 Let's get into our study. We're going to be looking at, excuse me, Matthew 19 versus 16 through 26 as we continue our series through the Gospel of Matthew. So I'll begin reading at verse 16 in Matthew 19. I'll read to verse 26 and we'll get into our study. Matthew 19 beginning at verse 16. Now, behold, one came and said to him, good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? So he said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good, but one that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. He said to him, which ones? Jesus said, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The young man said to him, all these things I have kept from my youth, what do I still lack? Jesus said to him, if you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Come follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions, then Jesus said to his disciples, surely I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazing. Who then can be saved? But Jesus looked at them and said to them, with men this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. And so we're going to be looking today at these verses. And let me give you a context, a little background, develop it, and then move into application. What we have here is an encounter between Jesus and an apparent seeker. The encounter is significant enough to have been recorded in the other gospels, in two of the gospels. The same encounter is recorded in the gospel of Mark as well as the gospel of Luke. And what we have is a conversation. And we have much to learn from this conversation because it relates to what it takes to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. We're living in a time when the actual demands of discipleship are very often ignored from pulpits throughout the United States and the world. When we read Jesus' words concerning the cost of following Him, there are those who hear that, they hear the cost, and they have the same response as this young man. They go away, they don't follow after Him. See, they need to understand something all of us really do. Christianity is a way of life that is much more than just following a set of moral codes or rules and laws. It's a way of life. It's a way of life that results in, that is the result of a death, a death of our own old life. It's been said that we are those who have died in order that we might live. That's Christianity. When Jesus was speaking concerning being His disciple, is in Luke chapter 9 verses 23 and 24, he said to them, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me for whoever desires to save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. See, that's pretty strong. That's a very powerful statement. You need to lose your life. You don't save your life. It's been said when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It's also been said salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life. And so one of the blessings of studying the Bible, when you study it book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, is you get a complete picture. By going this way, you get a balanced picture of salvation. And that's beautifully illustrated here in this conversation that Jesus had with this man. Now normally this story is referred to as the rich young ruler, but there are others who speak of it in this way. They say this is really a story of a rich young fool. And the reason they say that he's a rich young fool is because he didn't follow Christ. He chose not to. He had the wrong values and he valued things that didn't matter. Again, in Luke in chapter nine, verse 25, the question is asked, what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and he himself is destroyed or lost? So the point of the story is to illustrate man's unwillingness to trust in the Lord. You see in this encounter, we see that there are some who have outward appearance of interest in spiritual things. They may have a personal religious faith. They may have an apparent spiritual curiosity. We all have friends or family members or people we've encountered co-workers who are of that nature, of that way. They appear to have a personal religious faith. They may have an apparent spiritual curiosity. So you'll ask them, what did they do this week? And they may say, well, I went to church. And from there you think, of course, you think, well, they must be born again. They must be believers in Christ and all. They may even ask questions related to God and things like that. So we make an assumption that because they appear to have personal faith, they must really have it. But we need to understand that interest is not a synonym for saving faith. Just because this young man approached the Lord and had spiritual questions doesn't mean that he was hungry for Jesus. And we're going to see that in just a moment. You see, this is a study that I've chosen to entitle not simply the most important decision, but it's really a difficult decision. It's a decision that every person needs to make, whether we will or will not pursue the Lord Jesus Christ. And so as we look at this, let's look at the story beginning at verse 16 in that we see Matthew introducing us to an interesting young man. It's a man that we can learn from. And by combining Mark and Luke's account, we get a pretty good picture of who he is. We know, for example, in verse 20 of Matthew 19, that this is a young man. We also know that this is a man who believed in an afterlife because he's asking a question about entering into life. So if he believes in an afterlife, during the time of Christ, you need to understand that that would make him a Pharisee, because the Sadducees, the other main religious group at that time, did not believe in an afterlife. So this helps us to understand that he is speaking to a young man who is a religious man, a Pharisee. And we also know that he is a man who serves in a synagogue he's referred to in Luke chapter 18 verse 18 as the certain ruler. The ruler that he is is a ruler in a synagogue. Now the synagogue rulers were chosen from men of leisure. That was another way of speaking of them as Hebrew scholars who were free from the necessity of labor and could devote themselves to the duties of the synagogue as well as to study. So this is an individual who would be referred to as a ruler of the synagogue, which is another way of letting us know that he was wealthy. He's a man of leisure and devoted in terms of his studying. We also know that this is a respectful young man, a reverent young man, even a humble young man, because Mark 10 17 says a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. So that shows us something about him. He showed him respect, shows that he has humility. We also know according to chapter 19 verse 20 here in Matthew that he's spiritually unsatisfied because he says to Jesus what do I still lack? We know that he's a man who's earnest in his religious practice, that he's morally upright. You see when Jesus gives him a list of commands this man replies that he has habitually kept them from the time he was young. And then we see that he was a very wealthy man. He was a rich young man. Verse 22 said he had great possessions. So what we have here is a spiritually conservative, religiously devoted, respectful, humble, searching, upright, and rich young man. And imagine all the good that could come as a result of a man like that becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. Consider just taking into account the man's great wealth, the good things that could be done through this man who has a lot of money just through his financial support. Imagine Bill Gates gets saved. He's listening to K-wave and I like David Rosas. I'll give him six billion dollars. Imagine, I mean this guy was very, very wealthy, very wealthy. So in religious circles he would be a great catch, a good find. He's got all of the attributes that you want for a leader. He's humble, he's reverent, he's wealthy, he's studious. He's got all of the things and yet when he comes to Christ, notice with me, Jesus doesn't just open his arms and welcome him in. Now I'm pretty sure that if this man who was so wealthy would begin to support Jesus' ministry, that that could have been profitable in some ways. We need to remember that Jesus was a carpenter turned preacher. We need to remember that he did not have a personal large income. When you look at the Bible you see that he was placed in a manger when he was born. You know that when his parents took him to the temple in dedication that they gave an offering that was an offering of two turtle doves or young pigeons which is an offering of the poor. We know that in his life as he grew up that or even before he's grown up even as a young child that they took into Egypt and they survived on the gold that was given to Joseph and Mary by the Magi when Herod killed the children in Bethlehem. We know that when he began his ministry he was supported by those who followed him, that he borrowed a garden to pray and ministry and then eventually that he was buried in a borrowed tomb. We know that he didn't have anything. As a matter of fact he had said that in Matthew 8 19 and 20 when it says one of the teachers of religious law said to him teacher I will follow you no matter where you go and Jesus said foxes have dens to live in, birds have nests but I the son of man have no home of my own not even a place to lay my head and so Jesus did not have a lot of money. He didn't have a lot of finances at all. This rich young man coming to him could have been a way for him to have profit to actually have money and yet he didn't take that take advantage of that and say oh yes please come I welcome you in. This is a well known young man undoubtedly and even today many think that if an important person becomes a Christian then many will follow after him but the opposite seems to be true. Professing Christians when they taste power when they get fame when they get money often drift away from what they one time said they believe so intensely. You see instead of welcoming him into the family Jesus seems to drive him away and he begins to clarify what what it means to follow him and so that's what we have an opportunity of seeing today how this all unfolds. So Matthew begins very simply here in verse 16 by saying now behold one came and said to him good teacher. The word behold is important you need to make a note of that because Matthew is tipping his hand immediately. Obviously it's surprising it's surprising that this is taking place a young religious rich man admits that he's lacking something in life and he's seeking an answer. Now why is this unusual? Well it's unusual because very often those who are very rich can be distracted by their riches. Jesus speaks about that for example in Matthew 13 22 when he speaks of the deceitfulness of riches the deceitfulness of riches because when people have money they think they have everything they need very often they have a tendency they can have a tendency of relying on their finances have a false security because they have money so Jesus speaks of how they can deceive you in Ecclesiastes 5 10 it says he who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver nor he who loves abundance with increase this also is vanity in Luke 12 15 Jesus said beware don't be greedy for what you don't have real life is not measured by how much we own so you see it all through scripture from the old to the new that money in and of itself is not going to satisfy you now obviously it's not a sin to possess wealth when you look in the old as well as the new you see that there were very many saints of God who had great abundance men like Abraham for example and and David and Solomon when you look into the New Testament you have rich men like Zacchaeus Joseph Joseph of Arimathea Nicodemus these are wealthy men it wasn't money in and of itself that was dangerous it's the attachment to it see it's not money that can be evil it's the love of money that is so this young man is very wealthy and has an attachment to it and you're going to see this as we go through this but he also has an emptiness there's an emptiness inside and he is aware that his life is unsatisfying he obviously is aware of his own emptiness and he comes to Jesus because he believes that Jesus can give him an answer and so that's a wonderful thing because it's very often the catalyst that helps us to come to realize we need God this natural longing can be used by Christ to direct us in the right direction there's a woman at a well who's thirsty and Jesus uses her natural longing to direct her attention to the one who gives living water there's a rich man who's religious who has a question a natural longing a drive something's going on and Jesus uses that drive to direct him in John 6 35 Jesus said I am the bread of life he who comes to me shall never hunger he who believes in me shall never thirst a philosopher by the name of Pascal once said there is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every person and it can never be filled by any created thing it can only be filled by God made known through Jesus Christ you can have that emptiness in you you can have the education you can have the good relationship you can have the cars the homes everything and still go to bed at night a lonely person you can be lonely even married you can be lonely as you lay in your bed at night next to the person you said you'd love for the rest of your life you can be lonely even when you have a house full of children you can be lonely and you can be lost when you have everything people say you ought to have that's a fact it's just true you can get money and you can get more money and it doesn't satisfy all you do is watch it slip through your fingers and fly away money isn't going to be the answer and this is what the Lord is teaching him he's teaching this young man that you have put your priority on the wrong thing so this young man comes and the Bible tells us that he he ran and he knelt before him a very humble thing to do and then he speaks to Jesus and he asked this question it says in verse 16 good teacher what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life now I want to develop this with you for a moment I'm going to give you a lot of layers here and then hopefully come to an application I want you to see that he refers to Jesus as notice good teacher now under ordinary circumstances this was a respectful way to address a rabbi it seems that he was saying that Jesus is a good teacher but he's not simply saying he's a good teacher he would also be implying that he's a good man so he's not simply saying you are a teacher he's saying you are good and a teacher I want to develop this with you it's important good teacher good man good teacher you can never be a good teacher if you're not a good man there are many people who preach above the way they live so they can come and say do this and do this and do this but they themselves don't lift a finger to do it themselves Jesus speaks about that later on in Matthew information isn't simple is not teaching in and of itself teaching includes the giving of information but in the Jewish way of thinking if somebody is a good teacher they are also first and foremost a good person because it requires a good person to give a good message and so when he's speaking to Jesus he's inferring not that Jesus simply can give a lot of information about heaven he's inferring that Jesus's quality as a person is good and that's why Jesus responds to him in the way he does and we'll see that in just a moment that's how Jesus speaks and that's why Jesus speaks the way that he that he does you see he's acknowledging Jesus to be a great respected rabbi he's acknowledging Jesus as an expert in the Old Testament he's acknowledging him as a teacher of truth but he's also making an inference that there's something about his character when he asks the question what good things shall I do how can I obtain eternal life how can I be saved he's simply saying I'm spiritually empty I have a need to be filled how can this occur in my life listen you can be spiritually empty too we'll see this in a moment there are some in this room right now who are spiritually empty this young man had it all this man was religious he was respected he was a leader in the in the religious community and yet he comes to an itinerant Jewish rabbi and he asks him for direction he sees something in Jesus Christ that he doesn't see in the other rabbis and he believes that this man Jesus can actually help him to enter into eternal life and that's why he's asking this question now I want you to see this notice that when Jesus answers he seems to make it more difficult to come to peace with God he even appears antagonistic and even confrontational notice in verse 17 when he said he says why do you call me good no one is good but one and that is God he asks a question with the purpose of revealing the state of this man's heart his questions intended to reveal the motives of the question in reality he's prying from the man what the man thinks about him why do you call me good do you see something about me that has given you insight into who I truly am because there is none good only God now here's something for you this is Christianity 101 if you do not believe that Jesus Christ is God you're not saved you're not saved if you think he's a prophet a good teacher a good man he's all of those things but if that's all he is in the way you think of Jesus Christ you're not saved the bible says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory of the only begotten son of God Jesus Christ is more than a man more than a prophet more than a teacher you begin your salvation journey when you recognize that God took upon himself human flesh and that Jesus Christ is God in flesh who bore our sin as the lamb of God who died on a cross as a substitution for us who paid the price we could not pay because the debt was beyond anything I could pay for so when I got saved the first thing I needed to understand is Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and so when Jesus is saying this to him he's saying why are you calling me good there's only one who is good and that is God do you see me as more than simply a Jewish rabbi are you being simply polite towards me or are you acknowledging something about me that is necessary for you to be saved are you just being polite or do you know that I am God in the flesh in first Samuel 2 verse 2 it says no one is holy like the Lord for there is none besides you nor is there any rock like our God so he's saying you need to think deeply before you speak to me in such terms now the man had said what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life and so Jesus begins to answer the question I want you to notice how he begins he approaches him on the basis of his personal standards he said you need to keep the commandments well in verse 18 he said to him which ones Jesus said you shall not murder you shall not commit adultery you shall not steal you shall not bear false witness honor your father and your mother you shall love your neighbor as yourself and so Jesus begins to give him what are called the social commandments and he's speaking to him concerning this he says keep the commandments now why would he say that to him why would he say keep the commandments well that would reveal to him that his dissatisfactions the result of his religious practice his attempt to keep the law obviously led to his dissatisfaction in life he's tried to do this you see one of the things that I'm going to develop this with you because it comes to a point where you'll see it very clearly when you follow them what is called the mosaic law or the law of Moses following the law of Moses cannot result in life because the law of Moses awakens you to a sense of failure that's one of the reasons why God gives us the law it's not so that we can say I do all of these things and I practice them habitually it's so that we can see that we fail to practice them and it awakens us to our failure it gives people the the ability to realize their own spiritual dissatisfaction it's something that that paul spoke about in the book of romans in chapter 7 when he said in verses 7 through 9 what shall we say then is the law sin certainly not indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law for I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said do not covet but sin seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment produced in me every kind of covetous desire for a part from law sin is dead once I was alive apart from law but when the commandment came sin sprang to life and I died you see I didn't know that what I was feeling covetousness was actually wrong until God said thou shalt not covet now I have a name to put on this feeling and I realize that is something that God is not pleased with so the law of moses was intended to awaken us to a sense of failure because we can't keep it you see the law was given to bring people to be aware of their need for grace it was intended to awaken people to the need for jesus christ napal said that in galatians 3 22 through 24 he said the scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin so that what was promised being given through faith in jesus christ might be given to those who believe before this faith came we were held prisoners by the law locked up until faith should be revealed so the law was put in charge to lead us to christ that we might be justified by faith so I wake up and I say to myself I can't do this oh wicked men that I am who will deliver me from this body of death the desire is there but the ability to perform that which I desire is not I need help and so the gospel comes like it's coming here to this man here the gospel comes and says this is what you need to do then I have a response to that message you see in john 5 39 and 40 it says you diligently said to the scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life these are the scriptures that testify about me yet you refuse to come to me to have life it says in john 6 28 and 29 what shall we do that we might work the works of god and jesus answered and said to them this is the work of god that you believe on him whom he has sent what must we do believe in me you will be for the rest of your life spiritually dissatisfied if you think that by keeping rules and regulations that will put you in a position of being right with god it doesn't it just makes you a better living sinner than you were before that's what it makes you a better living sinner it's not a change of behavior it's a change of nature that god wants to give to you you can dress a chimpanzee in a tuxedo he's a good-looking chimp but he's still a chimpanzee nicely dressed but still a chimpanzee and we and we dress ourselves up in good works this man has been doing good works but he's dissatisfied he comes to christ what good thing must i do to have eternal life keep the commandments which ones and then jesus outlines them he gives them several commandments and again in marquis he actually adds uh do not defraud mark chapter 10 do not defraud so he gives them all of these commands these commandments that he gives to him by the way these are social commands these are commandments that were given in man's relationship with men he did not even give to him the commandments that related to his service to god and worship to god he gives six commandments here in matthew a seventh of that is added in mark chapter 10 verse 19 but they all excuse me they all retain to social relationships man's duty to man well as he says that notice verse 20 the young man said to him all these things i have kept from my youth now notice what do i still lack i've kept them since i was very young but i have a spiritual vacuum can you please help me can you please tell me what is it that i lack and the answer an assurance of salvation when am i still lacking i've done all of this since i was a child what am i still lacking an assurance it reminds me of people who are raised in church who went to sunday school all their lives who memorized the scriptures even as the sunday school teachers taught them or went to christian school but they're still lacking something from childhood i was dedicated i i was taught the scriptures i've served i've done all of it but there's something empty within me i'll never forget a young woman who approached me after a sunday morning service and i had given an invitation and she walked up to me and spoke to me after the study and and she said to me i got saved today and i said well praise the lord that's that praise god and she said well she says i didn't want to come forward in front of the people here because my father is a pastor in the city and people know him and i didn't want to bring shame to him but i wanted to come and talk to you and let you know that i was raised in a christian home my father preaches the gospel but not until today did i realize that i've never given my heart to Jesus christ there are people in this room who could say the same thing raised in a christian home a mama who prays for you every day a father who takes you to church gave you devotions loved you they serve god but you have never given your heart to christ and you could say the same thing this rich young man said what do i still lack i don't have it and i know i need it what is it when jesus isn't speaking to him's opening his heart to him what you need is an assurance of salvation you're sincere but you're sincerely wrong you couldn't have kept all of the commandments you're not perfect and you're unsatisfied you know he thought he'd been faithful but he still knew something was missing and so the commandments had their effect on him you know when you begin to look at good people and what we would today call bad people there there are some good people you know the ones that seem to come to faith in christ easier if you will if there's such a word as it pertains to salvation more readily are the ones who know they're evil the ones who know they're evil the ones who i've had so many conversations who will walk up and say i'm an alcoholic i'm violent i've been doing drugs i'm a thief i've been lying i'm unkind i've been unfaithful god i need help many times those people open their hearts so quickly and say yes to jesus you know ones the ones are difficult are the ones that say no no i've always been good i've gone to church all my life i was dedicated as a child no i'm good i just have spiritual emptiness there's a vacuum in me i really don't know but i thought maybe you could help me and then you give them scripture yeah i already know that yeah i already know that no you're lacking something and you know it you're just not willing to yield to what you know you need to do you need to do and that's to come to true faith in jesus christ to actually really open your heart up to jesus and say god be merciful to me i am a sinner many times people can feel terrible guilt and even ache for peace and need for forgiveness from god and that's how they can receive it is when they're aware of it it says in psalm 32 verses 3 and 4 when i refused to confess my sin i was weak and miserable i groaned all day long day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me my strength evaporated like water in the summer heat you see good people can often not realize how needy they truly are now what's interesting about this is mark adds something i think i will i appreciate i think you will too because mark gives us insight in mark chapter 10 verse 21 where it says jesus looked at him and loved him well do you can you imagine if you walked up to jesus if you walked up to jesus say it was possible to do that and you walked up to him and jesus said you need to do these things could you look him in the eyes and say i've done that since i was a baby and jesus would look at him like really really and there's this look that you can see christ having this naive this naive belief that he really has been keeping the law sometimes we don't understand what depth is especially spiritual depth we just don't understand depth at all i still remember a young woman who came to speak to me after a service and she was saying to me how she's going through a terrible she goes i'm going through a terrible uh terrible trial pastor i just want to know do trials ever end i smiled at her she says i've been under a terrible trial i said really she says for so long i said really i said she goes yeah for three weeks i said really you're not married are you three weeks you know when i got saved i began a journey of trials that hasn't ended yet that's just a fact that's a fact whom the lord loves he chasens vizalus therefore in repent that's a fact he works on you he works on you all until the day comes when you finally say i get it then you die i mean that's just how it works that's a fact that's just a fact and so when that young young lady spoke to me and she was so you know three weeks i i understand the what what it means when jesus looked at him and loved him it's how sweet how innocent but you don't understand what you're talking about you don't you don't know you haven't kept these and it's interesting how the lord puts the hammer on them and you'll see this in just a moment because what he's doing here is he's helping him to see what he needs so in verse 21 he says if you if you want to be perfect go sell what you have give to the poor if you want to be perfect the word perfect there means complete you are lacking something and if you want to be made complete then this is what you're to do if you want to be perfect go sell what you have give to the poor you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me you really want that then you need to understand something you need to understand what god values listen i gave to you commandments that pertain to your relationship with man you say that you've been keeping those commands you say you love your neighbor as yourself if that's the case sell your possession give to the poor you will have your spiritual desire now true religion would be concerned with the welfare of others and james 127 it says religion that god our father accepts is pure faultless is this to look after orphans and widows in their distress to keep oneself from being polluted by the world so jesus in his answer exposes the young man to himself to really follow god is to love him to really follow god is to love others true faith is always concerned with the welfare of other people now notice what he says he says you will have treasure in heaven so that exposes whether he really does believe in heaven and the rewards that await believers earlier in matthew 6 jesus at verses 19 and 21 through 21 it said do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there your heart will be also so he says really well then sell all that you possess and come and follow me come and follow me where i'm going you can go too um when jesus speaks concerning commands and all he gave commands here remember with me on one occasion that when jesus was asked a question concerning the greatest commandment that jesus said in matthew 22 37 through 38 you shall love the lord your god with all your heart all your soul with all your mind this is the first and great commandment the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself love god with everything love your neighbor jesus just said the same kind of thing you shall love your neighbor as yourself in verse 19 so think about that for a minute you have moses moses in the old testament has a relationship with god where god is communicating to moses the things that matter moses gives the law to the nation of israel and becomes the deliverer to the nation of israel and moses in the book of deuteronomy gives to us the command that we just read where it says love the lord your god with your heart soul etc he's the one who gives to us that command he wrote that he put that down for the jewish people to know and yet when you look at moses and he's saying hero israel the lord thy god he is one and you shall love the lord thy god you shall love him with your heart your soul in your mind when he wrote that moses is the same person who did not enter into the promised land moses is the one who smoked the rock when he was ordered to speak to it and as a result of giving the impression to the nation of israel that god was angry at him at them when he was not god took him and allowed him to look into the promised land but god said to moses you will not enter in this is a man who wrote to us love god with everything and then you've got david david the sweet psalmist of israel a man who could not go out into a field tend to sheep without thinking of the lord a man who was a shepherd he cared for his father's sheep who when he heard that a giant by the name of the lieth was taunting the armies of god his righteous indignation rises and he says who is this uncircumcised philistine and puts on this mentality of i'll take him out in the name of god and you see this man david and you know that he's a shepherd and you know that he's a man who is called the sweet psalmist of israel who would who would sit out there and he'd look at the stars and when i consider the stars when i look at the heavens i think within my south what is man that thou should be considering him or mindful of him what am i in this universe if i'm not just a speck and god speaking of david said this is a man after my own heart and yet it's still the same david it's the same david who saw basheba desired her made sure that iraia her husband died and took her the same man the same man this is a man after my own heart and yet david went after somebody else's wife did he love god with all of his heart you go into your new testament yeah the man by the name of the apostle peter and he said to jesus though all for sake you i never will i would die for you i would die for you i would die for you in essence i love you more than these i love you so much i would die for you you can't trust these other guys by the way but you can trust me that's what peter was saying you can't trust me oh really no satan satan has desired you he's prayed for and obtained you he's asked god for you and obtained you he's going to sift you as we just sifted he's going to show you what you're really made of but after you're converted follow me i would never i would never deny you lord oh you're going to deny me three times i love you more than then you have john who irritated me when i first began to read his words how he would say i'm the one whom jesus loved and i thought man are you kidding me how could you do that in front of everybody i'm the one who jesus loved oh by the way this is my god i don't even need to write the gospel of john everybody knows i don't have to put my name john everybody knows i'm the one jesus loved think about that i'm the one jesus loved they call him john the beloved to this day i'm the one one okay peter you said you would die for jesus you even took your little sword out and tried to cut off a man's head with it but when jesus was at the cross where were you peter you were hiding for fear of the jewish authorities you're the one who said that you love jesus more than the rest and you were hiding for fear john you were the one who said i'm loved by jesus and you were at the foot of the cross watching your master die you tell me what is more valuable to think you love god or to know he loves you he loves you and that's what jesus is waking this man up to you say that you've kept all my commands and he loved him he smiles at him sell all that you possess give to the poor follow me you will have treasure in heaven no no and he went away sad because he really didn't desire what jesus had to offer and it was revealed through the commandments keep these commandments you say you love your neighbors yourself give to the poor you think that you're going to have a Rolls Royce in heaven you're not everything's left behind how much do you really believe in heaven well you know it's good to talk about over capuchino no how much do you really believe because if you want to follow me i'm saying come come you're welcome but leave it behind and no i cannot do that i will not do that notice what he says here in verse 22 the young man heard that saying he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions and jesus said to his disciples assuredly i say to you that it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven and again i say to you it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of god when his disciples heard it they were exceedingly amazed saying who then can be saved jesus looked at them and said to them with men this is impossible but with god all things are possible his love of wealth and all that he had through it it was just too powerful to give up even if it meant costing his life a wrestler had gotten on a ship in a time when they would go on a ship across the ocean and he traveled across to europe in order to have a contest and the prize was a great sum of money a lot of money that was paid in gold and so he went he won they paid him in gold gold is very heavy i've never really felt gold but i understand that it's heavy and they paid him in gold in gold dust he had a a belt that he put all the gold dust in and is very heavy and he kept it in his his belt around his waist and in the middle of the ocean the ship that he was traveling in to return home began to sink they dropped the boats the lifeboats and said you know abandoned ship and so people were jumping off the the ship into the water and then swimming to the lifeboats and this man did that he jumped into the water but he had this heavy belt of gold around his waist and he went to the bottom he went to the bottom he wouldn't remove the belt to be saved and the riches that he had won took him to his death keep that in mind because that's what the lord is saying to this man you're going to leave it all behind like when the rich man died and somebody asked how much did he leave behind the answer was everything everything there are no herces that are with you hauls going to the cemetery you leave it all behind and so jesus is pointing it out what is it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul what will he give an exchange for it and so when he goes away he goes away sad because he had great riches and as the men watch this man refuse the invitation have life jesus is oh it's so hard for rich men to enter into the kingdom of heaven you know in Matthew 6 24 it says no one can serve two masters for you will hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other you cannot serve both god and money well the disciples when they see this they're amazed who can be saved is what they ask you see remember riches in the old testament are used very often as a demonstration of the blessings of god and they give such great advantages mark 10 24 clarifies this when it says the disciples were astonished at his words but jesus answered again and said to them children how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of god riches by themselves were not the issue dependence on them was you can't depend on god and simultaneously depend on your wealth and that's why he says in verse 26 with men it's impossible but with god all things are possible salvation is a work of god it isn't the work of man it isn't keeping all those commandments it's following jesus because the commandments were intended to reveal our weakness and i need of salvation your life is but a vapor when you're young you don't know that when you get older you know it you start looking behind you and there's more road behind than there is in front and you begin to say things like when did you get so big when did you become so old and you're saying that to yourself it's a vapor today is my son david's 38th birthday 38 today and to this day i still see him as that little baby boy that they put in my arms 38 years ago and uh i was originally going to name him erin erin david because erin is my favorite name i love the name erin illuminated and so marie his mama and i were talking she says what are you going to call the baby if it's a boy i said erin that's my favorite name love the name erin really you're not going to name the baby after yourself i said no no he's going to be erin i'll give him my name is his middle name the doctor who is attending marie had asked me if it's a boy what are you going to name oh i'm going to name him oh and if it's a girl i don't know yet but and then the day came november 13th and uh there i am in that hospital room and the baby is born and we were not the kind of parents at that time how we had a lot of people today want to know uh their child's sacks and all marie and i we said no we'll just wait and you know when the baby's born it'll be for us kind of cool and the doctor says here's your boy and he hands this little boy to me and he says what are you going to name him and i smiled and i looked at marie i said david i couldn't name him anything else david erin but why did i tell you that i told you that because it feels like yesterday 38 years yesterday listen to this old man your time is limited make your decisions now not next week not next month not next year not at a more opportune time make it now now tomorrow is promised to no one to no one that's why you only have today and it's always today see tomorrow doesn't exist because when it comes you know after midnight it's today it's always today right it's always today make your decision today this man went away sad for his possessions were great do you think he's happy today at this moment that he rejected christ he's not you don't lose anything when you come to faith in christ you gain everything when you come to faith in christ don't forget that