[0:00] I'll take your Bibles, if you would, and open them to Matthew chapter 19 and verse 16. Matthew chapter 19 and verse 16. And we're going to read all the way to the end of the chapter.
[0:10] And the question today is riches and self or salvation? Riches and self or salvation? And that's what we're going to look at today. As you read with me, Matthew chapter 19 and verse 16.
[0:24] Behold, one came and said unto him, Good master, what good things shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.
[0:37] But if thou would enter into life, keep the commandments. He said unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal.
[0:48] Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother. And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man said unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up.
[0:58] What lack I yet? And Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor. And thou shalt have treasure in heaven. And come and follow me.
[1:10] But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful. For he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
[1:22] And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
[1:36] But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee.
[1:48] What shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me in the regeneration, When the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, You shall also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
[2:03] And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, For my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
[2:14] But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father, I pray that you would bless this passage of Scripture and help us to understand it today.
[2:26] I pray that you would help me to help it come alive, and not to hinder what your word says, and not to hinder the lesson and the teaching that you have for us. I pray, dear God, for salvation. For somebody in this room that holds on more to their things, and themselves, and riches, and their pride, and whatever it is, than they would you.
[2:43] I pray, God, you'd deal with their heart today, cause them to realize how much they need you. And I pray, God, that you'd help us as Christians to realize that sometimes we're holding on to ourselves when we think about all we've given up to follow you, and we're really just trying to play the same game that rich young ruler played.
[2:59] And I pray, God, that you'd work in our lives, make today's service a meaningful service, a changing of life service, and help us to grow in grace. And we'll give you praise for all in Jesus' name. Amen. Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 19, if you would.
[3:12] The story today is about a young man who has a lot of money, who really wants to know what to do, who wants to go to heaven, wants to know the right thing to do. He goes and he finds Jesus.
[3:24] I don't think he knows who Jesus is, except he's a very famous, miracle-working rabbi. He goes to Jesus, and he meets with Jesus, and he says, I'd like to know what I've got to do to have eternal life.
[3:37] I want to know, good master, what do I have to do? What good thing do I need to do so I can have eternal life? And the Lord says to him, Well, I don't know why you're calling me good.
[3:48] You don't seem to understand who I am, or you'd really know I am good. There's none good but God. And he said, you know, of course, the question is, what good thing can I do? So he's putting the emphasis on him.
[3:59] So the Lord said, if you want to know that, we'll just keep all the commandments. That should have been a red flag. He should have immediately thought, I can't keep the commandments. That's impossible. Nobody can keep the commandments. Everybody knows anything about this rabbi, knows you can't keep the commandments.
[4:13] But he doesn't say that. He said, well, that's all you've got to do. I've been doing that all my life. I'm really good at that. I keep all the commandments. So which one are you talking about? In Jesus' name, several of the commandments that have to do with how you treat other people.
[4:26] And he talks about being good to your neighbor. He talks about your parents. He talks about not stealing. You never know. Some of those might have been little indirect hints. He knew about him. You never know. And so the guy, he says, well, since you've done all that stuff, go sell everything you have, give it to the poor.
[4:39] And when you give all that stuff to the poor, then you'll have riches in heaven. The guy said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're just rocking too close to home. I like my stuff. And I'm leaving here. And I'm sad I've got to leave.
[4:50] But I can't follow your teaching if that's what you mean. Well, there's a lot of prosperity gospel going on in that day and time. And as he walks away, you can see the apostles, man. The apostles are like Baptist preachers today.
[5:03] A rich guy shows up and says he wants to join the church. We're like, good deal, buddy. We don't even want all of it. Just tithe. If you'll tithe, we'll do okay. An occasional good offering will be a great blessing. But Jesus doesn't do that.
[5:14] As he walks away, Jesus says, man, I'm just telling you, it is so hard for rich people to get saved. It's like getting a camel through the eye of a needle to get one of them into heaven. And the guys are looking like, what in the world?
[5:24] They're the best people. They're the people you've blessed the most. We'd have thought they were going to go to heaven. And if they can't go to heaven, who can go to heaven? And Jesus says, well, what things are impossible for me and are possible with God?
[5:37] Not a problem. And then the apostles say, well, you know now, just thinking about it, you told that guy to give up everything. We did give up everything. We left it all. We gave up our mommy and our daddy and our house and our lands and our business.
[5:52] What's in it for us? He looks at him and says, guys, come on. I'm going to reward you. Can you see they got kind of the same attitude as the other guy? They want to know what's going on in their own life.
[6:02] They kind of got a little prosperity gospel running through the veins. They're kind of figuring, hey, we gave our seed offering. We gave our money. We're expecting some good stuff. And the Lord does give them some promises. And then he ends up saying, hey, things aren't like what they think.
[6:15] Well, it looks like you might think rich people ought to get into heaven and poor people ought not get into heaven. You might think the first ought to go in and last. And he's going to teach you a big lesson. So today, here's a question you're needing to answer.
[6:26] Will it be self? Will it be riches? Or will it be salvation? See, most of us are too hung up on us to get saved. Most of us are too hung up on us to get saved.
[6:40] So go with me through this passage of Scripture. Open your Bible to Matthew chapter 19 and verse 16. First question. What does a person do to get eternal life? That's the question.
[6:51] What's the person do to get eternal life? So you've got your Bible open. And it says, And behold, one came and said unto him, Good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?
[7:03] Now, I hope you'll underline in that. Put a circle around this. Good master. Now, you've got to understand, this guy already thinks he's good. So when he looks at Jesus and calls him good master, It's kind of like, hey, I'm good. You're good.
[7:13] We're good. I'm okay. You're okay. We're all okay. I'm good. You're good. We're in good shape here. Good master. It's not really like, I know you're God. It's just like, hey, I keep all the commandments. You keep all the commandments.
[7:24] You're a teacher. I'm a doer. We're getting along here real good. And then he says, What good thing must I do to inherit, that I may have eternal life? The guy seems to have the right desire.
[7:36] He wants eternal life. eternal life. John 3, 16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That's the same word.
[7:47] Everlasting life. Eternal life. Same thing. Not dying, but it's more than that. It is God's blessings. It is living eternally with God and all the things that God created for man to have, all the satisfaction and the peace and happiness.
[8:01] The guy seems to want to make preparations to live eternally. He seems to realize that Jesus has the answer. He seems ready to do whatever it takes to have eternal life.
[8:12] The focus seems to be on what good thing could he do? What good thing could he do? I hope you catch this. You should know by attending here. You should know by the reading of the Bible.
[8:23] You should know by study. There's no good thing anybody can do. There's no good thing anybody can do. So the question was way off balance. But Jesus first goes to his big mistake.
[8:35] Look at verse 17. And he said unto him, Why are you calling me good? Why are you calling me good? You know, I think there's a whole lot more into that. I would like to develop it, but we're going to finish this part of the chapter.
[8:47] But why are you calling me good? It would have been one thing if he had said, I know you're God. I know you're good. But he doesn't know that. He said, Why are you calling me good? There's none good but one. And that is God.
[8:58] But if you will enter into life, keep the commandments. The man had called Jesus a good master, a good teacher, a good rabbi. But he didn't seem to realize Jesus was God in human flesh.
[9:10] He saw Jesus as a rabbi. He saw him as a teacher. Jesus points out there's none good but God. There is none good but God. That ought to remind you of a Bible verse.
[9:21] Can you say Romans 3.10 with me if you know that verse, say it with me. The Bible says in Romans 3.10, there is none, no not. So I'll change that word righteous there for a second.
[9:31] How about this? There is none good. There is none good. No, not one. There's not a one that's good. Not a one. Only God is good. Nobody's ever done right but Jesus, but God.
[9:43] The reason he did right because he was God. Jesus knew he was good, by the way. When the man looked at him and said he knew he was good, he realized that he knew, but that man didn't know. The man doesn't understand what good means.
[9:55] Jesus moves to show the man that he is good. He is not good by keeping the commandments. Go with me if you would to verse 18. Matthew 19.18. The man should have realized immediately that he was being challenged, but instead he wants to know which commandment.
[10:09] That's the funniest little response in the world to me. He says, keep the commandments. And the guy goes, which? There's ten. Name one. We'll see if I've done that one. Test me. Check me out.
[10:20] I'm doing pretty good. You name the commandment. This is name your commandment. And I will pick out the one that I did. And so look at verse 18. He said, which? And Jesus said, okay. I'll give you some.
[10:30] Don't murder. Don't commit adultery. Don't steal. Don't bear false witness. And he names the commandments about how we treat others. Now, if this guy knows Jesus is a good master, if he knows he's a good rabbi, if he's been following him, we're in Matthew chapter 19.
[10:46] Jesus already preached on the mountain. Everybody's hearing about what he's got to say if the guy would have known. Remember what Jesus said back in Matthew 5, 20? In Matthew 5, 20, Jesus said, that except your righteousness, except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will in no case enter the kingdom of heaven.
[11:06] If you aren't doing better than the guys who think they're doing good, you ain't going to heaven. If you're not doing better than everybody who thinks they're doing good, you're not going to heaven.
[11:17] That's what Jesus said. And then he proceeded to take those 10 commandments in that story, the Sermon on the Mount, he takes those 10 commandments and proves, no, you haven't kept them. You can imagine the guy walking around and say, well, ask me if I've ever committed murder.
[11:30] And we would all say, I'm pretty sure that there's no murderers in this room. So if somebody said, I mean, which commandment have you kept? We'd all go, I never killed anybody. I never killed anybody.
[11:40] I never murdered anybody. So Jesus said in Matthew chapter five and verse 21, you have heard it said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of judgment.
[11:53] But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. So basically Jesus said, all right, let's just go over the commandments real quick. Commandment says you shall not kill.
[12:05] You know that. You've heard him said all your life. Let me explain what that means. It's not just don't kill anybody. It's don't get mad without a reason. It's don't get angry. It's don't call your brother a fool. If you've got hatred in your heart, you're a murderer.
[12:16] That should knock almost everybody out. Everybody said, I have never committed murder. Now I say, how many of you have ever been so mad you could have committed murder? How many of you thought about it?
[12:28] How many of you said, I didn't ever think about it, but I did ask God to do it? How many of you ever thought, I would never think this, but if I could, I would think. It'd show me a good thing if he wasn't around.
[12:39] Come on. Come on. However you worded it, you did it. So he blew him out right there on that one. Thou shalt not murder. Then he said in Matthew 5, 27, you heard about adultery. He said, you know you ought not do that, but he said, I say, and if you ever look at a woman and lust after her in your heart, you've done it.
[12:54] So you said, I have kept all the commandments. He goes, really? Really? Which? Which is his question? He said, don't steal. He said, don't bear false witness. He said, honor your parents and love your neighbor.
[13:07] Chapter 5 and verse 20. Look at this pompous punk's answer. Matthew chapter, he had to be a Baptist. He had to have graduated from one of our schools.
[13:17] In Matthew chapter 5 and verse 20, the young man said unto him, well, all these things have I kept ever since I was a boy. What else do I lack? Can you imagine that?
[13:28] Can you imagine talking to one of the greatest teachers of your day? You don't know. You don't know he's God. You haven't realized he's God. But you do know this guy is causing a stir. He's on the Jerusalem Times front page almost every day.
[13:42] He's looking around and saying, wow, this is Jesus. This is the great master. This is the great teacher. And I'm going to go up and I'm going to talk to him. I'm going to tell him he's good and I'm going to let him know I'm good. That's what we're going to do right here.
[13:53] Pictures, a press, take pictures. I'm running for office. Let everybody know I'm good. He's good. I'm good. I want to get a shot with him. Publicity stunt here. I'm good. All these things have I kept. Now here's the purpose of the law.
[14:04] You remember this. Look with me if you would in Romans chapter 3 and verse 19. And you need to look this up. Write it in the margin of your Bible. You need to understand the purpose of the law. We're doing this in the book of Deuteronomy.
[14:15] It's showing up again on Matthew. Why did God give the law? Romans chapter 3 and verse 19. The Bible says, Now we know that what thanks to ever the law says, it says to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped.
[14:29] Would you understand that? That every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. You know why God gave the law? So there wouldn't be any pompous punks talking to Jesus and saying, Hey, I've done all that ever since I was a boy.
[14:44] The idea was when he said, Well, keep the commandments. The boy's supposed to go, Oh. I ain't got anything else to say. You caught me. Yeah, I messed up.
[14:55] Romans chapter 3 verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. He gave us the law to shut our mouths.
[15:07] Boy, that would stop all the bragging that goes on in all the churches. That would stop all the pharisaical attitudes if we realized that every time we look at the law of the Bible, the mirror of the law, we'd see ourselves as dirty, rotten sinners and all we could do is thank God for grace and mercy.
[15:23] That was the goal. That would shut our mouths. In Galatians chapter 3 and verse 24, he gave the law to get us to Jesus. Galatians 3, 24, the Bible says, Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith.
[15:38] So the law's purpose was to get this guy, this rich young ruler, was to get him and bring him to Jesus so he could talk to Jesus and realize, I couldn't keep the law. I couldn't obey all the rules.
[15:49] I've messed up over them. I've murdered and I've lied and I've cheated and I've honored my parents and loved my neighbor and man, I'm in trouble. I need help. But that's not what happens with this guy.
[16:00] This guy comes and says, What good, master? What good thing must I do to inherit, to have eternal life? We'll keep the commandments. Woo! I didn't know you was going to say something that easy.
[16:14] I can handle that. I've kept them all ever since I was a boy. And so Jesus says, look at Matthew chapter 19 and verse 21. Well, since you're talking about how perfect you are, if thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast and give it to the poor.
[16:30] So if you're so perfect, go sell everything you got, give it to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven and come follow me. What a test. And the guy goes, now let me explain something to you. You've got to remember, we've been following Jesus.
[16:41] He's been the front page of the newspaper. Twitter's all live with him. He is a trending topic. On Facebook, everybody's putting up quotes and they got pictures and they're showing all that Jesus has said.
[16:52] Everybody knows about him. It's noised abroad. That's what the Bible says about it. And so Jesus said in Matthew 6, 24, no man can serve two masters for either you'll hate the one and love the other, hold the one and spies the other.
[17:05] You can't serve God and mammon or God and money. So the man failed the test. The man failed the test. He said, you can't love God and money. I just want you to understand if I were to walk up to Betty, Betty and I got married 41 and a half years ago, 42 years ago, I guess it was, this past week was the day I asked her to marry me.
[17:27] And I just want you to imagine me walking up to her with two girls under my arms. I got two beautiful girls and I walk up to her and say, hey, baby, I just want to marry you. She'd have probably said, not happening.
[17:40] Here's what happened. He came to Jesus and he was ready. Jesus said, well, get rid of what you got so you can have what I got. And the guy said, Matthew chapter 19 and verse 22, when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions.
[17:56] The guy left and he was sorry and he was sad. You know, he was really doing good there for a minute. I mean, can't you see it? Wasn't he doing well? Everything was going great. I mean, he is keeping all the commandments.
[18:07] The good master realized he was good and then when he said to the good master, just you pick the commandments that you want to talk to me about, I'll tell you how good I am. And Jesus said, well, go sell everything you have to give to the poor. And he goes, now, wait a minute.
[18:19] That's a little over the top. Nobody's asking for that anywhere else but you. Number two, go with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter 19 and verse 22, 23. You've got to understand how hard it is for rich people to get saved according to Jesus.
[18:35] By the way, I happen to be standing in front of the richest people in the world. I know you're saying numbers. You're confused. Well, if you go anywhere else in the world, you'd find out just how rich we are.
[18:48] There are plenty of websites you can go plug in your data to find out where rich is and you're going to be in the 95 and above percentile. You say, I don't make much. You don't have to make much to be the guy that makes 22 cents a day.
[19:01] You don't have to make much to be that guy. We're rich. So I hope you just go ahead and put your seatbelt on because the passage is about to get rough. We're proud and we're arrogant.
[19:12] So put your seatbelt on. I'm not going to say it. I'm just going to read it out of his book. Matthew chapter 19 verse 23. Jesus said to his disciples, Verily I say unto you that a rich man can hardly enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I say unto you it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God.
[19:28] Let me explain to you what's going on. You've got to understand. They're talking. They're walking away. They're sitting there. You know, the rich man came in. The apostles are watching the whole show. The guy goes leaving. Now I can imagine John Pearson saying, that guy could have helped on the Nehemiah initiative.
[19:44] And the deacons would have been saying, yeah, he could. Would you run at him off? Or not have been over there saying, Jesus, you don't have to be quite that harsh. We could be nice to rich people. Jesus is like, hey, if you don't want to give all your stuff to the rich or give it to the poor, you can leave.
[19:57] Apostles stand there going, man, what's going on here? And then Jesus says, guys, guys, guys, do you know what's happening here? It's really hard for a rich guy to get saved. It's like getting a camel through the eye of a needle.
[20:10] It's like, woof, just hard, very hard, very hard for that to happen. Hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven the guy was rich. He did want to do something to get his eternal life.
[20:21] He was a proud man. He was proud of his achievements and his accomplishments. He loved money too much. The thought might be that the rich are blessed. You do understand in Jesus' day and in our day, there's something about if you're rich, God must be blessing you.
[20:35] In fact, as we like to talk about how God has blessed America, that's why we're all rich and fat, you know, because God has blessed America. But Jesus told another story in a different place that kind of showed the contrast.
[20:46] He told about a rich man who had a poor beggar living at his gate and everybody would have thought that the rich guy was giving money down at the temple and the rich guy was giving money to the work of God, quote unquote. He would have looked like, man, God's blessing him.
[20:59] And there was a poor guy named Lazarus sitting at his gate and the dogs were licking his sores. He couldn't even afford to go to see the doctor and everybody would have thought if anybody's going to go to heaven in that story, I mean, you're watching the movie and you're watching the movie in that story, you'd have thought rich man's going to heaven.
[21:12] He lived like a king and he dies like a king. But he lived like a king and he died like a beggar and he went to hell and the beggar went to heaven. And the Lord even says in the story, remember, in your lifetime you had all your good stuff.
[21:25] Lazarus didn't. But it wasn't about being poor or being rich. It was about riches don't necessarily mean your salvation. There's no salvation bling. There's no richness that approves that God's doing it.
[21:36] The rich and successful might easily be too concerned about themselves. Let me show you why Jesus said something that was taught all through your Bible. And I'm only going to pick a handful of verses, but you need to understand the richer people, the people who have money, the more successful people, the people who can don't always need God in their mind.
[21:56] They need Him. They don't think they do. Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 15. The richest guy in the world in that day and time, his name is Solomon. He's talking to his son. And he says, the rich man's wealth is his strong city.
[22:10] The destruction of the poor is their poverty. He said, hey, let me just explain something to you, son. If you're not careful, your money will be where you think you got your protection. Your retirement plan, your job, your success will be money.
[22:25] And money takes care of you and you'll think that. Chapter 13 and verse 8, he said, the ransom of a man's life for his riches. In other words, you get in trouble, you know what will get you out of trouble, don't you? Money.
[22:36] If you can afford to hire the dream team, you can get out of trouble. If you can afford to get the best doctors, you can get treatment. Rich people have it better. And he said, that's what he's telling his son.
[22:46] He said, I think he's trying to tell him that ain't right. Chapter 18 and verse 11, he said, the rich man's wealth is his strong city and has a high wall in his own conceit.
[22:59] See, rich people easily, can I just say, let me, can I just say this? I am a rich guy. I just want you to know I'm rich. I'm a child of a king. I live in America. I have a very nice house. I have a nice vehicle.
[23:09] I have a beautiful wife. I have health. I have my health. I mean, I'm a rich guy. When I travel around the world, I'm like, I'm shocked at how people live. I'll be honest with you. I do not ever have to think to myself, are we having beans and rice or rice and beans tonight?
[23:22] I'm like, what kind of meat are we having with that? And are we getting all the sauces I like? I mean, I want to eat good stuff. We were at the wedding yesterday and Betty said, you want to go over and get some sweets?
[23:32] I said, no, I want something to eat. Let's go somewhere and get something to eat. I don't want a piece of cake. I want some meat. Amen. I know it costs money, but I'm rich. Come on. See, that's what Jesus was saying. Disciples recognize that in their own lives and the people they knew, they thought, man, being rich is a sign of blessings.
[23:49] Look at chapter 19 and verse 25. Matthew 19, 25. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed and they said, well, who could be saved? God.
[24:00] Jesus. Question. You're telling me the rich guy who you poured out your blessings on and you give any more stuff and you give it to anybody else and he can't be saved? Surely, he ought to be able to get saved.
[24:12] Who can get saved if they can't get saved? Don't all men have a tendency to think in terms of what they do? I grew up all my life and I would ask people, do you know if you died today, you'd go to heaven and they would say, yeah, I got baptized.
[24:27] I didn't ask you if you got baptized. Well, I keep the Ten Commandments. I didn't ask you if you kept the Ten Commandments. Well, I'm a good person. I didn't ask you that.
[24:37] I said, you know, if you're going to die, if you die today, you go to heaven. We tend to think about what we've, we're hung up on ourselves. We want all the success, but that might be a hindrance. They were shocked to think that those who appeared to be blessed by God would have a hard time trusting God.
[24:56] You would think that the guy who wakes up, I mean, we got money, we got houses, we got cars, we got retirement plans, we got health insurance. We can complain all we want, but if you don't have an airplane, we'll be able to fly to Africa to a billion people, about.
[25:13] Fly with me to South America. Betty and I arrived in South America in 1988 when we arrived in Idaquipa. The minimum wage was $25 a month, and 85% of the people did not make that much.
[25:27] 85%. Only 15% made $25 a month or more. I've never in my life seen such poverty. If anybody's blessed, it's us.
[25:40] But sometimes I'll say that that poverty and that need and that hurt drove those people to trust God because they didn't trust their wallet, and they couldn't trust their government. They could only trust the God of heaven.
[25:52] The truth is that we all get hung up on ourselves. If God didn't convict us of our sin, we would never admit it. It takes God to work in the heart of anyone. We're all focused on ourselves way too much.
[26:07] So far in this story, I want you to see what's going on. We've got a rich young guy who's got a lot of money, and he's a good guy, and he's honestly moral. He's like the best neighbor you could ever want.
[26:19] He's like the best man. He's probably president of the Kiwanis and every other one of those clubs, whatever they are, the Rotary Club and the Lions Club. He's a member of every one of them. He's a president. He's the guy that's giving away money.
[26:30] This is a great guy. In every way you look at him, this guy is a good guy. He knows he's a good guy, and he walks up to Jesus. He's like, see, I'm a member of all these clubs. I give money to everything.
[26:41] You name it, I give. Hey, me? Jerry Lewis calls me when he wants to run one of his telethons because I'm going to give the money. Hey, you know what? Everybody, hey, March of Dimes? I am the March of Dimes.
[26:51] I'm a good guy. Hey, good master, what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life? What good thing must I do to have eternal life? He looked at God and he said, he looked at Jesus, God, and he said that.
[27:04] And the Lord said, you ought not be calling me good. You've got to figure out something here, buddy. You've got this good thing messed up. The guy didn't catch it. He says, but if you want to know, check out the commandments.
[27:15] The guy goes, well, I've been doing that all since I was a kid. I mean, really, the things you just named me, I'm good. But, Jesus said, well, go sell everything you have and give it to the poor.
[27:26] And the guy said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Nothing else would you have before your God? First commandment, no other gods would you have before me? He sure flunked on that one. And the guy was hung up on himself. And he wasn't going to get saved.
[27:40] And Jesus told the guys, it's hard. Can I just stop and tell you that it's hard for Americans to get saved? It's hard for us to get saved because of our pride. It's hard for us to get saved because of our arrogance. It's hard for us to get saved because we are good people.
[27:53] Hey, man, when they have an earthquake in Nepal, we're the givers. When a tsunami hits Japan or Haiti, we're the guys that break the banks giving the money. We're really good people.
[28:04] Good people go to hell when they die. Good people go to hell when they die. Good people go to hell when they die. The only people that ever go to heaven are people that realize they were a sinner and realize they couldn't get to heaven on their own.
[28:19] What good thing can I do? There wasn't one. Now Peter starts basically the same attitude. Matthew chapter 19 and verse 27. Peter said unto him, we have forsaken all.
[28:32] Well, since you're talking about selling everything and giving it to the poor, you know that's what we did. And we have been following you. We left our businesses. We sacrificed greatly. If the rich people have a hard time, man, we must be in really good shape.
[28:46] Well, that sounds like I said, doesn't it? Is everybody in this room sitting there going, yeah, give it to them. I'll send them rich people that aren't here. You tell them because we are pretty good. I mean, honestly, we tithe. Hey, you know we tithe. There wouldn't be a building if it wasn't us.
[28:57] There wouldn't be a Nehemiah in this if it wasn't us. Hey, we're givers. We give a lot to me. Aren't we good people? Isn't it? We're good people. Yeah, we are. That's kind of how Peter's talking. So the Lord says, guys, it's true.
[29:09] I want to take care of you. Look at verse 28. Matthew 19, 28, Jesus said, and then barely I say unto you, truthfully I'm telling you that ye which have followed me and the regeneration, the rebirth, you that have followed me and been born again shall sit in thrones of glory and you'll judge the 12, you'll sit on 12 thrones and you'll judge the 12 tribes.
[29:30] For another day, I'll show you that's a millennial kingdom. That's us ruling and reigning with Jesus Christ. Special privileges that come in the future. God keeps records and no one will be able to say that we've ever outdone him.
[29:42] He's been good to us. Peter, you haven't done more for me than I've done for you. His rewards aren't only future ones but they're here in this world as well. Matthew chapter 19 and verse 29.
[29:52] And everyone that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name's sake, they'll get a hundred times that and they will inherit everlasting life.
[30:04] The disciples say, we've left family and fortune and future but God's still good to us. It's a matter of leaving it for his sake. He'll pay us a hundred times over. I'd like to real quickly tell you, let me just say to you, when you serve God, you'll never have the attitude, man, we have really given a lot to serve God.
[30:23] Betty and I left the United States of America in 1987. We left our house in the middle of January. We drove towards Texas to turn south and go to Caneta, Mexico to try to learn Spanish.
[30:33] I was so excited. I mean, I was so thrilled that my dream was coming true. I'd raised the money and I'm on my way to the mission field and we got down there and you know, we're cut off from family.
[30:44] We're cut off from everybody. There's no internet. There's no FaceTime. There's no Facebook. It was just our family and then Mexicans. That was it. But man, God was so good. You know, it says right here that God will give them, if you've left your father and your mother, he'll bless.
[30:58] We got to Mexico. We couldn't understand what was going on. I'm just telling you, we didn't know where we were. I remember one day, Betty loaned our key to the maid, the babysitter to take care of our baby while we both went to language school.
[31:09] And so, I was upstairs in my little office typing out little letters to the people that supported me and Betty came up here and said, she won't give me that key back. I loaned her the key and she won't give it back to me.
[31:20] And I said, well, baby, tell me what you're saying. And Betty said, I'm saying, huevo. If you speak any Spanish, you know. She was looking at her and going, egg? Well, the lady ate an egg for breakfast.
[31:32] And Betty said, egg? And I said, well, maybe you go down and say, Yahweh. Maybe she'll give it to you. Betty goes out there and said, Yahweh. She gave it to her. One day, we come home from language school one day and we walk in the door and we look around and David, who's like one year old, is gone from our house.
[31:44] He is not there. We go into a panic. We go in and say, David, where's David? She doesn't speak English. She looks at her, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, David, blah, blah, blah, David, blah, blah, blah, blah. We're like, she keeps saying David, but we don't know what she's saying.
[31:57] And we heard Alberto in there somewhere. So we go down to the store where Alberto, the landlord of our house, who was the guy, my best buddy, taught me the language that I know. We go to the store and walk in and there's David, one year old, dressed in a Chivas, which is a Mexican football team, dressed in all the uniform down to the soccer shoes and the shorts and the shirt, the jersey, the whole nine yards.
[32:18] And we walked in and Alberto stands up and says, and handed it back to us. Grandparents. We got to prove grandparents. My kids had all that. God's always good to his people. Peter, you can whine about y'all giving up stuff, but God takes care of his people.
[32:32] God takes care of his people. One more thing in this passage of scripture, if you would, Matthew chapter 19 and verse 30 said, many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first. Things are different than what you might expect. Those that it would seem should get things may not be the ones that get it.
[32:47] Those that you're shocked to see getting may be the ones. Do not go by outward appearances. Remember the rich man and Lazarus. You can't judge if a guy's saved by how much bling he's got.
[33:00] You can't judge if a guy's saved because his family's doing well. It's never about what you do. It's always about what he did. So I'd like to end with these questions for you. I want you to talk to me.
[33:12] The question seems to be riches and self or salvation. Riches and self or salvation. Rich man comes to Jesus and he likes his riches more than he does what God wants doesn't get salvation.
[33:27] Self not salvation. Everyone wants to be saved to go to heaven. By the way you know that if you ever preach funerals you go to preach a funeral at least in the places I've lived so far in South America and here when people die everybody starts trying everywhere they can to find something that says that guy was born again.
[33:44] They'll go looking they'll go looking they'll go trying to find daddy's bible they don't know where it's at but it's back in a trunk they stay somewhere they're looking. Somehow though people think getting to heaven has to do with being good.
[34:00] People think that getting to heaven has to do with being good. Listen to me it's not about being good. There is none good but God. There is none good but God.
[34:13] People like the men in this story think that they get to pick which commandments to keep and to what degree. You may be here this morning you're not saved and the Lord says hey keep my commandments that's only to show you you're a sinner so you'll come on your knees.
[34:26] He wants to humble you. He wants to shut your proud mouth. He wants to make you guilty. But you say well which commandment and I'll tell you if I've been keeping them or not.
[34:38] That's the story here. People think the commandments were meant for a scorecard instead of showing their need of salvation. Baptist people walk around all the time like yep yep keeping my commandments right got them all got them all New Year's resolution keep these commandments I'm doing good.
[34:55] If we're not careful that's who we become then we walk in the church building and we're looking around and we're like I'm keeping number three a lot better than you. That's not what God ever meant for them to be like.
[35:06] The biggest reason for not getting saved is that we have to let go of what we have and what we love to accept his gift. This man's love was money but with you it might be position or popularity or any number of prideful issues.
[35:21] I don't have time but I wanted to. I was going to have some teenagers come up here and I was going to load them down with some books and chairs and some of these plants and money and let them love it and say that's your girlfriend and that's your house and that's your position on the football team and that's your sport and get their arms full and then have Jesus stand over here with his arms wide open saying come to me and I'll save you and they would have been like I can't.
[35:46] There's no way I can hug you unless I let go of all this stuff. But you see when you come to Jesus you've got to let go of all that stuff. You might say well I'm not one of those proud jerks that thinks my money makes it.
[35:57] If you're not careful it's not your money because I think most of you would say no it's not money for me but it is pride. It is the arrogance. I'm not going down there front and getting on my knees and people knowing I'm in trouble.
[36:09] I'm not raising my hand to get saved so somebody will come talk to me and everybody will figure out I'm a sinner. I'm not admitting I'm a sinner. A good friend told me one time he said if you're going to be a popular preacher in America you've got to quit telling everybody they're a sinner.
[36:24] And I said well I probably ain't going to be popular because the book says they're all sinners. We're all sinners. Amen. What is it you're holding on to that's keeping you from Jesus? What is it that you're holding on to that's keeping you from Jesus?
[36:37] Even God's people begin to think that their obedience and service makes them worthy of something instead of realizing it was all what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary. Something happens in a room like this with such good people as us.
[36:51] As you. We're walking around thinking Lord I am not like this other guy here who doesn't tithe he doesn't give you know me I pray all the time I go to church I don't ever miss I'm good to my wife I mean when you got me you got a lot and by the way God you know I mean when you save some people that go to vision you had to really reach down low to get there but you know I was on the top shelf I mean really I mean you got me wasn't that hard I mean really I was right on the edge I was already so good I mean you had to do two percent to get me that other guy you had to do a hundred to get him don't we turn into that come on be honest there's a pride about us he would destroy that pride if you'd let him he'd say you're guilty shut your mouth realize you need God salvation can't be seen like success with the bling it's not outward but inward not rich not religious acting but true humility that calls on God to do a miracle so today I challenge you to look at your life and say I have sinned and I don't want to admit it
[37:54] I have failed God and my pride rises up against me and says no you can't admit that and you can't humble yourself and these people can't see you like that but you know you know you've let that junk keep you from Jesus humble yourself drop that junk trust Jesus for salvation it's all him can't you see with me how sad it was that day when that rich young ruler was that close to Jesus he was right there he could have been following Jesus he could have had all the blessings to come with Jesus but when he got to that sore subject that one thing he had to hold on to that bitterness that money that pride that position he said nope gotta do that I'll leave and he walked away sad don't walk away sad today is your day