Jailhouse Sermon #2

Our Old Testament reading today is taken from the book of Amos chapter 5 verse 6.

Seek the Lord and live, or he will sweep through the house of Joseph like a fire; it will devour, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.
Amos 5:6.

Our Gospel reading and meditation for today is taken from the book of Mark chapter 10 verses 17-27

17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’? ?”
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “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 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:17-27


Remember when you were a child and you used to pretend there were monsters under your bed? Maybe they were in your closet. Or perhaps they were waiting in the hall to “get” you when you got up from bed to sneak out there to spy on your parents or whatever other reason there may have been

My monster was under my bed. He had red glowing mean eyes. He was big, ugly, and green with sharp teeth and bad breath. He had sharp claws on his hands and feet and kind of looked like an upright lizard with no tail. His breath was so bad it could whither a live plant on contact, it could melt plastic, and if he breathed on me I WOULD DIE I was sure of it. To an adult he looks pretty unrealistic and foolish but to a child, he is very real because he has kidded himself in to believing it is real, and in his mind it IS real even though there is no chance it is.

How many of you currently have some clothes at home in your closet or at the back of the drawer in your chest of drawers that you have kept for years? You know the ones. They are a couple sizes too small or a couple inches smaller in the waist than what you are wearing now. You have kept them all these years because you are going to fit back into them one day most likely around February after you have made your New Year’s resolution and finish your last piece of Lasagna.

Chances are you most likely will never fit into those clothes again. You are kidding yourself but what a great thought! Man, I’m going to fit back into those one day and then I will look GREAT and everything will be awesome because everyone will see that I’ve lost weight, and I will feel better about myself and everyone will love me and think better of me. Right?

In our Gospel reading today, Jesus is approached by a very wealthy man. Most likely he is ruler in a synagogue or perhaps a high ranking government official. He is like the Donald Trump of his era in terms of his wealth.

He falls on his knees before Jesus and says “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus, of course, knew his heart and thoughts, but we can figure out where his heart was and what he thought and felt through that simple question.

Why did he come to Jesus and ask that question in the first place? After all, we soon find out that in his mind he had kept all the commandments Jesus mentioned, if he did that, why would he even need to ask Jesus about eternal life? Obviously, the smart, business savvy man had some doubt in his mind. Doubt that had lead him to question his salvation.

When he falls on his knees at the feet of Jesus, what does he call him? ‘Good teacher’ In the original new testament language of Greek; “Good” was originally agathos meaning one who has good moral qualities. Teacher – didaskalos simply means instructor. So this man was calling Jesus “instructor with good moral qualities.” Was this who Jesus was? Not even close. It was one of the qualities of Jesus but not who he was. Did the rich man get it? Did he understand who Jesus was? Did he understand that Jesus was his Savior? Not a clue. In his mind he was talking to the most popular instructor of scripture during his time, sort of like Billy Graham is to many people today.

If we continue in his question he asks “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” There it is: the confirmation of his unbelief that the man he was talking to was his Savior. “I” “What must I do” He is depending upon himself and his obedience to the law to earn his way to heaven, he’s kidding himself isn’t he? Sort of like the way children kid themselves to believe there are monsters under their beds, or we kid ourselves that we will fit into those clothes again.

The rich man was self righteous and was depending on his good works to get him to heaven.

Jesus then asks him, “Why do you call me ‘good’?” WHAT AN AWESOME OPPORTUNITY!! Jesus has just given the rich man his Golden chance to confess that he believes that Jesus has come to save him from his sins, and that he is the Holy Son of God. Here he is with the most awesome opportunity of his lifetime and what does he do? He says NOTHING! Not a word. The scripture doesn’t indicate it but perhaps he may have shrugged a little, maybe he might have looked around past Jesus, jaw agape, and said “Ahhhhhh…” I don’t believe there are any Greek words for that in the Bible so it wouldn’t be in there.
What would you say? Wouldn’t you at least say SOMETHING? Even if it might be wrong?

Jesus answers this question himself and indicates to the rich man his Deity. Jesus states to the man using his own words, “No one is good – except God alone.” Jesus tells this guy that only God is good, and you have called me good and I have not denied that I am good so do the math, what am I telling you?

“Ahhhhhh……”

The rich man just doesn’t get it, he is so stuck on his self righteousness and good works that he cannot see his salvation standing right there in front him not more than a foot away. He could reach out and touch Him……

Are these the only problems the rich man has? No. Let’s continue. Jesus knows that this rich man is not going to figure out any time soon that he is his Savior so he approaches him from the current Jewish way of life by earning God’s favor through keeping the Law and the 10 commandments. Jesus directly asks the rich man if he has kept the commandments. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. Finally the guy gets a voice and pipes up: “Yes teacher! I have kept all these since I was a boy!” he’s probably thinking: “Awesome! He’s going to tell me now that I have done well in following the Law and I am going to heaven just like he’s been telling all of these other people!”

But wait a minute…..How many commandments did Jesus list here, aren’t there only seven? Where are the other three? Did Jesus forget them? Is the rich man so special that because he’s rich he only has to follow those seven commandments?

No, Jesus did not forget them, and the man is no more special than you or I, he may have been able to keep the seven commandments concerning his treatment of others and their property, but Jesus knew this man’s heart and he was about to reveal to him that he has sinned against the first three commandments that God gave concerning himself.

What are these three commandments? Let’s start with the second and third, you shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God and remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Although there are no direct references to the rich man’s violation of the Sabbath day, one could assume it would be very easy to violate because the commandment during this time was used to prevent any work whatsoever on the Sabbath and Jesus himself had revealed throughout his ministry how all of the Jewish people had violated this commandment. This man was very rich and wouldn’t he work on the Sabbath if he could make money? Perhaps.

How about misusing the name of the Lord? Did he misuse it by not acknowledging Jesus as the Son of God? A sin of omission perhaps? Regardless, we do not know the man’s heart at the time so this is only speculation.

However. Jesus, being a teacher to this man, was using this opportunity as a “teaching moment.” He wanted the rich man to be able to be truthful in his answer so Jesus could point out this man’s sin in order to bring him to repentance.

The rich man was in violation of the first commandment – you shall have no other Gods, and it became especially obvious after his reaction to what Jesus told him next.

Jesus told the man he lacked one thing. He needed to sell everything he had and give it to the poor, then he would have treasure in heaven. Then the man was to come and follow him.

What happened next? The man’s face fell and he went away sad. Why? Because he was filthy rich and did not want to part with it. So when the rich man came to Jesus with his original question he didn’t ask the whole thing. Perhaps he should have asked the question this way: Good teacher, what must I do, other than give up my money, wealth, and power, to inherit eternal life? Or, Good teacher, how can I buy my way to eternal life? This was most likely the reason he had come to ask Jesus about eternal life in the first place.

What sin was the rich man obviously guilty of? It wasn’t wealth. Wealth in itself is not a sin. What did his sadness show of himself? He loved his wealth more than God. His wealth had become his idol, his god.

He was guilty of idolatry. Idolatry can come in many forms. When something becomes more important than God, it becomes an idol. The love of money, drug addiction, alcohol abuse, and pornography are a few of the hard ones to deal with but there are much simpler ones in our daily lives that become our idols. When work becomes more important than our relationship with God, it becomes an idol. When the care of a family member becomes more important than our relationship with God, it becomes an idol. When television becomes more important than our relationship with God, it becomes an idol. If surfing the internet becomes more important that our relationship with God, it becomes an idol.

Do you have any idols in your life? Is there something more important than God?

The wealthy man in our gospel reading today was kidding himself. He was thinking that all those good things he did would earn him a spot in heaven, after all, he had kept more commandments than he violated. He was up on the score seven to three, he was winning right? He was ahead of all those other guys in order to make the cut.

Jesus puts that idea to rest very quickly he says, “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.” Jesus is telling us here that we cannot of our own strength, power, or decision ever hope to enter heaven. As a matter of fact he describes that it is easier to force a real camel through the eye of a real needle than it is for us to gain salvation through our own works.

Each one of us is guilty of sin from our birth and God demands that we lead a perfect, sinless life to receive eternal life in heaven. God tells us that in his Word.

Psalm 51 verse 5 says: “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Who then can be saved? Jesus concludes his lesson to us in this manner he says: “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

Did you hear it? Right there. The last six words. “All things are possible with God.”

Jesus understood the rich man’s heart. He understood the rich man was not interested in what He was about to do for him on the cross, he understood the rich man as well as he understands everyone else. Jesus knows that it is impossible for us to save ourselves through the things we do or don’t do. He understands that we are sinful from birth and can do nothing.

All things are possible with God. These things above all else include our salvation and eternal life with Him in heaven.

So how are we saved? Well, we’ve learned that there is nothing we can do to by our own works to save ourselves. So we need someone to do that for us, we need a Savior. And Jesus is it.

1st Corinthians Chapter 5 verse 21 tells us:

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
This verse tells us exactly how Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross after leading a perfect life in our place has saved all of us who believe in Him from eternal death in hell.

God sent his perfect, sinless son Jesus to be our substitute. Through his death by being crucified, he paid the price for all who believe by taking our punishment upon himself. He did this freely without complaint.

After Jesus’ death and resurrection God declared that all who believe in Jesus and His sacrifice now share in the righteousness Jesus has earned for us.

Isn’t it comforting how there are no strings attached, nothing that we have to do, and nothing that we can do to earn our salvation? Jesus shows that to us by his interaction with the rich man in our meditation for today.
Salvation is a gift. Given to us only by the grace of God. We only have to believe and have faith that Christ’s sacrifice has paid for our sins just as God has said. Heaven is ours earned for us by Jesus’ lonely death on a cross.

The Rich man could do nothing to save himself, I can do nothing to save myself and you can do nothing to save yourself. Jesus has already taken care of that for us. Salvation is a gift that we already have. We can only refuse it in our unbelief.

So, as we close for today remember the rich man, who thought he could earn or perhaps even buy his way to heaven. Remember what Jesus taught us through his Word for today, and let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that we can do something to earn our way to heaven ourselves. Jesus has already done that for us.

All we have to do is believe. No Kidding. AMEN.

And now, May the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN