How Good Does One Have To Be To Go To Heaven? Mark 10:17-22 (NKJV)

Transcription

1 Message for THE LORD'S DAY MORNING, September 24, 2017 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister REVIVAL SERMON TOPIC: Salvation How Good Does One Have To Be To Go To Heaven? Mark 10:17-22 (NKJV) Please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, chapter ten. And follow along with me as I read verses MARK 10:17-22 (NKJV) 17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 18 So Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 19 You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother. 20 And he answered and said to Him, Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth. 21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me. 22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. P R A Y E R

2 Introduction Chances are when you were young someone told you, Heaven is where GOOD PEOPLE go, and hell is where BAD PEOPLE go. Well this brings up an interesting question: How Good Does One Have To Be To Go To Heaven? I mean does one have to be good all the time...or...good most of the time...or... can one get by with being good some of the time? Will going to Church get you into heaven? If so, how often do you have to go? Every Sunday? Most Sundays? At least one Sunday a month? Will reading your Bible get you into heaven? If so, how much? Ten chapters a day? Five chapters a day? One chapter a day? A couple of verses? Will praying get you into heaven? If so, how much time do you have to spend in prayer? Five minutes a day? Ten minutes a day? A half hour? An hour? If you don't smoke, don't drink, and don't cuss, will that get you into heaven? How about two out of three? HOW GOOD DOES ONE HAVE TO BE TO GO TO HEAVEN?

3 We find our answer to that question in today's/tonight's scripture text. Here in Mark chapter ten we meets a young man known simply in the scriptures as The Rich Young Ruler. This is not a parable. This is not a story like Jesus often told to teach a heavenly truth. This was an actual encounter with a real, live human being. We live in a world where a great deal of emphasis is placed upon one's social position or social status. That is especially true here in America. By the standards of his day, as well as ours' today, this young man had it all! He was RICH...He was YOUNG... and He was POWERFUL. He was the Rich Young Ruler. But as we are going to see in today's/tonight's study...one's earthly status has no bearing whatsoever on one's eternal status, no matter how good he may be. ************************

4 First of all, I would have you to notice... I. The Rich Young Ruler's DESIRE (v.17) 17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 1. This encounter is recorded in Matthew 19, Luke 18, and here in Mark 10. All three of the gospel writers provide us with different details about this man who came to see Jesus. -All three gospel writers tell us he was RICH. -Matthew tells us he was YOUNG. -And Luke tells us he was a RULER. (Not a ruler in the sense he was a king or a prince or anything like that, but rather that he was one of the rulers in the synagogue. This young man was a Pharisee. Thus we refer to him as the Rich Young Ruler.

5 2. There are many things about this young man that are very admirable. -He was full of zeal and enthusiasm. ( he came running ) -He was well-mannered and respectful. ( he knelt before Jesus and called Him 'Good Teacher. ) -He was mindful and conscientious about his eternity. (which is evident by his question) -And he was a very moral man...at least by all outward appearances. This was the kind of young man any loving parent would want their daughter to date and eventually marry. He was what we would call today, a keeper. By all all outward appearances the Rich Young Ruler was about as good as any man could possibly be.

6 3. And yet despite the fact this young man had everything going for him and that he was a success in every sense of the word, there was something missing in his life. -His money didn't fulfill him. -His youthfulness didn't satisfy him. -His important position and prestige weren't nearly as rewarding as he thought it would be. -And his clean, moral living, and outward religion failed to satisfy the thirst of his soul. 4. He desired more. And it was this desire that drove him to Jesus Christ with this question: Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? This brings us to the second thing we want to look at, and that is...

7 II. The Rich Young Ruler's DECEPTION (vs. 17b-21) 17b Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 18 So Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 19 You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother. 20 And he answered and said to Him, Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth. 21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me. 1. Jesus' initial response almost seems cold. He says, Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One and that is God. By calling Jesus Good Teacher or Good Rabbi this young man was revealing he didn't truly know who Jesus was. He did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah or the Son of God. He simply recognized Him as one of the many Rabbis of that day. And by calling Him Good Teacher or Good Rabbi Jesus recognized the young man was using flattery to gain an audience with Him.

8 In essence, what Jesus was saying to this Rich young ruler was this: Unless you are ready to acknowledge that I am the Son of the living God, don't call me good. 2. Now notice the Rich Young Ruler's question very carefully, What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Matthew's account reveals the true nature of the Rich Young Ruler's question: Matthew 19:16 (NKJV) What GOOD thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? 3. Here is the Rich Young Ruler's first deception. He believed there was something he could DO to save himself. This is the delusion of all lost souls. This is the delusion of every false religion. And that is that salvation can be earned or merited by something we can do ourselves. What GOOD thing shall I DO that I may have eternal life? Do you hear the focus on self in his question?

9 4. In essence, the Rich Young Ruler is asking Jesus, What good works can I do to inherit eternal life? Or What good deeds can I do to inherit eternal life? What can I do to improve my standing before God? What can I do to tip the scales in my favor before God? 5. This is the belief of the vast majority of the people who live in this word. Most unsaved people truly believe that when they die God is going to weigh their good works against their bad works and if their good works outweigh their bad, they will get into heaven. This is what the Rich Young Ruler believed and it is what most of the people in the world believe! 6. Now it is interesting that Jesus doesn't rebuke the Rich Young Ruler or scold him for the nature of his question. Notice how Jesus responds in verse But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.

10 7. Well this causes the Rich Young Ruler's ears to stand up! After all he's a Pharisee, he is one of the Rulers of the Synagogue, and if there is anything a Pharisee is good at, it is keeping the commandments. 8. The Rich Young Ruler asks Jesus, Which ones? Which commandments do I need to keep? In verse 18 Jesus says, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and your mother,' and You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 9. By this point the Rich Young Ruler is ecstatic! He's thinking, I've got this! I've got this! Then he tells Jesus, Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth up. (verse 20) 10. Here is the Rich Young Ruler's second deception. He did not see himself as a condemned sinner in need of a Savior, he saw himself as a good, decent, moral, law-abiding, commandment keeping Pharisee who had done everything he needed to do to save himself.

11 11. Oh brothers and sisters listen carefully! -You can be a really good golfer and win the Master's or the U.S. Open. -You can be a really good baseball pitcher and win the Cy Young Award. -You can be a really good football player and win the Heisman Trophy. -You can be a really good runner and win a gold medal in the Olympics. 12. But you, nor I, nor anyone else for that matter can ever be good enough to inherit eternal life. 13. By human standards, you and I see ourselves as good when we compare ourselves to a murderer, or a thief, or a rapist, or a terrorist. But if we compare our human goodness next to the perfect goodness of GOD, our goodness doesn't even move the needle! It doesn't even register on the meter!

12 14. How good does one have to be to be to go to heaven? You can't be good enough! I can't be good enough! No one can be good enough! You can be the goodest, the nicest, the kindest, the friendliest, the most caring, most generous, most giving person on earth and it won't get you one foot inside of heaven's gate. 15. By human standards, the Rich Young Ruler was about as good as they come. But notice Jesus response in verse 21, Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, One thing you lack: Go and sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross and follow Me. 16. Mark says, Jesus looked at him and loved him. Jesus didn't scold him. He didn't condemn him. He loved him. He loved him enough to tell him the truth.

13 17. Can you imagine what that young man was thinking when Jesus said, One thing you lack? He has just told Jesus he has kept all those commands He mentioned. He has just put the stamp of approval on his own goodness, and now Jesus says, One thing you lack. The one thing he lacked was a saving faith in the living God. Money was his god! Money was the master of his heart! Money was the ruler of his life. 18. The Rich Young Ruler was grossly deceived! -He was deceived about SALVATION. He believed salvation could be earned or rewarded to him on the basis of his own merits and performance. -And he was deceived about HIMSELF. He trusted and believed in his own goodness. But inwardly, this young man was full of covetousness, and greed, and idolatry, and materialism, and worldliness.

14 This brings us to our third and final thought we want to consider, and that is... III. The Rich Young Ruler's DECISION (v.22) 22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 1. The Greek word used here for the word sad literally means, storm clouds. When Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler he was going to have to make a choice between his earthly treasures and heavenly treasures, it was as though storm clouds gathered over his face. 2. Jesus offered him a gift...the gift of eternal life and he had such a tight grip on his money he couldn't open his hands to receive what Jesus was offering him. And Mark says, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Mark 8:36-37 (NKJV) For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 3. Brother Allen Carr has called the Rich Young Ruler, The man who went to HELL with HEAVEN on his mind.

15 CONCLUSION I want to leave you with these closing thoughts. One day this man's youth faded away and he grew old. One day he retired from his prominent position as a ruler in the synagogue. One day he realized he was dying and he would have to leave all of his earthly riches behind. One day he closed his eyes for the last time in this world, and found himself in hell, lost forever, because he walked away from the only hope he ever had to have eternal life...he walked away from Jesus Christ. Its what we do with JESUS in this life that will determine where we spend our eternity. It has absolutely nothing to do with how good you are, or how moral you are, or how charitable you are. It all comes down to how you answer this one solitary question: WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH JESUS? The Rich Young Ruler came to his time of decision and he walked away. Now is your time of decision, what are you going to do?