Four Rights And A Wrong
Mark 10:17-22 and Matt 19:17b-20.
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. NKJV
1. Rightly He . . Came To Christ With His Questions. Mark 10:17
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?"
A. Came With . . Swiftness and Kneeling. 10:17a
17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, . . .”
B. Came With . . Seriousness Questioning. 10:17b
“. . . and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"
Illustration Are You Prepared to Meet Your God?
When he pastored the Methodist church in Scarborough, William Sangster had an eccentric member who tried to be a zealous Christian. Unfortunately, the man was mentally deficient and usually did the wrong thing. While working as a barber the man lathered up a customer for a shave, came at him with the poised razor, and asked, “Are you prepared to meet your God?” The frightened man fled with the lather on his face! Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, W. Wiersbe, p. 215
Application
Rightly He . . Came To Christ With His Questions.
2. Rightly He . . Called the Lord Good. 10:18
18 So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. NKJV
A. The . . Investigation Concerning Goodness.
10:18a So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good?
B. The . . Instruction Concerning Goodness.
10:18b “. . . No one is good but One, that is, God.
Illustration God is Good—Not Evil
"LET ME EXPLAIN THE problem science has with Jesus Christ." The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.
"You're a Christian, aren't you, son?" "Yes, sir." "So you believe in God?" "Absolutely." "Is God good?" "Sure! God's good." "Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?" "Yes." "Are you good or evil?"
"The Bible says I'm evil," The professor grins knowingly. "Ahh! THE BIBLE!" He considers for a moment. "Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help them? "Would you try?"
"Yes sir, I would." "So you're good...!" "I wouldn't say that." "Why not say that? You would help a sick and maimed person if you could in fact most of us would if we could... God doesn't. "No answer. "He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?"
{No answer}
The elderly man is sympathetic. "No, you can't, can you?" He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. In philosophy, you have to go easy with the new ones. "Let's start again, young fella." "Is God good?" "Er... Yes...."
"Is Satan good?" "No." "Where does Satan come from?" The student falters. "From... God..." "That's right. God made Satan, didn't he?" "Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?" "Yes, sir." "Evil's everywhere, isn't it? Did God make everything?" "Yes." "Who created evil?
{No answer}
"Is there sickness in this world? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness. All the terrible things -- do they exist in this world?" The student squirms on his feet. "Yes." "Who created them? " {No answer}
The professor suddenly shouts at his student. "WHO CREATED THEM? TELL ME, PLEASE! "The professor closes in for the kill and climbs into the Christian's face. In a still small voice: "God created all evil, didn't He, son?"
{No answer} The student tries to hold the steady, experienced gaze and fails.
Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace the front of the classroom like an angry panther. The class is mesmerized. "Tell me," he continues, "how is it that this God is good if He created all evil throughout all time?" The professor swishes his arms around to encompass the wickedness of the world. "All the hatred, the brutality, all the pain, all the torture, all the death and ugliness and all the suffering created by this good God is all over the world, isn't it, young man?" {No answer}
"Don't you see it all over the place? Huh?" Pause. "Don't you?" The professor leans into the student's face again an whispers, "Is God good?"
{No answer}
"Sit down, please," The Christian sits... Defeated. Another Christian raises his hand. "Professor, may I address the class?" The professor turns and smiles. "Ah, another Christian in the vanguard! Come, come, young man. Speak some proper wisdom to the gathering,"
The Christian looks around the room. "Some interesting points you are making, sir. Now I've got a question for you. Is there such thing as heat?" "Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat." "Is there such a thing as cold?"
"Yes, son, there's cold too." "No, sir, there isn't," The professor's grin freezes. The room suddenly goes very cold. The second Christian continues. "You can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega-heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat but we don't have anything called 'cold.' We can hit 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that.
There is no such thing as cold, otherwise we would be able to go colder than 458 - You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it."
Silence. A pin drops somewhere in the classroom.
"Is there such a thing as darkness, professor?" "That's a dumb question, son. What is night if it isn't darkness? What are you getting at...?"
"So you say there is such a thing as darkness?" "Yes..." "You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something, it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, Darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker and give me a jar of it. Can you ... give me a jar of darker darkness, professor?"
Despite himself, the professor smiles at the young effrontery before him. This will indeed be a good semester. "Would you mind telling us what your point is, young man?"
"Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with and so your conclusion must be in error...."
The professor goes toxic. "Flawed...? How dare you...!" "Sir, may I explain what I mean?" The class is all ears. "Explain ... oh, explain..." The professor makes an admirable effort to regain control. Suddenly he is affability itself. He waves his hand to silence the class, for the student to continue.
The Christian continues. Evil is the absence of Good.
"If there is evil in the world, professor, and we all agree there is, then God, if he exists, must be accomplishing a work through the agency of evil. What is that work, God is accomplishing? The Bible tells us it is to see if each one of us will, of our own free will, choose good over evil."
The Christian sits... Because that is what a chair is for.
"Professing to be wise, they became fools . . . "
Application
Rightly He . . Called the Lord Good.
3. Rightly He . . Confirmed The Commandments. Matt 19:17b-20
A. The . . Inquiry About His Confirmation. 19:17b
He said to Him, "Which ones?"
B. The . . Instruction About His Confirmation. 19:18b-19
“. . . Jesus said, "'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 19'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
C. The . . Inflation About His Confirmation. 19:20a
The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth.
Illustration Confession: Two Confessions Sam Jones
"Two of my members were up for drunkenness.
One got up and said, 'I went to town the other day and did not eat any dinner, and I took one little drink and it flew to my head and made me a little tight. Will you forgive me?' The church did. But I said to the brethren, 'He will be drunk again the next time he goes to town, for he has told two or three lies in his confession.' And he did get drunk the next time.
The other fellow got up and said, 'Brethren, if I may call you that, I went to town and made a brute of myself and got drunk and disgraced myself, Christ, and the church. I have been begging God to forgive me and, if you can forgive me -- the wretch that I am -- by the help of God I will never do it again.'" Sam said, "I will go his security; you can count on him." And he was true.
Application
Rightly He . . Confirmed The Commandments.
4. Rightly He . . Confessed He Still Lacked Eternal Life. Matt 19:20
20 The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?" NKJV
A. The . . Favorable Confession. 19:20a
20 The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. . . . ” NKJV
B. The . . Futile Confession. 19:20b
“. . . What do I still lack?" NKJV
1. He Acknowledged He Still Did Not Have
Eternal Life.
2. Claiming to keep and keeping some of the Commandments; Do Not Give Salvation
Application
Rightly He . . Confessed He Still Lacked Eternal Life.
5. Wrongly He . . Chose Possessions Rather Than Christ. Mark 10:21-22
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. NKJV
A. The . . Sadness of His Choice. 10:22a
“But he was sad at this word,. . .”
Illustration Do You Want Me To Roll Down The Window?
Returning home one afternoon with my two daughters, Kimberley, age two, and Kristi, six months, I pulled into my driveway and stopped to check the mailbox. But when I returned to the car, I found Kimberley had pushed the locks down on both doors—and I had left the key in the ignition. For an hour I tried to explain to Kimberley how to pull up the door handle. I was on the verge of tears. My husband wasn’t home, and since we live in the country, there were no neighbors to help. Finally Kimberley stood up and softly tapped on the window. As I looked down at her, she said, “Mommy, do you want me to roll down the window?”
Diane Prestwood, (Magee, Miss.)
B. The . . Sorrow of His Choice. 10:22b
“. . . and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. NKJV
Illustration Unchoice
When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice. - William James Source unknown
Choices and Responsibility
The words of Eleanor Roosevelt ring true:
One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words. It is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility. Little House on the Freeway, p. 143
Application
Wrongly He . . Chose Possessions Rather Than Christ.
Conclusion
Abandonment, To Christ: William Borden's Consecration
In 1904 William Borden, heir to the Borden Dairy Estate, graduated from a Chicago high school a millionaire. His parents gave him a trip around the world. Traveling through Asia, the middle East, and Europe gave Borden a burden for the world's hurting people. Writing home, he said, "I'm going to give my life to prepare for the mission field." When he made this decision, he wrote in the back of his Bible two words: "No Reserves." Turning down high-paying job offers after graduating from Yale University, he entered two more words in his Bible: "No Retreats." Completing studies at Princeton Seminary, Borden sailed for China to work with Muslims, stopping first at Egypt for some preparation. While there he was stricken with cerebral meningitis and died within a month. A waste, you say! Not in God's plan. In his Bible underneath the words
"No Reserves" and "No Retreats," he had written the words "No Regrets."