SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/24/2012 8:46:00 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The First Shall Be Last PT-2
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Mark 10:23-31
Message of the verses: In Today’s SD we will attempt to finish the
SD that we began yesterday. The first
part was about the rich young ruler, and now in this SD we will look at the
reactions of Jesus’ disciples and His teachings about the rich and also about
salvation.
I mentioned in the last SD that
I actually heard a sermon at our church yesterday on this story, but from the
Gospel of Matthew and so at the beginning of this SD I want to put the outline
from yesterday’s sermon in order to shed more light on this story.
“Working Your Way To
Heaven”
By Pastor P. Odle of
First Baptist Church
Elyria, Ohio
“God wants
you to realize that you cannot work your way to heaven.”
I.
Desire—Verses:
Matthew 19:16-19
·
The Request—Verse 16
·
It was a sincere request.
·
It was a flawed request
§
The Response—Verse—17
·
Jesus pointed out the man’s sinfulness.
·
Jesus pointed out the standard.
§
The Requirement—Verses 18-19
II.
The Delusion—Verses 20-22
§
The Resume—Verse 20
Self Righteousness
“Salvation
is for those who see themselves as living violations of His holiness and who
confess and turn from sin and throw themselves on God’s mercy.” (John MacArthur)
§
The Requirement—Verse 21 (Perfection)
§
The Refusal—Verse 22
III.
The Difficulty—Verses 23-26
§
Salvation is Impossible through good works—verses
23-25!
§
Salvation is possible through God’s grace—Verse
26.
We will now look at the remaining
verses in this story from Mark 10:23-31, “23
And Jesus, looking around, *said to His disciples, "How hard it
will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!" 24 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! 25 "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." 26 They
were even more astonished and said to Him, "Then who can be saved?"
27 Looking at them, Jesus *said,
"With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are
possible with God." 28 Peter began
to say to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You." 29 Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there
is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or
children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, 30 but that he will receive a hundred times as
much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and
children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal
life. 31 "But many who are first will be last, and the last,
first.’”
As
we look at verses 23-24 we see a statement that Jesus makes that actually shocked
His disciples, and the reason it shocked them is because in the false religious
system that they were brought up in they were taught that people who were rich
were blessed by the Lord and those who were poor were cursed by the Lord. The book of Job speaks of this view, but
however Job did not believe this and of course this is not true. Job’s friends believed that because he lost
all of his possessions was because of sin that he had committed. Job rightly did not believe this, but this is
what was taught by the Pharisees. Jesus
states that it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God, and
then broadens the statement saying “Children, how hard it is to enter the
kingdom of God!” It is harder for the
rich simply because they depend on their riches, and in that day the rich could
afford more sacrifices to offer to the Lord to take away their sins. We must contrast with the offering that the
Joseph and Mary offered after the birth of Jesus, for they could not afford a
lamb so the offered turtledoves. “Lu
2:24 and to offer a sacrifice according
to what was said in the Law of the Lord, "A PAIR OF TURTLEDOVES OR TWO
YOUNG PIGEONS.’” We can see by this that
it is a heart issue and not how rich a person is.
In
verse twenty-five we see a statement that has been misinterpreted in many ways,
for some say that if a camel was ground up into very small pieces that it could
fit through the eye of a needle. Some
say that there was a gate in Jerusalem that was called a needle gate and it was
very difficult to get a camel through it.
As John MacArthur said “why would a person try to get though this
so-called needle gate when fifty yards on either direction was a large gate for
them to go through?” Good question! What Jesus is stating hear is that salvation
is impossible, and His disciples understood this and so they asked who could be
saved. Can you imagine what His
disciples were thinking about for they had all agreed that Jesus was the long
awaited Messiah, and they had given up everything to follow Him, and now He
says that it is impossible to be saved?
This went against everything they had been taught and they were shocked
at this statement. Dr. Wiersbe states
this about money, which is one of the issues of the disciples, “Money is a marvelous servant
but a terrible master.” He goes
on to say “If you possess money, be grateful and use it for God’s glory; but if
money possesses you, beware! It is good
to have the things that money can buy, provided you don’t love the things that
money cannot buy.”
Jesus
goes on to say to His disciples and also to us that a person cannot work his
way into heaven, but they can trust God to provide the way for them to enter
into heaven. Salvation is impossible
through man’s efforts, but possible through God.
We
have seen in the past in Mark’s Gospel and will see in again that the disciples
would argue with each other as to who would be the greatest in the kingdom of
God, and Jesus makes a statement at the end of this section that shows them who
will be first and who will be last, and in verse 45 we will see more about this
subject. Verse 45 is the key verse in the
entire book of Mark. In verse 31 we see
these words, “31 "But many who are first will be last, and the
last, first.’” This, of course is
where the title of this section came from in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I can’t help but go back to the statement
that Jim Elliot made before he was killed by the Aqua Indians that helps me put
into perspective about riches. “He is no
fool to give up what he cannot keep, to keep what he cannot lose.” This world offers many idols to take away from
the worship of our Lord, and I do not want to fall into that trap, but only
worship the Lord, and not the things that the Lord has provided for me. I am to worship the Giver of the gifts and
not the gifts that the Giver gives me. The
rich young ruler did not get this.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Worship
the Giver of the gifts, not the gifts the Giver gives me.
Memory verses for the week: 1Cor. 13:1-7
1
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have
become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries, and all knowledge;
and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am
nothing. 3 And if I give all my
possessions to feed the poor, and surrender my body to be burned, but do not
have love, it profits me nothing.
4
Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is
not arrogant, 5 love does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is
not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
but rejoices with the truth, 7 bears all thins, believes all thing, hopes all
things, endures all things.
9/24/2012 10:08:55 AM
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