All right, I hope everybody had a good yesterday evening, and this morning has been starting off on a good foot. Hope you had a good breakfast, and we see the weather starting to break, so I guess that's a good thing. In three and a half years of Christ's earthly ministry, He held thousands of conversations and counseled perhaps many hundreds of people. The Gospels records only a portion of those exchanges, indicating that those dialogues chosen for inclusion in the Bible are of particular importance to us. And we should pay close attention to these lessons that are for us. And one such conversation was recorded in Matthew, the 19th chapter, 16th verse. Open your Bibles there. Matthew 19, verses 16 through 26. Put your bow with me while we pray. Father, we come to you this morning as humble as we know how. Action, Lord, that you would touch and move this morning in the mighty way. We are inviting you to come in to this room and to our hearts on this morning and just have your way with us, Lord. I pray, Lord, that your word goes forth, Lord, and power, Lord, and I pray that you would touch every heart, mind, body, and soul under the sound of my voice. Lord, I pray that I would decrease while you increase. I ask that the words out of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. And I pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen. Matthew 19, 16 through 26, everybody there? Amen, amen, amen. Not all of us will be asked to sell everything that we have, but all of us are commanded to set aside any idol that may be present in our lives. We must all give up relying on our own efforts to earn salvation. And instead, we must embrace the grace that alone can redeem us from the curse of sin and death. Let me ask you this question. Do you depend absolutely on the Lord for your redemption? Are you totally trusting and dependent on God for your salvation? Well this morning I come to submit to you, my brothers, that it must be all or nothing. A.W. Tozer once said, Breezy, self-confident Christians tell us how wonderful it is to accept Christ and then have a good time and rest all your life. The Lord won't demand anything of you. Told us says, yes, my friend, he will. The Lord will demand everything from you and When you give it all up to him, he may bless it and hand it back, or on the other hand, he may not. Let's walk through this text together here this morning, if you will. And it reads, now behold, one came and said to him, good teacher, What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? So he said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good but the one that is God, but one, and that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. He said to him, which ones? Jesus said, you shall not murder, shall not commit adultery, shall not steal, You should not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The young man said to him, all these things I have kept for my youth, what do I still lack? Jesus said to him, if you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. and come follow me. But the young man heard that saying, and he went away sorrowful. For he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to his disciples, Assuredly, I say to you, that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say to you, 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 when his sight was heard, they were greatly astonished, saying, who then can be saved? But Jesus looked at them, and he said, with men, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. Again, I tell you my brothers this morning that it must be all or nothing. Verse 16, that says, now behold, one came and said to him, good teacher, what things shall I do that I may have eternal life? The Bible says that one came to him, asking him a question. Let's see if we can find out who the text is talking about here. Matthew says in verse 20 that this was a young man, the one who came, that this was a rich man and he was a ruler as well. Luke says that he was a ruler and again in Mark we find that this man was a ruler. This implies that this man had money, he had position, he had some power if he was ruling over folks. Now we know a little bit about this man, so let's keep on and see if we can find out what happens. It says that this man had a question. He was searching for something. He had a desire and he had a need for something. He said, good teacher, what good thing should I do that I may have eternal life? Well, at this point, to me it seems as if it's a pretty good question to ask. I mean, I don't really see a whole lot wrong with, you know, asking what do I, what I gotta do to be saved? What I gotta do to have eternal life? So, this tells me something about this man. He did have a belief in heaven and hell. And it seems that he did have a desire to get into heaven. The problem I have is, he didn't show that humble faith that characterizes all who belong to the kingdom. Jesus had just stated a few verses earlier, prior to this one, that the kingdom of heaven was like little children, or to put it another way, like having childlike faith. Oh, this young man sounds like some of us right here. He's trying to earn his way into heaven. We want to get to heaven, and that's a good thing. But oftentimes, we don't want to do what's required in order for us to get there. Brothers, let me inform you this right now before we move on. Knowing is only half the battle. Knowing is only half the battle. We've all heard that over and over again, but there's a lot of truth to that. You can know something, but just knowing ain't gonna get you nowhere. Verse 17 says, so he said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good, but one, and that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. Okay, that's something right there. Jesus first answered this question with a question. He said, why do you call me good? No one is good, but one, that is God. Why did Jesus do that? I believe there was a lesson in place right here. I believe it was to teach this man, as well as all of us, a very important lesson. Matthew Henry puts it this way. He says, Christ will have this young man either to know him to be God or not call him good. But to teach us to transfer to God all the praise that is at any time given to us. Do anybody ever call you good? Have they called you good? Have they said you was a good person? Have anybody ever said, you're a good man. You're a really good man. Well, the lesson Jesus is trying to teach here and trying to show here is this. When somebody does that to us, we need to tell them that all goodness is from God. And therefore, Not to us, but to give Him the glory. Don't glorify us, because we ain't nothing. All crowns must lie before God's throne, not our throne. James puts it another way in chapter 1, verse 17. James says that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. It comes down from the Father of lights. with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. You know, Jesus didn't leave it there though. He didn't just leave it right there. He didn't just stop right there and leave the man hanging out on the cliff. He did go on to answer his questions. And by extension, answer our question as well. If we have been pondering or asking God, what else can I do or what else I must do to get out of my situation, to follow you, to get to heaven, what else should I do or what shall I do? Jesus answers this question. And he says, To enter into life, if you wanna enter into life, this is what you gotta do. You gotta keep the commandments. So this young fella asks, he say, okay, well, keep the commandments, that's a good thing. Which ones? Which ones? What commandments do you want me to keep? What do I gotta do? Verse 18 and 19 says, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness. honor your father and your mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus lists the six, seven, eight, ninth, and fifth commandments in that order. And then he adds, love your neighbor as yourself, out of Leviticus 19, 18. This man was feeling pretty good about himself right about now. I can just see, I can just see him right now. Can you see him? Yeah, I know, I've been doing these things right here. I've been keeping these commands. I got these in order. I got this locked right now. I got it all down. I got it in order because these commands that you just said, I've been doing these for my youth. It's apparent that something was missing here. It's apparent that he was lacking something right here. Because if that is the case with this young man, this rich young ruler, if you've been doing all of these things, why still are you asking the question, what do you still lack? What do I need to do? What good thing do I need to do? Have you ever felt like no matter what you do isn't good enough? Do you know why we feel this way? Well, I'm glad you asked, because I'm going to tell you. Paul says it like this in Romans, chapter 3, verse 10. He says, as it is written, there is none righteous. What's the rest of it? None. Not one. So all of us jacked up. Ain't none of us good, right? All of us messed up. So if we think we good in and of ourselves or is there something that we can do of our own power or for ourself in order to get to heaven or even get out of the mess that you're in, Paul says ain't none righteous. You jacked up like the rest of us. We all messed up. This is what Jesus was trying to show this young man. I would say that this young man knew this. He knew it on the inside because he wouldn't have asked what else could he have, what else did he have to do? So God's moral law was also in this man. So he knew he was jacked up or he wouldn't have asked the question. He knew he was lacking something. But, this young fella is still pumped to dig a little bit deeper. And he still asks that question. Here it is again. What do I steal back? And we getting down to the nitty gritty right now. We getting down to the meat, down to the heart of the matter. You know, You know, God's something else. He ain't got no problem with showing us where we at. You ever notice that? He ain't got no problem with putting us in our place, showing us what really lies in our heart. He don't have any problem with that. You see, he knows how to bring us to the end of ourself. He knows how to put us in a place where only he can get us out of. He knows, he knows how to do that. And boy, we need to stay tuned here because what's about to happen, this is about to happen to this young fellow right here. God about to put him, show him right where he's at. He says in verse 21, he says, if you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. and come follow me. That's something right there, right? Now remember, we're talking about a young whippersnapper that has status, he's a ruler, he has position, he got change in his pocket, he's doing all right for himself. You know, and it would seem he really, you know, by the world standards, he don't have a care in the world. He doing all right. He ain't got to go herd no sheep or nothing like that, right? By the world standards, he doing all right. Boy, I wish somebody would say else to that verse right there, because have you ever been knocked off your high horse? Have you ever put yourself way up here on the pedestal and somebody had to knock you down? See, for some of us, we may be in that place right now. See, some of us, we may be right where we at because when we was in our prior position or predicament, our head got a little bit too big and we had to get chopped down, brought down a little bit, in order to show us our depravity, show us our need for a savior, show us that, hey man, you ain't all you cracked up people. Well, this young fella, he got his bluff called. He got put on Front Street, he got called out, all of those euphemisms you wanna say. It happened to him at this point here. See, there's something else, eh? He has a way of saying things in a way that just, I can't believe he just said that. You need that to be, oh, that's true. But that's how he operates, I like that, I like that. such a blessing that Jesus walked this earth and he was a man in the flesh. He was God in the flesh and he experienced all the same things we did. That's the beauty of it, you know what I mean? So he knows how to really push those buttons. Okay, let's keep moving here. Let's keep moving here. He says, if you want to be perfect, you want to be complete, This is what you gotta do. Jesus hits this man right in his pocket book. He hit him right where it hurt. And all of a sudden, all that zeal and that joy he first had disappears. I mean, remember, he come running to Jesus. Oh, good teacher, you're so good, you know. What else I gotta do? Now all of a sudden, that zeal that he had, it has disappeared. Brothers, one thing I must inform you is God is going to require us to radically amputate whatever it is that's causing us to stumble. And that's not something we can do on our own. You see, we aren't going to have to totally lean on Jesus in order for this to happen. We find this young man at the crossroad of his life. See, some of you may be at a crossroad in your life right now. It may not be about money, but it may be something else that's going on in your life. And see, now Jesus has brought you to the point where now it's time for you, either you're going to have to erratically have to amputate something, or you're going to deny him and do your wrong thing. The same thing that got you in that thing. You see, this man got a choice he gotta make and we, some of us, we may have a choice that we might have to make. I would encourage you this morning that you choose rightly. I would encourage you to examine the choice that you are about to make in your life. Ask yourself, are you all in with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? It requires all or nothing. We are not to be sitting on the fence. We're not to be trying to play both sides. Jesus calls us to follow him at all costs. What is it that you are holding on to that's causing you not to follow him? I would encourage you that whatever it is, you must give it to God. What did they say in that movie Frozen? What was that song? Let it go, let it go. That's what we gotta do. We gotta let it go. We gotta let it go. We gotta follow him at all costs, guys. It's gotta be all or nothing. Let's get back to our text here. What happens next? Verse 22. When the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had Well, I would say that this young man had been brought very low. We have realized that and seen that through the text, through these verses. This verse has revealed that he was sorrowful. He got his feelings hurt. He got stepped on. Why? We already know he had money. He had great possessions. The problem is, he didn't want to let none of it go, right? That's the big lesson right there. That's what we've been saying this whole time. What is it that we're holding on to? What is it that we don't want to let go? I mean, in this passage of scripture here, they're talking about money. This young man had money, but he had great possessions, too. You know, it was said that our hearts are an idol-making factory, an idol-making machine. What is an idol? What is an idol? Huh? Good question. Yes, the statues in Vilcatar, they have different statues that they call that. Something you worship, right? Something you worship. That's an item. So if it's something you worship, it could be anything, right? So it could be money, it could be possessions, cars, clothes, it could be people. all these things. The lesson that he's trying to teach, that God is trying to teach us here is anything that we're putting before God, anything that we're not willing to let go and radically amputate, anything, whatever it is, you're not going to gain eternal life. You're not going to get in. Anything that we don't want to let go. You know, if we're talking about possessions and all these other things, when we die, one thing for sure, two things for certain, we gonna die. Can any of that stuff go with us? Not nothing, right? And remember this man is trying to get to heaven. He's trying to gain eternal life. Matthew says later on that for what profit is it to man, what's the rest of it? To gain the whole world and lose his soul. I like the second part of that verse. We don't often quote that second part of that verse much. The second part of that verse says, well, what will man give in exchange for his soul? That's something to think about. That's something to think about. What will you give in exchange for your soul? We may say, well, I won't give nothing in exchange for my soul. Well, according to Jesus, If you ain't letting things go, if you ain't getting all in and letting those idols go, that's exactly what you're doing. You are exchanging your idol, whatever it is that you're worshiping or putting before God, you are exchanging that for your soul. We know the body gonna die, but we gonna live forever. Question is, where we gonna live at? You're either going to live eternity in heaven or you're going to live eternity in hell. Let's finish this up because I'm out of time. Verses 23 through 26 says, Then Jesus said to his disciples, Assuredly I say to you that it is hard It's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of an eagle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. You know what, let me stop right there for a minute because we read that verse and in that context right here, In this conversation that he's having with his disciples and with this young ruler, we see the word rich and think of, you know, it's talking about people that got a lot of money and a lot of possessions. And yes, that is true. But what I want you to know is this is not just referring to money either. You know what I mean? This is not just referring to just money. This could be referring to you being rich in greed, or rich in lust, or rich in whatever it is that you're holding on to, not willing to let go, you know what I mean, to follow Christ. This is referring to any of these things. So don't just, don't take, you know, a lot of people take this verse and they start looking at rich people, you know, the wrong way. You know, oh, you know, you, that's not, that's not, that's not the case here. That's, that's not what Jesus is trying to get at. You know, I mean, you know, they say, yeah, more money, more problems. You know what I mean? But God uses a lot of rich people. There's a lot of rich, godly people. you know what I mean, that's willing to sacrifice all that they have in order to follow Christ. So we just can't look at it that way and try to use that verse to bash somebody who's well off or got more than what we have. Now what Jesus is saying here is, just like he says, it's harder for a camel to enter the eye through a needle, he's saying here is when you start to accumulate things or have things that you're putting in front of him, or have a lot of money, it makes it more difficult. It makes things more difficult for you to serve and honor Christ, you know what I mean? And you don't have to be rich in order for that to happen. That could be your life just cluttered with stuff. You know what I mean? Just stuff. Things you are involved in. Things that's just cluttering your mind and taking over your heart and stopping and hindering you from just saying, you know what, I'm done with that crisis, you and you alone. So anything, you know, you can fill in the blank, but whatever that hindrance is in your life, you just put it right there in the blank. And then what we need to do, once we recognize that we may have this in us, now we have to be willing to give this thing to God, put it all in His hands, and just surrender it all to Him and say, okay, I can't do it, Lord. I need you to do it for me. And when you get it, don't believe that he's going to do it, but take initiative and steps to radically amputate it. TV, TV could be a night on yours that you're holding on to. And TV is keeping you from getting in the word of God, reading, praying, spending time alone with God. You want to watch TV so much, you're neglecting your family. You ain't going to church. Well, you may finally come to the realization of that. And once God brings that to your attention, you know, through these verses here, now there's some steps that you got to take in the process as well. You know you don't have it in your power, your own power to just stop it. So what does it mean to radically amputate? What did Jesus say if you look on somebody with a lung? What did he say? He said, pluck the eye out. That's what he's talking about when he says radically amputate. Is he talking about you don't take a knife and just pluck your eye out? No, what he's saying is we have to take drastic measures. You may have to get rid of your TV. You may have to, you know, get rid of the TV and get rid of cable. You know what I mean? This is what he's talking about. You still have to take some steps, and as you take the steps you have to take, God, by the Holy Spirit, is going to deliver you from that thing. Anything you're putting before him. You just gotta, you know, get humble and get real with God. Get real with self and get real with God and say, hey, man, you know, look, yeah, I'm jacked up, and I can't fix it, but I'm willing. I'm willing. I'll just read these last few verses and let you guys get back to it. Now, when his disciples heard this here, verse 25 said that they was astonished. They couldn't believe it. They say, well, who then could be saved? This is impossible. Ain't no way this could happen. Can't nobody be saved if this is what you're saying? What person could be saved? Jesus answered them. He looked at him and he said, put me in. This is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. So we may be in a state where we are putting idols before God. We may be in a place right now that We know we can't get out of, and we're kind of just letting it linger on and just living in it, you know. Jesus tells us, yeah, I know it too. You jacked up, you messed up. I know these things too. And no, you cannot do it. What Jesus is asking us to do is come to the realization that you can't do it alone, you can't do it yourself. He's asking us to come to the realization that we gotta come to him and ask him to take control, to take over, to take this thing, work this thing out for us. He's asking you to put it all in his hand, not to worry about it no more once you give it to him, but you have to be willing and humble enough to come to him and give it to him. That's what he's trying to show us here. Because with God, all things are possible. I mean, we have seen the many, many miracles that Jesus performed. We have seen the many, many miracles that all the apostles performed. We have seen the impossible become possible with God. And some of us are some impossible individuals. But if God could do it for me, for the most impossible man, God can do it for anybody else. You just gotta be willing. Amen? Let us pray. Father, we thank you for the time that you gave us this morning. We thank you, Lord, that you showed us your truth through your word, Lord. And I pray, Lord, that this word penetrates the hearts of myself, penetrates the hearts of everybody above the sound of my voice, Lord. I pray, Lord, as we leave this place, we examine our lives. We look to see if there's anything that we are putting before you. And I pray, Lord, that we would radically amputate these things with your help, Lord. And I pray that you deliver us from these things, Lord. Oh, Lord, we know that we cannot do anything to get into heaven except for trusting you, Lord, and give our lives over to you. And we ask, Lord, we ask right now in the mighty name of Jesus, That you would humble us if we needed to be humbled. We ask so. You would change our hearts right now in the mighty name of Jesus. I pray all these things in your name. Amen. Amen. All right, you guys have a great day.