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00:00:04 uh morning church thank you uh today's scrip reading is taken from Matthew 19: 16- 30 I'll be reading from the N version just then a man came up to Jesus and asked teacher what good thing must I do to get eternal life why do you ask me about what is good Jesus replied there is only one who is good if you want to enter life keep the Commandments which ones he inquired Jesus replied you shall not murder you shall not commit adultery you shall not steal you shall not give false testimony honor your
00:00:42 father and mother and love your neighbor as yourself all these I have kept the young man said what do I still lack Jesus answered if you want to be perfect go sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven then come follow me when the young man heard this he went away sad because he had great wealth then Jesus said to his disciples truly I tell you it is hard for someone who is Rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven again I tell you it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
00:01:19 needle than for someone who is Rich to enter the kingdom of God when the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished and asked who then can be saved Jesus looked at him and said with man this is impossible but With God all things are possible Peter answered him we have left everything to follow you what then will there be for us Jesus said to them truly I tell you at the renewal of all things when a son of man sits on his glorious Throne you who have followed me will also sit on 12 Thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel
00:01:59 and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a 100 times as much and will inherit eternal life but many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first this is the word of the Lord good morning FBC it's good to see all of you again and welcome to to to church and welcome and greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus thanks to the worship team led by uh our sister Liz and and uh brother Adam for reading the word to us
00:03:05 and today we're going to study the story of the Rich Young Ruler that was uh just read to us it's a familiar passage um the parel passages are found in Mark chapter 10 and Luke 18 for those of us who know now I think there are normally two reactions to such a passage some of us who may be a bit more well Todo May te through the verses avoiding what may be perceived as hard sayings of Jesus but I suspect uh most of us are really in category two I'm not I'm not uh I'm not rich I'm not young and I'm not a
00:03:48 leader so it doesn't apply to me so skip but let me tell you you can always find someone poorer isn't it someone older by the way young in biblical definition include up to 40s including myself you know so I think it it it includes more than half the congregation here that will qualify the rest are young at heart right so and everyone's a leader in your own right whether at home at work in church so the passage applies to everyone here today myself included definitely although the message is fairly straightforward the demand seems
00:04:29 hard isn't it at at First Sight with at least three heart sayings of Jesus which we will come to shortly a very thoughtful sister in church whatsapped me last week wishing me a wise Wednesday wise Wednesday I said thank you but why oh I saw that you'll be preaching on a Rich Young Ruler hard topic to digest we'll pray for God's wisdom for you indeed let us uh pray for God to speak to us this morning gracious God who is rich in Mercy abounding In Love We humbly come before you and ask that you will speak to us in your small still
00:05:05 voice and stir our hearts as we turn to your word and learn from the story of the Rich Young Ruler and what it means to live the eternal life that you have gifted to us through your son Jesus Christ May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight oh Lord our Rock and Redeemer amen amen now in all three gospels Matthew Mark and Luke uh the story of the Rich Young Ruler comes right after another familiar passage in verses 13 to 15 about you remember about little children coming to
00:05:40 Jesus the disciples were rebuking those who were bringing little children to Jesus you remember Jesus said let the children come to me do not hinder them for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as as these this sets the context and the scene for the passage we are studying today right childlike Faith just remember that many who read this as a as a standalone Passage would focus on the wealth and possession of the rich young men well there is indeed something to learn or many things to learn about a
00:06:14 perspective of money wealth and possessions the Crux of the passage goes a lot further it is ultimately about our Salvation notice the the synonyms used throughout the passage what must I do to get eternal life verse 17b uh if you want to enter life enter the Kingdom of Heaven verse 23 enter the kingdom of God who then can be saved who then will inherit eternal life now don't get me wrong we're not skirting around the topic of riches and wealth we will definitely address some practical questions about this but first
00:06:51 let's understand what the main theme of The Passage is I've I've entitled The Passage today I mean the sermon today living the eternal life the counting the cost of following Jesus we'll cover three main lessons from the passage today what is the requirement to criteria for entering eternal life why is there so much resistance and refusal to enter and to live by it and to walk the Narrow Path what and where is real reward in following Christ what is the where is the real reward so first where what is the requirement
00:07:31 the Rich Young Ruler came to Jesus with the question good teacher what good thing must I do to get eternal life he was extremely wealthy he was young now we must remember one thing in in Jewish culture being rich testified to the blessings of God in one's life hence you must be doing something right deserving eternal life the parel in Luke says he was also a ruler probably a Jewish leader here in the local synagogue or perhaps even a member of the Sanhedrin the Jewish court that dealt with religious issues in Jesus's day hence
00:08:08 someone with status with authority and religious he knows his Old Testament his Torah since he was youth the paril in Mark says he he came running to Jesus and fell on his knees indicating he must be pretty desperate and sincere in his quest for answers or Assurance of eternal life yet there was something missing something he knew that was lacking and so he came and asked Jesus this question but his question is steeped with at least three preconceived beliefs what are they number one the question
00:08:51 seem to imply that eternal life can be earned because he used the word get what what can I do to get eternal life as it is something to be re to be obtained by doing secondly it is it can be paid pun intended given his his Rich he can pay through good deeds and thirdly he was good enough to make the payment this is essentially salvation by works which we will see shortly a survey conducted in 2008 is a bit dated uh by pe Forum research PE forum and research is a nonpartisan fat tank that conducts
00:09:29 public poll research and Analysis about issues attitudes and trends that is shaping the world the survey topic was what determines who obtains eternal life and the question was was sent to uh more than 1,500 American Christians large majority 29% still believes in actions that your actions for example by being a good person living a moral life uh will earn you eternal life and with this within this only less than about 1% believe this is behaving like Jesus so so so you know it's just just be good L General goodness whatever
00:10:10 however goodness is defined even those who believe that you need faith and belief all right is uh that is a determining Factor this is less than 20% less than 20% believe it is is believing in Jesus so even if it's about faith it is about believing in some higher being some higher cause right much less much less sorry it's a bit small uh 3% belief is a combination of belief in Jesus that results in Good Works in actions no wonder um a majority of all the American Christians 65% think that at least some
00:10:55 non-Christian faith can lead to eternal life indeed among Christians who believe many religions can lead to life more than 80% name at least one non-Christian faith that can do so now although this is pretty dated right and was only conducted among the Americans I believe it's applicable to any part of the world isn't it including Malaysia and it's quite telling of the human nature is doesn't it uh we we think getting to heaven is like a a scale you know a scale of good versus evil that if our Good Deeds outweigh the
00:11:34 bad we can just about meet the minimum requirement to enter Heaven canle already right minimum requirement of coming to church today like right as long as your rtk negative you can come right Jesus knew the flaws in the question itself and hence typical of Jesus instead of answering the question directly he asked another question right and an indirect answer before he goes on with his reply as if he needed to draw out his worldview Jesus seems to be testing his faith the rich young man's faith and the
00:12:14 intentions of his heart why do you ask me what is good or why do you call me good in in marks and Luke version instead of jumping straight to the answer of uh oh sorry yeah this one right yeah instead of jumping straight to the uh to the answer of Good Deeds Jesus is teasing out the rich man's definition of Good by reminding him there is only one who is good he moved from the what is good to the who is the ultimate goodness this dates all the way back to Genesis doesn't it where um throughout the process of creating the
00:12:56 world God declared that all that he made was very good God is the only source of goodness because he alone is good we see this repeatedly in the Psalms Psalms 106 give thanks to the Lord for he is good his love and Deals forever this is like a proverb that goes throughout in in in Psalms in John chapter 10 Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the Sheep by saying that only God is good what Jesus is implying is if he's the only one no one else is inherently gooda right this reality is
00:13:35 best described by the psalmist and later quoted by Paul in Romans 3 there is no one righteous not even one there is no one who understands there is no one who seeks God all have turned away they have together become worthless there is no one who does good not even one and Paul continues in Romans 7 to sum Miz the internal struggle of every believer you and I for I know I know that good itself does not dwell in me I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out do do you not feel that sometimes or
00:14:13 actually all the time you you know what is good but you just can't carry it out in fact the that I do not do the good I want to do but the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing this I keep on doing this is human depravity Jesus continues if you're well if you're serious now after he gave the Preble of goodness he says well if you are if you're really serious then um um keep the Commandments Mark and Luke says you know the Commandments you are a Jewish ruler you should you should know the ten
00:14:53 commandments so do it and the rich man as if ignoring what Jesus just said about goodness was quick to ask he was like yes which ones Bring It On he's he probably memorized all of them okay Jesus replied okay so he brings out the 10 commandments and say you shall not murder check you shall not commit adultery check you shall not steal check you shall not bear false false testimony or false witness check honor your father and mother of course check love your neighbor as yourself this is not part of the Ten
00:15:35 Commandments but it's taken from Leviticus 19 Verse 18 check also right indirectly the Commandment to love your neighbor as yourself is uh also assumed by uh commandment number 9 and 10 because if we love our neighbors we wouldn't testify wrongly against them nor cover any of their belongings notice Jesus quoted the second half of the Commandments which have all which is social relationships to others hence these are all externally visible I think he's he's he's checked all this externally visible uh criteria
00:16:15 right in uh in in in our you know in canes we say right so I'm good right all this I have kept Mark and Luke at since he was a boy since he was in Sunday School what do I still La the young man said he's still thinking he can achieve his perfect 100% score you know you know I just bit more maybe one or two more Commandments that I have not thought about almost like testing Jesus now compare this with The Sermon on the Mount if you remember Jesus could have used um any of the above to test whether
00:16:50 he was really keeping the Commandments according to God's standards not those that are only visible right uh uh but what is really in his heart right in the strictest possible sense have you Jesus could have asked him have you really not been angry with others really have you not looked lustfully at any woman have you not lied in your life do you really love your enemies I mean praying for them do you really do that in James chapter 2 verse 10 it says who whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point the Bible
00:17:28 says is guilty of breaking all of it so Jesus could have just picked any of this but what is Jesus answer and verse verse 21 is the anchor verse of the entire passage right says if you want to be perfect go sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven then come then come and follow me Mark and Luke emphasize selling everything in Matthew it doesn't say everything but Mark and Luke makes no bones about this sell everything you have and that's why this verse is often
00:18:06 classified as a very hard saying of Jesus that in invites all kinds of questions isn't it l practical questions on how literal we should take Jesus's words if I if I sell everything Jesus how am I going to Feit my family will I still have a roof over my head right I mean is it not is it wrong to store up for rainy days it's very heart seeing of Jesus isn't it all very practical questions but before we go further down this Rabbit Hole let's answer an objective question to put this verse into perspective which is the end objective
00:18:41 of Jesus's demand here who says it's uh you know Jesus say a few this whole sentence has got four things right who says a go sell all your possessions who says is give to the poor well nobody okay who says have treasure in heaven I built treasure in heaven no who says it's coming to and following Jesus hey nobody do say anything okay I think some of you might think I think all of the above you know uh but I think um really um coming to Jesus and following him is the is the ultimate goal of this
00:19:29 statement that Jesus is is making this is reminiscent of Jesus's challenge to his disciples a few chapters back you remember in Matthew 16:24 whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves take up the cross and follow me what a rich man is really lacking is going back to the Commandments since he was talking about obeying Commandments what he's really lacking is commandment number one you shall not have other gods before me and also indirectly commandment number two you shall not make for yourself yourself and an image
00:20:08 in the form of anything you shall not bow down to them or worship them these first two Commandments leads to what Jesus taught as the greatest commandment in Matthew 22 which we will come to later as well you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and then only he said the second second you know the second greatest is love your neighbor as yourself one wonders whether Jesus is really testing him right he's giving all the second second one first
00:20:41 right he say all check but the main one is what he is missing is he willing to give up all to love God with all his heart his mind his soul and strength to follow him the rich man's self-righteousness self-worth his Devotion to and his Security in his material wealth and power was revealed rich as he was materially he was not rich towards God he was unwilling to be poor in spirit to be meek to be merciful to the poor and this reminds you of of the Beatitudes of Jesus's Beatitudes doesn't it he was
00:21:32 unwilling to recognize he is in need of a savior and because of that he's unwilling to follow Christ and so he went away sad because he had great wealth can't give that up he didn't even negotiate with Jesus you know um maybe 10% can or 20% that's my tithe no sad actually the word sad is an understatement the Greek word uh is Lio Lio means grieving and really sorrowful it's like you know you're like 99% you think you know you thought you're going to get the last one% from Jesus and then Jesus all wrong the answer is like start from
00:22:10 from ground zero so that kind of sadness and sorrowfulness he thought he could have to kick an idiot essentially and contrast that with zakus you remember the story of zakus yeah uh in Luke Luke chapter 19 he was a chief tax collector and Wealthy too right cheap people money right but he says look Lord here and now I give half of my possessions okay at least he he give right you don't argue why why is it not full right he gave half his possessions to the poor and if I have cheated anybody out of anything I will pay back
00:22:45 four times the amount and what did Jesus reply today salvation has come to this house how do we obtain eternal life what is the requirement it is not by works but by grace through faith in Our Savior Jesus Christ himself and that's in Ephesians chap 2: 8-9 for it is by Grace you have been saved through faith this is not from yourselves it is the gift of God not by works so that no one can boast secondly It Is by Perfect obedience to his will Matthew 7:21 not everyone who calls me Lord Lord will enter the
00:23:25 kingdom of heaven but only the one who does the will of of my father who is in heaven this a combination of not by works but by grace and perfect obedience is faith that works James you remember James chapter 2 that reminds us as the body without spirit is dead so faith without work without Deeds is dead Jesus is not saying that you don't you don't need good deeds just you know just faith faith true Faith would lead to good deeds and second Point um why uh this leads us to the second second part of
00:24:01 the uh the sermon today why is there why is it so difficult why is there resistance and refusal to follow Jesus so as the rich man walks away refusing to give up what he's he he loved most in order to follow Jesus the disciples were probably left dumbfounded remember I remember I said earlier that you know they actually think that this guy you know is quite sincere right he's he's he's he's Rich he he's got a blessings of God truly done something right right but Jesus but so so disciples said what's going on right and typical Jesus
00:24:40 sty okay it's postmortem time committee meeting because don't know whether the disciples got what he's trying to say or not right so Jesus said to his disciples uh truly I tell you it is hard for someone who is Rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven again I tell you it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the midle than for someone who is Rich to enter the kingdom of God this is another heart saying of Jesus isn't it yeah actually this uh eye of the needle uh uh sentence has has has invited all kinds
00:25:14 of interpretation there were ancient beliefs that that this eye of the needle is actually not the literal needle the eye of the needle but uh a small gate in Jerusalem I don't know those of you have have gone to the Holy Land don't know whether you found this gate or not right uh there small gate in Jerusalem through which a camel could only squeeze through when it is low enough and you remove all the baggage you know uh you can just about squeeze through right however there's there's lack of archaeological
00:25:44 evidence until today that this gate ever existed also in all of Matthew Mark and Luke use different Greek words to describe the eye of the needle but they all mean the same thing it is the needle it's the sewing needle had it been a known or a or a place they would have referred to by name wouldn't they so so the the pro people have tried to downplay this verse to say that it's just difficult it's not impossible but the proverbial saying is to be taken literally as absolute impossibility rather than human
00:26:19 difficulty that can still be achieved if I tried harder with greater efforts Jesus leaves no room for any ambiguity here and this is confirmed later in verse 26 isn't it where Jesus says with man this is impossible but With God all things are possible as long as see I did bit of play of words here as long as the the I am sorry the the circle has moved to the right a little bit as long as the I am the small I am me the self is in the center salvation remains an impossibility no matter how hard we try but the moment
00:27:01 we take out you take out the I am the small I am and what and you replace it with capital I am it refers to God himself I am who I am who I am the name God gave to Moses at the burning bush then salvation becomes a possibility good works can never produce salvation but true salvation that comes only from the good from the good I am will always produce good works and bear the fruit of the spirit however this does not exclude human responsibility it is only a possibility if we accept Christ as Lord
00:27:48 and Savior the rich man declined because of his own Pride he was not willing to surrender It All to Jesus zakus on the other hand humbled himself admitting to his sins responded to Jesus's invitation repented and gave back to the poor those he offended now Jesus is not saying that all the rich and wealthy people will not stand a chance to enter the kingdom of God unless some of you sitting down there might be thinking saor no chance nor is he saying the opposite that well if you're poor and needy sure can M
00:28:25 right sure can enter the Kingdom right because uh that would exclude include uh Abraham Isaac Jacob who had many Rich blessings from God too not to mention David Solomon Joseph of arthia is the rich disciple of Jesus who took care of Jesus's burial after his crucifixion you remember and maybe half the congregation here myself included will be excluded right but almost all of us will say I'm not rich but you know therefore this verse doesn't really apply to me when you read this you kind of you know skip
00:29:00 this part right I'm safe you know I only drive a Honda you should see my next neighbor that one got two BMWs and and always throw large parties he's Rich he's the one who should read this verse right and your neighbor will say me Rich where did you see my my friend where do you meet my friend one Bentley two Ferraris half an olympic size swimming pool in his man in banga you know and the list goes on but let's be honest in your heart you you'll be thinking every day how I wish I I had that amount of money that's cover thing
00:29:41 by the way right when you when you compare the world against the world population living below the line of poverty below the line of poverty this is defined by by the World Bank those who leave uh less than $5 a day USD Malaysia is not on the list hence all of us here are pretty rich relative to the poor countries mostly in Africa and parts of Asia but it's not so much of the quantum and the size of wealth that is in question here but our attitudes towards it isn't it there's ample warnings in the Bible to the point of being taken
00:30:28 for granted to the point of being monotonous the one that we most familiar with but the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many Grieves we see this in in Judas Iscariot who we remember betrayed Jesus for 30 silver 30 pieces of silver we see this in the sons of the prophet Samuel and a buer who did not follow God's ways but turned aside after dishonor gain and accepted bribes and perverted Justice we
00:31:07 see this in a aen or some of us called aana uh in the Book of Joshua who kept devoted things that were plundered from Jericho it was meant to go to God's treasury but he found a beautiful rope from Babylonia he found 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels and he desired to have them he was coveting them and he and he took them for himself we see this throughout the ages as well the all the financial scandals of in the history in history of unscrupulous people who defraud innocent
00:31:43 investors to enrich themselves in days as far back as Mississippi the Mississippi bubble in 1720s uh in France um andron wilcom we remember and you know Ponzi schemes started by by Charles uh uh Charles Ponzi but but heightened by by Bernie mof the great 2008 financial crisis wire card and of course Malaysia bu one MDB right in the parel of the S Matthew 13:22 the seat falling among the Thorns refers to someone who hears the word but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word
00:32:34 the deceitfulness of wealth choked the word making it unfruitful the Crux of the human problem is that we have only one heart one mind and one Soul we only have the capacity to worship one God and Matthew 6: 24 makes it very clear it makes no bones about about it no one can serve two masters either you will hate the one and love the other or you will be devoted to one and despise the other you cannot serve both God and money and money in Greek here is Mamon mamona it is it means more than just your money cash is a rival God
00:33:19 personified like our Chinese Choice son or or the Roman God of wealth plutus or the nors god of wisdom and wealth Odin and many others but Mamon is more subtle it lives in our hearts and so de di bofer once quoted our hearts have room for only one all embracing devotion and we can only cleave to one Lord and that leads to to the the last topic for today and I'll share some personal testimony is what and where is the real reward Peter as usual being the spokesperson wanted to clarify he's like see um Jesus we have
00:34:09 left everything to follow you right not like uh you know the Rich Young Ruler just now what then will there be for us it's quite natural for us to to ask such questions right I mean we have left everything is there any re reward at the end of this sacrifice Peter and Jesus's disciples probably wanted the Assurance of Salvation after witnessing what happened to the rich man departing in grief and and teaches and Jesus teaching about human impossibilities they wanted to clarify is there anything for us left or not are
00:34:45 we are we uh part of the the team who's going to who's going to enter Heaven right they have done what the rich man refused to give up their Earthly uh possessions their careers their priorities and they have followed Jesus the disciples were not rich mostly fishermen by profession but whatever little that they have they they lived on they gave up their livelihood in order to follow Christ to become fishes of men this reminds us of the story of the poor widow's offering in in Mark chapter 12 while many who Rich were were giving
00:35:23 large amounts the Widow only gave two small copper coins worth only a few cents Jesus saw the sincerity of her heart and said truly I tell you this poor Widow has put more money has put more into the treasury than all the others they all gave out of their wealth but she out of her poverty put in everything and all that she had to live on since they had made huge sacrifices is natural for them to ask if there was going to be any rewards in store for them in heaven in business and financial terms we always talk about what is the
00:36:03 return Returns on investment what is the ROI you know Jesus assures them there will indeed be rewards that awaits them in two forms the first is unique to the disciples in verse 28 it talks about uh the disciples reigning with with Christ judging the 12 traps of Israel uh but and the second is a recompense that is extended to every believer you and I so I'm going to focus more on that in verse 29 Jesus says everyone who has left houses brothers sisters father mother wife children or Fields The Mark Mark
00:36:44 adds the Peril uh and with them persecution for my sake Mark adds the Peril and the gospel will receive a 100 times as much both Mark and Luke in this present age and will inherit eternal life many who are first will be last many who are last will be first it's another hard saying of Jesus isn't it Pastor joash uh a couple of months ago preached on the difficult topic of persecution and the cost of discipleship and here we are again notice Jesus extended just wealth and possessions houses and Fields to the
00:37:28 family unit Which is closest to us these are people that we treasure most you and I can probably add more to the list your careers your reputation and status in work in society even in church and so on so five quick points bear with me about the nature of rewards in heaven so we don't misunderstand this stands out in this verse firstly the rewards are a result of of leaving not just leaving per se right you're leaving in order to cleave and to cling on to something and that's Jesus to cling on to his higher calling his
00:38:07 higher cause in order to advance the gospel and his kingdom now we are not allowed to think that we can just relinquish all our material possessions and family obligations since Jesus says that leave everybody you know like give up I I I quit right no because didn't the Bible also say honor your father and mother and love your wives and children perhaps a better passage to put this into context is what Jesus taught earlier in Matthew chapter 10 you remember anyone who loves um their father or mother more than me is not
00:38:39 worthy of me anyone who loves their son and daughter more than me is not worthy of me whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me it's a matter of priority Jesus and his kingdom sacrifices must come first easier said than done of course secondly Jesus promised that the Rewards or the recompense will be many full more than what we left behind and sacrificed but this must be seen again in the context of Kingdom Community right we're not to take this literally as if we're going to get 100
00:39:14 more fathers mothers wives wow you know and you know or worse if applied to wealth and possessions wow you will become Prosperity Gospel already no didn't Jesus say to his disciples in Matthew 12:49 that whoever does the will of my Father in Heaven is my brother and sister and mother remember it is the the family of God in the Kingdom of Heaven that grows as a result of our self sacrifices for the sake of the Gospel thirdly these results the rewards the recompense for all our life sacrifices for Christ starts in the present age you
00:39:56 see this in many Ministries is MBC today the soup kitchen the sponsorship for kindergarten to the sib preschool Ministry which we heard last week by our dear sister Roomba and and sister Eileen and and all our community care activities such as the groceries Outreach to the burmes refugees and other missions and evangelism programs such as saw uh uh uh um you know recently giving to wli Bible translators all these results and rewards happen in the present age fourthly the reward of eternal life is
00:40:31 an inheritance it's an inheritance we inherit the Kingdom of Heaven by adoption to sunship by being called children of God hence hires of God coair with Christ is all found in Romans 8 rather than something we earn by doing and so we would do well if each of us live like a child of God which is which is where we started in verse 13 to 15 early we say remember Jesus inviting the children to come is the childlike faith that he is asking the rich man the Rich Young Ruler who did not give his Allegiance always coming to Jesus with
00:41:12 childlike trust and faith is what Jesus requires last but not least since eternal life is an inheritance it is God's grace that triumph over the rich the powerful the Great and The prominent they may be first right now but in the kingdom of God it is the grace of God that will reward each in heaven according to what they according to their Works according to their good works as a result of putting their trust and faith in Christ and in closing so in closing if we if we put verse 29 which is the last
00:41:49 which is the second last verse In this passage and verse 21 which is the key the two key verses In this passage side by side we see the cost and the rewards of following Jesus isn't it the the yellow ones are the cost the green words are the rewards it seem to be like a tension between cost and and rewards here right in Mark's version verse 21 starts with Jesus looking at the Rich Young Ruler and loving him despite knowing that he's not going to reciprocate Jesus looked at him oh he loved him he loved him what the Rich
00:42:38 Young Ruler failed to see was the real treasure in Christ he loved the world more than Christ he did a cost benefit analysis or the ROI test and didn't think it was worth giving up all that he cherished in order to follow Christ it's not worth it he said he wanted to he wanted the gift but not the giver it was a transaction it was a transaction for him based on human achievement I do this I get that it is not relational based on love based on faith based on trust based on being poor in spirit and uh and accepting our own
00:43:25 sinfulness sh a little bit on my text testimony I mean I I must confess that I sometimes see some areas of my life resembling that that rich young ruler and that's why I I actually struggle with this sermon a lot it's one thing to be able to exit the text the countless of commentaries on this is another to practice what you preach there are still quite a number of of Idols mamons in my life vying for my attention that drains my energy my time they are either urgent or important or both like the Rich Young Ruler I'm I'm a
00:44:08 perfectionist I'm a high achiever I'm a do gooder and a people pleaser I'm the male version of Martha versus Mary always busy as a student and because I was really good in math uh I would not settle for anything less than 100% if I knew that I deserved it I would fight for the last Mark you know you give me 98 H I said why oh because you didn't do this working properly no I would justify to say there is right there you know and then the teacher would give me 100% so I'm that kind of person right more often
00:44:46 than not these traits manifest in my family relationships even in Christian service if the Rich Young ruler's Memon was his wealth and possession and possessions mine was mine is workaholism I'm a workaholic by the way speaking of work I'll be uh changing job soon changing job soon when I told a Christian colleague of mine uh that I I'm moving on for a moment she thought I was going to fulltime Ministry so she asked you're going to be a pastor is it much to a disappointment I said no no not really maybe not yet um on the
00:45:27 contrary I'll be moving to a more demanding job I think it might it might move my Mamon up a few notches so I have to continually keep the Heavenly perspective in check always I'm a work in progress as what Paul says in Philippians chapter 3 I do not consider myself to yet to have taken hold of it but one thing I do forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead I I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus and what is the price the price is
00:46:08 is eternal life Jesus in his high Priestly prayer prayed this and we hardly read this verse you know it's hidden in his prayer he finally defines what eternal life is nowh in the Bible you have this definition like this now this is eternal life that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent eternal life is not securing a place in heaven it's not something that we earn by doing but received by believing because Christ has done it all in the cross there's nothing we can add
00:46:46 or subtract to it like what the Rich Young was trying to ask it starts from the moment we put our faith in him not only in the afterlife some something that we can do whatever we want in this life as long as we you know in after life we do good that's eternal life no Jesus says very clearly here it's about knowing god knowing Christ and it starts the moment you put your faith in him it is a lifelong Eternal relationship of knowing loving and serving Christ who loved us and treasured us so much as to
00:47:17 give all of himself for you and I though Jesus was rich the Bible says he became poor by paying the price on the cross so that through his power poverty we might become rich Christ deserves all our devotion not partial not half-hearted nothing describes this nothing describes this better than the than the parable of the hidden treasure and the worship team can prepare for for for the um final song in the par of the hidden treasure when a man found the treasure who is Christ hidden in the field he hid it
00:48:01 again and then in his Joy he went and sold all he had and bought that field oh what a contrast to the rich young man who did exactly the opposite dear brothers and sisters is Christ your treasure is Christ your treasure of treasures Treasures we have many but is Christ your number one is I want to I want to close in prayer and I would like to pray for three groups of people first to those who have yet to put their faith in Christ you have been coming to church or worshiping With Us online but have not
00:48:49 committed to following Christ because of some reservations that you have the ROI that you're still counting the cost benefit analysis I want to pray for you today Lord I pray for my dear brothers and sisters who have yet to receive the Eternal and Abundant Life that you have come to give may your spirit continue to speak to their hearts so that that that that you love them so much as to send your only son Jesus Christ to die for them on the cross for the Forgiveness of their sins today they learn that it is humanly
00:49:20 impossible to save themselves by any good works they do but solely by the grace through faith in our lord Jesus who is the treasure that they have all been they've been seeking all along the only source of goodness is you the only source of Joy fulfillment and meaning to life is you lord lord may they confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their hearts that you have rais Christ from the dead so that they may enter into your kingdom and obtain salvation and follow you I pray for the
00:49:49 second group of Believers like me who are struggling with surrendering All to Jesus because of the Treasures on Earth that we continue to hold on to Father forgive Lord forgive us Lord that we have allowed Earthly Treasures to become our mment our masters preventing us from giving our all our best to you and causing us not to follow you wholeheartedly in perfect obedience to your will and purposes like the parable of the S the deceitfulness of money sex power and other sinful desires have made us
00:50:26 unfruitful help us Lord to regularly re-evaluate our Earthly priorities against Heavenly and Kingdom perspective so that we hold Loosely to things that are fleeting knowing that our citizenship is in Heaven Help Us to generously and intentionally invest our time our energy and money in building your kingdom here on Earth as it is in heaven lastly I pray for those who have answered your call to follow you but are facing all kinds of Trials oppositions persecutions because they have remained faithful
00:51:04 resisting to conform to the pattern and Treasures of the world Lord I pray that you remind them by your spirit that that they have this treasure in Jars of Clay show them that the all surpassing power comes from you not their works and therefore they do not need to be disappointed grant them perseverance that produces character and the character that produces hope and this hope is the hope of eternal life of knowing Christ when they are weary and burdened may they come to Jesus who promis to grant them rest we
00:51:41 thank you Lord for your Amazing Grace and mercies your unconditional love for each one of us we pray all this in jesus' name and for his name's sake amen let us all close in the song of response I surrender all what gift of Grace is Jesus My Redeemer there is no more for heaven now to give he is my joy my righteousness and Freedom my steadfast love my deep and boundless peace to this I hope my hope is only Jesus for my life is Holy B to his oh how strange and divine I can sing all it's mine yet not I through Christ
00:52:58 in [Music] me the night is dark but I am not forsaken for by my side my savior he will stay I labor on in weaknesses and rejoicing for in my need his power is display to this I hold my shepherd will defend me through the deepest valley he will open night has been one and I shall overcome yet not I but through [Applause] [Music] Christ no I I know I am the de the future sure the price it has been made for Jesus BL and suffer for a GL and he was raised to overflow to this I hold my sin has been defeated Jesus now and never is
00:54:49 my all the chase aree I can sing I am free but I through Christ in me with every breath I to follow Jesus for he has said that he will bring me home and day by day I know he will re until I say with joy before the to this I hold my hope is only Jesus all the glory ever more to him when the race is still my lips shall not through in to this I hold to this I hold my hope is all with Jesus all the GL [Music] ever when the still my li shall be and [Music] my the is still Li shall not I through Christ in
00:56:35 me not I true Christ in [Music] [Music]
