We have spending our time looking at the regrettable decisions people made when they encountered Jesus. Imagine that you had the opportunity to speak to Jesus. Imagine if you had the opportunity to see one of Jesus’ miracles. Imagine if you could ask Jesus one question. In Mark 10 we are going to read about another person taking the opportunity to ask Jesus a question. We considered a failed opportunity to ask Jesus a question when the man asked Jesus to tell his brother to divide the inheritance with him. But now another man has a chance to ask Jesus a question.
The Context (Mark 10:17-21)
In Mark 10:17 we read about a rich young man who has an important question. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus gives two answers. First, he tells this rich young man that no one is good except God. In essence, to call Jesus “good” then you need to understand that you are confessing Jesus to be God himself because God is the only one who is truly good. Second, to inherit eternal life you need to keep the commandments. I have mentioned this many times but it is important to repeat. When Jesus told someone that they needed to keep all of the commandments, no one is supposed to answer that they have done it. They are supposed to see their failure and need for a Savior. But this man does not do this. He tells Jesus that he has kept all the commandments from his youth. So Jesus goes to the heart of the problem because he loved him (Mark 10:21). Jesus tells this rich young man to sell all that he has. Then come and follow him. Think about the wonderful answer Jesus just gave. If you want to inherit eternal life, leave it all behind and come follow me. You can have eternal life. Eternal life is yours. It is amazing news!
The Response (Mark 10:22)
But look at the response of this man in verse 22. He was disheartened. He was dismayed. He was sad and his face fell. This word can also refer to being shocked and appalled (cf. NRSV, HCSB). Verse 22 ends by noting that this man went way grieving because he had many possessions. Why did this man walk away? Why would he not go ahead and give up his possessions? Yes, he was very rich and his riches had captured his heart. This is why Jesus gave him the command because he knew what was in his heart, loved him, and was trying to save him from his idol.
In Mark 5:1-20 we read about Jesus coming to a town across the Sea of Galilee and immediately encountering a man with a strong unclean spirit named Legion. Jesus casts out the unclean spirit into 2000 pigs that run off a cliff and drown in the sea. After that amazing miraculous event, the town that begged Jesus to leave. Why would they want Jesus to leave, rather than to follow him? Why would they not receive Jesus? Why would they not follow Jesus? Why would they not want to be with him? Why did the rich young man not want to follow Jesus?
They did not want to change their lives. They did not want to have to submit to what Jesus had done and was telling them to do. They want to come to Jesus as they were without making any changes. For the town in the Gerasenes, Jesus has cast out an unclean spirit that has caused 2000 pigs to be drown into the sea. That town just lost a lot of money. Jesus just wrecked their pig industry. Jobs have been lost. Thousands of dollars just ran into the sea and it was clear that Jesus was going to give these people a new start. But they did not want that. For the rich young man, he had many possessions and following Jesus meant that they were going to have to change. It was easier to send Jesus away then it was to change their way of life. It was easier to walk away from Jesus than give up their sources of income and financial security.
The Need To Change
We can sometimes have a hard time with the idea that Jesus came and told every single person that they have to change. There is not one encounter that Jesus has with a person in which he tells them to keep doing what they are doing. Everyone who comes to Jesus has to change. Listen to what Jesus said about when he was teaching the people.
And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” (Mark 4:10-12 ESV)
Jesus says that his parables were challenging the people’s heart to truly see. But many were not going to see Jesus and the kingdom of God. If they did, they would hear, turn, and be forgiven. There is an important word that Jesus says in this teaching to his disciples about what needs to happen. The people need to be turn. Forgiveness would only come to those who would listen and turn. Listen to what the apostle Peter preached to the crowds:
Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out… (Acts 3:19 CSB)
I want us to think about how so many people saw the miracles of Jesus but did not have the faith to turn. So many people listened to the teachings of Jesus but they did not believe so as to repent. They believed that there was a Jesus. They were talking to Jesus. They saw his power. They heard his words. But they did not want to change how they were living. They did not want to do anything different.
Friends, the great deception that Satan as placed the hearts of people is that they can acknowledge Jesus and believe in Jesus but not change their lives. They believe coming to Jesus means continuing to live how they are living and be accepted for the sins they are committing. Jesus absolutely allowed for every person to come to him. We read about Jesus eating with tax collectors who were notoriously greedy, selfish, and wicked. We read about Jesus eating with notorious sinners, people who were the outcasts of society because of their sins. Jesus never told anyone that they could not come to him. But please understand, friends, that while everyone can come to Jesus with all of their sins, no one can stay in their sins. Everyone who comes to Jesus must change what they are doing. Everyone must change how they are living. When Paul tells about the mission the Lord Jesus gave to him to preach to the Gentiles, listen to the nature of the mission:
“…to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” (Acts 26:18 ESV)
What is supposed to happen? Our eyes are opened so that we will turn from the darkness to light. Our eyes are opened so that we turn from the power of Satan to God. Our eyes are opened so that we turn and receive the forgiveness of sins and a place among those who have been set apart by faith in Jesus. The reason people did not follow Jesus is because they did not want turn. They did not want to change.
The Challenge
So I want to present a spiritual challenge to us. It is easy for us to look at our lives and proclaim that we do not need to change. This is what the rich young man does. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments to inherit eternal life. The rich young man does not look at his failures but at his successes. He does not think about how he loved his possessions and was clinging to them. He was thinking about how he did not murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, defraud, or dishonor his parents (cf. Mark 10:19). We can blind spots because we are looking at the things that we are doing for the Lord and looking at the sins we are not committing. But what else needs to change? What area in our lives needs change but we are refusing to make those changes? I am going to read the apostle Paul’s words about the works of the flesh and I want us to challenge ourselves to consider if there is an area in this list where we need to change.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21 ESV)
Are we overlooking any of these areas in our lives? Is there a sin that we are refusing to change? Are we still remaining in the darkness and under the power of Satan rather than walking in the light? We may be overlooking our sexual immorality and impurity. We may be overlooking drug use (sorcery). We may be overlooking the strife and divisions we are participating in our home, in our family, in the church, or at work. We may be overlooking fits of anger that we allow to come out of us. Maybe we are overlooking our jealousy or envy of others. We may be overlooking drunkenness. We cannot come to Jesus like this rich young man did, keeping many of the commandments, but refusing to change in other areas of our lives.
The most regrettable decision you can make is to fail to follow Jesus because you do not want to change your life. You can come to Jesus as you are but you cannot stay as you are. You can come to Jesus as you are but you cannot keep living the way you were. Turn and be forgiven (Mark 4:12).