Welcome to the River Mountain Church Preaching Library. This message was delivered from our pulpit in Shepton, PA, and it's part of our Gospel of Mark teaching series. It is our prayer that it might inspire and encourage your life. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the preaching of God's Word. We are continuing in the Gospel of Mark, and if you have a Bible and want to follow along, it is Mark chapter 10, beginning at verse 13. We're going to be talking about the rich, young ruler. And if you read your text carefully, you will realize that the words rich, young ruler never appear in there, but that's definitely what this is talking about. He is rich. He is young. He is a ruler. As I was studying for this lesson, I couldn't help but think, and I kept thinking of Barack Obama as I was reading this. And I think the reason why is because In many ways, the rich young ruler is the best of humanity in the sense of what humanity calls excellent. He was wealthy, educated. He was in the highest position that a person could be in for being a Jew. And he was young, so he had everything going for him. And so as we look at this story, I want you to think of the most prominent people coming to Jesus. And I'm calling this message, I Will Follow. But here's the way it starts out. It starts out, again, with a familiar theme. It starts out with children. And the fact that it starts out with children before it gets into the story of the rich young ruler is no accident. The Bible is trying to contrast childlikeness with what we call sophistication or we call the highest places in society. There's a contrast being made. So what happens is they begin bringing children to him so that he might touch them. Most likely what is happening here is these are infants or these are very small children and as a custom, when an infant or a child turned about one, they would bring them to the local rabbi to bless. These people think enough of Jesus to bring their infants their babies most likely these this is about like a one-year kind of anniversary celebration and They want Jesus to bless them well, the disciples recognize this and they begin to rebuke most likely the parents for bothering Jesus and the disciples do this because they don't view children as being very important. So what happens is Jesus becomes indignant. And this word is a severe word, it means he becomes very angry. Now let me ask you a question. For those of you that have been here the last few weeks, how many times have we talked about children? We've talked about children a lot, haven't we? We've talked about causing them to stumble. Well, the disciples are so dense that for whatever reason they still don't understand that Children and being childlike is very precious to God. So they continually view children as the society views them instead of the way Jesus wants to view them. And let me just say this, we do the same thing. We may not think we do, but let me ask you a question. I'll put this toward me. If somebody asked me to come and speak at a vacation Bible school to fifth graders, I might I don't, but I could, and I really don't think that I do. But I might try to just, you know, come in with kind of like, well, they're just a bunch of kids. I'll just kind of throw something together or whatever. I'll just put a little something together. They won't know. But if I was asked to come and speak to, let's say, businessmen, presidents of companies and CEOs, how serious would I be about speaking to CEOs and how serious would I be to speaking to fifth graders? If I'm going to put a lot more importance on speaking to them than I do children, then I am falling into the same trap as the disciples. We tend to view adult things as being more important than children things. And when we do that, we make a serious mistake. And that's what the disciples are doing, and that's why Jesus becomes indignant. So Jesus says to them, permit the children to come to me, do not hinder them. And then he says this, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. And people have wondered what this means, that the kingdom of God belongs to children. And some have said, and use this scripture to say, well, because the kingdom of God belongs to them, we should baptize infants. Because they are already in the kingdom, we should go ahead and water-baptize them. Well, let me just say this. There is no indication that Christ was endorsing baptism of babies and infants. As a matter of fact, what he was pretty much saying is that there's no reason for them to be baptized because, in a sense, children are already in the kingdom. They are a part of the kingdom. And they really don't step out of the kingdom until they reach the age of accountability, when they choose to violate the laws of God willfully, and at that point they step out of the kingdom, and at that point they need to come back in, and usually that is through water baptism. But up until that point, every child who dies, dies and goes to heaven. Now some people say, These children were being raised in in Believing families. That's why Jesus said that because these were believing parents. Well, I don't know if they were believing I don't know where they were spiritually But I think it's fair to say that God was saying that the kingdom of heaven belongs to children Here's a scripture that some of the rabbis taught. I mean, there were rabbis at the time of Jesus that they clearly said every child goes to heaven before the age of accountability. And they would use this scripture. The Lord preserves the simple. I was brought low and he saved me. Every child is low. Every child is innocent. Every child is helpless. And therefore, God saves them. Therefore, God preserves them. So. That's the teaching on children. So what Jesus goes on to say is whoever does not receive the kingdom of heaven like a child cannot enter it at all. And people have talked about the fact that humility was a childlike quality. In order to enter the kingdom, you had to be humble. But I think perhaps the most important thing that we need to know about entering the kingdom of heaven is that children were completely and totally weak and helpless. And I believe we enter the kingdom of God when we admit that we are weak and we admit that we are helpless. So what happens is, after Jesus says you can't enter unless you become like a child, he takes the children in his arms, he blesses them, he lays his hands upon them. And this is a beautiful scene, I think, because he not only just blesses them, he hugs them, he puts them in his arms. And I don't know about you, but there's something about being around children that is very, very, very Replenishing. Something about being around children that just kind of makes you feel more alive than maybe you do in other situations. And I believe Jesus was enjoying this. But what happens next is after this encounter with children, after Jesus saying the only way you can enter the kingdom is being like a child, here's what happens next. He was setting out on a journey, and a man ran up to him, knelt before him, and began asking him, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus says to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. The first thing we see about this rich young ruler is that he is very enthusiastic about meeting Jesus. As a matter of fact, he's so enthusiastic, he runs. And this is perhaps the only time we see somebody running to meet Jesus. He not only runs, but he kneels before Jesus. He not only kneels, he then says this, good teacher. And this was highly unusual for anyone to use this term, good teacher. What in fact he was saying is, you are the best teacher. You are the greatest teacher. Now think about this young man. Enthusiastic, reverent, saying things about Jesus that maybe nobody else has really said who has just met him. I mean, this is an act of total humility and total worship, so it seems. He has a question. But Jesus, instead of answering his question directly, says this, why do you call me good? No one is good except God. Now, this is an interesting question. Scholars have asked themselves, well, what does this mean? Was Jesus saying that he is not good? Was he saying that there's only one good and that's God, and thereby Jesus was saying, I'm not God? Notice that Jesus never says, don't call me good. What does he say? He doesn't say, don't call me good. What does he say? Why do you call me good? What reason do you have for calling me good? Do you know that the only one who is really good is God? So why are you calling me good? Now, if you really think about it, Jesus is asking him, do you think I'm God? Do you think I'm the Messiah? Because that's the only reason to call me good. And I believe most likely that is what Jesus is doing. He is baiting this young man and saying to him, who am I to you? Who am I to you? I'm more than a teacher, you're calling me a good teacher, but you realize that that is something that only God could be as a good teacher. Am I that to you? But the kid never answers the question. But the real question that the kid asks, the young boy, the ruler, is this, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And here's what Jesus tells him. He says, you know the commandments. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not commit adultery. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother. And so the boy says, teacher, I have kept all of these from my youth up. Notice the list. Do not, do not, do not, do not, do not. Every single one of those commandments is a do not, and every single one of those commandments deal with how you treat your fellow man. What commandments are missing there? Those that deal with God. I mean, he never says anything about, love God with all your heart and soul, mind and strength. He never says, don't have any other idols before me. What he asked the young man is, he starts with the commandments that are about being right and good to other people. And the young boy says, since the time I was young, I have kept all of those commandments. Some translations said, I have never broken one of them. I want you to know something about this kid. He is serious about his life. He is serious about his relationship with God, supposedly, but he's very serious about living that kind of life that every person will look at and say, now that is the model citizen. Now that's a guy who always does what's right by other people. That's a guy who has made something of himself. He's rich. That's a guy who we consider to be a leader. This kid was the best of society. And he's falling down before Jesus and he's saying to Jesus, You're a good teacher. You're the best teacher. Show me how to have everlasting life. Have you ever known people like this? They seem to have everything going for them. They seem to have figured everything out. They've got it all. Or so it seems. I've discovered this sometimes about people like this, is they have their lives broken into compartments. And they try to be the best that they can in every single compartment. They strive for excellence. They're a little like Benjamin Franklin. I don't know how many people remember. Benjamin Franklin, when he was about 20, decided he was going to write down 12 principles to live a good life. Not only to live a good life, to live an excellent life. And one of his Quaker friends suggested that he adds humility to the list and he did but then he removed it because what he really wanted was when he did those 12 things that he would then feel a sense of worth and accomplishment and in his mind, greatness. But when he added humility, he felt like he couldn't complete the list. So he kept humility out because he wanted to feel about himself a certain way. He wanted to feel he was disciplined. He wanted to feel that he had made something of himself. He wanted to feel all those feelings of importance about him that people would look at him, he would look at himself, and he would say, I am the model citizen. And that's what this young boy is like. I've done everything right since the time I was young. I've done it all. So then Jesus confronts him. Because you've got to remember, what is his question? Here's his question. His question is, I want to know how to get to heaven. So Jesus says this to him. And by the way, Jesus didn't condemn him for anything. The Bible says Jesus felt a love for him. I mean, he was the kind of person that I think everybody loved. But he said this, this is the one thing that you lack. Go sell all your possessions, give to the poor, and you shall have treasures in heaven, and come and follow me." What was the question again? What was the question? Huh? How did I get to heaven? Can you imagine somebody coming up to me after church, asking me the question? I know the guy is a millionaire. I know he's prominent. I know he has a high position in life. I know he's really become somebody. And he comes to me and he says, Pastor, how do I get to heaven? And I say to him, sell everything that you have and follow Jesus. And the guy has a lot. How many people would do this in order to be saved? Sell everything you have. And by the way, this is the only person that Jesus ever asked this of, to sell everything. Well, what happened to this young man is that he couldn't do it, he owned a lot of property, and so the Bible says he went away sad. See, it's one thing to sell your property, but then Jesus was saying to this young boy, once you do that, you can come and follow me. Do you realize that we could have had an 11th apostle right here? This is the opportunity of a lifetime. And that's why Jesus was baiting him saying, do you think I'm God? Do you think I'm Lord? Because you want to know what I think you should do to have eternal life. Well, what I'm going to say to you is this, that listen, it's not about keeping all the commandments. It's about you getting rid of every single distraction in your life that would keep you from what? Following me. What Jesus was saying is the only way to have eternal life is to have a personal relationship with Me in which every single day you follow Me. It's not about the commandments. It's about having a personal relationship with Christ in which you follow Him. Jesus is breaking the mold of how people get to heaven. It's not about the commandments. It is about Following Jesus, but let me ask you a question. Why do you think he told him to sell everything he had? Let me say this What do you think this young boy trusted in all of his life Himself and his money What happens if you sell everything you have and follow Jesus, what do you got to trust in now I What do you got to trust in? Jesus! Now you got to trust in this guy who told you something. Now you got to trust in Him to provide for you. You got nothing now. You only got Jesus. Now you got to trust in Him to provide for you. See, I really believe this with all of my heart. God wants to be our God. And He doesn't want us to trust in anything other than Him. So therefore, He tells us, stop trusting in these other things. And I think, if I can say this without... because I think this applies even in the case of tithing. The greatest thing about tithing is this. When you tithe, and for those people who don't know what tithing is, it is the act of giving a tenth of what you make to God. It doesn't mean you have to... You know, give it to the local church. I mean, you can just give it. I mean, I believe that you should support your local church, but it just means you give it to the kingdom of heaven. Let me just say this to you. Jesus didn't tell this young man to give a tenth of his income. He was already doing that. He was a Jewish boy. Jewish people give a tenth. He told him to give everything. But let me just say this about giving a tenth. When you give a tenth, what you're saying is, money is not my source, God. You're my source. And to show you that I'm not trusting in my wealth and what I can make, I'm going to seed into your kingdom. Because I am declaring you to be my source. When Jesus said this, looked around at his disciples, and here's what he said. How hard it is, or how hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Wow. When he said this, the Bible says the disciples were amazed. Now let me ask you this. If I say this to you, it's hard for rich people to get saved. Are you guys amazed by that statement? No. You kind of shake your head and go, yeah, that's really hard for rich people to say. Well, let me ask you this. Why are they amazed? They're amazed because since the time they were little boys in the Jewish community, the rabbis and the synagogues taught one thing, that if you are pleasing to God, you will become wealthy. If God shines his favor upon you, you will prosper and you will have great wealth. You will have the wealth of David and Solomon. That is a sign of God's favor to you. And if God doesn't love you, if you're a sluggard or if you're slothful, you are going to be in poverty. And poverty is a curse from God. Wealth is a blessing from God. Poverty is a curse. That's what they were taught all of their life. What does Jesus do? He turns it all around. He says to them, the people that have a lot, might not ever get in. So the disciples were amazed. And so they were so amazed, Jesus had to say it again to them. He says, children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And then He says this, 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 heaven. Now, the Bible says that this, they were even more astonished, because they understood what he meant. Now, what does it mean, the camel going through the eye of the needle? Some people have taught, when we were in Israel a couple of different times, I remember the tour guide pointing this out, he said, the eye of the needle is a little hole in the wall, See where that guy's standing? And he said the camel could go through there, but the camel had to take off all of its load, and it had to kneel down, and if it was kneeling down and it didn't have anything on its back, it could crawl through. And everybody kind of goes, oh wow, that's a really good illustration, I gotta remember that. Only one problem with the illustration, it's false. The eye of the needle, which is that little doorway, didn't come into existence until about the 11th century. So that is not the eye of the needle. If you've heard that taught before, that is incorrect. Some people have said, well, what he was talking about is the word camel can sometimes be also translated a rope. It really can't, but people are trying to justify what Jesus is saying here. So they said, well, maybe you could take a rope and if you broke off a little piece of the string, you could slowly put it through. No, that's not what it meant. The eye of the needle, in case you don't understand it, is this little eye that is on the end of the needle. And what Jesus was saying was this. He was literally saying that the only way a rich person can get to heaven, well, he was saying it's impossible. You can't get a camel through the eye of a needle, nor can you get a rich man. So when he said this, they were even more astonished and they said to him, then who can be saved? I mean, if rich people are not being blessed by God, and they're not the good people in society, then who can be saved? And so then Jesus says this. Jesus looked upon them and said, with man it's impossible. But I want you to see something here. Peter began saying to him, So when Jesus says, it's almost impossible, well it is impossible for a rich man to get into heaven, but I can make it happen. Peter jumps in here. Do you know why Peter jumps in? And I've said this before and I'll say it again. Peter, according to the standards of that day, was a millionaire. I mean, they've done digs And archaeologists have found out that if you had a boat the size that Peter had that could fit 12 people in it comfortably, and you were a fisherman in the Sea of Galilee, fishermen were the most wealthy because that was the greatest commodities like being in the technology industry. Peter had a boat, Peter had a staff, Peter was extremely wealthy. So Peter says to him, because he's a wealthy man, and if you've ever been to Israel and you've gone to Peter's home, it was a gigantic house. So Peter begins to say to him, behold, we have left everything and followed you. And I believe that Jesus said what he said about wealthy people. He said, it's impossible, but with God, all things are possible. He's almost saying that for Peter's benefit. I know it's hard for rich people to get in, but there are exceptions, Peter. And yes, you were the exception. And yes, you did leave everything. And yes, you did follow me. But then Jesus says these great words, after Peter says, we've left everything. He says, truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left brothers and sisters, fathers, children, farms, for my sake and the gospel sake, that shall not receive a hundred times as much in this present age. If for the gospel sake, you leave your family, you leave your business, you leave your land, He says, you're going to be rewarded a hundred times, not only in heaven, but also in this age. But then he also throws this in there, but you're going to get persecuted. I'm going to bless you. I'll return to you things that you've given, but you're going to get persecuted. Finally, Jesus closes this message with this saying, There are many who are first who will be last, and the last will be first. What is he saying? The last, that is to say, the weak, the helpless, the children, are going to be first. Why are they going to be first? Because they are going to follow. He says, the first, that is to say, the rich, the young, the rulers, they are going to be last. Why? Because in the end, they don't follow. And here's what I want to say to you in closing. The only people that follow Jesus, hear me, are the weak and the helpless, the strong don't follow. It's almost impossible for the rich and the young and the rulers to follow Jesus. That's what Jesus said. Why? Because they refuse to acknowledge, they refuse to become weak. Here's what the Apostle Paul said, I'd rather boast of my weakness that the power of Christ might dwell in me. I am well content with weakness and with insults and with distress and persecutions. For when I am weak, I am strong. Notice Paul. Weakness, weakness, weakness. He not only talks about his weakness, he says, the only thing I ever brag about is the fact that I'm weak. Have you ever heard the saying, people have said this often, Oh, you Christians, you know, you Christians, Christianity is nothing more than a crutch for the weak. You know what? They're right. Christianity is for the weak. Because only the weak and the helpless follow, in many ways because they have said, my life is not worth living. The rich young ruler couldn't say, my life isn't worth living. Christianity is more than a crutch for the weak. If it was a medical device, it wouldn't be a crutch. I think it would be more like a defibrillator for the weak. And the Bible says we are dead in our trespasses. God wakes us up to life. To say Christianity is a crutch is to make Christianity too insignificant. The only people that follow are the weak. The strong don't. That's why Paul said, I'm going to boast in the fact that I saw my weakness.