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, 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 were because of sin that he had committed. Job rightly did not believe this, and 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. 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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