LIVE: "Why Do You Call Me Good?" (Mark 10), Part 1/4

A man with money, status, and moral confidence still feels the ache that won’t go away, so he does something desperate: he runs to Jesus, drops to his knees, and asks how to inherit eternal life. That scene from Mark 10 sounds like the perfect conversion story, yet Jesus immediately slows everything down and challenges a single word: “Why do you call me good?” We unpack why that question matters, how “good” points to God alone, and what it forces the rich young ruler to decide about who Jesus really is.

From there, we trace the tension between outward readiness and inward surrender. We talk about how church culture can mistake emotion and movement for genuine repentance, and why Jesus refuses to give easy assurance when the heart is still clinging to self-justification. The passage even says Jesus loves the man, and that love shows up as truth telling, not flattery. If you care about salvation, discipleship, and what real faith looks like under pressure, this conversation stays close to the text while asking uncomfortable but necessary questions.

Finally, we sit with the line that changes everything: “One thing you lack.” Jesus puts His finger on the ruler’s rival god and calls him to give, to take up the cross, and to follow. The man walks away grieving, and we explore what that grief reveals about wealth, security, control, and the cost of following Christ. If this challenged you, share the episode with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review. What do you think Jesus was exposing with the question about “good”?

Transcript

Welcome And Passage Setup

SPEAKER_03 0:01

Christians. Tonight, in tonight's live, I'm going to go to Mark chapter ten. Mark chapter ten. And I'm going to be talking about the narrative that surrounds the rich young ruler. And it's an interesting narrative, but I'm looking forward to seeing what contributions might be made to the discussion regarding the exchange between the Lord Jesus Christ and the rich young ruler. Because there's a whole lot to be gleaned from this discussion. And I want as many of you who are willing to participate in the discussion to request to come up on the panel and engage with me on it. I trust you will find it an uplifting discussion, especially for those of you who are really lovers of the Lord's word. So that being said, anyone who is inclined to come up, I want to encourage you. We're going to be having a discussion that centers around the narrative, excuse me, and the exchange that took place between the Lord Jesus Christ and the rich young ruler. And to me, there's a lot there that we can learn. Now, so what I'm going to do is go to Mark chapter 10. And I'm going to start at verse 17. Mark chapter 10 verse 17. And as people are gearing to come up, I will read the passage.

Reading Mark 10:17-24

SPEAKER_03 2:35

Mark chapter 10, verse 17. Speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he was gone forth into the way, Jesus that is, when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked him, Good master, what shall I do that I might inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? There is none good but one, and that is God. And then in verse 19, he says, You know the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Defraud not. Honor your mother and your father. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all of these things I have observed from my youth up. And then Jesus, beholding him, loved him and said unto him, One thing you lack. Go thy way, sell whatsoever you have, give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, and then come and take up the cross and follow me. And he, the rich young ruler, he was sad at the same. And he went away grieved, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about. Jesus looked round about and he said unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. So, Christians, here we have this scenario of the rich young ruler. The rich young ruler, and the exchange between him and the Lord Jesus Christ. What I want you to notice at the first is that in verse 17, in Mark chapter 10, verse 17, talking about Jesus, it says, When he was gone forth into the way, there came one running and

Why He Runs And Kneels

SPEAKER_03 5:55

kneeled to him and asked him, Good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Now, looking at Mark chapter ten, verses seventeen through twenty four. Let's look at this first verse. Jesus is in the middle of his journey. Into the way. Meaning he was going into the way where he would be around many people. Many people who would have access to him. He wasn't hiding. He was going into the mainstream. He was going out in public. And then something interesting happens. There came one running to him. And he kneeled to him. And he asked him, Good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Now let's start with this verse here. Let's start with this verse here. You have this rich rich man, this rich young ruler. He had authority and he had money. He had authority and he had money. He had wealth. But notice this. It says he came running to Christ, but he saw Christ in the distance. So from a distance, he sees Christ. He sees the Lord Jesus. He recognizes him. And he recognizes him to be something different or someone different than other men. He sees him. He recognizes him. And he sees him as someone who can give him an answer to something that is obviously to some degree plaguing his soul. So he sees Jesus and he came running. Now, let's look at this for a minute. First off, he sees Jesus Christ in the distance. And then it says he came running. So he sees Christ, and he decided that he needed to move fast. So he came running. Anxious. We run when we want to get somewhere quickly. He wanted to close in with Christ quickly. And this is something that we should all do. Something that we should all do. This is something that every sinner should do. Close in with Christ quickly while you can. Run to him. Run to him. When you come into his presence or when you see him in the distance, and there is a great distance, oftentimes between people, that it separates them between themselves and Christ. And that chasm that exists between sinners and Christ is their sin. It is their sin. But this rich young ruler, he saw Jesus in the distance. And it says he came running. So he recognized him from the distance and decided he needed to get to him as quickly as possible. As quickly as possible. So he comes running. And then it says the next thing that he did was that he kneeled. He kneeled to him. The rich young ruler kneeled to the Lord Jesus Christ. So he sees him in the distance. He comes running to him. And then he kneels. He kneels down. And this is striking that he would do this. Because it's not like this is something that people at that time just randomly did to random people. It's not something that they did. But this rich young ruler, he sees Christ. He comes, runs, runs to him, and then he kneels down. He kneels. Kneeling before Christ, he takes on the posture of one ready to worship, one who is ready to recognize authority. And it's also all the more striking when you realize that he is a man in authority and that he is a man of wealth. And yet he comes to Christ who was a carpenter. He wasn't a rich being. He wasn't a rich person by any stretch of the imagination. But yet, this rich man runs to him, kneels to him, and then he asks a question. And he begins by asking the question by referring to the Lord Jesus Christ as good master. Good master. He calls him good master. He kneels and he calls Christ Good Master. And then he asks the most important question. He asked the Lord Jesus Christ the most important question. He says, Good master, what shall I do? What shall I do to inherit eternal life? There is no greater question that any sinner, that any soul could ever ask the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing more important than recognizing him and then asking him the question, what must I do to be saved? This is what's happening. What must I do to be saved? But I want to bring something up. I want to bring something up. Because this rich young ruler, it's obvious that he recognized something in Christ, and he recognized something in Christ that made Christ somewhat elevated over himself, even though he was rich and had a measure of power or authority. Whereas Christ was not rich, and he was a pauper by all intents and purposes. He was a carpenter. He wasn't

Audience Joins The Panel

SPEAKER_03 14:36

rich.

SPEAKER_02 14:40

How are we doing today?

SPEAKER_03 14:42

I'm doing alright. How you doing? Doing good. What's the topic today? So I'm in uh Mark chapter 10 and talking about the rich young ruler.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Oh, okay. The one that said, like, what does he need to do to enter the kingdom of God? Okay. Absolutely. What must I do to inherit the kingdom of God? Absolutely. Alright, let me get my Bible. Get it out. Let me put on my anything specific or just reading the story.

SPEAKER_03 15:15

I read the story so far, and I'm sure you've you're probably familiar with it already. Yeah. But here's what I what here's what I pointed out so far that I want to get people to sort of start responding to so you can start thinking about it.

unknown 15:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:28

So the rich young ruler, he recognizes Christ from the distance, from a distance. It says in verse 17 that he came running to Christ, and when he got there, he kneeled to him, and then he asked him, What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? But he addressed him as good master. He addressed him as good master. So this is important because we know that he was rich and that he was a ruler. And to see him at that time come to Jesus Christ, who was this, who was this carpenter, and he wasn't wealthy, wasn't rich, and he sees Christ, comes running to him, and he kneels to him. And then he calls him good master, and then he asks what I consider to be a most important question: what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Now, we know what happens, and we're going to get to it again. But one thing that we know that happens is that Christ introduces him to a few facts in his own life that he wasn't necessarily aware of or was aware of the significance of it. And Christ allowed this man

Altar Calls And False Assurance

SPEAKER_03 16:55

to turn away and to go away. Right? He went away. But here's the thing. In this first verse, in verse 17, this guy, this rich young ruler, he did everything that the modern church would have considered making him ripe for salvation. Now here's what I mean. You have a lot of churches today. I don't know about your church, but there are a lot of churches today, and I haven't been in one in years who has the preference. But you know what I mean when I say an altar call, right? Yeah. So what do you so now let me just ask you for the benefit of anybody who might be listening? Describe an altar call. If you don't mind.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

So typically, because in my church actually they do this a lot. So typically at the end of the service, sometimes it's on the topic, sometimes it's just, you know, if they want to ask people to come to Christ, it'll be on like healing or reconciliation, or it could be, you know, just any any type of prayer request to come up to the altar and have the person who just gave the message or the pastor pray over those people. It's kind of what the altar call is.

SPEAKER_03 18:18

But generally, what they do is they call them up to the front, right? Or yeah. Right. Alright. So that's what we're talking about when we're talking about the altar call, because the altar call I have always had a problem with.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

I don't believe in them. Now for me, it's a little different because I grew up in a Pentecostal church, so I'm so used to it, so I never like, you know. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:48

But if so, here's what here's what I'm saying by this. You have this rich young ruler, right? Now, he sees Jesus in the distance, he comes running, he kneels down, calls him good, and then he asks the question, what must I do to inherit eternal life? If this same person did this in the modern church, where these altar calls happen, this guy would have been considered a prime candidate for salvation. He would have been a prime candidate for someone who is ripe and ready to be plucked from the tree of life. You know what I mean? He would have been, no, no one would have questioned anything about him. They might have asked you questions. Well, do you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins? Well, do you believe this? Do you believe that? But the rich young ruler, for all intents and purposes, he exhibited everything that was that he represented everything in his actions that resembled someone who had who was ready and right to quote unquote give their life to Jesus. You know what I mean? Now, here's something that's interesting. You don't see well, what what what is not known by most people is that in the old covenant era and even through the New Testament era, you don't see people calling people good. Romans tells us, Paul quotes Isaiah, even he says, There's none good, no, not one. All have gone astray, right? All have gone astray, none desires Christ, none seek after God. In fact, we are told that

Why Jesus Challenges Good

SPEAKER_03 20:55

God was sought by, God was found by those who did not seek him, right? By those who did not seek him. So here's the thing. The rich young ruler calls Jesus good master, and he asks the question, What must I do to inherit eternal life? And you know what the first thing Jesus says is this. You see it in verse 18. He says, Jesus says, He ignores everything else, even the question that he asked, that the rich young ruler asks, and Jesus says to him, Why do you call me good? There is none good, and that is God. So, my first question of the night is this What was Jesus? What was Jesus saying here when he asked the ritual ruler, Why do you call me good? There is none good but one, and that is God. What do you think? What do you think was the purpose in Jesus Christ asking him that question?

SPEAKER_02 22:00

The way I see it as a Christian, if you don't want me answering, is since the rich young ruler, like you were mentioning in Isaiah, that only God is the definer of good, for this man to come up to Jesus and define him as good, he's referring him to equating him to God. And it and and what Jesus is trying to sift out out of the man is do you really believe what you were saying?

SPEAKER_03 22:24

Yes. Yes. See, I 100% agree. 100% agree. And let me and I brought this up because I was talking to my brother earlier. My brother is is, you know, him and he's the one that was instrumental in me coming to Christ at a young age. And he's younger than me, believe it or not. But here I would I did some posts regarding this, these verses, these passages before in the past. And people will use this verse to say that Jesus Christ himself was proving that he was not God by saying that he was not good. They think that there are people who believe that when Jesus Christ says, Why do you call me good, that Jesus was implying or inferring that he himself was not good.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

You see what I'm saying? It would be so contrary to the whole scriptures. Yeah, it would totally be.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

It would totally be. But what you said is what I totally agree with because I it is true. And the context demands it. He's asking, Do you realize what you're saying? When you call me good

Interfaith Detour And Boundaries

SPEAKER_03 23:40

master, do you realize what you're saying?

SPEAKER_04 23:45

Can I ask him something? Can I ask you something?

SPEAKER_03 23:48

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 23:49

How are you, man? By the way.

SPEAKER_03 23:51

I'm doing great. How about you, my friend?

SPEAKER_04 23:53

I'm very well, brother. Where are you from?

SPEAKER_03 23:56

I'm from uh right. I'm from California originally, but I'm in Illinois right now.

SPEAKER_04 24:02

Stop, man. You look like you're from California. What's your question? So my question is this Can you tell me please? In which verse in the Bible or the Torah or the Quran does the Jesus say where he's actually gone.

SPEAKER_03 24:22

Let me let me put it to you this way. Let me let me let me step right saying it because I don't want to be disrespectful. I just want to hear the exact exact verse.

SPEAKER_04 24:33

Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

If you are willing, DM me your question because this is gonna upset the conversation we're having right now. I'm more I'm more than happy to do it, but I'm gonna stick to the format tonight if you don't mind.

SPEAKER_04 24:47

I understand where you're coming from, but I respect your I respect where you're coming from, so I will leave it at that. But I was my my question will always stand, and maybe in the future we can talk again, but my question will always ask you, and as a Muslim, I'm a Muslim. We believe that Jesus was a prophet.

SPEAKER_03 25:11

I I I know what you believe as a Muslim, and you're wrong. And Allah is not God, and the Quran is not is not inspired.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Yeah, I didn't I didn't can I just say something as an article.

SPEAKER_03 25:23

Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

SPEAKER_04 25:25

You disrespecting me right now.

SPEAKER_03 25:27

That's fine. I understand that, but I gotta tell you the truth because you would tell me you would say the same thing to somebody else about the Christian faith.

SPEAKER_04 25:33

The truth can be the truth, but I didn't disrespect you by telling you my truth.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

My truth would have been like I can't I I cannot listen. If I have a choice, brother, if I have a choice between disrespecting you and my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you can bet your last dollar who I'm gonna disrespect.

SPEAKER_04 25:49

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

So you believe can I say something? Is that all right if I say something to him?

SPEAKER_03 25:54

What no, because I I'm gonna end this conversation because I don't want to I'm gonna take what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

No, no. I just wanted to say, I just wanted to say to him, if he's wanting to have to want it for Bateman where Jesus says he is God, it says it other it clearly identifies.

SPEAKER_03 26:12

I don't want to talk about that right now because we we we started a and I'm not being disrespectful, but I'm gonna stick to the plan of our discussion tonight. Is that okay with you?

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Yeah, yeah. I all I want to do is 10 seconds just to let him know.

SPEAKER_03 26:26

I know, but I don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Okay, okay, sure.

SPEAKER_03 26:29

So if you want to stay in, I would love to have you. Love to have you. Yeah. Is that okay?

Back To The Core Question

SPEAKER_03 26:35

Yeah, yeah, it's fine. All right. So I'm in Mark chapter 10, verses 17 through 24, dealing with the rich young ruler. Okay. So now, anointed, are you there?

SPEAKER_00 26:48

I'm here. I won't be on for long. I just wanted to pop in, so I can be in here for some time.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

Okay. All right. All right, no problem. I just want to check. I just want to check in with you because I hadn't given you a chance to comment yet. So we're talking about the rich young ruler. Now, where I left off at before the other person came in. Verse 18. In verse 18, Jesus said to the rich young ruler, Why do you call me good? And this is interesting to me because when you know something about the old the old testament, the old covenant, you will find that the Jews, when you study the history, they never called anybody good. They never called any individual, any individual good. They only called God good. He was the only one that they called good. They didn't go around saying that they were good and they didn't go around calling other people good. Good was reserved for God and God only. So when Jesus asked the rich own ruler, why do you call me good? There's there is only one of two ways that you can take this. Either that Jesus Christ is is asking him, Do you realize what you're saying? Do you by calling me good, what are you saying? Are you equating me with God? Or Jesus is intimating that he is not good and that he's like any other man. And I have to conclude, as my brother biblical wisdom here says, that Jesus was asking the rich young ruler, do you realize what you're saying? Do you know who I am? Do you recognize me as such? So I'll ask you, anointed before you leave, what do you think Jesus was getting at when he says, Why do you call me good?

SPEAKER_00 28:45

You know, I was gonna tell you this last night for all practical purposes. I wouldn't say in everything, but majority of things, if if biblical wisdom gives the answer, it's it's like when Paul says, if you get telling me you get me, it's the same thing here. Like if I answer, if he answers, if you get his word, you get my word. So I I generally just say when I talk to pastors, I generally just say that he doesn't believe that like Jesus asking that question because he doesn't believe that he's God, so but he just calls him a good teacher. Um so the the I mean biblical was already said that the question that Jesus poses into him is do you believe that I'm God?

SPEAKER_03 29:24

Right, right. And I believe that. Fredo, what do you think, brother?