But behind me, things look a little different because our VBS starts tonight and we're excited about it, we're praying about it. But this morning, we're gonna continue in our series on the gospel of Mark and see what the Lord has for us today. We'll be in Mark chapter 10, verses 17 through 22 is our text. Let's pray and then we'll get into the study this morning. Father, thank you, Lord, so much for this day. I thank you for your word. I thank you for the truth we find in it. for this precious gospel of Mark that we've been in, and I just ask that you would bless our time this morning. Please open our minds, our hearts. May we have ears to hear what you might have for us to learn, and we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So I've titled this particular lesson, The Good Teacher and the Man Who Knew Too Much. And I knew that was a phrase and I looked it up. There's actually a couple different movies by that title. And they're like spy intrigue movies made back in like the 40s, so 40s or 50s. But any case, we're gonna talk today about a man who thought he knew enough. He knew too much about his supposed self-righteousness. So I'm kind of saying that tongue in cheek. He was actually missing a lot of information. He thought he knew, but did not. Sometimes as we go through life, we can ask the right questions with the wrong motives. And then the right answers are given. But then because we've had this wrong presupposition, and we all have presuppositions about life, the man we're gonna meet today had certain presuppositions, certain things that he accepted as fact, he viewed as truth, it's really called a worldview. All of us has one. Every one of us has a worldview, a way of a lens, if you will, of looking at life. And the man that we're gonna meet today in today's passage, he meets Jesus and he asks him a question. And he asks him the right question, actually. Actually, he asks him the most important question that can be asked in regards to one's eternity. But he knew too much faulty knowledge, and that's where I'm going with that title. And the reason is because his presupposed ideas, the things he clung to as truth that weren't actually true, were wrong, he sadly missed the answer that would have given him what he was asking for. And that's going to come into, it's gonna be made clear as we go through. This passage divided up into four sections. Number one, the good teacher is approached. Number two, the good teacher's acknowledgement, his adjuration, and then we're going to sadly see the good teacher abandoned. So let's get into this study. Let's look here at number one. The good teacher, of course, is Christ. And that's also an interesting phrase that we're going to dig into, this idea of what does it mean to be a good teacher? And why was Jesus called that? But let's see how the story unfolds. Look with me at Mark 10 verse 17. Now as he was going out on the road, one came running. Notice and watch how Watch the descriptions of the body language of this man. Now as he, that's Jesus, was going out on the road, remember he's heading toward Jerusalem, his mind, his eye is fixed on the cross and he's making his way there, one came running and knelt before him and asked him, good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life. We're not ever given the name of this man and most people in Mark especially are not named. Even ones that are named in other Gospels Mark chooses to leave them nameless. But we're not even given this man's name, I don't believe, in the other Gospels either. We do know some things about him. If you haven't caught on, or maybe in your Bible there's a little heading, he's commonly known as the rich young ruler. The rich young ruler. And this is his conversation with Jesus recorded here and in other Gospels. Now Mark only describes him by the first word, rich. And that's down in verse 22. So we know that this man was wealthy. But why is he called the rich young ruler? I thought it would be good to remind ourselves and look at the parallel accounts. Over in Luke 18, verse 18, we find that he was a ruler. Luke says, now a certain ruler asked him saying, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? So Mark tells us that he was wealthy. Luke tells us that he was a ruler. And the Bible doesn't tell us what he ruled over. He could have been a ruler of a local synagogue much like Jairus was who we met earlier in Mark. But apparently this man had some position of authority. And so we know that from Luke. And then the young description comes out of Matthew chapter 19 verse 20. We see that it's a young man that said to Jesus, all these things I have kept for my youth, what do I still lack? And so that's why we call this man the rich young ruler. And he asked Jesus, as we go back to our text in Mark 10, 17, he asked Jesus, and he describes him as good teacher. And he asked him this question, and as I said, the most important question that could be asked, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? So notice some things about him. First of all, you tell me, what is his posture, his physical posture? He's kneeling. So he's in a position honoring Jesus and potentially, and I don't think he was worshiping based on the text, but it is a posture of worship. So he's recognizing Jesus' authority, right, at least. At some level, even though he is a man of authority, he's recognizing Jesus' authority. He also calls him, by what title? Good teacher, good teacher. But unfortunately, like many people today, he doesn't really see Jesus as anything more than that. We're gonna see that as we unfold the text. And many people today also struggle to see anything more to Jesus than a good teacher. And there's an irony to that, I wanna talk about in a moment. But if we look at other faiths that acknowledge Jesus, we see that they also acknowledge him as a good teacher. The Muslim community, for example, acknowledges that Jesus Christ existed. They don't deny the fact. In fact, he's mentioned several times in the Quran. And they believe even more than a good teacher, they even believe that he was a prophet, but nothing more. In fact, it's this text that Muslim apologists, and there are Muslim apologists, those that argue for the faith of Islam, they will use this very passage as a proof text to say that Jesus was not God, and that's the thing that they fight against is Jesus' deity. We'll get to that a little bit in a few minutes as well. But there's many religions and faith groups and people that see Jesus like this young man saw him, as a good teacher. I found this article I thought was interesting. It's not super new, published back in 2020, that talks about American's view of Jesus 52%, and this is a Newsweek article, 52% of Americans, and I don't know what it would be now, four years later, but in 2020, it was 52% of Americans say that Jesus isn't God, but was a great teacher, survey says. And I won't take the time to read all of this to you, but It says here, I will read the opening paragraph, a slight majority of American adults say Jesus was a great teacher and nothing more during his lifetime, which several Christian leaders say is evidence today's faithful are drifting away from traditional evangelistic teachings. And so the article goes on to describe a little bit more of the detail of that and some are quoted to call Christians to to step out and to be vocal about the deity of Christ. But as we think about this, I want you to think about the irony of this. If someone really is a great teacher, what does that even mean? If someone is a good or a great teacher, what makes them good? I wanna hear from you. What makes a teacher a good teacher? Accuracy, okay, what else? They're good communicators. They have knowledge. They have the truth. So if Jesus is a great teacher, why are so many not following him that say he's a great teacher? I don't believe 52% of Americans have put their faith in Jesus. Yet they say he's a great teacher. I don't really think they understand the meaning of this word great. Because if they really believed that he was a great teacher, then they would go to the source of his teachings They would read his teachings, and they would learn his teachings, and they would apply his teachings into their life. Isn't that what you do if you think a teacher is good? You might have a pastor, you might have a podcast, you might have a YouTube channel, you might have somebody you listen to on the radio, and you think, man, they're a good teacher. And hopefully you take, if it's good teaching indeed, you take that and you take it into your heart, and you apply it to your life and you use it in your life. You believe it's true and you try to live according to that truth. But that's not what people are doing. And that's not what, unfortunately, our man that we're meeting here does. If someone really believes another individual is a good teacher, they will obey what the teaching is. Otherwise, they're not really that good of a teacher. Oh, they might be entertaining or some kind of the communication thing might catch their interest or keep their interest. But that's not really a good teacher. That's just a good actor. That's just a good speech giver, right? That's not really a teacher. I like this quote from C.S. Lewis, and I'm not espousing all of C.S. Lewis's theology, I think we would differ on some points. But I like what he says here, and I think he's spot on. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn't be a great moral teacher. He'd either be a lunatic on a level with a man who says he's a poached egg, or else he'd be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the son of God or else a madman or something worse, but don't let us come up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He hasn't left that open to us. He didn't intend to. You see, Jesus said some very radical things about himself and about his message and his plan and his prophetic future. that disqualify him from being this just a good teacher. He must be something more than that or he's one of these other options. Well, let's move on in our study. Number two, the good teacher's acknowledgement. And I love Jesus, of course he's God, and so he knew this was coming, and he can see the man's heart, which he's going to expose before we're done. But he listens to this question, and watch how Jesus responds in verse 18. So Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is God. Now, as an aside, this is the verse that the Muslim apologists will use, and they're taking it out of context and taking the emphasis wrong. He's not saying, Jesus is not saying that he's not God here. Does he ever say that in this text? No. He simply asks a heart-exposing question to the man, which was what the man needed to hear, and Jesus knew that, and so instead of answering his question with an answer, he answers with another question, as he was prone to do, to expose really what's going on in this man's heart. Was Jesus a good teacher? He really was a good teacher, but he wasn't just a good teacher. And that's a big difference. He had the powerful ability. I mean, the Sermon on the Mount held an entire crowd of thousands speechless for however long that took him to preach. It's been called one of the greatest, if not the greatest sermon ever preached. He knew how to turn a phrase. He knew how to make a statement to really rivet the attention of his hearer. He had his audience just focused on him. And he also had the ability to turn a question back around on his questioners to expose their hearts. does here. Some that he did this to had open eyes and hearts, many did not. And sadly, this young ruler was in the latter category. Jesus' question here, I don't believe is, I don't believe it's a rhetorical question, and I think that's where the Muslims get it wrong. I don't think it's rhetorical, I believe it was intended to be answered, why do you call me good? You used a word just now, I want you to tell me why you used it. I believe it was not intended as rhetorical, but intended to be answered. Why do you call me good? What do you know about me? Why are you putting good before me as a description of me? Are you telling me you know who I am? I want to know what you think of me. It's kind of the same question he asked the disciples. At Caesarea Philippi, who do men say that I am, but who do you say that I am? I think it fits in that category. And then the statement that follows that question is truly the answer the man needed. And this is where the man's question gets answered right here. And I've just taken the phrase out of the verse, but this is what the Bible says, where Jesus said, no one is good. That should have shocked him into a state of surprise and piqued his interest to understand this phrase, but he blows right past it. Think about this statement Jesus made, no one is good. And again, that's where others of other faiths, including Islam, will say, well, he is saying that he is not good. That's not what he's saying here. That's reading into the text. But let's think about this. Do we find this kind of statement anywhere else in the Bible, that no one is good? How about Romans 3.10? As it is written, it's quoting From an Old Testament passage, there is none righteous, no, not one. Romans 3.23 says, for how many have sinned? All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The ruler asked Jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal life? What good deed must I perform How do I perform to inherit eternal life? Here's his answer, and he totally missed it. No one is good. Could also say, no one is good enough. No one can do enough. There's nothing you can do. That's what he should have got out of this. This should have answered the man's question. Just this little phrase, no one is good. That should have been enough for him to, for the man to allow the conversation to take a turn and go somewhere totally different. In other words, go to the gospel and go to how many times did Jesus say, believe in me. He that has the son has life. That's where the conversation should have gone. Sadly, it did not. So this statement should have answered his question. Jesus is telling him in a manner of speaking, he takes one little word, out of the man's question, good, and he just expands on that and expects him, desires for him, calls for him to consider what he's saying. There's nothing you can do in terms of works to inherit eternal life. You have to be perfect, you have to meet God's standard. And only one man was able to do that, Jesus himself. So this idea, no one is good, should have told him enough, or at least helped him see this. We go back to the text here. For the Jews of Jesus' day, and it is interesting, even a cultural sense, that he called him good, because that was not a normal address to a rabbi, which Jesus was. He was recognized as a rabbi, even by those that hated him and disagreed with him. And this man saw him as a rabbi, that's a teacher. But for the Jews of Jesus' day, and I believe today even among the Orthodox community, God was thought of as preeminently good. And it was so highly thought of that it was unusual to refer to anyone else with that adjective. So for him, for Jesus to question this, I believe there was that deeper meaning that we already talked about, but there was also a surface meaning, a cultural thing. Why are you calling me good? That was unusual for someone to address a rabbi this way. Yes? answer that way, because he's almost saying, I don't know that I'm good yet, only the Father's good. I don't see that in the text. I don't see that Jesus is saying, I don't know that I'm good. I think he's... Remember, Jesus could see the heart, and I think that is one of the things that we have to keep in mind when we read these passages. Jesus had the x-ray vision spiritually to see the man's heart. He knew exactly what this man needed. And we see by the end, Jesus actually performs spiritual open heart surgery and exposes the idols of this man's heart, and he walks away sadly, spoiler alert, he walks away. Most of you know, yes. It's almost like he's saying, he's acknowledging God is good, and you're calling me good like the Father is good. Right. Yes, that's a good way to say it. It's as if the man has placed Jesus and God in the same category. And Jesus is asking him, why are you doing that? There was another somebody else over there, Mike. Right, yes, and that's where I was kind of going with that. He's asking the man, are you saying that I'm God? because only God is good, so are you acknowledging my deity right now? Which is, in no way, Jesus denying his deity, and that's what the argument is made against this passage. Great thoughts, thank you for sharing that. So, also keep in mind, Jesus' plan all along, we've seen this over and over in Mark, when he does a miracle. when he performs something, when people understand, when he tells, he's already begun to tell the disciples what's gonna happen to him and about his identity. Remember, when Jesus said, you're the Messiah, he said, blessed are you, for flesh and blood had not revealed that to you, Peter, but the Spirit has revealed it. So he in no way denied it. But what did he tell them to do with that information? To shout it from the rooftops? Keep it secret, right? It was the messianic secret, they call it. And so keep that in mind, too, in these conversations. Well, why didn't Jesus just come out and tell them, I'm God? Well, first of all, that probably could have ended the conversation. Jesus knew that it wasn't time to reveal that part of his identity in this way. So there's also that to keep in mind. It's like he's dodging and he's asking all these questions. It was on purpose. It was part of the plan with himself, the Spirit, and the Father together, that this is the way the timeline would unfold. And this is how the revelation would be given. It would be given to those that are ready to listen to it. Also, we know from the end of this passage, was this man ready to hear the truth about Jesus? No, he rejected Jesus. Jesus knew this. So he wasn't gonna cast his pearls before the swine. He wasn't gonna reveal something to this man who was going to ultimately reject him in any case. So Jesus, again, keeping that secret, we've already mentioned those following Islam will use this as an argument. He's not denying his deity. He's not denying his goodness. He's not saying that he's not good. And so we don't want to be guilty of eisegesis, reading into the text. We wanna read out of the text, exegesis. He didn't say, why are you calling me God when I am clearly not? He's saying, why are you calling me good? Do you understand what that word means? Do you understand who I am? So the passage really is about Jesus trying to reach the heart of this young man, specifically. in order to help him see his need of a Savior. That's all that Jesus is doing. We go to the next verse now, verse 19. He moves right into listing the Ten Commandments. It's like, well, why didn't, did he, remember the Bible, I mean, we have the verses, they're printed, but we're given no sense of the timeline or the silence between the verses where Jesus was giving time to answer. We just read the verse by verse, I believe that this man had an opportunity to answer these questions. Maybe he just kept silent, he didn't know. Mark doesn't record it. I don't believe the other Gospels do too, but Jesus now moves right into listing some of these 10 commandments. You know the commandments, he tells the man. Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother. So he starts bringing up the law. But remember, what is the purpose of the law? Yes, the point is toward Jesus to show us our sin. Why? Because none of us can keep it. 613 commandments given. These are just, what, six of them? One, two, three, four, five, six. Out of the 613. And even these, no one can keep perfectly. Only Jesus could do that. And so Jesus takes him, being a Jewish man, to the law. Paul took the Greeks to creation. If you remember on Mars Hill, that's why he doesn't go to the law, because he's not talking to Jews, he's talking to Gentiles. Jesus, in a Jewish context, so he takes them to the law to show him, here's the law, you know the law. So what should have the man's response been to this? Oh, oh, I don't, I've broken some of those. That should have been the response. We go into other passages. Paul says in Romans 7, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. That's what Jesus is trying to get across here. For I would have not known covetousness unless the law had said, you shall not covet. And we can add that to the list Jesus gave the man. Sin, or rather the law, is our teacher to show us we are sinners. It's our schoolmaster. Paul said in another passage. So Jesus is taking the schoolmaster and putting it in front of this rich young ruler. Paul said also, for I know that in me that is in my flesh nothing good dwells. We're gonna see this man thought otherwise about his flesh. For to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. I believe Romans 7 describes the Christian life. I don't believe Paul was unsaved when he was thinking this way. But in any case, it does help us understand how the law helps. It teaches us. He concludes, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? This is what the man should have been saying. Now, again, this is, I believe, a Christian's view. I believe Paul is saved here. In Romans 7, he's describing the struggle of a Christian trying to live godly in this sinful world and fight against their flesh. But let's take this application and apply it to an unbeliever. Now he's talking about deliverance as a Christian, he's not worried about his eternal salvation anymore, he's worried about his sanctification. But let's apply it to the rich young ruler who should have been concerned about his eternal destiny. And he should have been asking, oh my, those laws I have broken. So if that's how I get eternal life, Jesus, tell me the rest of the story, because I'm clearly not gonna get to heaven based on my merit, because I've disobeyed those laws. And that's where this man should have gone. He should have got to the point where he was open to hear Jesus tell this man what he told his disciples in John 14, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me, not through the law. Sadly, the conversation never got there because notice the man's answer in verse 20. He answered and said to him, Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth. And I don't know, again, the verses don't give us the pauses of silence in between, but it seems like it's instantly. The text flows as though Jesus finishes, but I've kept all these things from my youth. Challenge accepted, Jesus, I got this. I've done this, I'm the man. He was convinced of his own righteousness here. He had called Jesus a good teacher, but now what is he calling himself? Yeah, a good man, right? He's calling himself righteous here. He's saying, I am good. It's almost as if he's trying to come to Jesus as a peer. Well, you're a good teacher and I'm a good rich young ruler, so we're both good. He had fallen into the trap of what many people fall in, that's the comparison trap. He totally ignored the law, which is the perfect gold standard, because he couldn't meet that. And it doesn't say this specifically in the text, so this is my taking a little bit of liberty here, but I believe He's saying, I've been good compared to other people. And that's what so many people say today. Well, compared to the people in prison or that have committed these horrible crimes, I'm pretty good. And they ignore the standard of God's law, the perfect standard. They might go to church. They might faithfully give money. They're honest on their taxes. They follow the golden rule. They're kind and honest. And you can ask anyone around, they'll tell you. I'm a great neighbor. I'm a great person. I mean, this man is a guy that any of you business owners would want to hire. I really think he was probably a hard worker. I think he was a morally upright person, or at least he seemed to think he was. I think he was potentially an honest, hardworking person. But Jesus saw right through that. It was really just a facade. Remember Jesus, one of the commands he gives him is do not commit adultery. Well, maybe the man had not committed adultery. We're not even sure if he was married yet. It says he was young, probably was married, don't know. But remember what Jesus said about adultery in the heart. I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So Jesus raised the standard. He also said the same thing about murder and how that Hating one's brother, in God's eyes, was equal, it was kind of a heart murder. How about do not bear false witness? Jesus told him that. Really? You've kept that since your youth? Just seems very suspect. I mean, who among us has never lied or been dishonest or deceptive in any way, whether it was a sin of commission, telling a lie, or a sin of omission, leaving part of the truth out because it's inconvenient, we've all been there. This man had been there. And it's so interesting to see Jesus' response because you would think it would be like, You're a liar and you know you're a liar. And Jesus, I mean, he could have just being God, he could have began to list the times this man had broke the law, maybe even that morning or that week. Couldn't he have done that? It's not what he does. And again, it's Jesus. He's reading the man's heart. Someone's hand was up. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah, great point. Michelle's pointing out that the commandments Jesus listed for him are the ones that deal, that are between one human and another human, and he doesn't mention the first few, which is how humans are supposed to respond to God. The last half are how humans are supposed to respond to one another. So it's interesting, interesting point. Why didn't Jesus mention those? Perhaps he wanted to get right to the heart of the issue. Well, I worship God. And kind of get into that kind of theological debate. Perhaps he was going right for the specific thing. But here's his response. Number three, the good teacher's adjuration. He adjures him, he pleads with him. I divide it up, let's read the verse and then we'll break it up. Jesus looking at him loved him, verse 21, and said to him, one thing you lack, go your way, sell whatever you have, give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come take up the cross and follow me. So I want to look at this and break this down a little bit and look at Jesus' responses because several things or at least two main things I should say are listed here. First of all, It says that Jesus looked at him. Do you see that in the verse there? And Jesus looking at him. Let's just look at that for a moment. The word for looking here means to look attentively, to gaze earnestly on. I'm gazing at Lewis right now, and my eyes are fixed on him. I think Jesus, and I'm just trying to imagine what that would have been like to have Jesus gaze into your eyes. You would feel like he was looking into your soul, which he was. This powerful, intentional look. Jesus made sure that the man knew that Jesus saw him. Jesus sees us too. I would argue Jesus looks at each one of us with that same intense personal gaze. And he looks at us in the heart. His eye is upon us. He watches us. He knows us deeply. 100% of us is known by him. There's no part of us hidden from his gaze. we are totally exposed before him in our hearts. So he looks at this man with this intense gaze upon him, but secondly, we see that Jesus loved him. He loved him. If we look at the next part of verse 21, then Jesus, looking at him, loved him. I love that that's in there. He deeply loved this man, just like he deeply loves us. Jesus saw him like no one else had ever seen him. Jesus saw his heart. And I think in that moment, I believe, I don't think, I believe in that moment, Jesus saw the man's life from childhood. He saw the years of striving. He saw the years of laying awake at night and wondering about his eternal. Remember, he came running to Jesus. There was something stirring in his heart. And perhaps he had been having sleepless nights and anxiety and anguish. And Jesus looked back on his life and could see the hurt and the pain and the brokenness and the darkness for all of that lifetime up until this moment. All the fear. I believe this man was possibly driven by a great amount of fear. I need eternal life. And it drove him to run to Jesus. He ran to him and asked that burning question that needed And Jesus, what else did Jesus see in that moment? He saw all the times where those commandments were broken, right? All the times where he lied, all the times where he did all the things that Jesus told him were in the law. He saw all the times he dishonored his parents. He saw all the times he was dishonest. He saw all the times he sinned. He saw all of it in that moment. Jesus looking at him, but he still loved him. Despite all of the sin and the darkness and the brokenness, and that's Jesus' response to all of us, right? He sees all of us in our life, in every moment, even when we're alone and in the dark, Jesus sees clearly. And his response is love. His response to all of that sin that he saw was not condemnation, was not judgment. Yes, there will be a judgment day, yes. But in this moment, that man was loved by Jesus. He loved him. and he expressed that to him. And his love was shown in the next statement as we go back into the text here. Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, one thing you lack, go your way, sell what you have, and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come take up the cross and follow me. Now, we look at this at first glance. It might seem Jesus is proposing a works-based salvation. but has anyone ever been saved by works? Wait, not even the Old Testament saints and those, it's always faith. It's been faith since the beginning. Yes, the law was instituted, but why was the law given? To show us that we can't keep it, to prepare for the Messiah to come, the Savior, the sinless one. Salvation has always been by grace alone through faith alone. When we read through Hebrews 11, we call it the hall of good works, but those were all Old Testament saints. We call it the hall of faith, right? Because they were living out their faith. Jesus has been presenting this man with opportunities for faith all along here. He told him that only God is good, which immediately disqualified this man. If only God is good, then isn't this man disqualified from any possible justification by works? The man missed that truth. He went on to boast of his self-righteousness. Blind to his sin, he should have said, wait a minute, if no one is good, that means I'm not good. But he didn't. Next, Jesus lists the commandments. Okay, you think you're good? Let me give you the commandments. proving to the man he was not good because no one can keep them. Once again, he should have realized when those laws were read, oh, but I haven't, I've broken some of those. I have shortcomings, but he did not. Finally, now in this verse, Jesus performs that spiritual open heart surgery and he reaches in with his fingers, figuratively speaking, and touches that precious idol that this man had been keeping in his heart his wealth. After all, he was a rich young ruler. Wealthy. And Jesus exposed that. So when we look at this list, we gotta see that in order to sell all of his goods and give them to the poor and take up a cross and follow Jesus, what would he have had to do first? You said it, put his faith in Jesus. He would have had to believe that Jesus is the real thing. He would have had to put his faith in him first. Jesus doesn't list that here, doesn't need to. It should have been obvious to him, should have been obvious to this man. These are actions of a person that has already put their faith in Jesus. Look at what the disciples, they left all. We're gonna get to that in the next lesson. Selling one's goods, taking up a cross, following Jesus, they're all acts of a disciple, a believer, a believing disciple of Jesus. And in order to become a disciple, a true disciple, what's the first step? Faith. Peggy. I'm sorry, what's that? Right. Well, her question was, Jesus hadn't gone to the cross yet, so why is he bringing it up here? He had already been bringing it up in previous. If we go back just a little bit in Mark, and I don't have the passage written down in front of me, but he had told the disciples the same thing, take up your cross and follow me. It's a call to those that already believe in Jesus to go even deeper and get serious about their relationship with him, to become a true follower, true disciple of Christ, and to go to that next. And in your question, if nothing else, you see how you were intrigued by that? This man should have at least been intrigued by this question about a cross, because at that point, no one wore a cross on a necklace. It wasn't a decoration. It wasn't up in any worship centers like ours is. It was a symbol of death and pain and suffering. It was a symbol of a curse. Curse is anyone who hangs on a tree. So your intrigue by Jesus' statement here, this man should have had the same response as you. What do you mean by a cross? He should have had that response. But because he was so oblivious to what Jesus was saying here, he totally missed the point. He should have asked a similar question to you. How do I do those things? How is this possible that someone could be willing to sell everything they have and give it to the poor? and think about treasure in heaven as being more important than treasure on earth and take up a cross and follow. How does one do that? That should have been his question. Very similar to the question that you just asked. Sadly, that wasn't the case. He did not have ears to hear. Remember what Jesus said, blessed are those that have ears to hear and eyes to see. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Right. Judas, yes. So Judas was a disciple, but he was not a believer. And I think there's potentially a lot of people, Jesus talks about those that call him Lord, Lord. Didn't we do all these things? So I think those are non-believing disciples. I think you can be a disciple in a sense and not be a true believer. And I think you can be a true believer without going to these extreme measures of discipleship, but that is what Jesus is calling us to do. I think a believer not doing these things is a believer living in sin. Disciple is a learner, yeah, it's just a word for a learner, a student, it's a student. Well, our time is gone now, but as we just conclude here, Let's go to the last point here. The good teacher abandoned, we're a couple minutes over, thanks for your patience. Verse 22, but he, the ruler, was sad at this word and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. The word sad here is a gloomy, downcast, shocked, appalled feeling. The word sorrowful means grief, distress, or pain. Remember his question, how do I inherit what? Eternal life. And based on Jesus' response and his blindness, his spiritual blindness and deafness, he decided the cost was too high. There was no real cost. Salvation is a free gift by faith in Christ. So this last verse out of 1 Timothy, those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare. And I believe Paul's saying, rich above all else, rich above Christ. Wealth is not a sin. God uses those with wealth to do awesome things for him. I'm so thankful that he has disciples that are wealthy. But those that desire it above all else, they fall into this temptation and snare, many foolish, harmful lusts, Think about the rich young ruler, as we conclude with this verse, which drowned men in destruction and perdition, for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith, and their greediness pierced themselves through with many, what? Sorrows. This is what the man walked away from Jesus sorrowful, because he misunderstood Jesus' offer to put his faith in him and have eternal life. Last question. Yeah. I would like to believe that too. Sure, it's a possibility that this man went home, thought about it, and came back to Jesus and the Gospels don't record it. There is a, I don't know if it's a conspiracy theory, but there's a theory out there that this man is none other than the Apostle Paul in his youth. I've heard that. I'm not saying that's true. I kind of don't think it is, but I've heard people speculate on that. In any case, the ultimate eternal destiny of this man has not given us in scripture. I would like to think that he went home and rethought it as well and came back and made it right. Let's pray. Father, thank you, Lord, so much for the day. Thank you for our time together and everyone's patience as we went over this morning, but I thank you, Lord, so much for this account of this man and his sad, it's a sad account, But it does provide us an example, Lord, that we need to have ears to hear, eyes to see, and we need to listen when you teach us, because you are certainly not just a good teacher, you are the greatest teacher in the universe. And so we bow to you, and we ask that you would keep teaching us, help us to be good students and good disciples. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for being here, everybody, have a good day.