LIVE: "Why Do You Call Me Good?" (Mark 10), Part 3/4

The rich young ruler doesn’t come with a sneer, he comes with a plan: tell me what to do, and I’ll do it. That single assumption opens up a whole knot of questions about salvation by works, the purpose of the Ten Commandments, and why Jesus refuses to let religious confidence stay on the surface. We walk through Mark 10 and watch Jesus respond like a physician of souls, not a motivational speaker, pressing the law into the one place the man can’t hide.

We talk about why “inheritance” matters, why you can’t work for what only a child can receive, and why Jesus seems to skip parts of the commandments while drilling down on possessions. That leads us into uncomfortable but necessary territory: how wealth is relative, how modern comfort can function like idolatry, and how “take up your cross” sounds different when it threatens the very thing you rely on for security. Along the way we wrestle with the tension between outward morality and inward coveting, and why the heart is the real battleground.

We also zoom out to church practice and preaching. If the law reveals sin, what happens when churches skip it and go straight to emotional altar calls? And what does it mean that Scripture calls believers a royal priesthood under Christ our great high priest? If you’ve ever wondered why Jesus answers some people softly and others sharply, this conversation helps frame it: he touches the nerve that tells the truth.

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Transcript

Doing Versus Receiving Eternal Life

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Jesus answers the question by what he should do. Right. So the reason why he's not giving him what you don't see typically, like who I am, or repent for the kingdom of God is at hand, is because you you want to inherit eternal life by doing. Well, this is how you're going to do it. Right. So because the next thing he says, it's not even about, I mean, it's not about believing. He says, inherit this. All right. Now sell all your, he says, sell all your possessions and follow me. Right. But what that deals with is, yes, believe in who I am, but now you have to lay down everything that you're trying to do.

SPEAKER_06 0:44

Right.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

Right. So I just want to point that out because every time I hear this pastor's talk, I'm like, they're not noticing Jesus answering the question according to the doing that he asked.

SPEAKER_04 0:54

Right. Well, see, here's here's the thing. Here's the original question that I asked before we went off into different areas.

Why Jesus Brings Up The Law

SPEAKER_04 1:01

The question that I asked, and I still want to get an answer to it. Why did Christ, in your minds, why did he bring up the law? What was the point of Christ bringing up the law?

SPEAKER_01 1:15

To show the rich young ruler how far how much he had fallen, but the rich young ruler didn't recognize this. So I agree with nearly everything that my brothers have said up here. But I think there's a much deeper meaning to this, and it's spiritual. And Jesus was trying to point out that spiritual meaning, but the rich young ruler missed the spiritual meaning. And we actually get this in verse 22 when it says that he he was sad at this word and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Jesus wasn't talking about his possessions at all.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Exactly. He didn't mention the most important law either.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

See, as readers, we must look at this and say, Well, was the person right or wrong? Jesus is always right.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Yeah. And he missed the most important, the most important law, which is love God and love your neighbor like you love yourself.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

Here's the thing. It wasn't that he missed the most important thing. He hit the most important thing as it relates to the rich young ruler.

SPEAKER_06 2:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 2:16

He hit what was important for him. You see what I mean? Like one of the brothers, the other brother, Fredo, he was going, well, nuns did the same thing. Well, it's different. Because here's the thing. Let's say a nun, if you want to believe that these are Christian people, but let's say a nun gave up everything. Well, if she had nothing really to give

Wealth Is Relative And Revealing

SPEAKER_04 2:36

up in the first place, it wouldn't be the same thing.

SPEAKER_06 2:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:40

If she wasn't a powerful person, if she didn't have billions of dollars in the bank account, if she only had a few mites, she would not be giving up much.

SPEAKER_07 2:50

Tell Elon Musk to do that. It'd be a different story than me and you.

SPEAKER_08 2:56

Well, there's two factors here. In relation to our life now, the way we live, we are rich in comparison to anything in the past.

SPEAKER_06 3:07

Correct.

SPEAKER_08 3:08

You know, so so we're currently like me, I'm not loaded, but I've got a house. But even if I didn't have a house, I've got my work. My work brings me money. I'm able to eat the foods that I want to eat. I'm not restricted to eat a certain meal that's given to me. I can choose to eat the food that I want to eat. I can go to the shops if I want to go to the shops and buy whatever I want to buy. I can get out of my house and do what I want to do. I can go to the beach. All of these things are all levels of wealth. If I give up all of those things and live in a confined space where I'm given what I've got to eat, that's a devotion to God to say, hey, look, I've given up everything. You might not see it as a big thing. I do. I praise those people for giving up their life for Christ.

SPEAKER_04 3:56

I get what you're saying. But here's the thing this is a relative thing. Somebody can, somebody, let's let's let's say you let's say somebody has, let's say two people have a million dollars. Let's say you have a million, Fredo, and I have a million. You might think that makes you wealthy. I might say, that's nothing. So what I'm saying is the Christ used the law because he was he was something that we were not. He was a surgeon. He went and hit and struck the nerve that hits the rich man specifically, regardless of the amount. Because he could have been the same personality, he could have had an obsession with wealth and had like half of what somebody who is really wealthy has.

Take Up Your Cross Or Cling

SPEAKER_08 5:12

Yes, I agree with you. What you're saying is absolutely right. We also take the fact that he said, take up your cross and follow me. Are we doing that in our lives now? Are we taking up our cross and following him? Or are we tied up in this world, right, with the things of this world? Or are we taking up our cross and following him? This message is in everything, and I don't disagree with you. I totally agree with you.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

All of these exactly that's exactly why he breaks us down. It's all beautiful. Nothing. It's so that we seek Christ with all of our hearts, that we humbly seek Christ. That's why we get that's why some of us get broken down to nothing, where we lose everything so we could build our house on the rock when we hit rock bottom. Amen. And then we can build our house on the rock and and build ourselves back up. And when the idolatry comes in, is who are you doing this for? Are you building yourself back up for yourself? Like, oh, I'm gonna show them. You know, it's like I don't have a house right now, but I'll have a big house later. It's what what exactly are you doing it for?

SPEAKER_04 6:20

Let me let me ask Star Tide. Star Tide, are you there, brother?

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Yeah, I'm here.

SPEAKER_04 6:27

Let's get your input your input on this input. I know you're gonna be good on this.

Inheritance Cannot Be Worked For

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Uh well, first of all, I think the rich young ruler, the Lord had him reveal who he is in his heart to us. He asked the Lord, What must I do to inherit the kingdom? Well, as far as I know, you don't do things to inherit things. My children are going to get my inheritance. You can't come work at my house to get my inheritance. That's my family that gets my inheritance. So the very fact that he thinks that he can do something to get an inherited thing doesn't understand that you must be a child of God to receive the work that the father, that the son, right, that God did for his children. It's not a thing you do. But the Lord, you know, seeing that he is not one of his sheep, and he the scripture says that every man will proclaim his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find. So what the Lord did to this man who has no spiritual eyes, who's looking to the works of his hands and his flesh to justify himself before God, right? He's confident of all the things that he's done. All he needs is a little guidance. And you seem to be a pretty good guy here, all the things you're doing, you know, like the church down the street. If I can go there and attend, they can ship me, they can shape me up and I can start cleaning this old flesh up. And if sure enough, I can I can present myself to God as worthy for salvation, right? I can inherit the the gift of salvation that the son purchased for his people. You it doesn't work like that. So Christ

Missing Commands And Heart Idols

SPEAKER_00 8:07

just pointed him right to where he was looking, to the flesh. Okay, you did this and this and this, then do these, these, and these. You know what's interesting?

SPEAKER_04 8:15

What's interesting to me is this, is this that Christ did not mention any of the laws from the first table of the commandments, number one. And then secondly, when he listed the the laws that he did list, he left out covetousness. He left it out and worshiping other gods. Yeah, that's what I mean. The first table was the worship of other gods. So that the first tablet, he didn't mention anything off that tablet. He didn't mention the Sabbath breaking break or any of the you know the first four commandments. And he doesn't list the last one.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

I'd like to point out that King David, Solomon, these are these men had wealth and riches beyond our mind can conceive, right? The Bezos is. And yet, in the eyes of God, they were men who had did exactly what he told that rich Run Mueller to do. They had he they gave up all of their riches. What do you mean? They went to their grave, the the richest men of the day, because the riches that they didn't have are the riches of their own self-righteousness, they were not looking to the law to establish their righteousness before God. So God saw them as bankrupt men who needed Christ's righteousness, right?

unknown 9:33

Right.

SPEAKER_06 9:34

What about this man and Lazarus?

SPEAKER_04 9:37

Let me see here. Brian, what do you think? Like, why do you think that why do you think that Christ mentioned nothing from the first table of the of the commandments? And why do you think he left out, which may be obvious to us all, why he left out the covetous part, the covetous part.

SPEAKER_08 9:56

It's funny you see this because in Matthew, sorry to say, sorry to cut you off, but in Matthew it does say love you.

SPEAKER_04 10:03

I'll have you next, I promise you. Brian, let me hear from you first and then Fredo next.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Because he was pointing out to the rich young ruler what attend to him only, because he was trying to catch him where he was. But the rich younger, like I said before, the rich young ruler missed this. He got it wrong. It's it's like anybody really being corrected who's stubborn or who's who's just not willing to accept or not show humility, they will misunderstand what's been said in front of them. Right. And and and they'll just get it wrong. I've seen this many times with people, so uh yeah, I can relate to it.

SPEAKER_04 10:37

Fredo, go ahead, brother. Sorry to cut you off, dear. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_08 10:42

I was gonna say it does say in Matthew in the sa for the same verse, it does say love your neighbor as yourself. But so I don't know whether it's just that Mark didn't note it down, but Matthew obviously had noted down that it said love your neighbor as yourself.

SPEAKER_04 10:57

But it's interesting. And what significance do you do you get to that?

SPEAKER_08 11:03

Well, I I think I think that see, I I believe that Jesus saying that the formal observance of the commandments do not does not make one righteous before God. This this man this man had uh an earnest desire for eternal life and sense that he still lacked something. If he it continues to press Jesus for an answer.

SPEAKER_04 11:28

But if he but if he had an earnest desire for eternal life, then why did he go away sorrowful because he had great possession?

SPEAKER_08 11:35

Because obviously he didn't want so because Jesus said to be perfect, one must be willingly willing to sacrifice all and follow Christ. Nothing is gained unless this sacrifice is given freely, right? So I said he had to freely give up that with it. He didn't want to give up. So we have to freely want to give up our our uh I got it.

SPEAKER_04 11:55

So I'm asking the question again. I'll ask you the question again. You said that he was earnest in his desire for eternal life. How do you see that in this passage?

SPEAKER_08 12:04

Because he said to him, What do I need to do to to have eternal life? But Jesus told him, and then he went away sorrowful. So how was he earnest about eternal life? No, I'm talking about he was earnest at the beginning. He was earnest. That's why he was asking the question.

SPEAKER_04 12:19

How do I so you're saying only in the beginning? Okay, I got it.

SPEAKER_08 12:22

That's right. Yeah, no, I mean, obviously he lost the earnest once he had to give up everything, and he wasn't prepared to. But but the thing is, too, I mean, it gives us a message too that everybody, like the specifics on how we follow Christ will be different for each person. And why do you say that? Because some will some will, like I said, give up their total life and their possessions and follow Christ, like the nuns and the monks do. Some will some will follow, some will follow, some will follow Christ in an evangelical way. Some will go into priesthood, some will uh stay in devotional priest. So everyone has their everyone will do that just like everyone's been given different gifts from God

Different Callings And A Hard Line

SPEAKER_08 13:09

as well.

SPEAKER_04 13:09

Let me let me let me let me say something right off the bat because I want to make sure that people who are listening don't get it confused. I do not believe in priesthood and nuns and monks. I believe it is contrary to the word of God. And Fredo, being fair to you, I just want to make sure I'm saying that so you understand that. But like I said, that's another discussion. But I believe that monks, priesthood, nuns, all embiblical, no relevance to religion or or Christ whatsoever. There are no nuns in the Bible. Mary's not divine at all. And and prayers, I mean, and and the vows and in as it comes when it comes to not marrying and all this kind of stuff, it's unbiblical. So I want to make sure that the people who are listening understand where I'm that I'm not endorsing it saying by saying nothing.

unknown 14:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_08 14:06

That's a public opinion. That's fine.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

I'm gonna hop down, guys, because it's very late where I am. But thanks for having me up again, brother. And I'd like to finish with this. I completely agree with what you're saying, and actually, anybody who's doing what we're doing now is actually fulfilling.

SPEAKER_04 14:21

There's a lot of banging going on in the background.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Adventures on an adventure there, I think. But anybody who's doing what we're doing now is fulfilling a priesthood. Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 14:32

And I and I I I believe in the the the the the priesthood of the church.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Amen. Amen to that. Right. And um, I think we should all do our best to learn and discern together. Good night and God bless.

SPEAKER_04 14:45

God bless, brother. Appreciate you coming in and hanging out with us for a while.

SPEAKER_07 14:50

You know what this conversation kind of gets me in my in my mind?

SPEAKER_06 14:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 14:54

It it kind of gets to me like, you know, when God calls, I forgot it was I think it was either Moses or Abraham. I always forget which one it is, but he says they're gonna be a nation of priests. Not not just have not have a nation that contains priests, but they themselves were gonna be a nation of priests. It's kind of that same mentality in the not just the Catholic Church, but you know, other other places too, you know, where we all have this vocation, but now this vocation is stripped from the church, given to a role. And, you know, the same things that the Israelites did. This this vocation that was given to the whole of Israel was stripped and only given to one group of people. Which obviously was biblical of the Levitical line, but at a whole, the whole nation of Israel was called to be a priesthood. Just the body of Christ is what it is.

SPEAKER_08 15:43

Yeah, I mean it it is scripture, it is in scripture, but I'm not gonna argue the point because I don't want to be arguing on here it's a Christian life that I want to be I want this to be fruitful.

SPEAKER_07 15:52

So No, I I agree. The same way I said that the nation of Israel had priests, and it's not wrong, but they stripped it seeing as only the priests were priests, similar to the similar to the Catholics and sometimes Orthodox churches, unless you hold that title, you don't contain those privileges of that position. Right.

SPEAKER_08 16:15

Jesus Christ gave authority to the apostles who laid hands on the disciples. Amen. So so there is there is that laying of hands and authorization. I mean, Simon, so I think it was Simon the Zealot, or it was another Simon, said

Priesthood Of Believers In Scripture

SPEAKER_08 16:31

he wanted to buy the author the authority, he wanted to buy the laying of hands and the authority. Yeah. And Mark's, uh, I think it was Peter or Mark said, uh, go away. You know, you can't buy that. It's been given by authority by God.

SPEAKER_04 16:44

So well, first Peter, 1 Peter 2 9 says this. Peter says to the to believers, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. And so it is clear from the scriptures that that everybody who belongs to the Christian church, in a manner of speaking, as it were, they are a priesthood, a priest unto themselves, in that relationship, and Christ being the great high priest. Amen. Being the great high priest. So there is no, so anybody talking about a priesthood today, that there's a priesthood existing today, is off, is off, and it's completely inconsistent with the scripture. Completely. So what needs what needs to be understood when we talk about the, and I want to get back to to where we because we keep getting away from Mark. And I'm really trying to deal with the rich young ruler because what what I want to point out is this every one of us is different in our spiritual makeup. And there are different things that matter to us. I'm talking about in a sinful way. There are different things that we put above others in terms of in terms of what we lust after, what we struggle with as what we struggle with as Christians, the sin that we struggle with as Christians. But Christ being the great physician, he is able to look at the soul of each one of us and dissect us for what we really are. Now, one thing about one thing about when he deals with this with the uh the the rich and ruler that I always think about, because he points Jesus points out that that the man had great possessions and was unwilling to give it up. But that didn't mean that Jesus thought that he was innocent in all those other sins that he listed. He just pointed out the one that he knew was gonna be the biggest struggle with this rich young ruler. Anointed. What do you think?

SPEAKER_08 18:58

Before you start, sorry, I've got to go. Thank you so much. What's your name, by the way?

SPEAKER_04 19:03

Jonathan.

SPEAKER_08 19:04

Jonathan? Yes. God bless you. I love you. We don't always agree on everything, but brother, you're up here, you're preaching the word of God, and that's what I love. God bless you. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_04 19:17

God bless you too. Thank you for coming up. Thank you. So I forgot what I was, but what I wanted to point out was this, and I'll leave come back to you guys with it. Jesus Christ is a physician of souls. He looks at the heart of each one of us and he knows what sins plague us the most. But we also know from the word of God that when we have violated one law of God, we violated them all. And

Jesus The Physician Of Souls

SPEAKER_04 19:53

Paul talks about concupiscence, meaning that just the tendency to sin or the lust for sin is enough to be guilty of breaking the act, breaking all the law of God, even if we haven't acted on it. So if the tendency to sin is something that we haven't even acted on outwardly, it is still sin to God. Still sin to Him. Even having the tendency to sin is enough for us to be condemned for an eternity. Because God is a pure eyes and cannot look upon sin according to what he tells us in his in his word. But this rich young ruler, his problem was his wealth. He wasn't willing to give it away and follow Christ. And so the lesson out of there, out of this, may be different for each one of us. It may be different for each one of us. It's something different. Every Christian knows. Every Christian knows. We live in a society today where or a time today where capitalism, especially in America, is considered godliness, holiness, whatever you want to call it. We treat capitalism as meaning that if you are successful in this world, you've done everything right. It is it's even it's even plagued churches. It's even plagued the churches. Popularity, wealth, and power, they have even entered into the church. And so Christ could have easily told this guy, this rich young ruler, based on his outward actions, he could have easily said, Come follow me and be my disciple. When he called his other disciples, he didn't give them, he didn't drill down on them about their their individual the laws and how they violated them. But what this guy he did. Why do you think that's true?

SPEAKER_03 22:16

I'm sorry. I asked him to clarify. So I I don't even think this passage is focusing on salvation, to be honest with you. Okay. Because what he does later in the passage, he will say that there's no one who has left father, mother, brother, basically things, and he says that that has gave it all for the kingdom. He says, but if you do it, you gain father, brother, and mother. So I think this is dealing with more in salvation because remember, we're dealing with a time, we're dealing with Israel, and I do take it, if Israel would have all of repented from not breaking the law, the old covenant, and if Israel would have believed on the Lord Jesus, the kingdom of God would have came on the earth. So what he is doing is he is telling that man, hey, if you want, like it, I don't just think it's just deal with eternal life, like that's part of it. But if you want eternal life and you want, and you want, if you want to say me, which he's not really wanting, one, then this doesn't deal with eternal life, but give up all your possessions. But this does deal with eternal life. Believe who I am. I know that's not in there, but in order for the man to follow him, to and which was a command in the in the Greek, he had to believe in who he is. So the goal that Jesus is trying to get him is follow me. So now now you so now you come back to the God of the covenant. That's the goal.

SPEAKER_04 23:50

I like when you said anointed. I I love what you said, especially at the beginning, when you said this wasn't dealing about because Jesus didn't, he didn't immediately deal with, he did not immediately deal with the salvation question. You're right. I I you're totally right about that.

Preaching Law To Uncover Need

SPEAKER_04 24:07

And I think that's a good point to bring up. And this is kind of like what I what I'm trying to drive at when I talk about why did Christ bring up the law? Because I think that what we see here in Christ and what he and how Jesus is dealing with the rich young ruler, what I am seeing here is this I'm seeing the model, the model for how we should preach. How we should preach. We introduce people to the law, and the reason why is because the law reveals sin. And when you go to these churches where they have these altar calls, they don't, they're not dealing with the law, they're not saying, they're not dealing, they're not coming at it this way, like trying to get to know this person and where they stand and what's and what's and what is driving them? You know, but Jesus Christ introduced the rich young ruler, he introduced him to the law. He says, He's like saying, like you said, anointed. Before we get to, before we get to what salvation is all about, you can't even understand that until we deal with sin. Has the law taught you anything? Have you looked into the mirror of God's holy law and seen your reflection? You know? And so I think that that the law is a great segue in our preaching in order to introduce people to the gospel. You can't get to the gospel in the belief of it and understand grace if you haven't discovered the need of it, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 25:44

I do have to go. I just want to say love you guys. Thank you. I appreciate the discussion. Thank you. Grace and peace to you all. Likewise. Have a good one.

SPEAKER_04 25:54

Biblical, what do you think? Are you there?

SPEAKER_07 26:00

Yeah, yeah, sorry. What kind of came to my mind as we're talking about this, and

Eternal Life Is A Person

SPEAKER_07 26:06

it's because actually I'm studying on a theme of cut of called encountering eternal life. And in this man, he assumed that eternal life is something that you can possess, but it's something that that even the apostles have seen it as it's not something that you can possess, but it's actually a person. Because Apostle John speaks about this in the letter of John, 1 John, when he talks about eternal life, and he said that it's he's touched eternal life, he witnessed an eternal life. And then at the end of John, he he says who that eternal life is, right? And he says that's Jesus himself. Right. So this man already had a misconception of what eternal life even was. It was he thought it was a possession you can obtain. That's why Jesus says, let go of all your possessions and follow me, because he himself is the eternal life, right? That he can obtain, right? But it's not by by something like works, as he says, but it's it's by submission, it's by humility. And when you submit, you conquer. That's why Jesus says, the the first the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Right. Because it's all about submission.

SPEAKER_04 27:11

And I think I think that and I think that we talked about the priesthood of the of the of the church, for example. We are all sort of like these these priests unto Christ. And and so what does a priest do? A priest makes sacrifices unto God. And and what and what's happening is he is asking us, and he's advising the Christ is telling the rich young ruler, give up your riches. Give up your riches and sell out you have. And then he says, and then you shall have treasure in heaven, and come and take up your cross and follow, take up the cross and follow me. So the cross is a reference to his sacrifice, the sacrificing aspect of it, which is interesting to me because Christ hadn't hadn't gone to the cross, obviously, at this point. He chose a rich young ruler to take up his cross. So, Margo, you there, sister?

SPEAKER_05 28:12

Yeah, hi, Hawaii. Blessings to you.

SPEAKER_04 28:16

Blessings to you too, sister. I'm so glad I finally got you on here.

SPEAKER_05 28:20

Yes, it's good to see you, and I'm so sorry that I haven't been in your life for a long time. Um I I I love you.

SPEAKER_04 28:28

Oh, I love you too, sister. I really do.

SPEAKER_05 28:32

I apologize.

SPEAKER_04 28:34

No need, no need for that.

SPEAKER_05 28:35

I've been discovering some things about me that I did not know about myself.

SPEAKER_06 28:42

Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_05 28:44

Yeah. My ancestors are Israelites. And um I didn't know that my

An Abrupt Turn To Ancestry

SPEAKER_05 28:55

father and my mother are Israelites.

SPEAKER_06 28:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 28:59

But um we are cursed. We are cursed.

SPEAKER_04 29:05

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_05 29:07

We're cursed because of the things that we did.

SPEAKER_04 29:12

Well, I mean not not now.