Don't Walk Away | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

turn me in your bibles to mark chapter 10 and verse 22 i i miss already uh pastor and first a lady and they are somewhere oh wow they're probably somewhere mid mid-atlantic by now and they're headed over to to beirut lebanon and i know they're going to have a great time there's a there's a great conference that takes place there every year my wife and i got to go a few years ago and preach that conference it's it's it's amazing the latter rain conference is one of the most amazing conferences um they're gonna they're gonna get to minister to to people that are that are mo in the faith of the muslim uh and and i believe that they're gonna get there's gonna be something that are baptized in the name of jesus for their mission of their sins can we believe that together believe that the holy ghost is going to fill some people that all they've ever known is the muslim religion but god is going to speak in their life and reveal himself of who he really is amen jesus was jehovah in the flesh well they see that when they understand you know and a lot a lot of people got it you gotta realize that with with the muslim faith uh we serve of course they call him allah but he's the god of abraham of course they went off through ishmael and we went through eyes they came in and we're the spiritual jews today but if they could ever realize that the god that they claim to serve was jesus was god in flesh oh my if they can see that god give them a revelation and who knows what god is going to do who knows what god is going to do in in beirut amen mark chapter 10 and verse 22 says and he was sad at that saying we're we're talking here about we're talking here about what we refer to as a rich young ruler he was sad at the same and went away grieved for he had great possessions and jesus this is interesting jesus looked around about and saith on his disciples how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of god in the disciples were astonished at his words but jesus answereth again and saith unto them and he kind of rephrased his statement he said children how hard is it for them that trust enriches to enter into the kingdom of god it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of god and his disciples were astonished out of measures saying among themselves who then can be saved his disciples were astonished and they began to talk one with another they begin to whisper they begin to murmur and they begin to say if the rich can't make it into heaven who who is going to make it who is going to be saved i i derived my title from verse number 22 it simply says he was sad at the same and went away grieve my title is simply this don't walk away don't don't don't walk away put your bibles down let's pray father we love you lord i'm so thankful lord god for the ah for the for the great crowd that's here today i'm so thankful lord right now that our kids groups lord god they're taking place in our children are learning and small groups they're learning about you and ah i just believe their lives are going to be changed from the education they receive on wednesday evenings and on sunday mornings oh god i pray god for our students the lord god our middle schoolers and high schoolers our our college age students lord god they're right now hearing the word preach to them lord in the student sanctuary and i believe you're changing them and lord god you're educating them in your word and i just believe great things are going to take place because of that and lord in this house today lord god in this sanctuary today lord god i believe somebody has come and they're not going to leave here lord god like they came and they're not going to leave here unless their lives have been changed and rearranged that's my prayer today they're not going to walk away from your law but they're going to follow you the rest of their days lord if you'll do that for us lord god if you'll bless us lord if you will anoint me tonight god i'll give you praise forevermore in jesus name clap your hands and just love him one more time in this place god we bless you call me love ya god we thank you for your power you may be seated in the house today we must understand that in the time period when jesus walked the earth it was commonly believed in and as you read through the new testament you kind of get this that they felt that if you were poor if you were sick in your body if you were diseased they they believed because of that lifestyle that you were cursed you you were you were poor because of your lifestyle you were sick because of something that happened to you we read stories in the bible where where a man is sick or blind and and they they begin to ask whose fault was it is he sick or blind or lame because of he or his parents or who who sinned whose fault was it so you've got to understand that as the disciples heard jesus say that there was a better chance for the camel to go through the eye of the needle than it was for a rich man to make it into heaven or to be saved this this brother snitzer we we got to understand that this was this was hard for them to grasp because in their minds they looked at the rich as being favored of god they looked at those that were well to do as as being pleasing to god it was their lifestyle that brought them the riches it was it was them in the favor of god upon their life that allowed them to live the lifestyle they lived and so all of a sudden their whole paradigm is being shifted and they begin to murmur one another with one another and say how is it how can anybody be saved if the rich can't be saved so i just kind of want to rewind and let's go back to mark 10 and 17 and kind of begin the story of who we call this this rich rich young young ruler but mark in mark's account say mark's account he says it like this he says and when he was gone forth into the way there came one running and kneel to him and asked him could master what shall i do that i may inherit eternal life if you will just leave your bibles open or device open right here we're just going to kind of exegete through mark chapter 10. um but the very first thing that's a little bit odd about the story is the fact that mark and mark's account will actually in in all three of the gospels that tell the story they referred to this rich man as running to meet jesus and although that doesn't mean a whole lot to us uh in that day in that age no body nobody with authority nobody that was considered a ruler nobody that was considered rich would ever be found running uh they they were they were far too dignified to run it it'd be similar it'd be similar to us uh seeing our president united states or a governor running to meet somebody you just don't see that they're they're when you see when the news captures our president or captures the vice president captures any official or or a donald trump if you will um he's walking he's his steps are very are very orderly he reaches out his hand there's there's there's certain gestures that that are done between between leaders and uh you just don't see people running that are in places of authority but even in that day you would now listen their servants ran possibly their children obviously would run but when it came to rulers when it came to those that were wealthy there was no running involved so this right here already with the story is i began to read and began to study in the very first few verses i see something there was something about this man that he felt the need to run to jesus now i don't know i don't know if jesus was going in the opposite direction that he was headed or if he ran to jesus if they were were going to meet each other in a path and he ran to him head on i i'm not sure about that all i know is that this rich young ruler had desperation within him to get an answer from jesus he has seen jesus he knew who jesus was he had witnessed he knew that jesus was a man of power and obviously something inside of him said i've got a burning question that i want to ask of jesus and then i guess we got to give him credit and a lot of times we'll skip to the end of the story and we'll dismiss him as being uh he's just a young he's just a young jerk he's he's this rich guy he's pompous i just don't believe that's who we're dealing with here this wasn't like nicodemus nicodemus was a ruler nicodemus was a religious ruler that came to jesus by night because he was ashamed to go to jesus when others could see him you know that story right we understand that that when nicodemus came to see jesus he's like ah i'm gonna i'm gonna do it when when all my when all my friends from the synagogue can't see me go and talk to jesus i i'm gonna go and ask my question to jesus when when it's just me and him when nobody else knows that i'm there when the public can't see me and and nobody can can can mock me for for asking a question to jesus but that's not the rich young ruler there's other there's other rulers and other of those that were pious and religious that they had questions that they asked jesus such as should we pay taxes to caesar or or why do your disciples plug grain on the sabbath these were these were questions trying to to put jesus in a bad place questions like hey we caught this woman in the very act of adultery should we do as moses has stated should we stone her and they they wanted to catch jesus in a place that he could not get himself out of and and of course we understand that jesus in his in his wisdom and in his knowledge he would always answer and he would always answer questions in a way that they could not trap him and could not catch him in truth however with this young ruler the bible says that he ran to jesus and he knelt down to jesus and he began to speak verse 18 says and jesus said unto him why call us thou me good there's none good but one and that is god and if you kind of read over this it's it kind of seems confusing because it almost sounds like jesus is saying i'm not good there's only one good and that's god but that's obviously not what he's saying we we understand that that jesus was not trying to to to take himself from god he was simply simply saying you don't know who you're talking to because you're trying to compare me to men you're seeing you're saying good master as if you are uh in your opinion i am a good person he said but your definition of good jesus was saying is not my definition of good the rich young ruler's definition of good was was just being better than the others as long as i'm just a little bit better than my neighbor that makes me good that was his that was his way of thinking hey we can bring kind of home today as long as i i don't drink as much as my dad drink that that makes me a good person or or if if you're a lady today and you say well i i don't i don't sleep around like my mother did that makes me a good person we can't compare ourselves among ourselves that that's not how we determine what good is all good and this is what this is what jesus was saying there's none good but god you can't look at yourself or compare yourselves among yourselves as if somehow we get to determine what good is as if we're kind of like comparing ourselves among ourselves like we we talk about our pets and i don't know about you but if if if you're a pet owner and you love pests like i do you like to talk about your pets i mean i get i get listen the other day i had to meet brother dempsey uh at home depot he by the way brother dempsey did so well did y'all notice all the beautiful spring flowers they were all planted for easter sunday morning are we thankful for that brother dempsey put your hands together only thankful brother dempsey came here late on saturday i don't know how many flowers he planted but everywhere i looked there's flowers every entrance and every island that flowers everywhere and i i need to go and meet him at home depot we're going to purchase those flowers and and i knew i was going to meet him so i thought you know what i'm going to bring hollywood with me and in hollywood i'm not to the place yet where i trust her she's not good enough to stay in the car without me in the car but i knew i was just going i was going to meet him i was going to let i had the credit card church credit card he was buying all the flowers gonna bring the flowers and he said i i can run it in there real quick get these flowers and so i i thought you know what brother dempsey loves my dog so i saw i'm bringing hollywood now it was raining it was pouring rain and so there wasn't a lot of interaction but there was there was some petting going on there but listen when i think about my dog i've got a good dog she doesn't chase cars oh i'm trying to think how she's good ain't it funny you don't have to have a good dog you can love it um she's house broke eighty percent of the time she's really good at getting up on my patio table and and staring at me through the window listen the other day i've got the i got the best picture so she hangs obviously she hangs out my backyard and then boss which is the hammond's dog bulldog her best friend partner in crime he also hangs out in the yard with her like most of the day and it's so you got a golden doodle and a bulldog it's the oddest it is the oddest combination of friendship but they they love each other okay um the other day i'm walking through my house have you ever felt the feeling that somebody's watching you i look out and now it's not a big deal hollywood i mean she could probably jump over my fans if if she realizes she could do it she would do it okay she could jump on me she's fast but boss he's really good at eating you know what i'm saying he's a bulldog he can knock your legs right out from under you i mean he's good at some things he really is he's the cutest thing ever seen but i look out and hollywood has taught him how to get up on my patio table a bulldog and that i know man if i if i could i'd find that picture and i'd send that to media staff babe find that picture send that up upstairs i look out and they're sitting side by side just staring into my back window and it's not like walking through my living room i'm like you know how you freeze kind of like like like when you see a movement you freeze i'm like walking like i look out and they're both there like bulldog down here she's up here sitting side by side just looking at me i mean not nothing just just looking at me we're gonna find that picture and put it up there but listen i got to think you know we could talk about how good our pets are man hollywood she's she's a good dog she really is a good dog she loves me a lot of people think when their dogs jump up on them it's like a nuisance i was in i was in like lows the other day and somebody had their dog the dog kept on jumping up and they're like getting out of the dog i'm thinking the dog's trying to hug you because that's that's how i feel about hollywood like when she jumps up it's a hug it's not a nuisance she does i mean she's just a oh lord sorry to talk about it i miss her but she'll just should i mean she just she's so good she'll just really lightly just kind of come up on on two legs and put her paws up and it's like just hug love god wait you can't compare feeling like your animal your pet is good to start comparing aren't they awesome look at them i mean i've got a good dog my dog taught that dog how to get up on a table they talk about a turtle on a fence post that turtle got up on that fence post by himself okay take it away you're making we're losing we're losing it but when you start thinking about when you start thinking about how we can start comparing ourselves among ourselves and deciding you know i'm good enough because that that that's really what starts to happen we start to read this story about this rich young ruler that's what this became he began to tell jesus hey tell me how i can earn if you will eternal life he said inherit because obviously he knew something about inheritance right he said how can i inherit eternal life how can i in herit eternity what what do i have to do because he was all about works he was he was all about showing jesus listen i have jumped through all the hoops i've dotted all the eyes i've crossed all the t's i've done everything i have to do to be saved if you will he was simply wanting jesus to say okay yep well done thou good and faithful servant you've got a life in eternity with me and jesus he's like okay i've got to move you into the next realm because jesus was not jesus is a gentleman do we realize that he wasn't going to offend the guy there's no reason to offend him it's obvious that he's approaching jesus in a manner that has impressed jesus right he's ran he's knelt down he's called him master he has impressed jesus there's something about him oh there's something about him that jesus loves but automatically jesus is trying to fix what he sees broken in the man and he says you want to compare me with other men as if i'm good and jesus said there is none good but god it was in in the book of psalms and then re-quoted by the apostle paul in romans chapter 3 verse 10 it says as it is written there is none righteous no not one there is none that understandeth there is none that's seeketh after god they are all gone out of the way they are together become unprofitable there is none that doeth good no not one before god will consider our deeds to be good he looks not only on the outward we know this in first samuel 16 but he looks upon me inward he he says i know them man you consider good which you can see by the actions of others what you see in daylight he said i see behind closed doors i know the motives of the heart i know who you are god knows us more than we know ourselves that's that's why when we pray we we begin to say god check my heart god created me a clean heart oh god renew a right spirit within me what does that mean that doesn't even mean that we might even know what the issue is but god knows our issues those little things we think and we just kind of throw them off or the little comments we make or the negativity that we are god god sees that listen i want god to check my spirit and thank god he does thank god he convicts us in places where we need to work on in our life amen aren't you thankful that god does that but he does it like i said he does it as a gentleman he he's not a jerk he's a gentleman he's not the guy upstairs with the with the stick looking to see when he can sm smack ya he's he's the one that says hey let's kind of go over and let's talk about your definition of good so so read on with me verse 19. because jesus begins to answer his question because his question is good master what shall i do that i may inherit eternal life so verse 19 thou knowest jesus is thou knowest the commandments this is interesting he says do not commit adultery do not kill do not steal do not bear false witness defraud not honor thy father and mother all these we know are a part of the ten commandments however these are the last six of the ten commandments jesus didn't start off with the first four because he understood that that the jews the jewish people were so well versed in those first four commandments right they wrote them upon their heart they they wrote them upon their doorpost they they they understood and they felt that those were their strong traits was the first four commandments so jesus said i'll tell you what we're going to do we're going to go to the last six of the ten and see how you fare with the last six and and verse 20 says in the answer to send to him master all of these have i observed from my youth i begin to um feel like like god began to to to speak into my mind right here and i'll be honest with you i was very emotional today when i was when i was studying for this because sometimes i can relate to this rich young ruler in the fact that i believe if i could if if i could give him a personality test and you guys are like oh boy here comes the personality test again but i really i really followed this very closely because i like to try i like to try to to see in my mind what this person would be and i believe that that he was he was a gold green all right and the reason why i believe this is because he would check through and make sure that he was following all these commandments and he was very oh he's very detailed but he was also a thinker because he was also already thinking about eternity he was young right young people usually don't think about the future as far as eternity goes most most young people are all about now but i diagnosed him as a cult green because i just believe that something inside of him he had some questions going on about hey i'm checking off all the boxes but what about the future what do i have to do what is left all right get that question thing going on what's left that i have to check off to make sure i get and i receive eternal life and so as i begin to relay because i'm a gold green and as i begin to relate to this young man i think to myself god let me ask you a question how many believe that god knows your future i didn't believe that i believe that god knows your future i do too i believe that god has the power to look throughout this sanctuary i believe he has the power to look throughout this sanctuary and he i'm gonna look down just so you don't think i'm pointing at you but but he can look and say yep he's going to live for me she's not he's gonna live for me she is she's not he's going to walk away god knows right god has the ability and the power to just walk up and down these aisles and if he so chose he can right now look and say you know what this pew right here people they're all going to walk away they're all going to forsake me you know what you guys are on your own right here he has the power to do that if he so chose but this verse when i began to read this verse right here something clicked in my mind and like i said i got this real emotion i thought the holy ghost is moving on me because i began to realize that jesus god chooses to work in the present he's not going to judge us for past and he's also not going to look into our future and pre-judge us for the future is anybody else thankful for that i don't know it's something exciting brother joel got emotional because i got to thinking god if you wanted to you could see who i am in 10 years you can see what my choices are going to be in 20 years in 30 years when the trumpet sounds if you so chose you could see me where i'm gonna be and you can make a decision right now to pre-judge me and you could walk away from me or you could be at my side and you say well brother eric so what are you talking about i i'll tell you what i'm talking about because here in the next verse we see in verse 21 it says then jesus beholding him loved him oh and right there i thought jesus you intentionally blocked out the fact now we know the rest of the story sister franklin we know the story we know that he walks away but jesus made a choice right there the bible says that he beholding him he loved him i don't know what that looked like i i feel like he probably put his hands upon his shoulders and looked at the young man kneeling before him and just bible says josh that he loved him what does that mean to you i'll tell you that means to me it made me to start beginning to feel the love of jesus in my office when i was studying brother daniel i began to feel the love of jesus and i got to think to myself i might do something as dumb as his rich young ruler in two verses but i'm so thankful that right now jesus loves me i'm so thankful that right now he's not looking ahead at mistakes i'm gonna make he's not looking ahead at trials i'm going to go through and i'm going to fail and test that i'm not gonna pass who does anybody else you see where i'm at with this and i began to god began to speak into my mind he said i'm going to have people in that house today that maybe have never felt love or maybe they haven't felt love in a long time he began to tell me begin to say i need them to feel love tonight and i need them to understand and to realize that i am looking at their present i'm not looking at their past i don't care what you did before today i don't care what you did an hour ago i don't care what you did yesterday five days ago five years ago jesus is looking for you he is beholding you right now and he loves you for who you are he wants to see you the bible talks about that he looks at his people and wants to see them with an expected hand he's our father fathers care about their children fathers a good father like our good father a good father ought to want to see their children succeed a good father ought to want to see their children do greater things than they ever did come on can my father say amen a good mother ought to want their daughters to go so much farther i don't know whether it's education or whether it's in talent whatever it is you ought to want your children to do greater things and so i've got to believe that somebody here might have a a bad perception of what their heavenly father is and you might have this perception that he is that that man upstairs with the stick that's looking for us to make mistakes but that's not who jesus is jesus is he's a savior who's standing in front of a rich young ruler and saying i love you do you see that saint mark he somehow captured that on paper he somehow wrote about that and said i could tell by the reaction of jesus to this young man that jesus loved him oh today oh today i believe there's two types of people or there's maybe more than two types but i believe these two types are representing this place today there are people in this place that think you're good enough to get god and then there's other people that don't think you're good enough to get god you feel maybe you're going too far you don't even know why you're here tonight you're here you're thinking somebody invited me somebody gave me a ride tonight somebody picked me up or something somebody told me i need to be here that this was a place to be on a wednesday or maybe maybe your kids drug you here so they could go to kids groups and you're thinking your mind why what am i doing here i don't even belong here i look at these people sitting around me they got everything together they've got every they've got lives they're they're righteous and they're holy i'm not i'm just i'm mud and jesus is looking at you the same way he looks at that richmond rule he's looking at you as he's saying no no no i love you and i came to save you i came i'm the great physician who came to look for the sick i came to be a light i came to give a life i didn't come to i didn't come to justify people and make people feel good about themselves justify access them why i came i came that you might have life and life everlasting so i pray i pray that you tonight one of those two groups if you fall into one of those two groups i i pray that you'll see your need to have the love of jesus verse 21 then jesus again beholding him loved him and said unto him one thing thou lackest sometimes people that love you are going to tell you the truth right it's people that they really don't really care your acquaintances won't fix anything in your life you realize that right the people that just you know they they really don't care much about you if you've got something going on in your life that maybe they could help you fix that they're probably not going to step in but when somebody really loves you they're going to tell you what you need to hear he said one thing thou lackest he said go thy way jesus said sell whatsoever thou hast give it to the poor and thou shall have treasure in heaven oh i come take up the cross and follow me oh i said it before but i mean this right here jesus loves us enough to convict us on whatever is keeping us from having a relationship with him don't push god away when you start feeling conviction conviction is beautiful conviction is our best friend people man i've heard people say oh this i i don't come to church because i can't stand feeling convicted oh you know what's worse than not feeling convicted is when you never when you don't feel conviction anymore that's far worse because why a lot of times i believe that god will allow us we're we're there's a strong delusion that can take the mind of a person and when we no longer can feel conviction a lot of times it's that strong delusion that sets in that god allows to come into our mind but god i thank you for letting me know the very things that get between me and you he was simply saying there's one thing now now brother valentine i don't believe for a second that that man only had one issue but i do believe that he had one issue that was keeping everything else back and if he can fix that one issue that everything would begin to domino and there'd be a domino effect to where that one thing being fixed would now fix this issue that would fix this issue that would fix that issue and so i come tonight i say what is your what is your one thing that you feel that you feel if you could just get that one thing fixed there's so many things in your life would all of a sudden begin to to domino in a good way i think i want you i want you to think about it and you probably don't have to think very hard because usually it's that one thing that you keep on praying saying god help me help me ah god bottom did it again i went there again i saw that again i heard that again i talk like that again that's that's that's the one thing and i guarantee this this young man when he came to jesus i guarantee you in his mind he was probably thinking to himself i think i know what it is but if i could just get jesus to tell me i'm okay i'll feel so much better about it but jesus loved him too much to allow him just to think that everything was going to be okay but jesus said one thing the thou lackest one thing i want to point out to you i want to set this a little bit of conviction in your heart not condemnation he said i just wanna i just want some conviction to catch hold of you in verse 22 bible says that the young man was sad and what jesus told him he went away grieved for he had great possessions he could not go with jesus as much as he wanted to as much as he would love to because he loved something a little bit more than he loved the idea of serving god do we realize why here that jesus invited him to follow in his footsteps just like he invited peter and john james and bartholomew just like he invited fishermen and tax collectors he invited the spanish said listen i'm giving you an opportunity what books in the new testament might have been written by this young man who would he have teamed up with on missionary works would would he have been with paul instead of silas would he have won other parts of the world to god would he have would he have written kind of like paul would he have ran over half of it would he and paul have written more books than any other writers of the new testament could he have been that 12th disciple that judas couldn't be we'll never know because the bible says that he walked away sorrowful he he walked away jesus said listen man come on all you got to do is do with the rest of these guys did possibly quite possibly this rich young ruler looked at the disciples that followed jesus and thought to himself i don't think that i can look like that man these these guys and and think about this woman this this rich ruler i don't know what he lived in i don't i don't know if he lived in a palace what kind of home he lived in uh what kind of house he lived in it sounds like he he had quite a he had hit quite wealth you're looking he's looking at jesus and disciples that sleep in caves think about this he looking at them and like he's thinking himself maybe it's not so much the riches maybe it's that he didn't want to change his lifestyle when we were in lebanon i'm i'm so i'm so excited about the carpenters going to lebanon um last time we were there the azars they took us um they took us to some cool places they took us to tire and sight on um and and tyron sidon uh there there is um there's a stone pure doc that goes out into the water that they say true story that the apostle paul walked on that very that very pier there's a there's a there's a stone castle that's falling apart on that very same area right there the very same pier that goes out and uh it was jezebel's it's where jezebel actually lived it's where she grew up and they'd take you they allow you to go upstairs and you can look out the same the very same window that jezebel looked out over the city and then you go to you go into side on and and they have they have a place and and of course you know we're talking thousands of years ago but they have there's a cave where where they are sure they'll tell you they're sure that it's where jesus and his disciples spent many nights and you can go up into that cave of course they have cat they have candles burning and and they have all kinds of pictures and relics in there and they of course they're they're steeped in in religion what have you but i began to think about that and i the carpenters i've already told them i kind of gave them a list of what they need to go make sure make sure they take you here here these are just such cool places to see but walking up and founding myself we we walked up into that cave and i'm thinking to myself this brother yancy is not how i picture jesus it is a disciple sleeping it's just not i don't know i don't know in my mind where i saw them sleeping but but they they show just this is the type of place or this was a place where jesus slept and i gotta believe that that ruler was kind of like thinking to himself this is not the lifestyle i'm looking for right it's not so much more riches it's not so much bags of gold or or barns filled with grain it's not so much that i just don't know if i can be across carrying disciple of jesus i want eternal life i my future i want i want good in the end when you know when when those gates close on the pearly gates when they shut i want to be on the inside i i want eternal life however i just don't know if i'm willing to give up and the bible says that in his mind he walked away grieved and i just believe the moral of the story is this the purpose of this encounter was to show the rich young ruler that his lost condition oh his lost condition not to reveal him listen it wasn't so much to reveal god's plan of salvation to him that wasn't the case because you've got to get lost before you can get saved he didn't see himself as being lost a person that doesn't see themselves as being lost is not ready to hear the plan of salvation the very first thing you've got to do jesus so skillfully demonstrated to this man that he had to be guilty of what he had done amen they they say with when an alcoholic alcoholics anonymous a-a when when they go the very first session the very first step that they have to they have to read through it and they have to come to the conclusion step one i'm an alcoholic got a problem i've got an issue and they got to realize that i cannot help myself because if i could help myself i would have already fixed this problem they don't even let you go to step two until you first admit to them and you admit to yourself the problem i've got an issue and the same thing jesus was trying to do with this young man right here it wasn't that he was going to walk him through a future plan of salvation i believe he would have done the same thing he did for nicodemus i believe you would have said hey you've got to be born again you've got to be born of the water and the spirit there's coming a day now now it's not going to happen now because i'm not gone i'm not i'm still here but there's coming a day when i'm going to send my spirit who knows what he would have told this young man if he would have repented but he wouldn't repent because he would not admit that he had a problem but jesus carefully demonstrated to the man you're a guilty law breaker what if this young ruler instead of walking away what if instead he would have he would have stayed there at jesus feet he would have said lord i admit that our broken god's laws i i'm not loved my neighbor i've not loved god with all my heart my my heart is wicked and corrupt and i come before you as a guilty lawbreaker lord be merciful to me a sinner lord what must i do to be saved if that would have happened oh cuddly knows what would have took place in this man's life i believe he would have been in the upper room i believe he would have been with peter he would have stood up with peter on the day of pentecost i just believe if he would have admitted and would have seen himself not as good but is in need of everlasting life i believe that god would have put him in a place where he could have received the gift of the holy ghost justice not trade writer he reflects on the passage that i've just taught on for the last 30 minutes he says the young man had kept the commandments from his youth up and yet he did not feel satisfied think about this he wished to do even more than was commanded oh is absolutely necessary in other words he wished to reach a higher state of perfection he's saying he already thought he was doing everything he was supposed to do he was wanting to do more our lord he said our lord he writes our lord seeing this gave him this counsel if thou wishes to be perfect become voluntarily poor and follow me he writes there is no desire more noble or more pleasing to god than the desire for perfection and as our lord looked at the young man he loved him for this yearning of his soul and mr not goes to say that unfortunately the young man resisted our lord's gracious invitation because of his two great attachment to the things of this world which brings me back look back with me in mark 10 22 our text he was sad at the same and went away grieved for he had great possessions and jesus looked round about and saith unto his disciples how hardly shall they that have riches enter in the kingdom of god and the disciples were astonished at his words because jesus answereth again and saith unto them children how hard is it for them that trust enriches to enter into the kingdom of god 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 and they were astonished out of measure sane among themselves who then can be saved i believe probably most people understand by now now now growing up i i looked at this eye of a needle as being my mother's crocheting needle or sewing needle if you will and i i remember as a child trying to get the thread through the eye if you will of the needle and i remember myself thinking this is such an odd statement for jesus to make that it's easier for a camel to get through that eye but then as a child i got to think to myself that that would be hard but then we read and we understand and we study that the eye of the needle or the needle's eye was designed in such a way it was a gate into the city that could only be used by pedestrians and and people riding animals especially camels could never get through the eye the only way a camel could get through there was a possibility there was a way but the only way that the camel could get through this eye this small opening was to be unloaded and he had a crawl through on his knees which a spiritual analogy is clear the camel could not go through the eye of the needle but only after he was stripped of its baggage or stripped of its wealth simply jesus was saying if you trust in anything besides me if you put your trust in treasures if you put your trust in riches if you put your trust in anything outside of me you're not getting through the game you're not going to get through the eye of the needle it would be easier for this camel to get down on all fours and somehow crawl through this opening than it would be for you to get into heaven so my title today is simply don't walk away don't be like this religious or this this young witch ruler don't be like him because he refused to change his lifestyle he refused to give up the only thing the one thing that stood between him and eternity there's something in all of us that deeply desires to have more of god i believe these asbury revivals the these revivals that are that are that are breaking out in in across the country in these services these chapel services this is obvious that people desire to know more of god and to understand god and to feel god and to have god doing something and moving through them but the sad thing is so did this rich young ruler but it's up to us and and i personally feel that jesus looked at his disciples that were standing they were standing nearby and i believe that a lot of what was said to this rich young ruler was because his disciples were overhearing what he was saying and i i just believe that jesus was giving a life lesson to his disciples while speaking to this man and trying to explain to them listen guys i know you've given up a lot and i look out at people in this room today that you've given up a lot you've you've sold and you've left and and you've moved and you've followed jesus and you're carrying your cross and i believe jesus is trying to help somebody today to realize you've done what you're supposed to do and you're following me in the way you're supposed to follow me but please realize that everybody is not going to make that decision but here's here's what i'm going to tell you tonight but you can make that decision you can make a decision tonight god i refuse to allow any one thing to come between me and you between me knowing you greater me understanding you more please oh i beg you as jesus had compassion and looked at a young man and loved him and said please there's one thing that you've got to fix in your life i want you to follow me i want you to take up the cross i want you to get in line behind my disciples and be one of us but you've got to fix one thing oh god help us right here right now matter of fact would you just stand up i feel the lord wants to speak to somebody in this place today i wish you just lift up your hands high to heaven and just begin to say god i want to fix my one thing i refuse to walk out of this place bound to the same thing that i've been bound to that one little thing lord i thought i come to church every service god i'm raising my children to love you oh lord god i put you lord god in my life lord god but there's this one little thing god out of all the commandments there's just one small thing lord god that i need you to help me with i pray right now that somebody will begin to repent we're going to baptize a young lady in just a moment but i believe before that takes place there'll be somebody in this place that would just say god i refuse to walk away when you've given an invitation like you gave this young man i refuse or to be that guy in his mind begins a thing to himself what is more what's worth more to me jesus or riches what's more worth more to me jesus or this changed lifestyle i pray in jesus name that somebody under the side of my voice i would be able to acknowledge that you're not good you would acknowledge that you need a savior you're making a decision to change your lifestyle you would declare i refuse to be who i've always been i refuse to go back to what i always was come on somebody can you just lift up your hands and say god oh god it's from me and my house god we're gonna find that one thing that causes us lord god to lose sight of who you are i feel the holy ghost in this place i i feel like there's somebody that came tonight that's searching that's in need i don't know what side of the fence you're on i don't know if you you feel you're good enough or you don't feel you're good enough i don't know which side you're on but i believe there's somebody here that if you'll just begin to repent i believe salvation salvation is for you it's promised unto you it's promised unto your children unto them that are far off even as many as the lord our gods shall call the same question what must i do to be saved the same question was asked on the day of pentecostal and peter peter gave the same response that jesus gave them to respond with he said repent repent of your sins be baptized in the name of jesus christ be baptized in the name of jesus for the remission of your sins and peter said in ye shall receive the gift of the holy ghost come on somebody that's a life change that's resurrection power oh that's getting up power that's a life in life everlasting that's the newness of life all today tonight somebody make the declaration jesus i give you my life jesus i give you my life oh come on saints of god begin to lift up your voices i don't know how many people are in need of this but if you're not i wish you just lift up your voice and pray for somebody on the pew next to you i pray that you i pray that you would pray for somebody maybe it's not you maybe you don't have a need tonight maybe maybe you're here and everything is going good in your life but i believe there's somebody on your pew that needs this tonight that needs to know that jesus loves them that needs to understand that they're not being judged by the church they're not being judged by the people sitting next to them but jesus wants to be in your life he wants to lead you he wants to guide you he wants you to follow after him right here i i just don't want to get in a hurry i believe somebody here you need to feel the love of god in your life you need to see what that feels like you've been filtered in a while you want to feel what love feels like right now just lift up your hands and say lord i need to feel your love come on sound lord i need to feel your compassion in my life right here oh holy ghost right now you said you'd be the comforter in the church today we're living in a crazy world lord we're living in every day though there's news coming out lord god there's breaking news of people killing people in banks and killing people in schools and malls and universities and my god we're living in a crazy world lord if there's ever been a time to get right if there's ever been a time to follow you if there's ever been a time to release anything lord it gets in the way today is that day lord i refuse to live in fear i refuse to live in fear but at the same time lord i want to be ready come on pray that prayer say god make me ready god make me ready god i want to be ready god i want you in my life more than anything else on anything else my desire is you with my whole heart i'm gonna love you with my whole heart i'm gonna love you with my whole life i give it for you take my heart every secret part wholehearted in love with you come on lift up your hands and sing with me when my home but i'm gonna love you with my whole life i'll keep it for you take my heart every secret part a heart and love come on i feel a wave of of love just coming in this place saying with my whole home but i'm gonna love you oh with my whole life i'll give it for you take this heart every secret part wholehearted in love with me just one more time with a sweet spirit in this place but i'm gonna love you with my whole life i'll keep it for you take my heart every secret part in love with you what about the song lord i give you my heart give you my soul i'll live for you alone every breath that i take every moment i'm away come on sing this like a prayer lord and have your way in me lord i give you my heart are you sing it i give you my thank you just one more time one more time lord i give you my heart lord i give my life i give you my soul i live for you alone every breath that i take every moment i'm away foreign thank god for this young lady that's gonna be baptized in jesus name tonight church family come on let's read your hand come on let's reach forward let's pray over her right now father we're so thankful for a decision lord god to be buried in your name to be being buried in water in baptism lord god oh i'm thankful lord god for the remission the removal of sin in our lives i'm thankful lord god that you're going to give her lord god the newness of life i believe lord god that she is promised the holy ghost and with that promise lord god comes a life everlasting in jesus name lord we pray for her future in you in jesus name amen and amen on the profession of your faith and obedience to the word of god i now indeed baptize you with the name of the lord jesus christ for the remission of your sins shall receive the gift of the holy ghost in jesus name yes