and when we realize that everything we own is his and that he is in charge of everything then when theft happens or when that terminal diagnosis happens we can say all to the glory of god it is all yours my life is yours do what you need to do to make your name great well this morning i i just want to start off by a word of gratitude a word of gratitude to you church last week seth preached probably the most uncomfortable topic in the church today i am not sure of another topic that is so uncomfortable for a pastor to say and that topic was a topic of divorce and here's why i want to thank you for it because we heard nothing but great encouragement people saying thank you for preaching the word thank you for telling us what the bible says and i've got to tell you church i am so grateful to be surrounded by another pastor and fantastic elders that keep pushing us as a church what does god's word say and to be surrounded by church that says tell me what the bible says don't give me your opinions and let me tell you church this is a rarity in our culture

people saying pastor don't you dare touch me in my vulnerable areas don't you do it but i want to thank you church for being a church that says tell me what the bible says and this is something we will see increase all the more as time continues and let me tell you this isn't something new by the way this isn't like in the last few decades right preachers have gone soft okay this has been a issue from about genesis chapter 3. so i want to share with you that's the truth of the matter that we may be a people that says tell me what the bible says i want to know what that says give me more of the bible and less of you pastor may that be and fill our pulpits we as a church just started this past week in our reading plan the book of revelation uh the book of revelation and and i love the book of revelation because it's one of those things where there is two types of people right there are the types who understand how thick and how dense it is and in those two people there are those that are going to go do the great homework because they know that almost every verse has an old testament reference right and then there are those like i'm going to need some help and by god's grace we have great information at our fingertips great teachers have who have done great work to help us understand what is going on in the book of revelation but then there's those other people there are those cuckoo people and here's how you know they're cuckoo because they don't think they're cuckoo right and they're like i've got the answer to the code and and let me just tell you what i told my home group this last week we need to make revelation great again right i mean we need to get like red hats mrga make revelation great again right and that's what we need to do because we need to take revelation from the cuckoo people we need to say the adults are talking now it's time to sit and listen right and so here's what what is the kind of the thing with revelation it is filled with amazing promises to the church amazing promises that no matter how bleak things look god is in control of even the most horrific things that god has a plan for great victory in this past week we saw in revelation chapter 3 the church of laodicea i will put before you church i don't know of another chapter in all of the bible that has been so misrepresented and mistaught in all of scripture than revelation chapter three because i've heard so many people butcher the lukewarm part and the i stand door and knock part but there is a great warning to you and i in the book of revelation with the church of laodicea so the church ladies see do you remember you read this last week right they're saying we're rich we're prosperous we need nothing and what does jesus say you are poor and you need everything the church of laocia was that church that when you came into town say what's the best church they said that one the church laid to see it they had all the big programs all the cool gadgets all of the good stuff and they were missing something they were missing the one thing that makes a church a church and that was christ christ was at the outside of his church and they were doing religious things on the inside and they were dead as a dead corpse they were a skeleton and if you remember if you remember they said i've prospered i need nothing built all these big buildings and in the discussion of riches christ reminds the church that in their thinking of being wealthy they're poor and they're thought that they're clothed they were naked and all the thought they could see they were blind this is a grave warning from our lord that riches can give us a false sense of security and let me just share with you i am way too dumb to put these two sermons together but by god's grace he put the fact that we just read through revelation 1 through 4 and then our story that we're going to see this morning in mark chapter 10 of the rich young ruler so if you have your bibles go ahead grab them we're going to be mark chapter 10 mark chapter 10 is going to be our text this morning and so what i kind of said is if seth had the unpopular topic we're going to go kind of out of the frying pan and into the fire because if there is one topic that people say i don't want to hear the pastor preach on its money don't you dare come after my wallet bro you work one day a week right like that's the thought of the majority of churches and here's what i want to tell you i have no desire to talk about your money i have great desire to talk about god's money why because the bible has over 2 000 verses about money close to 2300 verses about money and if we're going to be a church that's going to preach the full counsel of god we must be the church that emphasizes what the bible emphasizes and i know what most people think when it comes to money bro my marriage is falling apart bro have you seen what's going on in the world and you're worried about a couple of dollars and i'm gonna say no jesus is worried about everything you own and this is the great joy about knowing christ this is a great joy about calling christ our lord and savior is this simple joy that the gospel invades every single part of your life in my life it touches everything it impacts it redeems everything in our lives our marriages how we raise our children how we spend our money how we spend our time where we put our passions that's what the gospel changes radically and so the christian no longer gets to say that's mine but we say that's his and i'm giving it all to him because we know that when we put things in christ's hands they're never lost when we put them in our hands they slip through our fingers like fog and so this is the great joy is being a slave to christ we come before our great master and we say yes lord wherever you whatever you want whatever you want me to give i say yes lord so that your name may be glorified we take great joy in being called slaves of christ

and so this is where we must start our conversation about the rich young ruler is that we are the slaves of christ here to say yes lord what do you want he is the curious we are the dew loss in case you're wondering the greek words for you to look up in your homework and so before we dive into our text i want to invite you to pray with me as we ask the lord to do a mighty work through the preaching and teaching of his word would you pray with me

father god we thank you god we thank you for your word god we thank you that it is a scalpel that cuts away all the deadness that is still left over god we thank you that you have vested your authority through your scripture and god we thank you that you've given us the church that's given us elders home group leaders that we may know you know your word more accurately now church says you pray i ask that you pray for me i pray that i'll be helpful to you this morning pray that god will speak through me he'll hide me behind and beneath his cross this morning now church let's pray for yourself pray that god will open up your ears your heart your mind to receive his word and be changed and transformed by the spirit

father god we thank you for this morning lift these things up to you your son's holy name through spirit to slide within us amen so a little background before we dive into our text this morning if you remember all the way back to chapter eight don't worry i'm not gonna go all the way back to chapter one but all the way back to chapter eight jesus had that discussion and he said who do you say that i am and they said you are the christ the living son of god and he says great now you must know that i must go i must lay down my life i must die and be resurrected and peter of course says may it never be and he says you need to just follow me peter for for you must forsake your life and then as seth made the observation last week we get to chapter 10 and it says as he was continuing on towards jerusalem what does that tell us jesus is headed towards the cross the cross is in his view he is saying i am going to lay down my life for the sheep but of course he gets stopped and as was his con as was his custom he continued to teach i love that jesus is always teaching right up until his death even on the cross is jesus teaching us what his word says but right after the divorce we see a very important group of people the most important group of people to the church and that is the children and so jesus is he the children come running up to jesus and what do the disciples do they stop the children and the bible says that jesus when he saw what they were doing he became indignant i want to share with you how intense of a word that is you all remember when jesus went and cleansed the temple and he says my house the house of god will not be used as a den of robbers and den of thieves same word he was indignant it is a incredibly intense word of anger he was furious that people would stop children from coming to him and so we must be very careful and remember that the greatest joy the greatest treasure in any church is children who want to come and hear and sit at the feet of jesus we do not want to be the disciples say no no children you don't have a place here because jesus says no no they're going to teach us more about salvation than any book can and so how do we know that because children had no social class back then they needed everything from their parents right if they wanted to go buy something they had to borrow it from who mom and dad and he said that's what it's like to be one of my disciples so we must recognize that mark is just just not randomly putting in that children between divorce and the rich young ruler he wants us to compare and contrast to children and our rich young ruler so let's look at our text this morning verses 17 through 18. and as he jesus was setting out on his journey that's again headed towards jerusalem to die okay a man ran up and knelt before him and asked good teacher what must i do to inherit eternal life and jesus said to him why do you call me good no one is good except god alone so in your esv it says the rich young man most people know this man as the rich young ruler mark tells us that he was a man and that he was rich matthew tells us he was a man he was rich and he was young luke tells us he was a rich ruler and leaves out the young so this is where we get the phrase rich young ruler is the our translators are trying to help you and i understand this is the same guy he is in matthew he's in mark and he is in luke i want to remind you we make a big deal what the bible makes a big deal about this man is an incredibly important man so where is jesus headed he is headed to the cross he is carrying on towards the cross his northern israel ministry is done and he's working his way towards jerusalem to die and then we see this man he is a rich young ruler and what does he do he runs and he kneels men during this time did not run men did not run children ran and slaves ran do you see what's going on here he als also rich men did not kneel people knelt to them and this man is taking on the form of a slave not as a rich young ruler and this is what we must understand that this is the difference between religion and faith religion will do all the things good on the outside but will fail of the transformation on the inside we must recognize that this man recognizes who jesus is he knows exactly who jesus is that's why he runs to him that's why he kneels before him he knows jesus is king

but jesus is not only concerned with what is happening outside of us but his concerns with what is happening inside of us he is concerned with the transformation of our heart and the first thing this man says is good teacher now we would expect jesus to be like yes what do you need but do you notice that he does not say that he says what why do you call me good we must stop here and here's why we have to stop because this verse this verse has caused more controversy than many verses in the bible this is a verse that if you do any sort of evangelism this verse will come up i guarantee you why because there's three groups of people that use this verse as a proof text to say you are wrong in your theology the muslims the mormons and the jehovah's witnesses they will use this verse mark 10 will come up if you interact with these guys at all you have heard this debate and so we must answer what they bring up and what is the answer here's why they use it because the muslims will say i want to show you jesus is making sure we understand he is not god and he is not good the muslims will say this is just him saying i'm just another prophet the mormons and the jehovah's witnesses they'll say this is jesus separating himself saying i am not god in flesh now here's how we know they are wrong let's start with the fact that it is that they say that this is the denial of jesus being god and flesh how do we know that's not true well let's go all the way back to chapter one do you remember how mark chapter one starts break out the cobwebs what how did mark chapter one starts mark quotes from the book of isaiah and the quote is this make straight the path of yahweh and so john the baptist he comes to make straight the path of yahweh who is yahweh it is jesus okay that's one text what about and then go again keep reading chapter one the demon cries out it's amazing the demon realizes who jesus is before any person does and what does the demon cry out you are the holy one of god old testament says only god is holy chapter 2 jesus forgives the sin of the man of the paralytic y'all remember this and the pharisees asked the right question who can forgive sins but god alone and he looks and says what is easier to tell this lame man get up and walk or to forgive sins and jesus does both why he's proving to be god in flesh and on and on and on he calms the storm who calms swarms god himself and so all throughout mark mark has affirmed jesus is god and you can prove this in every chapter in mark there is a claim to deity in every chapter of mark so he clearly is not denying his deity let's talk about his goodness so again the muslims will use this to say see he is denying his goodness well let us remember let's remember what the writer of hebrews says that if he is not a perfect high priest he could not satisfy the sins for all people okay that's not enough evidence for you well peter who gave mark all of his information he said this in his gospel he said that he committed no sin neither was deceit found in his mouth so mark did not just change his mind on a whim so what is jesus saying what jesus is saying is this is a different way of bringing up our modern day the fort lauderdale question if you died today where would you go you all know that question what do most people answer if you die today would you go to heaven what do most people say well yes i'm a good person i haven't murdered anyone i haven't killed anyone and why did jesus say why do you call me good interesting note by the way the jews refuse to call their rabbis good because god alone is good so even this rich young ruler is recognizing this is the holy one of god and so why jesus answers no one is good but god alone is he's making sure this man understands you know who i am and you know what you're asking are you ready for the answer you must understand how we measure what goodness is god is the supreme good and i am god how do you get to heaven you must be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect so what is perfect means without spot or blemish so what must you do to go to heaven on your own works you must be perfect so if you have sin you're clearly not in that category far too often we think of heaven as a place when a place is just not strong enough definition heaven is the presence of god he is asking what must i do to get to heaven what must i do to have eternal life what must i do to inherit salvation what do i have to do sign me up give me another chore and we must remember heaven is not as much of a place as it is a person heaven is the fullness of god heaven is no distractions no pain nothing else competing for yours and my attention heaven is not some cute little city in the clouds i get so just i mean i mean i mean i don't know if this is like sinful and i'm still working through that angry when people talk about when i get to heaven i'm gonna play football or i'm gonna go ski on the alps what a low view of heaven that is heaven as we're gonna see this week in revelation chapter 5 it's the throne room of god where the lamb that has been slain is just standing there and we are worshiping him in spirit and in truth how glorious is that that we get to know the eternal god for eternity so i will put before you if that in about six billion years if you get tired of the eternal god maybe you'll go ski on the alps but i doubt it i do and so we have way too low of a view of heaven like it's just a better version of earth my friends heaven is the presence and the glory and the majesty of god those who have no desire for jesus here on earth will have no desire for him in eternity and this is the gospel friends this is the good news eternal life is god eternal life is the worship of the father the son and the holy spirit forever and ever amen

and this is the problem this young man has he is operating under the assumption that eternal life is something to achieve rather than the god of the universe to enjoy forever the reason why there is such a low view of heaven in our culture is because people think of heaven as a place to achieve rather than a place to be completely satisfied in the presence of god so jesus is making sure do you understand what you are asking and do you understand who you are asking it to don't give me lip service

because i have no need for lip service i have need for transformation transformed hearts to build my kingdom not your kingdom do you understand you're talking to the word of god that has become flesh the fulfillment of the law and the prophets the supreme being and here is jesus's response 19-22 you know the commandments do not murder do not commit adultery do not steal do not bear false witnesses do not fraud honor your father and your mother then he said to him teacher all these things i've kept from my youth and jesus said looking at him and loved him and said to him you lack one thing go sell all that you have give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me disheartened by the saying he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions my friend this is an important question that desires and deserves an important answer jesus being very careful and where does jesus start with this man he starts with the law you think you're good you think i'm good let's measure you versus me and i love how jesus kind of goes to the list he first starts with murder right so again if you've done any kind of talking to people who are not saved then what will they say well i haven't murdered anyone so i think i'm good enough for heaven well let's take a kind of a head count of all the greatest heroes in the bible two of the three greatest heroes in the old testament were murders moses and david the man who wrote 60 of the new testament was a murder and that's the apostle paul what good news is that god can overcome even the most horrific of sins he goes on and he says i've not committed adultery again david committed adultery and he goes on and he goes through the list and he says does not bear false witnesses abraham who we haven't picked on abraham lied twice about who his wife is to protect himself

and so clearly we do not recognize how sinful we are and that's why we miss the glories of heaven and then he adds in something here he says and has not defrauded anyone now everything else in here is part of the ten commandments why does jesus add this in because during that time most people accumulated their wealth by defrauding other people right you all remember levi matthew rich tax collector how to get it he defrauded other people so what mark is pointing out to you and i is he's like if you think you're good enough to enter heaven you're not going to beat this guy you have failed over and over again and even if even if you are as good as him you need to recognize that he is lacking one thing and we and and that is the key this dude is not some sort of phony hypocrite he is a genuinely good guy quote unquote

and then he says you lack one thing i want you to circle in your marked journals all the verbs in here notice the verbs go sell come and follow four verbs go sell come follow recognize he's saying you lack one thing you are still holding on to the things of this earth you need to be clinging on to me you lack one thing you lack just one thing and he's like what is it tell me what it is you lack the greatest treasure me in order to in order to have this greatest treasure you have got to get rid of all of the treasures of this earth you hold so dear he's lacking treasuring god he's lacking the one treasure that can't be bought he's lacking the tr the one treasure that has never that never ends he's lacking the one treasure that does not perish it always sustains he's lacking the one treasure that has a hundred percent guarantee of return on investment sign me up for that and so this reminds us that we as christians how do we use our wealth we send it on ahead by giving it away here on this earth

jesus is calling this man to something great he's calling this man out of the temporal and into the eternal and i love this look of jesus he is not some sort of cold calculated actuary or accountant he looks at this man and mark tells us he looks at him with love he wants this man to realize how great he is he wants this man to understand how great it is to know christ and to give up everything for him and so jesus takes on the role not of some sort of cold actuary or accountant no offense actuary accountants i love y'all sorry numbers are just sometimes cold he's looking at this man as a great physician and he's saying you have a disease within you and i'm going to give you the treatment man if someone came up to me if i was in a coffee shop and someone came hey what do i have to do to inherit eternal life i'm not sure this would have been my first answer and that kind of scares me

what i love about this is jesus takes on the role of the great physician of the soul and he says something incredibly hard he says something incredibly impossible for this man and it seems harsh doesn't it give all that you have give it away and treasure it up in heaven but here's what i want us to note for you and for me this morning we have a call to be proclaimers of god's word we have a call to take on just like the great physician did and to tell people what is wrong with their soul i want to remind you church that no doctor no medical person would still have their license if they said i'm not going to give someone the diagnosis and therefore not going to give the treatment because it will hurt their feelings they would be taken out and not even allowed near a medical facility within 600 feet in this country if that happened and so we must never be afraid regardless of how harsh it may seem to the other person to tell people this is the disease and this is the cure we should pay very close attention to this man because here was my struggle this week church as i was working through this do you know what i thought the whole time as i was writing the sermon oh i know someone that needs to hear this i know so in the man i got a lot of riches they need to give that up has a great way of disciplining us and goes well what about you my friends we must never look at this text and say this is talking to someone else my friends we are the most prosperous country in the history of the world that should that should give us a great warning church laodicea and this young man that we are to invest all of our money into kingdom causes for kingdom glory

you see what we see here is this man goes away sorrowful because he had great possessions

and we know this to be true because where our money goes our heart will follow do you have a heart for god does your money reflect that does your time reflect that is it stuff you're accumulating being used for the glory and the majesty of god do we devote a great deal of time in our day for the pursuit of seeing and savoring christ as our greatest treasure this is the whole message of the gospel you and i cannot serve two masters for we'll love one and hate the other do we hate having money do we enjoy giving the money away do we love christ do we want to see his name glorified amongst all the nations

because why he's reminding this man you're trying to follow things you're trying to follow your desires your wants and those will burn and be gone but if you follow me i'll never leave you i'll never forsake you i will be with you forever i'll never pass away i am good he already called me good so do you believe in what you called me then follow me and put me on the throne of your heart let me remind you friends our money our time our possessions are not separate from our walk with jesus they inform our walk with our lord and savior and possessions will greatly hinder our assurance of the glories in heaven because we'll be so self-satisfied with the things of this world this is the right person asking the right man the right question getting the right answer and making the wrong decision i want my stuff more than i want christ and this man walks away sorrowful and our lord and savior has great sorrow watching him walk away it is great sorrow for god's people when they see people who hear the gospel and walk away people who see the greatness of god and want to make excuses who prefer the things of this world more than christ and the reason is because we as a church see people often choose the things of god over god and this is the essence of sin loving god's stuff more than loving god this is us making want to make king of our own lives rather than making him king of our own lives verses 23 through 27 jesus looked around and said to his disciples how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of god and the disciples were amazed at his words but jesus said to them children how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of god it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of god and they were exceedingly astonished and said to them then who can be saved jesus looked at them and said with man it is impossible but not with god for all things are possible with god jesus uses an incredibly simple but powerful illustration here he takes one of the largest animals in that time in that region a very common animal to them a very big animal and takes a very small instrument if y'all have ever seen a needle at the top of the needle there's that little circle thing that you put the little string through do you all know what i'm talking about that's the eye just fyi fyi in about 900 someone thought that it was a gate in jerusalem that's not true um it is clearly the eye of the needle where they put the rope through and he said all right take a camel and try to shove them through that little eye of the needle any child would understand this is impossible and so what jesus is reminding you and i is that salvation is not a human decision it is not a human action salvation is a glory and a majesty and a miracle from god so he is reminding them do not look to what you need to do look at who i am and with god all things are possible i will fit that camel through the eye of the needle i want us to notice the next part about this story that jesus kind of wraps up here with his disciples it's not only the man's stuff that is a problem it is his goodness that is a problem he accumulated stuff and he accumulated goodness and this make made him earthly assured but christ wants us heavenly assured we must have a sober understanding of this why because he looks around to all of his disciples and he says are you going to follow him also that's why he looks around and we remember that the disciples have given up everything and followed him levi left his very very um incredibly wealthy job as tax collector to follow jesus and this is jesus just working out what he told the disciples back in mark chapter eight remember what he said back in mark chapter eight if anyone come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake in the gospels will save her for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul so this man accumulated a lot of blessings here on earth and those blessings had become his curse the call to follow christ is a radical call it's a call to come and put to death the deeds of the flesh so that he may reign and rule if we do not constantly put to death the deeds of flesh our wants our desires the building of our kingdoms here on this earth we will never see the glory and the majesty of god jesus wants to make this point to you and to me this morning that discipleship is costly and our wealth will make it will make radical trust difficult our wealth will make radical trust difficult wealth will cause us to focus on saving for this kingdom and neglecting the kingdom to come and that's why he says there do you see what he says in 24 children he says you need to be like children why he's pointing back to the verses above when the children came where the children came they came with nothing in their hands they cling only to christ did they want to cling nothing in their hands they bring only to christ did they want to cling we must realize that we have to be like children not holding on to what we have done but what christ can do what christ has done for us and so jesus calls you and i have childlike faith come to him we must realize there's a difference between child-like faith and child-ish faith this is why it's impossible for riches materialism because we tend to want our stuff rather than the glory and the majesty of god this man wanted to add christ to his life the children wanted christ to be their life and the difference between those two things are an infinite gap now we have to answer some objections that are going through your mind you're just too polite to stand up and yell at me about it well hold on i work for my money what's mine because i worked hard to get my money well hey bro whose air are you breathing hey bro who whose earth are you inhabiting whose ears are you using whose eyes are you using they're not yours they were given to you by god and when we realize that everything we own is his and that he is in charge of everything then when theft happens or when that terminal diagnosis happened we can say all to the glory of god it is all yours my life is yours do what you need to do to make your name great be still and know that i'm god and my name will be exalted amongst all the nations may that be our heart that we submit everything to him so that his name may be great may we preach the gospel die and be forgotten but people remember our sermons

this is a life-changing perspective when he when we realize he owns everything and he's in charge of everything and he is good then we have we can rejoice in all things verses 28 through 31 peter began to say to him see we have left everything and followed you jesus said truly i say to you there is no one who has left house or brother or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecution in the age to come in eternal life but many who are first will be lost and the last will be first we must pay attention to the comparison and contrasting between the disciples and this man remember there are only two types of people in this world there are those dead to christ and those are there are those alive in christ there are disciples and there are deserters there are those who have given up everything for christ and those who take everything from christ there are fans of jesus there are followers of jesus there are those who see jesus as useful as long as he doesn't ask them to do anything as long as he gives to them they're cool with jesus but as soon as he kind of presses in they're like nope he's not my guy and there are those that see jesus as king god wherever you send me whatever you need me to do here i am let's go that's your name be glorified amongst all the nations send me we must see this contrast here and the sad part is we look across our culture we see that people treat jesus like we can fit the king of kings the lord of lords the eternal god in some sort of little cute box i've got my jesus on sunday morning work monday through friday don't mess with my rest on saturday that's for me bro jesus don't ask me to do anything on my rest day sabbath and man if i'm really holy i'll add one night for home group that's that's the that's the thought that's that's the rich young ruler

if that is our thought then we will be like this rich young ruler over and over and over and over and over again walking away from christ we'll be saying i'll follow jesus as long as i want to

pew research in 2020 said that 65 of americans identified as christian okay so pew research and i have two in the bible have very different understandings of what a christian is what if we were to use this verse in our discussion what if we were to use this verse you see the problem is people use jesus and follow him only when it's convenient for them and what a christian is is someone who could point to their life who can point to their budget who can point to their time who can point to their stuff and say i've given this to him and i had to ask myself have i given up a vacation for him have i given up a saturday morning of rest for him and have i given up all things for him have i said man i'll let someone else reach the unreached i'm just going to sit comfortably and build this kingdom here

what do you gain when you give everything to him you gain christ you gain the joy of knowing the joy of knowing the lord and knowing his people you give up this world you give up the friends of this world but you gain brothers and sisters as he says here you give up houses and you get rooms in heaven that's what you gain you're with a people who are more like you than your own family because you both want to see the glory and the majesty of god in all things you'll lose your life and gain your soul you'll lose your anxiety and gain your joy in the lord because you'll see as jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive your joy comes from gaining christ not accumulating things and this is a hard teaching my friends and the reason is is because we still have our old self fighting and battling do we not the essence of sin is us preferring to be god rather than enjoying him the essence all sin can be boiled down to i want to be god in my life rather than i want to enjoy what god has called me too and what i love about is how verse 31 ends the first will be last and the last will be first and i love because jesus not only preaches that he walks out whereas he had he's headed to the cross the preeminent the glory we saw this in colossians a few weeks ago he is the preeminency of christ and as we saw in philippians a few weeks ago but he took on the form of a slave humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross he was incredibly rich unlimitedly rich and became poor for our sake why so that he could make us rich in him will god call you to lay down your life you better bet your bottom dollar he will because he gave everything to make himself a church holy and devoted to him he became poor because he desired that we know him so he says come follow me where is he headed to the cross

so how do we live this this text here on purpose i think our vision statement is just so perfect live life on purpose i think it's so perfect for this text first jesus is either king of our lives including our time and our finances or he is a liar if jesus has no say in how you and i spend our money than we have to ask do we truly believe in him this is why this whole passage starts out with good teacher and jesus responds with why do you call me good jesus is not someone to be philosophied he's not someone that needs cute philosophical musings because they're utter meaningless jesus is one to be worshiped adored and raised up in our lives as a supreme treasure and so there's a really easy test you can take and jesus gave us the test for those of you teachers you know you love tests so here it is matthew chapter six where your treasure is where your money is where your time is there your heart will be also where is your passion that's what you worship do we really worship jesus or we like this man that just comes up and kneels before him with lip service next christ is good and we are not that is an un that is an unlovable statement to those who are perishing but it is a great joy to those who are being saved why because we recognize that only through his goodness are we counted good so what must i do to be saved treasure him above all else worship him lay down your life for him for heaven is not a place it is a person the lion of judah the lamb as though it has been slain we are counted good by what the only good person in the world ever did on our behalf there is no price too high for the worship of our king finally if you do not believe in jesus christ as your lord and savior the question is why not everything you own at some point will burn you cannot take it with you so enjoy that treasure because jesus is calling you and i repent and believe repent from the materialism of this world and believe that he is good worthy of our praise for he died to save a people like you and me let us pray this morning father god we thank you for this text god we thank you god that you are the supreme treasure god that as as your parables say that we will when we find that treasure we'll sell all their hat that all that we have and buy the field with the pearl in it and so god make us a people who love you more than we love our stuff more than we love our time god may we be fully devoted to making your name known amongst all the nations

god we know that there's a difference between the disciple and the materialist the disciple loves people and gives away the the disciple loves people and uses things well the materialist uses people and gains things so father god we ask you to do a work on our heart we pray these things in your son's name amen hi i'm pastor scott pastor of the oasis church listen we are so excited that you decide to join us for the preaching and teaching of god's word we just pray that this will stir your affections towards christ but we have one encouragement we want to leave you with please do not allow this to take the place of the local body of believers we pray that you will be involved in a local congregation a local church that you can find yourself submitting under the eldership and the leadership of a local church we pray that you will find yourself stirred towards christ and that your joy in christ will be ever

increasing