they would know oh now that’s why i need to be saved is because i sinned against god who created me see unless they understand that there’s no salvation what do you need to be safer you don’t see your sin so we should be cautioned how we talk to people about the gospel but we should talk to people about the gospel and then it should cause us to not walk away like the rich young ruler sad or like the people i mentioned in the beginning who had all this money but all their life ended in tragedy and sadness but we should walk away this morning of rejoicing for this reason for the so great salvation that has been offered to us freely in christ jesus our lord that’s why we should rejoice we will have an eternal inheritance in christ and as it says in verse number 21 if you want to go back there it says this you will have treasure in heaven come follow me that’s the promise that we have if you come to christ you have treasure in heaven you don’t believe it that you’re the wealthiest people on this earth if you know christ because your joint heirs with him what he owns you on that’s hard to that’s hard to wrap your mind around i know i can’t wrap my mind about it either but it’s nonetheless true because it says it in the word of god and then i want you to notice in when i get there but look at look in matthew chapter 10 in verse number 30 it says this but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms along with persecutions and the age to come eternal life and then verse 31 but many who are first will be last and last first see the promise there of the disciples asked the question but lord we left family we left houses we left towns we left everything what about us the lord’s saying don’t worry about you you’ve got riches that you don’t even know about and i promise you that you may be last now but you’ll be first in the kingdom of god you may be poor now but you’ll be rich in the kingdom of god and for one reason because people just simply came to trust in jesus christ as their lord and savior who died in their place who rose again to give them eternal life who defeated satan and death who’s interceding for them right now on their behalf and who promised that he’s going to take us to be with him when we’re absent from the body we’re present with lord or we’re going to actually be here when he comes i don’t know that god does but see our our futures are bright you know christ and so this is a tremendous passage of scripture that should we should remember and think about often in our life especially when we’re tempted to think something can satisfy you more than god and your affections go swinging in another direction pray every day that your affections for the lord grow deeper and deeper and deeper so you’re not swayed by anything and you are steadfast and strong in the lord no matter what takes place in your life because god is in control he is sovereign over all things and he can be trusted and he is our lord and savior and he is also our wealth he’s our treasure christ jesus let’s pray lord this morning this passage of scripture does touch our hearts it does reach down to the depth of our souls it does show us lord that lord even when you got everything going for you and even though you have everything the world can offer that one thing could cause you to miss eternal life because you end up loving it instead of christ i pray lord that you would show us convict us of our sin show those who don’t know you as their lord and savior show them that they’re responsible and guilty before you and if they don’t come and repent and trust in christ they too will be under eternal condemnation and have no reward but will be left in darkness and eternal torment and i pray lord those who do know you i pray lord every day all of us would rejoice and be content in the things that you have given us for we know lord in christ jesus we are wealthy and that our inheritance is eternal it cannot be taken away we cannot lose it it is reserved for us in heaven as peter said and i thank you lord for the truth that sets us free and allows us to live with a peace and a joy that nothing else in this world can give but you and so i thank you lord for these things bring those who don’t know you to christ and those who do know you establish them in your joy and peace every day and i pray in christ’s name amen