Good morning, it's always a treat to get to come to Vineland Park Baptist Church and preach. I love the people here, love the church. Today we're gonna be in Mark chapter 10, verses 17 through 27, and I know we've already read this prior in the service, but I want us to get back in it again, and we're gonna read this again before I begin to preach. Starting in verse 17, Mark chapter 10, Mark chapter 10, verse 17. As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt down before him and asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Why do you call me good? Jesus asked him. No one is good except God alone. 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. He said to him, teacher, I have kept all of these from my youth. Looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, you lack one thing, go, sell all you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. But he was dismayed by this demand and he went away grieving because he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how hard it is for those who have wealth to enter into the kingdom of God. The disciples were astonished at his words. Again, Jesus said to them, children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And they were even more astonished, saying to one another, then who can be saved? Looking at them, Jesus said, with man it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God. Let us pray. Father in heaven, God, I thank you for your word. Father, for the free gift of salvation that is offered through your son, Jesus. Father, I ask if you would For this next little bit, Father, just allow me to completely decrease, Lord, that it would not be me, but it would be you, Father, that you would put aside our distractions, Father, the things that run through our minds, Father, that we give so much weight to, that we care so much about, Father, that we would put those things in the back of our mind, just here for the next little bit, Father, as we meditate on your word. Father, lead me, guide me, Father. Open our hearts, Lord. In Christ's name, amen. I recall a story of an average Joe, just a regular old guy, and he had a friend who was an Olympic long jumper. His friend had spent his entire life training to make the perfect jump. Well, as him and his friend were walking one day, the earth began to crack around them. A fault appeared, and they were surrounded here on this little island. And the gap was about 20 feet, 20 feet long, all around. And so as they stood looking at each other and as the ground around them begins to perish, they realize that they're going to have to make the jump. looking at each other, resolving this is what was gonna have to happen. The ordinary guy went first, the average old Joe. Jumped right in, didn't even have a chance. Maybe jumped three or four feet, met his imminent death. The Olympic long jumper got his ready, took a few steps back, a few deep breaths. This was the jump that he had been training for his entire life. He said what had once been a sport was now going to determine his life. He took off sprinting, launched right at the right second. It was a wonderful launch. As he travels toward the ledge, the longest jump that he had ever done, misses it by an inch and falls and meets his imminent death. This is the futility of trying to earn righteousness by the law. It did not matter that that lone jumper had trained his entire life. It did not matter that he was better, much better, than the guy who went plummeting right in. It did not even matter that he came close. The two met the same fate. In this passage, Jesus is destroying the Jewish understanding of righteousness time and time again. we see in the ministry, the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, he is constantly correcting the Jews. More specifically, the Pharisees, because they were considered the religious elite of that culture. These were supposed to be the cream of the crop. These were the best of men. But he's constantly challenging and rebuking their understanding of what it means to be righteous. The main idea of this passage, you know, so often I've heard this passage preached in so many different ways, and a lot of the time it's preached to kind of promote some form of radical obedience, which, you know, the Christian life does promote radical obedience, but this is not what Jesus is teaching here. We're going to challenge that traditional understanding this morning, what exactly Jesus teaching here. The main idea of this passage is not to provide a model of radical Christian obedience rather than to show the impossibility of a works-based salvation. It is my objective this morning that you would realize your inability to attain righteous and maintain righteous by your own efforts and to exclusively cast your gaze upon the cross of Christ for the assurance of your salvation. This is huge in the life of a Christian. Being assured. How can I know that I am assured? How do I know that my salvation is authentic? Must I look to myself? Right, do I look to see if I got my ducks in a row at the time, or must I look to see if I have spiritual zeal all the time? Are these the test of whether or not that I've truly been saved, that I have assurance in Christ? The only assurance that we have is the work of Christ alone. It don't matter how strong or how weak that faith is, we all inherit the same Savior. So looking at verse 17, starting here, we see, as he was setting out on a journey to Jesus, a man ran up and knelt down before him and asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? We see this passage begins with this man sprinting. Y'all gotta understand, in this culture, this was definitely a sign of humility. People did not run, especially men of great respect, did not run, okay? You did not run to greet somebody. This man, rich, young man, sprints to meet Jesus. This is probably, he had seen the works of Jesus, he had seen the miracles performed, though it's not evident that he believed him to be Lord. He did realize that Jesus was a man of power. probably a great prophet, acknowledged him as teacher, stirred, right, by the convicting teaching of Jesus, asked him, what must I do to inherit eternal life? I get to thinking how this would be handled in a lot of churches today. You know, imagine if we had someone running up to us, Brother Joel, Coach Joel. Brother Joel, Coach Joel is my two most popular titles. What must I do? to inherit eternal life. And I get to thinking, traditionally, how would this be handled today? Well, let's sit down for a second. And let's pray this prayer together. And then you can be saved. Oh, really? That's all I got to do? Yeah. Just pray this prayer with me. And let's go through the few steps. And that's it. Wow, okay, that's easy, okay? If this was, this is how, the way Jesus wanted to do it, if this was the perfect opportunity, the guy was stirred, right? He was stirred to the point he was ready to lose his respect, to sprint to Jesus, to ask him, what must I do to have eternal life? But Jesus doesn't handle this in the traditional way of what we may think evangelism looks today. He doesn't say, sit down with me and pray this prayer, right? What does Jesus do? Here in verse 18, Jesus challenges. He goes, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. So what is Jesus saying right here? Is Jesus telling this man that he isn't good? Is Jesus right here saying that he isn't God? This is not what he's doing. Obviously, we see this man did not recognize, did not acknowledge that Jesus was in fact God. But he's coming to him, asking him, you know, as a teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And he says, why do you call me good? He said, you have no idea, you shouldn't be calling me good because you have no idea who I am. He says, no one is good but God alone. Once again, the Jewish understanding of righteousness. This man probably looked at Jesus, the little bit that he saw of him, that this man was great. He was a great man. He was a great law keeper. He was a knowledgeable teacher. Yet Jesus is still saying that this is not what true goodness is. This is not what it means to be good. He says, no one is good but God alone. That needs to, to marinate with us for just a second. Why do we so often want to go here? Why do we so often want to go here and think that just because we do certain things or that we're better than, we think ourselves to be better than certain people. I promise you there's at least one person in this world that you may be more moral than. But it's a tendency for us to think of ourselves as good people. Especially Christians, you know, as Christians who have been filled with the Spirit of God, we do, we have a renewed life, we have a changed heart towards sin, right? A lot of times this does produce obedience, our lives are cleaner, typically more disciplined, we may be better citizens in a lot of ways, but it's all grace. It's all grace, it's not nothing that you did. Your innate goodness did not produce this, right? And even in spite of all these things, even though you are regenerated and you're a new creature in Christ, you are still not good. You're not good. There are none righteous. There is no righteous, no not one. There are none that seek after God. Then why do we always want to think of ourselves, well, we're good people. We're good people, and this person's not a good person, but I'm a good person. Jesus explained to this young man, he's telling him. He says, why do you call me good? There is only one who's good. Verse 19 through 20, Jesus then appeals to the law. This is very interesting right here, so I want us to really engage right here as we see what is Jesus doing. 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." And the man looked at him and said, Teacher, I have kept all of these from my youth. So we must understand why Jesus immediately goes to the law. Okay, so first thing we see is that Jesus does not take the traditional evangelistic approach and walk, he doesn't walk the guy up to the prayer, okay. And he challenges him, he says, why are you even, he tells this man, why are you calling me good? There's no one good except God alone. And then he points to the law. Martin Lloyd-Jones once said, the essence of evangelism is to start preaching the law. Why is this so important? Why is preaching the law so important? As Christians, you know, why do we just want to completely disregard it? When preaching or when we're presenting the gospel, we go right to the gospel without preaching the law. The gospel means nothing to the person who has no understanding of the law. The law serves a purpose here in the New Covenant. What does the law do? The first thing, the law demonstrates the righteous standard of God. The second thing the law does is it reveals our need for justification. It reveals the depravity of our hearts. It reveals our sinfulness. When someone truly understands the law, there's no way that they can, by any means of logic, say that, yeah, I'm a good person. This is why Jesus appeals to the law and why, as Christians, when we preach the gospel, we must start with the law. You start with the law, you end with the gospel. You talk about, we talk about good people again and what world religion, what is the main idea of world religion? World religion, pagan religion and naturalism, it's all based around this idea that if we're moral enough, then you can have a desirable afterlife. That this is how, this is the natural swing of things. If you just do, if you're a good person and you tend to your conscience and you do for other people, then you're gonna have a desirable afterlife. And that is because they do not take into account the severity of the law. We see this rich young ruler here, he's saying he's, He's done all these things. He says, Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth. You've made all these commandments. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. He says, I have done all these things. Or at least he believed that he had done all these things fairly well. This was a religiously zealous young man. From an outsider's perspective, most people probably thought that, man, this guy was good. That's the model, that's what we want to be like. This guy keeps all the commandments, he knows all the commandments, he's doing them. The rich young ruler looks at Jesus after Jesus points to the law and says, teacher, I have kept all of these for my youth. And this is when it gets powerful right here and when it gets a bit confusing if you don't understand the gospel. Verse 21 through 22. Looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, you lack one thing. Go and sell all you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. But he was dismayed by this demand and he went away grieving. because he had many possessions. So what has Jesus just done here? Jesus ups the ante, right? He appeals to the law, and the guy believes that after appealing to the law, the guy still believes that he's done it right, that he's kept all these commandments. Jesus raises the bar again. He says, okay then, well, go sell everything you have then, and follow me. Why does Jesus do this for? Wouldn't it have been much easier, like I said, just to pray the prayer with him, right? Wouldn't it have just been much easier to tell him the gospel? Yeah, believe on me and you'll have eternal life. No, Jesus continues to challenge this man's worldview and his understanding of righteousness. Before he can share the gospel with him, he must reveal the sinfulness of this man's heart. You have, the gospel will have no power to the man who has hardened his heart toward who he really is. Someone who believes themselves the most dangerous, the most lost type of person that we have in the world is not the drug addict. It's not the serial killer that's in prison. In fact, you have wonderful ministry in prisons. Do you know why prison ministry is so effective? Because the people are broken. The people already realize that they have nothing in this life to live for. They realize what they've done was horrible. Their sinfulness is ever before their eyes. Yet, we can have someone that attends church every Sunday sit there and be lost his entire life. Why? It is impossible to reach those that do not understand their sinfulness. So Jesus ups the ante right here. He appeals, he appealed to the law, the guy still did not see where he lacked, and then he ups the ante. He says, okay, you think you're good? Go sell everything that you have and follow me. And watch this guy's reaction. It says, but he was dismayed by this demand, and he went away grieving because he had many possessions. It hit home with him finally. He was like, wow, I thought I'd done it right my entire life, but I'm not willing to do this. I can't do this. This is vital for us to understand, vital for us to understand that we are not able, there is no man who is able to give the obedience, to put forth the obedience that is necessary to inherit eternal life. Verse 23 through 25, Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how hard it is for those who have wealth to enter into the kingdom of God. That'd be a shot to Kenneth Copeland's heart, wouldn't it? That'd about collapse his entire ministry, you know? The disciples were astonished at his words. Again, Jesus said to them, children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. So this is the This is the passage that typically, where I feel like a lot of wonderful, solid theologians, they get it wrong right here. Most of the time people will use this as a verse to attack those who aren't living a radical life of Christianity, because Jesus first, you know, he pokes at how difficult it is for a rich man in the kingdom of God. Jesus is not just talking about rich people. He's talking about people in general. He's talking about anyone and everyone who is unable to fulfill the law to perfection and who is not willing to give up everything they have and follow him. I don't know about you, that's all of us though. That's every single last, there's no one in this church this morning that this does not describe you. All of us are fallen. and unable, it is impossible. Jesus says, he says the disciples were astonished at his words right here. And then Jesus said to them, he says, it is easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. So, like I said, guilty of myself of teaching it this way. I talk to a lot of my students and I'm like, you see, you know, have you got so many things in your life that are before God, it's more possible for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for you to enter the kingdom of God. And I'm thinking, I'm presenting it as this hard labor, this work that you're supposed to do. And only with hard labor and radical obedience can that camel fit through the eye of the needle and enter into the kingdom of God. You know what I'm saying? I mean, honestly, it's funny, but this was my traditional understanding of the text, and many of my favorite theologians, this is how they've taught this text. But this is not what Jesus is teaching. I'm gonna go ahead and tell you guys this. It is not hard for a camel to enter through an eye of a needle. It is impossible for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle. Jesus is not giving this model of, well, only with radical labor and obedience can you enter into my kingdom. He's telling them on their own efforts, it's impossible. That it is completely and totally impossible for them to enter into the kingdom of God. How do I know this is what he means? Because look here in verse 26. They were astonished. They were more astonished the disciples, okay? Now, I'll tell you about the disciples a little bit. First off, the disciples had a very solid understanding of the law, okay? And the disciples also had a very solid understanding of the teachings of Jesus, okay? So these guys get it. If anyone's getting it right now, it's the disciples. But the disciples, even more astonished, say to one another, this is the conclusion they get to after Jesus just gives this illustration with the camel going through the eye of a needle, they look at one another, saying to one another, then who can be saved? Then who can be saved? This was the right question. Like I said, they got it. They hit it right there, hit the nail in the head. If this is true, Then who can be saved? And then Jesus wraps it up beautifully, like I said, with the gospel. Start with the law, end with the gospel. Jesus says, looking at them, Jesus said, with man it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God. Jesus gives this, like I said, he challenges this young man's worldview, completely continues to rip apart the Jewish understanding and the world religious understanding of righteousness, and then gives this impossible scenario to them. What he's conveying is he's not saying that with labor and hard work, they can enter into the kingdom of God. He's saying on their own efforts, it is impossible for them to enter into the kingdom of God. But he says, not with God. All things are possible with God. Jesus points to himself. This is what we must latch our teeth on right here as Christians. This is the assurance of salvation right here. Looking to your works is a futile, futile effort. looking to your own personal holiness, or how disciplined you are, or how much better you may be than, or how much more moral you may be than someone else, it's futile. It's futile. And only the fool, or someone with a hardened heart can really convince himself that he's got it down. If anything, growing closer to the Lord, being closer to God, only reveals to us all the more how sinful we are. We need grace. We all need grace. With man it's impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God. Like I said, it's difficult, and it just goes to show you that even with a Protestant understanding of Grace, salvation, grace through faith, salvation. How hard it is for us to get away from this idea. For centuries, the church has battled. This has been the number one problem. Yeah, the church has battled many heresies. But this continues to be the one that plagues us the most. How do we get people to take their eyes off themselves and to put them on Jesus? How? Why is it so difficult for us to do it? Why is it so difficult for us to do it? There is a great danger in resorting back to Pharisaical law-keeping. There is a horrible danger. The first thing is that it's going to lead to spiritual burnout. Okay? It will almost always lead. Unless your theology is changed, it will lead to spiritual burnout. It leads to a fear-based salvation, trying to perform before God to keep your salvation or to prove your salvation. I don't know if any of you guys have been here before, but it's a terrible place to be. Life is miserable. It is, because no matter how hard you try, you still feel separated from a holy God, and you should, because on your own efforts, you will always be separated. There is also a danger here of never being saved for those who believe themselves to be good people, for those who believe that they have done a bunch of really good things and that they're moral and they go to church and that they're disciplined in their lives. They say, well, I don't smoke and I don't cuss and I don't do drugs and I don't do all these things. These are, this is what they're banking on right here. They're banking on their morality to get them eternal life. This is dangerous. Like I said, this is a more dangerous place to be than the prisoner that is on death row, that has just heard the gospel and is trusted in Jesus for eternal life. The gospel gives us assurance. Why does it give us assurance? Because it's true. Because it's true. And your salvation is just as assured as the cross of Christ. This is where comfort comes from. This is where true Christian joy arrives from. It arrives from this understanding that you are not in control of your salvation. That it's not based on anything that you have contributed It's not based on any works that you have done or haven't done, but it is solemnly in the cross of Jesus. Let us pray. Lord God, I thank you for grace. I thank you for the gospel. Father, I thank you for melting my heart, Lord. Father, for tearing me. for tearing my worldview apart, Lord, and revealing yourself to me through your word. Father, I ask there be anyone in here this morning who is struggling, Father, who may lack assurance, or Father, who struggles to see their own sinfulness, Lord. Father, by the power of your spirit, Lord, humble them. Let us not walk on these dangerous waters anymore, Lord. Let us put to death the flesh, Father, and our hope in that flesh, and let us cast our gaze upon you forever. God, we love you, we trust you, and we praise you, and I pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.