Will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel? We are now in Mark chapter 10 in our verse-by-verse examination of this wonderful gospel that the Spirit of God has given to us through his servant Mark. We will be looking at verses 17 through 31, under the heading "Exposing the Idolatry of Self Worship." Let me read the text to you, Mark chapter 10, beginning in verse 17. "And as He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him and asked Him, 'Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good, except God alone. You know the commandments, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.' And he said to Him, 'Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.' Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him. And said to him, 'One thing you lack, go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow Me.' But at these words, he was saddened, and he went away, grieving, for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus looking around, said to His disciples, 'How hard it will be, for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!' The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again, and said to them, 'Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.' They were even more astonished and said to Him, 'Then who can be saved?' Looking at them, Jesus said, 'With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.' Peter began to say to Him, 'Behold, we have left everything and followed You.'' Jesus said, Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters, or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake, and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive 100 times as much now in the present age, houses, and brothers and sisters, and mothers, and children's and farms, along with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.'"

Here Jesus exposes the idolatry of self-worship. This is a clever and clandestine idol that is often propped up by material wealth, and the power and the pleasure and the prestige it affords. And I might say, in comparison to the rest of the world, we all fall into the category of the wealthy. Before God called me into pastoral ministry, I spent almost 10 years counseling very affluent people, a lot of them were artists, especially in the Christian music industry. Many well-known Christian leaders. Most were very religious, most claim to be Christian, but by their lifestyles, and their secret reputations, you can see that they really had no basis to claim genuine saving faith. When you seemingly have all that the world has to offer, denying yourself and taking up a cross and following Christ is simply not all that appealing. The rich young ruler, as he's often called, in this text, was probably a leader of the synagogue. He would have been a fastidious keeper of the law and we see here that he was wealthy. And of course, in that culture, wealth was an indication of divine blessing. You were a very special person if you were wealthy. And if you were poor, that's an indication that you got some problems going on, and God's just not as impressed with you. All his externals were in place. But what's fascinating is he obviously knew something was missing. So he comes to Jesus, as we're going to see and says, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And as we look at this text, we can see Jesus' answer to him, and they really fall under four categories that I hope will be helpful for you. He is going to essentially say, number one, you need to know that Jesus is God. Number two, you need to acknowledge violating the law of God. Number three, you need to cast yourself on the mercy of God and finally, joyfully follow Christ in humble obedience. No one can inherit eternal life any other way. And I might add that, we're going to see some very key principles here for evangelism. And sadly, like so many proud people today, this proud young man could not part with his wealth, because it offered him the fleeting pleasures of power, and prestige, the gratification of his lusts; he loved himself more than God.

Now, may I remind you of the context here, having completed His Galilean ministry, Jesus and his disciples are traveling on the eastern side of the Jordan River, the region of Perea and he's making his way to Jerusalem, and ultimately to the cross. And his priority in this particular season of his ministry is to instruct his disciples. And what we're going to see in this particular scenario is one of great instruction for his disciples. And by extension for all of us. You will recall in Mark eight in verse 34, we read, "And he summoned to the crowd with His disciples and said to them, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?'" And dear friends, this particular historical narrative, with this rich young synagogue ruler, is a living illustration of these truths. And I would humbly ask you to examine your heart, as we go through this very carefully. You want to ask yourself, what are those things in my life that prevent me from truly loving Christ? Truly following him? What are those things that I love more than Christ? What are those things that I absolutely will not give up because they exalt me more than Christ? What are those things that promote me rather than Christ that gratify me more than Christ, so that I find my greatest joy and my greatest delight in these things of the world rather than in Christ? Those things that you cannot live without, that prevents you from honoring Christ, will cause you to forfeit his blessing in your life.

Now this man ultimately worshipped himself, not God, which was manifested before him in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But as we will see, he didn't really recognize that. And the issue here is not so much, in my humble opinion, his love for money, but rather his love for self. Because his wealth was the primary means by which he could exalt himself, promote himself, gratify his flesh. And what we're going to see here is Jesus is about to expose his self-worship, his idol, verse 17, "As He," referring to Jesus, "was setting out on a journey a man ran up to Him and knelt down before Him." Now, obviously, this man is passionate, right? I mean, he's sincere. And one of the things we must bear in mind is prominent Middle Eastern men do not run up to anybody, and they do not kneel to anybody. To run would require binding up your robes and girding them with some type of a belt. And what you see, even to this day is Middle Eastern men do not run they calmly glide. They kind of float with an air of unruffled dignity, and demeanor of nobility. But this guy runs and he's running through a crowd. Moreover, he kneels before Jesus, this guy that a lot of his buddies hate. "And he asked Him, 'Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?'" Obviously, he had no assurance of his salvation. Although he was a careful keeper of the law, he was afraid that he might not be good enough to make the kingdom cut. And I might add that this is true for all unbelievers. They have a nagging guilt, that just maybe what they believe, maybe what they've done, just isn't good enough. And of course, they're right. Now, according to the standards of evangelical pragmatism today, this guy is the quintessential seeker, right? I mean, this is what everybody dreams of. This is what you want in a church service. You want some guy to run up into kneel down, and what must I do to inherit the kingdom, to inherit eternal life? Wow. He's desperate. And so what we read in verse 18, And Jesus said to him, Well, you must make a decision for Christ. That's what you must do. You must repeat the sinner’s prayer. No, no, you must be baptized. No, you must also keep more rules and regulations, and do more rituals. That's what you must do. Or you must do more acts of penance, then you will make the cut. But Jesus saw the man's arrogance, he saw his ignorance. And he knew that first, this man needed to be humbled. He needed to be humbled to the point of planting his face in the dust. He needed to come to the same place where Thomas finally came, as you will recall, when he was able to plant his fingers in the Lord's side and see the nail prints of the hand, and ultimately, say, of Jesus, "My Lord, and my God." This guy was nowhere near that. "'Why do you call Me good?'" Jesus said, Here's his answer. "'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus says, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good, except God alone.'"

And so this brings us to our first point. Jesus makes this real clear. If you want to inherit eternal life, you must number one, know that Jesus is God. You must understand the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, Jesus is going to make it infinitely clear to him that I'm more than a good teacher. I am God very God. You know, this reminds me of Isaiah. When in Isaiah six, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted with the train of his robe filling the temple. And what did he say? He said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips form. My eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." This is where this guy needed to come. He was nowhere near that. He had no idea that he was in the presence of the King, the LORD of hosts. And this young man, like every sinner, needed a soul terrifying and a sin destroying vision of the Most High, thrice Holy God. If you're going to come to saving faith in Christ, you must come to a place where the reality of who Jesus is, is so overwhelming. And His Holiness is so transcendent and so terrible, in comparison to your sinfulness, that the only rational and reasonable response would be to prostrate yourself in abject terror and plead for undeserved mercy. This is what this guy needed to hear. Dear friend, you must understand that our ability to see our sin and therefore see our need for saving grace will always be proportionate to our ability to see the holiness and the majesty and the sovereignty and the omnipotence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's who Isaiah saw sitting on the throne, the pre-Incarnate Christ, John 12:41, helps us understand that. This man was clueless, "Good Teacher", are you kidding me? This is the Creator, the Sustainer, the Redeemer, the consummator of all things. This is the ineffable tetragrammaton, the too wondrous to utter from the lips, four letters of YHWH. This is the Lord our God, the Lord of Glory, and he will tolerate no rivals. And this explains Jesus response. ''Why do you call Me good? No one is good, except God alone.'" I mean, after all, this guy thought he was good, right? Hey, you and I are good, right? Give me a little bit of advice, good teacher. All of the Pharisees thought they were good. This man needed to know who he was speaking to. And only then will a sinner bow, in humble obedience, and in brokenness, and cry out for the mercy that the Lord will give so freely. And again, this whole scenario, is a vivid illustration of every man's need to personally surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This is reminiscent of Jesus conversation, remember what the Samaritan woman that he encountered at the well? In John four verse nine, she said, "'Why would You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I'm a Samaritan woman?' Jesus answered and said to her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is, who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.'" And later on in verse 19, John four, she says, "'Sir, I perceive that you were a prophet.'" I mean, she's closer, right? She's not there yet, but "I perceive that you're a prophet." And she went on to say, "'I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called the Christ)." And then later Jesus said to her, "'I who speak to you, am He.'" This is what this rich young ruler needed to understand, that he was seeking advice about gaining eternal life from the very source of life, the only one that can grant eternal life.

"'Why do you call Me good? No one is good, except God alone.'" Now, what's fascinating is what Jesus goes on to do from here. Jesus begins to expose his self-righteous assessment of himself by applying the law to his life, to his conscience. He wants him to feel the full weight of the law that he is violated, bearing down upon his conscience, to expose his guilt and the condemnation he deserves. You will recall in Galatians 3:24 that "The Law," the Apostle Paul says is "our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith." So one cannot receive eternal life unless first of all, they know that Jesus is God.

And secondly, they must acknowledge violating the law of God. Now, let me remind you of something here. The Law of God, sometimes referred to as the mosaic code was the codification of God's holiness, the divine standard of righteousness. And we can see it divided, first of all, and in a two-fold summary of the Law, which is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and secondly, to love your neighbor as yourself. And then there is a 10-fold summarization of the Law. It's called the Decalogue or the 10 commandments, also called the tablets of stone. It was the Mosaic law given to Moses on Mount Sinai, you read it, about it in Exodus 19, and 20, also called the Old Covenant. And there we see that if you keep the covenant, you're blessed, if you violate it, you're cursed. And the Decalogue can be divided into two very broad categories. You have a vertical and a horizontal category. The first half is the vertical, how to love the Lord your God perfectly. The second half is the horizontal, and that is to how to love your neighbor. And then I might also add, there's what's called the manifold part of the law. It's called the words of the covenant. You read about that in Exodus 24:7. And the entire book of Leviticus, for example, is an expansion of the law. And all of it was written down and placed in a receptacle on the side of the Ark of the Covenant, which inside held the tablets of stone that we have violated. And according to Deuteronomy 31, in verse 26, God said, "Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. And here's why, that it may remain there as a witness against you." You see, dear friends, the purpose of the law is to expose our sin, to see God's standard of righteousness and compare it to ours. And we know that any breach, any violation means that you've broken the whole law and the consequence, of course, is death. So it's an extremely oppressive thing. In fact, the apostle Paul said this in Romans seven, in verse seven, "I would not have come to know sin except through the Law." Again, it is a witness against you. He went on to say in verse nine, "I was once alive, apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died." Dear friends, whenever we are brutally, brutally honest, and we measure our innermost person against God's standard of righteousness. We all see that we fail miserably. In fact, Paul likened his righteousness, and all of his law keeping as a Pharisee, all of his religiosity, he called it rubbish in Philippians, three. In fact, Philippians three, beginning in verse six, he said, "As to the righteousness which is in the Law, was found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith." And we know as well in Galatians two and verse 16, that "a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but through faith in Christ Jesus." And of course, this is central to evangelism. We must preach the law before we preach the gospel. Yes, people must understand the deity of Christ, but they must also understand the severity of their rebellion against the Most High God. They must see their high treason against God and then they can understand the condemnation that is upon them. In fact, the old divines used to speak of quote, "the law work before the gospel work." People must see that they stand guilty before God's bar of justice, that they are condemned, unable to save themselves certainly unable to save themselves by keeping the law. The only way you can be saved is by trusting in Christ who has come, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. And then when we come to saving faith when we are born again, he then produces in us his very character, through the work of the indwelling Spirit. Therefore, regeneration and justification and sanctification are all inseparable doctrines. Samuel Bolton, who was a 17th century English clergymen and scholar, a master of the master of Christ's College in Cambridge, said this, "The law sends us to the gospel, that we may be justified and the gospel sends us to the law again, to inquire what is our duty as those who are justified." In other words, the law sends us to the Gospel for salvation. And then the gospel sends us back to the law for sanctification.

Now, this young man believed he had a perfect score when it came to keeping the second half of the commandments, the horizontal division, and externally, he looked really good. But not so in his heart. There he failed miserably. We see, for example, in Matthew five, where Jesus said that even if you have anger in your heart, you've committed murder. Even if you have lusted after a woman, you have committed adultery in your heart. But Jesus is not only going to expose these things, he's going to expose his miserable failure in the vertical category of the law, the first half of the law, which prohibited having any other gods before the one true God. And Jesus is going to demonstrate to this young man that he actually worship not so much money, but himself, using his wealth again to promote his status, his power, his prestige, to gratify his flesh.

So first focusing on the second half of the 10 commandments, Jesus gave him a little sampling. He said in verse 19, "'You know the commandments, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" And the young man said to him in verse 20, "'Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.'" You know, his response proved Jesus point, and that was that he was absolutely clueless of his own sinfulness. He measured himself based upon his externals, not his internals. So he thought, you know, I'm good to go. I'm good to go. In his heart, however, he was a habitual violator of the law. Paul described the power of indwelling sin, even in a believer. In the end of his confessional lament, there recorded in Romans seven, he said, "Wretched man that I am! Who will free me from the body of this death?" And then he says, "Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then on the one hand, I myself with my mind, I'm serving the law of God, but on the other with my flesh, the law of sin." And obviously, this is more pronounced, infinitely more pronounced, in an unbeliever because they do not have the indwelling Spirit to restrain the flesh. Paul went on to rejoice. However, in Romans eight and verse one, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death, For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Know that Jesus is God. Acknowledge violating the law of God, and then number three, cast yourself on the mercy of God.

Notice verse 21. "Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him." Such a precious statement. Jesus felt the love for him. Certainly there were some very good things about this young man. But we must all see, in this situation, the importance of having a burden for and a love for the lost. They're slaves to Satan, they're slaves to indwelling sin, they're blind, they're at enmity of God. Their heart is darkened. And notice, Jesus loved this man, who was blinded by his own sin, loved him so much that he would tell him exactly what he needed to hear, but certainly not what he wanted to hear. Beloved, just because we love sinners, does not mean we somehow conceal the truth from them. So that they will appreciate us and like us. So in love, what we see here is Jesus goes right for the juggler, the idolatry of self-worship, he didn't come right out and say it. Instead, he asked him to give up, what this man used to exalt himself, namely, his wealth. So Jesus said to him, "'One thing you lack'", and again, notice, he doesn't say you're not keeping this commandment, or you're not praying this prayer, you're not being baptized, you're not any of those types of things. By the way, isn't that typically what people do in churches? Oh, my goodness, look at this. I mean, this guy is down here on his knees, he wants to be saved, man, let's sign him up. Instead, Jesus says, "'Go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.'" I can only imagine the look on that young man's face. And I'm sure in his heart, he's saying, You don't know what you're asking. My very identity depends upon my wealth. I am defined by my wealth. Who would I be without my vast earthly possessions? I would be a nobody. Now you might ask, and appropriately so, didn't he also worship his wealth and his possessions? I mean, after all, Matthew 6:24 Didn't Jesus say "'No one can serve two masters,'" Jesus said, "'for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.'" Well, certainly this would apply here to this young man. But I believe wealth worship was secondary to self-worship. And here's why I would say that. Ever since Jesus revealed to his disciples that he was going to go to the cross, that he was going to be a sacrifice of sin, something they could not grasp; ever since that time, he has been emphasizing the implications of the cross on discipleship, what it means to follow him. Again, back to Mark eight in verse 34, "'If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.'" In other words, be willing to give up everything, even your life if that's what it takes to follow me. So if anyone wishes to come after me; he's been stressing to them that you've got to step down from the throne of your life. You've got to submit to me as the one and only sovereign. You've got to renounce your former self, you got to break away from the old habits, and the old ways of thinking that dishonor God. You've got to refuse to recognize or acknowledge those things in your life that are contrary to the Word and the will of Christ. You must surrender your personal plans and your ambitions and your will and submit wholly and solely and fully to the plan and purposes of Christ.

James Brooks, a 19th century Presbyterian pastor, author and leader, by the way he was born down in Pulaski, he said this, "To deny oneself is not to do without something or even many things, it is not asceticism, not self-rejection or self-hatred, nor is it even the disowning of particular sins. But it is to renounce the self as the dominant element in life. It is to replace the self with God in Christ as the object of affections. It is to place the Divine Will, before self-will," End quote. See, again, this man's wealth was merely secondary, it was an external idol that propped up the most important idol. And that was the love of self. We must all ask ourselves, again, what do we love more than Christ? What must we never be without? What is more important to us than life itself, even eternal life? My career, my body, my looks, my wealth, my titles, my reputation, my family, and on and on it goes. All you have to do is look no further than Facebook, where many who are desperate for attention and affirmation will go to try to gain those things. Because they're not finding it in Christ. Their identity and greatest treasures are all of those things that are a part of the world, things used to exalt themselves rather than Christ. So again, remember the context of which all of this is happening, and how Jesus is trying to instruct his disciples.

Dave Harrell

Mark eight again, verse 35, "Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?'" So here in this account with the rich young ruler, Mark is not warning his disciples about the worship of money, they had none, they really didn't want any. They've given up everything to follow Christ, but rather, he's warning them about the worship of self. The refusal to renounce yourself. He speaking to them about the cost of discipleship and the self-surrender it involves. A willingness to sacrifice that which is most important to your pride, to your prominence, to your pleasure.

So here Jesus is challenging this proud young man regarding those things. And all of those things, of course, were enabled by, defined by, his wealth, and his phony self-righteousness. So Jesus is saying, if you want to know what you must do to inherit eternal life, you need to love me, the Lord your God. More than you love yourself. If anyone wishes to come after Me, in other words, if you want to be my disciple, you got to deny yourself take up your cross and follow Me. So Jesus is challenging here on the cost of discipleship. Something we must all hear. It’s as if he's saying to them, Hey, look, by examining all of your externals you think you look pretty good, but when it comes to obeying the horizontal, division of the law, how you treat other people, really, you fail miserably. Worse yet, when it comes to the vertical division of the law, how you love me, the Lord your God, with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, you fail even worse. In fact, I have told you, you are to have no other gods before me and yet you worship yourself. You really want to know what you must do to inherit eternal life? Go and sell all you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. In other words, jettison all of those things that fuel your pride, renounce those things that you secretly desire and use so others will exalt you and praise you. Come and follow me. Now to be sure God will not share his throne with anyone. God delights in His glory and he will not share it with another, he alone is the one that must reign supreme in a worshiping heart. I'm reminded of Exodus 34, verse 14, "for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous is a jealous God." Deuteronomy 4:24, "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." Indeed, God is jealous for his bridal church, as I am jealous for my wife, and my children, and my family, and my church family. And his jealousy is therefore the glorious expression of his zeal for our joy in him, our greatest treasure. He alone must be trusted, he alone must be worshipped, he alone must be obeyed, and we receive the kingdom on his terms, not ours. We inherit eternal life on his terms, not ours. To deny yourself and follow Christ is to make God's glory the center of gravity around which your life orbits. Everything else is secondary or tertiary. It exchanges self-reliance for a total dependence upon Christ. It spells the end of self-exultation and a commitment to the exaltation of Christ alone. And this is what Jesus is asking him to do. By being willing to give up, sell all you possess, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me.

But notice his response in verse 22. "But at these words, he was saddened, and he went away grieving for he was one who owned much property." He could not part with his worldly possessions. Not so much that Jesus would make that a requirement before you can be saved, I hope you understand that, but a willingness to put Christ over these things. He could not part with these things because they defined him, they elevated him and they dignified him. His wealth made him somebody in the eyes of the world; being prominent, being powerful, able to satisfy the desires of your heart. Those were the priorities of his life. You see, his wealth was his security. The secret to fulfilling the longings of his heart, longings to be affirmed, to be applauded and to be deliriously happy. And he believed that his wealth was a sign of God's blessings. So indeed, he wanted to be worshipped. And Jesus knew this. And he's basically saying, Will you deny yourself and take up a cross if necessary to follow me? Oh, dear friends, the damning and deceptive power of pride. The many ways it can erect idols in our heart, I think of how God exposed the insincere leaders of Israel, who came to Ezekiel to seek counsel when in fact, they had no desire to obey the Lord, Ezekiel chapter 14, verses three and six, he says, "Son of man, these, these men have setup their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity," then in verse six, "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord God, 'Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations.'" We read something similar in Colossians, chapter three and verse five. The apostle Paul says, "Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil, desire and greed, which amounts to idolatry." And John says in First John 5:21, "Little children, guard yourself from idols." Which includes anything that prevents us from worshiping and serving and loving the Lord our God. Anything that we cherish more than him. You say, Well, Pastor, how will I know? Let me give you a few things that will help you know. First of all, your idol will be something that you will obsess about all the time. It's always on your mind. It takes priority over everything else in your life. Also you will go to any length to attain it, any length to keep it and you will resent anyone who dares confront you about it. Moreover, you will consider it your greatest treasure, your greatest source of joy. And you will use it to exalt yourself and promote yourself and pleasure yourself. This, of course, is the very opposite of Romans 12 in verse one, where the apostle Paul says, "Therefore," in other words, based upon the mercies of God and His grace in you, "I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." This man would rather forfeit eternal life, than give up his idol of self-worship. I've seen this many times in evangelism. People that will cling to anything they believe will make them happy, especially the rich and the famous. I can tell you many stories, I've worked with a lot of fabulously wealthy people, and only a few have come to faith in Christ. So you see, the rich think that Jesus wants to take everything from them, rather than give everything to them. And so we see in verse 23, "Jesus looking around said to His disciples, 'How hard it will be, for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!' The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, 'Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.'" In other words, he's using hyperbole to basically say that it is absolutely impossible to inherit eternal life by your own means; this is something that God must do. "They were astonished and said to Him, 'Then who can be saved?' Looking at them, Jesus said, 'With people it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. For all things are possible with God.'"

Beloved evangelism is a work of God, not a work of man. We give them the gospel, but only God can change the heart. And all sinners, including the most wealthy, must humbly bow to the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ and plead for mercy, as did the tax collector, in Luke 18, who pounded on his chest and said, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner." I had a friend who was literally one of the most wealthy men in America, but he was a vulgar man, a godless man. He used horrible language, intimidated people terribly. But somehow, for some reason, this guy would never curse around me. And he really liked me. And he would bring me into his home. Long story, but eventually, he had a terminal disease and I spent several hours, probably five or six hours over a course of time in hospice. And he was used to kind of buying his way into heaven as a Roman Catholic. And I remember very clearly telling him, my friend, you are going to die and go to Hell, unless you trust in Christ as your only hope of salvation. You cannot buy your way into the kingdom. And I remember in his broken state, this big guy that had shriveled up to nothing, I remember him telling me with tears, how he understood, and I believe he gave his heart to Christ. I believe God saved him. I believe we'll see him in the kingdom someday. But that is very rare. Most of the wealthy people I've worked with will not acknowledge Jesus as Lord, see how they violated his law, cast themselves on his mercy. And as we see finally in closing, joyfully follow Christ in humble obedience.

Notice verse 28. "Peter began to say to Him," and I'm sure he was speaking on behalf of the rest of the guys, "Behold, we've left everything and followed You." In fact, Matthew adds something else that Peter said, in Matthew 19:27 "Behold, we have left everything and followed You. What then will there be for us?" Verse 29, "Jesus said, 'Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms for my sake and for the gospel sake, but that he will receive 100 times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters, and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life.'" The cost of self-surrender is necessary for discipleship and this cost can be costly, very costly. But the reward is beyond anything that we can imagine. It is eternal life. And Jesus finally says, "'But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.'" This young man idolized himself, he worshipped himself, he insisted on being first, no place for self-denial, no place for taking up a cross and following Christ, the price was too high. And his wealth, like Samson's hair, was the secret to his success and joy. And he could not part with it, not even in exchange for his soul. Oh, dear friend, ask yourself what is more precious to me than Christ? What do I refuse to give up so that I can gain Christ? Because unless you come to that place, you will never inherit eternal life? God cannot save you. If you love yourself and the things of this world more than him, for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? What will a man give in exchange for his soul? Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for the clarity of your word and its penetrating power in each of our hearts. I pray that you will cause us to pensively reflect upon these magnificent truths and certainly apply them according to every need, that people might be saved. And that saints might be sanctified all the more. For we ask it in Jesus name, and for his sake. Amen.