If you look at your life and feel you need a change, ask yourself what’s missing? In this sermon, Dr. Stanley uses the parable of the rich young man in Mark 10, to address the idea of why we want change and where the desire to change comes from. Why the restlessness, if all we are meant to do is follow Him?
[music]
Dr. Charles Stanley: Money
can do some things; it can do
many good things in the right
hands.
But it can’t satisfy the longing
of your soul.
It can’t satisfy the longing of
your heart.
It can’t satisfy that which God
has placed in you that only He
can fill; and that is a personal
relationship with God through
His Son, Jesus.
male announcer: Next on “In
Touch,” “Is Something Missing In
Your Life?”
Dr. Stanley: When you think
about your life, what would you
change if you–if you had the
privilege of changing anything,
what would you change?
Would you change your income?
Your health?
Your job, your profession?
Would you change where you live,
what you drive?
Would you change who you’re
married to?
That would be dangerous.
Would you change where you live?
Would you change some areas of
your life that are personal and
private?
What would you change in your
life, if you could just change
something, or if you feel the
need to change something because
something’s missing?
Maybe you don’t know what it is,
but deep down inside something’s
missing.
Because you have a good job,
maybe.
You have a good income.
You like where you live.
You’ve got good health; happily
married maybe.
And so on and on you go but
there’s something hanging out
there that you can’t put your
finger on.
Something’s missing.
You’ve tried this and this and
this.
You’ve been here and yonder.
And people make changes in life
that’s not the real change they
need; but there’s something
missing in their life and they
want to find out what it is.
Well, that’s what our passage of
scripture’s all about, somebody
who had it all, and yet
something was missing.
So I want to encourage you to
listen carefully and to turn in
your Bible to Mark, chapter ten.
And I want us to read these
verses.
And I want to give you a little
something right up front.
Sometimes people read this
passage of scripture and they
say, Well that doesn’t apply to
me because I’m not a rich
person.
Well, you don’t know whether
that applies to you or not till
you listen.
And so I want to encourage you
to listen carefully because
there are messages from this
passage of scripture maybe
you’ve never seen.
And I can tell you one thing:
there is a message here for
everybody, everybody.
And it just may be that you’re
one of those persons who wants a
change in your life and you
can’t figure out what it is.
It just might be that you figure
out what it is in this
particular passage.
So, let’s begin and let me say
right up front, in the–in your
Bible in this passage there’s
probably in dark, a little bit
larger print a title called the
Rich Young Ruler.
But if you read that passage,
you say, Well, where is that in
here?
And in Matthew, he’s called a
young man.
In Mark, this fellow’s called a
man.
And in Luke, he’s called a
certain ruler.
So we have a certain, or a rich
young ruler.
That’s however they get that
title.
So let’s begin in this tenth–
seventeenth verse of the tenth
chapter, “As He was setting out
on a journey,” Jesus that is, “a
man ran up to Him and knelt down
before Him, and asked Him, ‘Good
Teacher what shall I do to
inherit eternal life?’
And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do
you call Me good?
No one is good except God alone.
You know the commandments, “Do
not murder, do not commit
adultery, do not steal, do not
bear false witness, do not
defraud, honor your father and
mother.'”
And he said to Him, ‘Teacher, I
have kept all these things from
my youth up.’
Looking at him, Jesus felt a
love for him and He said to him,
‘One thing you lack: go and sell
all you possess, give to the
poor, and you will have treasure
in heaven; and come, follow Me.’
But at these words he was
saddened, and he went away
grieved, for he was one who
owned much property.
And Jesus, looking around, said
to His disciples, ‘How hard it
is, and how hard it will be for
those who are wealthy to inherit
the kingdom of God!’
The disciples were amazed at
these words and–
But Jesus answered again and
said to them, ‘Children, how
hard it is to enter the kingdom
of God!
It is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of God.’
They were even more astonished
and said to Him, ‘Then who can
be saved?’
Looking at them, Jesus said,
‘With people it is impossible,
but not with God; for all things
are possible with God.'”
Now, you look at that passage
and you say, Well, you know, I’m
not rich.
I don’t know what in the world
that has to do with me.
Well let me just say right up
front you can have everything
the world has to offer.
You can have it all and yet
something missing in your life.
And this is where many people
are.
They have it all; and yet
there’s something out there that
sort of gnaws at them.
It just sort of hangs in there.
It won’t go away, some need that
they have.
And so when you think about this
young man, the scripture says he
was rich, he was young, and
let’s say he was healthy and he
was a ruler.
So think about this.
Isn’t this what most people,
this generation, younger folks
coming along, what do they want?
They want riches.
They want some authority, some
power, some position.
And they want to be able to get
along in life and they want it
usually pretty fast and they
want it to come their way while
they’re young.
And there’s nothing wrong with
having desires for your life.
But what do those desires do in
your life when they become
fruition?
And so the scripture says he was
a rich young ruler and he had
all that you’d think he would
possibly need, all he thought he
needed, rich, young and
authority; position in life.
And so it sounds like he lived
in the twenty-first century.
So if I were to ask you, Would
you like to be rich, young and
have position?
If you were honest, most of you
would raise your hand.
Well is there anything wrong
with being rich, young and
having position?
No, there’s not.
You see, the truth is we are not
thinking properly about life,
and we’re short-sighted, if we
think gold, money and so forth’s
going to satisfy us, position
and good health and
opportunities are going to
satisfy us, there’s still going
to be something missing.
It was true in this young man’s
life in the scripture and it’s
true in life.
The second lesson I want us to
notice is this.
That our love and desire for
material things can cause us to
miss the most important thing in
life.
People don’t realize that money
is dangerous.
Somebody says, Well what could
be dangerous about money?
It’s what it does.
It’s the attitude people have,
that if I have enough money, I
can go where I want to go, do
what I want to do, marry who I
want to marry, wear what I want
to wear, drive what I want to
drive, live where I want to
live, eat where I want to eat
and on and on and on it goes.
That may be some of the things
that money can do, but that
doesn’t satisfy you.
But think about this.
You can have all the money in
the world you want; if you don’t
have good health, you can’t buy
it.
If you’re not, listen.
If you don’t have anybody to
love, you can’t buy it.
If you don’t have anyone who
loves you, you can’t buy it.
In other words, you don’t–you
can’t buy peace, joy, happiness,
contentment; and you certainly
cannot buy eternal life.
Money can do some things; it can
do many good things in the right
hands.
But it can’t satisfy the longing
of your soul.
It can’t satisfy the longing of
your heart.
It can’t satisfy that which God
has placed in you that only He
can fill; and that is a personal
relationship with God through
His Son, Jesus.
You may be one of those very,
very wealthy persons.
You have it all.
You have the prestige and the
prominence and the popularity
and the position, the power.
You have the money, you can buy
anything you want, go anywhere
you want to go.
But deep down inside there’s
something missing.
And that something that’s
missing is a personal
relationship with the Son of
God.
And this young man had all of
it.
You could say, Well what is it
that you need?
He didn’t need anything.
He had everything.
But if you’ll notice, he’d
become so desperate when he
heard about Jesus, the Bible
says this young man ran to him
and fell on his knees.
Somebody told him, Here’s the
man who can satisfy the longing
of your heart.
Here’s the man who can give you
eternal life.
And he ran to Jesus.
And in those days, running in
public was sort of a–if you had
any dignity at all, you didn’t
run in public.
He’s running to Jesus, falling
down before Him and what’s
happening?
He simply says to Him, he asked
Him, “Good Teacher what shall I
do to inherit eternal life?”
So, that in spite of all he had
and all he was and all his
relationships he finally
discovered that what he didn’t
have was the one thing his money
couldn’t buy.
His popularity couldn’t provide
for him.
And none of his efforts seemed
to make any difference.
He desired eternal life.
So he comes running to Jesus and
says to Him, you know, “What can
I do to inherit eternal life?”
And I would say to you, The gift
of eternal life is not the
result of our good works.
In other words, you don’t get
there by good conduct.
And if you’ll notice how Jesus
approached this.
So, He didn’t condemn him, when
He said to him, He said, “What
shall I do to inherit eternal
life?”
And look what Jesus does.
He begins with the commandments.
He skips the first four about
loving God and so forth; and the
Sabbath, He, he skips those.
And then He skips the last one.
And then He says to him, He
says, “You know the
commandments.”
He starts out with, “Do not
murder.”
See, He’s just talked about how
he lived.
He says, “‘Do not murder, do not
commit adultery, do not steal,
do not bear false witness, do
not defraud, honor your father
and mother.’
And he said to Him, ‘Well
Teacher, I have done all these
things all of my life,'” huh!
Well, then if that’s it, why
don’t I have any peace and joy
and, why am I running to You and
kneeling down before You and
asking, “What can I do to
inherit eternal life?”
Because I’ve done all these
things.
Well, notice Jesus didn’t say,
Thou shall not covet at the end.
He skipped the first four and
the last one, because Jesus knew
what his problem was.
He was very wealthy.
In fact, in Luke He says he was
extremely wealthy.
And so he says, “I have kept all
these things from my youth up.”
Then what he was expecting Jesus
to say, well, if you’ve done all
those things, you can have the
gift of eternal life.
But Jesus didn’t tell him that.
And so the scripture says that
“Jesus looked at him and, felt a
love for him and and said to
him, ‘One thing you lack,'”
there’s something missing in
your life.
“Go and sell all you possess and
give to the poor, and you’ll
have treasure in heaven; and
come, follow Me.”
Now, his whole idea was that if
he did enough good things, he
would be saved.
Listen to me.
The majority of the world had
the same–has the same idea.
If I’m a good person and I don’t
steal, I don’t lie, I don’t
cheat, I’m a good husband, I’m a
good wife, or I give a little
bit to the church, I do all
these things, then surely I’m
going to be saved.
When the Bible says so clearly,
not by works of righteousness
which we’ve done, but according
to His mercy He saved us.
If a person could be saved by
doing good, Jesus wouldn’t have
had to die on the Cross.
And so, he is coming to Jesus on
the basis that here’s what I’ve
done, so therefore I ought to
have the gift of eternal life.
And the Bible says that Jesus
looked at him and loved him.
Watch this, He didn’t condemn
him; He loved him because He
knew he was totally deceived.
He thought that all this he’d
accumulated and all the good
reputation he had would get him
into heaven.
And when Jesus gave him the
Commandments and was bringing
him to the point to realize
there was sin in his life, he
just–watch what happens, the
Scripture says, “Jesus felt a
love for him and said to him,
‘One thing you lacked: go and
sell all your possessions, give
to the poor and you’ll have
treasure in heaven; and come,
follow Me.'”
Now let’s clarify one thing.
That’s not the way you get
saved.
In other words, he’s not saying
if you give all this, you’ll get
saved.
What he was dealing with here is
this fact the sin in his life,
this covetousness that he was
depending on all of this to save
him.
And he’s simply saying here’s
what you do.
Now does that mean to, in order
to be saved, or that Jesus meant
in order to be saved, sell
everything you got, give to the
poor?
No, because, watch this, this
was an incident.
This was one occasion in which
what he needed to deal with his
covetousness and his sin, and
his understanding was that the
thing that stood between him and
salvation was his greed, his
covetous spirit, his dependence
on material things rather than
upon God.
So in this given occasion for
him, salvation meant look you’re
not going to get there by
earning it.
You’ve got to get there by
surrendering everything to Me
and trusting Me as your Savior.
And so what did he do?
He absolutely turned down
eternal life.
Listen, he tried to hold onto
something he couldn’t keep, when
he could have had something he
couldn’t lose.
And so people don’t realize if
they spend their time trying to
accumulate this that and the
other to get peace and happiness
and satisfaction, they’ll end up
missing the very thing that they
spent their life trying to
receive.
Because you just see, to some
people it’s a prideful issue,
you mean to tell me, and I’ve
had people tell me, You mean to
tell me that all I have to do is
accept Jesus Christ as my
personal Savior?
What else am I supposed to do?
I said nothing.
No-no-no.
They can’t accept it.
You know why they can’t accept
it?
It’s pride and here’s the pride,
listen, I must do something in
order to be saved.
You see that’s absolute pride.
They want to do something that
they think to take credit for in
order to be saved.
No, when I was twelve years of
age, I didn’t have anything to
take credit for.
And no matter who you are
whenever you were saved, you and
I came as sinners and asked the
Lord Jesus Christ to save us by
His grace and love and mercy,
not on the basis of anything
we’d done, going to do, had,
going to give, have given,
nothing.
And that’s the wonderful thing
about salvation.
It is a gift of God, it is not
something that you and I own.
So, Jesus loves us even when we
make the wrong choices.
The Bible says that Jesus looked
at him and loved him for he
said, “Looking at him, Jesus
felt a love for him and said to
him, ‘One thing you lack: go and
sell all you possess, give it to
the poor, and you’ll have
treasure in heaven; come, follow
Me.’
These words he was saddened, and
he went away grieving, for he
was one who owned much
property.”
And Jesus, looking around, said
to His disciples, ‘How hard it
is for those who are wealthy to
enter the kingdom of God!'”
He says it’s hard.
Why?
Because what they own becomes
their security and the truth is
they don’t think beyond this
life.
Death, when death comes, listen,
it doesn’t make any difference
how old you are or how long
you’ve lived, how much you own.
Life is very insecure.
Everything around us is changing
but one thing, our personal
relationship with Jesus Christ
has settled once and for all
when we die, we will be with
Him.
And then if you’ll notice in
this passage, Jesus acknowledges
that it’s very difficult for
wealthy people to get to heaven.
He makes it, listen, he makes it
very clear.
Listen to what He says.
He said, in verse twenty-four,
“Well, Jesus, looking around,”
Him in verse twenty-three,
“looking around Him, He said to
His disciples, ‘How hard it is
for those who are wealthy to
enter the kingdom of God!'”
You know what?
Listen.
That’s a warning.
How difficult it is for very
wealthy people to get to heaven,
“The disciples were amazed at
His words.
But Jesus answered again and
said to them, ‘Children, how
hard it is to enter the kingdom
of God!
It is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than
for a rich man enter the kingdom
of God.’
They were even more astonished
and said, ‘Then who can be
saved?'”
Listen to what Jesus said,
“Looking at them, Jesus said,
‘With people it is impossible,
but not with God; for all things
are possible with God.'”
And so you think about this.
If you’re one of those persons
who’s very, very, very wealthy,
it doesn’t mean that you’ve
sinned to get that way.
And you’ve trusted Jesus Christ
as your Savior, He’s blessed
you.
But remember this.
You are very, very, very
blessed.
You are saved because God saved
you.
God worked in your life in such
a fashion to open your eyes and
your heart, and to get you to
confess your sins and receive
Him as your personal Savior.
He says, Only God can get a rich
man into heaven.
That’s how hard it is.
But what does wealth do?
It gives people a sense of false
security.
I have this much and that much
and that much and that much.
And I give this much and I give
that much and I give the other,
but listen.
Whatever it may be, you’re still
betting on the fact that what
you’re giving to God and what
you’re giving to the church, and
what you’re giving, giving,
giving is going to atone for
your sin.
The only thing that’ll atone for
your sin is the blood of Jesus.
When He went to the cross, He
went to the cross because that
was the only way that a person
can be saved.
Jesus shed His blood for the sin
of all mankind, which makes it
possible for anybody and
everybody, rich and poor,
whoever it might be, to go to
heaven.
It just so happens that those
who are the blessed, so to
speak, with the most, or whom
God allows to accumulate the
most, have the most difficult
time getting to heaven.
He says it’s like putting a
camel through the eye of a
needle.
So all of you who have just been
saying, I gotta have, gotta
have, gotta have, gotta have,
you ought to lay that down.
You don’t gotta, gotta, gotta,
gotta, gotta have anything.
What you’ve got to have is
Jesus, and everything else is
superfluous to that.
So, I would ask you once last
question.
Is there anything missing in
your life?
Well, the one ultimate question
is, can you look back in your
life and point to a time when
you said I know that this time
in my life I made a commitment,
I trusted Jesus, I believed in
Him, that is, I accepted Him as
my personal Savior?
I know that I’ve trusted Him as
my Savior, now some people, now
I remember Dr. Graham’s wife
said, I couldn’t tell you the
time, but I know at some point I
gave my life to Christ.
You may not be able to know the
time, but you know for sure that
at some point in your life you
made the most important decision
in your life; the decision that
determined your eternal destiny,
the decision that nobody can
change, the decision that nobody
can steal from you under any
condition.
You’re saved by the grace of
God.
Amen?
And Father, we thank You that
You made it simple and plain,
placing our trust in You.
Thank You that You warn us in
Your Word not to be betrayed or
deceived or accept the lies of
the world that we can be good
enough within ourselves.
For all of us are sinners, all
of us have sinned against You,
all of us come to the same Cross
and all of us are washed in the
same blood of Jesus.
We love You and we praise You
dear Father and we ask You this
morning if there’s anybody here
who is not certain of their
salvation, that’ll settle that
right now.
And that they can settle it by
simply asking You to forgive
them of their sins and making
this commitment to You, I commit
my life to You, Lord Jesus, as
my Savior and my Lord.
And make that full surrender to
You.
And I pray Father for those who
maybe are uncertain that
whatever’s necessary that they
will take time alone on their
face before You on their knees
and settle that issue.
To know that from that moment
on, their security is not based
on who they are and what they
have, but on who You are and
what You’ve promised.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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