Series: Close Encounters
“A Man Who Lacked One Thing”
(Sunday Morning October 11th, 2009)
Passage: Luke 18:18-30
O.S. There are Some People, About Whom, Many in Our World Would Say,
“They Had It All”
-> Patrick Swayze, the Well-Known Actor Who Died of Pancreatic Cancer Just This Past Month Might Have Been Considered by Many to Have Been One of Those
-> He Was Born in Houston in 1952, and He Grew Up in the Oak Forest Neighborhood
-> His Mother Was a Dance Instructor; And So, She Encouraged Him to Pursue Dancing as a Career Which He Did
-> His First Big Break Came When He Landed a Role as a Dancer With Disney on Parade in the Long Standing Broadway Hit Called “Grease”
-> After This, He Starred in Several Films Including a Low Budget Film Called“Dirty
Dancing” That Became an Enormous International Success ($300 Million)
-> Swayze’s Wealth Enabled Him to Travel to Exotic Places, and He Owned Ranches in California, Las Vegas, and New Mexico Where He Raised Arabian Horses
-> But Sadly, He Died at the Young Age of 57, and Sadder Still is the Fact That He Was Not a Christian; He Was a Member of the Scientology Cult
-> Therefore, I Would Have to Say That Patrick Swayze Did Not Have It All;Instead, I Would Say That He Didn’t Even Come Close to Having It All
-> Because He Was Missing the One Thing That is Really Worth Anything, and That is a Personal Relationship With Jesus Christ
-> As Many of Us Know, Jesus Emphasized This Truth by Putting It in the Form of a Rhetorical Question in Mark 8:36-37 When He Said This; He Said, “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?’” (Good Question)
a. There is a Man Mentioned in Matthew 7 Who Some Might Have Said Had It All in Terms of RELIGION
-> Because the Bible Says That He Was a Man of Zeal, Able to Prophesy, and Able Cast Out Demons and Perform Miracles
-> But Unfortunately, We Know He Was Missing One Thing, Because in Matthew 7:23 the Lord Said to Him “…' I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO
PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'
-> He Had Everything in Terms of Religion Except for One Thing, But That One Thing Turned Out to be What He Needed the Most… (A Personal Relationship)
b. There is a Man Mentioned in Luke 12 Who Some Might Have Said Had It All in Terms of RICHES (Elaborate)
-> But God Interrupted His Party in Luke 12:20 by Saying “…' You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?'”
-> He Had Everything in Terms of Riches Except for One Thing, But That One Thing Turned Out to be What He Needed the Most…(A Personal Relationship)
c. There is a Man Mentioned in Acts 26 Who Some Might Have Said Had It All in Terms ROYALTY
-> His Name Was King Agrippa; But After the Apostle Paul Witnessed to Him, All He Could Say Was “You have ALMOST persuaded me to be a Christian”
-> He Had Everything in Terms of Royalty Except for One Thing, But That One Thing Turned Out to be What He Needed the Most…(A Personal Relationship)
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T.S. Now Listen, We Find a Man in This Passage of Scripture This Morning Who Had It All in Terms of RELIGION, and RICHES and ROYALTY
-> But Like These Others I Just Mentioned, He Lacked the One Thing That is Truly Important in Life, and That is a Personal Relationship With Jesus Christ
I. This Man Had Some Advantages
1) He Was Humble
-> We are Told in Mark 10:17 That This Young Man Ran to Jesus; and Then, He Knelt Down in Front of Him
-> A Lot of People With This Kind of Wealth and Status Would Have Been Too Proud to Approach Jesus at All Let Alone to do It in an Enthusiastic, Public and Humble Way
-> Nicodemus, for Example, Came to Jesus at Night (John 3:1-2)
-> But This Young Man Ran and Bowed Down in Front of Jesus, in Broad Daylight; And Then, He Admitted That He Had a Spiritual Need
-> He Said, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
-> Now, Let’s Give Him Some Credit, Because He Was Thinking About Eternity
-> That’s More Than I Could Say for a Lot of People These Days
-> And He Didn’t Ask This Question to Test Jesus the Way the Lawyer Did in Luke 10:25; This Young Man Was Sincere
-> In Fact, if He Had Come Forward in a Modern Day Baptist Church and Said That, the Pastor Would Have Probably Led Him in a Sinner’s Prayer and Assumed That He Had
Been Genuinely Converted
-> But Jesus, as We Have Seen in This Study, Knew the Hearts of Men; and Therefore, He Knew That This Young Man Was Enslaved to a False god Called “Money”
Q.n = So Now, Listen to Me, Are You Listening?
Ans = This is Why We Need to be Cautious About How We Use the Word “Seeker” in Our Modern Day Churches (Elaborate – Popular Term)
-> If Ever There Appeared to be a Seeker, This Was Him, But the Apostle Paul Tells Us in Romans 3:11 That There is “…NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD”
Ans = Moreover, This is Why We Should Remind People of the Fact That Repentance is a Necessary Element of Salvation (Luke 13:3)
2) He Was Religious
-> When the Bible Says That He Was a “Ruler” That Could Mean That He Was a Political Ruler
-> But It is More Likely That This Means That He Was the “Ruler” at a Local Synagogue
-> To Achieve That Kind of Religious Status at a Young Age Was a Great Religious
Accomplishment
-> This Tells Us That He Would Have Been Very Knowledgeable of the Scripture, and He Would Have Also Been an Extremely Moral and Upright Young Man
-> So, When Jesus Asked Him if He Had Kept the Commandments, and He Said, “Yes,” and Again, I Believe That He Was Being Sincere
-> He Honestly Thought That He Had Kept the Commandments, and That is Where He Got Off Track
-> For You See, the Ten Commandments Were Intended to be an Advantage in the Sense That They Would Reveal Our Sin and Lead Us to Christ
-> That’s Why the Apostle Paul Said This in Galatians 3:24; He Said, “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith”
-> His Attempts to Keep the Ten Commandments Were an Advantage in That Sense, But They Became a Disadvantage When He Began to See Them as a Way for Him to
Achieve Eternal Life
-> And That is Why He Said to Jesus “What Must I DO to Inherit Eternal Life?”
Q.n = Now Listen, How Many of You Know That the Difference Between Religion and Christianity is That Religion is Spelled DO and Christianity is Spelled DONE?
Ans = If You Know That Say “Amen”
-> You See, This Young Man Worked Under the Premise That if You Want Something You DO Something to Get It
-> And I Run Into People Like This All of the Time (Elaborate – List – Kiwanis, PTA)
St = So, I Want You to Listen Carefully to How Jesus Answered a Very Similar Question in John 6:28-29
-> Here’s the Question in John 6:28 “Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?"
Q.n = Did You Catch That?
Ans = They Used That Word “DO”
-> Here’s Jesus’ Answer in John 6:29 “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent’”
-> Now, This is Why I Tell People That Religion is a Deceptive Sham
-> In Fact, Religion Has Kept More People Out of Heaven Than Anything Else in Existence
-> You Can go to Church Every Sunday, or a Synagogue, or a Mosque; You Can Take a Trip to Mecca, or Become Celibate, and do the Rosary, or be Sprinkled, or Dunked, or
Slain in the Spirit or Whatever
-> But None of That is Going to Get You Into Heaven
-> For Listen, the Bible Says That the Only Way Anyone Can Get Into Heaven and Inherit Eternal Life is by Repenting of Their Sins and Receiving Jesus Christ as Their
Personal Lord and Savior by Faith
Q.n = Do You Remember What I Said in My Introduction About That Man Who Had It All in Terms of Religion?
Q.n = What Did the Lord Say to Him?
Ans = He Said, “I Never Knew You…”
-> And That Word “Knew” Refers to Having an Intimate Relationship With the Lord
-> That is Why the Apostle John Said This in 1 John 5:12; He Said, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (Personal
Relationship With the Lord)
3) He Was Young
-> We are Told in Matthew 19:20 That He Was a Young Man
-> And of Course, the Fact That He Was Thinking About Eternal Things at a Young Age is Commendable
-> In Ecclesiastes 12:1, the Bible Says “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, …”
-> And That is What This Young Man Seemed to Have a Desire to Do
-> There
are Many in Our World Who Feel That They Should go Out and Sow Their Wild Oats
-> And Then, After They Have Lived the Bulk of Their Life; They’ll Give Jesus the Dregs That are at the Bottom of the Cup
-> But This Man Was Not Like That
-> On the Contrary, He Came at the Right Time, to the Right Person, and He Asked the Right Question
4) He Was Wealthy
-> We are Told in Verse 23 That He Was “…extremely wealthy”
-> Now, We Hear a Lot About Money Being the Root to All Evil, and That is True (1 Tim 6:10)
-> But That Does Not Mean Money, in and of Itself, is Evil
-> In Fact, Money is Actually Neutral; It Can be Hoarded Selfishly or It Can be Shared Generously
-> The Problem With This Young Man, as Jesus Reveals It to Us in This Passage, is Not That He Had Money, But Rather, That His Money Had Him
-> And Consider This, if His Money Had Not Become His god (Little ‘g’); He Could Have Used It as Jesus Had Suggested to Accomplish Some Wonderful Things
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II. This Man Had Some Disadvantages
1) He Was Deceived
-> This Young Man Had Deceived Himself to the Point That He Actually Believed That He Had Kept All of the Ten Commandments
-> Now, Let Me Tell You, in Case You Don’t Already Know, That It is Impossible for Any of Us to Keep All of the Ten Commandments
-> In Fact, Jesus Revealed in the Sermon on the Mount That the Spirit of the Law is Just as Important as the Letter of the Law
-> In Matthew 5:22, for Example, Jesus Stated That All We Have to do is Have Anger in Our Heart to be Guilty of the Sin of Murder
-> And in Matthew 5:28, Jesus Stated That All We Have to do is Have a Lustful Thought to be Guilty of Committing the Sin of Adultery
-> So, if You Want to Know How Many of the Ten Commandments I Have Broken, I’m Just Going to be Honest and Say “Ten” Alright
-> This Young Man, by Way of Contrast, Didn’t Understand This
-> Consequently, Jesus Began Listing Some of the Commandments Out of the Second Table of the Law; He Said, “Do you know the commandments,…”...Do Not Murder, Do
Not Commit Adultery, Do Not Bear False Witness, Do Not Steal, Honor Your Father and Mother
-> But Amazingly, This Young Man Still Didn’t Get It
-> So, We are Told in Matthew 19:19 That Jesus Added the Phrase “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”
-> Now, the Truth is That None of Us Loves Our Neighbor as Much as We Love Ourselves, and I Like the Way That the Late A.P. Gibbs Illustrates That
“You are coming home from town, and you see smoke ahead, near where you live. A house is on fire. The fire engines roar past with howling sirens. You quicken your
pace and round a corner. The fire is on your street! You break into a run. Then, you heave a sigh of relief. You say, ‘I’m so glad that it is MY house! I’m so glad that it
is NOT my neighbor’s house. Whoever said such a thing as that?’”
St = Well, He Still Didn’t Get It; So, Jesus Finally Brought the Hammer Down, and He Hit the Nail on the Head by Bringing Up the Tenth Commandment
-> Only Jesus Didn’t Just State It; He Forced This Rich Young Ruler to Face It
-> The Commandment Says “You shall not covet”, But Remember, This Rich Young Ruler Had Asked What He Must DO to Inherit Eternal Life
-> So, Jesus Said This to Him; He Said, “Go and sell everything you have and give your possessions to the poor; and then, come and follow Me”
Q.n = Was Jesus Really Requiring Him to Sell All of His Possessions?
Ans = In This Case, I Believe He Was
-> And I Will Tell You Why He Did That in Just a Minute
-> But for Now, I Want You to See That Jesus Was Making It Clear to Him That He Had Not Kept the Law Perfectly
-> Therefore, There Was no Way That He Could Get Into Heaven and Inherit Eternal Life on the Basis of Keeping the Law of God
-> That is Why the Apostle Paul Said This in Romans 3:20; He Said, “because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the
knowledge of sin”
-> You See, That is All That the Law Was Intended to Do; It Was Only Intended to Reveal the Fact That We are Sinners in Need of a Savior
-> In Fact, Let Me Get Down to the Nitty Gritty and Settle This for All of Us by Bringing Up James 2:10, Listen to This, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all”
-> Now, Let Me Ask You a Question
Q.n = How Many of the Ten Commandments Have
You Broken?
Ans = If You’re Honest, You’ll Say “Ten” (Say That With Me)
2) He Was Enslaved
-> I Stated Earlier That I do Believe That Jesus Was Asking This Young Man to Sell All of His Possessions and Give Them to the Poor
-> I Don’t Believe That is Something That He Would Ask Most People to do, But I Believe That is What He Was Asking This Young Man to Do
-> Because, Listen to Me Now, Jesus Knew That This Particular Young Man’s Love for Money, and His Love for God Were in Direct Conflict With One Another
-> In Matthew 6:24, Jesus Said, “No one can serve two masters; 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”
-> And Unfortunately, That is What Had Happened to This Young Man, and That is Why He Became Sorrowful and Walked Away
-> Don’t Miss That
-> This Young Man Came Running Up to Jesus Filled With Enthusiasm, But He Walked Away Filled With Sorrow
-> And Then, Jesus Stated a Common Jewish Colloquialism – Verse 25 (Read)
Q.n = Why is This True?
Ans = Because Wealth Can Enslave People
-> Wealth Can Also Bring a False Sense of Security That Causes People to Fail to See Their Need for God
-> Which is Why Paul Said to the Christians in the Church at Corinth “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not
many mighty, not many noble” (1 Corinthians 1:26)
-> Paul Didn’t Say There Weren’t “ANY,” But He Did Say There Weren’t “MANY”
Ex. Dion Sanders
-> I Think It Was C.S. Lewis Who Said It Like; He Said, “It is possible to get a camel thru the eye of a needle, but it is awfully hard on the camel”
3) He Was Foolish
-> After This Rich Young Ruler Left, Peter Asked Jesus a Question
vs 28 (Read)
-> Jesus Didn’t Rebuke Peter for Asking This; Instead, He Told Him
vs 29-30 (Read)
-> Now, to Some Extent, I Think We Should Chuckle About Peter’s Question
Q.n = Because Honestly, What Had Peter Given Up?
Ans = He’d Given Up a Fishing Business
-> But in Contrast to That, He Was Given the Privilege of Living With Jesus for Three Years and Serving Him as an Apostle After That This Rich Young Ruler Was Too
Foolish to Look Into the Future and to See That Eternity is a Much Wiser Investment
-> In Fact, Jesus Said That It Pays Dividends a Hundred Fold in Matthew 19
-> Jesus Also Said, in Essence, It Pays Now, and It Pays Later
Ex. Moses Figured That Out
-> Hebrews 11:24-26 Says“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the
people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 Considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the
reward” (Elaborate)
Ex. The Apostle Paul Figured That Out
-> He Had so Much in Common With This Man
-> But in Philippians 3:8, Paul Said, “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”
Invitation:
-> Let Me Sum All of This Up by Saying Two Things
a.
First, No One Can Inherit Eternal Life of the Basis of Their Own Merit
-> A Lot of People Think That, When It Comes Time for the Judgment, God is Going to Place Two Huge Columns in Front of Them
-> One of the Columns Will Have a List of All the Bad Things They Have Done
-> The Other Column Will Have a List of All the Good Things They Have Done
-> And if the Column With the List of Good Things They Have Done is Longer or Weighs More Than the List of Bad Things, They Will be O.K.
-> In Fact, Muslims Actually Teach That Every Man and Woman is Born With Two Recording Angels (Elaborate)
-> But Listen, the Bible Clearly Says That is Not How It is Going to go Down, and That is Good Because the Bible Says Isaiah 64:6 That Our Righteousness is as Filthy Rags
-> So, No Matter How Good We are in Comparison to Other Men, That Will Not be the Issue, Because We Have to Appease a Holy God
LET ME GIVE YOU ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE ON THIS
-> Imagine Coming to the Judgment in a Line Right Behind Mother Theresa and Hearing God Say to Her “I’m Sorry. You Did a Lot of Good in the World, But It Was Not
Enough”
-> And Then as They are Carrying Her Off to the Perdition, You Hear Him Say “Next”
-> Oh No, My Good Works in Life Cannot Compare to Those of Mother Theresa
-> Well Fortunately, We Know That is Not How It is Going to Work; Because in Ephesians 2:8-9, the Bible Says“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast”
b. Second, if You Have Jesus, You Have It All
-> There are Many
Verses in the Bible That Tell Us This
-> In Romans 8:32, for Example,
the Apostle Paul Said, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over
for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give
us all things?”
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Ill: There is an Old Illustration; I’m Sure That Many of You Have Heard It
-> Its About a Wealthy Business Man Who Lost the Only Son Whom He Loved, and When They Got Ready to Auction Off His Estate a Very Interesting Thing Happened.
They Started the Auction by Auctioning of a Picture of the Man’s Son…
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-> You See, the Opposite is Also True
-> If You Have Jesus,
You Have It All
-> But if You Don’t Have Jesus, You Really Don’t Have
Anything at All
Pt = The Truth of the Matter is That This Rich Young Ruler Didn’t Have It All; He Had Nothing at All, Because He Rejected the One Thing in Life That Really Matters
Which is a Personal Relationship With Jesus Christ
-> So,
Let Me Close With This Simple Statement
Q.n = Are You Ready?
-> You Can Have It All or You Can Have Nothing at All
-> I’m Not Promising You Wealth and Success, But I am Saying That You
Can Have It All by Having a Personal Relationship With the Living God
-> You
Can Have It All or You Can Have Nothing at All