Jack Graham - Rich Man, Poor Man

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I want you to take your Bibles and turn with me to Mark chapter 10, the 10th chapter of the Gospel of Mark. We are talking about conversations that Jesus had with individuals. Sort of like Facetime with Jesus. And today the title of the message is: «Rich Man, Poor Man». And it is the dramatic story, one of the most dramatic scenes in all of the Bible. So vivid that both, all Matthew, Mark and Luke told the story of the rich young ruler. The rich man who met the poor man. But the poor man was really the rich man and the rich man was really the poor man. And you’ll see what I mean by that as we go. But what we have here in the Gospel of Mark is the account that describes what happened when this young man came running to Jesus.

Beginning in verse 17: «And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must 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, all these I have kept from my youth.' And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, 'You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.' Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, 'How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! ' And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, 'children, how difficult 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 person to enter the kingdom of God.' And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, 'Then who can be saved? ' Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.'»

Does that sound familiar? «All things are possible with God».? There was a young woman by the name of Mary, betrothed to Joseph. The angel of the Lord came to her and said, «You will bear the child, the Savior into the world». She said, «How is that possible? I’ve never known a man physically». And the angel said, «With God all things are possible». And here again, Jesus is saying the same thing. «With God all things are possible». Who can be saved? All who trust in Christ! It’s the miracle of salvation. Here is a young man. It’s Matthew who tells us that he was a young man. And we’re told not only is he a young man, but he’s a very eager, excited young man as he comes running to Jesus. He’s literally, I think, out of breath. And when he gets in the presence of Jesus, he falls on his knees. He’s humble, he is winsome and he in some way attracted to Jesus.

Was it the messages that Jesus had been delivering? The miracles that Jesus performed? Just the very presence, the Man Himself, Jesus. He is attracted to Him. And in his youthfulness that is just so much potential. This story starts off so well, doesn’t it? Here’s a young man who comes to Jesus, gets on his knees, and says, «What must I do to have eternal life»? He comes with the right questions to the right person. He’s not there seeking earthly things; he wants eternal things. And though he was wealthy, and the Bible says that he was rich, and so this young man is successful, he’s significant. He is a ruler, a community leader, perhaps a civil magistrate, perhaps a ruler in the synagogue, a teacher in the synagogue. We know that he was a community leader.

And so here he is young, vibrant, wealthy, well-known in the community. What a contrast this is between this young man who may have been a contemporary with Jesus in terms of age. Jesus was young. Jesus was in his early thirties. And so you have this contrast between a young man who is wealthy, aristocratic, powerful, a leader and Jesus of Nazareth, a Galilean who grew up in the carpenter shop of Joseph, a contract laborer, if you will, who in terms of worldly good, born in a stable. He’s a nomad kind of preacher, an itinerant preacher. What a contrast between this poor man, Jesus and this rich man, this young ruler. It says, and I stopped just a moment, I paused just a moment when I read the words of Scripture that Jesus loved this young man. There was just something about him. Jesus looked at him and He loved him. Not because he was wealthy, not because he was rich, not because he was so religious, but Jesus saw in him someone that He loved.

And you know when Jesus looks at you, He loves you. «For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son». So the young man walks up and he’s on a spiritual quest. So he comes with a question, and the question, we noted it, «How can I inherit» or «how can I have eternal life»? Well, he’s certainly talking to the right person about eternal life because Jesus is standing right in front of him. He says, «How can I obtain this? How can I have eternal life»? Now, that is the quest and question of every life. And surely, it’s the question of your own life. How can I know that I’m going to heaven? If I were to ask you that question today, wherever you are, watching on a screen, right here in this room, do you know that you know that you have eternal life? You say, «Is it even possible to know»? Yes! «These things are written (the Bible) that you may know (k-n-o-w, not think so, hope so, maybe so, that you would know so) eternal life».

Now what is eternal life? Eternal life is not endless life. People without God have an endless life. You will be somewhere in eternity, either in heaven or in hell, living endlessly. So eternal life is different than endless life. Eternal life in the Bible is always the life of God. He is the Author and giver of life, the Creator and the Sustainer of life. So eternal life is the life that God and only God can give. Jesus talked about this eternal life. He prayed concerning eternal life in John 17 and verse 3. «This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent». Love that phrase! «Jesus Christ who You have sent».

The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. So He came that we might have this eternal life. We’ve been asking and answering the question: Who is Jesus? This young man, when he approaches Christ, breathlessly, on his knees, says to Him: «Good Master, what must I do to have this eternal life»? He said, «Jesus, good teacher, how can I have eternal life»? And Jesus pushes the pause button before He goes forward and called this young man out and He’s calling every one of us out, because if we are calling Jesus good, Jesus Himself said, «Look, there’s only one who is good and that is God».

One of the great attributes of our God is His goodness. The goodness of God. And so when He uses that phrase good, that’s a title of deity. When he says good Teacher, notably they would normally say teacher or rabbi, but this young man says good teacher, good rabbi. He believed that Jesus was a teacher. And Jesus wasn’t going to let him get away with just that. And He says, «Why are you calling Me good? Because if you’re calling Me good, you must be calling Me God». Jesus is not in any way diminishing His deity or certainly not denying His deity; He’s making the point that He is God. We must get this right! Jesus is not the man who is good, but He is the Man who is God! Jesus is Lord! And you must confess Him as Lord.

C.S. Lewis in his classic book Mere Christianity took on this issue. Jesus saying don’t call me good if I’m not God. Don’t call me good if I’m not God. And Lewis said this: «A man who is merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said, would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on the level of a man who says he’s a poached egg, or else the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God or else a mad man or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing non sense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to»!

So there you have what some would call the horns of a trilemma, that Christ is Lord, or He’s liar or He’s a lunatic. You have to make up your decision. You have to decide. You have to believe. Jesus is in a category of one! Just one! He’s not just good; He is Jehovah God! That was the infinite who became an infant; majesty was laid in that manger; and now the Man Christ Jesus, the Messiah is saying (don’t miss this) «Tell me who I am? I’m not a philosopher, I’m not a politician, I’m not a psychologist, I’m not just a teacher or a leader, or a model or an example! I am the Lord your God»!

That’s who Jesus is. It’s the meaning of Christmas. The meaning of everything. That Christ was prophesied and fulfilled the predictions of He’s coming the first time, that He was born through the portals of a virgin’s womb, that He lived a pure and perfect and sinless life, that He voluntarily, vicariously (that is, substituting) laid down His life on the cross for you and for me. He took our sins, Our Savior, Mary’s little Lamb. The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, died on the cross; He rose again on the third day; He ascended; He is at the right hand, ever praying, every interceding for His own, and one day there will be Christmas phase two when Jesus comes back in all of His glory when Christ comes again!

Now this is the claim of Christ and Christianity! Are you listen? Anything else is not Christianity! Christianity is Christ! Who He is and what He did for us! We have a Savior! You either believe it or you don’t. You either believe it or you don’t believe it. I believe it! Jesus responds to this man’s question about how to have eternal life and says, «Well, okay. Keep the commandments; you know the commandments,» Jesus said and He mentioned them, the last part of the commandments. From honor your father and mother and don’t murder and don’t commit adultery and don’t lie and don’t defraud. He mentions these commandments.

You may know that the commandments are ten commandments are divided into two parts, vertical and horizontal. Vertical: the first 4 commandments have to do with our relationship with God. And the second portion of the ten commandments, the decalogue, the ten has to do with our relations with one another. And Jesus summarized the ten commandments with the great commandment and He said, «You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind, your soul, your strength, and the second is like it, your neighbor as yourself». So that’s the summary of the Law. Jesus said, «Love God with everything you are, with everything you have and then love your neighbor». So Jesus is telling him keep the commandments. And if you keep the commandments perfectly, you’ll go to heaven.

Now think about this. There are three ways to go to heaven. You can die before you reach an age of accountability. A child. David spoke of his child, the infant son of David, when he died, he said, «I can’t bring you back but I can go to you». Children, Jesus said, «Of such is the kingdom of heaven». Little children before they reach the age of decision-making and accountability, if they die, they’re in heaven. You say, «What is the age of accountability? Have I passed it»? Well, just looking around the room, everybody in here has passed that one! So it’s like baseball, you get three strikes. So that’s strike one. I always liked hitting the first pitch. I didn’t like getting two strikes. That’s strike one.

The second way, the second pitch, if you will, is keep the law perfectly, never sin, never break a commandment, whether you’re breaking a commandment in substance, actually committing a murder, actually committing a crime or actually committing adultery, or Jesus took it to the next level, doing these things in your heart in spirit. So, keep all of the law of God perfectly! Never sin! And you’ll go to heaven. Looking around again, that’s strike two! Because «We’ve all sinned and come short of the glory of God». There’s only one who never sinned and that is God Himself, Jesus the Lord.

So you got one more shot! You got one more pitch and that is to receive and believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you miss Him, it’s three strikes and you’re out. So catch up with me here. What’s happening? He’s saying to this young man, this rich young ruler, «Keep the law». The young man says, «Well, I’ve kept it since I was a youth». So Jesus to show him that he had broken the commandments, that he didn’t love God like he ought to love God, that he didn’t love people like he ought to love people, he said, and this is the only time Jesus said this to any other person in the New Testament. He said, «Go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and come and follow me».

Jesus was getting right to heart of this young man’s sin and his problem. And you know what it was? It was his idols; it was his idols of possessions and money and stuff and success. And so he was breaking the very first commandment. The Bible says that «There is one God»; and then, «Have no graven images, no graven idols». He said, «Well at least I haven’t broke», He said, «I haven’t broken that one. I haven’t made any graven images lately»! The Bible talks about idols in the heart. And here’s how you find an idol; here’s how you find an idol in your heart. You know how? Follow the money. We’re about the have a hard conversation here. The same hard conversation that Jesus was having with this young man. Possessions can become idols. People can become idols.

And Jesus said in Luke’s Gospel chapter 9, «What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul»? And the pursuit of possessions, desire to acquire. In America we are rich. You say, «Well, I’m not rich». Go to a third-world country. We have so much and many worship their money. Worship their work in making money. That’s why the Apostle Paul said in 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 17: «Command those who are rich». And remember that’s you if you live in America. Ninety eight percent of Americans, compared to the rest of the world are wealthy. So he says, «Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth»!

You cannot buy your way into heaven. This young man couldn’t do it, and neither can you; neither can I. And so every one of us have to get our priorities straight. That’s what this amounts to. Because I noted that Jesus didn’t tell everyone. In fact, this is the only one in the New Testament that He told to go and sell everything you have and come. He’s not advocating for asceticism here. He’s dealing with this one individual who had an idol of materialism, commercialism, ascetic and success. This guy was a dude! He had everything! But he had a hole in his soul because he didn’t have God. Where do you find your satisfaction? Is it what you drink? What you drive? What you desire? What you deposit?

Jesus said, «Keep the commandments. And in keeping the commandments, love God and love people. Don’t live for yourself; live for Me». This guy couldn’t do it. He couldn’t walk with Jesus. So the Scripture says that he became discouraged. A very strong word. When Mark tells us, and the other Gospel writers, that he was discouraged. It’s really a word that, it means he clouded over. He’s looking at a screen-saver now. He clouds over and the tears begin to flow. Because it says he went away sad because he just couldn’t do it. He just wouldn’t do it.

So he walked away without the Lord. And as far as we know it was three strikes and you’re out. He never came back. And here’s something to note. Jesus let him go. You see that? I’m sure Simon Peter’s saying, «We got a big fish on the hook, Jesus! This guy can help the cause! This guy’s got money. Renegotiate»! No, Jesus let him go, and he walked away sad. And the Bible said that Jesus was sad when this happened. Why? Because «God is not willing that any would perish but that all would come to repentance». And so God is grieved that someone walks away without eternal life. He’s standing right in front of life: the way, the truth, the life! And he walks away.

So I want to ask you: Is there anything in your life that is keeping you from becoming a follower of Jesus Christ? What is it that’s between you and Jesus? Is it some habit or addiction that you need to walk away? Achievement, status, health, wealth, not enough to satisfy the longing, the deepest longing in your heart. Don’t go away without Jesus. Don’t let anything: is there some sin that you need to renounce? Is there so relationship that you need to release? Is there some treasure that you need to relinquish in order to follow Jesus Christ and receive eternal life?