The Two Rich Young Rulers - Part 1

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It's a reminder that followers of Jesus are assured of eternal life, but not necessarily an easy one. Continuing the Susan's Savior is his message to which Young wrote this is a really interesting study that many of us have taken before we know the story about the rich young ruler but have you ever noticed that in the story. The really true rulers. The rich young ruler and the rich young heavenly room and they collide in the story and it's really interesting. It's a tremendous picture of riches because you can have riches on this earth don't matter too much, or you can have riches and how I tell people all the time. Whoever you are, whatever you doing here in either moving toward your riches moving away from them. If you are involved in what you on this earth.

If that's your deal moving away from, you may not like to know that but it's true. But if you've invested in having you moving toward your riches, you're probably a little bit of both but you can't be exclusively ruler of this earth.

If you want to have riches in heaven's will talk about that today. Part one will finish that up on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week we'll talk about betting on the wrong world that will take some time for Thanksgiving, and will continue our study of the book of Mark, the end of the month. Let's get started with this lesson, to which young rollers open your Bibles to Mark and I want you to find your place in the 10th chapter, Mark chapter. This is a story of a man who had everything, I mean he had everything there wasn't anything that he wanted that he didn't have but like so many modern stories.

It doesn't take long to discover that what you think is the ultimate source of meaning leaves you Matthew Mark and Luke all record this story and apart from the crucifixion scene.

There is scarcely a more prophetic story in the Gospels than this one.

I mean, here's a young man in the prime of his life who comes to Jesus expectantly, and he goes away disappointed.

He comes with an eager :-) and he walks away with a fallen countenance.

He rushes up to Jesus with a bubbling heart and the Bible says he walks away exceedingly sorrowful.

As far as I can tell this is the only occasion in the Bible where someone came to Jesus and left him in worse shape than they were when they came to see.

I call this message is not the rich young ruler, but to rich young ruler's because two men meet in the story. Both of them are young, both of them a rich and both of them are rulers.

One is a human rich young ruler and the others a heavenly rich young ruler, and in their meeting to worldviews collide to ideas about what life is all about come together in a few moments of conversation between two rich young ruler's let me tell you about the first one, the rich young human ruler several things about him are given to us in the text.

First of all, if we read this. We pick up the fact that he is young, but Matthew's account tells us his age. Basically he was a young man when the young man heard this saying, he went away since Matthew 1922. Most scholars believe this puts this young man in the age bracket of somewhere between maybe 28 and 32 he was a man who not only was young, but he had great accomplishments verse 18 of Luke's account of this gospel. Luke 1818, says a certain ruler asked him, saying the Bible calls this man a ruler. It's a Greek word which is really the word archon and it means to be a principal one may first one may be the ruler of a synagogue are the most important person in the group sometimes called a great man or apprentice. This man was evidently not only young but in his youth had become a person of great importance in his Jewish community and then the Bible tells us he was affluent he was rich, in fact, all of the synoptic Gospels, which record this event.

Make note of the fact that this man was wealthy. Let me read the verses to you.

Matthew 1922, says the young man heard that saying went away sorrowful for you had great possessions. Mark says he had great possessions and Luke says he was very rich. A very rich man with great session. Young accomplished affluent and he was also aggressive. Now that shouldn't surprise us most Young accomplished affluent people are aggressive and this young man is aggressive. Watch this first 17 as he was going out on the road, one came running as Jesus was going out on the road that day. The sky comes running up to him and he kneels before him, and asks a Question Way, Mark tells if this man didn't just run up to Jesus. He ran up to Jesus fell on his knees in front of him.

I mean he was trying to get his attention. No question. We don't know why was in such a hurry.

The Bible doesn't give us that information. But maybe somewhere along the way he had heard Jesus teach in the sense that in the teaching of Jesus. Maybe there was an answer to the question that was burning in his heart, so he couldn't wait to get there if he thought the answer was there. He was going to find the answer and no question about the fact this was a self-assured young man who went after whatever he wanted. He wanted an answer. We don't know why you use this word, but he called Jesus teacher our modern word would be Dr. or perhaps even the word Rabbi would be better in the Middle East. It was very undignified for a grown man to run in public.

They walked with a sense of gait and dignity to them at the run.

That was very undignified. This man with his youthful passion was throwing his respectability at the feet of Jesus. He could not wait to ask the great teacher how to find the answer to the longing that was in his heart and he didn't mind the risk of losing face with all those who probably didn't like him anyway because of who he was as young as he was in his riches he was and is affluent as he was.

There was this emptiness in his life and he wanted to find the answer to his age, his accomplishments, his affluence, his aggressiveness notices action after he asked the question what do I do to inherit eternal life.

Jesus said to the young man why do you call me good to call him good teacher, don't you know there's only one good that's God.

You know the commandments, do not commit adultery. Don't murder. Do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother, and he answered and said to him, teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth. This is an incredible young man when he had said he had kept all the commandments from his youth that Jesus didn't correct them. He didn't say no, you haven't. If anybody would've known. If you broken those commandments.

Jesus would've known it, and of course he did break them. But Jesus didn't confront him with his inaccuracy. One of the things you notice about is that this man apparently was outwardly a good and moral person, as we will see in a few moments what he said was not about anything good that he did but it was all about the bad things he did do. And in spite of all these things he was searching in spite of all that we discussed. He had an emptiness in his life that he couldn't fill with his wealth and his success despite his high standing in the eyes of men. He knew he did not have the peace that he read about in the Psalms and the piece about which the prophets had spoken.

He felt this deep spiritual emptiness for all of his religious efforts. He was unfulfilled. He knew that he did not possess the life of God that satisfies now and gives eternal life. He had everything that money could buy, and he was unhappy in all of this was because of an assumption that he made. Let's look at his assumption in verse 17 he said to the good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life. There's a disconnect there before you even get out of the Bible.

You don't do anything to inherit. You gotta be related. You have a relationship for you just do something to inherit this rich young ruler, though only had one mode of operation. This is all he knew. He assumed there was something that he could do to get this commodity that he was missing in his life, and I remember several occasions like this where I would explain to these men that the only thing you have to do to have eternal life is ask for forgiveness of your sin and asked Jesus Christ to come and live in your life and he will come and change you.

And they would say will know what I have to do know you have to do anything will come on Jeremiah there's no way I can get what you're talking I got to do something just tell me what I need to do and I'll do it will know this is a gift you don't do anything for a gift, and that doesn't work, you know that my whole life is been built around the start that you work hard and you're rewarded. So tell me what I need to do to get eternal life and I'll do it. This man came to Jesus and he said what must I do to inherit eternal life. One writer that I read describe this young man in these terms, we can easily imagine this young man. He wrote we all know men like him right fit, prosperous, successful, gifted in leadership eager to learn and serve earnest and well-meaning.

He is evidently an upright outstanding respectable and decent man.

He's the kind of man we would be proud to have as a brother a friend a son or a son-in-law.

He had everything one could ever dream of having. But he just didn't know the answer to the most important question in life. He had everything going for him in the realm of the temporary he had nothing going for him in the realm of the eternal now this is not the only time this is happened to Jesus. On another occasion, we are told in the book of Luke that a lawyer came up to him and ask him the same question in Luke 1025 behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Jesus saying teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life. The sameness of these two questions is because these men were following the argument that was a mainstream Jewish concept. They thought they had to do something. They were under principles of the law.

They did not understand that salvation is not about what you do for God what it's about what God does for you. On one occasion when Jesus was speaking to a multitude of people near Capernaum. The multitude asked Jesus a question and Jesus answered it with a clarity that no one should ever have to question again. Listen to these words from John chapter 6 and they said to him, what shall we do that we may work the works of God and Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he sent what is the work of God is to believe that's what had escaped this young man had everything that you could've wanted. He was at the peak of his success, but he was saying in his own words, isn't there something more. There's gotta be something more than this.

What is about to learn from the great teacher is that he has the right question, but he's looking for the answer in all the wrong places the question of course is how do I have eternal life and the answer has nothing to do with what you do. It's about who you know the Bible says the wages of sin are death but the gift of God is eternal life, salvation is not a reward for something you do. It's an absolutely unwarranted gift from Almighty God. In first John 511 and 12. It says this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life, ladies and gentlemen. If there's anything we can do to have eternal life. There is no such thing as eternal life because all we have to offer to God is the imperfection of our humanity and that's for every single one of us no matter who we are what we need is something that's perfect something that's flawless, something that has no chinks in it that only comes from the hand of God, he must give us eternal life or we can have some guys you may be like this man you got a lot accomplished a lot.

Got a lot to be thankful for your resume looks pretty cool at this particular time in your life but without the gift of God. Your resume will get you to heaven make any difference what you got on your resume, what people say about you how good you think you are, they think you are.

If you do not have the gift of God, which is eternal life, you will be denied at heaven's gates. The only way to get to heaven is through Christ. That's why we read in the Bible. I am the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the father except through me. So this young man came to Jesus, looking for some answers.

He was young. He was prominent he was rich he was aggressive and he assumed that that was enough nice about the meat someone like he's never met before. He's going to this man to get an answer and all of a sudden is going to discover that this man not only wants to give them the answer. This man is the answer and so the rich young human ruler is now meeting the rich young heavenly ruler. It's an outstanding moment in life. A moment where a man full of questions meets the answer these two men meeting that they represent the two ways open to all men today.

The rich young ruler had made this earth, and his possessions. The reason for living. He had everything that you could ever want. But he was empty, the rich young heavenly ruler had left all of his riches behind in order to come to this earth and do the will of his father, his whole life was about the future. The young human ruler had only his past and his presence. He had nothing going in the future at all. Two men standing face-to-face representing the Broadway and the Merrill way the way of life in the way of death. The way it works in the way of grace the way of man in the way of God in the beginning of the story.

This man was searching out Jesus for answers to his emptiness. Now Jesus is going to search out the heart of this young man for the truth about his life watched Jesus work as he talks with this young ruler first of all, he begins to search him for truth about Christ. In verse 18 Jesus said to him, why do you call me good, there's no one good but one, and that is God. Jesus wanted to see if this young man knew who he was talking to in essence he was saying to him, you can call me good if you don't call me God because there's only one good and that's God. If you call me good, you must think I'm God even though he did not acknowledge that Jesus was God in the flesh. He had come to the right person. Jesus then begins the search them out with regard to the commandments in verses 19 and 20. Jesus, as you know the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder. Do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother in Matthew's Gospel.

We are told that when Jesus said that this young man. You know the commandments. The young man asked Jesus what commandments are you talking about, and here Jesus cites five of the last six commandments not defraud. He leaves out.

He basically quotes them according to the Hebrew order. He moves the fifth commandment. Honor your father and mother to the end and he omits the last commandment you shall not covet the first four of the 10 Commandments is you don't have to do with our relationship with God the last six have to do with our relationships with each other. Jesus chose the least difficult section of the commandments to show this man his sin young man answered. I've kept all of these from my youth basically from my bar mitzvah I have not done any of these things these words could also be translated. I have avoided these sins, I have kept myself from doing these things from my youth.

The rich young ruler was more interested in avoiding sin that in doing good.

That's quite evident. William Barclay explains never did any story, so lay down the essential Christian truth that respectability is not enough. Jesus quoted the commandments which were the basis of the decent respectable life. Don't commit adultery.

Don't murder. Don't steal.

Don't defraud without hesitation. This man studied Them all now know one thing, with one exception. They were all negative commandments and affect. The man was saying I never in my life did harm to anyone.

That's usually an answer you get from somebody when you ask them where they are with God. Well, I'm a pretty good man. I don't do harm to anybody on steal my neighbor stuff and all that but of course the real question Jesus wants to get out is not what bad have you avoided but what good have you done in the question of this man was even more pointed, for it was with all your possessions with all your well with all that you could give away what positive good. Have you done for anybody.

How much of you going out of your way to help and comfort and strengthen others as you might have done respectability on the whole consistent not doing things Christianity in the whole consists of doing things, doesn't it. What we do as followers of Christ that was precisely where this man was, and so many of us where we are. We look at being acceptable to God on the basis of all the bad things we don't do and we never stopped to think that maybe there's something more to it than that. Now Jesus wasn't examining this man's works, so that he could determine whether he was fit for heaven. He was examining this man's works to help him understand that he wasn't fit for heaven because in his own mind. He probably thought that he had done enough with maybe one little exception any thought Jesus could fix that when he said he had kept all the commandments from his youth and not Jesus didn't correct him on the surface you see he was a very good man. His statement that he had kept the commandment since his youth would've meant that since the age of 13. He had practiced Judaism rigorously. He had superficial goodness and external respectability. He was a lot like the apostle Paul on the Damascus Road who recorded for us all of his pedigree that he had before he met Jesus so the Lord Jesus is asking him these questions to help him begin the scene where he really stands in his relationship with God morning you see was his God. That's pretty evident. So we already know he blew up the first commandment you shall have no other God before me, the first commandments. He'd already messed those up. Thankfully Christ and asking about the first four commandments.

He just settled on the last six because the most evident commandment that he was not keeping was he had put God before God and that God was his money.

He trusted his worship that he got his fulfillment from his morality and his good manners are just a front for a covetous heart and that's the reason Jesus asked him about the commandments because one of the purposes of the commandments is to show us our sin. Romans says by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

If we didn't know that God said this is right and this is wrong, we wouldn't know what's right and wrong, but this man is being confronted with the fact that, though he claims to have been a good person down underneath the exterior of his life was this broken heart that did not have any relationship with God at all. He was good at posturing, but he did not have reality. The Bible tells us that the law is a mirror that shows us who we are and you know this man always has intrigued me because I have known people like him personally. People rich in the things of this earth, but so empty in their own lives. I could tell you stories about people that I have met people that I have ministered to people I've talked to and interacted with friends who I played basketball with at the Y handball with at the Y they had everything but they didn't have anything and that this is what the stories about the two rich young ruler's the rich earthly ruler human ruler in the rich heavenly program will have more of this on Monday as we continue in search of the Savior. The study of the book of Mark, I hope you be with us on Monday and he let me tell you that the church is so important. I have been such a cheerleader for church and especially during colored.

19 were back in church and have been for some time, even though we had to have church outdoors a lot. Fortunately in California were able to do that, we had church on Saturday night and Sunday night and we brought back a lot of our people to church were now back more in the normal way in church and continue to realize how important it is that we gather together church is not online services church is gathering together this weekend if you can do whatever you have to do, get together with your people at church go to church, whatever that may look like where you are right now you go to church and be a part of the community of believers. That's the truth of the word of God best instruction of God's word will be there for you on television will be back here on Monday.

In the meantime, have a great weekend message you just heard originated from Shadow Mountain Community Church with Dr. David Jeremiah serves as senior pastor is not have Turning Point keeps you spiritually strong right to us at any point PO Box 3838, San Diego, CA 92163 or visit our website at David Jeremiah.old/radio ask you a copy of 'finding Jesus in every book in the five euros for gift of any amount to purchase the Jeremiah study Bible and the English standard version. The new international version and the new King James version filled with hopeful notes and articles by Dr. Jeremiah visit David Jeremiah.old/radio data. Gary hopefully join us Monday as we continue the series in search of the Savior is here attending point with Dr. David Jeremiah taking time to listen to frenzies increased in size and