Mark 10:17-22 – The Last Thing – Bible study

Mark 10:17-22 The Last Thing I draw your attention to \#21\. ONE THING THOU LACKEST. That was Jesus way of saying, "The last thing." Lets think this thing through. 1. Jesus and the rich young man were speaking of salvation \#17\. a. This man is lost. b. It is his soul that was being discussed. c. There is nothing more important. 2. The man had realized some things which were important. a. He had realized that there was such a thing as salvation. b. He had realized that salvation had something to do with the Bible and with Jesus Christ. c. He had realized that a works salvation was not enough. (1) He had tried that already. (2) If he had "felt" that was sufficient, he would not have come to Jesus. d. With all of this, Jesus told him that there was at least one more thing he needed to know or understand or do. Consider, refusing to surrender one thing in your life can keep you out of heaven as surely as refusing to surrender one million things. We usually measure spirituality by the huge number of things people give up. (i.e. He gave up womanizing, drinking, smoking, cursing.) God measures our spirituality by the things we keep! When it comes to repentance, refusing to repent over one thing can has the same result as refusing to repent at all! Consider also, regardless of how many things you have given up, the last thing we be the dearest. This young man had given up many things dear to him, but he had instinctively keep the dearest thing to the last. Everyone does! Just two thoughts this morning. I. There are different last things. I do not know what may be holding you back from being saved this morning, but it will likely fall into one of three categories. A. The last thing could be PRIDE. 1. Mankind is cursed by pride. 2. Pride means that we are too pleased with ourselves to see things as they are. 3. Pride is manifested in many ways. a. Self-Righteousness (1) We cannot see anything wrong with us or what we are doing. (2) Sadly, such people are sitting on the sinking Titanic bragging about how well their ship is built. (3) The problem is that you do not know what your life was supposed to be. (a) The best you can do is to compare it to what you can see. (b) If you are a smart, successful, well- organized, happy individual, then you are ahead of the pack but you are still far short of Gods intention in creating you. b. Self-controlling (1) For some, it is a matter of pride that we maintain control over our own life. (2) We may agree to surrender areas of our life, but it is still we who have the last say in the matter and we are not going to give up last word. c. Selfishness (1) You want what you want and you are going to get it no matter what. (2) Some today have so much pride that they actually see themselves as selfish and are proud of it. (3) This leads to the next. d. Self-exalting – That is when you wring your shoulder out of its socket patting yourself on the back. 4. So you should see a pattern. a. Pride is revealed in our good opinions of ourselves and our self-sufficiency. b. Having a good opinion about yourself (self-confidence) or your abilities is not all bad; however, they will not help you in the matter of salvation. c. In fact, they hurt you by keeping you from seeing yourself and your condition as they really are. (1) You are not what God created you to be. You are like a defective tool. You are broke and duct tape and WD40 will not help. (2) But you are defective tool with an attitude. You the dog that bites the hand that feeds him. (3) There is nothing that you can do to fix this problem except accept God. (4) Gods help came in the form of Jesus Christ. (a) He paid for our sins. (b) He offers to make you whole but you must completely dethrone yourself. (c) And that is the hardest thing for you to do. (d) But if you do not, you will go to hell pride and all. Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. B. The last thing could be PROFIT. 1. I believe that was this young mans last thing. 2. He was wealthy and Jesus tested his willingness to give it up. Get this. a. Jesus did not just tell him what he needed to do. b. Jesus did not teach him what he needed to do. c. Jesus tested him with what he needed to do. 3. The man went away sorrowful because he had "great possessions" \#22\. He refused to give up his last thing. 4. Many a soul has gone to hell because of the love of money. a. Some are involved in evil trafficking and will not give it up. (1) God condemned the liquor sellers centuries ago! Habakkuk 2:15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! (2) If God condemns liquor sellers, how much more condemnation is on the drug pusher, the porn distributor, or the peddler of human flesh. b. But you dont have to be involved in evil trafficking to be ensnared by the love of money. (1) Just love money more than God. (2) That is called idolatry and it is the same sin as what Israel committed when they bowed to their idols. C. The last thing could be PASSION. 1. Of all the categories mentioned, this is the most difficult to speak against. 2. This is when we love others so much, we would rather spent eternity in hell with them than go to heaven without them. 3. I know of two that were willing to make that mistake. a. One was Adam. Ge 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (1) I could be wrong in what I am about to say but I believe Adam, the only man hand-made by God, was very intelligent and wise. (2) I believe he was smart enough to see what Eve had done and to understand the consequences. (3) But he ate anyway. (4) The Bible says that Eve was deceived but not Adam. 1Tim 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. (5) Why did he eat the forbidden fruit then? Because he loved Eve and decided he would rather be in hell with her than to be in heaven without her. b. My mother (1) I remember sharing the gospel with her and her husband, Bill. (2) When I got finished and asked if she would accept Jesus, she just looked over at him and waited. (3) After a while, he said he was not ready and she said she was not either. 4. That is a form of the truest love for that is similar to what Jesus did for us! 5. However, it is not exactly what Jesus did for us. a. Jesus did not go to hell to BE with us but to RESCUE us. b. True love does not settle for being punished with our loved ones. (1) It desires to save our loved ones. (2) If that is your desire for another, you need to be saved, live a holy life, and try to win them by a godly example. D. The last thing could be PLEASURE. 1. In American society, the flesh is one of the most powerful enemies of the gospel. a. If we call Las Vegas, the "SIN CITY," then we should call America, the "SIN NATION." b. We along with some of our European counterparts, have turned our world into a sex-seething, flesh pot. c. I dare say 75% of all movies, commercials, and advertisements use sex. d. In the US, 46% of all high schoolers and 62% of all seniors have had sexual intercourse. http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/publications-a-z/413- adolescent-sexual-behavior-i-demographics e. 3/10 girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20. Thats 750,000 teen pregnancies every year. https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-teen-pregnancy f. New estimates show that there are about 20 million new sexually transmitted infections in the United States each year. g. Young people, between the ages of 15 to 24, account for 50% of all new STDs, although they represent just 25% of the sexually experienced population. https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-teens-and-stds h. That number is growing. In 2003 only about 3 million teens were expected to become infected. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Family/cda0304.cfm 2. Fleshly pleasure is not only rampant among teens. a. It is estimated that there are more than 2.5 million porn sites on the web. b. That is double of 2003 when there were 1.3 million. c. From June 2009 to July 2010, 13% of all web searches were for some type of sexual content. https://www.forbes.com/sites/julieruvolo/2011/09/07/how-much-of-the- internet-is-actually-for-porn/#23fab1ef5d16 3. Here is the problem, God says this type of behavior marks the lost. 1Cor 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. a. Someone says, "You are judging me," b. You are not getting it. (1) I am not judging anyone. (2) I am reading to you the judgment that God has already made. (3) God has decreed that those marked by sin are not His and you can condemn the messenger until you die but it will not change the content of the message. II. You must make some decisions. A. This man made his and he will live with it forever. Mark 10:22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. B. You must humble yourself. 1. That is dethrone self. 2. Quit doing what you wantnow and forever. Matthew 23:12 And whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted. James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. 1Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: C. You must repent. 1. Acknowledged that you have been wrong and sinned against God. 2. Refuse to ever go that path again. D. You must believe on Jesus Christ. 1. Believe that Jesus is the Son of God come in the flesh. 2. Believe that Jesus lived a sinless life. 3. Believe that Jesus died on the cross to take your place. 4. Believe that Jesus rose on the third day. 5. Believe that Jesus will come into your heart and save you if you will ask Him to do so.