 Let's open up our Bibles to Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10, we're gonna look at verse 17. Why don't we stand together so we can read as we give reverence to the word of God? Let's all stand. In Mark chapter 10 verse 17, this is what we read. Now, as he was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before him and asked him, good teacher, what should I do that I may inherit eternal life? So Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good, but one that is God. You know the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother. And he answered and he said to him, teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth. Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, one thing you lack, go your way, so whatever you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven and come, take up the cross and follow me. But he was sad at this word and went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. And father, we come before you and we ask that you will just speak to our hearts right now, Lord. Even as we look at this young, rich ruler, Lord, we see Lord what a foolish decision he made. He had a choice and he made the wrong one. Can I ask, Lord God, that you will help us make the right one today? As you examine our hearts, may you help us to see who we really are so that we can know without a shadow of doubt that we are your people or we're not. But we know that a lot depends on it, our eternal destiny depends on it. Speak to us now, Lord, we ask in Jesus' name we say, amen, you may have a seat. A lot of us make, all of us have a lot to decide on in life, don't we? We need to make decisions for everything. I know when I was younger, man, I had to make a decision whether I was gonna go to school or not and well, it was kind of like a trade school type of thing. It was called UEI. And my wife would tell me, why you wanna go there? And I'm like, well, because man, you know, I think I need this and I had to make a decision and I made the decision. Looking back now, I realized it was the bad decision because the reality is I went to school for something that I'm not even doing today. I picked up a few things here and there, but I'll tell you this, the reason why it was a bad decision is because it let me in debt for a long time. So I've learned to pray about the choices that I'm gonna make in life. And I want you to understand that there is one decision that you have to make sure it's the right decision, that you make the right decision. Because like I said in my prayer, it can cost us our eternal destiny. So as we look at this young man's life, I want you to note that he comes across the Lord Jesus Christ. And keep in mind that as the Lord is doing ministry, his reputation is being spread. This young, rich, young ruler hears about him. He knows something, that something's different about this man, so he approaches him in a way to get him to respond. And that's what we're gonna talk about today. But can I say something though, that is very important? There's a problem in the church today. And that problem is that there's a lot of people that attend church, they hear a lot of sermons, they like to hang out with a lot of Christians, right? They like to be part of a religious group. But what's sad is that a lot of people think that because they attend church, listen to sermons, hang out with Christians, that they're probably, are Christians themselves. They go through the emotions, they go through all these things, but the reality is that they might not be Christians at all. Now why do I say that? I say that because when you have been touched by God, listen to me, your life is gonna change dramatically. You hear me? And I will tell you this, there's gonna be a radical, dramatical change in your life. In fact, in 1 John chapter three, verse nine, when John explains how there's certain things that a true believer is gonna manifest in his life. There's gonna be love for the brethren, there's gonna be love for God. I mean, there's gonna be love to doing things that is right. And I like John because John then says, listen, but the reality is that if you're living in sin and you're practicing sin, then you can't be a true believer. And I'm just paraphrasing him, but you should read that letter, man. I really love John because he's straightforward. But I like it because, and then he says, if you're living in sin, and says you're practicing it, he says then you're not of God, you're of the devil. Now I say that because in the church, like I said, people are religious, there's religious people in the church, hear me? But these people don't really have a relationship with God. They still live life in sin, doing the things that their flesh desires. They're giving into the flesh, but ignoring these important truths that they have to listen to and make the choice to change as we're gonna see in our story. But I want you to know that this rich young ruler is now confronted with the creator of the world. Now notice the first thing I want you to know in verse 17, because there's a few things that we can kind of learn from this rich young ruler. This is now as he was going out on the road, one came running and knelt before him and asked, good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? I don't know about you, man, but I like learning. I really do. I'm those kind of visual learners and listening to those guys that listen and learn things. But I like learning from Christians, but also from non-Christians. And we can learn a few things from non-Christians, can we? Let me give you an example. A while back, there was a man who came here and gave a message. His name is Hank Canagrave. And he quoted a man by the name of Walter Martin and he said something like this, are you willing to do for the truth what the code is willing to do for the lie? And that kind of trigger a thought in my mind. And I began to say, hmm, okay, let's look at a cult. And when you study a cult, someone who's of another religion, of course, do you see how a lot of them are faithful? Man, I remember when I first got saved, I invest a lot of time in witnessing to Jehovah's Witnesses. And one thing I can assure you about them is that they were committed to their cause. At five o'clock in the morning, you will find them at a donut shop. So when we went hunting for them, that's where we found them. And what was crazy is that while you're driving to the donut shop, you will see them walking with breed cases and all that holding their little watchtower tablets. And I would say, man, these people are down for theirs. And it was inspiring, but convicting. Because when I saw that, I realized, man, they do, sometimes they do more for the light than we Christians do for the truth. And I remember God used it to kind of convict me. So you can learn a few things from people that are not Christians. So I wanna see, I wanna highlight a few things in this non-believer who thought he was right, but we're gonna see that he wasn't, because the Lord's gonna speak to him directly. I want you to know first of all here that this rich young ruler was pretty proud of all the success that he had. And hourly, I want you to know, there is no doubt that you can look at him and say, man, this is a person that you wanna admire. You can admire, I mean, think about it. First thing I want you to know that he was very eager. He was an eager young man. How do I know that? Because we read there that he came running to Jesus. So he was enthusiastic. He was filled with strength and vigor of youth. In fact, he will put some of us in shame today. In fact, I know many who come to church with long faces, complaining, you know, with no kind of energy, no enthusiasm. Many today, in fact, are not enthusiastic about the things of God. You see, it will be a blessing if Christians can have the same enthusiasm than those people that are not of the body. Like for example, you go to a football game, right? Just like today, many of these coliseums or these sports events are gonna be filled with fans. And what do they do? Their hands are always up. Yay, yay, right? Shouting and screaming, you know, and doing all that. They're so enthusiastic, so energetic. And yet we, who have something to cheer about, won't even raised our hands in worship. We won't even say praise the Lord or amen. We just come in like, okay, we're going to church and we're going back out, oh well. It will be such a blessing if we can just get energized for God, right? The number two, I want you to notice that he was a humble young man. He came and he knelt before him, we read, as Jesus. Keep in mind that Jesus at this time was seen as a peasant prophet from Galilee. And this rich young ruler gave Jesus a knee. He gave some respect. It's interesting how sometimes the world has more respect to religious things than God's own people to him. You know, I'll be honest with you. I mean, I'll talk more about that later on. But one of the things I want to show you that he was filled, he was dressed in humility. He was humble. Keep in mind that the rich young ruler had an honorable position. He had great possessions, lots of power, prestige, and he was young. And yet we see how he was respectful, humble and respectful, came to the Lord and he knelt before him. Some of us don't even show that respect to God. Some of us, while the Word of God is being read, maybe some of you are on our check in your Instagram. Check in the score. No respect, no reverence to the Lord. We don't give a knee to him. We sometimes we just give him our shoulder. But he was a humble man and he showed it as he came and he gave a knee to the Lord. The third thing I want you to notice that he was discerning. He was a discerning young man. Notice that he called Jesus, good teacher. What shall I do to inherit eternal life? It shows us that he knew that there was something about Jesus that was different from everyone else. That's why he asked about eternal life. He recognized worth and goodness when it was present before him. And yet today, there are a lot of people who can discern good and worth in the person of Jesus Christ. Is that you? Do you know about the Lord? Or do you know the Lord and everything that he has done and it's going to do for us? Do you understand the value that we have in Christ? Do you understand the person who saved us and is working in us and is using us? Do you understand who he is? I mean, this rich young ruler, he's just a non-believer. He wants a part of Christ of what Christ has to offer and he came to him discerning that something was good about him. Listen guys, you can know about him and discern about Christ. When you get into this book, you study it, you read it, meditate on it so that God can show you who he is. But he had a good discernment about who Jesus was. He saw that there was worth, there was good. So he went to him. Number four, he had his mind on spiritual things. Notice again, he asked, what shall I do that I may have eternal life? He didn't come to the Lord and ask about some points about being more success or what he needs to do to get things that can satisfy the pleasures of his flesh or maybe to obtain happiness. He came asking for something that he knew at one time, he's gonna be there, eternal life. His mind was on spiritual things. How about you today? Can I ask you, what are your interests today? If you're a non-believer, are you interested in heaven? Are you interested in not going to hell? If you're a believer, are your things and the things, is your mindset on the things above? Like rewards in heaven, right? What about hearing Jesus say, well done, my good and faithful servant. Are those things, do those things interest you? Because if they do, guess what? You're gonna be doing exactly what God has called us to do and that is to preach the gospel to every creature. That is to make disciples out of men. That is to serve the poor, the widow, the orphans and so forth. You're gonna be active and involved because those things interest you. So this individual had his mind on spiritual things. Number five, in verses 9 through 20 we see that he was also morally clean. Again, we read how he comes to the Lord and I'm gonna kind of go back and forth in these verses here, but he kind of comes to the Lord and he asks about eternal life and then Jesus in verse 18 says to him, why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is God and we'll talk more about that in a few seconds. You know the commandments do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother and he answered and he said to him teacher all these things I have kept from my youth. So he's saying, listen, he's saying I haven't stole, I haven't killed anyone, I haven't committed adultery, I don't lie, I don't take God's name in vain, I've kept the Sabbath, I've been good to my neighbor, I've honored my parents, I mean, I've done everything that is asked of me. I mean, he was a good moral young man. He's someone that, you know, be honest, we will wanna hang out with, you know what I'm saying? Because you know he's not gonna backstab you, you know he's not gonna do you wrong, right? He's gonna be someone that you can have around your children, you know, because he's trustworthy. So he was one who had, who was morally clean. Yet some today, believers can't say that of themselves. They're not more in cleaning. Some of you guys probably broke nine commandments coming to church. Some of us are doing it willingly. Some of us got drunk last night. Not me, but hopefully you guys didn't either. Some of us had sexual relationships with our girlfriends or our boyfriends. And then you hear today's hoping that if you convince and repent, God will forgive you. And then you go right back to the same thing tomorrow. This young man is impressive. And you're someone you can admire because at least he's saying, look, I've done it all. I've kept the commandments. He's telling Jesus, now this is what's crazy to me. He's talking to the author of the commandments. And he doesn't realize that now, but we're gonna see how God begins to show him. Listen, when I wrote the commandments, it was to show you your heart. And we'll see that again in a few moments. But he was morally clean. Number six, he was very successful. Well, we're told that he was young. He was, Matthew 19, 20 tells us that. That he was a ruler, Luke 18, 18 tells us that. You know, we know that he had great possession. So he was filthy rich. He had, in fact, he had everything that we wish we had. Riches, position, power, prestige. This guy was hooked up in life. But he had one thing, but he didn't have one thing. And that is eternal life. So he comes to the Lord and he asks him some, an important question. What must I do to have eternal life? In verse 18, notice Jesus said to him, first of all, he says, why do you call me good? And no one is good, but one that is God. Now, the first thing I want you to know is that Jesus didn't praise him, didn't flatter him. He went directly to his heart to minister to him. I say that because sometimes we can be caught up in showing favoritism on people, right? Who have more than we do. And sometimes our little greetings can get inside of us, you know, and say, hey, he becomes your friend. He can treat you to a Ram's game or something. You know what I'm saying? So you won't minister to the person. And in doing that, you want to hold back some truths. Cause you want to keep that friendship. You want to keep that line of credit. If you want to know what I'm talking about, you know, whatever it is, you want to keep that there so you minister have heartily. You hear what I'm saying? Do you see them doing something wrong? And you'll be like, oh, is this wrong, bro? They'll tell you. You'll be like, ah, it's cool. God is gracious, man. You compromise, right? Jesus didn't flatter him. He wasn't moved by who he was. He wanted to reach him. He wanted to speak to his heart. Why? Because the Lord loved him. How do I know? Because in verse 21, it says then Jesus looking at him loved him. So we need to make sure, listen, that whenever we minister, that our focus is on the Lord and on their soul. Not on what they have, but what they could have in Christ. You hear me? Now, here's another thing I want you to know. I want you to know now how the Lord is gonna teach these young rulers some important lessons. He's gonna teach them some things that I want you to know. Number one, I want you to know that Jesus here is teaching this rich young ruler in one sentence, two things. Number one, he's teaching him that he himself is not good, even though he was a pretty good boy. He himself is not good. You hear me? He's telling him, only God is good. No one else, neither you are good. In other words, yeah, okay. You say you kept all those commandments, but can I tell you, you're not good. You're still not good. You see, because the commandments were never intended for you to save you or to justify you. They were intended to show you how wretched you are, how wretched I am. So number one, he's telling the young man, listen, you're not good. Number two, Jesus is teaching him that he is God. He's saying, listen, there's only one who's good. Remember, the guy came and says, good teacher. And he says, hey, you're not good, but I'm good. And if I'm good, therefore I'm God. He's teaching him that he's not good and that Jesus is God because he is good. So if Jesus isn't God, he isn't good. But because he is good, he is God, he is good. Try to say that fast, two and two. Jesus said there's none good but one and it's God. I'm God. So church, Jesus is God, right? We didn't know that. So if he's God, shouldn't he be honored, revered, feared and revered as the king of kings and lords of lords? So I want you to know that right there, as he's talking to him, Jesus is coming to conversation and he's saying, do you know who you're talking to? The creator, the one who created you, the good God. And he's conversing with him, notice that. And then he's gonna start picking at his heart as we're gonna see right now. But the reality is that there's only one who's good. No one is good. In Romans chapter three, verses 10 through 12, Paul writes that there's no one that is good, no one that does good, no not one he tells us. The only one who is good is God. So he's saying, I'm God, you're a sinner. You're not good, I am good. I am God, you need me so that you can be good with me. Hope that makes sense. So here's the thing, listen closely. God's word tells us that God is merciful, doesn't it? That he is forgiving, that he is love, and that he is good. Listen to me closely. But don't ever forget that scripture also teaches that God will never overlook sin. In Exodus chapter 34, verse seven, we are told that God will by no means clear the guilty. So don't think that somehow when someone stands before God that he is going to look at our sin and say, you're okay, don't worry about it, go ahead. No, because if he does, then he becomes a sinner. You see, God is holy, and he has to judge sin. He's not gonna overlook sin. You hear me? He will not overlook sin. So listen, if God were to clear guilty, then he would become guilty. If he overlooks sin, he becomes a sinner. In fact, it's been said, when a guilty man is acquitted, the judge is condemned. So the Lord will not overlook sin. He is love, he is merciful, he is forgiving, but he's also just, and he's also holy. And he's going to deal with sin, and he has dealt with sin at the cross through his son. Hear me? And everyone who receives him as Lord and Savior receives redemption. They're redeemed by God's blood. But I want you to note here that Jesus has been teaching this young, rich, young ruler that prideful men are sinners, even after worse. I mean, they're the worst sinners, even after best. I'm sorry. But again, so he looks at him and he says, you're a sinner. I'm not. No one's good, only God. I am God. The second thing I want you to note here is in verses 19 to 21. He begins to share about keeping the commands to help the young man to see that he's a sinner in need of a Savior. Again, he begins to share about keeping the commandments to help the young man see that he's a sinner in need of a Savior. First thing I want you to make sure is this, that he's not teaching this rich, young ruler. You hear me? He is not teaching this young ruler that salvation is obtained by keeping the law. But in fact, he's teaching the opposite. Keeping the commandments will not save anyone. That's important for us to understand. And I'm gonna highlight that a few times throughout the message. In fact, I want you to know that you can't be saved by keeping the law. In Galatians chapter two, verse 16, we are told that through the law, no flesh will be justified. So if you're someone trying to get to heaven, trying to have a relationship with God, based on keeping the law, just like this individual was, it can happen. There is no way that it can do it. You can do it. You hear me? The law can save anyone, but it is an important element in evangelism as well as in salvation. We do know that the law is to let us know that we are sinners. That's why Paul will write in Romans chapter three, verse 20. He says, therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is a knowledge of sin. You don't know you're breaking the speed limit until you see it posted, right? 65, you go, that's knowledge. You see it, you kind of break it. You go past the speed limit and you're breaking the law, but you don't know about it unless it's there. So same with you saying the law was intended to show you that we're sinners. In fact, the law was written to show us how wretched we are. I mean, haven't you read the Bible? And when you start reading it, you realize, oh my goodness, I don't deserve him. I'm filthy. I'm unworthy. He is so holy. Oh God, and the Lord begins to minister to you, begins to bless you with his goodness, and you begin to develop an appreciation for God that even though your soul wretched, yeah, he still loves you and he took you in and is working in you so that he can work through you. I mean, those are the good things about God because like Jesus said, there's only one who's good and that's God and we are recipients of his goodness. But the law, no one will be able to be saved. It's not there to save but to show us that we're sinners in need of him. So I want you to notice another thing. The law doesn't save, but it does prepare us to be saved. As I mentioned, the law doesn't save us, but it prepares us in order for us to be saved. So God is holy and anyone must see themselves as sinners before the holy God. It's then that they're ready for the free gift of salvation in his son Jesus Christ. So here's the thing, the law shows you that you are a sinner. At that point, you realize, oh man, I need the Savior. And that's where God comes in and says, and I'm here to save you. So the law doesn't save, the law shows us and prepares us for salvation. Now I want you to note that this young man had a superficial or a shallow knowledge of the law. Notice in verse 20 that he said that he had kept the law from his youth. He says, and he answered and he said to him, teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth. I like that. Could you imagine talking to the author of the law? Oh, you don't get it, man. The one who knows every thought, he knows everything about us, right? He's trying to convince God that he's done it all. So, you know, and I'm glad that Jesus didn't look at him and said, he didn't do nothing like that, right? He didn't look down at him. He didn't degrade him. He didn't put him down. You know, he understands that this guy is deceived by his own lies. He wasn't disgusted with him. He wasn't mad at him. He wasn't. He wanted to reach him. That's what he says before he answers in verse 21, he says, Jesus looking at him, he loved him. Guys, can I tell you something? When we're ministering, may God give us the heart of Christ because some of us are ministering but we're doing it for the wrong reasons. Some of us are ministering to show off our knowledge of the word of God, right? Oh, I know, I did it at one time. When I used to minister to the Jehovah's Witnesses, I wanted them to know that they were wrong and I knew a little bit of Greek, a little bit of Hebrew, a little bit about their history. I wanted to win the battle. I didn't care much about the soul. Until the Lord told me, David, there's sinners there in need of me too. You have taken what I placed in your heart that desire to reach them and abused it. When we minister to people, our goal is to try to reach them. That means we're gonna have to suffer long, be patient. We have to endure the mockery. We have to endure the persecution. We need to endure those sarcastic questions and those mad dogs and those, he took his eyes, all that stuff. You have to endure it because you love them and you wanna reach them, amen? You wanna reach them. So as Jesus is ministering to them and he's saying, I can picture him saying, I've kept them all in my life. And Jesus says, okay, round two, let's get to this. But I want you to know something. As he's ministering to him, I want you to note how he uses wisdom, the Lord, and with great gentleness, he asks them one thing. He tells his youngster, okay, one more thing. Notice verse 21. One thing you lack, go your way. So whatever you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven and come and take up the cross and follow me. He's saying, okay, here we go. This is pretty cool, I like this. He's saying, okay, you kept all the commandments, right? Yes, sir, okay, go sell everything. Give it to the poor, be my follower. Jesus is not teaching that you can do good things, like sell your stuff to the poor and you're gonna go to heaven. Good behavior doesn't take you to heaven. That's not what he's teaching. Keep in mind that he's going right at the heart. And what this witch young man has is a covetedness heart. Because in Exodus chapter 20 verse 13, the Bible says, thou shalt not covet. This young man had a, he was covetous. In other words, he had an idol. He had an idol. What was his idol? Gold. He had love for gold, not for God, as we're gonna see. So it's been said about this young man that his creed was greed and his gold was God. He said that he kept the whole law, but in reality, have you noticed, he broke the entire law. In Matthew chapter 22 verses 35 through 40, there was a rich, there was a lawyer who came to the Lord and asked him a very simple question. I'm just gonna paraphrase the story. You can write it down. You can go check out the story later. But he goes up to the Lord and says, hey, Lord, tell me out of the commandment, which one's the best commandment? And Jesus said this, listen. I'm gonna give you two commandments. The first one is love God with all your being, right? With all your mind, with all your soul, with all your mind. He says, love him with all your being. The second commandment is what? Love your neighbor as yourself. And then he goes on and he sums it up by saying, listen, if you keep those two commandments, you fulfill the whole law. And when you break down the 10 commandments, you're gonna realize that the first few commandments is directed to God and the other one is to mankind. So Jesus saying, keep these two commandments and you keep them all. This guy doesn't even realize that by turning down Jesus' offer, he broke the two commandments. Therefore, he broke them all, disqualifies him. Because if you're trying to save yourself by doing good or by keeping the law, you fall under the curse of the law, which is what? Now you have to keep the entire law. Yet James chapter two, we're told that if you stumble in one area of the law, what happens? You're guilty of breaking them all. So now the law can't save you. Now you need a savior. So this young man did not realizing that he had broken to all the commandments by just saying no to the Lord. You see, this rich young man wasn't willing to sell his goods for the poor and follow Jesus. Therefore, without realizing it, he broke the commandments. He loved his money more than he loved God. He loved his money more than he loved the people. You see, or his neighbor. So Jesus wasn't teaching that one can buy their way to heaven by selling everything or giving to the poor. He's showing this man's heart. He's revealing this man's heart. He's showing him that he is guilty of the sin of covenants and that he's trying to behave himself to heaven and all he had was a superficial knowledge of his own goodness. That's another thing I want you to know that what Jesus is teaching. He's teaching this young man that you can't have two masters. You can only have one. Notice again in verse 20. And he answered and said to him, teach you all these things I have cared for my youth. Then you know, then Jesus looking at him, he loved him. And he said to him, one thing you lack. Go, go your way. So whatever you have, give it to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven and come and take up the cross and follow me. He tells him, right? So he's teaching them, listen, you can't have two masters, only one. Only one. Now I want you to know quickly that he's not teaching that a rich man cannot get saved. Okay? And the reason why I say that because in verse 27, we read that with God, all things are possible. There's rich people can't get saved. You hear me? Harder, because you have to give up so much. But they could get saved. That's not what he's teaching here. But he is teaching that you can't serve two masters. The rich man had a false God whom he served, which kept them from serving Jesus Christ, who is the true God. What he needed to do, listen, to obtain eternal life was simple. He needed to repent from his idolatry, from his idolatry. His idol. These were the things that held him back from obtaining eternal life. Idolatry. And some of them might be like, oh, that's messed up. But let me tell you something. There's a lot of people, even in this building, that have idols that is keeping them from God. Because religion can be an idol. You can just be here, not because you have a relationship with God, but because it's Sunday, you gotta come to church. So you know what? I gotta honor God, so I'll just go. Some of you guys, your school, your relationships, they're your gods. This is what, this is who you serve. And these are the things that are keeping you from truly obtaining salvation. I said earlier that we have a problem, that there's a lot of people in the church that think they're right, but they're not right. They're here for other reasons, rather than the main reason, which is Christ. So this individual needed to repent from his idolatrous ways. And as I mentioned, some need to do that today too. That they may finally obtain eternal life. Idolatry can be a means that keeps people from God. How about this? Some of us worship. Some of us, we're our own idols. Trust me, I follow some of you guys on social media. You have more selfies, and oh my goodness, it's all about you. You live for you. So you might be keeping yourself from God. That's why the Bible says, humble yourselves before God. Because they know that there's too much of us, some of us will have become our own idols. We serve us, not God. And listen, you can only have one master. We can only have one master, either the Lord or the rest of things. This guy, he was being mastered by his possessions. We can't serve two masters, only one. And as mentioned, many miss salvation because he can't let go of their God, their idol, their gold, their lives. I mean, some hear messages and want heaven. They want their sins forgiven. They get all emotionally stirred. They think they can hold on to their gods, but they won't let go of the world. They think they can hold on to their gods, and they just want to add Jesus to their collection of goods. So is that you? See, this risk man had everything. I mean, he had everything. But he had something, he didn't have what Jesus had. And he wanted it. He wanted to add Jesus to his collection of what he already had. So there needs to be repentance. There needs to be a turning from the gods and turning to the Lord. So the question is this, are you, have you truly repented? Have you truly repented? Because if you're not truly repented, then you're really not saved. Because you confess Jesus as Lord, and then after the confession is repentance. Listen, the word repentance simply means to have a change of mind. The change of mind then changes the way of life. You hear me? When you hear the gospel and you respond, the Lord opens up your heart to respond to it, right? You confess them as Lord, right? You confess that first John, first Corinthians 15 verses one through five talks about the gospel which saves. You believe the gospel. But following that, there has to be repentance. There has to be a change of life dramatically, dramatically. I mean, there has to be why? Because God comes and resides within you. You guys, you need to understand that. That's why I believe it's very dangerous when we make alter calls. And I'll be honest with you, I've been guilty of that. I still do it, but I do it now with a little bit more warning. Because I tell people, listen, if you wanna get right with God, we're gonna say a prayer. And if you wanna get right, repeat after me, make it your own, and then welcome to the family of God. Now I say something a little bit different. I say, listen, if you wanna get right with God, I'm gonna say your prayer, but I want you to understand that prayer doesn't save you, Jesus does. And if you walk out the door, I'll tell the church this, you need to examine your life, make sure that you're right with God. You need to see the fruits of the spirit in your life. There needs to be a conviction. There needs to be something happening because if not, the reality is you were only, your feelings were stirred. You said a little prayer and you walked out thinking you're saved and I would hate for you to wake up in hell thinking that you were saved and you were not. So we need to be careful because the reality is this, only you and God knows whether you're truly repented. And maybe your wife or your kids, but other than that, you're the one that should know whether you're really saved or not. I know I'm saved because even when I'm alone and I get those temptations, guess what? Here comes the convictions. Hear me? And so, but if you're not convicted, if there's no this crazy change in your life, something is not right. There has to be repentance. Listen, it's been said, no repentance, no redemption. No repentance, no redemption. So he's teaching, he's not teaching Jesus here, salvation by keeping commandments, right? He's telling them you can't have two masters. You can't have a relationship with God of grace while you're dating the God of greed. You have to turn from the eye to serve the living God. And today we have a lot of people that fills our churches with people that do not have a changed mind or a changed life. Who is your master? Who is your Lord? And did you know that when you read the scripture like in Romans 10, it says that it talks about confessing him as Lord, not savior, Lord. He's Lord, you're the servant. You hear me? And a servant obeys. That's why Jesus says, everything you got, come and follow me. In other words, you're gonna enter into a life of obedience, into a life of service. You're gonna enter into a life of something. You're not just gonna say, I'm a Christian, I'm going to heaven. No, you're gonna follow. You're gonna be a follower. You're gonna do what I do. You're gonna say what I tell you to say. You're gonna be active. You're gonna follow me. You're gonna follow my example. So if you're here and you're thinking you're a Christian, but you're not following Jesus, then you're following someone else, but not Jesus. I tell you that right now. So Jesus is speaking to this young man's heart and I gotta go quicker here. He said, come and follow me. Fourthly, no, I want you to know. Jesus also teaching this young ruler, whatever masters you choose to serve, also mean that master will master you. Jesus tells him to forsake his old master and to follow him. Jesus talked about repentance. Now he's talking about faith here. Repentance and faith go together. See, when you turn from sin, you turn to Jesus. This man's sin was greed. He had to turn from it and turn to Jesus as a follower. He needed a new master and Jesus said, I'll be your master, follow me. So with that I say, is Jesus enthroning your life? Your destiny depends on it. Your destiny depends on it. Now I wanna close by focusing on verse 22. This is heartbreaking. Because I'm sure that Jesus is ministering with purpose. Their eyes are engaged. I wonder if Peter's on the side praying, oh God, please open the rich man's eyes open, Lord, please. I wonder if the rest of the apostles were like, yes, God, yes, God, quiet, Jesus talking to him. He's gonna reach him right now. He's gonna just bring him. I mean, just picture the scene. But Jesus is engaged. Will you follow me? It's a personal, it's a one-on-one. It's a decision. This decision, everything banks on it, right? On it right now. I want you to think about this for a moment. What Jesus told them struck a nerve. I can picture the guy breathing a little hard, probably bit his upper lip, thought about, man, give up everything, huh? Think about it with me. In one ear, you have the demons. Don't be a fool. Don't give everything up. Why will you give it up? Are you serious? Look what you got. Look at the jewelry you got. Look at your clothing, dude. You got Nikes. No. Look what you got, man. You're filthy. Are you gonna give it up to follow this peasant? Prophet from Galilee. On the other side, the spirit saying, hey, you're not gonna lose everything. You're gonna gain everything if you follow Jesus. Now think about it. Now he said with the decision, the most important decision in his life. He couldn't do it. But he was sad at this word and he went away sorrowful. Why? Because he had great possessions. That, remember, when master you choose, that master is gonna master you. Those possessions mastered him. They controlled him. He couldn't let go to get to God. And Jesus is standing there and all he can do is turn away, feel sorry for himself and walk away. Walking away from everything that God had for him. Salvation, forgiveness, eternal life. He turned it all down. He turned eternity down for the temporal. As he bowed his head and he walked away, no doubt the demons glee while the angels weaved. We will never know what could have been. Could you imagine if he were to say you Lord and Jesus said, hey, you know what? I tell you about giving everything up. You can keep a man. In fact, let's do this. In fact, could you imagine what could have been? He could have probably been, I don't know, another apostle? Maybe another Peter? I mean, I don't know. An Elijah type of guy? We would probably be reading about something about him that we'll be like, oh man, this is cool. I'm gonna take that from his life and I'm gonna apply it to my life and that's crazy right there. But instead, he's in hell right now wishing he can have that opportunity once again. He lost everything because he didn't receive the gift that Jesus was offering him. Right now, right now he's in hell because he made the wrong decision. You see? It was the fullest choice. But yet, so many here in this room are making the same choice. There's some here that are close to coming to the Lord, but they're holding back because those possessions that you have are holding you too tight. You don't wanna lose your popularity. You don't wanna lose your coolness. You don't wanna lose that you're hip. You don't wanna lose your reputation. You don't wanna lose your money. You don't wanna lose... Can I tell you that's all coming to an end? And those people that you're trying so hard to please, maybe in the next 10 years, they won't even be in your life. And the only thing that you took within those 10 years is a heart in heart that got harder and harder through the years. So here's the thing, what will you do? Because Jesus is speaking to you through me telling you, come and follow me and you will gain all the riches. So, are you someone who is immorally cool, right? Are you in a religious person? Or do you really know Jesus? Do you really know Jesus? Because if you don't, all the times that you came to church and heard messages and all that stuff, all the altar calls that you responded to, all that, means nothing. Because you can have all that knowledge of God is still end up in hell. Bible says even demons believe when they tremble and they're hellbound. So I wanna give you the opportunity today to examine your hearts and to ask yourself, do I really know God? Have I forsaken all for the one who gave his all? And if that's not you, I'm here today as a messenger from God to tell you, you need to give your all to him. Let's pray.