Jesus Let Him Walk Away

Introduction

I am enjoying being with you.

It’s good to be with Christians and to be with brothers and sisters and to worship and pray together, sing together, study the word of God together. And I thank you very much for your support in coming to this meeting and helping what’s going on here with this congregation helping us to help the church here to do what it’s trying to do this week in this gospel meeting. I’ve enjoyed the songs and enjoyed the singing tonight. John’s did John did a great job. And there was a guy, there was a fat guy back there that kind of got us messed up on that one song. I don’t know who that guy was, but he almost got us on the wrong verse. And that was me.

That was me, sorry about that. I we had a guy come several years ago when I was in Rockford, a guy named Kelly Hersey came and did a singing school kind of thing with us for a weekend. And he said, Listen, man, when you’re leading singing, he said, if you’re gonna make a mistake, make it a big one, you know. And I’ve taken that to heart, and even when I’m not leading singing, if I make a mistake, I make a big one. So I apologize about getting us on the wrong verse there for a minute. I also want to say, but I really in all sincerity, I do really appreciate the singing. It’s it’s been very good. And I appreciated the prayer, especially at prayer the prayer tonight.

When Sean prayed, and went whenever that happens that somebody prays for the preacher and the you know he’ll will be able to be benefited by what he says. It’s it’s a sobering thing, at least for me, when I realize I’m the guy that’s got to get up and do that, to sort of try to speak for God. I don’t really want to speak for God, but I want to try to share his word with other people, and I want to be faithful in doing that. And I recognize how easy it is to have things that you say be misunderstood, not by people who are intending to misunderstand, but it can be that way. And so you want to be understood and you want to make sure that what you’re saying is actually true, and that it is going to be something that’s helpful and not hurtful, and so it’s very sobering when you think about that, and I take the pre the work of preaching very seriously, and I hope that what we’re sharing with you this week with the things that we’re saying and the sermons that we’re preaching, I hope that they are they’re helpful and beneficial to everyone.

And if not, Tony’s gonna take over on Sunday, so it’ll be alright.

Luke chapter 9 and verse 51. Luke is the longest and most comprehensive of all four of the Gospels. it’s only 24 chapters. I understand that, compared to 28 chapters in Matthew, what is it, 22 chapters or so in John. and so you might say, well, hang on, it’s only 24 chapters, 28 chapters in Matthew, and isn’t Matthew longer? Well, there are more chapters in Matthew, but it takes more paper to write the 24 chapters in the Gospel of Luke than it does to write the 28 chapters of Matthew. So really, Luke is the longest, and it’s the most comprehensive of the gospels. One of the interesting things, though, is that when we get to Luke chapter 9 and verse 51, we are to the last six months, the point of the last six months in the life of Christ.

So we’re not even halfway through the Gospel of Luke, and we’re already down to the last six months of his life. And it’s kind of an important point, and verse 51 is that kind of that place where it’s marked. And it says in Luke 9 and verse 51, when the days were approaching for his ascension, he was determined to go to Jerusalem. The old New American Standard Version says, the old New American Standard Version says, he resolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem. And that doesn’t mean that Jesus went directly there, because after all, as I mentioned, we’re six months out yet. He doesn’t go directly there. But it what this statement says is it is it expresses his absolute resolve. Jesus would not be deterred from accomplishing his mission to go to Jerusalem and to die for the sins of the world.

And when we come to Luke chapter 13 and verse 22, Jesus is still proceeding on the way to Jerusalem, the text says. And in verse 23, that’s when someone asks him, an unidentified person asks him, are there just a few who are being saved? And then as we read Luke 17 and verse 11, we see that Jesus is still on his way to Jerusalem. And in Luke 18 and verse 31, he is still on his way, proceeding to Jerusalem. So these texts are telling us about Jesus continuing to make progress in the direction of going to Jerusalem. And it’s just before this last reference in Luke 18 and verse 31. That last reference is actually in Luke 18, verse 18 beginning, that a ruler comes to Jesus and asks him a similar question that was to add that which was asked in chapter 13, verse 23, not in that it was exactly the same question.

That question had been, are there just a few being saved? But this same this question is also a question that is related to salvation. And the man asked, you know, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And it’s almost, I would suggest to you, and I start out while using Luke to introduce this topic to us or this section of scripture to us, because it’s almost with these kind of passages and these kind of questions being asked, it’s almost as if people were sensing that something ominous is in the air, and that eternal salvation somehow is on the line here. And so it’s kind of interesting the sort of context in which these kinds of things are occurring. Now, this story that I’m wanting to look at in Luke the 18th chapter, it also is in Mark chapter 10, beginning at verse 17 and Matthew chapter 19, and I guess probably we’ll spend most of our time in Matthew’s account of that particular story.

1. There Is No Bare Minimum

But we have the story of this rich young ruler, we call him, who comes to Jesus and asks about eternal life. We call him the rich young ruler, but interestingly enough, there is no single text that actually does that. Mark calls him a man. Luke calls him a ruler, and Matthew is the one that gives us the information about him being young. But here as we look at Matthew’s account in Matthew the 19th chapter and verse Matthew chapter 19 and verse 16, this young man comes and he asks, teacher, what good thing shall I do to obtain eternal life? And I kind of find that the way he asks that question, or at least the way it’s recorded for us in Matthew’s gospel, I find that interesting.

I don’t know if it was exactly his intent, but it does remind me of sometimes the way we think about salvation, and that is that we often seem to think that eternal life is something that can be reduced to some one good thing. And I’m afraid that may be because we tend, we often tend to be minimalists. We tend to be people who like to get by with the bare minimum. We want to often do the least that we can possibly do and get by on that. That tends to be the way sometimes we are as human beings. And I sometimes preach a sermon on the topic asking the question, what is the bare minimum that I have to do in order to serve the Lord?

And interestingly enough, when you start examining that from a biblical perspective, and you think about passages in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 1, and later on in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and you think about passages in Ephesians, or Colossians chapter 2 and verse 7, and 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 58, you understand that from a biblical perspective, the bare minimum that you can do, or that you and I have to do in order to serve the Lord is we have to excel still more. That is, we have to abound in the work of the Lord. And so the point is in this lesson that I preach is that the bare minimum that you can do, whatever you’re doing, however hard you’re serving the Lord, you need to push it up just a little more.

And we can never, we can never really approach our relationship with the Lord and our walk and our effort to ultimately reach eternal life. We can never approach it from the perspective of, I want to do the bare minimum. There is no bare minimum. We must always be doing as much as we possibly can and even more. And so I suggest to you that this get-by attitude that sometimes we have as human beings, is at best spiritually dangerous, and it is potentially spiritually deadly. And so we must not have that attitude. We cannot reduce the question of what shall I do to inherit eternal life to one thing? And look at it from a minimalist kind of perspective.

2. One Thing You Lack

That Jesus ultimately answers him by saying, keep the commandments.

There in verse 17. And so interestingly enough, he asks, What about one good thing can I do? What one good thing do I need to do to have eternal life? And Jesus says, not one thing. I want you to follow the commandments of the Lord. And of course, when the young man asks the question, which ones, Jesus says to him, You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery. And he basically talks to him about those foundation laws that are the basis upon which the Old Testament covenant was built, that those Ten Commandment laws essentially were the ones that Jesus pointed to. And interestingly enough, this young man says in verse 20, all these things I have kept. And Mark actually adds in his quotation of this young man, all these things I’ve kept from my youth up.

And I would suggest that what we’re looking at here, this young man who comes to Jesus and asks him about eternal life. That this was a morally good guy. And I don’t believe that when he said, These things I’ve done from my youth up, that I don’t think he was saying that from a from a prideful perspective. He wasn’t being arrogant about that. I think he was just being honest. I’ve been trying to do that all of my life. I’ve been living by the commandments of God. And I say that I don’t believe he was arrogant about that at all because of the way Jesus reacts to it. Because it’s very interesting that Jesus adds, well, let me make one other observation that’s interesting here as well.

That Matthew adds to this thing after Jesus, after he says this, Jesus, when he says, What am I still lacking? He says, What am I still lacking? I’ve kept all these things for my youth up. What am I still lacking? And that suggests that this young man still sensed that he was lacking something. And it’s at this point when he says to the Lord, I don’t believe arrogantly, I believe just being honest. Lord, I’ve always done that. That’s what I’ve been trying to do all my life is living by the commandments from my youth up. What do I still lack? And it’s at this point that Mark’s account tells us that Jesus looked at this young man and loved him. Mark chapter 10 and verse 21.

Jesus looked at this young man and he loved him. Now, obviously, Jesus loves everybody. But the point is that there was something about this young man that moved Jesus in a very special way. He really did seem to appreciate this young man. The heart of this young man revealed in his genuine response stirred a kind of love in Jesus for this man. Jesus loved him. I want you to remember that as we’re looking at this text. Because we’re talking about a really good guy morally who impresses Jesus greatly, who the text literally says about him that Jesus loved him.

And so here was a guy who appeared to be a young man with a great heart, with great spiritual potential. And so Jesus, when he says, What else do I lack? Jesus says, one thing you lack. And then interestingly, if you look at the account, for example, in Mark’s account, Jesus says, one thing you lack, but then he gives him five things to do. He says, Go, sell what you have, give to the poor, and you’ll have treasures in heaven. And come, follow me. So what was it? Did he lack one thing or did he lack five things? Well, Jesus said five things that he lacked, really, that he needed to do, but those five things ultimately really represented one thing. And that one thing was that he needed to change his allegiance and put Jesus first.

Put Jesus first even above, and particularly for this young man, above his devotion to his material goods, material possessions. And I would suggest to you that ultimately the one thing that all lack who miss out on eternal life is that absolute, unequivocal devotion to Jesus Christ.

3. He Absolutely Must Have the Top Spot

He is very upfront. It was one of the wonderful things I love about our Lord is that he is someone who he never sucks you in with all of the good things, and then once you sort of buy into it, he goes, Oh, by the way, you need to understand these things about discipleship. And you go, oh, I didn’t know I was getting into for that. Jesus is always up front about those kinds of things. And he is particularly up front about who has to have the top spot in my life. And it’s him. He absolutely must have the top spot. There’s a text in Luke 14, which is almost kind of a hard text. And I always approach it with a great deal of fear and intrepidation.

I’m a little bit nervous about it because it’s a very strong passage of Scripture. But in Luke chapter 14, three times in this text, Jesus will say, if you’re not willing to do this, you cannot be my disciple. I thought Jesus was in the business of trying to win disciples. He is. But he says very clearly in this instance, three times he will say, You cannot be my disciple. Listen to what he says. In Luke chapter 14 and verse 26, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot, he cannot be my disciple.

But what we have here is a metaphor that’s being used. And it’s a pretty common metaphor. It’s a metaphor called hyperbole. And it’s a way of overstating the case. And we use it a lot. Sometimes I say we use it all the time. And then I say, look, we just used it. But you know, you know, when your mother comes in and goes, she said to you, remember you maybe said, remember your mom saying to you, or maybe you as a mother have said to your kids, I’ve told you a thousand times to keep this room, keep your shoes up off the floor, or whatever. No. And she told you a thousand times. No, she just means I told you a bunch of times. And she is overstating the case for the purpose of making a strong point.

And Jesus is speaking in a hyperbole here. Obviously, Jesus is not ordering us to literally hate people, or even our own self. But he is saying that the relationship and the devotion that we have to him has got to far supersede every other devotion in life. That we cannot be even closely devoted as much to any one, any other thing or any other person as much as we are devoted to him. He must be at the top. And he is very specific about this. He’s got to be above father and mother. And wife. And children. And brothers and sisters. Yes. And even above me. And if I don’t love him more than much more than I love all of those things, including me. If I am not more devoted to him than I am devoted to any of those things, if some of those things are more devoted to those things that I am to him, I simply cannot be a disciple of Jesus.

I didn’t say that. Jesus said that.

And if I want to be a disciple of Jesus, if you want to be a disciple of Jesus, then he absolutely has to be at the top. There is nothing or no one, not even myself, that can be more important to me than him. And I hope I’m not overstating the case. I don’t think I am. And then the second time he says it in verse 27, he says, whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me and come after me cannot be my disciple. Now listen to me, when we have spent many years since the first century thinking about the cross.

Of glory rather than a symbol of shame. And I want you to remember that Jesus is talking about carrying your own cross before he himself has actually gone to the cross. At a time while the disciples are still kind of denying that he will ever, you know, he won’t die. He’s talking about this. So the question then has to be asked how did they hear what he said here when he said, you got to be willing to carry your own cross. Let me tell you something. In the first century Greco-Roman world, if you saw a man carrying a cross, it meant only one thing. It meant he was going to die. That’s what it meant. If you saw someone carrying his cross, that meant that man was going to certain death.

One of the points that we sometimes make when we talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and trying to demonstrate the authenticity of that event, we try to demonstrate that clearly Jesus was died when he was crucified. You’ve got to have a real death before you can talk about a resurrection. And one of the important things to recognize is that there, as far as I am aware, and I’ve tried to check this out with archaeologists and others, as far as I can tell, there is not one case in all of human history that a person survived crucifixion.

The point is that in the first century, someone who was carrying his cross meant certain death. And when this passage talks about carrying your cross, that’s what it meant. It didn’t mean, oh, we all have our burdens to bear. You know, my burden is I’ve got cancer, or my burden is I’ve got financial problems, or my burden is I’ve got this problem, or whatever. Oh, we all have our crosses to bear. First century language, this meant you were dying. You are going to your death. And that’s what this means, guys. This means that if you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, you have to die to yourself. But you have to die with him. As Paul said, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me.

And unless you and I are willing to do that, we simply cannot be a disciple of Jesus. There’s no way to be a disciple of Jesus without being willing to carry our cross, to go to our death, to die to self. To be devoted to him more than he did. You see, this devotion is to him. To him first. Not to me, not to my stuff, not to my family. And in case you’re wondering about the stuff thing, the third time he says it is in verse. Verse 33. So then none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. Now please read that carefully. That verse does not say, so then none of you can be my disciple who is not willing to give up all his possessions.

It says, who does not give up all of his possessions. Do you understand that you cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ unless your stuff stops being your stuff. Your stuff has got to be given up for him. That house that you have and that you have purchased, that God has blessed you with the ability to work and to make funds and to have this house and have this nice home and to house your family, it is not yours. It is God’s.

What a cool ride I’ve got.

It’s not supposed to be yours. And what Jesus is saying is that we have to have a radically different perspective about even our stuff.

Our stuff must be given up. And if we’re not willing to give it up, if we don’t give it up, if we keep using it just for ourselves and just have these things for me, for my pleasure, for my entertainment, for my comfort, then we cannot be disciples of Jesus Christ. Oh, don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with having those things. But you had better have the right attitude about those things, or you can’t be a disciple of Jesus. You had better see that those things are not yours just for your pleasure. But they are yours that God has given you and that you are to use for his glory and his honor. And until we’re ready to do that, we cannot be disciples of Jesus Christ.

4. Teaching Them to Observe All Things

In Matthew the 6th chapter and verse 33, Jesus said that we are to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to us. What he is saying in that verse is that for you and me, what has to be absolutely first is the reign and rule of God in my life. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 18 says that in all things he has preeminence. First place. In everything for the Christian. We have to understand that we cannot serve two masters. Jesus taught this principle in Mark the sixth chapter. Mark the sixth chapter.

He said. Where is it in verse 24? No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot, you cannot, you cannot serve God and wealth, material things, mammon. He’s got to be first. And I want you to understand that’s what you sign on for when you become a disciple. There’s a passage of Scripture that I’ve heard many sermons about as a younger man, and I’ve even sort of preached it this way myself a little bit early in my life, but I learned better. And I understand why it’s preached that way. But I want you to look at Matthew the 26th, 28th chapter for just a moment.

And notice this passage that talks about discipleship. And I want to look at it from, I’m not a great grammarian, and I’m not a great student, you know, language student or anything like that. But I want you to look at this carefully. I want us to focus on a couple things that we could catch, even though we might be simple people. In verse 19, go therefore and make disciples. Literally, the Greek word is a verb, disciple all the nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I’m with you always, even to the end of the year. I want you to understand that this is not, we often preach the sermon that we’re in order.

Jesus wants us to go teach, and then we baptize people, and then we teach them everything. It’s not really what Jesus says here. Jesus is saying in this text that there’s one thing to do, and that is to make disciples. And then he has to that, to that basic command or that primary command, make disciples, he attaches two present participles, and they are baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all things. And what those participles do is that they explain how one makes disciples. It explains the process by which a disciple is made. A disciple is made by being baptized into a relationship with the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. A disciple is made by being taught to observe all things that Christ commanded.

That’s how disciples are made. And those two things, baptizing and teaching them to observe all things, those things happen at the same time as the making of the disciple. That’s how you make disciples. Grammatically, that’s what this text says. And I want you to notice that second part of that in verse 20, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded. He doesn’t say teaching them all things that I commanded. You don’t make a disciple by teaching them all things that Christ commanded. You make a disciple by teaching him to observe all things that Christ commanded. That means disciples are people who have bought into the idea that I am from now on going to observe everything that Jesus said. I don’t know what all that is.

I’m going to spend the rest of my life as a disciple, as a learner, as a follower. I’m going to spend the rest of my life as a student learning what those commands are. But in order for me to be a disciple, I have to buy into the idea that I’m going to observe everything that He commands. And I’ll tell you what, that makes discipleship so much easier. When I make a decision up front that from now on, with the rest of my life, he’s going to tell me what to do. I use this illustration. I hope it doesn’t come across arrogantly. I don’t intend it to be. But when I obeyed the gospel on November 19, 1978, I determined that I was going to observe everything that Christ commanded.

And you know how many times I have laid in bed on Sunday morning trying to figure out, should I go to church services this morning? You know how many times I’ve done that in the 30 some odd years I’ve been a Christian? Zero. Because I made a decision one time way back yonder that I was going to observe what Christ commanded. And when I learned that he wanted me to assemble with my brothers, whenever those brothers are assembling, I wants me to be there. Okay. If that’s what he wants. I don’t have to fight the battle, should I or shouldn’t I? That decision was already made. And disciples are people who’ve made that kind of commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They are so devoted to him that he is absolute supreme.

And that and that his rule now is binding. His rule is what we do. And so we don’t have to fight all the time. I recognize we do. I still struggle sometimes, because there are times that I let myself get more important to me than to the Lord. It happens to me, but I have to keep calling myself back to my original commitment. Which was to observe everything he commanded. To let him be the supreme devotion of my life. To let him and what he wants take first place in my life. Over my wife. Over my children, over my parents, over my brothers and sisters. And most certainly over myself. And Jesus wants us to understand that unless you are devoted to him like that, you just can’t be a disciple.

5. Jesus Let Him Walk Away

That’s the devotion that he requires. He simply will not share the top spot with anybody else. So we ask the question, okay, this sounds pretty tough. I mean, you’re you’re asking for a major commitment. Yeah. That’s what Jesus wants. He wants a major commitment from you and me. He wants us to commit ourselves to him completely. He wants us to let him be absolutely first. Well, is that negotiable at all? Is that a set requirement? I mean, does it have to absolutely be like that? I want to suggest to you that this text, and especially as we look at Mark, maybe let’s go but Mark chapter 10 and the account as Mark gives it in Mark the 10th chapter. This text makes it clear that this requirement is non-negotiable.

Because this was ruler’s response in verse 22, when he Jesus said, You need to give up all that you have and come, follow me. Verse 22 says, But at these words, he was saddened and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property. I want you to contrast that response to the response of Peter, James, and John in Luke chapter 5, when Jesus called them. Luke chapter 5 and verse 11, when Jesus talked to them about becoming fishers of men. We’re told in Luke chapter 5 and verse 11 that when they brought the boat to the land, they left everything and followed him. Drop down to verse 27 and look at the response of Levi. We know him better as Matthew, the tax collector.

When Jesus went out and noticed the tax collector named next tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and he said to him, Follow me. And he left everything behind and got up and began to follow him. Contrast that response to the response of this young man. They got up and left everything. They were genuine disciples. They were men who were not perfect, who didn’t do everything right, but who were men who were saying, Look, we’re going to give it all up. We’re going to follow Jesus.

And this young man, unfortunately, for him, his possessions were more important to him. As good a guy as this young fellow was. This young fellow, this young ruler, was more devoted to his possessions. He was too devoted to his possessions to give them up for Jesus Christ. And here’s the kicker. Because verse 23 suggests that Jesus let him walk away. Jesus looking around after this young man went away sorrowful, for he owned much possession. Jesus looking around said to his disciples, How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God. Do you see that? Do you notice what Jesus didn’t do here? Jesus did not run after this young man to negotiate, to renegotiate the terms. He didn’t go after him and say, okay, I know I said give it all up, but listen, you don’t really have to do that.

Okay? Just give up most of what you have. Or just be willing to give up what you have and come follow me. He didn’t somehow dial down the rhetoric so that it wouldn’t seem quite so demanding. Jesus let this really good guy, who, when Jesus saw his heart, loved him. He let this really good guy walk away. And that tells me, friends, that for Jesus, the terms of discipleship simply are not negotiable. He will either be first and your Lord and Savior, or he will not be a disciple. It’s one or the other with that. There is no negotiation. There is no lowering the terms. There is no making more palatable the requirements to accommodate those who are unwilling to make the commitment. And we need to know that.

We need to know just how serious Jesus is about this matter of being devoted to him. If you are unwilling to put Jesus Christ above absolutely everything else in your life, and especially even above you, then he will let even you walk away. You may be a good person. You may be a really nice guy, even a morally upright guy. Especially when measured by the world. The world may look at you and say, there’s a really good man. But if you’re unwilling to leave everything behind and follow him as your supreme Lord, if you’re not willing to do that, he’ll let you go. He doesn’t want that. He wouldn’t have it that way. He would rather you make the choice to commit yourself to him. He will actually even make it worth your while eternally, spiritually, to make that kind of commitment.

It’s worth every bit of whatever is required. He wants you to know that. And so he doesn’t want you to walk away, but if you don’t want to let him be the number one person in your life, the top devotion of your life. If you choose to walk away, then he’ll let you. Because he won’t renegotiate this matter. He won’t dial it down. He won’t make accommodations because you’re a nice person. Let me make a couple practical observations about this, and maybe we can close the lesson. If Jesus let this man walk away, then we need to recognize that there may be some times that we need to let that young man like that walk away too. I know that people come to Jesus Christ broken and imperfect.

And I know that many struggle to be renovated after the image of Christ. And I know that some people make greater progress faster than others in this renovation process as we’re being changed into the image of Christ that’s described in passages like Colossians chapter 3. I understand that. And I understand that because we have maybe had a whole life full of bad habits and bad choices, that there’s that the consequences of sin has consequences, always has consequences, and there are going to be a lot of the consequences of that sin that we have to work through and work off and retrain ourselves. And I know it’ll take time, and I know that people who we’re working with who are trying to come to the Lord that they have those kinds of things.

And we’re going to have to be patient and encouraging as they stumble through those changes. And we’re going to have to pick them up time and time again, because we ourselves will be need to be picked up time and time again. But what we can’t do, what we can’t do is lower the standard to somehow make it easier on someone who’s struggling. And we have to, we can’t do that despite how much we love him. We can’t say, okay, you don’t have to give quite that much devotion to the Lord. We can’t do that. We can be patient with him, we can help him as he’s changing. I believe that people who are devoted to the Lord will be stumbling, bumbling, and make mistakes. They’ll be broken and they’ll have to be fixed, and we’ll have to work on them and work with them.

That happens in our own life. And we can still be devoted to Christ, even though we’re making mistakes, but we’re making progress. But what we can’t do is we can’t say, well, I realize that this is just this devotion thing and giving up on yourself and putting the Lord before yourself and before all other things, that’s just a little too high for you, so we’ll lower that. We can’t do that. We just can’t do that. And if this person chooses to say, I’m not willing to make that kind of commitment.

6. This Jesus Will Be Our Judge

We have to let him walk away. If we are his disciples, and if he is truly the Lord, and he is, then we must act like him. And we must let that kind of a person walk away, no matter how heartbreaking it is, no matter how much we don’t want it to be that way. Sometimes we have to let that happen. That’s one practical application. And I think another practical application is this that we all need to recognize that the Jesus who let this young ruler walk away is the very Jesus who is going to be our judge one day. There’s a very important text in Acts, the 17th chapter, verse 31 and 32. Acts the 17th chapter.

Jesus, or Paul is preaching in Athens, and he says in verse 30, therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent. Why? Well, because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead. This appointed man that we’re talking about in this text, who is going to be the one who will judge the world in righteousness, that man is the resurrected Messiah, Jesus Christ. And if you want to, if you want to know how certain is it that there’s going to be a judgment day, how certain is it that I’m going to be called in front of him to give an account of my life?

It is as certain as the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And that’s why it’s so important that if you’ve not been convinced, thoroughly convinced, that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is an event that happened in time and space that is something that actually, really and truly, actually, really did happen. That a dead man really did come alive again. If you’re not convinced of that, you need to look at the evidence because it’s overwhelming. And I am happy to sit down and talk to you about that. I would love the opportunity to talk to you about that, because the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a provable, historically provable, verifiable point. Event. And as certain as the resurrection of Jesus Christ is, that is just that certain that there will be a judgment day.

And the one who will do the judging is that one that was resurrected. It is that very one who we’re reading about here in Mark chapter 10, who looked, though he loved this young man, let him walk away because he was not willing to make the kind of commitment that he needed to make. I say that we need to understand that Jesus, this Jesus who let the ruler, young ruler walk away will judge us one day. I say this because some of us who maybe haven’t actually walked away from the Lord yet have not really, have not really made the commitment that Jesus Christ requires. Some of us are just kind of hanging around without actually getting all in. Like we should.

And who are not disciples of Jesus Christ.

Who think that discipleship and faithfulness is equated with how good is my attendance record at church services? And folks like that aren’t in yet. They haven’t made the commitment that’s being talked about in a text like this. Texts like these that we’ve been looking at tonight. And so if you’re one of those people who hasn’t gotten all in, who hasn’t made the commitment yet that you really need to make? You need to understand that just as Jesus knew the heart of this young man, he knows what, he knows, knew what this man lacked, and he hoped that this man would be willing to give it up, and that same Jesus knows exactly your heart too. And he knows whether you’re really in or not. He knows whether or not you really have, or he really has the top spot in your life or not.

I’ll tell you, this is something that makes us sit up and pay attention a little bit. Because this is something all of us need to reflect on. Why are we here? I don’t necessarily mean exactly in this place, but why are we trying to be a discipline? Are we really, are we really committed to Jesus Christ and the discipleship that he calls us to? Or are we just sort of hanging around others who are committed to Jesus Christ, hoping that somehow we will get overlooked in the judgment day? It won’t happen. He’s going to know. This Jesus who will be our judge knows whether or not we have truly left everything, including ourselves, to follow him. He knows if in reality we have walked away from him in our hearts and said, no, maybe we haven’t walked away from him yet, literally, but he knows that maybe in our hearts we’ve walked away from him.

And we might fool ourselves and we might fool others, but we cannot fool him. This one who knows, who knew the rich young ruler’s heart, who loved him, and yet let him walk away because he wouldn’t make the right decision about who he would be devoted to. This same one will be our judge. And he will let us walk away from him in our hearts, even if it means we miss eternity.

Conclusion

To make the commitment.

I may spend all of my life, and I probably will spend all of my life really trying to be changed, to be just like him, but the devotion to him has got to be there. And that’s not negotiable. And so I’m asking you. When you got baptized all those years ago, did you also understand that you were buying in to a commitment to observe everything that Christ taught? And did you make that kind of a commitment to him? To truly give yourself to him and to truly be his disciple. And we talk about it in these strong terms because we want you to see the importance of this principle. And we all will struggle to be better people and to do what’s right all the time, but the point is, are we devoted to him?

Because if we’re devoted to him, we’ll keep coming back over and over again. We’ll keep making the course changes that need to be made to constantly bring our life back into harmony with his will and to do what he wants us to do. Commitment has to be there. Have you made that commitment? If you’ve not, please make it tonight while we stand and say.