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[0:00] Good morning and a warm welcome to the service this morning and those who are visiting with us are especially welcome and some who've been away for a while and who are back again.

[0:14] It's good to see you and those who are online as well who I can't see but you can see me. It's good for us to be able to come together and to worship God. The intimations, the notices have been on the screen just before the service began and I don't think there's anything particularly out of the ordinary this morning in terms of intimations.

[0:34] The evening service at 6, 6 till 7, I'll try to make sure it's 6 till 7, I've been floating a little over the hour but boys and girls I'll make that promise to you.

[0:45] We'll finish by 7 tonight as we carry on going through Esther, Esther chapter 2 we're at tonight. Ladies' Fellowship on Monday, Little Fishers on Tuesday, Road to Recovery on Tuesday.

[0:59] You can see the details of that, the prayer meeting on Wednesday. Again in the church and on Zoom, it was very encouraging to see how many came out on Wednesday evening to the prayer meeting.

[1:11] You underestimate the encouragement your face brings and your presence brings to a time of prayer. It was very encouraging to know God's presence and to see each other in that time of prayer.

[1:25] Friday clubs as usual times and the services next Sunday, God willing, will be taken by myself. So these are all the notices. We'll begin this time of worship now.

[1:36] We'll sing to God's praise and we'll sing Mission Praise number 51, I think it is. And the words are on the screen.

[1:46] Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. Lord, be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart.

[2:12] Lord, be thou my heart.

[2:42] Lord, be thou my heart. Lord, be thou my heart.

[3:12] Still you, Lord of my heart. You key to rest, Lord of my heart. Be thou my heart. Be thou my dignity, thou my delight.

[3:25] Thou, my soul, shelter. Thou, my light, power.- He's done ye heavenward, O power of my heart.

[3:40] Riches I need not, nor accept he pays Thou my inheritance, thou and always Thou and thou only first in my heart My King of heaven, my treasured heart My King of heaven, now the victory won May I reach heaven's joy so bright and sun As of my own heart was ever before Still be thy vision, O ruler of all

[4:44] Let's unite our hearts in prayer. Let's pray together.

[4:56] Amen. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day And we thank you for the words that we've sung That we are able to, that we are called to To focus on the Lord Jesus At the beginning of this, the Lord's day But we confess, Lord, as we come That our eyes are so often full of this world We confess that we are so easily drawn In our gaze to look to the left and to the right And not to look to Jesus And so we pray, right at the beginning of this service That you would forgive us for that And that you would help us To fix our eyes upon Christ We pray that you would still our hearts We pray that you would clear our minds We pray that you would cleanse us

[6:00] From sin We pray that you would empty us of all That would be focused on ourselves And help us, Holy Spirit, we pray To see Jesus And to see our great need of Jesus We confess that we are sinners Not just in the way that we look To the left and to the right But in the things that we say And the things that we leave unsaid We confess that we are sinners In the things that we do And the things that we leave undone We confess, Lord, that we put other things In the place of Lord We confess that we pick up things And we give our worship and praise To things and people That are not worthy of worship and praise Because you alone are worthy of the praise And worship of our hearts So cleanse us, Lord, from our sin, we pray

[7:04] We thank you that Jesus is the Savior We thank you that when we feel the guilt of sin We thank you that when we feel the weight of sin The heaviness in our bones As we think about our sin We thank you that we know where to go We are not able to carry it ourselves But we are to take it to Jesus We think of the hymn we often sing That is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Emmanuel's veins And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains And that takes us to the cross Where the blood of Jesus was spilled on our behalf He who knew no sin became sin So that we who are sinners can be forgiven And made righteous So cleanse us, we pray Make us righteous And for anyone here this morning

[8:05] Who maybe doesn't see their sin yet And feel their sin We pray, Holy Spirit, that you would be working To convict us and to show us Where we have gone wrong And how much we are in need of Jesus And we thank you, Lord Jesus That when we come to you You will not push us away You will not cast us out But you will receive us You will cleanse us You will bring us close And you will satisfy our souls And we pray for that, Lord In this hour and every hour We know that this world And the riches And the popularity And the things that are offered to us Is making us significant And satisfied We know that they don't really satisfy us At the soul level We see that in the passage we'll read today

[9:06] And so, Lord, we pray that we would That we would know satisfaction That eternal life Which begins here Which we taste here And knows no end So draw near to us, Lord, we pray As we seek to draw near to you And we pray for your help We pray, Lord, for help As we do each week And each week we are Asking for the same things Because each week we feel That same sense of need We are conscious, Lord Of those who are grieving As a congregation We are still grieving For loved ones Who have passed on From time into eternity And we thank you That when those who are in Christ die They sleep in Jesus There is the promise of eternal life The soul goes instantly to be with the Lord

[10:07] And the body lies in the grave Until that day when Christ returns And everyone will rise And all who believe in Jesus Will have that resurrection life We thank you for the hope of the gospel And the comfort that that brings to us As we continue to feel that sense of loss And for Angus Alec And for Casalda And Alistair and Ailey And Cammie And Catherine And Raymond And the wider family, Lord Alistair We pray, Lord, for your comfort For them And for all of us, Lord As we feel that sense of loss And we pray for those who are sick Some in hospital Some waiting to go into hospital We pray for Hannah This morning As she is struggling with her health We pray, Lord That as she waits for The approval to go into hospital That she would

[11:07] Know your presence And that she would receive The treatment that she needs And we pray for Gordon and Gillian And the girls That you would steady them And help them At this time We pray for those who are At home Who are lonely Who feel isolated And we ask that you would Draw near to them We think of some Who will be watching this Even now And although they may be In their homes At this time We pray That they would know Your presence And that they would Feel part of The congregation As we come together Some physically And some virtually In the name of Jesus So hear our prayers, Lord Pray for those battling With addictions As we see the Notice sheet We see The Road to Recovery Meeting And for those who Battle with alcohol And drugs And different addictions

[12:07] We ask, Lord That you would help them And we We confess, Lord That all of us Are battling with something Many things often Because all of us Are sinners And so We look to you For grace We pray for the Little ones The little fishes as well And we thank you, Lord That on a Tuesday morning The church here Is full of noise And activity And young life And we pray that you would Bless each one of them And that they would Hear that call Of Jesus Let the little children Come to me Don't hinder them For the kingdom of heaven Belongs to such as these We pray for those Who are grieving For young ones as well We think of Susan and John And Calus And we commit them to you We ask that you Would be near to them And Lord We thank you For our own Young ones here In the church And in the cress Next door And answer to prayer

[13:08] And we ask that you Would bless Them And those who are Being carried in the womb Even at this time Although we don't know them We thank you That you know them Even in the womb And we pray That you would Protect them, Lord And that you would Bless them So hear our prayers And lead us And guide us In this time of worship And we pray All this in Jesus' name And for his sake Amen Boys and girls Would you like to Come forward please How are you all today?

[13:58] All good today? That's good Well I've got a confession To make this morning Do you know what a confession is? When you're owning up To doing something Or I've got to tell you something Before I tell you The children's talk And the thing I need to tell you Is that This children's talk today I stole it Wasn't my idea Somebody else's children's talk But I'm just giving it to you And the person who gave This children's talk He gave it to adults But really We're all We're all children We're all We're all to be childlike When we think about The things that Jesus teaches us This children's talk It was Jesus' idea It was his children's talk So what I need This morning Is I need I need a needle And this is as close As I could find To a needle Through the back of the church The needles

[14:59] I've gone walk about But this is This is kind of close to it There's a wee hole There at the top For taking thread through And I need a camel I couldn't find a camel So this is kind of The closest I came to it I'm not sure What kind of species That it is That's a dog This is I don't know We'll call it a camel Will we?

[15:19] So I've got a needle And I've got a camel And I need a volunteer Maybe two volunteers So Kate You were first So this is your mission And I think you're okay To come up here And your mission is To take that needle Okay And you know how you put thread Through the eye of a needle But men are terrible At doing this But ladies are usually Very good at that I need you not to take The thread But I want you to take This This camel And Thread it through the eye Of that needle There you go You've not got too long But I'll give you I'll give you maybe Maybe 20 seconds Or something So there you go Get going And if you come to a stage Within 20 seconds Where you have to give up Then just feel free To give up You give up Okay Okay well

[16:19] Thanks for trying Not the most successful Who was the second volunteer I think it might be Fraser Do you still want to try it No He's got wise to this Shawnee Now this This is an exercise That doesn't involve violence Shawnee Okay Okay You're not allowed to stamp it Or stab it Or anything You've just got to try And gently Thread this Camel Through the eye Of that needle It's already got a cut That's not Excuse for you To get another one Though It's that side there Okay Michael's doing the cut What did you say there Say it louder It's impossible It's what It's impossible It's impossible

[17:19] Thank you What was it Was it Is it possible No No it was Impossible It was impossible That exercise Was impossible And there was one day And we're going to read about this You can ask The older ones Over lunch See if they were Sleeping or Listening during the service But Jesus was speaking One day To a man Or a man Actually came up To Jesus In Luke chapter 18 And he was very rich And he He wanted to have Eternal life He wanted to know That his heart was safe That his soul was safe He wanted to know That he was going to live forever And so He He said to Jesus What do I have to do To get eternal life Maybe he was thinking

[18:21] He could pay some money Because he had loads of money And Maybe He was Thinking He could He could persuade Jesus Through his words Because he was very religious That he could Have a place In heaven And have Eternal life But Jesus Actually said to him Jesus looked into his heart How many gods Are you allowed to have One One And who is God God Jesus So we can't follow Jesus And have Jesus As Lord And have something else As Lord At the same time And Jesus He looked into this man's heart And he could see That in his heart What was his God What?

[19:08] Money Money And so Jesus said to him It says in Mark That Jesus looked at him And he loved him But Jesus loved him enough To tell him the truth And he said To him In your heart There's a problem All that money And what you need to do It wasn't What he said to everybody But what he said to this man He said What you need to do Is you need to sell Everything you've got Get rid of that God And then come follow me And the man went away sad Because he wouldn't He wouldn't drop all his stuff He wouldn't sell his stuff He loved his stuff More than he loved Jesus And Jesus Said to his disciples Then When they were watching this He said It's easier For a camel To go through The eye of a needle Remember This is just a toy Imagine a camel

[20:11] Here Imagine if we've got A camel here A camel would be Bigger than the platform It would be up To the rafters Almost We could get Farrakhan on the top Of it And he'd be Banging his head Off the light bulbs Camels huge Well they're very huge I think We'll maybe take them In one hour a day And we'll do a test But I mean It's impossible To get this Through the eye of a needle So it's certainly Impossible For anyone To get a camel Through the eye of a needle And when Jesus Said that To his disciples They then said to him Who can be saved Who can be saved If He says If it's easier For a camel To go through The eye of a needle Than for a rich man To enter the kingdom Of God And this man He was rich But he was very religious He looked like a good guy And Jesus says He's not saved And they said Who then Can be saved And Jesus

[21:11] Said What is Remember the word Johnny What is impossible With men And women And boys and girls Is possible with God It's impossible To save ourselves Isn't it We can't save ourselves By coming to A thousand church services We can't save ourselves By being very very good And not sinning all week Because we can't do it So how can we be saved So that's what Jesus Was really teaching How can we be saved We can't do it So who can do it for us Emily Jesus And how did he Save us What did he do Michael He died on the cross Why did he die on the cross Fraser To wash away To wash away Our sins

[22:11] And how do we Get that forgiveness That everlasting life What do we have to do We just have to Do you want to We just have to Trust in him And pray What was impossible For man to do Save ourselves As impossible As a camel Going through the eye of a needle Jesus made possible Through his cross So let's pray And thank him for that And ask him To save us Lord Jesus We thank you For that teaching In the story That we'll come to today And we thank you That you Love us enough To tell us the truth About our own hearts And we know Lord That in our own hearts There is sin And we need to be saved And we We thank you That you've told us That it is impossible For us to save ourselves And it's impossible For us to Save anybody else as well

[23:13] That's why Jesus came And we thank you Lord Jesus That you came into this world On that special mission That would take you To the cross Where you would die For us To wash away our sin And then rise from the dead So that we could have Everlasting life We thank you That all that we have to do To be saved Is to ask you To save us So we pray Lord That you would save us Wash away our sins Come into our hearts Come into our lives And give us this life That begins here And that never ends And we pray all this In Jesus name Amen We're going to sing now And we're going to sing The words of 674 Mission Praise And it's a hymn It's a simple children's hymn That teaches us About how we can get to heaven And it's about Jesus And the hill far away Where he died on the cross

[24:14] There is a green hill far away Without a city wall Where the dear Lord Was crucified Who died to save us all Where the dear Lord Was crucified Who died to save us all He may not know We cannot tell What days he had to pay But we believe

[25:14] It was for us He loved and suffered there He died that we might be For him He died to make us good That we might go At last to him Saved by his precious blood There was no other good enough To pay the price of sin He only could unlock the gate Of heaven and let us in For dearly, dearly

[26:16] Has he loved And we must love him too And trust in his redeeming blood And try his words too Amen Okay boys and girls If you hate the Sunday school And remember to be praying for them As they go And we can turn in our Bibles To Luke chapter 18 Luke 18

[27:25] Luke 18 And we'll read from verse 18 Through to Maybe the end of the chapter This is God's word A certain ruler Asked Jesus Good teacher What must I do To inherit eternal life?

[27:45] Why do you call me good? Jesus answered No one is good Except God alone You know the commandments Do not commit adultery Do not murder Do not steal Do not give false testimony Honor your father and mother All these I have kept Since I was a boy He said When Jesus heard this He said to him You still lack one thing Sell everything you have And give to the poor And you will have treasure in heaven Then come follow me When he heard this He became very sad Because he was a man of great wealth Jesus looked at him And said how hard it is For the rich To enter the kingdom of God Indeed 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 Those who heard him Asked Who then can be saved?

[28:38] Jesus replied What is impossible with men Is possible with God Peter said to him We have left All we had To follow you I tell you the truth Jesus said to them No one who has left home Or wife Or brothers Or parents Or children For the sake of the kingdom of God Will fail to receive Many times as much In this age And in the age to come Eternal life Jesus took the twelve aside And told them We are going up to Jerusalem And everything that is written By the prophets About the Son of Man Will be fulfilled He will be turned over To the Gentiles They will mock him Insult him Spit on him Flog him And kill him On the third day He will rise again The disciples Did not understand Any of this Its meaning Was hidden from them And they did not know What he was talking about Jesus approached Jericho A blind man

[29:38] Was sitting by the roadside Begging When he heard the crowd Going by He asked What was happening They told him Jesus of Nazareth Is passing by He called out Jesus Son of David Have mercy on me Those who led The way Rebuked him And told him To be quiet But he shouted All the more Son of David Have mercy on me Jesus stopped And ordered the man To be brought to him When he came near Jesus asked him What do you want me To do for you Lord I want to see He replied Jesus said to him Receive your sight Your faith has healed you Immediately he received His sight And followed Jesus Praising God When all the people Saw it They also Praised God Amen And may God bless That be of his word To us We're going to sing now From Psalm 42 Psalm 42 And the first Two stanzas

[30:39] Of the The psalm And we will sing In Gaelic Although I'll read In English Like as the heart For water brooks And thirst Of pant and bray So pants my longing Soul O God That come to thee I may My soul For God The living God Doth thirst When shall I near And to thy countenance Approach And in God's sight Appear These two verses And we sing in Gaelic We'll remain seated To sing in Gaelic For a CHOIR SINGS

[31:54] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS It Very Well Stem Talking Gas Thank you.

[33:22] Thank you.

[33:52] Thank you.

[34:22] Thank you. never not born if you could turn back with me please to Luke chapter 18 and we'll pray as we come to the passage our heavenly father we thank you once more for your word and we pray for the help of the holy spirit as we seek to study it open our minds and our eyes and our ears and our hearts we pray to your scripture that our hearts would burn within us as we know that you are dealing with us through the words of scripture we pray Lord that you would help us that you would be amongst us that you would as we sang in that psalm draw near to us and what we pray for ourselves here in the building both the young ones and ourselves as we gather around your word we pray for all the other congregations that meet in this place and across the island and across the nation and across all nations we pray that whatever the gospel of Jesus is preached that you would be at work drawing people to Christ showing people their sin our sin and our need of Jesus so be at work Lord we pray for your glory for our good for our salvation and we pray this in Jesus name Amen we pray for our salvation a news story and we're told it's the truth, we're told it's accurate, but fast forward two or three days and we learn that what was reported as the truth wasn't really the truth.

[37:01] There was either a lot more to the story or often cases it's a lot less to the story than was being reported. Things are not always the way they seem to be at first.

[37:14] And even if we go out of the news and newspapers and just think about the normality of life as we have a cup of coffee with each other and as we meet each other in the shop, we know that as we look at people's faces and as we listen to their words, very often it's the person with the biggest smile that actually feels saddest. And very often it's the person with the loudest voice that feels nervous. Things are not always the way that they seem.

[37:51] And that's a rule, it's an observation that we can take with us as we go through this next section in Luke's Gospel. We see, I'm just going to look at three passages, the passages that were on the screen. The last section I didn't tell Ruthie I was going to read it, I wasn't going to read it. But we're going to look at the verses from 18 through to verse 34, I think it is. And there's three things that we see as we go through this section.

[38:25] And all of them, they're not the way they seem. We meet a rich man who was poor. And then we learn about something which is impossible that becomes possible. And the third thing we see is a group of poor men who were actually very rich. We could go on further than that, and we probably will on this vein next week. There's a blind man who can see.

[38:53] And then moving on to Zacchaeus, mind you, that's another sermon. We won't go there today. But let's just look at the verses before us. First of all, the rich man who was poor. And that's verses 18 to verse 23. A certain ruler asked Jesus, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus says, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

[39:19] You know the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother. All these I have kept since I was a boy, he said.

[39:33] And when Jesus heard this, he said to him, you still lack one thing, sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and then come follow me. And when he heard this, he became very sad because he was a man of great wealth.

[39:53] And I think if we were to go back to that day when this man was wandering around, if you were to have asked the question, tell me about that man, people would have said instantly, well, he's very rich. This is a man who was defined by that last statement.

[40:11] He was a man of great wealth. And likely his great wealth opened doors for him. He was a ruler, probably the ruler of a synagogue, and we're told elsewhere in Matthew 19 that he was young.

[40:28] So he'd climbed the career ladder very quickly. He'd got a position of influence and reputation in that place at that time, much earlier than one would expect him to have got to that position.

[40:41] Weerspeed, the commentator, says it was unusual for a young man to have that position. So if we look at this man and measure him with the metrics of this world, he has everything.

[40:53] He has a status, power, reputation, influence, and he has riches.

[41:08] But deep in his own soul, he knew it wasn't enough. And something is lacking.

[41:19] There was a restlessness in this man's heart that caused him to seek out Jesus. And maybe there's someone here today who has that same sense of restlessness.

[41:39] You know, in reality, almost all of us, probably all of us, in this room are richer than this rich man was.

[41:52] Because our standard of living here today is far higher than theirs was back then. So we are rich. None of us are poor. And some of us, perhaps all of us, have a reasonable name.

[42:11] We have a reasonable reputation. People might look at us and say, well, he's not a bad guy. We might have some measure of success in our chosen career.

[42:23] But if that's all we have, it's not enough. And we know it's not enough. I've told you the quote many times in the past.

[42:37] You remember the quote from the oil tycoon, John Davidson Rockefeller. He, over a 40-year period, built up his company, Standard Oil, to be the biggest, most profitable company in the world.

[42:53] He was the world's richest man for a long period. And one occasion when he was interviewed, he was asked the question, how much money is enough? And his answer was, just a little bit more.

[43:07] See, being rich doesn't bring satisfaction. Being popular doesn't bring deep soul satisfaction.

[43:22] And this man, he came to Jesus because although he had all these things, he knew he didn't have enough. He sees life in Jesus. And he wants that life.

[43:35] He sees that depth, that peace, that steadiness in Jesus. And to a degree in those who are following Jesus. And he wants some of that.

[43:48] And so he comes to do a deal with Jesus. That's the sad thing. And we know that he's coming to do a deal because of what he says and the way he approaches Jesus. He says, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

[44:06] And the emphasis on himself, he says, what must I do? Maybe he had his wallet open with all the tenors showing and he's ready to do a deal with Jesus. How much will I have to pay to get some of this eternal life?

[44:19] Or at least a secret to knowing how to get it. Or maybe he's got his iPhone 13 and he's got his list of celebrity contacts and he's saying, who do you want me to put you in touch with, Jesus?

[44:30] I can open doors for you. What must I do? What do I need to do for you, Jesus, in order that you will give me the secret of this eternal life that seems to be in you?

[44:45] See, this is a man who was used to getting what he wanted. He had the money. He had the connections to get whatever it was he wanted.

[44:56] And so he says, good teacher, what must I do? What do I need to do for you in order to inherit eternal life?

[45:07] So how does Jesus respond? Well, there's three things here. First of all, there's a confrontation. And then Jesus challenges him.

[45:23] Then he calls him. Just follow me. So first of all, there's a confrontation. In verse 19, Jesus says, Why do you call me good?

[45:34] No one is good except God alone. And it's, on first reading, a kind of peculiar thing, because Jesus' response to this man is very confrontational.

[45:49] We learn elsewhere in the other Gospels. It's in all three Gospels, this passage and this account. And we learn elsewhere that the man, when he comes to Jesus, he actually runs to Jesus.

[46:05] Just kind of undignified. There's an eagerness about him. And he's polite. And he's open. And it's an encouraging approach to Jesus.

[46:18] But Jesus just seems to be so confrontational in the way that he responds to him. Why do you call me good? No one is good except God.

[46:30] So why does Jesus do that? Well, the reason Jesus does that is to help this man understand who Jesus is.

[46:43] See, this man is coming to Jesus without any real understanding of who it is he's coming to and who he's speaking to. And until the penny drops, and until he starts to see who Jesus is clearly, there was no hope of eternal life.

[47:02] He couldn't buy it. He couldn't earn it. He had to see who Jesus was. That Jesus is not just good. He's not just the good teacher, but he is God.

[47:18] He's God the Son. So this man, he needs to see that if he is to receive eternal life. So Jesus, he confronts him.

[47:30] He says to him, your estimation of who I am is all wrong. You've got the wrong idea about who I am. I'm not a good teacher who can do a deal with you. I am God.

[47:45] So there's that confrontation, first of all. And the second thing is there's a challenge. And you see that in verse 20 and 21. Jesus says, well, you know the commandments.

[48:00] Remember, there's a man who's got a good name. He's very religious. He's well-respected. He thinks he's probably a cut above most people. So Jesus says to him, okay, well, let's talk about good.

[48:12] You know the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not give false testimony. Honor your father and your mother. There's a few of the commandments, young man.

[48:27] How do you do with them? And he says in verse 21, all these I have kept since I was a boy. No problem. So what do we learn here?

[48:41] Well, we learn here that not only does this man not understand who Jesus is, he doesn't understand who he is himself. He can't see himself clearly.

[48:54] He doesn't understand that he's a sinner. He thinks he is good. And he thinks he's good enough for God to accept and give eternal life too.

[49:07] So Jesus, he challenges him. He holds up a section of the law of God to him in verse 22. And he says, have you kept all these? And the man amazingly says, yeah, I score a hundred percent in the 10 commandments test.

[49:21] They're not a problem to me. And then in verse 22, Jesus challenges him in a devastating way.

[49:32] He says, okay, well, let's think about command number one. Let's start at the beginning. Let's talk about the first commandment.

[49:43] You shall have no other gods. Let's talk about your great wealth. The thing that defines you. Do you love it?

[49:57] Or do you hold it loosely? Do you possess great wealth? Or does great wealth possess you? Is it a God?

[50:13] Let's do a testy size. Why not take all your great wealth and give it away? Then come follow me.

[50:24] And that floors him. Because he just can't let go of it. He cannot give it away. His wealth is his God. He will not let go of it.

[50:35] And so in verse 23, we see the sad sight of this young man walking away with a handful of wealth.

[50:46] And a heart that's still overflowing with sadness. We see a man who's walking away and he's rich in the eyes of this world.

[50:58] But he's poor. He's bankrupt. He's destitute. In the eyes of Jesus. So that's what we see as Jesus meets with this young man.

[51:15] And every time we open the Bible, in a sense Jesus meets with us. This is where God meets with us.

[51:29] And sometimes when we pour over the pages of Scripture, Jesus will show us very confrontationally that he is God.

[51:43] I don't know about everybody in the room this morning what your estimation is of Jesus. If I was to go around with the microphone and say, tell me, who is Jesus?

[51:57] I think some people in this room and in every room would say, well, you know, he's a good teacher. He's a good man. You know, wise philosopher.

[52:12] But may stop short of saying that he is God. God, the Son. And if that's you, then, even in this passage today, Jesus confronts you.

[52:32] And he maintains, he insists that he is God. And until we see that and accept that, there's nothing that can be done for us at the soul level.

[52:44] There's no hope of eternal life. Until we see and believe and accept and confess that Jesus, he is God. He's not just a good person. He's not just a good teacher.

[52:55] He's not a life improvement coach. He's not somebody we import for one hour into our lives on a Sunday morning to give us a fuzzy good feeling. He doesn't serve us.

[53:08] We serve him. He doesn't need us. But we desperately need him to be our Savior.

[53:20] Yes, we may have money. Yes, we may have a good name or good reputation.

[53:35] But all of us with this rich man fail the commandments test. We all sin. And if we are to inherit eternal life, we need Jesus to be our Savior.

[53:55] There's the confrontation. Jesus says to us what he said to Peter. Who do you say I am? There's the challenge where he shows us our sin and our desperate need of him.

[54:13] And there's the call. Don't miss the call. And we hear it in verse 22. Jesus, he says to the man, come follow me. He doesn't push him away.

[54:25] He doesn't show him his heart and say you can't come. He says no, no. I'll tell you your problem. I'll show you your sin. Repent of it. Put it away. Come follow me. It's the man, not Jesus, who walks away.

[54:45] Jesus is there. He's saying to him, come follow me. Like he's saying to some here this morning, come follow me. But it's the man, using his own free will, who decides to walk away.

[55:04] And because of that decision, he remains rich materially. He's all his cash, all his stocks, all his shares, all his designer labels, his big houses, his yachts, his cars, whatever it is.

[55:21] He has it all. He's rich material, but he is poor. And he is very sad, spiritually.

[55:39] You know, all of us are going to walk out that door today. But none of us need to walk out that door today, spiritually, poor, and sad.

[55:54] If you do that, it's because you're determined to do that. Jesus is not pushing anyone out that door, sad and poor, spiritually, and lost.

[56:08] But we, in our own free will, can determine, if we want to, that we will walk away from Jesus. And although we might be rich, and keep our reputation, and not have anybody laugh at us, or point at us, and say, he's one of them Christians.

[56:32] We will walk out heart sad, poor, and ultimately, if nothing changes, that we will be lost. We won't have heaven.

[56:43] Rather, the road is a road to hell. That's the truth that Jesus, tells us over and over again, that it doesn't need to be that way.

[57:01] What do we need to do? What do the children tell us every week? We admit that we're sinners. We admit that we are people, who have a whole, who have a whole, selection of gods, that we keep picking back up.

[57:22] We repent, of whatever it is, that is holding us back. Whatever God we are holding on to, and we ask Jesus to cleanse us.

[57:33] and to come into our lives, and be our Savior. And if we'll do that, then when we walk out that door, we can walk out that door happy, spiritually rich, and with the assurance, of eternal life.

[58:04] The rich man, who was poor. It's as far as we're going to get today. Let's pray.

[58:14] Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.

[58:25] We thank you for the record, of these real life conversations, and encounters, that real people had with Jesus. And we see this rich man, today, who has so much of this world, so much comfort, so much respect, in the eyes of other people, and who knows, that it's not enough.

[58:55] And Lord, we can identify with that, today. It may be 2,000 years later, it may be 2,000 plus miles away, from where this all happened, but we, we know the reality of this, today.

[59:09] We, thank you that we, we are in that position, where we are comfortable. We thank you that you've given us, everything that we need, but we confess that, sometimes the things, that you give us, the gifts of God, become, the gods that we cling to.

[59:29] We thirst for more, of this world's possessions, we thirst for more, of this world's approval, as this rich man did. But in our hearts, we know that's not enough.

[59:44] And we pray that, we would learn, from this encounter today. We pray that none of us, would hear the call of Jesus, to come, and follow, and leave behind, whatever God it is, that we, that we take hold of.

[59:58] We pray that none of us, would hear that call, and walk away sad. But we pray that each of us, would hear the call, of God, and that we would come.

[60:09] we thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are, the Savior, not just a good man, not just a good example, not just a good teacher, but you are the Savior.

[60:23] Jesus, will be his name, for he will save, his people from, their sins. We thank you, that you are the Son of God, Lord Jesus, the one who left heaven, to come into this world, to make it possible, for us to be saved.

[60:43] There was no other, good enough, because there was no one else, who had no sin. So we thank you, for who you are, we thank you for all, that you did for us, on the cross, to make it possible, for us to be saved.

[60:57] And we know, Lord, that today, all we have to do, is believe, respond to that call, and ask you, to be our Savior, and we can have, the joy, of eternal life.

[61:15] We may not have riches, we may have our reputation, shredded. We may be a laughing stock, in the eyes of some, family and friends, if we follow Jesus, but we thank you, that there is riches, that are eternal, and a joy, which is of heaven, not of this world.

[61:35] So may we experience that, as we pray, that we would hear the call, to come to Jesus, and that we would do so. May we pray this, in Jesus name. Amen.

[61:48] We'll sing to finish, Mission Praise 319, a prayer, where we can respond, to Jesus. I'd rather have Jesus, than silver and gold.

[62:00] I'd rather be his, than have riches, and gold. I'd rather have Jesus, than silver or gold.

[62:18] I'd rather be his, than have riches, and gold. I'd rather have Jesus, than poverty, and justice, than land.

[62:29] I'd rather be lad, than allow his blood, than his name is herbs, than to be the king, of a vast domain, and be held in sin's dress way.

[62:46] I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.

[62:58] I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause. I'd rather be faithful to his dear cause.

[63:10] I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame. I'd rather be true to his holy name.

[63:21] Not to be the king of a vast domain and be held in sin's strength sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.

[63:40] I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. He's better than willies of red has bloom. He's sweeter than honey from undercone.

[63:56] He's all that my heart makes spirit peace. I'd rather have Jesus than let him pray.

[64:07] And to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin's strength sway.

[64:17] I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.

[64:28] And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship, the comfort, the peace of God the Holy Spirit be with us all now and forevermore.

[64:42]  Amen. Amen. Amen.