Good morning to each of you. If you would turn with me to
the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10. We have before us in these verses
the story of the rich young ruler. And it's recorded three times
in the New Testament. It's recorded by Matthew, Mark,
and Luke. all three testimonies inspired
by God the Holy Spirit, to write it out in detail for our learning. An important thing to be mentioned
in three of the four Gospels. And let me say right up front
that were it not for the grace of God, we would all make the
same choice this young ruler made and perish with the world. But did he perish? I wonder. Let's just simply read the story
of this man and his decision and we'll make some brief comments
on it as we move along and I will call your attention to four things
in this text and the first thing which we are confronted with
in this story is a common delusion. There are a lot of deluded people
in this world. I blame mostly preachers, because
preachers have been spreading falsehoods about the gospel,
about our Lord, about the God of heaven and earth, and men
have begun to believe them. But in 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 eternal
life? And Jesus said unto him, Why
callest thou me good? There is none good but one. and
that is God. Now we know that Christ is God,
but undoubtedly this young man didn't. He comes calling him
good as to flatter the Lord's ear, as to find some favor, yet
it's obvious he didn't know that the one that stood before him
was God and he was good, the epitome of good. Why callest thou me good? There
is none good but one, and that is God. 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 the young man answered and
said unto him, Master, All these things I observed, have I observed
from my youth. Now there are many things about
this young man that at first glance, at first sight may appear
to be commendable. It's obvious he was earnest and
zealous. He came running to Christ. Came
running. He was reverent and respectful. He kneeled to the Savior in a
respectful, reverent, if not even a worshipful manner. He was thoughtful of his soul
and eternity. What must I do? Seemed to have
a concern. And obviously he was a very moral
man, at least in his outward behavior. And I suppose if any of you mothers
or fathers were looking for a young man for your daughter to date
and even marry, this would be the fellow you'd like. You would
like this young man. But this rich, moral, zealous,
religious man was deluded firstly by his own self-righteousness. and his own pride. His delusion
is a common delusion of all men since the fall of Adam. It was
a three-fold delusion. First, he thought salvation could
be obtained by something he could do. This is the delusion of all
lost men, all religious men. All men think that salvation
somehow comes as a result of something that they do. Oh, they do not deny grace altogether,
or deny that God has something to do with salvation. No, that's not the problem. But this young man acknowledged
that eternal life is the inheritance and gift of grace, but he still
thought it was to be obtained by something that he could do. He knew the one that stood before
him was a great man, a prophet, a wonderful teacher, master,
rabbi. But being ignorant of God's righteousness,
this is where men go wrong, ignorant of God's righteousness, he went
about to establish his own righteousness. And that's where men mess up.
That's where men go wrong. And he could and would not submit
to the righteousness of God in Christ. I wish to God I could get the
ear of this generation. I wish I could get the ear of
false preachers. I'd say, dear friend, don't you
see from Scriptures that it's not of him that willeth. It's
not of him that runneth. but of God, of God, but of God
that showeth mercy. Salvation is of the Lord. By
the deeds of the law there shall no, no flesh be justified." And
this young man's second delusion was that he thought the law of
God only had to do with outward behavior. When you read verses 19 and 20,
many imagine that the Lord Jesus is here teaching that there are
really two ways of salvation. They imagine that a man can either
be saved by grace or by works. But that's not the case at all. This man asked what he could
do and the Master told him what he must do. There's a difference. What can I do? Nothing. But this is what you must do.
It's what you must do. If you want to be saved by your
works, if you insist on being saved by the law, and by keeping
the law and doing works, all you have to do is keep the
law perfectly. Perfectly. Paul wrote in Galatians,
for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse,
for it is written, Cursed is everyone that what continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to be.
Well, I can't even keep the Ten Commandments, but if I could
keep the first nine and not the tenth, I'm guilty of all ten. Our Lord's purpose was not to
teach salvation by legal obedience, but His purpose was to teach
us the impossibility of it. To expose this man's sin to himself. And that's what He did to me,
and that's what He did to you, those of you who trust Christ.
He showed you that this law could not be kept showed you your inability
to keep this law, and it shut you up to the mercy and the grace
of Christ. And this self-righteous young
man was like all lost religious people. He was totally ignorant
of the spiritual nature of God's law. He thought the law reached
no further than the outward deeds, do's and don'ts. He never took
into consideration the fact that the Lord looketh on the heart. He thought that adultery was
intercourse, not lust. He thought killing was murder,
not anger. He thought stealing was theft,
not covetousness. He thought bearing false witness
was openly lying about someone, not insinuating or thinking evil. He thought fraud was taking another
person's property. He didn't realize that it was
just wanting it. He thought parental honor was
saying ma'am and sir and Not reverence his parents' names,
honoring their wishes, and taking care of them in their old age.
That's what it is to honor your mother and father. Not just say,
ma'am, yes ma'am, no ma'am, and then treat them horribly. It's inward. Inward. We need to work done inwardly. And this young man's third delusion
was that he thought he had actually obeyed God's law. And thus, somehow was worthy
of God's acceptance in and of himself. Look at verse 20. And he answered and he said unto
him, Master, all these things have I observed from my youth.
I never cease to be amazed by the fact that even the most base,
sensual men and women of this world are really very, very proud
and think so very highly of themselves that they presume that they're
good enough for God. And that is really the heart
of their unbelief. People are simply, in their own
humble opinion, too good to need the grace of God and the blood
and righteousness of His dear Son. I pray that God, for only
God can show, only God can teach, only God can reveal to a man's
heart who and what they are. and who and what He is. Only
God can reveal that. And if He doesn't, they will
perish in proud delusion. Look at verse 21. I want to show
you a compassion demonstrated. Then Jesus beholding him, loved
him. Now let's take this blessed text
just as it stands, learn what it teaches us, rejoice in the
great love of Christ and his love for sinners. There are two things I think
we need to observe here. First is the Lord Jesus beheld
this man. Here he stands before Christ
and Christ beheld everything about him. He stands before God. Christ beheld his present condition. He beheld his heart. And the second thing to observe
is the Son of God loved this man. How could He have loved him?
I don't know, how could he have loved me? This man describes
me pretty good. I have no doubt at all that though
this man at first chose the world over Christ, just as I did, I
wouldn't have this man rule over me. I was doing my own thing. I was doing it my own way. But I believe by these words
that he was later converted by God's free grace because verse
21 says, Jesus beholding him loved him. Now I'm not a real
smart man, but I believe God's taught me this, that if Christ
loves me, that's all that matters. It doesn't have to do with my
love for Him. Salvation has everything to do
with His love for me. Salvation doesn't have so much
to do with me knowing Him as it does Him knowing me. And I love Him because He first
loved me. And I believe Him because He
visited me in mercy and love and gave me a heart to believe. Christ loved him. Those who are
loved of Christ are loved by him from eternity. I believe
Christ loved this man from the foundation of the world. Those
who are loved by the Son of God are loved by him immutably. Those
who are loved by the Lord Jesus are loved by him until the end. An everlasting love. And there
will come a day, physically speaking, in these bodies when this life
will end. But really, life never ends. Spiritual life is eternal. And if the Lord loved me before
the foundation of the world, He's going to love me long after
this world as He wraps the four corners of this world up. And
those who are loved of God are saved. They're saved by His free
and sovereign grace. Well, what if they refuse to
believe Him? Christ loves them. They're going
to believe Him. They're going to come to Him.
They're going to bow to Him. They're going to acknowledge
Him as their one needful thing. And the Lord loved this man so
much that He graciously uncovered his sin, pulled the covering off his heart.
And in verses 21 and 22, we see a corruption discovered. Look
at it. And Jesus beholding him loved
him, and He said unto him, One thing thou likest. One thing that you like. Now
you say that you've done all these things from your youth,
but I'm God in flesh. I know you haven't. But let's just say you're right.
Let's just say that you've done all these things. As you said,
you've had one thing thou likest. See, he meets him right where
he's at. And he says, he exposes his sin,
and he says, go your way, sell whatsoever you have, and give
it to the poor. And thou should have treasure
in heaven. You can trade that earthly treasure in right here,
right now, for a treasure in heaven. And then he said, and come, Go
sell all you got. Give it away. It's of no use
to you here. It's of no great importance.
And come and take up the cross and follow Me." Oh, to hear the
words from the Lord Himself. Salvation has come to him this
day. And in verse 22 it says, And
he was sad at that saying. Why was he sad? Well, he went
away grieved because he had great possessions. As I said, the Lord
Jesus met this man at his point of rebellion. He always does.
And sooner or later he will meet you at your point of rebellion
and demand surrender, if he hasn't already. This young man's reigning
sin was an overwhelming affection for the things of this world.
His riches were his idol. His heart was set upon and trusted
in his wealth. And John Geale said these words,
this young man was so far from keeping all the commandments
as he thought, that he had not kept the first, which is thou
shall have no other gods before me. He thought he'd kept all the
law and yet he had not even kept the first one. You know why?
Because wealth and riches were his God. What's your point of rebellion? What's my point of rebellion?
Well, that's where you must do business with God. Did you ever
notice how often those two words, one thing, you mentioned it in
your prayer, one thing, are used in Scripture? They're very instructive. David desired one thing. He said, I desire one thing.
He said that I might dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Mary chose the one thing needful, you know what it was? To sit
at the feet of Christ and hear His words. The man, you remember
the old man born blind who was healed by the Master? They went
up to him and they said, what's... He said, one thing I know, I don't know all the answers
to these questions, but I'll tell you one thing I know. He
said, I was blind, but now I can see. Paul said, one thing I do,
I forget those things which are behind me. And I'm reaching forth
unto those things which are before. And I press toward the mark of
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. But this proud, self-righteous,
young, rich man was lost because one thing he was lacking. Though
he felt much, though he seemed to do much, though he thought
much and believed much, the one thing lacking, let's just get
it down to where the rubber meets the road, the one thing he lacked
was faith in Christ. That's the only thing that'll
send you to hell. Like a faith in Christ. Unbelief.
There's one unpardonable sin, my friends, and it's unbelief. The only thing you cannot be
forgiven for is not believing on Christ. That's the one thing
that will send you to hell. And this rich man walked away,
clinging to his riches, And the Lord Jesus made a statement to
His disciples, which disturbed them greatly, and opened the
way for Him to instruct them and us in a calming doctrine."
Here it is. Verse 23, "...and Jesus looked
round about, and He said unto His disciples, How hardly shall
they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" And the
disciples were astonished at his words, but Jesus answereth
again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that
trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God? And I tell
you, you can put there in the place of riches any other thing
that keeps you from Christ. It doesn't have to just be riches.
How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter in the
kingdom of God? Verse 25, it's easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
the kingdom of God. And they were astonished out
of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus
looking upon them, saith, With men it is impossible, but not
with God. That would be a good title to
this message, but not with God. For with God all things are possible. And I'll finish by giving you
the three things in these verses I want you to see and pray that
we might understand. There are very, very important
truths which very few understand and still fewer lay to heart. The most deceitful, dangerous
thing in this world is riches, the love of money, and the love
of the world. Secondly, with men, this is an
important thing to learn. With men, salvation is utterly
impossible. It's impossible. And most importantly, with God. All things are possible. So great, so good is the grace
of God that He can strip and empty the most self-sufficient
Pharisee and bring him through the needle's eye of faith in
Christ into His kingdom. God Almighty can save even the
richest man in the world if he decides and determines to. The man who thinks himself spiritually
rich and loves himself is no more beyond the reach of omnipotent
mercy and grace than the most promiscuous harlot. that's ever
lived. The man who loves the world,
trusts in his riches, and therefore despises the thing of God, he
is not, and I say not, beyond the power of God's free and sovereign
grace in Christ. And if indeed salvation is by
grace alone, and it is, you know that, There's no case, there's
no circumstance, which should cause us to despair. That's a fact. I think about
old John Newton. He said a lot of wise things
in his day. But he said what I've been trying
to teach you this morning. He said, I'm an old man now.
And he said, I can't remember much. But I do remember two things. He said, I remember that I'm
a great sinner and Jesus Christ is a great Savior. And I suppose
if a man or a woman can remember those two things and nothing
else, if he can remember those two
things at the end of his days, everything's going to be alright.
Don't you think? I do too. I appreciate your attention.