Welcome to the pulpit ministry of Christ Community Church in South Florida, aiming to make mature and multiply disciples by preaching and teaching God's word based on the sufficiency of scripture. And now let's join Pastor Bernie Diaz for the message. You know, I came across a story about a man in South Africa this week. Years ago, he went to a church and he heard the gospel. and God touched him and convicted him of sin, and he turned and trusted in Christ, and he was saved. And the next morning, he went to the beautiful home of a guy he knew, and he said to him, do you recognize this old watch? And he said, why, yes. The other guy answered. He said, those are my initials. That's my watch. I lost it years ago. And eight years ago. How'd you get it? And that you have it, he asked. And the man replied, I stole it. And he said, what made you bring it back now? He said, well, I was converted last night. I was saved. And I brought it back to you first thing this morning. And if you'd been up, I would have brought it to you last night. What is that picture, that little exchange? It means, people, when somebody goes from death to life, gospel information should lead to life transformation, conversion. I mean immediately in cases like this. I mean our text, this message today, is going to picture that, and in the consequence of not doing that, reacting the right way. And it's pictured here as few scriptures do. So what we're going to see today is actually what I would call the problem of morality. The problem of morality, and the first thing that you might ask yourself is, how is morality a problem? Don't we need more of that in our country? We're having so many conversations about that this morning before we started church, about the state of our country and our world. Isn't morality a good thing? It depends on whose morality you're talking about. The scribes and the Pharisees in the time of Jesus were very, very moral people. They were bastions of citizens of moral values and ethics at the time. Jesus exposed them as hypocrites. So, who defines morality? And is that what it takes, just morality, to become a follower of Jesus Christ? Let's pray again. Father, this is the most important of all weeks in history, I believe. Lord, this is Holy Week, and Lord, this message indirectly ties in. to this week, Lord, what it takes to truly understand this week and all of its implications. So I pray you'll open up the eyes of our heart that we would see the wondrous truth that's in this scripture, Lord God. You would give us eyes to see and ears to hear it, Lord. Help us now with our hearing, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. So here what you have is a very familiar, critically important illustrative story of salvation and the kingdom that helps us answer this question of morality, to deal with it. And it runs as one unit of thought, actually, from verse 17 all the way to verse 31. So we could break this up in two or three different parts or messages, but we're just going to break it down into two. And in this one today, we're going to unpack this event, this meeting that you're going to see in three different questions. I think here there's a question of ethics, There's a question of law, and then we're going to look at a question of repentance. And I want to start with this question of ethics that starts in the text in verse 17. Jesus is setting out on his journey. A man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Where is this happening? They're in this little coastal town, Perea, which is just east of the Jordan, because the group is on their way, making their way from Galilee to Jerusalem for what is Holy Week, what we're celebrating this week. And this guy just runs up to Jesus and bows down before Him. Who is this guy? Because he looks like a real seeker of salvation, right? I mean, if you take this account from all three of the synoptic Gospels, that's what we call Matthew, Mark, and Luke, a synopsis of Jesus's life, you put them together, you find this guy was young, he was rich, and he was a ruler. In your Bible, the heading might be over the chapter, rich young ruler, or rich young man. And he likely wasn't a ruler in the sense that you're thinking of an elected or political official leader, no. He was probably a ruler from the local synagogue there, which was unusual because he was young. That normally wouldn't be the case, except for this. He was really rich, which made him a man of influence in Perea. And he asks the question that every Christian evangelist, including you and I, every pastor longs to hear, The same question the lawyer in the parable of the Good Samaritan asked the same question which is eternal salvation. What must I do to be saved? How do I inherit eternal life? I'm a pastor and I'm prepared to answer this question. I never get this question from people. It really bums me. And yeah, I was talking about this because my youngest daughter is a teacher and she was at a school and she was meeting and they were in the lunchroom and the break room and someone essentially kind of asked her this question in so many words. I was like, gosh, I never get that. I mean, and just the word inherit from the original Greek language here has the idea of receiving something. So the question is, what do I do to receive eternal life or the kingdom? Because for a Jew that was synonymous They understood that the kingdom, eternal life, was the life of God, being with God forever. And in fact, in Daniel 12, that prophet wrote, many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth, meaning people who die, shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. And so this rich young man, mind you, he runs to ask the right question of the right person, at the right time. And that sounds good, right? One thing, he didn't refer to Jesus as the Son of God. Maybe he just had a superficial idea of who Christ is. That's telling, maybe. But there's two words here that are key to understanding this text and this man like so many of our lost friends and family, loved ones. And let's face it, I think the big majority of this country, a massive chunk of it, which are moral relativists. And the two words are this. He said, what must I do? I do. The Philippian jailer in Acts 16 asked Paul and Silas, same question, same way. What must I do to be saved? Right? That's an action phrase. Why do we always get this idea that we have to do something? To be saved, I have to do something, right? What do I say? What do I pray? What do I pay? Which would certainly have something to do with this guy. I want to get in the kingdom, Jesus. Who do I write my check out to? Isn't there a sinner's prayer, by the way, that unlocks the door to the kingdom? Evangelicalism in the 1980s and 90s taught that, seemed to teach that. Right? The famous altar call. Right? You hear a message, maybe the gospel, and then right away you pray a prayer, sign a card, get baptized, right away you think I'm in the kingdom. Why? Because I did all the stuff you guys told me to do. Right? Easy beliefism. Easy beliefism. Three steps and you're in. And here with this guy, it's the ever popular good works gospel of religious rules and rituals, which is the go-to plan, by the way, for the cults, for the religious systems of the world. You do this, you do this, do this, do this, do that, and you have secured your salvation. You can climb your way up to God or to paradise. It's a worldly way of thinking. which we hear a lot, you know, you do good and you get good. So it's that sowing and reaping kind of thing at a certain level, but that's not the case for salvation. Why? Verse 18, Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You say, whoa, why would the Lord Jesus tell this man he's not good and no one's good but God? Isn't Jesus God? The Bible tells us Christ is perfectly good and righteous. He had to be in order to fulfill righteousness to be our Lord and Savior. He said, I and my Father are one. God's good. So is this statement a problem for us? It might be for some. It shouldn't be, really. Because our Lord isn't telling us that He is a sinner or less than God here. I think the Lord may be saying three different things in that statement. Number one is this, Jesus could be saying, if this man only knew who I was, He wouldn't even make that statement. He wouldn't call me good like some relatively good guy or teacher. He is God incarnate. Jesus is deflecting any glory that might come to Him that is due to God, His Father. Jesus was always saying, the works I do are to glorify, make much of, reflect my Father. And I think thirdly, we understand here Jesus is talking as the second Adam, Romans 5. He is a man standing in front of a rich young man, and He's talking about mankind. He's talking in this meeting, man to man. So the Lord is speaking of humanity. Flesh is not good. He's saying exactly what Paul laid out in Romans chapter 3 when he quoted the Old Testament there. And we go to this passage often when we talk about the unredeemed state of man, where it says in the middle of verse 10, none is righteous, no not one, all have turned aside, together they have become worthless, no one does good, not even one. In verse 18 there, There is no fear of God before their eyes." So, what is he saying? No one is really good in the sense of that word, the original language, it's something or someone that's inherently in their nature good, in quality. And with it is the idea of good that is, it's useful, it benefits others, it's benevolent, And when you put all that together, that's only God, who by nature is good. The Psalms tell us that, amongst many other places. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. The Lord is good to all. And in contrast to that, remember the last time we were talking about the gospel, we talk about take five to give five, and we talked about man, and that his heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. So we're unable to save ourselves. Unable to save ourselves. We can't do anything to be right with God because we're not really good in the God sense. He's perfectly holy and righteous and we're not. But the problem is we look at that subjectively, comparatively, that word. And God can't even look upon sin. So we think we're good and we're full of sin, so Houston, we have a problem, right? Our problem is we have a terminal disease called sin, and you and I, within us, do not have the cure for it. And this disease is 100% fatal. It kills. So this man Most people you know need to hear this. You need to get the bad news before you can get the good news that we call the gospel. And the only way this passage makes any sense is by objectively comparing yourself to God, not your neighbor, not your friend, not anyone in this building. You have to look at yourself in comparison to God's perfect standard. Not with each other, because if you do, that's moral relativism, and that's the problem that so many of us have. But when we look at ourselves before God, what does Isaiah tell us? Our righteousness is as filthy rags before God. Jesus knows that. He knows hearts, minds, and He masterfully goes to the law here, which is the second thing I want to show you, and that's the question of the law. It's a question of law in verses 19 and 20. He says, you know the commandments, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. So he says, Jesus says, no one's good. Why do you call me good? Now I'm going to show you what good is. He starts to give them the law. Or when I preach this passage actually from Luke 18, 10 years ago, I called it the Way of the Master. And that's what Jesus is giving us here. You've heard of that powerful evangelistic tool Ray Comfort is known for, the Way of the Master. It comes largely from here. And we're talking about the Law of Moses. We're talking about the Ten Commandments. And Jesus, by the way, said in the Sermon on the Mount, He didn't come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, to bring it to completion. And the Ten Commandments today for us is true moral law that reflects God's heart, reflects His character, and so that still binds us to the Ten Commandments morally for all time. It's a guide. And so the Lord here brings out what's called the second table or the second tablet of the law. It's the second half. It refers to the horizontal relational commandments that have to do with how we relate to one another. Because the first table is about the vertical relationship that we have to God. And Jesus even paraphrases one of the commands here by coveting. He's talking about coveting when He says, do not defraud, do not rob, don't cheat anyone. And He probably had this young man in mind. And the Lord isn't trying to teach us, by the way, that law-keeping earns salvation. I want you to understand that. You have to. It's the opposite. We can't keep the law because we're not good, we're incapable. Paul writes in Galatians that no one is justified, that means declared right, by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, which leads to a good question. So why do we even have the law on the New Covenant? Can't keep it. I think in large part it's to show us how bad we need Christ and the grace of God to be saved, precisely because we can't keep it. Paul wrote in Romans that by the law is the knowledge of sin. You know what sin is because you have the law to contrast it to, right? That's why the New Testament also teaches the law is a mirror and it's a schoolmaster. Or your translation might say a tutor, a teacher. Because it teaches us how lost and how needy we are, and how helpless we are to obey the law. James tells us in his book, if we have broken one law, we've broken the whole law. And that's why we need that childlike faith we talked about last time. And so he said to him, Jesus, actually the rich man said to him, teacher, in verse 20, all these I have kept from my youth. All these, this guy actually thinks he's perfectly obeyed the law of God, which means he's either lying, which means he's broken another commandment, and or he's telling the Lord Rabbi, you know, I was a good little boy and I'm a good rich guy now. So what am I missing? I mean, can't you just check off my boxes? I mean, the sins of pride and self-righteousness are dripping all over this. The root of every sin, so we're reminded of this, the root of every sin at some level or another is pride, self, right? My thoughts, my desires, my way, or the highway. That's the problem of morality in and of itself, because morality today especially is subjective. It's my standards compared to yours. And what does moral relativism say? I'm better than most people and I'm good most of the time. So God should cut me some slack, maybe 51% of the time. Maybe that's what gets you in the kingdom, right? A lot of unbelievers will say that. And by the way, over 60% of all Americans, according to the George Barna polls, say if a person is good enough or does enough good things for other people, they will earn their way into heaven. And get this, one third of born-again Christians said that in the same poll, which is tragic and tells me they're not born again, if they think that. That's the idea. that my good works outweigh my bad works. So if you're a good God, then shouldn't that get me into the kingdom? Nope. Which leads to our final point, our final question, because we're talking about a question of repentance in verses 21 and 22. And Jesus said, looking at him, he loved him. That's the agape, unconditional love of God. Sacrificial love of God. And he said to him, you lack one thing. Go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. This is not, again, this is not a call to pay your way into heaven. If you hear that at first glance, oh, OK. I just sell all I got and I'm in. That's works righteousness for salvation. We know that's not true. Ephesians 2 tells us we're saved by what? Grace through faith, not of works. It's a gift of God so that no one should boast. So it can't be that. So to paraphrase the Lord, the Lord's basically saying, look, there's one thing you haven't done. Give up what matters most to you and follow me. It's like Luther the Reformer said of religion, that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing is worth nothing. This is a way, folks, listen, in which our Lord is calling the rich young ruler to repent in. Repent in. Again, that word comes up. It has to. We're talking gospel. That word That doctrine, that concept, is still too often misunderstood in the church. Therefore, it's neglected, even though it is essential to being saved, to become a Christian, to be a follower of Jesus. Where there is no repentance and faith, there is no salvation. And in preaching to the Jews, just after Jesus had even ascended to heaven, this is post-resurrection, Peter gave them a message, it says, that cut them to the heart, because he told them they were responsible for crucifying Christ, and he said, what? Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out. And blotted out means removed, which is another word for forgiven. This is essential, okay? It continues, Paul in Athens, same book of Acts. Luke quotes Paul in his message saying, God commands all people everywhere to repent because he's fixed the day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And we know who this man is because he says, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. So you want to go to heaven? You say you want to go to heaven? Repent and believe or trust in Jesus by faith. What does it mean to repent? We got to get this right in Christianity 101. The Greek word metanoia is where we get the English word repent. The simplest way to literally translate it is this. It's a change of mind that results in a change of life. Let me just say that again. If you're taking note, that'd be good to do. Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of life. The most common Hebrew word for repentance is a change of mind and heart in another word. It's mostly translated in English as turn or return. I'll give you a picture. Imagine repentance is this. You're walking in one direction, And then you realize, you stop and say, I'm going the wrong way. I'm in the wrong direction. This is wrong. And you make a decision, a commitment to turn around and walk in the way that you should be going. That's repentance, what it looks like. It's a simple process, really. You realize, you stop, you turn. But you have to know what you're turning from and turning to. So it's a change of mind. I'm going to give you three things to change your mind about. Here you go, one at a time. Number one, you have to change your mind about yourself. I, again, this goes to what Jesus told the rich young ruler, you have to tell yourself when you come to Christ, I am not fundamentally a good person. I am not the center of the universe. I am not the king or even of my own life or the world." You have to know who you are before Christ, before you come to Christ, as you come to Christ. Jesus said in the Gospels, He did not come to save sinners. He didn't come to save the righteous, I should say, but sinners, and He means the self-righteous. Here's the second thing you have to change your mind about, first yourself, then about sin. Someone that wants to inherit the kingdom has to say, I'm responsible for my actions. My past hurts don't excuse my past offenses or my present offenses and failings. My sins are a big deal because they're a big deal to God. I don't live like I should. I don't think or feel as I should. That's what you might call godly sorrow over sin. Begins with confession. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5 that godly sorrow leads to repentance. He contrasts that there with worldly sorrow. Judas has had worldly sorrow. That means, oops, I feel guilty because I got caught in my sin. We're talking about sorrow over who you are before God. So you have to change your mind about yourself and sin. when you're repenting, and then lastly, you change your mind about God. He is just and only He is righteous. His Word is sure. Only He is able to forgive me and save me. I believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, what He did for me, who He is. I own my life and my loyalty. He is my King. He wants what's best for me. And I'm going to follow Him no matter the cost. Then you can change as God works in you in salvation to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Philippians 2. Now, rather than using that word here, what Jesus chose to do in this text is tell the rich young man to demonstrate repentant faith. Show me that you're willing to repent. Show me your faith. Or, in the words of last month's or two, memory verse, what does it say in chapter eight in the middle of verse 34? If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his what? Cross and follow me, for whoever, whosoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the kingdom's will save it. This is repentance. Jesus is saying in these synonymous concepts, prove your repentance to me. Show me. For many of us, money is not our idol. We're not the rich young ruler. It might not be our little God. It might be our family. It might be our kids. It might be our relationships. It might be your job. It might be a comfortable, convenient lifestyle. And we know what the Lord has said about all that, right? You may need to hear the words of Luke chapter 14 again, where the Lord said in that gospel, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife, children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life cannot be my disciple. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce, that means give up, willing to give up all that he has cannot be my disciple. And we already explained that when we were in Mark 8 in some specificity when it's talking about hating father, mother, sister, brother. It's a preferential love in relationship. You're not literally to hate your family, right? The Ten Commandments say we're to honor our parents. We are to love our neighbors ourselves, which certainly includes our family. It means that you love someone more. There's a higher priority in your life. The question for us has to be what or who do we love the most? That's what Jesus is asking the rich young man. What do you value the most? Because he knew what made this guy tick. He knew what he valued. Good way to look at that too, this concept, a little parable the Lord told in Matthew's gospel. He said this, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up, and then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. You get that? God's okay with treasure. The big idea is this, where is your greatest treasure? Or what do you give the greatest value to? What are you willing to give up for the greatest value? Is it the kingdom of God or the kingdom of man? If it's God's, you're going to give up everything that you hold as treasure for the greater, the best treasure, which is Christ. That's what you have in the middle of verse 21 of our text, when he says, sell that you have, give to the poor, then you'll have treasure in heaven. and come and follow me." So, being in Christ, being with Christ, is the greater treasure than the money. But this guy doesn't see that. In fact, that word for treasure in the Greek is really interesting. It refers to a receptacle or a box that you would put your valuables in, and it's the Greek word we transliterate it as thesaurus in English, which is a receptacle, a box, if you will, for synonyms. for words that have same meaning. And what that's referring to is the kingdom, rewards. So what we're talking about is investment. We're talking value. Are you familiar, those of you that know investing, ROI, return on investment? Another acrostic to take home with you today. That's old. I didn't make that up. But it's true. Jesus is challenging this man. All right. Where's your return on investment? Where's it going to be? And we're going to talk more about that next time in this passage. But the rich young ruler is just a picture of all this. He's a picture of the cost of discipleship that relatively few people can and will pay, which is the price of repentance. Jesus really could have summed it all up here simply as he did in the Great Commandment when he's talking about the law, like he told a good Samaritan basically just Love God, love people. That would have said it all, but this young guy doesn't see that he's actually broken the first commandment, which is not committing idolatry. You shall have no other gods before me. This man's God was his stuff. You got that? And tragically, then you see the result in verse 22 at the end of the passage. Disheartened by the saying, he, the rich young man, went away sorrowful. for he had great possessions. According to Luke, it says he became very sad for he was extremely rich. And I'm not talking a little rich, probably. This guy might have been Elon Musk rich. Who knows? A couple of our modern translations tell us the man's face fell. Just really, really sad. Because the way he left, he just walked away. In fact, maybe he even ran away because he had run to Christ. He felt like he was grieving. It says grieving here. Deep sorrow. Felt like he was missing something in walking away from Jesus. Worldly sorrow, maybe over his own sin. Maybe. But it wasn't the godly sorrow that leads to repentance. I think he seems sorrowful because he's chosen luxury over eternal life. And no wonder a lot of people think this is one of the saddest verses in all the Bible, verse 22. It's one of the most vivid in displaying, laying out the reality of mankind when we are presented with God's free gift of salvation. Our unredeemed nature just doesn't want the gift. If I can't earn it, I don't want it. Which makes no sense, because how often do you work for a gift? Right? But he would not pay the price of discipleship. He counted the cost, and for him, it was too high. Sell everything I have? Be willing to give up everything I have that I've worked so hard for? Really? As an idolater, he loved his life more than the Lord, and his wealth more than salvation, more than the kingdom of light, because he could keep his stuff in the kingdom of darkness. And that's why the Lord said what he said in verse 23, Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. And we find people like that, don't we, from time to time? I mean, Jesus talked about them in the parable of the sower. Let me show you real quick what it says about Matthew 13 and the parable of the sower about this kind of person. You know, the seed that the sower, which is anyone that could cast or throw it into the soil, the soil represents the heart, the seed is the gospel, the truth. And this is what Jesus says there, Matthew 13, seven, other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them. choked the seed." What does that mean? Now, he explained it, this parable, to his disciples in verse 22. And he says, as far as what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful. The seed is the word, is the gospel of Christ, and it can't take root in the heart for people because of the hold, the addiction that some of them have to the world and its riches, money and stuff. It's not surprising to me the rich young ruler was sorrowful. John Jacob Astor was one of the richest men in the world in the 20th century, and he said, I am the most miserable man on earth. And you hear that in the hearts of billionaires after billionaires, millionaires after millionaires. Now I should say this, in closing, are we saying absolutely that a rich person cannot be saved? Not a Christian? No, I'm not saying that at all. That can't be the case because we have the heroes of the faith that were well-to-do. Job and Abraham and Solomon, other New Testament believers over church history, so it's not that. What it means is this, it's hard, really, really hard to be saved because wealth is such a strong idol of worship for some people. which is what Paul told Timothy in his first letter, 1 Timothy chapter six. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare or a trap, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. And then of course, the familiar phrase, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. And it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith There's the parable of the seed and the sower. And they've pierced themselves with many pangs. Now, remember what I didn't say and what I did just say in quoting that passage. It's not that money is evil. The love of money is what is evil. So my final question, after the three we've posed, is who do you love the most? And I'll just close on that thought with a little story, and then we'll pray. There's a legend that has it that there was a wealthy merchant traveling through the Mediterranean world, and he was looking for this distinguished Pharisee, Saul, who became Paul, and he encountered Timothy, who arranged the visit. And Paul was at that time, he was a prisoner in Rome, and stepping inside the cell, the merchant was surprised that he found this rather old man, physically frail, but he had a serenity and a magnetism about him that challenged this visitor, this guy. And they talked for hours, and finally the merchant left with Paul's blessing. And outside the prison, the concerned man asked, what is the secret of that man's power? I've never seen anything like it before. And Timothy asked him, did you not guess? And Timothy just replied, Paul is in love. And the merchant looked surprised. He said, in love? Yeah. The missionary answered, Paul is in love with Jesus Christ. And the merchant then looked even more bewildered and said, is that all? And smiling, Timothy replied, that is everything. Is it for you? Are you in love with Jesus Christ today? And if not, why not? Is it because you don't know Him? You know of Him, but you don't know Him relationally because you haven't repented and believed. Our life as Christians is about repentance, folks. We are repenters. And Jesus is everything if you've repented. So let's pray. Father, we repent of making you out to be more like us. And so we ask you to change our hearts and make us more like you because we are repenters. We repent of our vain, empty attempts to justify ourselves before you. and make ourselves pleasing to you just with our own effort. So we ask you to save and sustain us in your unwavering grace and help us rest in your work on our behalf. And Lord, we are repenters because we repent of our hypocrisy and self-righteousness. And we ask you to deliver us from that, from double-mindedness. Help us to seek your righteousness above all. And Lord, we are repenters. We repent of valuing most what other people think, and so we ask you to help us value what you think and who you are, which is the most valuable thing is you. We pray these things and all God's people said. 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