Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler

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Text

Mark 10:17-31

Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler

17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running,

knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I

do that I may inherit eternal life?”

18 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is

good but One, that is, God. 19 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.’”

20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I

have kept from my youth.”

21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One

thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to

the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take

up the cross, and follow Me.”

22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he

had great possessions.

23 Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How

hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of

God!” 24 And 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 the kingdom of God! 25 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.”

26 And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves,

“Who then can be saved?”

27 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible,

but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”

28 Then Peter began to say to Him, “See, we have left all and

followed You.”

29 So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is

no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or

mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the

gospel’s, 30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this

time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children

and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal

life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Chapter 1

There is one question that everybody asks themselves: What

happens when I die?

Even the toughest person in the world has asked themselves

this. Criminal, pastor, lawyer, president, king or queen. Even

a self-proclaimed atheist has asked this question.

We can be as tough as we want in public, but when the night

gets quiet and we lay in bed, our heart wants to know the

answer.

No matter how successful or smart we are, we know we

cannot evade the inevitable.

Death levels the playing field for everyone. We all will die

regardless of our background or our finances.

We don’t have to be scared and discouraged over it. The

answer is in plain view. We just have to stop everything and

ask, what does Jesus say?

Jesus says He is God.

He came born of a virgin.

Lived a sinless life

Was tortured

Crucified

Took our sins upon Himself

Rose from the grave

Returned to heaven, where He reigns as King of kings.

But how can we know we will go to heaven when we die?

God says in Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me,

when you seek me with all your heart.

This is just one of many verses that tells us that if we seek

God, we will find Him.

The problem is, people don’t want to seek God. They want to

seek a god that conforms to their beliefs, but that’s not what it

means to seek God.

Seeking God is putting our beliefs aside and seeking Him in

His word.

You see, our views keep us from seeing who God really is

because the natural man thinks according to how he was

taught in a fallen world. God, however, is not from a fallen

world and He cannot be found when we think like fallen

people. We must come to His Holy Bible with an open mind

and no preconceived ideas.

So, let’s take some time to see what Jesus says.

Let us put aside everything we think we know and just look

at Jesus as He talks with His disciples and a rich young ruler.

As we do this, let’s remember we cannot pick and choose

what we believe about Jesus and the Bible. We have to

believe all of Him and His words or we receive none of Him.

Once we pick and choose what the Bible says, we have no

authority to speak, because if one person can pick and

choose, then so can the next person. Before we know it, we

have a world claiming to follow Jesus but it doesn’t match

what Jesus said at all. So let’s look at Jesus’ own words

Chapter 2

Mark 10:17

Now as He was going out on the road, one came running,

knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall

I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

Here is a guy that we would say today is longing for Jesus.

Not only does he go out looking for Jesus, but the Bible says

he came running to Jesus and he knelt before Him in the

middle of the road.

Today many would say this man truly came to receive Jesus.

He humbled himself by running to Jesus and kneeling in front

of Him. Today we would say, “Wow, what a conversion!”

If this was to happen at church today, it would look

something like this:

The message is over. The Music starts. The invitation

is given and a man runs to the front of the church and

falls to his knees and says, “Please tell me what I must

do to have eternal life.”

We would say, “Praise the Lord!!! Pray this prayer.”

As this is happening, people in the church are already

shouting Amen! and getting ready to baptize the new

believer in Christ.

But, as we see later in this text, Jesus was not in as much of a

hurry to declare a new believer into the family. As a matter of

fact, we see Jesus handle the situation totally differently.

Maybe you are wondering why I have just described it this

way.

We have a lot of people in the church that think because they

went forward crying and then prayed a prayer that they are

saved from hell.

Jesus on the other hand throws the brakes on that way of

thinking in this text of the Bible. Not just in this text but in

many others also.

So, we have to ask ourselves, what is really going on here in

this text?

Let’s read on and see what Jesus is doing in the following

verses.

Chapter 3

Mark 10:18-20

18 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is

good but One, that is, God. 19 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.’”

20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these

things I have kept from my youth.”

18 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one

is good but One, that is, God.

Jesus is asking a question. Actually though, Jesus is saying

He is God. He is forcing the man to come to terms with the

fact that He is God and His Word is final on this subject.

The man needed to understand that Jesus was God and there

was no way around what Jesus was about to tell him in this

text.

In other words, no one can come to Jesus until they have

come to terms with the fact that Jesus is God and His Word is

final.

19 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.’”

20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these

things I have kept from my youth.”

Jesus starts by saying in these verses, “You know the

commandments.” The man was a Jew; he knew the law and

he was taught to keep the commandments. So Jesus says,

“You know how to have eternal life, keep the

commandments.”

Note. Jesus came because no one can keep the

commandments. The commandments were not to save us, but

to show us how deep in sin we are.

Notice though, the man says: Jesus I have kept them all from

my youth. At this point Jesus could have called the guy out as

a liar. Worse yet, “You just lied to the face of God.” But

Jesus addressed it in a different way, which we will see in the

next chapter. Now, though, we start to see this man’s

conversion unraveling.

He lied to Jesus. The man could not even be honest with

Jesus that he had not kept the commandments.

We start to see that the man wanted eternal life, but he didn’t

want Jesus or His ways. Even though he knew in his heart

Jesus was God.

This why God says in the Bible many times, those that hear

my words and obey are my children.

You see picking and choosing what we follow out of the

Bible actually shows a person not to be a follower of Jesus.

The world calls people that pick and choose enlightened.

Jesus calls them sinners that are headed to hell because their

heart has never been enlightened. Jesus meant every word,

not just for the people of old, but for today, tomorrow and for

all time.

When a person picks and chooses, they are no better than this

rich young man. The person knows Jesus is God. The person

knows He is the only way to heaven, but he or she does not

obey. In other words, they have the head knowledge but their

hearts have not been changed and given over to Jesus. So,

that person is still lost and bound for hell.

I am afraid we have many in the church in this situation.

They think they are heaven bound for saying a prayer and

following some of Jesus’ teachings. Yet they are headed for

hell just as fast as the murderer on death row.

This is one reason so many Christians in the church are

getting hurt. They say the church hurt them, while most of the

time they are being hurt by people in the church that are not

even Christians. This is actually the fault of bad leadership in

the church. Pastors and leaders have welcomed so many into

the church family that have never repented fully and called

them Christians.

I would suggest that if you have been hurt in church, most of

the time, it was probably by a person that is not even really a

Christian. Just because leadership has welcomed someone in

as a Christian does not mean that person is a Christian.

This has happened through what I call cheap gospel: pray this

prayer and you are saved. As we are about to see, Jesus didn’t

preach cheap gospel.

Jesus said repent and turn.

Jesus said take up the cross and follow me.

Jesus said deny yourself.

Jesus said get rid of all you have and follow me.

Jesus said not only hear but obey.

Now Jesus could have done like many pastors are doing. He

could have instructed this rich young man to pray a prayer

and be saved. Oh, and because he is rich, he will help the

church!

But in essence Jesus said:

not so fast

I protect my people.

I am not going to lie to you.

I am going to show you that you don’t really want me,

you just don’t want to go to hell.

Jesus said, I am not going to yell at you for lying to me about

keeping the commandments. But I am going to show you that

your heart is not in this.

At the same time, I am going to protect my people in the

church. Your heart has not changed and you have not really

repented. I will not allow you to hurt my people in the

church, the only safe place they can go in this world.

When we are in the church and a person hurts us, we go to

them with Bible scripture. If their response is, “I don’t care

what the Bible says,” you have the first sign that you are

dealing with an unsaved person.

Yes, there are problems in the church. However, when a

person does not respond to Scripture or in love, you are

probably looking at someone that has never been saved.

If a person does not have love for others and love for God’s

Word, you are dealing with an unchanged heart. The one

thing that should always shine through a Christian is the love

of Jesus. If that is not the case, then that is a heart that has not

been changed.

At this point, church leadership needs to protect the flock. I

am not saying that you need to kick a person out of the

church. Like with Jesus and the rich man, if church

leadership would sit this person down and show them why

they are not a Christian and not allow them to have any type

of leadership in the church, this person will usually leave the

church. In some cases, it will open their eyes and they will

come to a genuine conversion.

The church has become filled with non-Christians that think

they are Christians. This is why the church has lost so much

spiritual power and why so many churches have no effect on

the world.

In short, leaders have failed the flock by preaching a cheap

gospel. We must get back to preaching that there is a hell

and, if you have not truly repented and surrendered, you are

going there.

As we will see in the next chapter, the rich young ruler

couldn’t surrender everything and Jesus did not change the

Gospel to make it easier for him.

Yes, the Bible is a grace gospel but not the way many are

teaching it. Anything that does not involve true repentance

and complete surrender is a false gospel.

Pastors and leadership will pay a high price in the depths of

hell for misleading people with a false gospel. As the Bible

says let them be accursed that come to you preaching another

gospel.

Chapter 4

21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him,

“One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have

and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven;

and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”

22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for

he had great possessions.

Verse 21 shows the heart of Jesus. Looking at him, loved him.

The man came to Jesus wanting eternal life but not truly

wanting Jesus. He even lied to Jesus about keeping the

commandments, yet Jesus looked at him and loved him. Jesus

knew he was not going to repent and follow Him, but Jesus

still loved him.

There is a lesson to be learned here. I have heard many

Christians and pastors preach sermons saying, take heart, if

you are persecuted they will be judged for it.

I thank God that is not how Jesus lived. Jesus, even knowing

this man would reject him, still loved him. I say, don’t take

heart that someone will be judged for hurting you. Do like

Jesus and love them. Even if they never come to Jesus, we

should be like Jesus and love them anyway.

This way of loving people will save us a lot of heartache in

the future. With the way this world is going, we are going to

be hurt a lot. We can pull out our self-righteous attitude and

say, “you will be judged,” or we can love them.

Note that Jesus loved him but probably did not have any

further contact with the man. The man went away and yet

Jesus loved him. Loving someone does not mean you have to

follow them around and be the center of their life. You can

still love someone that comes to you without allowing them

to turn your life upside down. You can still love someone

while standing for what you believe.

Love does not mean you are always there to bail them out.

Love does not mean you have to allow them to use you as a

punching bag.

Love means you love them because God created them.

Loving them does not mean you have to go along with the sin

in their life. You can love someone even if you never see

them again. Love takes place inside you. Just like hate takes

place inside you.

Verse 21 One thing you lack

Jesus says one thing you lack. Now obviously this man

lacked a lot more than one thing.

Rather than play word games with the man, Jesus went right

to the most obvious thing: his wealth.

This man was not willing to admit that he was a sinner that

broke the commandments. In other words, he felt he was a

good guy and deserving of eternal life. So Jesus says if

you’re so good, sell all you have, give to the poor, then come

take up the cross and follow me.

Jesus was showing this man his own heart. He had refused to

see that he needed a savior, so Jesus was showing him how

badly he really did need a savior.

Jesus was not rushing to get another member in the church.

No, Jesus was here to save souls not worry about church

attendance. He would rather have one less person following

Him than allow that man to think he was a Christian when he

didn’t even truly want a savior.

This is not the only time Jesus chased off people. We find in

the New Testament Jesus had thousands of disciples and then

He preached a sermon they did not like and He was back to

His core group of 12.

Churches need to do like Jesus and preach the real Gospel.

The fake Christians will either come to Jesus or leave the

church. A non-Christian should never be comfortable in a

church for long. If a non-Christian can come week after week

and feel no drawing from the Lord, then that church is not

preaching the Gospel and is in serious trouble. Christians

should feel at home in the church, sinners should not until

they come to Jesus.

I would like to write on carnal Christians in the church, but

this book is about salvation, so I will save that for another

book.

Verse 22. And come take up the cross and follow me.

We see

a person has to admit Jesus is God and He has the final

word on the subject.

a person has to admit they are a sinner and repent.

a person has to surrender to Jesus

a person has to take up the cross and follow Jesus.

That is what true repentance looks like when we come to

Jesus.

For the rich young ruler, this was too much to ask of him.

Being sad, he turned and went his own way.

Notice Jesus did not run after him. He did not bargain with

him. He did not try to take away the sadness. As much as

Jesus loved him, He would not compromise the Gospel for

the man. Instead Jesus let him go his own way.

Jesus was showing the young man and the disciples that he

would allow Jesus in his life but not to be Lord of his life.

The young man was not denying Jesus as Lord but he wasn’t

willing to make him Lord of his life either.

Just because a person is not denying Jesus does not mean

he/she is saved.

If a person will not make Jesus Lord of his/her life, Jesus is

saying there is no salvation.

Now we must note that there are things in a Christian’s life

that need to change. Does that mean that person is not saved?

No.

A true Christian will see sin as God shows it to him/her and

by God’s grace. A Christian will act on God’s conviction to

get rid of that sin because that person truly gave his life

completely to Jesus.

We have to remember there is no sin we can conquer on our

own. Only Jesus can conquer it.

Coming to Jesus is saying I repent. I cannot change but I need

You to change me. Change any part of me that needs to be

changed, Jesus, I give it all to You.

In time Jesus will work with a person on all of the things that

need to be removed from that person’s life. However, that

cannot happen until a person is willing to say, “Do whatever

you need to do in me, Jesus.”

The rich man could not say that, so he went away sad.

Chapter 5

23 Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How

hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of

God!” 24 And 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 the kingdom of God! 25 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.”

I can’t imagine what is going through the disciples’ minds at

this point. They are standing in the middle of a road and they

just saw Jesus fail at being a good evangelist. Jesus could

have easily talked that man into being some kind of a

follower and donator of money to the ministry. What was

Jesus thinking?

Standing in the road Jesus turns and says, “It’s so hard for

those that have riches to get to heaven.” At this point the

disciples are confused and astonished so Jesus says this time,

“it is so hard for those that trust in earthly riches.”

You’ll notice Jesus clarified in His second statement that He

is not referring to just millionaires.

Jesus was referring to anyone that trusts in earthly riches. By

wording it this way, Jesus was including everybody in the

world. All of mankind has something they trust in other than

Jesus.

Jesus was saying He will not play second place to anything.

He will be in control of our lives when we come to Him or

He won’t be in them.

Jesus cannot regenerate a person that is holding on to

something when they come to Him. We have to come to Him

and say, “It’s all Yours. I can’t do it myself but I want you,

Jesus. I surrender all of it to You.”

We see with the rich man, no one can come to Jesus if they

are not letting go of all they put their trust into.

At this point the disciples are as astonished as many of you

are right now. “How can anyone be saved, Jesus?” the

disciples asked. In Chapter 6 we will discuss what Jesus says.

It has been said to give Jesus a try, however, that doesn’t

work according to Jesus. When we come to Jesus, it’s not to

give Him a try, it is a total surrender. Jesus does not want a

part of you, He wants all of you.

Jesus never said He will give you partial eternal life.

Jesus never said He will partially give you freedom from sin.

Jesus never said He will give you peace in only a part of your

life.

No, Jesus says He will give our whole life peace, joy,

everlasting life, abundant life, freedom from sin.

Jesus isn’t concerned about changing part of us.

Jesus didn’t die for part of our life.

Jesus died and rose again for our whole lives.

You may be thinking, He is too demanding.

Truth is, Jesus loves us so much He knows as long as a part

of us does not surrender, He cannot rejuvenate us.

Jesus loves you so much He will not settle for anything less

than freeing and restoring all of you.

Jesus is not in love with only a part of you, He is in love with

all of you.

Sin got you to where you are and Jesus is not willing to let it

take you any further when you belong to Him.

You see Jesus hates the sin that is destroying you and He will

not share a residence with sin.

No doctor would cure only half of your cancer and leave the

other half. Jesus will not salvage half your life and leave the

other half.

Jesus only does full restoration.

You see, we have a lot of people in the world giving Jesus a

try, but far fewer who are really repenting and surrendering.

That’s why Jesus says the road is narrow and few there be

that find it.

Too many churches are teaching this type of salvation but

this is what Jesus was making clear to His disciples 2000

years ago. Don’t you dare teach a lesser gospel. I just showed

you by example that it has to be complete repentance.

If a person wants to come to me, they have to give me control

of their whole life.

This is why He told Nicodemus, “You must be born again.

You have to repent of everything you have known and have

been and then be born again in me and my way of thinking.”

Like the rich man, many think they are not really that bad.

Jesus is saying, you have no idea how bad you really are.

How deep in sin you are. In other word’s we think we are on

a ship that needs a few light bulbs changed. God is saying the

light bulbs are the least of your problems. Your ship has gone

under and you are about to lose your last breath. Jesus is

actually saying that you are only getting these lasts breaths

now because of my grace giving you a chance to repent.

Yes, that is how bad sin is and how much it is controlling our

lives before Jesus saves us.

Chapter 6

26 And they were greatly astonished, saying among

themselves, “Who then can be saved?”

27 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is

impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are

possible.”

Maybe right now you feel like Jesus’ twelve disciples, then

who can be saved?

This is the first understanding that you cannot come to Jesus

knowing all the answers. You cannot come to Him by being

in control.

You can only come by faith. That is why Jesus talks about

faith so much. We can’t even take the first step towards Jesus

without faith.

I remember talking to a man that wanted to brag about how

good a Christian he is. He told me when he got saved he

spent 2 hours confessing every sin he ever committed since

he was a boy.

Two things bothered me about that conversation:

1. He was bragging on what he did to confess his sins.

2. He was saying he knew every sin he ever committed

against God before coming to Jesus.

Truth is, he didn’t know every sin he committed against God.

He was thinking in the mind of the flesh and what he

considered sin, not what God considers sin.

While he was saying how good he was at repenting that day

he never even realized he was sinning in his pride. Listening

to this guy you would think he was saved by his repentance

not by Jesus grace.

Repentance never comes out arrogance and pride.

Repentance comes when we are broken, humbled and in need

of complete saving. Before repentance there is no good thing

we can bring to Jesus. That is how far sin has spread in us.

True repentance looks like this:

Jesus I repent of anything that has been against You and

Your ways. Please forgive me and use me for Your will

in life.

The disciples were asking, since we are so blind and corrupt

and possess nothing good for Jesus, how can we come to

Jesus?

Jesus says, you can’t come to me on your own, it’s

impossible. I have good news for you, with God it is all

possible.

This why the Scripture says the Holy Spirit has to draw you.

The Holy Spirit has to open your eyes to how bad you really

are in sin. The Holy Spirit has to show you how righteous

God is.

In our sinful state before Jesus, we all have ideas on what is

good, what is bad and what is righteous. Those change

depending on how you were brought up. what you have been

taught, who you hang around with, etc.

With God though, He says holy and righteous is what I am

and unless I open your eyes you won’t even come close to

seeing how bad off you are.

So, what is Jesus saying here? He said in Jeremiah 29:13 You

will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your

heart.

In short, the rich man looked like someone seeking Jesus. He

ran down a public road and fell at Jesus feet. Truth is, he was

looking for everlasting life not Jesus.

That is the point of everlasting life. Without Jesus and all He

is, there is no everlasting life.

1. Have you sought Jesus with your whole heart?

2. Have you repented and surrendered all to Jesus?

I pray that you have. If not, will you seek Him today? I am

not asking you to be a part of any particular denomination. I

am just asking, where do you stand in regards to your life

with Jesus?

If you will find Jesus, repent and follow Him, then you will

find and receive everything.