Mark 10:17
That's Hard
Mark 10:17 And when he was gone forth into the
way, there came one running, and kneeled to him,
and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that
I may inherit eternal life?
Jesus continued His journey to the cross, and Mark continued
recording incidents that happened along the way. The last location
given was \\#Mark 10:1\\, Just inside the boundaries of Judea on the
"far" side of the River Jordan which would be east side of the river.
Whether He was still in that area or had moved on by the time this
event this event happened, we do not know.
But a man came running up to Jesus, knelt before Him, and asked Jesus
the most important question. Let’s consider the event with two main
thoughts:
I. The man and his question.
A. \\#17\\ The man’s question: "…what must I do that I may
inherit eternal life?"
1. That is the perfect question.
2. Jesus came into this world to seek and to save the lost
\\#Luke 19:10\\; but so far, no one has come right out to
ask Jesus this question, "What do I do?"
3. This is similar to the question asked by the Philippian
jailer in \\#Acts 16:30\\, "Sirs, what must I do to be
saved?"
4. It is THE question that every human soul needs to answer,
and it should give us the answer that every human soul
needs to hear, but did it?
5. It is the perfect question.
B. The man’s good points.
1. \\#17\\ He was running.
a. The man was eager to meet Jesus, and even more so to
ask Jesus this question, and to hear His answer.
b. How refreshing that must have been to Jesus!
(1) Jesus had travelled from one end of Israel to the
other.
(2) Crowds had gathered around Him so great that
stadiums would have had difficulty containing
them, most people wanting to be healed, lines
forming that keep Him so busy that He had no
time to eat or to sleep; but no one had ever
asked Him this question before.
(3) And this man came running to ask it.
2. He was reverent.
a. He came and knelt. We do not do much of that in our
culture but in that culture, it was a sign of
reverence and respect.
b. The Bible says the man referred to Jesus both as
"Master" and "good."
(1) "Master" meant that the man recognized Jesus’
knowledge. It was the equivalent of calling
Jesus by the title of "Doctor," not a doctor
of medicine but in knowledge about God and the
Bible.
(2) "good" meant that the man recognized Jesus’
character.
(a) This man was openly rejecting what the
religious leaders were saying about Jesus,
that He cast out devils by the power of
Beelzebub, that He was mad or insane.
(b) This man was saying opening and loudly, "No!
Jesus is good. His is of God."
c. In fact, Jesus wanted to emphasize what the man was
saying, both to the community and to the man himself.
Mark 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest
thou me good? there is none good but one, that
is, God.
(1) Jesus was NOT disagreeing with what the man said.
(2) Jesus was emphasizing it.
(3) He wanted the crowd and the man to understand
that if He was not of the devil, with the power
and the wisdom He had, He had to be of God—in
fact, Jesus had to BE God.
(4) \\#Mark 10:22\\ the man will leave Jesus grieved
at what Jesus will tell him.
(5) Perhaps by telling the man in advance who He was,
Jesus was planting a seed to get the man to
rethink his first response to the answer Jesus
was giving.
3. He was rational.
a. This man was wise and intelligent.
b. He was the one who had figured out what the most
important question was.
c. If you could ask God anything, what would you ask?
d. This man was perhaps the wisest of all men that Jesus
ever encountered for he spend his moment in God’s
presence asking the perfect question.
4. He was a ruler.
a. \\#Luke 18:18\\ tells us the man’s position. He was a
ruler.
b. \\#Mark 10:22\\ tells us of the man’s wealth. "He had
great possessions," but Luke tells us of his
position.
c. We do not know where he was the ruler at.
(1) We do not know whether he was the ruler over a
providence, a city, a block, a synagogue. or a
nation; but we know at the very least his ruler
over his own soul; and that will turn out to be
his downfall.
(2) This man will not want to relinquish authority
over his life and yield himself to the one he
had just inadvertently acknowledged was God
Himself.
II. Jesus and His answer.
Mark 10:19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not
commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do
not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy
father and mother.
20 And he answered and said unto him, Master,
all these have I observed from my youth.
A. I have already pointed out the importance of the question.
B. Now, I most point out the problems caused by Jesus’ answer.
1. Jesus’ answer caused the man a problem.
a. Jesus essentially told the man that he must keep the
commandment, to which the young man replied, "I
have."
b. Now, this is another of those texts where if this was
the only text we had, we could conclude that
salvation comes by the law, but it is not the only
text we have and so we cannot come to that
conclusion.
(1) You are a free-thinking human being and you are
blessed by God with an intellect and a free-will
to conclude whatever you want to conclude about
and from Jesus’ answer, but I do not believe the
Bible contradicts itself so I will not believe
that one can be saved by keeping the law.
(2) I have already compared this text to Acts 16:30.
(3) Let’s consider what Paul said there:
Acts 16:30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
(a) Paul did not say anything about keep the law
there.
(b) Instead, Paul spoke of faith and believing.
(4) Even more so, Paul made a clear statement:
Ga 2:16 Knowing that a man is NOT justified by
the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus
Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ,
that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by
the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
(5) You can believe that Jesus taught that salvation
comes by keeping the law if you wish, you can
even use this as a proof text, but in accepting
that interpretation, you destroy the integrity
of the Bible, and make the salvation of the
Bible a myth and unneeded.
(6) I will not do that.
(7) I will keep my faith in the Word of God and look
for another interpretation.
c. I don’t believe Jesus was yet answering "what" the man
needed to do but showing the man "why" he needed to
do it.
(1) Not only did this man think Jesus was good, he
thought he was good too.
(2) He thought he had kept the law and that he had
somehow earned his way into heaven by being such
a good person, but he certainly wasn’t good
enough to give away his fortune and to follow
Jesus.
(3) I believe Jesus wanted to trouble this man’s mind
and soul and make him rethink the goodness he
claimed to have.
(4) Now, if you don’t accept what I think, I don’t
blame you.
(a) The man asked Jesus a direct question.
(b) One has every right to expect that Jesus
would give the man a direct answer.
(5) But if the point of Jesus’ answer was to teach
the man that the way to go to heaven was to keep
the law, why did Jesus give him a second answer
that was not a law at all.
Mark 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him,
and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy
way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and
come, take up the cross, and follow me.
22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away
grieved: for he had great possessions.
(a) I have read the Old Testament law.
(b) That is not in it.
(c) Was Jesus also telling the man that no
matter how good you are, no matter how many
laws you keep, God will always add another?
(d) That salvation will always be a little bit
beyond you?
(e) That no matter how good you are, God will
expect a little more?
(6) I don’t think so.
(7) I think Jesus was teaching the man that no matter
how good we think we are, we are not good at
all, and that salvation cannot be earned.
(8) It must be accepted as a gift.
d. Regardless, Jesus’ answer caused that man a problem
that day.
2. Jesus’ answer, as I have indicated, has also caused many
today a problem.
a. We have a hard time explaining Jesus’s answer.
b. It doesn’t fit into anyone’s theology.
(1) If Jesus was teaching salvation by grace, why not
just tell the man that keeping the law will not
save? As I said, "A direct question deserves a
direct answer."
(2) But if Jesus was teaching a salvation by works,
why move the line? If keeping the law that God
gave in the Old Testament is not enough to earn
salvation, if the line is just going to keep
moving, no one will ever be saved!
c. Why would Jesus give an answer like this?
(1) I believe the answer is that we have to
acknowledge that Jesus demands both
determination and faith to dig for the answers
to the most important questions of life.
(2) If you don’t like that, don’t let it bother you;
cause I don’t either.
(3) There have been times when I did not want to dig.
(4) There have been times when I was tired,
frustrated, confused, and wanted some easy
answers to why things did not happen the way I
thought the Bible said they would happen, and I
could not find them.
(5) I could have and perhaps should have thrown my
faith away and said "Forget it. The Bible IS
filled with contradictions. It cannot be true,"
but God had put a few people in my life that had
faith in the Bible and seeing their faith kept me
me coming back.
(6) Call it a blind faith if you want, but I have it,
and I am not going to throw it away—even if I
do not like it all or do not understand it all.
d. Yes, Jesus’ answer has caused some today to have
problems.
3. \\#23-31\\ Jesus’ answer caused the disciples problems.
a. Jesus, seeing this rich man walk away lost, wanting to
rule his own life, made a statement that cut through
the disciples like a knife.
Mark 10:23 And Jesus looked round about, and
saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they
that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
24 And the disciples were astonished at his
words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto
them, Children, how hard is it for them that
trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!
25 It is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God.
b. Jesus’ comment summed up is this, “It is hard for a
rich man to go to heaven."
(1) Why?
(2) They tend to want their wealth more than
salvation.
(3) By the way, it is not that you can’t have both.
(4) It is that you cannot trust in both.
c. \\#26\\ The disciples were all shook up and asked,
"Who then can be saved?"
(1) You see, they with only a fraction of the wealth
and luxury the poorest of Americans have today,
realized that THEY—by having food, clotting,
shelter, and a body that could work—were some
of the wealthiest people on the planet!
(2) They, being poor by our standard, never saw
themselves as being poor; whereas, we, being
exceedingly wealth by their standards, seldom
see ourselves as anything but poor!
(3) Having all that they possessed, they feared for
their own souls!
d. Thankfully, Jesus comforted them:
Mark 10:27 And Jesus looking upon them saith,
With men it is impossible, but not with God: for
with God all things are possible.
(1) In essence, Jesus said, "Even as wealthy and
blessed as you are, God can do the impossible.
He can save even you."
(2) And, friend, as wealthy and blessed as we are in
this country, God can save even us.
(3) We must realize salvation is not by works but is
the gift of God, that all of our wealth cannot
save us—that if anything—wealth hinders us—and
that living the life we choose over the life God
chooses for us will cost us everything.
e. If all of that seems like too much to give up for
salvation, you are not alone; however, Jesus did
promise that those who sacrifice now will be rewarded
beyond all in the life to come.
Mark 10:29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I
say unto you, There is no man that hath left
house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or
mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my
sake, and the gospel’s,
30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in
this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and
mothers, and children, and lands, with
persecutions; and in the world to come eternal
life.
f. As in all things, you are free to make up your own
mind, but remember Jesus’ last words on the topic.
Mark 10:31 But many that are first shall be
last; and the last first.
Make your choices carefully.
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